Next Time There’s a Pandemic

In Next Time There’s a Pandemic, the author reflects on her experiences during the 2020 lockdowns and the confusing, isolating months that followed. Shraya begins by commenting on how she believed 2020 was going to go, based on her plans and goals from January of that year and contrasts it with the reality of the lockdowns. This alone could inspire a classroom discussion or take-home assignment on how students felt about the pandemic. Each of the book’s five short chapters focus on one point of advice the author would hope to follow in a similar future situation. Shraya reflects on her privilege throughout the crisis, and affirms that reciting how you should be thankful is not enough—that we as humans need to connect and commiserate over our struggles instead of keeping them bottled up because “others have it worse.” A section at the end invites readers to list their own commitments for the next pandemic, in a similar reflective fashion.