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All Children's Coverage

The title of Laura Bontje’s playful picture book is a palindrome sentence that can be read forward or backward. Palindromes are something that Hannah, protagonist of the delightful Was It a Cat I Saw?, loves: As Bontje tells us, “Anything Hannah could do forwards, she could do backwards too.” Hannah likes palindromes so much that she not only sees them everywhere—she also speaks in them.

Hannah is mostly alone in her palindrome-filled world until she meets a boy who has lost his cat. The feline’s name is Otto, of course! As they search their neighborhood for the missing feline, Hannah finds that her new friend appreciates wordplay just as much as she does. After meeting a variety of people and pets along the way, the two do find Otto, but it then turns out they’ve strayed so far from home that they’ve become lost. Never fear, though: Hannah has a trick up her sleeve to get them home safe and sound. (Astute readers may be able to pick up on the clues that reveal Otto’s journey—and the children’s way home.) Once back home, Hannah finds out her new friend’s name, in a final surprise for readers.

Each palindrome word or phrase is bolded, enabling young readers to easily identify them. Illustrator Emma Lidia Squillari’s muted palette includes gentle pinks, greens and yellows, giving the illustrations a traditional, retro feel. While the two main characters are white, there is some diversity presented in the children and families they encounter on their adventure.

Picture books encouraging wordplay make for fun read-alouds for the preschool crowd, and Was It a Cat I Saw? is an excellent choice for either the home or classroom. Even older readers who consider themselves beyond picture books may still be inspired to follow Hannah and start looking for palindromes everywhere they go.

Picture books encouraging wordplay make for fun read-alouds, and Was It a Cat I Saw? is an excellent, inspiring choice for either the home or classroom.
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Louder Than Hunger is the middle grade debut of John Schu, a 2011 Library Journal Mover and Shaker who has long served as a trusted celebrator of great books for young readers. Readers are assured this novel-in-verse is something special by the foreword by Newbery Medal winner Kate DiCamillo, which insists, “Reading Jake’s story will change you.”

Eighth-grader Jake has an eating disorder. But at the book’s opening, all readers know is the year (1996) and a few of Jake’s favorite things, which include Home Alone, Broadway musicals, and spending time with his grandma. Soon, though, it becomes clear that Jake is struggling, after he writes about The Voice, which tells Jake to exercise more and eat less. The Voice makes Jake think he is “repulsive” and is “louder than the hunger in my stomach.” Before long, Jake isn’t able to hide what’s happening under his baggy overalls and sweatshirts, and he is admitted to Whispering Pines, an adolescent inpatient facility with a department devoted to eating disorders.

Jake is resistant to treatment at first, refusing to participate and even leaving at one point only to find he has to return. Learning his beloved grandma has cancer makes everything that much harder, but after lots of time, support and persistent efforts from caregivers including art therapist Pedro (whose colorful socks grab Jake’s attention) and psychiatrist Dr. Parker, Jake starts to find his way out of the hole in which The Voice has trapped him. Jake’s story, while realistic, is never graphic, and even younger readers will be able to appreciate this important perspective on experiences that are not often discussed. Discovering that Jake’s story is very much also Schu’s personal story adds another dimension to a story that is a vital addition to any bookshelf.

Even younger readers will be able to appreciate Louder Than Hunger’s important perspective on experiences that are not often discussed. John Schu’s middle grade debut has a place as a vital addition to any bookshelf.

When Debbie Fong took a bus tour with her family at age 8, an illuminated underground waterfall struck her fancy—and ultimately inspired the magical Cessarine Lake central to her wonderful graphic novel debut, Next Stop.

The Ignatz nominee and illustrator of the bestselling How to Be a Person has carefully crafted a contemplative tale that invites readers along on middle schooler Pia Xing’s weeklong summer bus trip across the desert. Her dad meant to come along, but a broken leg strands him at home. No worries, though: Pia’s a smart, trustworthy kid, and the tour guide, Caroline, is a family friend. 

