Seventh grader Stevie can’t wait to attend her New Jersey community’s “Kickoff to Summer” festival. Shortly after she and her parents arrive, someone with a gun opens fire, injuring Stevie’s mom and many others. In the hours and days that follow, friends and family, including her grandparents, her good friend Avi, and neighbor Evelyn tend to Stevie’s fragile state while her mom is in a medically induced coma at a hospital in New York City. Stevie (white) is guilt-ridden, believing that if she’d said yes when her mom asked Stevie to join her throwing coins in the fountain, her mom might not have been hurt. As part of this grief and guilt, Stevie, staying in her mom’s childhood bedroom, leans in to understanding her mom more and begins re-reading poems that her mother wrote when her own dad was dying of AIDS (a story told previously in World Made of Glass). Exploring NYC by foot with Avi and emotional support dog Raisin helps Stevie deal with the physical and emotional PTSD symptoms she is experiencing while retracing meaningful places in her mom’s childhood. Phone calls with Evelyn, a Holocaust survivor, also help Stevie see that it’s possible to find a way forward. Stevie’s emotional response to the shooting is harrowing and genuine in this story that sees her surrounded by the love and support she needs to begin to heal.