Laura Schaefer

Abby Monroe has just moved to Florida. Saying she doesn't want to be there is an understatement. Her mother works for SpaceNow and she never gets to spend much time with her. Her mom seems like all she is interested in is making sure her daughter follows in her footsteps. Abby only wants to go back to Pennsylvania and her friends. Then she meets two young boys, Bix and Adam. They need her help. They need a place to hide out and food. They need her to believe that they come from the future. Abby agrees. Things seem to be more difficult than she imagined. Bix and Adam are in her time trying to locate the exact time and place that Adam's sister will arrive. This is important for Adam's sister and all of this time period.

I loved this book. We learn why Abby's mom is so caught up in her work. We learn why Abby's mom and her aunt have not spoken in years. We learn the real underlying reason they moved to Florida. The twists and turns kept me reading non-stop. The lessons learned by all characters and what the author's message was to readers is what made this book so wonderful. I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this book.… (mais)

Anxious twelve-year-old Abby is not thrilled when her mom moves their family from Pennsylvania - where Abby went to a small school with friends she'd known all her life - to Florida, where she goes to a huge public school, so that her mom can take a dream job working for SpaceNow. When Abby meets two boys, Adam and Bix, who claim to be from the future, it doesn't take a great leap for her to believe them, and when she gets a glimpse of their world, she agrees to help them - if they'll take her back with them when they go. Abby has to enlist the help of her great-aunt Nora, from whom her mother is estranged. As Abby gets to know Nora, and is befriended by her school mentor, Juliana, she wonders if she really wants to leave everyone she knows behind.

Abby's climate anxiety and her desire to escape what she thinks of as a dystopia will likely resonate with a lot of similarly concerned young readers, but the book ends on a hopeful note.

See also: Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King, Haven Jacobs Saves the Planet by Barbara Dee

Quotes (from ARC)

...happy I sound somewhat normal instead of like the walking anxiety attach that I actually am. (33)

Humans learned long ago that the most truly fulfilled individuals are Creators, Explorers, and Caretakers. Consequently, these are the three main job categories in Avia. (74)

Real progress toward a better future, Mom believes, comes from iterative work: Improve, test, repeat. (77)

It's kind of nauseating to consider all the ways the twenty-first century is unfair in my favor. I feel like I often do: that I should be doing something, doing more, taking some action to make things better, but I don't know where to start or how to get to the root of it all. (87)

"Anxiety is...part of being human....Especially when there are good reasons to worry. You're probably just paying attention more than a lot of people." (Nora, 115)

"...problems do have solutions if we all put our minds to them." (Abby's mom Anna, 126)

"Sometimes, in regular life, I feel like I'm hurting someone or something just by existing." (Abby to Adam, 150)

"The worst thing you can do with your anger is nothing." (Nora to Abby, 204)

All I can do is try hard to make things better, to treat others well, and to ask for help when I need it. (262)… (mais)

Confession: I'd forgotten the book blurb specifics I'd seen months before. But on account of the book cover, I imagined that most (or maybe half?) of this middle grade sci-fi story would take place in the future and/or on another planet.

So, given that all but a few moments of this story actually take place in present-day USA, my expectations took somewhat of a hit. My interest hovered at a mild level through most of the read, dipping during some of Abby's ordinary experiences and also through some of the paragraphs and pages of info about the space program.

But then, the last quarter or so of the novel? I loved it. Even if I didn't find Abby's main friend from the future as interesting as his younger sidekick, and one or two of the eventual character breakthroughs didn't quite feel earned to me, I loved the overall culmination.

And in one of those late moments, when Abby says "because I already have"—well, I won't spoil the ending by explaining. But it resonated with me so much that I could have hurled the book across the room. In a good way.

Gah! Moments like that never get old to this bibliophile.… (mais)

For me, this book was just OK. I thought the premise was interesting and original but I'm not so sure the author took advantage of that. I was also excited to discover that Abby, the main character, suffered from anxiety about the future of the world. Again, I felt that the author could have expounded on this more and showed ways that Abby could have dealt with her dystopian fear in more detail. The writing was well done but I didn't get a lot of emotion from the characters. I also found that some pieces of the story didn't add up and that the kids didn't really act their age, so a bit unbelievable at times. It was a fairly quick read and did throw in a lot of space facts. I think a middle schooler who loves space will enjoy this book. 3 stars.… (mais)