The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly
on March 5, 2024
ISBN: 0063337312
Genres: Science Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads

An engrossing middle grade science fiction novel that masterfully weaves in realistic issues like first crushes, bullies, the anxiety of making new friends, food insecurity, and grief over the death of a mentor. Michael is a good, quiet kid, but he is dealing with a lot of anxiety over his living situation and the fear that his mother will lose her job. He transfers that anxiety to the looming crisis of Y2K, the fear that the world’s infrastructure will collapse with the change to the year 2000 due to computer glitches. Michael also has to dodge a local bully, navigate a crush on that bully’s sister, who is also his babysitter, and tangle with the idea of making friends with some kindly neighborhood boys.

The science fiction element is introduced with Ridge, a boy who shows up in Michael’s apartment complex looking very out of place. As Michael gets to know Ridge, he learns that he is from the future and wasn’t supposed to use the burgeoning technology of his own time to travel back to 1999. Pages from future texts cleverly fill in plot gaps between Michael’s world and Ridge’s and add to the suspense as his family races to fix the technology that will allow Ridge to return home to his own time.

The Y2K angle felt a bit forced though Kelly does well setting her books during times of emotional resonance and, since many people lived in fear that the world’s infrastructure would be drastically affected, it works to add tension here. Starting the book in the fall prior to the new year heightens and explains some of Michael’s behaviors and informs his questionable choices as Ridge fights to get home.

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Falmouth Elementary School