As members of the yearbook committee, Nick, Zola, Matt, and Christina are eager to capture all the memorable moments of their junior year at Lewis and Clark High School—the plays and football games, dances and fund-drives, teachers and classes that are the epicenter of their teenage lives. But how do you document a horrific tragedy—a deadly school shooting by a classmate?


It’s October 8, 2003 when loner, Caleb Raynor, enters Lewis and Clark High School in a suburb of St. Louis and kills 35 people, including the principal, librarian, janitor, and 28 students.


I’ve read books about school shootings in the past, but this one was extremely different. It was interesting too, because it is based more in the St. Louis area, and all of the areas around that I’m familiar with and it was interesting to read it with that perspective.


The story follows the four students as they try to process how they feel and what exactly happened at Lewis and Clark High School and figure out a way to document their junior year in their yearbook.


The reason this book is so different from others about school shootings is this one doesn’t really focus on the shooting itself. It doesn’t take place during or even before the shooting, nor does it focus on the shooter. What I really enjoyed about this book is how the author centered the story around these four teenagers after the shooting took place as they tried to piece together what their lives are now.


Each student represents a different experience as well as different high school issues that usually occur during those years, whether it be sex, friendship, or being gay. The author did a really good job with representing those issues while also developing the characters and how they dealt with the aftermath of the school shooting.


Onto the part I didn’t particularly enjoy. A few days after the shooting the home of one of the victims burns to ashes, killing the parents inside. goes up in flames, killing her parents inside. A few days after that, there’s another fire, which is later followed by another. Now the four students are faced with even more tragedy they don’t understand.


I disliked the part of the fires. I think the book would have been phenomenal without that added to it. I feel like it took away from what the students were feeling and how they coped after the shooting. I will say it was an interesting twist, but the story would have held its own without it.


Overall, I enjoyed the story and the characters were well done and I found myself caring for them and hoping they would find some kind of peace in their lives.