Mallory Rifka Gordon

After Mallory Rifka Gordon

Sarah Cohen is a smart, intense, unique ninth grader who probably spends too much time inside her own head. Sometimes she cries for no reason and worries she might be depressed. Her only outlet is writing. When Sarah's grandpa dies, she is left reeling to cope with the grief. Grandpa was the only person who knew about and understood her secret passion for writing. He always lovingly pushed her to write something great, and she regrets he'll never be able to see her best work. Or will he?When Sarah gets the opportunity to join a creative writing class at school, she jumps at it. Although her teacher isn't quite the inspirational mentor she had hoped for, Sarah suspects she may have something important to teach her after all. As she prepares to enter a writing contest, she starts having visions of her grandpa everywhere and wonders, could he still be near her, guiding her through it all? She desperately hopes the connection she feels with Grandpa is real, just as anyone who has lost a loved one wishes to feel their presence again. Over the course of the school year, Sarah's writing teaches her important lessons about closure, death, the afterlife, and her own mental health. Through her writing, Sarah learns to come to terms with life and loss, and eventually, how to make connections with others, both in the real world and the world to come.