All We Have Left

by Wendy Mills

Interweaving stories from past and present, All We Have Left follows two girls, Alia and Jesse, who discover that hatred and love have the power to reverberate into the future.

• ISBN10: 1619633434
• ISBN13: 9781619633438
• Publish Date: 9 August 2016
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Imprint: Bloomsbury U.S.A. Children's Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Bianca]

Maybe everybody’s story is important, because 9/11 didn’t just happen to the people who died, it happened to the entire country. People were living their lives, doing everyday things, when suddenly the planes hit, and time ripped into two pages titled “Before 9/11” and “After.” With their clumsy stories, they are saying: “We all felt it. We remember where we were when the world changed.”

— What a beautiful and moving story about 9/11 with voices that feel so authentic. It's a very relevant book with a powerful message that needs to be told: That at the end of it all, all we really have left is a choice: whether to drown in hatred or to spread love. And here's to hoping we'd all just choose the latter eventually...

[whisperingchapters]

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.


I cannot begin to express how this story impacted me, helped me learn, opened my eyes, and made me feel so much. There were moments when I felt I was inside the tower and picture everything in my head. I tried to stop reading this book so I could do my normal life stuff, but this story gripped me so hard and it begged me to keep reading. This was more than I imagined it would be. I knew it would be emotional, but not like this.

A lot of the events that Wendy Mills included in the story are actual events that happened on September 11, 2001. While reading, you know they have to be real. There's no way it could be faked with the rawness of the situations. I even thought the author had been there for the events to be so detailed, but she actually did lots of research and was able to include the tragedies that a few people went through on that day.

"I think bravery is trusting yourself enough to know you can hold on for that one more minute."

One aspect I wasn't expecting of the story was the Muslim side. Let me tell you, I loved that the author added so much of this in the story. She talks about the hatred towards Muslims back in 2001 and in 2016, and the sad truth is that sometimes we judge all of them for just a bunch that committed a crime. We shouldn't judge any of them at all and this story taught me that.

I was happy to see that Ramadan was in this story! I actually learned about this around a month ago, thanks to a friend from Instagram who explained everything to me. To see it in the story and know that everything mentioned was exactly how it's done in real life, filled me with joy because there's truth behind it all. The author didn't just include it for the sake of writing a story. She did her thorough research and it shows because I felt the conviction of the author through her writing.

There are so many life lessons throughout the story, with Alia's life and Jesse's life. I wasn't a fan of Jesse at the beginning. She was ignorant, blaming every Muslim for what had been done to her family, making reckless decisions. Along the way, she's able to see that not all Muslims are mean, that a lot of them are just like her. When the realization happens, you see her slowly develop into a better person.

"When you see a mountain, you either want to go around them, climb over them [...] But the one thing you never can do is ignore them."

All We Have Left conveys a powerful message about acceptance, understanding, and most of all, love and unity. My review will never make this book justice. You have to go in blind and experience everything that this story will make you feel.

I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
This book is a must read, basically. It's incredibly thought provoking, and deals with a lot of difficult issues. Frankly, this is one hell of a brave book to write, and I think Wendy Mills handled it beautifully and with a great amount of respect and reverence.

This isn't an easy book to read, because while the characters are fictional, the events very much are not. They're real, they're haunting, and this book does not sugarcoat them at all. Nor does it sugarcoat the present, and the hatred that Muslims experience because of their religion on a regular basis. I loved Alia as a character more than Jesse, but Jesse's story was powerful and needs to be told. You won't like Jesse, especially at first. You won't like her family, you won't like a lot of her actions. If you're anything like me, this book will make you sad and angry- and that is a very good thing. We should be sad, and we should be angry, and I think this book does a phenomenal job of explaining why.

Jesse's brother Travis was my age. We were a month apart in age- he even was ahead a grade in school like me. There was a passage in this book that hit home, something I have asked myself many times:

"I wonder why it's so important that people recount their own story whenever the subject of 9/11 comes up. I want to yell 'What does it matter where you were? People were dying, my brother was dying, and you were home safe in bed!'"

And the book talks about this. Why it actually is important. This book is basically full of fabulous lessons across the board, all intertwined in an incredibly moving story about how the past and present collide; how these two young women, across religion, ethnicity, and time are ultimately connected. It even debunks myths about Islam as a religion, which I think is incredibly important.

"Close to three thousand people died in pain and terror while the world watched in horror. I thought about what it must have been like that day, to be watching on TV as the towers fell. How could you bear to watch?

How could you bear not to?"

Indeed, Jesse. Indeed.

Bottom Line: I'm not saying any more about this because I think you need to read it for yourself. Whether you have memories of that day like I do, or whether you're a bit too young, you need to read this. All We Have Left reminds us why now, more than ever, we need love and acceptance in place of intolerance and hate.

*Copy provided by publisher for review
**Quotes taken from uncorrected proof, subject to change.