Clues to the Universe by Christina Li (review)

Li, Christina Clues to the Universe. Quill Tree, 2021 [304p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780063008885 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780063008908 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 4-6

After his best friend moved away, Benji has no one with whom to talk comics, particularly Spacebound, a series created by his out-of-contact father. A serendipitous mixup creates an avenue for a friendship with a brilliant new student, Ro, whose father was killed by a drunk driver. The two combine forces on their individual goals: Benji wants to reunite with the father he hasn't seen since he was four; and Ro wants to finish the rocket she had been building with her father and enter the regional science fair (and launch his belongings into space). Chapters alternate narration between Benji and Ro, making seamless shifts in points of view in this story set in the space-shuttle era of the early 1980s. While Ro's intelligence is always on display, Benji's talent for drawing has to be coaxed into the spotlight (and ultimately admired by his father). There's a clever echo in the plot of Spacebound itself, which involves the heroine's finding her father, and it's plausible that in his yearning Benji takes this as a sign to find his own dad. Benji's quiet hopefulness coupled with Ro's reasoning skills make this novel's premise believable, right down to the way each discovers and navigates their faults. Interestingly, the book ends as it starts, with a friend moving, but this time the protagonists know that connection is not lost with distance.