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Twenty years after its acclaimed original publication, Peter Johnson’s groundbreaking young adult novel returns in a new anniversary edition.
One snowy night in Buffalo, four teenagers leave a party in a car driven by a drunk and increasingly reckless friend. Then something happens.
For the novel’s unforgettable narrator, nothing is ever simple. Haunted by the death of his mother, the disappearance of his father, and an anxious mind that turns every experience into a flood of questions, memories, quotations, and possibilities, he struggles to understand not only what happened that night, but what has happened to his life.
What follows is a powerful and darkly funny novel about grief, family, friendship, guilt, love, fear, and the often-impossible search for truth.
This 20th anniversary edition brings a remarkable book back to readers who remember it, and introduces a new generation to a novel that asks the question at the center of every difficult story:
What happened?
Originally published in 2007 to starred reviews and critical acclaim, and named by the head YA reviewer at Booklist as the “most gorgeously written YA novel of 2007,” Peter Johnson’s What Happened remains today a fiercely original novel for readers of all ages.
Booklist Starred Review
"Believe, believe," the unnamed young narrator of this extraordinary first novel tells himself. But in what? His mother is dead, his father has abandoned both him and his older brother, Kyle, and now the two have been involved, as passengers, in a hit-and-run accident. Should they go to the police? Or should they obey the wealthy father of the boy who was driving and remain silent? Peter Johnson, an award-winning poet, writes with unusual grace and tenderness about kids who are troubled--and occasionally baffled--by the necessity of moral choice when their lives seem to be nothing but a "combination of catastrophes and dumb decisions." No wonder the narrator is afraid, despite the meds he must take, and frustrated by his search for meaning and something to believe in. The voice that Johnson has given this boy—also a poet—is breathtakingly good, each word conspiring with every other word to create an irresistibly seductive tone that is a haunting combination of sadness and fragile hope. Fans of Robert Cormier will welcome this similarly satisfying invitation to reflect on religion, reality, and reasons for getting out of bed in the morning. Michael Cart
Honors and Awards:
Booklist, “The most gorgeously written YA novel of 2007”; Best New Books for the Classroom, honored by Book Links; Books for the Teen Age, New York Public Library; Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, Grades 7-12; Book of the Year for Rhode Island High Schools from The Alliance for the Study and Teaching of Adolescent Literature (ASTAL); and A Highly Recommended Book from the Boston Authors Club.
Peter Johnson has published seven books of prose poems, six novels, two collections of short stories, two books of essays, and he’s edited three anthologies of prose poetry. His poetry and fiction have received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Rhode Island Council on the Arts, and his second book of prose poems was awarded the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. More information, along with interviews and videos, can be found at peterjohnsonauthor.com and on his Substack site at johnsonp.substack.com. His most recent books are While the Undertaker Sleeps: Collected and New Prose Poems (MadHat Press, 2023) and I’m Old, Not Dead: Dispatches from the Desk of an Aging Poet, a book of hybrid essays (BlazeVOX, 2026).
Book Information:
· Paperback: 148 pages
· Binding: Perfect-Bound
· Publisher: BlazeVOX [books]
· ISBN: 978-1-60964-557-1
$18
