The Year We Fell From Space

August 15, 2019
After her parents separate, a Pennsylvania preteen struggles to accept the new normal. Liberty, 12, loves creating star maps and connecting stars in new patterns, forming new constellations (rendered by Goffi). After their dad moves out, she and her anxious little sister, Jilly, 9, don't see him for months. Their mother avoids answering questions. Lib abandons her star maps; the promise and possibilities they represented no longer feel real. Peer relationships suffer, too. Former friend Leah "excommunicates" her. Finn, offspring of another rocky marriage, ignores her. Being shunned isn't all bad; Lib enjoys eating lunch with a fellow outcast, Iranian American Malik (other characters default to white). Reconnecting with Dad, the girls are upset to learn he's dating. Desperate to restore her family, Lib bargains with the stars and meteorite she lugged home, utilizing magical thinking to bring about Dad's return. Counseling helps, too. Lib may not be clinically depressed like Dad, but what ails her is equally huge. "We co-own a divorce. Split four ways," she tells him. "It's ours." Lib's precise, present-tense narration sensitively reveals how divorce changes each family member, not just their relationships. It's a painful truth, but for Lib, sharing that hard-won insight is also empowering. Acclaimed as a YA novelist (Dig, 2019, etc.), King pens a middle-grade book that will especially resonate with readers confronting or affected by family turmoil. Quietly compelling. (author's note, resources) (Fiction. 8-12)

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September 9, 2019
King (Me and Marvin Gardens) capably tackles the complexities of divorce and depression in this multifaceted novel. When 12-year-old narrator Liberty’s parents announce their separation, the budding astronomer—who creates star maps featuring new constellations—plunges into a difficult new reality. Familial change is further impacted by confusing social dynamics at school, where Liberty is outcast from a group of friends; the intense responsibility she feels toward her younger sister Jilly, who ceased going outside following their parents’ separation; and her father’s absence. Anxious Liberty proves keenly observant, piecing together her father’s new relationship and often considering what she has in common with him and how his depression manifests (“It makes him do things like snap or yell or stare into space or drive away for a few hours or sit in a room with no lights on for a day”). The running internal dialogue she conducts with a meteorite that falls to the woods near her home offers insight into her struggles and fears but can break the narrative pace; still, strong character interaction and Liberty’s engaging, often humorous voice make the difficult slice-of-life topics relatable. Ages 8–12.

October 1, 2019

Gr 5-7-The night a meteor falls near the home of 12-year-old Liberty Johansen, her parents announce their separation. As life as she knows it crumbles, she is left to grapple with her own conflicting emotions, which may stem from something deeper, possibly clinical depression. This compelling upper middle grade title offers an honest window into struggles with childhood and adult depression. Her father has been suffering from it for years, and Liberty fears that she may also have it. Her impulses shift from the desire to protect and nurture her younger sister to throwing a toaster out a window in a fit of rage. She finds solace in speaking to the meteor that she collected on the night of its fall from space, and, finally, with a trusted therapist. Bullying, puberty, and the protagonist's father's infidelity are also addressed. This title will resonate with middle graders searching for deeper understanding of their own or their family's experiences with these or similar topics. VERDICT Recommended for most middle grade collections, especially where realistic drama is in demand. Fans of Ali Benjamin's The Thing About Jellyfish and Esther Ehrlich's Nest will devour this one.-Pilar Okeson, The Allen-Stevenson School, New York

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2019
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* Twelve-year-old Liberty learns that her dad suffers from depression?and begins feeling her own symptoms?throughout the year of her parents' divorce. As a young astronomer, Liberty had always found comfort in drawing original star maps, and it was her dream to change the way people see the heavens, but she leaves her hobby behind as she sinks into a morass of anger and confusion. When she asks the stars to reunite her parents, they answer by sending a meteorite crashing into her backyard. The heavy rock becomes her sounding board as she grapples with her father's new lifestyle, her mom and little sister's own fallout, and the fact that reconciliation won't happen. This is a deeply emotional book, immersed in Liberty's first-person introspection, but it never drags, propelled by the suspense of interfamilial tension and King's (Me and Marvin Gardens, 2017) beautifully efficient prose. It's also a sad, utterly honest book, capturing the grief, longing, and loss of divorce. Liberty's depression seeps through the pages, and readers may themselves sink at times. The ending, however, remarkably offers hope and healing without minimizing the lingering realities of depression and separation. This is required reading for both children and parents of divorce, all of whom will find themselves reflected in this heartachingly cathartic tale of family, mental health, and coping.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)