Clues to the Universe
HarperCollins · Print & ebook · January 12, 2021
A Middle Grade pick for readers exploring Clues to the Universe.
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- Who it’s for
- A middle-grade story pairs grief, friendship, and questions big enough for the universe.
- Themes
- Grief and family loss, Unlikely friendship, Parent-child separation
- Genres
- Loss & Grief, Friendship, Bullying
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Start with this bookAbout this book
This stellar debut by APALA Award–winning author Christina Li about losing and finding family, forging unlikely friendships, and searching for answers to big questions will resonate with fans of Erin Entrada Kelly and Rebecca Stead. The only thing Rosalind Ling Geraghty loves more than watching NASA launches with her dad is building rockets with him. When he dies unexpectedly, all Ro has left of him is an unfinished model rocket they had been working on together.
Continue reading
Benjamin Burns doesn’t like science, but he can’t get enough of Spacebound, a popular comic book series. When he finds a sketch that suggests that his dad created the comics, he’s thrilled. Too bad his dad walked out years ago, and Benji has no way to contact him. Though Ro and Benji were only supposed to be science class partners, the pair become unlikely friends, and Ro even figures out a way to reunite Benji and his dad. But Benji hesitates, which infuriates Ro. Doesn’t he realize how much Ro wishes she could be in his place? As the two face bullying, grief, and their own differences, Benji and Ro try to piece together clues to some of the biggest questions in the universe. A Washington Post KidsPost Summer Book Club selection * A Junior Library Guild Selection * A Bank Street Best Book of the Year
Space and Staying Close
A middle-grade story pairs grief, friendship, and questions big enough for the universe.
Come here for
- Rocket-building and NASA launches alongside an unlikely science-class friendship
- Two kids facing bullying, loss, and complicated feelings about family
Expect
- Space-minded curiosity threaded through questions of loss and belonging
- Comic-book clues and a friendship tested by different kinds of grief
Where it sits
| Friendship | 76% |
|---|---|
| Loss & Grief | 68% |
| Bullying | 35% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Art & Architecture
- Stories About Divorce
- Parent-Child Stories
- Historical Fiction
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Space & Astronauts
- Magic & Fantasy
- Loss & Grief
- Friendship
- Authors
- Christina Li
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- January 12, 2021
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Grief and family loss · Unlikely friendship · Parent-child separation
- Reading lane
- Art & Architecture