Every Story Ever Told

Starred review from August 1, 2024

Gr 5 Up-In the wake of tragedy, a middle schooler wonders how she will ever be herself again. Just after Stevie, 13, and her parents arrive at an event in their New Jersey town, a gunman opens fire, killing five and injuring many others, including Stevie's mother. While her mother remains in a medically induced coma in Manhattan with Stevie's father at her side, Stevie is cared for by her grandparents; her best friend, Avi, a transgender boy; Raisin, a new rescue dog providing emotional support; and Evelyn, her neighbor from home who is a Holocaust survivor. Stevie grapples with physical and psychological reactions to the stress and trauma, including horrible, misplaced guilt. While she struggles to articulate what she feels and needs through the fog of panic, anxiety, and PTSD, Stevie is surrounded by tenderness and support. Though life feels fragile and survival is complicated, Stevie finds strength in the connections to others who have endured violence, loss, and persecution. The young girl's fear and guilt are almost unbearable to read, but Polonsky's deft prose and vibrant cast of characters help Stevie, and readers, understand her feelings and work toward healing. Deeply moving, this companion to World Made of Glass, which tells the story of Stevie's mother as a youth, can be read as a standalone. Includes an author's note about trauma and gun violence. VERDICT A sensitive and powerful look at grief with the uplifting reminder that even with all the bad crowded in, there is still room for joy and happiness. Highly recommended.-Amanda MacGregor

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2024
A seventh grade gun violence survivor reckons with PTSD in this carefully rendered story about the fragility and power of human connection. Questions of "what if" cascade into a burden that feels too heavy for 13-year-old Stevie Jane Cohen-Kaplan, whose brain feels "broken" in the aftermath of a tragedy. A shooting at a summer festival in her New Jersey town has left her mom hospitalized. Given the large local Jewish population, was this a hate crime? Trapped in her grandparents' Manhattan apartment and unprepared to visit her mother, who's unconscious, Stevie Jane struggles to find coping mechanisms and relies on distractions to keep herself going. Seeking respite, she relies on Raisin, her emotional-support-dog-in-training, and her best friend, Avi. The friends begin piecing together the stories of those around Stevie Jane, from a neighbor's life after surviving the Holocaust, to episodes in her grandfather's life and her own mother's activist history. Each revelation leads them around the city, contributing to Stevie Jane's budding confidence; over time, she finds more and more pieces of her mother's past. Centering on a Jewish family, the story hints at Manhattan's diversity through some descriptions of minor characters. The realistic portrayal of trauma is handled with deft sensitivity, from physical symptoms to therapeutic intervention. Interspersed poems add texture and vibrancy, weaving the delicate threads of the characters' lives into a buoyant tale of hope. A poignant and powerful tale of resilience. (content warning, author's note)(Fiction. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2024
Grades 5-8 This sequel to World Made of Glass (2023) finds 13-year-old Stevie deeply traumatized and blaming herself when her mother, Iris, is badly wounded in a mass shooting. In its wake, Stevie and her bestie, Avi, who is trans and brings an emotional support dog named Raisin, are sent to stay with Stevie's grandparents. Once there, Stevie vows to become a better daughter by visiting places in New York City that were important to her mother when she was Stevie's age. Among the most important is the LGBTQ center; Iris was taken there by her gay late father's partner and became involved with human rights group ACT UP. Stevie's first-person voice is beautifully realized ("Like, how am I going to become me again? And how long is it going to take?") and her relationships with Avi and Raisin well developed. A notable subplot involves Evelyn, an elderly neighbor and a Holocaust survivor, who offers Stevie essential advice and comfort. A sensitive story of guilt and trauma from Polonsky.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2024
In this sequel to World Made of Glass (rev. 3/23), set a generation later, seventh grader Stevie (daughter of Iris Cohen, the first book's protagonist) is attending her New Jersey town's annual Kickoff to Summer celebration when a mass shooter goes on a killing spree. While Stevie escapes physically unscathed, she experiences the effects of trauma and guilt, playing a punishing "what-if" game with herself because she feels responsible for her mother's plight. While waiting for her mom to emerge from a coma, she feels compelled to learn more about Iris's life, a penance she thinks will make her a better daughter and absolve her guilt. In the process, she learns about the origins of her name and decides to start going by Stevie Jane, in honor of both her grandfather and her grandfather's partner, and she makes a close connection with an elderly neighbor who survived Auschwitz. The narrative excels in portraying the physical experience of trauma and in forging connections to historical moments such as the Holocaust and the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. This honest reckoning never sugarcoats reality, instead embracing the truth that "surviving is complicated" and that survivors emerge from their experiences forever changed. An author's note expands on the idea of secondary trauma and recounts the author's own close call with a mass shooting. Julie Hakim Azzam

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2024
In this sequel to World Made of Glass (rev. 3/23), set a generation later, seventh grader Stevie (daughter of Iris Cohen, the first book's protagonist) is attending her New Jersey town's annual Kickoff to Summer celebration when a mass shooter goes on a killing spree. While Stevie escapes physically unscathed, she experiences the effects of trauma and guilt, playing a punishing "what-if" game with herself because she feels responsible for her mother's plight. While waiting for her mom to emerge from a coma, she feels compelled to learn more about Iris's life, a penance she thinks will make her a better daughter and absolve her guilt. In the process, she learns about the origins of her name and decides to start going by Stevie Jane, in honor of both her grandfather and her grandfather's partner, and she makes a close connection with an elderly neighbor who survived Auschwitz. The narrative excels in portraying the physical experience of trauma and in forging connections to historical moments such as the Holocaust and the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. This honest reckoning never sugarcoats reality, instead embracing the truth that "surviving is complicated" and that survivors emerge from their experiences forever changed. An author's note expands on the idea of secondary trauma and recounts the author's own close call with a mass shooting.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)