Disclaimer: I received an e-arc of this book. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Please Pay Attention

Author: Jamie Sumner

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Diversity: Cerebral Palsey MC who uses a wheelchair, Other disabled characters, MC has a Guardian, Gay couple characters

Recommended For...: Middle Grade Readers, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Poetry, Disability, School Shooting, Grief, PTSD

Publication Date: April 15, 2025

Genre: MG Contemporary

Age Relevance: 12+ (school shooting, vague HP reference, lots of Christianity, parental death mentioned, death, blood gore, grief, PTSD)

Explanation of CWs: The book revolves around the before, during, and aftermath of a school shooting from the perspective of a child. The school is Christian and there are a lot of mentions about Christianity. Parental death is mentioned in one comment. There is blood gore and death shown and mentioned in the book. There are scenes revolving around grief and PTSD.

If This Was a Taylor Swift Song: Only the Young

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Pages: 240

Synopsis: There is a Before and an After for eighth 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.

Review: Overall, I thought that the book was really well done. I loved that the book was from the perspective of a child but also I think that making the main character disabled added another context to the story, like a look into how much more difficult navigating a school shooting is when you're disabled. I did like the little mentions about how inaccessible the world was to the MC especially after the shooting. Everything from not being able to use the stairs and having to wait for the elevator while in the middle of the scene, to being pushed by an officer who also refuses to listen to her about what she needs, and to even having to figure out how to hide while in a wheelchair, whether that be throwing herself out of the chair and crawling or making do with what she can. I also liked that this book was written for the author's friend who was the head of The Covenant School in Nashville before she was killed during a school shooting, I thought this was a very touching tribute to them and other school shooting victims. I liked the story overall, I liked that the book had a lot of action steps for protesting and therapy and I really liked that there wasn't a preachy message from a religious perspective about the event. I lastly think this is the type of media that might help build up a generation that will stand against easily allowing school shootings.

The only things that I knock the book for is the one vague HP reference that wasn't needed in today's works and that I thought the book was a bit hard to read in a couple of places, but that last bit is more of a knock on me because I struggle with verse-told books.

Verdict: It was really good! I recommend it.