Caroline’s plucky daughter, Sam, immediately befriends Pia, and the other travelers are kind and quirky. They share their hopes for what their visit to Cessarine Lake—known for “mak[ing] IMPOSSIBLE things happen”—will bring them, but Pia can’t bring herself to join the conversation. It’s only been a year since a tragic accident plunged her family into grief, and nine months since they moved to a new town for a fresh start. Pia’s mom blames her for what happened, and Pia’s dad is exhausted by his efforts to console his wife while protecting Pia. Perhaps, she hopes, the lake can help her assuage her family’s pain.

Each day of the trip reveals a new array of cleverly conceived tour-stop wonders, including a chicken-shaped hotel, a cactus petting zoo and a watermelon so huge it casts a shadow over the tour bus. Fong’s illustrations are witty and detailed with a strong eye for color. Sepia-toned flashbacks add context to Pia’s present-day emotions, and vividly kooky set pieces become increasingly peculiar the closer the bus gets to its mystical destination. Might magic be afoot after all?

Next Stop is an immersive, empathetic tale of an important journey that sensitively explores grief and loss even as it celebrates friendship and new experiences. Charming and interesting back matter that reveals more about the author’s creative process and her background (including that childhood bus trip!) nicely rounds out a top-notch reading experience.

Next Stop is an immersive, empathetic tale of an important journey that sensitively explores grief and loss even as it celebrates friendship and new experiences.
STARRED REVIEW

Our top 10 books for March 2024

The best new books of the month include highly anticipated follow-ups from Sloane Crosley, Sasha LaPointe and Juan Gómez-Jurado.
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Book jacket image for 49 Days by Agnes Lee

49 Days is an unusual, profoundly moving graphic novel whose elegance belies its complexity and whose emotional impact only grows upon rereading.

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Book jacket image for All That Grows by Jack Wong

In All That Grows, Jack Wong evokes the soft haze of childhood summers where a small stand of trees might be seen as a huge

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Book jacket image for Black Wolf by Juan Gomez-Jurado

The Antonia Scott series is hands-down the best suspense trilogy to come along since Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy.

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A lushly crafted tale of a Maine fishing village cursed by a mermaid, The Moorings of Mackerel Sky is a debut to submerge yourself in.

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Book jacket image for Mrs. Gulliver by Valerie Martin

In Mrs. Gulliver, Valerie Martin offers us an idyll, perhaps even a comedy. All’s well that ends well. We hope.

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Book jacket image for The Phoenix Bride by Natasha Siegel

Natasha Siegel’s beautifully written The Phoenix Bride pushes readers to reconsider what happily ever after looks like.

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Book jacket image for Thunder Song by Sasha LaPointe

Thunder Song is an essay collection full of sensitive meditations and powerful observations from Coast Salish author Sasha LaPointe.

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Book jacket image for The Unclaimed by Pamela Prickett

Gripping and groundbreaking, The Unclaimed investigates the Americans who are abandoned in death and what they tell us about how we treat the living.

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Book jacket image for The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez

Cristina Henriquez’s polyvocal novel is a moving and powerful epic about the human cost of building the Panama Canal. It’s easy to imagine, in these

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Novelist, essayist, humorist and critic Sloane Crosley shows a remarkable willingness to face the dark questions that follow a suicide.

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The best new books of the month include highly anticipated follow-ups from Sloane Crosley, Sasha LaPointe and Juan Gómez-Jurado.
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After your very first novel receives a Newbery Honor and you go on to win two Newbery Medals; after you become a two-time finalist for the National Book Award; after several of your books are adapted for the big screen (not to mention a stage musical and an opera); after you’re named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature; and after your work becomes so commercially successful that you sell more than 40 million copies of your books—after you achieve all of that, what mountains are left for you to climb?

