50 pages • 1 hour read
What to Say Next
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
What to Say Next (2017) is the second young adult novel by American author and lawyer Julie Buxbaum. Buxbaum’s first two novels were for adults, but she received greater attention for her young adult debut, 2016’s Tell Me Three Things. What to Say Next was named Best Young Adult Novel of the Year by PopSugar. The novel addresses themes of grief, self-discovery, and neurodivergent identity.
This guide refers to the Delacorte 2017 e-book edition.
Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss grief, death of a parent, bullying, death threats, suicidal ideation, anti-fat bias, and use of ableist slurs.
Plot Summary
David Drucker, who identifies as non-neurotypical, is shocked when Kit Lowell sits at his lunch table. Kit is relatively popular, and David has always sat alone, so he feels uncertain of how to approach this social interaction. He abruptly references the recent death of Kit’s father, Robert.
Kit is surprised that she finds David’s bluntness refreshing; she has struggled to know how to relate to her friends Annie and Violet since her father’s death. Later, she walks out in the middle of her physics class. David follows, finding himself suddenly interested in Kit.
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