Sometimes silence is all you can count on.

Elise carries a notebook full of tallies, each page marking a day spent at her new public school, each stroke of her pencil marking a word spoken. A word that can't be taken back. Five tally marks isn't so bad. Two is pretty good. But zero? Zero is perfect. Zero means no wrong answers called out in class, no secrets accidentally spilled, no conversations to agonize over at night when sleep is far away.

But now months have passed, and Elise isn't sure she could speak even if she wanted to—not to keep her only friend, Mel, from drifting further away—or to ask if anyone else has seen her English teacher's stuffed raven come to life. Then, the discovery of a shocking family secret helps Elise realize that her silence might just be the key to unlocking everything she's ever hoped for...

Available in paperback, hardcover, e-book, and audiobook editions!

Praise for After Zero:

  • 2019 Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts — Children's Literature Assembly of NCTE
  • 2019 Lone Star List — Texas Library Association
  • 2019 Society of Voice Arts and Sciences Awards nominee (audiobook edition)
  • Spring 2021 Disability Awareness Reading List — Children's Book Council
  • "This is a thoughtful book... Middle school students and staff would benefit from reading Elise's story." —School Library Connection
  • "It's easy to root for Elise, an empathetic narrator." —Booklist
  • "Give this to readers interested in the ways that anxiety can shape lives and also how young people can healthily negotiate it." —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
  • "Powerful and poetic." —John David Anderson, author of Posted and Ms. Bixby's Last Day
  • "A striking, masterfully-voiced debut with the haunting force of myth." —Julie Berry, Printz Honor author of The Passion of Dolssa
  • "Tender and truthful." —Patricia Forde, author of The List
  • "A compassionate portrait of selective mutism." —Sally J. Pla, author of The Someday Birds
  • "A must-read." —Wesley King, author of OCDaniel
  • "A gripping debut novel." —Carol Weston, Girls' Life columnist and author of Speed of Life
Check out this celebrity review of After Zero from Kimberly Williams-Paisley (of Father of the Bride fame)!