Mrs. B is reading…After Ever After

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

If you’ve read Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick, then you MUST read After Ever After.

Actually, if you haven’t read Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie, you should still read After Ever After…and then read Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie too.

Actually, let’s make this easy…if you see a book by Jordan Sonnenblick…read it.  And let me just say in advance…you’re welcome.

After Ever After is another winner by Jordan Sonnenblick.  He spent 11 years teaching middle school before he started writing full-time.  Maybe that’s why when you read his books you can tell that he gets what it’s like to be a middle school student.  

After Ever After is a follow-up to the book Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie, in which 8th grader Steven Alper is faced with his 5-year-old brother’s leukemia diagnosis.  In After Ever After, Jeffrey Alper, Steven’s brother, is now in 8th grade himself and has his own story to tell.

Though in remission, the cancer is never far from Jeffrey’s mind.  He still worries that it will return.  In addition, he has to handle all of the normal stuff that middle school students deal with.  Like just meeting the girl of his dreams.  And trying to figure out what is up with his best friend Tad, a fellow cancer survivor, who has been acting strange and keeping secrets. Also, there are the impending state standardized math tests that Jeffrey must pass or he'll be forced to repeat the 8th grade.  On top of it all, he'd love to be able to talk to his brother Steven about everything, but unfortunately Steven is "wandering around Africa with a pair of bongos strapped to his back" trying to "find himself.“ 

After Ever After is an honest, funny look at a middle-school student's emotional roller-coaster of a life.