Description
Description
In this riveting novel in verse, thirteen-year-old Tolly fears she was to blame for the accident that killed her older sister. If she could just get her phone back, she might find answers about the day Sunny died... It's been almost six months since Tolly's sister died in a distracted driving wreck. Tolly misses Sunny every minute of every day, but is it wrong to want a semi-normal birthday? What about a new phone, to replace the one she lost soon after the accident? Instead, she gets grieving parents and a disappointing, misspelled cake. And so Tolly is stuck starting 8th grade without a phone in hand, without answers to the endless questions she has about her sister's death. Why did it happen... How did it happen... Was it Tolly's fault? She just needs her old phone back to uncover the truth. Ironically, thanks to being phone-less, Tolly gets put in charge of a new Luddite club at school, for kids who want to avoid technology. It's the last place she expected to find herself, but it turns out to be a powerful escape from the unrelenting guilt she feels over Sunny's death--and it might just be the place for her to get those answers, too. Acclaimed poet Caroline Brooks DuBois brings one family's healing into the light in a compelling novel in verse that speaks to this generation's messy feelings about technology, as well as the timeless complications of being a teenager.
About the Author
About the Author
Caroline Brooks DuBois is the author of The Places We Sleep, which received a starred review from School Library Journal and was an Indies Introduce and Kids Indie Next selection, as well as Ode to a Nobody, which received two starred reviews and was named to multiple state award lists. After teaching English at the middle school, high school, and college level, she was named a Nashville Blue Ribbon Teacher. Caroline lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her family. Visit her online at carolineduboiswrites.com.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
This powerful verse novel brims with poignancy, intricate details, and beautiful sentences, painting a portrait of a guilt-ridden teenager and a family coming to grips with tragedy. . . . Divided into four parts, the book is thoughtfully rendered, with complex characters and a plot that etches out the inevitable feeling of lingering guilt that comes in the aftermath of loss.
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) [A] painfully beautiful novel in verse. . . . Readers will empathize with a main character who doubts herself, sometimes because of her own doing and at other times because of the people around her. A fantastic option for book clubs, sure to generate lively discussions; strongly recommended for middle school libraries.
--School Library Journal (starred review) Spare verse lines balance a clear-eyed look at technology's pitfalls with a nondidactic and nonjudgmental approach. The result is a thoughtful and quietly powerful story of loss and healing.
--Publishers Weekly The sophisticated story, written in lovely lyrical prose, refuses to shy away from sadness and grief, particularly within the loving but struggling family unit. . . . A heartrending and hopeful mediation on building a new world after an old one has ended.
--Booklist
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) [A] painfully beautiful novel in verse. . . . Readers will empathize with a main character who doubts herself, sometimes because of her own doing and at other times because of the people around her. A fantastic option for book clubs, sure to generate lively discussions; strongly recommended for middle school libraries.
--School Library Journal (starred review) Spare verse lines balance a clear-eyed look at technology's pitfalls with a nondidactic and nonjudgmental approach. The result is a thoughtful and quietly powerful story of loss and healing.
--Publishers Weekly The sophisticated story, written in lovely lyrical prose, refuses to shy away from sadness and grief, particularly within the loving but struggling family unit. . . . A heartrending and hopeful mediation on building a new world after an old one has ended.
--Booklist
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Holiday House
Pub date:
2026-07-28
Length:
368 pages

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