September 1, 2020
Twelve-year-old Lucy is not prepared to be the new kid at school. She’s still grieving her brother, Theo, who recently died from a congenital heart defect. Her parents are so intent on a “fresh start‚” that she doesn’t know how to talk to them anymore. And the other kids in her grade are survivors of a very different kind of tragedy: a school shooting that devastated their small town four years ago.
Without the shared past that both unites and divides her classmates, Lucy feels lost. Even her love of math doesn’t offer the absolute answers she craves. But when an after-school mime class gives her a chance to forge new kinds of connections, Lucy finds that while grief can take many shapes and sadness may feel infinite, love is just as powerful.
This poignant novel offers a lens through which young readers can process the weighty reality that school shootings occur and leave a lasting impact, while exploring how empathy and communication are a way forward through all kinds of grief.
Discussion Questions
Courtesy of Emily Barth Isler
- What Jewish customs or traditions might help or have helped Lucy and her parents deal with losing Theo?
- Lucy’s mother references the Holocaust, comparing survivors of it to the survivors of the shooting in Queensland (page 63). In what ways is this comparison helpful? In what ways are these two things different?
- What might school shooting survivors learn from Holocaust survivors?
- In recent years, Jews have been targeted in mass shootings; most notably the tragedy at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. What do you think is the responsibility of Jews in terms of the activism to end such gun violence in America? How can Jews be good allies to members of the Black community, the LGBTQ community, and other communities who are disproportionately affected by the prevalence of gun violence?
- Shortly after the action of this book ends, Lucy and her family will face the first anniversary of Theo’s death. Imagine you could plan a whole day for them to observe his Yahrzeit. What would you suggest they do?
- Lucy thinks a lot about existence after death– her preoccupation with Bette, her dreams of Theo and the ocean, her curiosity about Avery’s brother. What does Judaism teach us about this idea?
- What does Judaism teach us about forgiveness and second chances? How is Lucy’s decision to forgive Avery and continue to be friends inherently Jewish?
- What Jewish values might contribute to Lucy’s decision to befriend Avery and to keep being her friend even though the other kids ostracize her? Does Judaism teach us to befriend those in need? To take care of those who are outsiders?
- What advice does Lucy take away from conversation with her Rabbi? Do you agree with Rabbi Steve’s advice (page 18)?
- What is the Jewish take on this idea Lucy has of comparing losses? Where Lucy feels that her loss of Theo is not on the same level as the other kids’ losses from the shooting?
- In the classroom discussion of infinity, what would the Jewish take be? (Chapter 7, pages 97 – 102) In the Torah, G‑d tells Abraham to go outside and count the stars in the night sky, and that that will be the number of his descendants. In what ways is that like the kids in the class trying to envision infinity? How is it different? Do you think G‑d was trying to show Abraham infinity in this example?
- Relate Lucy’s parents’ discussion of planting annuals vs planting perennials to Jewish teaching. How does this debate have Jewish themes? What would the “most Jewish” answer to this quandary be and why?
- If Lucy’s new school were a Jewish school, do you think the kids would treat Avery as they do or would they treat her differently? If you were a teacher at this pretend Jewish school, how would you approach this dilemma about the way the students ignore Avery?
- Joshua’s parents decide to have a second child in the wake of his injury in the shooting. Similarly, many modern Jews, in the wake of the loss of 6 million in the Holocaust, attempt to have more than one child in an effort to replace those who were lost. Discuss.