# Not Nothing

**Author:** Gayle Forman
**Grade range:** Grades 4–8
**Age range:** 9–13
**First published:** 2024
**Page count:** 288
**Genre:** Middle Grade Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9781665943277`
**ISBN-10:** `1665943270`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/not-nothing
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

After twelve-year-old Alex does something terrible, he is sent to do community service at a senior home, where he forms an unlikely bond with Josey, a 107-year-old Holocaust survivor whose story changes him. Gayle Forman's novel is about guilt, redemption, and the power of listening. Nominated for the 2025-2026 Maine Student Book Award (grades 4-8), the statewide reading list Maine students read from and vote on.

## Themes

- redemption
- friendship
- history
- empathy

## Content notes

- Holocaust
- violence

## Where this book is assigned

### Great Stone Face Book Award

- **recommended** · 4th grade · New Hampshire — [source: Children's Librarians of New Hampshire / NH Library Association — Great Stone Face Book Award (student-choice, grades 4-6; 20 nominees/year, annual since 1980). Winner + nominee rolls via the LibraryThing award/757 mirror of the official sponsor records.](https://www.librarything.com/award/757/Great-Stone-Face-Book-Award)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · New Hampshire — [source: Children's Librarians of New Hampshire / NH Library Association — Great Stone Face Book Award (student-choice, grades 4-6; 20 nominees/year, annual since 1980). Winner + nominee rolls via the LibraryThing award/757 mirror of the official sponsor records.](https://www.librarything.com/award/757/Great-Stone-Face-Book-Award)
- **recommended** · 6th grade · New Hampshire — [source: Children's Librarians of New Hampshire / NH Library Association — Great Stone Face Book Award (student-choice, grades 4-6; 20 nominees/year, annual since 1980). Winner + nominee rolls via the LibraryThing award/757 mirror of the official sponsor records.](https://www.librarything.com/award/757/Great-Stone-Face-Book-Award)
- **recommended** · 7th grade · New Hampshire — [source: Children's Librarians of New Hampshire / NH Library Association — Great Stone Face Book Award (student-choice, grades 4-6; 20 nominees/year, annual since 1980). Winner + nominee rolls via the LibraryThing award/757 mirror of the official sponsor records.](https://www.librarything.com/award/757/Great-Stone-Face-Book-Award)
- **recommended** · 8th grade · New Hampshire — [source: Children's Librarians of New Hampshire / NH Library Association — Great Stone Face Book Award (student-choice, grades 4-6; 20 nominees/year, annual since 1980). Winner + nominee rolls via the LibraryThing award/757 mirror of the official sponsor records.](https://www.librarything.com/award/757/Great-Stone-Face-Book-Award)

### Maine Student Book Award

- **recommended** · 4th grade · Maine — [source: 2025-2026 Maine Student Book Award Reading List (grades 4-8)](https://sites.google.com/view/mainestudentbookaward/home)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · Maine — [source: 2025-2026 Maine Student Book Award Reading List (grades 4-8)](https://sites.google.com/view/mainestudentbookaward/home)
- **recommended** · 6th grade · Maine — [source: 2025-2026 Maine Student Book Award Reading List (grades 4-8)](https://sites.google.com/view/mainestudentbookaward/home)
- **recommended** · 7th grade · Maine — [source: 2025-2026 Maine Student Book Award Reading List (grades 4-8)](https://sites.google.com/view/mainestudentbookaward/home)
- **recommended** · 8th grade · Maine — [source: 2025-2026 Maine Student Book Award Reading List (grades 4-8)](https://sites.google.com/view/mainestudentbookaward/home)

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_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. For the full HTML view with reading-list cross-references, see https://readinglist.school/book/not-nothing._