You Only Live Once, David Bravo by Mark Oshiro
Published by HarperCollins on September 20, 2022
ISBN: 0063008157
Pages: 384
Genres: Fantasy
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads

David Bravo is cursed. He doesn’t know his birth parents, he’s starting middle school and is not in any classes with his best friend Antoine, and worst of all, he gets sick at track practice, causing Antoine to trip and injure himself. Things take a weird turn for David when Fea, a talking dog, informs David that she can take him back to a point in his past so he can make a different decision and create a better outcome. Unfortunately, no matter how many times David and Fea try, they can’t seem to make his terrible first day of middle school any better. The first part of the novel revolves around the fact that David’s parents had a closed adoption, so he knows nothing of his cultural heritage, except that he identifies as Latinx. The book takes a turn in the middle when Fea raises a question about a different aspect of David’s identity, wondering if David’s strong feelings of friendship for Antoine might be something more. The pace of the novel picks up at the end as David learns more about himself and his surprising connection to Fea. This middle grade novel is a fun story about acceptance, family, and not being afraid to be true to yourself.

Reviewed by Lindsay Varnum, Orono Public Library