Hello, Universe: A Newbery Award Winner Hardcover – March 14, 2017

My son is 10 years old and every night before bed we read together and we read a chapter out of this book, we are on chapter 11 and so far things are going wonderful. I've noticed that after I started implementing popcorn reading (one person starts off reading and then randomly will popcorn to the other person to pick up where they left off, ensuring that the child is actually following along and reading with you while you're reading aloud.) with my son that it's really gotten him more engaged with reading, and he really likes the story so far, it's well written and a good flow. The chapters aren't too long, anywhere from 3-7 pages in length, and his reading level scores have actually gone up significantly since the beginning of the year, even with just reading a chapter every night consistently for the last 10 days! This is something I would like to implement with him now for as long as he'll tolerate it, lol. It's so important to read to your kids and to get them engaged and interested in how wonderful books are.

Open Book Reviews by Megan Schmelzerwww.openbookreviews.orgI love books that just completely surprise me, and Hello Universe, by Erin Entrada Kelly surprised me. I shouldn’t have been at all shocked that this book didn’t follow what I expected. I mean, come on, Erin Entrada Kelly is just a brilliant author! If you haven’t read any of her books before, I would absolutely recommend that you first read Hello Universe, but then I would tell you to go straight to reading Kelly’s book titled Land of the Forgotten Girls. It is also fantastic!Anyways, let me explain my thinking a bit further. I have read enough books in my life that it’s kind of transformed me into a self-proclaimed “mini book expert”, well at least a “children’s book expert.” Because I have read so many children’s literature books, I have gotten strong at predicting the plots. If you research the progress of children’s literature as it increases in text complexity, you will understand that books follow predictable plot structures. They have a set amount of characters, character changes, plot events, and setting details. Everything in children’s literature can be studied down to the science of the words on the page, and let me tell you… it has been studied down to the words on the page and how long a child’s brain processes the word. (I’ve read about it, and it is as painfully boring as it sounds. Add in the average time an eye focuses on a word before the brain processes the meaning and you’re in for a real snooze-fest.) Kelly followed the predictable structure and changes of a young adult novel; however, it was done in a different and fresh manner. So much so that I picked up and read this entire book in one sitting.Hello Universe focuses on several kids that are just looking to find their own pathways. They all have their own struggles, yet they haven’t yet been thrown together. That all changes when the main character, Virgil, and his pet guinea pig, Gulliver, are literally thrown into a pit located in the middle of the woods between all these kids’ houses, and this unlikely collection of characters’ now have their lives entangled together. The local bully, Chet “The Bull” Bullens is responsible for such a menacing prank. I guess when your nickname is “The Bull,” your, of course, are the bully in the story. Remember, I told you that children’s literature follows predictable patterns. It has to! We have young readers we have to connect with!The events that follow during Virgil’s time in the pit allow for all the characters to have moments of major change. Changes that all children today are continually being faced with. Kelly’s book questions the kids. She is challenging them to ask themselves: Are you going to be the bystander that just watches innocent kids be picked on in this world? Are you the bully doing the picking in order to prevent the world from seeing your own weakness? Or maybe, just maybe, are you the hero in the story? Are you the one that is going to defy everything and stand up for what is right?

I feel like there is something lacking but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is exactly.This almost-all-in-one-day adventure is a lovely story and the writing is whimsical and inquisitive and funny, just the way I associate a child’s brain must be like.Its characters are portrayed each with their unique personality and being inside each of their minds on each of their chapters is interesting, captivating and great for multiple perspectives on ‘different types of kids’ (can I even say it like that?).And I can say without a doubt that in that sense it was very well written and successfully achieved.The thing, though, is that it all feels a bit incomplete, as if it’s just a starting point to something more. After finishing reading the book, I had trouble looking at it as a finished thing. I felt that I could take this into a middle grade classroom and have multiple discussions about pretty much all the characters, their aspirations, their intentions, their reasoning and their motivations And that’d be the only way To make this book feel whole.Maybe that was the author’s intention, but I can’t help but feel that as it is, Hello, Universe has left me wanting for more.Don’t get me wrong, I do love a good book that leaves you with questions and wanting to talk about it - as a teacher, I loved Hello, Universe for the classroom potential it represents (hence the four star rating).I just didn’t get into this one thinking it’d be just that. And, if I may say so, not even the ending wrapped it up beautifully and saved it for me.I still recommend it for middle graders or for those who deal with kids around those ages, to engage in further conversation of important matters. I won’t recommend it as a full fledged book to fill your reading habits, because I feel it adds very little, really. But don’t let my review spoil the book for you. Read it and see how you like it for yourself. Take all that’s been said with a grain of salt and venture at your own risk.

I read this book to my classroom to help with their ability to inference and man was it perfect. They loved it and loved connecting the dots!

I got this book for a grandson who is not a great reader because it was a Newberry Award winner and most of those are great books.. I read parts of the book to him and he read the rest to me. It was not his favorite book (he prefers stuff like "The Last Kids on Earth," but he kept up with the story and finished it without much complaint. On the other hand, I thought it was a great story with interesting characters and good plot. There were relevant topics interwoven: bullying, a deaf child, and mix of cultures (including Philippine and Japanese). Easy to see how it won the Newberry Award. I highly recommend it.

Grandson loves this book . He specifically asked for this 9ne