If you’re Kate DiCamillo, the author of such widely adored classics of 21st-century children’s literature as Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux and Flora & Ulysses, you write another excellent novel: Ferris. While many of DiCamillo’s earlier books feature young protagonists who must deal with the loss of a parent or caregiver through distance, divorce or death, Ferris is a story about a child “who has been loved from the minute that she arrived in the world.”

As we chat over Zoom, Ramona the dog snoozing in a chair next to her desk, DiCamillo reveals Ferris’ deeply personal roots. “My father passed away in November of 2019, and my best friend that I grew up with had her first grandchild on December 31 of 2019.” That date was also her father’s birthday. “I was estranged from my father,” she shares, characterizing their relationship as “very difficult.” As DiCamillo looked at photos of the new baby surrounded by parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, she wondered, “What happens if you write a story about a kid that is just so certain and safe” in her family’s love? “Is there a story in that?”

It turns out, there is.

Ferris follows its titular protagonist, Emma Phineas “Ferris” Wilkey, during the eventful summer before she enters fifth grade. She finds herself on the receiving end of an unfortunate new hairstyle from her Aunt Shirley, whose husband has moved out of their house and into Ferris’ family’s basement. Ferris’ father is convinced that raccoons have infested their attic. Her younger sister, the scene-stealing Pinky, has decided that she wants to be featured on a “wanted” poster and has attempted to achieve her goal through petty theft, an incident involving biting and a hilariously unsuccessful stickup at the local bank. Ferris’ best friend, Billy Jackson, keeps playing François Couperin’s “Mysterious Barricades” over and over on every piano he can find. And Ferris’ beloved grandmother, Charisse, has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure but seems more concerned with uncovering what a ghost might want—a ghost she insists has been appearing in her bedroom doorway.

It’s great that we’re meeting, but even if we never met, I would be there with you, because it’s not a story until it’s you and me, together.

That may sound like a lot for one novel to juggle, but DiCamillo balances it all with the ease of an expert orchestra conductor. She does it so well that some readers may be surprised to learn that DiCamillo describes the experience of creating a novel as an act of “writing behind my own back” and “always starting not knowing where I’m going to end up.”

Where Ferris ends up is a climactic dinner sequence straight out of a screwball comedy, in which every single one of the novel’s many narrative threads coalesces. Although it will have readers gasping with laughter, the seeds of the scene lie in more turbulent soil for DiCamillo. When she was growing up, the family table “was often a place of terror” because of her father. As she worked on the scene, DiCamillo says that she thought about the concept of “repetition compulsion, how you keep on doing something until it turns out differently.” Eventually, DiCamillo says that she realized, “Well, here we go, this is the same place I end up every time I write a story: everybody around the table, happy, safe and eating. It surprises me every time.”

DiCamillo hopes that, through her work as an author, she’s able to create spaces that feel this way for readers. “So much of good storytelling is leaving space for the reader.” When she meets children at book events, she tells them, “It’s great that we’re meeting, but even if we never met, I would be there with you, because it’s not a story until it’s you and me, together. That’s what makes it a story, is both of us being there.”

Perhaps this is why DiCamillo becomes visibly emotional when she discusses what it’s like to write against a backdrop of rising censorship and book bans in schools and libraries across the country. “If there is any hope for us,” she says, “it is in being able to see and feel for each other, and books are a vehicle for doing that. Stories help us see each other and help us see ourselves.” She even confesses that she can’t talk about this subject “without weeping, because I know from personal experience and I’ve seen it with other kids: The right book at the right time will save somebody’s life.”

It’s a transformative power that every reader has experienced, but a power that Ferris is only just beginning to understand. Throughout the novel, Ferris reflects on the words that her “vocabulary-obsessed” fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Mielk, taught her. (“All of life hinges on knowing the right word to use at the right time,” Mrs. Mielk claims.) As a child, DiCamillo found it incredibly difficult to learn to read and only succeeded thanks to her mother’s tireless efforts. “I knew that’s what I needed, were those words,” she explains. “What Ferris has—those words, that family, that table to sit around—that’s the way I want the reader to feel too. It’s like, you are invited here, to this place. Now look, you have all those words. You have this table. You have this family. You emerge feeling loved.”

