Overview

One of The New York Times' 16 New Books to Watch for in March One of Publishers Weekly's Most Anticipated Books of the Year One of Newsweek's Most Highly Anticipated Books of The Year One of Buzzfeed's Most Anticipated Books the Year Based on the acclaimed series--a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize--an intimate account of the devastating effects of gun violence on our nation's children, and a call to action for a new way forward In 2017, seven-year-old Ava in South Carolina wrote a letter to Tyshaun, an eight-year-old boy from Washington, DC. She asked him to be her pen pal; Ava thought they could help each other. The kids had a tragic connection--both were traumatized by gun violence. Ava's best friend had been killed in a campus shooting at her elementary school, and Tyshaun's father had been shot to death outside of the boy's elementary school. Ava's and Tyshaun's stories are extraordinary, but not unique. In the past decade, 15,000 children have been killed from gunfire, though that number does not account for the kids who weren't shot and aren't considered victims but have nevertheless been irreparably harmed by gun violence. In Children Under Fire, John Woodrow Cox investigates the effectiveness of gun safety reforms as well as efforts to manage children's trauma in the wake of neighborhood shootings and campus massacres, from Columbine to Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Through deep reporting, Cox addresses how we can effect change now, and help children like Ava and Tyshaun. He explores their stories and more, including a couple in South Carolina whose eleven-year-old son shot himself, a Republican politician fighting for gun safety laws, and the charlatans infiltrating the school safety business. In a moment when the country is desperate to better understand and address gun violence, Children Under Fire offers a way to do just that, weaving wrenching personal stories into a critical call for the United States to embrace practical reforms that would save thousands of young lives.

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9781799947127

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Reviews

Cox shines a light on America's gun violence crisis through deeply personal and profoundly affecting stories of the children who live with its everlasting repercussions. -- Newsweek A hard-hitting report...Cox makes an impeccable case for how to solve the problem and why it's essential to do so now. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) Cox adapts his groundbreaking Pulitzer Prize-nominated series in this harrowing and illuminating account. -- BuzzFeed Cox writes with a searing clarity, laying bare the uniquely American tragedy that has traumatized generations of our children and, by our continued inaction, threatens to traumatize generations more. -- Wesley Lowery, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of They Can't Kill Us All

In Children Under Fire, one of our most gifted storytellers and meticulous reporters probes the unspeakable toll that this nation's unabated gun violence exacts of our most vulnerable: our kids. John Woodrow Cox writes with a searing clarity, laying bare the uniquely American tragedy that has traumatized generations of our children and, by our continued inaction, threatens to traumatize generations more. -- Wesley Lowery, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement

Author Information

"John Woodrow Cox is a staff writer at the Washington Post. He previously worked at the Tampa Bay Times and at the Valley News in New Hampshire. He has taught narrative writing at the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications, and currently serves on the Department of Journalism's Advisory Council. Cox has won Scripps Howard's Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest Storytelling, the Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma, and Columbia Journalism School's Meyer ""Mike"" Berger Award for human-interest reporting, among other honors. Graham Halstead, an Earphones Award and Audie Award-winning narrator, is a professionally trained actor and voice artist. As an actor, he has worked internationally in Edinburgh and London, as well as at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. His youthful, easy-flowing voice can be heard on television and radio voicing spots for Airborne and Allegra."

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