{"id":36859,"date":"2020-01-25T23:27:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T03:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36859"},"modified":"2020-01-25T23:27:02","modified_gmt":"2020-01-26T03:27:02","slug":"review-of-sal-and-gabi-break-the-universe-by-carlos-hernandez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36859","title":{"rendered":"Review of Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, by Carlos Hernandez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Sal & Gabi Break the Universe<\/em><\/p>\n

by Carlos Hernandez<\/p>\n

Disney Hyperion, 2019. 390 pages.
\nStarred Review
\nReview written November 4, 2019, from a library book
\n2019 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>: #5 in Children’s Fiction
\n2019 Cybils Finalist, Elementary\/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the first one of the \u201cRick Riordan Presents\u201d imprint that I\u2019ve read that doesn\u2019t feel like Rick Riordan could have written it if he belonged to that culture. Yes, it\u2019s an \u201cOwn Voices\u201d book from Cuban-American culture. But it doesn\u2019t follow the formula of kid-finds-out-mythological-characters-are-real-and-they-are-part-of-it. Instead, this is science fiction involving parallel universes, a kid who is able to open windows between universes, and his father who studies \u201ccalamity physics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, I have to say that I think the \u201cscience\u201d in this book is silly and bogus. There\u2019s hand-waving that goes on about how Sal is able to open windows between universes and pseudoscience about \u201ccalamitrons\u201d that result. Also, the thing that happened at the end didn\u2019t make sense to me.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said before that if a novel makes too much of alternate universes, we start asking, why then are we hearing the story of this particular universe, when a story exists where the characters make different choices? To me, it cheapens the importance of those choices.<\/p>\n

However, that said, I loved this book! The characters, especially Sal and Gabi, are completely delightful. I love that Sal, who can open windows between universes and bring things through, is a showman and a magician. What a great trick \u2013 to bring a dead chicken from an alternate universe and then make it disappear without a trace!<\/p>\n

Right at the start, Sal stands up to a bully by putting a dead chicken in his locker. He does it with flare, and later the evidence disappears. Gabi\u2019s a friend of the bully, and we soon learn that she\u2019s not the sort of person who\u2019s going to let a mystery like that stand.<\/p>\n

Sal and Gabi attend an Arts Magnet School \u2013 and it makes me wish such a school existed. The teachers and principal are reasonable and try to be fair. Sal\u2019s also got diabetes, and dealing with that is a nice underlying realistic piece of the plot.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a spot where Sal scares Gabi much more thoroughly than he meant to \u2013 and he apologizes beautifully. That\u2019s where I thought, What a wonderful kid! But then later in the book, we see an alternate reality Sal whose mother never died of diabetes, and that Sal isn\u2019t nearly so thoughtful. I like that nod to the way difficult experiences make us grow. I could believe that Sal was so aware of others\u2019 feelings because of what he\u2019d been through.<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s face it, the interaction between universes was so much fun, I was willing to suspend my disbelief. A chicken in a bully\u2019s locker. Sal\u2019s dead mother coming from another universe and thinking she\u2019s still married to his Papi. A Calamitron-scanner with artificial intelligence and a personality. A lie detector using brain science that Sal turns into a performance.<\/p>\n

So maybe the \u201cscience\u201d is very hand-wavy. But as a novel about people \u2013 people interacting with grace, performing, and dealing with the hard parts of life \u2013 this novel shines. I agree with the blurb on the back by William Alexander, \u201cfilled to the brim with a fiercely unstoppable joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

@WriteTeachPlay<\/a>
\n@camphalfblood<\/a>
\nDisneyBooks.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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