When the Sky Fell on Splendor

January 15, 2019
Five years after a steel mill explosion in Splendor, Ohio, six teens gain unusual abilities when they get too close to a UFO crash.The Ordinary are Franny and her brother Arthur, Sofia, Remy, Levi, and Nick, brought together after they lost loved ones in the explosion and its aftermath. Franny and Arthur's brother, Mark, is still in a coma, and their mother has left them. While filming "Ghost Hunters," a new episode of their mockumentary web series, a disc-shaped object crashes, engulfing them in brightness. Soon, Franny's having a weird effect on electronics and believes she may be inhabited by an alien, but she's not the only one experiencing unusual things: Remy is having visions of the end of the world, and Nick develops incredible musical talent. Franny's scary next-door neighbor, who was blamed for the industrial accident, is acting even weirder than usual, and the FBI is after them. Can they save each other and the world? The alien mystery is compelling, but this story's heart beats with Franny and her friends. Franny's recollections of her family before the tragedy are poignant, and Henry (A Million Junes, 2017, etc.) tackles profound loss and grief with sensitivity while emphasizing the preciousness of human connection in this vast and wondrous universe. Sofia's family is from Mexico City, Remy is implied Japanese-American, and other main characters are assumed white.Exciting, heartbreaking, and far from ordinary. (Fiction. 12-18)

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March 1, 2019

Gr 6 Up-Calling themselves "The Ordinary," 17-year-old Franny and her friends form a tight-knit bond over their shared experiences of losing family and friends because of Splendor's steel mill explosion five years earlier. To keep their minds off the sadness surrounding them, the Ordinary spend their time investigating abandoned sites, writing and performing scripts based loosely on local ghost legends, then posting them for their small but loyal group of YouTube followers. But everything changes the night silver lights pulse across the sky. The teens' camera captures the image of a bright light, something massive hurtling down from the sky. When it crashes, curiosity overcomes fear, and they cautiously draw closer to the crash site, vowing to pursue the truth. Telekinetic powers? Crop circles? Menacing birds? An alien being that seems to invade Franny's body? Fraught with both hidden and not-so-hidden darkness, this plot has them all, and readers will be drawn to this fast-paced page-turner. Henry has crammed plenty of atmospheric, small-town spookiness into her book. VERDICT Teens who enjoy films like E.T., Stand by Me, and The Goonies and those who devour quirky TV series like Stranger Things and Riverdale will be drawn to this novel. A worthwhile purchase for YA collections.-Cheryl Blevens, Cunningham Memorial Library, Indiana State University

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2019
Grades 9-12 From Henry, one of YA's preeminent voices (A Million Junes, 2017), comes another exquisite, genre-bending novel. Five years after a deadly explosion at the local steel mill devastated the small town of Splendor, Ohio, six unlikely friends are still united by their shared grief. As The Ordinary, the group films amateur ghost-hunting videos and posts them online. They stumble onto actual supernatural phenomena when they encounter a being made of light who imbues each of them with a strange power. As the most directly affected by the being, Frances bears the burden of the most power: she can control anything that runs on electricity. Six main characters make for a large cast, but each voice is distinct and nuanced. Fast-paced and intricately plotted, the story rockets toward an unexpected, sublime conclusion. Though resting comfortably in sf, it becomes clear in the end that this book is about so much more. Topics like theoretical astrophysics, existentialism, and empathy will resonate with inquisitive readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)