review and a pairing: All the Noise At Once

Title: All the Noise At Once
Author: DeAndra Davis
Date: Atheneum; April 2025
Main Character: Aiden Wright
young adult; coming of age
review based on advanced copy

Libraries are extending typical book groups by combining the discussion with some sort of activity. Books are excellent ways to build community — something that’s quite valuable in these contentious times. Talking about a book helps us build understandings, develop empathy, and grow intellectually. Pairing discussions with activities like puzzles, crafts, theater outings or hikes can extend community and further reduces stress. This extended time together can allow participants to further process the book or reinforce relationships developed during the discussion. Most important is that it’s fun!

Reflecting on this reminded me how I used to do pairings with reviews. I’m going to return to that for a while, pairing various activities, movies, or pieces of artwork with books to help provide examples of how book groups might engage around a text. First, let’s dive into All the Noise at Once. I’ll kick things off with a fun activity that loosely ties into the book, but is a joy all on its own.

All the Noise at Once by Deandra Davis released on 15 April. Davis, first-generation Jamaican American, is an autistic, Black, neurodivergent, married, mother of two. She brings it all to this debut novel, including a growing love of football, so she can do the work to tear down walls and help build a better world.

The novel, told in the first-person voice of Aiden Wright, a Black high school student, allows readers to perceive the world through his autistic lens. Readers follow the character’s development as his world expands by getting a job, playing football, and meeting Isabella.

In his ever-present awareness of how he is positioned because of his autism, Aiden begins to find ways to liberate himself from the expectations of others with regard to his disability, but after an incident involving football teammates and the local police, he and his brother are forced to realize what racism looks like and how they are limited by it. Aiden and his brother, Brandon, have a loving codependent relationship that in some ways lead to that incident. Afterwards, both of the young men begin to examine their relationships, but most significantly their relationship with each other.

While theirs is the book’s central relationship, relationships throughout the story are constructed to have reader’s exploring how we can best express love to others. When does protecting someone because we love them turn into something harmful? How do Black parents protect their children when racism is so pervasive?

“We know it’s hard for you to understand, Aiden. It’s hard even for us to understand sometimes, but we had to do things this way. We’ve always protected ourselves this way, for generations—even more so with dad and I being immigrants. You have two uncles who can’t even come stateside anymore since they got departed,” Mom says now. “You know how wary we have to be of law enforcement, and the only way to really be safe is to keep doing what we’re doing.”

“What we are doing does not work. It just makes us quiet,” I say now. “People still get arrested. Do you know that Brandon feels like he needs to be perfect? What if he had gotten shot? If he had died, he would have died trying to be that: perfect and quiet.” (p. 270)

Davis’ characters aren’t clichés enacting scenes we’ve read too often. Carter, Ms. Findley, Coach Davis, Marcia… are supporting characters who are also learning throughout the story. They display compassion and empathy.

As serious as this book sounds, there are so many precious moments, like scenes between Isabella and Aiden. And there’s this game that’s like the dozens but with animals that the brothers play.

“I guess I will just radiate heat from my ears like a jackrabbit to cool down,” I say now.
“Nah, you gotta vibrate you’re your throat like a quail. That’s where the real cooldown kicks in,” Brandon replies.
“I will see your throat vibration and raise you a spinal regurgitation.”
“Spinal regurgitation?” Brandon’s face twists into a mix of a smile and horror. “Ostrich?”
I shake my head. “Pelicans.”
“I always knew they were weird,” Brandon says with a laugh. (p. 22)

This leads me to consider pairing one game that’s on the same level of foolery, and that’s Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza.

I would add decks of this card game as well as a copy of this book to public and school libraries. Should the be considered for libraries? Yes. While there is one policer officer guilty of misconduct, there are good ones in the book, too. His actions lead to a real moral dilemma and that is in line with the book’s them. Carter, a childhood friend of Brandon and Aiden, had a meaningful discussion that allows readers to know the reasons behind his behavior. The book delivers important life lessons while examining current issues with depth and purpose.

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