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The Shape of Thunder

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By Jasmine Warga
New York: HarperCollins, 2021. Fiction. 288 pgs.

In the year since tragedy struck their community, former best friends Cora Hamed and Quinn McCauley haven't spoken. Cora, who lives with her Lebanese father and white American grandmother, is mourning the loss of her older sister Mabel who was killed by a school shooter. Meanwhile Quinn and her parents are still reeling from the unspeakable actions of her older brother. But Quinn has an idea, to fix everything that her brother put wrong by traveling back in time to stop him from hurting anyone. This ambitious plan will require Cora and Quinn to work together while navigating the messy grieving process.

This is an extremely powerful and utterly heartbreaking novel of two girls managing to heal in the aftermath of unbelievable tragedy. This novel succeeds in sharing both Quinn and Cora's voices in alternating chapters and offers a glimpse into a community attempting to heal after tragedy. Especially poignant are Quinn's letters to her older brother, at the beginning of each of her chapters, where she tries to understand how a person she knew and loved could turn so hateful and violent. Comments are made about the types of internet sites he visited, racial slurs he directed at Cora's family, and how he withdrew from life generally. At the same time, Cora is grappling with understanding her Lebanese-American heritage and pushing her father to open up more about their ancestry. This book is a timely and thoughtful response to a contemporary issue, that illustrates the emotional intricacies of school shootings at a kid appropriate level and is certain to spark meaningful conversations.
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