Name: Clues to the Universe
ISBN: 9780063008885

Christina Li

Clues to the Universe

Sarah Sammis

Ro and Benji team up to complete their projects. Together they will build the rocket and enter it in the science fair. They will also search for clues in the comic books to discover the whereabouts of Benji's father.

Their friendship is real and raw and organic. It grows over the course of the novel after the two accidentally swap folders. This is a friendship in the days before texting and cellphones but there is still bullying, rumors, and other middle school nastiness.

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Couple / Family	Uhoria	Interstate	33CC00 

Set in 1983-4 Sacrament/Los Angeles/San Francisco

Kath Lau

Another must-read middle grade fiction! Clues to the Universe follows the story of Ro and Benjie. Ro is trying to finish the model rocket she has started building with her father when he's still alive. Benjie is a comic-book lover and an artist. He believes that the artist/creator of his favorite comic book is his father who walked out on him and his family.

The friendship between Ro and Benjie is so precious. They learned from each other and support each other. I also liked that the adults are present in this book. Both are missing their fathers but they still have their families supporting and caring for them. The author's portrayal of loss and grief is raw and genuine but still accessible for the target audience. This book reminds us that grief has no time limit and everyone deals with it differently. This was an amazing debut and I can't wait to read Li's next books.

This #ownvoices debut 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. 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: Benji helps Ro finish her rocket, and Ro 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 must try to piece together clues to some of the biggest questions in the universe.

Clues to the Universe

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