The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. R. Pan - ESSENTIAL
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. R. Pan , 472 pages. Little Brown and Company, 2018. $19 Language: PG-13 (6 swears); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: G. BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ESSENTIAL AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH Leigh is a sophomore in high school when her mother commits suicide on an afternoon she is away with her best friend Axel. Leigh soon starts seeing a large red bird and is convinced it is her mom trying to get a message to her. The bird leads her to make a trip to Taiwan to visit her estranged grandparents. There, through mystical experiences, she learns about her mother’s past and her experiences with depression. Leigh emerges from these experiences with a better handle on her grief, her sense of guilt, and her relationship with her dad and her friends. This is a brilliantly crafted book. Leigh describes the world around her and inside of her through colors; this adds a beautiful layer to the text. While the nature of suicide makes the content of this book mature, the