AfterMath tells the story of Lucy who moves to a new town after her brother dies of a congenital heart defect. It’s not easy being the new kid especially in a school where a school shooting took place four years prior. Lucy struggles to make friends and focuses on her love of math which leads her to join an after-school mime class taught by her math teacher. Through this club Lucy begins to make friends and find her place in her new school.

I loved how the author, Emily Barth Isler, brought math into this story. As a math geek myself, it was nice to see a main character like Lucy with such love for the subject. Each chapter starts with an equation that fits with that chapter. There are also math jokes throughout the book that I enjoyed. The title AfterMath is so clever because it has different meanings in this story - the aftermath of Lucy losing her brother and how her parents react to it, the aftermath of the school shooting and how the kids are coping, and the mime class with is actually after math class.

This is a middle grade book, and it’s definitely more focused on the older spectrum for this genre. Younger children may not be able to fully understand some of the tougher topics like mental illness, loss of a sibling, parents dealing with tragedy, and a school shooting. I think the author did a great job of handling these topics with a lot of sensitivity while keeping them realistic.

I listened to the audiobook which the author narrates. At first I wasn’t sure how it would be, but I was really impressed with her performance. She put a lot of heart into voicing Lucy.

Thank you NetGalley and Lerner Audiobooks for an advanced listeners copy in exchange for my honest review.