The Shape of Thunder

Juvenile fiction 

     "Fourteen is how old Mabel was when she died.

     I am twelve today.  Someday in the future I will be more than twelve plus two.  I will become older than my older sister."

     Cora is an academic achiever and member of her school's quiz bowl team.  She's hoping that her father and grandfather won't notice that she has new and confusing feelings for long time friend Owen.  She's also grieving the loss of both her only sister and her sense of safety to a school shooting.

     "And I mean, I can't look at me and not see what Parker did, so I don't really blame any of them.  Even though I'd be lying if I said that it doesn't feel like sandpaper scratching my skin every time one of them turns away in the hall, pretending like they don't know me."

     Quinn is the sister of Parker, the shooter.  Her chapters start with letters he'll never get because he, too, is dead.  At school she's shunned by her peers.  At home her parents are always fighting.  Her mother blames her father for having guns Parker could get his hands on.  Her father wants to move and start all over.  Her mother is determined to hold on to their home.

     In the usual school shooter narrative the shooter is a remote figure.  But what if he and one of the victims were next door neighbors?  What if their younger sisters had been best friends?  What if each surviving sibling has a secret?

     Jasmine Warga's The Shape of Thunder helps readers see a modern tragedy through a poignant new lens.

On a purrrsonal note, it's back to school tomorrow.  It was a great vacation.  I made my own family turkey dinner with the gobbler Eugene got from work on Friday.  I was actually as far ahead as I could get on homework and as far as I could get on my initiatives.  So I actually had time to take Tobago to zoom church and get back to work on my writing.  Christmas break I think I'll make good writing progress.  And I played with Tobago a lot.  (Jules)

Which was wonderful.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to the other students (hopefully rested up) coming back to school for the last few weeks of the semester.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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