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oldandnewbooksmell's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
It’s August 1999 and twelve-year-old Michael is preparing for the looming Y2K crisis that’s just around the corner by keeping a small stockpile under his bed. His mom, nor his babysitter, Gibby, seem to be as worried. When a disoriented teenage boy appears out of nowhere, Michael’s life is turned around.
It turns out, the disoriented boy is named Ridge, and he’s the world’s first time traveler. As Gibby shows Ridge around the 1999s lifestyle - microwaves, basketballs, and the mall - Michael discovers their new friend has a book that outlines the events of the next twenty years. Michael wants - no, actually, he needs to get his hands on that book to find out the fate of the world in the next few months. But, how far is he willing to go to get it?
Oh to remember the Y2K crisis. I was seven and in all honesty, my memories don’t attach to computers crashing, but the world itself crumbling down?? I was probably overthinking it with the complete limited amount of knowledge I was given. My parents and my aunt and uncle weren’t concerned about it, so I just went with it.
This was cute and a fun introduction to the late 90’s for middle grade readers - and brings up the discussion of Y2K as well. It also gave plenty of shout outs to Millennials. I also enjoyed the twist(s) at the end - of course, not going to give them away.
I can see adults liking this just as much as kids because of the pop culture references and such. Again, this would probably open the discussion for kids to ask about the late 90s, early 2000s - especially Y2K and computer culture back in the day.
*Thank you Greenwillow Books and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
moreta1's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Grief and Death
bibliomich's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This was my first ever Erin Entrada Kelly book, and I LOVED it! (I definitely plan on reading more by the author.)
What I loved:
- Character diversity: Erin Entrada Kelly created an amazing cast of characters who were tremendously diverse in race, socioeconomic status, home stability, and mental health.
- This book very much felt like a tribute to Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me (one of my all-time favorite middle grade novels), and I loved that so much.
- I enjoyed the book right off the bat, but the last third of the book truly hooked me. I adored the resolution and the way everything came together in the end.
- The 90s references: I have no doubt that my middle school students will enjoy this one, but as a millennial teacher, I LOVED the late 90s references (esp. the slang language and band tees).
Thank you so much to NetGalley for my advanced listener copy!
What I loved:
- Character diversity: Erin Entrada Kelly created an amazing cast of characters who were tremendously diverse in race, socioeconomic status, home stability, and mental health.
- This book very much felt like a tribute to Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me (one of my all-time favorite middle grade novels), and I loved that so much.
- I enjoyed the book right off the bat, but the last third of the book truly hooked me. I adored the resolution and the way everything came together in the end.
- The 90s references: I have no doubt that my middle school students will enjoy this one, but as a millennial teacher, I LOVED the late 90s references (esp. the slang language and band tees).
Thank you so much to NetGalley for my advanced listener copy!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Grief
Minor: Bullying
the_rainydayreader's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
The First State of Being is my first EEK, but unfortunately it didn’t really hit the mark for me. This may have been in part to the annoying automated voice narration. That being said, I listened to the whole book and nothing jumped out at me as being super impactful. The characters were nice, especially Michael who is super lovable. And I thought the 1990 setting was fun- I was a late 90s baby, but adults who grew up in the 90s will especially like that aspect. However kids today will not be able to relate to that. Also, I was a little confused by the audio transcript future scenes, and I think that young readers will be thrown by these too. These scenes were especially hard to listen to on audio.
The death of [spoiler] was sad, and Ridge’s philosophy of living “in the first state of being” was interesting, but I don’t feel that the author developed these plot points enough to really leave the reader with something to think about.
I will be trying other EEK books because I do like her writing style and she has some interesting looking stories out there
The First State of Being is my first EEK, but unfortunately it didn’t really hit the mark for me. This may have been in part to the annoying automated voice narration. That being said, I listened to the whole book and nothing jumped out at me as being super impactful. The characters were nice, especially Michael who is super lovable. And I thought the 1990 setting was fun- I was a late 90s baby, but adults who grew up in the 90s will especially like that aspect. However kids today will not be able to relate to that. Also, I was a little confused by the audio transcript future scenes, and I think that young readers will be thrown by these too. These scenes were especially hard to listen to on audio.
The death of [spoiler] was sad, and Ridge’s philosophy of living “in the first state of being” was interesting, but I don’t feel that the author developed these plot points enough to really leave the reader with something to think about.
I will be trying other EEK books because I do like her writing style and she has some interesting looking stories out there
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Death
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