The Astonishing Color of After

One of the things I love best about young adult fiction is that it doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff. In Emily X.R. Pan’s impressive debut, just out in paperback, she illustrates an expert handling of delicate subjects: depression and suicide. The Astonishing Color of After follows Leigh on a journey of grief and remembrance. Since Leigh’s mother died by suicide, Leigh has become certain that her mother has turned into a bird; in hopes of finding her, Leigh travels to her mother’s home country of Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. The pages are infused with a magical realism that lends itself to fully telling Leigh’s gorgeously complex story. The writing is lyrical, immersive, and—as I expect from a book with "color" in the title—visually stunning. It’s an emotional read, powerful enough to break your heart and put it back together. (Age 14 and up)