Earth to Dad

July 1, 2018

Gr 4-8-Jameson, 11, checks the JICC (Jameson's Interplanetary Communication Console) daily for new messages from his astronaut dad who left two years ago on a mission to colonize Mars. He knows something is wrong when the transmissions come fewer and farther between, and Dad starts looking thin and haggard. Everyone seems to know more than they are saying, including his new, feisty neighbor, Astra Primm, whose mother, Dr. Primm, was killed on a space mission. Together, the two embark on their own journey to fix the JICC and save Jameson's dad. In this futuristic world, an asteroid has caused the earth to begin drifting ever closer to the sun; global warming, toxic radiation, food shortages, and new technologies are the new normal. There is just enough tension and unease to propel readers without overwhelming them. Jameson appears white on the cover, though his racial or ethnic background is not described in the text. Primm is described as having dark skin and black hair. Physical descriptions are not given for the secondary characters, though some ethnic diversity is suggested via surnames such as Patel, Segundo, Juwan, Haisheng, Ishii, and Branislav. VERDICT A solid choice for upper elementary and middle school students who want dystopia but are not ready for the intensity and violence that defines the YA offerings in the genre.-Stefanie Hughes, Mt. Pleasant, TX

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2018
Two children find friendship against a backdrop of apocalypse.Ever since Jameson O'Malley's father left for a mission to Mars on the Christopher Columbus, their only contact is through Jameson's Interplanetary Communication Console, a homemade audio-video transmitter. Earth is now dangerously overheated, the atmosphere destroyed due to an asteroid that's knocked the planet's orbit off-kilter. A successful Mars mission is humanity's last chance. When friendless Jameson meets his new next-door neighbor, the prickly Astra Primm, he is determined to somehow forge a friendship, and the two find solace together after he learns she lost her astronaut mother on a recent Mars mission. Jameson's mother and Astra's father also begin to form a friendship that Jameson suspects is growing too close. When the JICC breaks down, Jameson and Astra undertake a secret mission of their own to find a much-needed replacement part. A sudden chill from Astra leads him to believe she knows a secret that everyone, including the school counselor, is keeping from Jameson. Van Dolzer uses her apocalyptic setting to highlight this story of grief, creating believable, likable child characters. Unfortunately, she undermines Jameson's intelligence by driving the plot with an open secret only he is ignorant of. Jameson is white and Astra black, and though her initial hostility plays into the "angry black girl" stereotype (and, egregiously, her flared nostrils are compared to lima beans), she develops into a well-realized, complex character.Missteps don't altogether take away from this thoughtful novel. (Science fiction. 10-12)

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