PLEASE PAY ATTENTION, by Jamie Sumner, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, April 15, 2025, Hardcover, $17.99 (ages 10 and up)
A girl with cerebral palsy navigates loss, grief, and the aftermath of trauma following a school shooting in Please Pay Attention, by Jamie Sumner.
There is a Before and an After for sixth-grader Bea Coughlin. Before the shooting at her school that took the lives of her classmates and teacher and After, when she must figure out how to grieve, live, and keep rolling forward. But as her community rallies in a tidal wave of marches and speeches and protests, Bea can’t get past the helplessness she felt in her wheelchair as others around her took cover.
Through the help of therapeutic horseback riding, Bea finally begins to feel like herself again. And as she heals, she finds her voice and the bravery to demand change. —Synopsis provided by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Please Pay Attention hits you like a ton of bricks. It’s a profound novel-in-verse that makes you look beyond the “typical” student experience during a school shooting.
The story unfolds from Lucy’s first-person point of view. Born with cerebral palsy, Lucy uses a wheelchair. It’s something that already makes her different, and when the shooting happens, she can’t get down when the rest of the class huddled on the floor. After, she can’t let go of the moment, can’t let go of her teacher’s death, can’t let go of not being there for the “little” from kindergarten that she mentors.
Please Pay Attention is loosely based on the shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville in early 2023. Author Jamie Sumner was friends with the head of school there who was killed. Please Pay Attention is Sumner’s call to action.
Sumner’s respectful treatment of the subject is heartfelt and thoughtful. While not gratuitous, she does not shy away from the actual shooting. In the moment, Sumner focuses on the fear, confusion and desperation to find loved ones. Later, those feelings shift to profound sadness, anxiety and anger. And through it all is a calming layer of hope that helps pull readers through Lucy’s experience.
Please Pay Attention is a quick read — I finished it in a few hours. It’s a story of empathy and resiliency and it’s a book that I wish never had to be written. As a mom, it both broke my heart and made me angry. Nonetheless, it’s a beautiful and necessary read.
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