Hello, Universe: My Book Review
Hello Everyone!
Happy August! I hope everyone is having a great summer! I know I am! I would like to talk about a book written by a very talented author named Erin Entrada Kelly, the author of Blackbird Fly, Land Of the Forgotten Girls, You Go First, and more. But here is my review of a book called Hello, Universe, that I have just finished.
Hello, Universe is about four middle school students named Virgil Salinas, A Filipino American boy, Kaori Tanaka, A Japanese American girl, Valencia Somerset, a girl in Virgil’s class who is deaf; and Chet Bullens, the neighborhood bully. Let me talk about the characters in this story to start.
Virgil isn’t like any other eleven-year-old boy. He is slow, not into sports, quiet, and gets bullied often by Chet. Virgil also struggled in his studies. He never got the chance to make friends or speak up for himself. His brothers and his parents make fun of him and call him turtle because he is shy. His only friend is Lola (Grandma) who loves him and tells him stories about her childhood in the village and her dreams. Only Lola understands him.
Kaori is a Japanese-Buddhist girl and is very spiritual, believing in astronomy, zodiacs and also tells fortunes. The character of Kaori is somewhat like mine. Friendly, funny, thoughtful, creative, and spiritual.
As I said before, Valencia is deaf which means she wears hearing aids and still can’t hear well as typical people do. She tries reading lips while talking to people, uses sign language, and talks to the spirit of a deaf missionary named Saint Renee, who had died a long time ago. Valencia struggles with fitting in but later in the book, she meets Kaori who becomes her friend.
These are three children who have different points of view and struggle in their life but when an incident happens to Virgil, they all suddenly meet up and become close friends. You may be wondering “Who is the fourth person?” The fourth person is Chet. The bully.
Virgil gets into a dangerous situation where he falls into a deep well in the middle of a forest because of Chet.
During his time in the dark well, Virgil feels helpless and yells for help. Now he thinks about his life and the goals he could have achieved by raising his voice. After the incident, will Virgil stand up for himself and confront his parents for calling him turtle?
Will anyone come for his rescue? Read to find out.
The themes of this book are friendship, family, imagination, magic, and courage. The three characters come together to become friends and stand against the bully. Finally, Virgil has the courage to stand up for himself.
What do I like about this book? Well, the simple language makes it easy to understand, diversity as the author includes many cultures in this book, gives life lessons of friendship and courage, and talks about the power of imagination and unity of kids from different backgrounds and abilities coming together.
You can buy this book on Amazon or borrow it from a public library.