Cox’s Children Under Fire: An American Crisis lays bare the human cost of things that cannot be counted when it comes to children and gun violence. Statistics on this issue have become so familiar that many Americans have become numb to the society they describe. On average, one child is shot every hour; over the past decade roughly 30,000 children and teenagers have been killed by gunfire — recently eclipsing cancer as their second-leading cause of death ... These children are the focus of Cox’s book, which makes their lived reality vivid and distressing by concentrating on two who are dealing with trauma after gun violence claimed a loved one ... The other element for which there can be no accounting in this engaging book is trust. Nonfiction of this kind cannot be crafted from a few phone calls and fleeting visits. It comes through an investment, both human and professional, that grants the writer a glimpse into the lives of people at their most vulnerable; they open up only if they feel confident the writer will do their stories justice. Earning their confidence takes time. We see Cox’s investment pay off when he witnesses one of Ava’s tantrums, sparked by her mother asking her not to stand on the couch ... Opting to be descriptive rather than prescriptive, he draws a painful, critical picture of what a society with virtually unfettered access to lethal weapons looks like through children’s eyes instead of lecturing the reader on politics and policy ... this book demonstrates that the most effective riposte to those who fetishize bearing arms is to bear witness.

Children Under Fire explores the effects of gun violence on American children. It delves into gun suicide, campus lockdowns and school security, and other gun-related issues, but at its heart lie the stories of specific children. What comes across with tragic clarity is that kids suffer terrible collateral costs from gun violence — and that suffering is too often overlooked ... Children Under Fire is an important book and should be read by as many people as possible. But I found it hard to read because I really got to like these children, and it is clear that because of a few seconds of gun violence, their life journeys have become difficult and may not be successful. It is also clear that until we as a country begin to protect our children, like adults in every other high-income country protect their children, there will be thousands more Avas and Tyshauns each year whose lives are shattered by our aberrant gun policies.

Children Under Fire examines gun violence in America, focusing on how it is threatening our nation’s children ...Statistics can be mind-boggling; thankfully, Cox doesn’t overload his book with factoids. Yet he includes two stats: during every hour of the day a child is shot; during this past decade, over 30,000 youngsters and teens have been killed by guns ... This narrative strategy brings us close to these children, and to their quests to live normal lives. We learn about the powerful psychological aftershocks of gun violence and about how each child — and their families and communities — struggle to cope with the senseless deaths. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes legions of villagers to heal that child’s traumas. I encourage readers to read Cox’s book, but it troubles me that he piles on detailed evidence without providing sufficiently strong connecting narrative threads. A non-fiction writer should discover through-lines, craft his material as Joan Didion instructs through a comparison to sculpture ... By shaping his documentation and analysis, an author helps readers navigate the book’s themes as they interweave and tighten into an inevitable conclusion. Cox thinks reporting the flow of events – between children and their families, communities, and in the political arena –is enough and that readers will follow along in the same way they take in a newspaper story. But a book calls for a more complicated architecture, a more nuanced dramatic construction ... Children Under Fire has the potential to sway lawmakers to take action on the gun ownership issue and to also implement safeguards that would help stem gun violence.

Children Under Fire illustrates the devastating, long-term effects of gun violence on children who lose loved ones. Washington Post reporter Cox dutifully shares gun-control statistics that have become wearily familiar, but he also zooms in to examine the personal impact of gun violence on a few specific kids. By some measures, the traumas suffered by the children Cox profiles are fairly (and horrifyingly) mundane, the kind of small-scale gun violence that doesn’t get national headlines. Yet children like Ava and Tyshaun will be grappling with the emotional fallout for the rest of their lives, and their experiences are mirrored by hundreds of thousands of other kids across the country. Children Under Fire is a difficult but important book, refusing to allow its readers to look away from the true human cost of America’s continued failure to protect its children from gun violence.

... absorbing ... at once painful to read but vitally necessary if Americans are to understand the 'widely ignored' epidemic that affects millions in ways we still do not fully understand ... The children’s moving stories, together with views of experienced doctors and other experts, are likely to startle many readers, no matter where they stand on the gun issue ... A strikingly empathetic, well-crafted report, Children Under Fire is an urgent call to sensible action on behalf of our nation’s children.

Cox debuts with a hard-hitting report on the impact of gun violence on American children. Noting that, on average, a child is shot every hour in the U.S. and that 30,000 kids and teenagers have been killed by guns in the last 10 years, Cox argues that America is in the midst of a public health crisis ... The story of pen pals Ava Olsen, who lost her friend and first-grade classmate in a school shooting in 2016, and Tyshaun McPhatter, whose father was killed in 2017, illuminates both the emotional trauma of gun violence and the healing power of friendship for its youngest victims ... Balancing sound research with moving profiles of victims and activists, Cox makes an impeccable case for how to solve the problem and why it’s essential to do so now.

Cox draws from extensive data and from poignant stories ... The author also cogently considers issues surrounding the Second Amendment and investigates the successful attempts by the NRA to influence legislation and research ... A carefully reasoned, compelling, and persuasive study of a crisis that requires immediate attention.

In a stellar debut, Cox expands his Washington Post series on the invisible wounds of children damaged by gun violence, a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing ... [a] powerful report ... With deep sympathy for his young subjects, he probes the roots of—and possible solutions to—the crisis, taking sharp aim at the $3 billion school security market ... his surpassing achievement in this eloquent book is to let children speak for themselves about their grief ... An indispensable contribution to the debate about gun violence.