Not Nothing
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"The book we all need at the time we all need it." --Katherine Applegate, Newbery Award-winning author of The One and Only Ivan
In this multigenerational middle grade novel of hope, compassion, and forgiveness from #1 New York Times bestselling author Gayle Forman that is as timely as it is timeless, a boy who has been assigned to spend his summer volunteering at a senior living facility learns unexpected lessons that change the trajectory of his life.
Alex is twelve, and he did something very, very bad. A judge sentences him to spend his summer volunteering at a retirement home where he's bossed around by an annoying and self-important do-gooder named Maya-Jade. He hasn't seen his mom in a year, his aunt and uncle don't want him, and Shady Glen's geriatric residents seem like zombies to him.
Josey is 107 and ready for his life to be over. He has evaded death many times, having survived ghettos, dragnets, and a concentration camp--all thanks to the heroism of a woman named Olka and his own ability to sew. But now he spends his days in room 206 at Shady Glen, refusing to speak and waiting (and waiting and waiting) to die. Until Alex knocks on Josey's door...and Josey begins to tell Alex his story.
As Alex comes back again and again to hear more, an unlikely bond grows between them. Soon a new possibility opens up for Alex: Can he rise to the occasion of his life, even if it means confronting the worst thing that he's ever done?
About this Author
Award-winning author and journalist Gayle Forman has written several bestselling novels, including those in the Just One Day series, Where She Went, and the #1 New York Times bestseller If I Stay, which has been translated into more than forty languages and was adapted into a major motion picture. Her first middle grade novel, Frankie & Bug, was a New York Times Best Children's Book of 2021. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family.
Reviews
"Forman crafts a unique story, told in the voice of a wiser, older character; everything feels close and personal, from Alex's present to Jozef's past. She captures the quietly powerful moments of feeling seen and known, how friendships can make a bleak life feel fresh with possibilities, and how a person's worst moments need not shape their future."
"Not Nothing is a luminous gift, a story that respects and acknowledges the complexity of the human experience--and, by extension, the complexity of its readers. I loved it."
* "Forman is a master of the slow, heart-wrenching reveal . . . those who stick with this story will be richly rewarded."
* "Powerful, heartbreaking, and hopeful."
* "This tale of intergenerational friendship forged through a shared understanding of loss by Forman (Frankie and Bug) is told with spellbinding grace and wrought with exquisite structuring that quietly highlights the heartrending parallels between Josey's WWII remembrances and Alex's current struggles."
"Not Nothing is a beautifully-written, poignant, life-affirming gem about ordinary people doing extraordinary things during unimaginable times. Ultimately, it's a story about stories, those spoken memories handed down from generation to generation that inspire us all to 'rise to the occasion of our lives'. Bravo, Gayle Forman!"
"This stunning, masterfully told story of compassion, forgiveness, and joy is the book we all need at the time we all need it. Profound, heart-healing, and life-changing."
"It's not nothing when a story grabs you from the first line and keeps you turning pages until the last. It's not nothing when a story (two actually) makes you laugh, cry, worry, wonder, and cry again. It's not nothing when a book captures your heart, expands your mind, and stays with you long after you've reluctantly read the last word."
"Not Nothing is a masterpiece. It has so many feelings and moral conundrums and ultra-urgent themes--it should be a community-wide read all over the country. Timely, funny, perfect."
"Tenderly layered and beautifully constructed. Forman weaves an intensely moving portrait of stories separated by generations but inextricably connected by the experience of having known love and lost it."
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