Ferris’ grandmother, Charisse, often tells Ferris that “every good story is a love story.” With Ferris, DiCamillo has created a truly great story, and it’s brimming with love.

Photo of Kate DiCamillo by Dina Kantor.

Love is more abundant than ever before in Ferris, the acclaimed children’s author’s dazzling and hilarious new novel.
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STARRED REVIEW
March 11, 2024

Reading not required: 3 wordless picture books

See the world anew with three wordless picture books that compel the reader to narrate their own story through unique artwork.
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Book jacket image for The Last Zookeeper by Aaron Becker

The Last Zookeeper

The Last Zookeeper is beautifully drawn with spare pencil lines and watercolor washes, and provides a conversation starter for older children who may be wondering ...
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firstdayofmay

The First Day of May

The weather forecaster announces a sunny day from the television; the window is aglow with the bright sunlight; a new page is turned on the ...
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Book jacket image for One Giant Leap by Thao Lam

One Giant Leap

Thao Lam dives into the unknown of a child’s imagination, reminding readers that intrigue lies around every corner and every day is an opportunity for ...
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See the world anew with three wordless picture books that compel the reader to narrate their own story through unique artwork.

Despite her love for logic and science, 12-year-old Sahara Rashad longs for a trip from her home in Queens, New York, to Merlin’s Crossing, a wizard-themed amusement park.

Alas, as Nedda Lewers’ magical coming-of-age adventure Daughters of the Lamp opens, Sahara realizes her dad didn’t find her “Ten Reasons the Rashad Family Should Go to Merlin’s Crossing” list as compelling as the fact that her uncle Omar’s getting married next week, so they’re leaving for a two week visit with her mother’s family in Cairo. Sahara’s frustration at Merlin-deprivation is rapidly overshadowed by nervousness about staying with people she’s never met, in a place she’s never been. All of this is amplified by long-held guilt over her mom’s death while giving birth to her.

In Cairo, when there’s a bizarre break-in at the family store, and a necklace Sahara’s mother left her goes missing, Sahara and her cousin Naima start a mission to find the necklace and reveal the true nature of Omar’s snooty fiancée, Magda. This quest transforms into one to protect their family from ancient evil, in an exciting turn of events that draws poignant connections between present and past—among Sahara, her mother and their ancestors in 10th-century Baghdad.

Daughters of the Lamp is an engaging and entertaining series debut that takes readers on a thrilling journey through magical family history and mystery, while sensitively exploring the nature of identity and thoughtfully examining the ways in which the age-old struggle between good and evil can affect and inspire us all.

Daughters of the Lamp takes readers on a thrilling journey through magical family history and mystery, while sensitively exploring the nature of identity and the age-old struggle between good and evil.
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It’s rare to experience the type of connection to a character that I had with Emma in I Lived Inside a Whale. I Lived Inside a Whale opens on the chaos of a party where everyone is having a blast, except for our irritated little narrator. Emma just wants a quiet spot to read, so she packs up and moves into the mouth of a whale (a reimagined space inside her bedroom). Her calm new home is the perfect place for reading—that is, until an interloper in the form of an excitable little boy slides in on a skateboard, and Emma’s solitude takes an unexpected turn. Written and illustrated by Xin Li, I Lived Inside a Whale is a touching and beautiful tale of finding refuge in stories, discovering unlikely allies and sharing one’s voice with the world.

Li’s evocative watercolor and pencil artwork echoes and expands upon Emma’s emotions. Clogged city streets, dour rain and constant noise reflect Emma’s feelings of needing to escape. An abundance of little details (stuffed animals, a warm reading light, a cup of tea, a perfect amount of books in disarray) makes her whale home enviably cozy. As Emma begins to share with others the wondrous stories and worlds inside her head, Li’s art becomes broadly imaginative: welcoming and expressive, it feels joyfully created and makes one happy. Little eyes will have fun whale-spotting while following along. A few classic storytime characters—such as those from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—also make delightful cameos.

