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shellan's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
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? Yes
4.75
naznin4nelson's review
5.0
Once again Rick Riordan has improved the inclusivity of YA reading via his imprint. What a hilarious book. "If there is no chicken...you must acquit him."
laura_cs's review against another edition
5.0
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Sal didn't mean to punch a hole in the universe and put a dead chicken in Yasmany's locker.
Oh, wait, yeah, he did.
Meet Sal. He's a lot of things. The new kid. Cuban-American. Diabetic. Aspiring magician. Lover of Skittles. And he can access other dimensions. How did that happen? Well, let's just say it all started after his Mami Viva turned into Mami Muerta...
Now meet Gabi. Student council president. Overachiever. Loves t-shirts with quotes and funky barrettes. Future lawyer. Sal's worst enemy turned bestie. How did that happen? Well, let's just say it took a little bit of breaking the universe...
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe is a fun, fantastic adventure full of friendship, family, love, and a whole lot of yummy Cuban cooking. All of the characters are amazing and you can't help but love them. Yasmany, the school bully and receiver of the above dead chicken? You'll love him by the end of the book. Principal Torres, whose office Sal has ended up in every day of his first week at his new school? Wonderful and definitely deserves a raise. Papi and American Stepmom? You'll want them--along with all of Gabi's dads--to be your parents, too.
It's basically a slice-of-life book, coupled with alternate realities that Sal can access, leading to wacky adventures for all. And, maybe, lead to a miracle or two.
In addition, I want to make a quick note about Gabi, and something that endeared her to me. Though also Cuban-American and studies more than she breathes, she doesn't understand Spanish, leading to Sal to translate for her at times. I think that this is incredibly important for the Latino kids who weren't raised speaking Spanish for whatever reason (like, say, my kid brother, who is adopted from Guatemala and barely even knows Dora-level Spanish--not for a lack of trying on the part of our parents and myself). Not knowing Spanish doesn't make these kids any less Latino than their fluently bilingual peers, and highlights diversity of families and lifestyles.
Sal didn't mean to punch a hole in the universe and put a dead chicken in Yasmany's locker.
Oh, wait, yeah, he did.
Meet Sal. He's a lot of things. The new kid. Cuban-American. Diabetic. Aspiring magician. Lover of Skittles. And he can access other dimensions. How did that happen? Well, let's just say it all started after his Mami Viva turned into Mami Muerta...
Now meet Gabi. Student council president. Overachiever. Loves t-shirts with quotes and funky barrettes. Future lawyer. Sal's worst enemy turned bestie. How did that happen? Well, let's just say it took a little bit of breaking the universe...
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe is a fun, fantastic adventure full of friendship, family, love, and a whole lot of yummy Cuban cooking. All of the characters are amazing and you can't help but love them. Yasmany, the school bully and receiver of the above dead chicken? You'll love him by the end of the book. Principal Torres, whose office Sal has ended up in every day of his first week at his new school? Wonderful and definitely deserves a raise. Papi and American Stepmom? You'll want them--along with all of Gabi's dads--to be your parents, too.
It's basically a slice-of-life book, coupled with alternate realities that Sal can access, leading to wacky adventures for all. And, maybe, lead to a miracle or two.
In addition, I want to make a quick note about Gabi, and something that endeared her to me. Though also Cuban-American and studies more than she breathes, she doesn't understand Spanish, leading to Sal to translate for her at times. I think that this is incredibly important for the Latino kids who weren't raised speaking Spanish for whatever reason (like, say, my kid brother, who is adopted from Guatemala and barely even knows Dora-level Spanish--not for a lack of trying on the part of our parents and myself). Not knowing Spanish doesn't make these kids any less Latino than their fluently bilingual peers, and highlights diversity of families and lifestyles.
cammcamm's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
emmyphillips05's review
5.0
I LOVED this book! I recommend it to my friends all the time and other people really like it too! I thought that it was funny, clever and exciting!
amymiller's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
breakfastgrey's review against another edition
5.0
I love this book so much. It is pure joy in book form. From the first chapter through to the end, I was absolutely in love with these characters and this world. I smiled for 400 pages straight, even when things got sad. Everyone is just so profoundly amazing and decent all the time. People make mistakes and then they do what needs to be done to make it right. It's funny, it's heartwarming, it's one of the most charming books I've ever read. And it manages to build hype for a sequel while still feeling like a complete book in and of itself. I'm so in love with this book that I cannot sing its praises loud enough. If 2020 has you down, you need this book in your life.
lillanaa's review
5.0
I don't know why I kept passing this one up, it's probably one of my new favourites in the collection! Leaning more science fiction than fantasy, harkening on the idea of an infinite reality, this book is... Genuinely just fun. There's no world ending event, the "threats" here are surface level, and it just works.
This leaves room for the characters to just play in the space, and man are there a lot of great characters. Sal and Gabi make for extremely interesting protagonists, and although a lot of the other characters have some heavy absurdity to them they all make sense in this kind of a story. Yasmany stuck out to me as a really, really cool character despite a rocky start, and I'm excited because it sounds like he's going to be in the sequel.
I was looking for something fun and chill to read, and this didn't disappoint. I'm glad that there's at least one kids adventure book out there that doesn't feel like the apocalypse is going to start just because.
This leaves room for the characters to just play in the space, and man are there a lot of great characters. Sal and Gabi make for extremely interesting protagonists, and although a lot of the other characters have some heavy absurdity to them they all make sense in this kind of a story. Yasmany stuck out to me as a really, really cool character despite a rocky start, and I'm excited because it sounds like he's going to be in the sequel.
I was looking for something fun and chill to read, and this didn't disappoint. I'm glad that there's at least one kids adventure book out there that doesn't feel like the apocalypse is going to start just because.
evamadera1's review against another edition
4.0
(Same review for both books in the duology)
I loved this entry (both books in the duology) in the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. Interestingly, this duology does not include any type of mythology, typical of the books in this line. Instead, Hernandez leans into the near future sci-fil elements and the idea of the multiverse. Hernandez creates a loveable madcap main character in Sal as well as unique family structures; I still do not understand Gabi's family but that doesn't matter. This first book could stand on its own but Hernandez definitely builds enough into book one for book two to make complete sense. There's even potential for book three even though i do not think that Hernandez has plans to continue the series.
I loved this entry (both books in the duology) in the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. Interestingly, this duology does not include any type of mythology, typical of the books in this line. Instead, Hernandez leans into the near future sci-fil elements and the idea of the multiverse. Hernandez creates a loveable madcap main character in Sal as well as unique family structures; I still do not understand Gabi's family but that doesn't matter. This first book could stand on its own but Hernandez definitely builds enough into book one for book two to make complete sense. There's even potential for book three even though i do not think that Hernandez has plans to continue the series.