Gabe in the After
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Shannon Doleski’s Gabe in the After is a post-apocalyptic upper middle-grade adventure with a first-crush romance, perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead and Shannon Hale.
It’s 14-year-old Gabe Sweeney’s day to check for survivors . . .
Two years after a global pandemic, 20 survivors (most of them children) have relocated from their coastal Maine island full of sad memories to a mansion on a small, neighboring island where they have school and farm chores. When Gabe and his dog, Mud, find Relle Douglas alone in the woods on the mainland, they take the strange new girl across the channel to live with them.
Relle changes the island with her hopeful attitude. She tells big stories and makes plans for activities like talent shows. Despite a growing crush, Gabe doesn’t quite understand the point of it all; why have a talent show at the end of the world? But when tragedy strikes, Gabe sets out on a dangerous journey to try and find other survivors where the world might be normal. Like Before.
Lightly inspired by Anne of Green Gables, Gabe in the After is a moving and heartfelt story about the end of the world—and what perseveres through it.
“A surprisingly generous and perhaps even realistic look at humanity . . . [Readers will] likely find solace and encouragement as Gabe and Relle move toward a future that offers little safety but plenty of wonder.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (Starred Review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the two years since "the summer the world ended," white Gabe Sweeney hasn't met anyone outside his small, racially diverse Maine island community, but he still looks forward to checking the mainland woods for survivors each week. Enjoying the quiet and daydreaming about the prestige of finding someone, the practical and conscientious 14-year-old meets a girl about his age, and takes her to the island that he shares with 17 other children and two adults following a population-decimating pandemic. Pale, red-haired Relle Douglas proves whimsically garrulous, enlivening the community with an imaginary best friend and an idea for a talent show, and Gabe soon develops an intense crush. When tragedy strikes, Gabe, a doctor's son and the island community's de facto medical expert, blames himself, subsequently lashing out at Relle. Devastated by their falling out, and intent on gaining further medical expertise and finding more survivors, Gabe travels with another child to a Massachusetts military base, encountering mild danger along the way. With occasional nods to Anne of Green Gables, Doleski's (Mary Underwater) postapocalyptic survival story weaves cozy and romantic elements with a haunting sense of loss, detailing the swift, shattering changes that can come with disaster. Ages 10–14.