Li narrates with the matter-of-fact voice of a bookish little girl who takes her alone time very seriously. The first-person perspective has the advantage of letting one directly feel Emma’s exasperation, her carefulness and orderliness, and finally, her bliss when storytelling. I Lived Inside a Whale has a moment for every reader, making it perfect for storytime or bedtime or any time in between. We could all use a little vacation these days, and I Lived Inside a Whale is a great escape, no matter your age.

I Lived Inside a Whale is a touching and beautifully illustrated tale of finding refuge in a story, discovering unlikely allies and sharing one’s voice with the world.
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Somewhere in a big city, there are two different babies having two similar, yet different days. Across a “beep-beep street” and along “two bumpy sidewalks,” this baby and that baby wave at each other “at the very same time.” Both babies go on various adventures—giggling on their grown-ups’ laps, kissing their lovies, reading books, making music and pausing for the several inevitable diaper changes of the day—before going out to the park for a surprise play date that ends with a fun peek-a-boo.

This Baby. That Baby. by Cari Best and Rashin Kheiriyeh is a wonderful addition to your reading list and a great picture book to share with the parents and children in our community. Reminiscent of Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury, this book celebrates all the ways two different babies experience the same expressions of love: playtime, a good book, snuggling and friendship. One, dressed in a blue onesie, sits on a mother’s lap, while the other wears a little red floppy hat to match a father’s red ball cap. Kheiriyeh’s simple, whimsical illustrations create a nursery atmosphere, which is alluded to by the opening and closing pages showing different mobiles that may hang above a baby’s crib. The rhyme scheme is lovely and balanced, making for an engaging read-aloud book that will be a go-to for any classroom, library or nursery.

Hello, This Baby. That Baby.: Welcome to the shelf!

Rashin Kheiriyeh’s simple, whimsical illustrations and Cari Best’s lovely and balanced rhyme scheme make for an engaging read-aloud book that will be a go-to for any classroom, library or nursery.
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One little person suits up in their warmest boots, gloves, scarf and hat to make one giant leap into the wintery unknown. They ride the elevator down to the first floor. . . . Or, wait, are they riding a spaceship? In One Giant Leap, a wonderfully inventive ode to imagination, snow is not snow: it’s moon dust. A pigeon is not a pigeon: it’s an extraterrestrial being (or two, or three). Like any good adventure, there is a moment where all may be lost. Will our little astronaut make it back to their spaceship before the duststorm fills the space sky?  

With papercut collage illustrations that play with color and pattern, Thao Lam dives into the unknown of a child’s imagination, reminding readers that intrigue lies around every corner and every day is an opportunity for a new adventure.

Thao Lam dives into the unknown of a child’s imagination, reminding readers that intrigue lies around every corner and every day is an opportunity for a new adventure.
Review by

A boy and his sister wander their quiet neighborhood and admire the life bursting into color around them. The boy’s sister tells him about the burgeoning flowers and trees they pass, dropping small seeds of curiosity that take root in the boy’s mind. 

As the season blooms into summer, the siblings tend to a garden. Though the boy loves to help his sister nurture and weed the vegetable patch, he also ponders the weeds themselves: Why are some plants cultivated, while others are yanked from the ground before they’re given a chance to thrive? 

Award-winning author (When You Can Swim) Jack Wong’s All That Grows is a delicate but powerful ode to curiosity and the delights to be found in the natural world. There is an eloquent simplicity to the story and its contained focus. Wong’s narrator, the unnamed boy, is quiet and thoughtful as he describes his surroundings and experiences in vivid, sensory ways: “Overnight, the trees go from bare to bursting with leaves, turning the streets into enormous green caverns.” In a way, the writing feels like a photographer’s macro lens, homing in on the tiny universes unfurling inside something bigger.

