Pleased to Meet Me

June 15, 2020
A paradigmatically average middle school student discovers a portal through the multiverse and confronts variations of himself from alternate Earths. Meade Macon, an unaccomplished white boy, pretty much stinks at everything except origami. He dreads the impending Student Showcase, which will highlight all his failures. When Meade receives a series of mysterious origami invitations, he finds himself attending Me Con, an event hosted by and for the versions of himself from 99 different dimensions. At Me Con, every Meade receives a nickname based on an identifying characteristic; protagonist Meade is labeled "Average Me." One of the first other selves the protagonist meets, Motor Me, is fat and uses a mobility cart. Motor Me is quick to give up and treated like a joke by other characters. His use of a mobility aid is depicted as an indulgent, bad habit. Other Meades get their personalities from extremes (Sensitive Me, Meticulous Me) and cultural appropriation (Kabuki Theater Me). Resist Me is an angry, opinionated transgender girl from a world that hates her, and Monk Me spouts platitudes about peace. The cast is overwhelmingly white, a context that makes Resist's assertion that Me Con should solve problems like "racism and discrimination" feel hollow. Use of the modern-day dog whistle "Don't Tread on Me" as a chapter title adds a further sour taste. Overall, the narrative requires a heaping dose of suspended disbelief, but it feels like a minor flaw to swallow compared to the other elements of the story. Calling this book "average" would give it too much credit. (Science fiction. 8-12)

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Starred review from June 1, 2020
Grades 5-7 *Starred Review* Enticed by a string of weirdly knowledgeable invitations, 13-year-old Meade Macon boards a 100-button elevator in a creepy abandoned hotel and finds himself in the midst of Me Con, a teeming mass of nearly, but not quite, identical variations on . . . him, each from an alternate universe. Fortunately, each has been assigned a nickname to stave off confusion. Unfortunately, the assignments and the Con itself are the work of Meticulous Me from Earth 1, aka the United States of the British Empire, a sneering evil genius who invented the first elevator and is about to launch a second, much bigger one, despite the probability that it will devastate Meade's floor (and ours), Earth 99. Can Meade, dubbed Average Me since he has no obvious distinguishing feature aside from a knack for folding complex origami animals, save the multiverse from, well, himself? Plainly having great fun with the whole conceit, Wilson pits his bewildered but game narrator against arrogant Meticulous and thuggish minions Mobster Me and Ren Faire Me, while providing him with a motley squad of allies lead by tough, transgender Resist Me of Earth 57. Average turns out to be more than just a cognate of mediocre, and the climactic triumph over Meticulous is both clever and cheerworthy on more than just an allegorical level. Stay tuned for further button pushing. Finished illustrations not seen.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)