49 pages • 1-hour read
Not Nothing
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Chapters 23-31Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section contains discussion of death and violence.
Chapter 23 Summary: “No!”
Alex actually starts looking forward to his meetings with the social worker, because he gets to talk about everything he is learning about the residents. The social worker commends Alex’s work at Shady Glen, including standing up for Ginny and Dickie, but Alex still feels like he isn’t doing anything overly special.
The social worker mentions asking some residents, particularly Josey, for letters of reference to give to the judge on Alex’s court date in September. Alex hates being reminded of it and hates the idea of having to tell anyone, especially Josey, about what he did. When the social worker mentions the word “opportunity,” Alex tells the social worker why he hates the word. He explains that when he told his school he was hungry and needed food, they told him he had opened up “opportunities” for help. What that meant, in the end, was losing his mother.
Josey continues to share stories of his past. He tells of how he lived in the forced labor camp called Plaszow, in which there were gallows for hanging prisoners and a mass grave for the bodies. He was forced to work in extreme conditions, and quickly began to lose hope of his life ever being different again. Josey lost weight and rarely finished the tiny portions of food he was given. Adek, who was in the same camp, tried to encourage him to eat, but Josey still felt hateful toward him. When Adek revealed that he had been in contact with Olka, and that they were both part of an underground resistance called Zegota, it occurred to Josey that he was the only one not standing up for himself anymore. Hearing that Olka was alive did give him hope, but it was a frustrating hope at first.
Later, Adek snuck a guard shirt and a needle into the barracks and gave it to Josey, telling him to fix it. Gradually, Adek brought more things for Josey to fix, and Josey noticed that he started getting fed more and hurt less. One morning, Adek drew a map in the dirt and instructed Josey to go to a marked spot. That night, Josey went to that spot and dug, and found a box with fabrics and several sewing tools inside. He knew it was from Olka, and knew that sewing could once again save his life, but he was not yet sure exactly how.
Chapter 24 Summary: “A Start”
Alex and Maya-Jade say goodbye to Josey and discuss what they heard that day. Maya-Jade wonders what happens to Olka in the end, but Alex already has a feeling he knows the answer and doesn’t want to talk about it.
Alex goes over to Maya-Jade’s house again, and finally meets her other mom, Laura. When Laura mentions going to the fair because she finally finished chemo, Maya-Jade insists she stay home, worried she will get sick. Maya-Jade feels guilty for putting her worries on her mother, and Alex starts to wonder if his own mother ever worried about him at all. Maya-Jade decides she wants to be brave like Olka and changes her mind, telling her mother to come to the fair after all.
Josey’s stories continue. Josey began sewing the fabric he was given and discovered he was creating a Nazi uniform. When one garment was finished, he would return to the spot, bury it, and later find more fabric there. Eventually, the uniform was complete, and Olka returned with it, wearing her own prisoner disguise. Josey was glad to see her but horrified at the risk she was taking by willingly walking into the camp.
Olka convinced Josey to be brave and act as though he were ordered to transfer her, even giving him fake papers with a stamp on them to prove the order. Josey shook as he and Olka walked through the camp and approached the gate. There, the young guard attempted to question Josey, but Josey managed to fake superiority and convince the guard to let them out. Together, he and Olka left the camp.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Commander Calvados”
Alex goes to Maya-Jade’s house again and gets to participate in her family’s Shabbat. She asks Alex if she can share Josey’s story with her parents, and Alex tells Maya-Jade that it’s her story too. Maya-Jade’s parents are amazed by Josey’s admissions and everything he and Olka did, and they decide to pray together to express their gratitude for being alive.
Later, Laura invites Alex to spend the night, and Alex realizes he has to explain that he lives with his aunt and uncle. He figures it is time to be brave, and tells Maya-Jade about all that led up to him living with them. Maya-Jade hugs him and does not judge him, and Alex hugs her back. They spend the rest of the evening watching their favorite show, Fornax Force, and Alex finally realizes why he recognizes the woman in the social worker’s photograph: She is the main character in the episode, and a quick internet search confirms that the social worker is indeed married to her.
Alex starts to think about a future beyond his court date. He realizes that if he wants that brighter future, he will need to let people in and ask for help. He hopes they will see him for his good deeds, rather than his mistakes.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Fair”
Alex and Maya-Jade wake up the next morning to pancakes and strawberries and then head off to the fair for the day. They’re overwhelmed with glee and excitement as they explore everything the fair has to offer, and it feels like an absolutely perfect day. Alex feels like part of the family and allows himself to start hoping that this goodness might last.
In the evening as the fireworks begin, Maya-Jade sees a friend from school, and mentions that that friend knows Toby, the boy that Alex hurt. Suddenly, Alex sees Toby in the crowd as well.
Chapter 27 Summary: “The Worst Thing”
At this point, Josey backs up the story to several months before, when Alex first moved in with his aunt and uncle. He was behind in math after moving schools so many times, but not because he wasn’t good at it. The school assigned him a tutor: a boy named Toby, who was a year younger than Alex but in the grade above him. Alex disliked Toby for this reason, and because Toby represented everything wrong in Alex’s life at the moment. Toby also happened to be queer.
After several months of tutoring, Alex wasn’t improving and instead refusing to do his math at all. Toby made a request to be given a new student, adding that he thought Alex might harbor anti-gay bias. During their last tutoring session, Toby announced that he had given up on Alex and said he was “nothing” to him. Filled with frustration about his life, Alex picked up a baseball bat and struck Toby’s head with it, causing a major injury. Due to Toby’s previous comment that Alex might be anti-gay, the incident was labelled a hate crime.