Wong’s illustrations parallel this idea as they zoom in and out of the book’s verdant, sun-dappled setting. The beautifully textured pastel drawings are realistic, but they also possess a subtle whimsy in their decidedly childlike perspective. Whether it’s the way everything seems to glow at the edges or the exclusion of adults (save one lone glimpse), the effect is potent. In some near-intangible way, Wong has evoked the soft haze of childhood summers where a small stand of trees might be seen as a huge forest, and a field of dandelions offers magical, unfettered possibility.

In All That Grows, Jack Wong evokes the soft haze of childhood summers where a small stand of trees might be seen as a huge forest to explore, and a field of dandelions offers magical, unfettered possibility.
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A child cooped up in a small house all winter receives wonderful news. The weather forecaster announces a sunny day from the television; the window is aglow with the bright sunlight; a new page is turned on the calendar: Today is The First Day of May. First, the child is stopped by a pair of adult legs and a disembodied hand that reminds them to put on their shoes. Shoes on, the child is released into the spring day, in a moment of wonder captured by their starry eyes taking in a vast overhead sky. No time to waste, the child is off—flitting around to explore the surrounding fields and forests, watching the birds, chasing butterflies, dancing to the cricket’s song. This most perfect day concludes with the return of the disembodied adult hand bringing the child a cup of tea and tucking them in for a nap in the forest among the flowers, as birds and animal friends look on lovingly. 

This Portuguese import is pure joy: all smiles and cartwheels and bright primary colors. Henrique Coser Moreira’s art is simple but incredibly expressive with its high contrast colors, making this picture book easy for a young child to follow, while compelling adult readers to also remember the joys of all our firsts.

The weather forecaster announces a sunny day from the television; the window is aglow with the bright sunlight; a new page is turned on the calendar: Today is The First Day of May.
Review by

To say Michael Rosario is anxious about Y2K would be an understatement. It’s August, 1999, and the 12-year-old boy is convinced that incalculable issues will arise when all internal program systems reset to the year 00. He’s stockpiling stolen canned goods under his bed so that he can provide for his single mom when society crumbles at the start of the new millennium. 

The only thing that can distract Michael from his anxieties is his crush on his 15-year-old babysitter, Gibby—that is, until Michael and Gibby find a mysterious boy named Ridge outside their apartment complex. Ridge claims to be the world’s first time-traveler and proves it with a futuristic book detailing the next 20 years. While Ridge marvels at 1999 culture and tries to convince Gibby to take him to the mall, Michael starts concocting a plan to steal Ridge’s book so he can find out what will happen with Y2K.

The First State of Being by Newbery Medalist and bestselling author Erin Entrada Kelly is an exciting tale about friendship that blends historical and science fiction. Short chapters build tension as Michael’s morality is tested and Ridge wonders if he will be able to get back to the future at all.

The third person prose is imbued with personality, for example when describing Gibby’s brother, Beejee: “Michael still couldn’t figure out how the world’s most perfect creature could be related to a rotten potato like Beejee, but these were the mysteries of the universe.” Kelly shines in the details, such as how given coordinates accurately lead to the exact, real-life neighborhood in Delaware found in a map at the beginning. Occasional glimpses of the year 2199 are given in the form of textbook entries, interviews between scientists, and transcripts of conversations from the lab housing the Spacial Teleportation Module that Ridge uses. Foreshadowing for the plot twists is expertly woven in and leads to well-laid surprises.

This short but suspenseful novel is Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me meets Tae Keller’s Jennifer Chan is Not Alone. Though it takes place at the turn of the millennium, modern readers will be able to identify with Michael’s anxieties over the future of the world, and find his journey compelling. 

Though The First State of Being takes place at the turn of the millennium, readers will be able to identify with Michael’s anxieties over the future of the world.

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