Hello Universe by Erin Estrada Kelly

The individual paths of Virgil Salinas, Valencia Somerset, and Kaori Tanaka are united by fate or as Kaori would say, by the universe itself.

Virgil ends up in an old well – thanks to a bully named Chet Bullens. But things end up better than he could’ve ever imagined.

I read Hello Universe because it received the Newberry Medal in 2018. It was well-written and I think students in middle school would be able to identify with the characters. My hesitation to recommend the book has to do with the fortune telling aspect of the story. It is light-hearted, but Kaori’s fixation on astrology, did not sit well with my Christian worldview.

Kelly, Erin Entrada. Hello Universe. Greenwillow Books, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2020.