You can learn more about her on her website. She already has extensive experience in short fiction and poetry, but debuts as a novelist with After Zero.

She was a writer-in-residence at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts and the Art Commune program in Armenia. Well done Christina Collins.Trigger Warnings: Action & violence brief depiction of Alcohol social anxietyĪbout the Author: Christina Collins graduated with a MFA in creative writing from George Mason University and went on to get a PhD in creative writing from Queen’s University Belfast. It’s also good in general just to bring more awareness to this condition. This would be an awesome book for a child with selective mutism or for a sibling of a child with the condition. “While After Zero is a work of fiction loosely inspired by the Brothers Grimm tale “The Twelve Brothers”, the moments in which Elise experiences anxiety about speaking are inspired by my past adolescent experience with low-profile selective mutism.” I loved this book so much! I don’t have any complaints, it was awesome!” From the Author’s Note: It’s poetic and has some beautiful messages. It had a lot of emotional and physical connections that tweens and teen and even adults could relate too. I read chapters and chapters at a time because it was so intriguing. “The book After Zero is so amazing! Probably one of the best books I’ve ever read! It’s so powerful and really gets you thinking. 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… My daughter’s thoughts: 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.īut 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. Summary: 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. It’s a tween book (ages 8-12) and my 11 year old daughter read it.ĭisclosure: We received a copy of this book in exchange for review. We received the book After Zero by Christina Collins for my daughter to read.