A heartrending but uplifting tale of twins and their group of friends who are forced to navigate life, relationships, and grief after their world is turned upside down from bestselling, award-winning, and critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Sáenz.
WHEN THE WORLD WAS HAPPY
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers is honored to publish WHEN THE WORLD WAS HAPPY, the final completed novel from Benjamin Alire Sáenz, the #1 New York Times bestselling and legendary author of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.
CheChe knows that he and his twin sister Emma lead an unusual life. They enjoy spending time with their parents and grandparents, love to read, and don’t have a huge circle of friends—and they’re happy. Then, just a few months after they turn seventeen, three gunmen show up one morning at their El Paso, Texas, high school, and everything changes.
CheChe loses a leg, and both he and Emma have friends who die. Suddenly, the world feels like a very different place. But what they find hasn’t changed—or has only gotten deeper—is their love for their family, their close friends, and one another, and as they begin to heal, they create their own little community, one that wields the power of humor, kindness, and hope.
CheChe finds himself doing all kinds of things he never expected from his junior year: relearning to walk, falling in love with the boy he’s nursed a longtime crush on, making friends with a kid he always found intimidating. By the end of this life-changing school year, none of them will be the same, and many of them will have found their voices in ways they never imagined.
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As someone who has been directly affected by gun violence, this novel is one Sáenz held very close to his heart. The author lost his niece, Amy, in a bowling-alley shooting perpetrated by a gunman who was never caught. This experience led him to write this novel, bringing tremendous depth and authenticity to the story.
“We have created a nation of people who grieve the loss of their children,” Sáenz wrote in an Author’s Note published in the book. “Reading about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022 threw me right back into my family’s tragedy and my own trauma. That was when I decided that this was not gonna leave me alone until I wrote about it. I wanted to write a book about how people survive and live through something as senseless as this. I needed to write that book for my family, in memory of Amy, and in solidarity with all the people who have lost their children to violence. We’ll ban a book in a millisecond, but we won’t ban a gun. What is wrong with us? I wish I didn’t live in a world where books like this have to be written. But I do live in this world and I’m not going to run away from my responsibilities. I want to write about things that matter. I want to write to move people. Writing taught me to love people. So writing this book is how I love.”
Featuring the heart, humor, and pathos of Sáenz’s bestselling Aristotle and Dante books (which have sold over 1.1 million copies across formats), this YA novel masterfully blends heavy topics and witty banter. Though we see the characters go through painful experiences and cry along with them, this is an incredibly hopeful and optimistic story that will make you believe in the power of love and friendship.
★ “An emotional snapshot of current events in America ... This story has real-world impact ripped from the headlines of the nation and holds relevance for its themes exploring gun violence, immigration, LGBTQIA+ relationships, and censorship ... A heartrending yet beautiful story about how through tragedy and sorrow it is possible to grow, heal, and find your voice in unimaginable ways.” – School Library Journal, starred review
★ “Vignettes imbued with lightness, humor, and unabashed earnestness appear throughout, illustrating in vivid strokes the ways that love and the will to live prevail ... A lyrical novel about an unforgettable family maintaining their humanity in the aftermath of tragedy.” – Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“A wrenching examination of grief, trauma, and survival in the wake of gun violence ... Elaborate, discerning prose traces the long, uneven aftermath, chronicling CheChe’s contending with PTSD, relearning how to walk, and navigating grief in both a society that expects recovery to be linear and a household that struggles to conceptualize tragedy. Delicate and idealized character interactions, particularly among the Cervantes family, sharply amplify the devastating circumstances. The result is a reflective, meandering interpretation of life after catastrophe.” – Publishers Weekly
Benjamin Alire Sáenz (1954 – 2026) was an author of poetry and prose for adults and teens. He was the first Hispanic winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and a recipient of the American Book Award for his books for adults. He was the author of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, which was a Printz Honor Book, the Stonewall Award winner, the Pura Belpré Award winner, the Lambda Literary Award winner, and a finalist for the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, and its sequel, Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World. His first novel for teens, Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood, was an ALA Top Ten Book for Young Adults and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His second book for teens, He Forgot to Say Goodbye, won the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, the Southwest Book Award, and was named a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. He lived in El Paso, Texas.
“We have created a nation of people who grieve the loss of their children,” Sáenz wrote in an Author’s Note published in the book. “Reading about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022 threw me right back into my family’s tragedy and my own trauma. That was when I decided that this was not gonna leave me alone until I wrote about it. I wanted to write a book about how people survive and live through something as senseless as this. I needed to write that book for my family, in memory of Amy, and in solidarity with all the people who have lost their children to violence. We’ll ban a book in a millisecond, but we won’t ban a gun. What is wrong with us? I wish I didn’t live in a world where books like this have to be written. But I do live in this world and I’m not going to run away from my responsibilities. I want to write about things that matter. I want to write to move people. Writing taught me to love people. So writing this book is how I love.”
Featuring the heart, humor, and pathos of Sáenz’s bestselling Aristotle and Dante books (which have sold over 1.1 million copies across formats), this YA novel masterfully blends heavy topics and witty banter. Though we see the characters go through painful experiences and cry along with them, this is an incredibly hopeful and optimistic story that will make you believe in the power of love and friendship.
★ “Vignettes imbued with lightness, humor, and unabashed earnestness appear throughout, illustrating in vivid strokes the ways that love and the will to live prevail ... A lyrical novel about an unforgettable family maintaining their humanity in the aftermath of tragedy.” – Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“A wrenching examination of grief, trauma, and survival in the wake of gun violence ... Elaborate, discerning prose traces the long, uneven aftermath, chronicling CheChe’s contending with PTSD, relearning how to walk, and navigating grief in both a society that expects recovery to be linear and a household that struggles to conceptualize tragedy. Delicate and idealized character interactions, particularly among the Cervantes family, sharply amplify the devastating circumstances. The result is a reflective, meandering interpretation of life after catastrophe.” – Publishers Weekly
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