After the Death of Anna Gonzales
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A powerful look at the effects of one girl's suicide on her high school
Brutally honest and authentic in tone, this collection of voices centers on the suicide of high school freshman Anna Gonzales. Each piece, read alone, portrays a classmate's or teacher's personal reaction to the loss, taken hard by some, by others barely noticed. Read together, the poems create a richly textured and moving testimony to the rippling effects of one girl's devastating choice. Terri Fields has written a thought-provoking, important work that resonates with both pain and hope. This is a book that will stay with readers long after they put it down.
In support of Suicide Prevention Month, the book AFTER THE DEATH OF ANNA GONZALES will be available for FREE for September, 2020 only. The collection of poems of 47 people's reactions to learning of a teen's suicide has been successfully performed as readers theater. To obtain permission for the free rights to perform it during Suicide Prevention Month, please contact
Ebony Lane
Senior Rights Manager
Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
120 Broadway, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10271
Praise for After the Death of Anna Gonzales:
“Readers will gain some important insight into the serious issue of teen suicide through this treatment of the topic.” —School Library Journal
“The poems are natural and direct, and portray a high-school setting well, showing a diversity of experiences. . . . [F]or Mel Glenn fans, or as a resource for dealing with teen suicide, this will be useful in most YA library collections.” —Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Fields's (Danger in the Desert) 47 poems, five adults and 42 fellow high school students respond to the death of freshman Anna Gonzales, whose suicide note closes this disappointing volume. The first voice is that of a new student who overhears hushed conversations in the hallway; ironically, she offers readers more clues to what's going on than even Anna's best friend, Alexis ("Somewhere, buried in all those words,/ Must have been a meaning I didn't understand," Alexis says, referring to a language she and Anna had invented together). Many of the poems rely heavily on stereotypes: a cheerleader expresses her hope that Anna's death won't interfere with a homecoming rally; a smooth-talking student wonders, "A suicide./ What's my slant?" Other students seize Anna's death as an opportunity: a boy uses it as an excuse to avoid football practice, another student considers jockeying for Anna's seat in Spanish class, across from the boy she likes. The author does not describe the atmosphere at the high school nor reveal the manner of Anna's suicide. Most of the speakers are so self-absorbed that readers will likely see why Anna felt invisible ("I will slip away,/ Making little fuss./ .../ Never pretty or popular enough to matter," reads her suicide note), but because none of these poems penetrates any one character, Anna's death may, unfortunately, leave as little impact on readers as it does on her peers. Ages 12-17.