Chapter 28 Summary: “The Wrong Right Thing”
When Maya-Jade realizes what Alex did, she looks at him with horror and disappointment. Alex leaves the fair, thinking about everyone he has hurt, including Maya-Jade.
By the following day, everyone at Shady Glen knows what Alex did, and Mrs. Winston tells the social worker that Alex cannot come back. The social worker cries, feeling almost like he has failed. He decides to take Alex back to Shady Glen one last time anyway, because he knows that Shady Glen is where many of the people who love Alex are, and that is where Alex should be.
Chapter 29 Summary: “The Boy’s Story”
Alex goes to see Josey with the social worker and decides it is time to tell Josey what he did. Afterwards, he cries, and opens up space for Josey to finish his own story. Josey tells of how he and Olka left the camp and she took him to his Babci’s cottage. Along the way, they had their own personal marriage ceremony.
When they got to the cottage, Olka admitted she could not stay because there were so many more people to save. Josey could not even bring himself to thank her for teaching him to sew or to express his love for her, and he never saw her again.
Chapter 30 Summary: “Three Things”
Alex and Josey cry together, and Josey admits he never found out what happened to Olka. He searched for her for years, but never found her. Instead, Josey moved to the United States with Adek. They started a business together, and Josey became an honorary member of Adek’s own family as it grew. When Adek died, Josey moved into Shady Glen, and stopped talking until he met Alex.
When Alex asks why Josey picked him, Josey admits that he did not—Olka did. Staring at her portrait, it becomes clear to Josey what he must do.
Chapter 31 Summary: “Not Nothing”
September arrives, along with Alex’s court date. Josey had asked Alex to do three things, the first of which was to write letters of apology to those he has hurt. Alex wrote a letter to Maya-Jade, his aunt, and Toby. Josey also had Mrs. Winston write a letter for Alex, detailing all he had done for Shady Glen and all that Josey knew he had the potential to do, if only he were given the opportunity. He also asked Mrs. Winston to let Alex come back to Shady Glen, as his dying wish. The next thing Josey did was ask Alex to take Olka’s portrait with him, because Josey felt that Alex and Olka had in a sense become one. He also wanted Alex to remember that people could change.
The social worker calls Maya-Jade, hoping to convince her to come to Alex’s court date. He explains that as a trans man, he grew up feeling rejected by almost everyone, and tells Maya-Jade that she was part of the reason that inspired Alex to change.
At the court room, Alex is surrounded by supporters, including his aunt and uncle, Maya-Jade, and many of the staff and residents of Shady Glen. The judge decides to grant him the time needed to prove he has changed, and orders him to two more years of community service at Shady Glen. Alex takes the opportunity, knowing it can only bring good.
Josey dies knowing that he finally rose to the occasion of his own life “by helping Alex rise to his” (269).
Chapters 23-31 Analysis
In the final section, Alex embraces Finding Redemption through Community both by opening up to others and accepting full responsibility for how his actions have affected people like Toby. As he grows closer to Maya-Jade and her family, he decides to stop letting fear hold him back, opening up to them about his living situation and why he has ended up doing community service. Later, he continues embracing his vulnerability by even sharing with Josey what he did. Although Alex still worries that others will reject him for what he did, he now knows that honesty and vulnerability hold the keys to forging truly meaningful bonds with others. Instead of running from the fear of rejection, as he did for much of the novel, he instead confronts it directly, demonstrating his emotional growth.
Alex also understands and accepts how his bad decisions have impacted others. In writing an apology letter to Toby and others, Alex begins to confront what he did and work through it in a more mature way. In response, Maya-Jade, the social worker, and the residents of Shady Glen offer their support to Alex during his court date, securing his return to Shady Glen. Alex is heartened by these developments: He realizes that others really do care about him, and he also embraces his ongoing service at Shady Glen as a welcome opportunity to continue growing and connecting with others. His attitude at the end of the novel forms a marked contrast to how he felt at the beginning: Once a sullen, angry boy who hated the thought of even being at Shady Glen, he is now a much more mature individual who feels full of love and belonging towards the Shady Glen community.
The Impact of Storytelling and Intergenerational Bonding also reaches its culmination in this section. While most of the novel has featured Josey telling his stories to Alex and helping guide the young boy towards better behavior, this section features Alex sharing his own story and impacting Josey in turn. After exchanging their stories, Alex and Josey cry together, showing how the two characters are united in their empathy and love for one another. Even more significantly, after hearing Alex’s story, Josey feels inspired to rise to the occasion and take action himself: He helps Alex with preparing for his court date, even ultimately securing Alex’s return to Shady Glen. His success in helping Alex brings Josey a sense of satisfaction and peace that has long eluded him, helping him feel like he has lived up to Olka’s example of courage at long last.
The motif of sewing appears again in these final chapters, reinforcing the importance of agency and connection. Josey’s use of sewing as a means of survival is echoed in his final act of sewing a Nazi uniform, symbolizing both his physical and emotional escape from captivity. Olka and Adek’s support plays a crucial role in his escape, with sewing acting as a metaphor for how individual actions, like individual stitches, come together to create an important whole. Just as each stitch in the uniform gradually provides the outfit necessary for Josey’s escape, each action Olka and Adek perform to assist Josey adds up to important resistance against the Nazi regime, ensuring that evil will not triumph.
The symbol of the painting also appears one last time in this section. In a key moment, Josey gives Alex the painting of Olka, symbolizing how people can change and how Olka’s spirit lives on within him. This act serves as both a reminder of the past and a sign of hope for Alex’s future, as he begins to understand that, like Olka, he too can change and rise to the occasion of his own life.
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