Everything Else in the Universe

April 15, 2018
It's 1971, and the Vietnam War has upended Lucy Rossi's life; when her Army doctor dad returns an amputee, the unsettling changes intensify.After her dad shipped out, Lucy, 12, and her mom moved from Chicago to San Jose, California, close to his eccentric, loving Italian-American family. Lucy still hasn't made friends. She treasures the small rocks her dad encloses in his letters and longs for his return. But he arrives home changed: He won't use his prosthesis and rebuffs her attempts to help; he talks to her mom in private but shuts Lucy out. She finds solace in her friendship with another newcomer, Milo, whose dad's still in Vietnam. Finding an unknown soldier's discarded helmet, photos, and Purple Heart, they decide to identify and locate him and deliver the items to his family. Along the way, they're welcomed at an informal refuge for veterans but turned away from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion, where Vietnam veterans are despised. As her dad's condition worsens and the hunt stalls, friends and family teach Lucy to value human connections she's dismissed. Lyrically written, the novel portrays the war's corrosive, divisive impacts with compassion but skirts the harder issue of those within and outside the military who resisted a war they saw as wrong. Major characters are white; two memorable secondary characters are African-American.A touching, memorable read that explores the costs, large and small, of an unpopular war. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

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Starred review from April 16, 2018
Holczer’s perceptive novel, set in 1971, opens as 12-year-old Lucy Rossi’s father returns home from Vietnam missing his right arm. Lucy and her parents have always been a mutually supportive team. Expecting this dynamic to continue, careful Lucy (who relies on her “behavioral comfort routines”) studies up on amputees and prosthetics, only to find her father resistant to her efforts. Bewildered by the change in her family, Lucy feels left out and unloved, particularly after she’s sent to stay with her uncle’s boisterous family. A new friendship with Milo, whose dad is fighting in Vietnam, helps; his interest in dragonflies mirrors Lucy’s in rocks, and after they discover a soldier’s personal effects, they work together to find the owner. Affectingly tracing Lucy’s struggles with her altered family, Holczer also credibly portrays the conflicting views on the war, from protestors to former vets. Well-grounded in its era and peopled by fully realized characters, the book is a resonant historical novel and a thoughtful exploration of how war and injury affect family, friendships, and individual growth. Ages 10–up.

June 1, 2018

Gr 4-6-Twelve-year-old Lucy should be having the best summer of her life-her beloved father has just returned from Vietnam, and she is looking forward to spending time with him. But her father is struggling- both with the loss of his arm and what that loss means for his career as a surgeon. Lucy is an autodidact and a fixer, so she goes into research overdrive and wants to spend her summer helping her father recalibrate-but her father needs space and sends Lucy to stay with her extended family instead. There, Lucy embarks on a mission with a new neighbor to return a Purple Heart to a mysterious Vietnam veteran. The novel introduces a nuanced view of the Vietnam War to readers via conversations Lucy has with her peacenik cousin, veterans at the VFW, and her grandfather. Lucy's profound anxiety over her father's mental and physical state is treated gently by Holczer, as Lucy works towards healing and opening herself up to help and love. This is a quiet, tender work of historical fiction about grief, love, and learning to let go. VERDICT A worthy addition to any middle grade collection, especially for readers who loved Jennifer Holm's Penny from Heaven.-Susannah Goldstein, Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice, NY

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2018
Grades 5-8 Twelve-year-old Lucy's surgeon father is coming home from Vietnam?minus his arm. Steady, solemn Lucy has held things together in the year he's been gone by studying the rocks he's sent her, trying to fit in with his boisterous Italian family, and being a team with her patrician mother. But the move to California has left her friendless until she meets Milo, whose father is still in Vietnam. When they find military artifacts, including photos and a Purple Heart, buried nearby, the duo decide to locate the rightful owner. Lucy's adjustments are thoughtfully examined, and her evolving efforts to stabilize her family in general, and her father in particular, are well crafted. The backdrop of Vietnam fits more easily at some times than others, but its long reach is explained and acknowledged. There's a lot of sadness and uncertainty that blankets Lucy's story, but Holczer does a fine job of piercing the weight with bits of family levity, and with the ethereal beauty of the dragonflies?Milo's obsession?that flit in and out of the story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)