WE DREAM OF SPACE

Three siblings face their middle school problems as they learn about space.

The Thomas siblings—13-year-old Cash and 12-year-old twins Fitch and Bird—all struggle to navigate the doubts of middle school and their dysfunctional family. Cash sees himself as a failure. He isn’t good at anything, and now he’s repeating seventh grade with his two younger siblings. Fitch is good at video games but bad at controlling his temper. Bird likes tinkering with machines but feels invisible. The Thomas household is toxic with their parents’ constant fighting, and Bird feels like she has to keep their family from malfunctioning altogether. It’s January 1986, and their teacher is gearing them up for the launch of the space shuttle Challenger. Bird is enthralled with the space mission and decides she’s going to be a shuttle commander one day. But when the Challenger disaster occurs, Bird finds herself in need of the support she’s been giving. Each chapter begins with a date in January 1986, then divides into short vignettes following each sibling on that day. Kelly writes a heartfelt story of family and the bond of siblings. Even though readers are transported to 1986, the characters’ social, emotional, and familial struggles will feel familiar and timely. Characters seem to default to white, with the occasional surname hinting at ethnic difference.

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