THE PAPER MUSEUM

Hoping to find her missing parents, a young girl desperately searches for clues in the museum where they worked.

Twelve-year-old Lydia lives in a world where books and paper are obsolete, and everyone relies on personal devices called aer readers. The Paper Museum her family operates houses the few existing books, paper artifacts, and typewriters, but it rarely has any visitors. Since her parents vanished 3 months ago, Lydia’s been living at the museum with her Uncle Lem, searching for the book her mother was holding before she disappeared, which may provide some answers. When Lem goes away, leaving his strange brother, Renald, in charge, Lydia makes the mistake of filing a missing persons report on her parents, which means the museum could be confiscated within 30 days unless they return. Trusting neither Renald nor the interns, Lydia continues searching for clues and discovers a hidden chamber and well beneath the museum. When artifacts disappear, aer readers fail, and the mayor threatens to confiscate the museum, Lydia relies on old technology to unleash vital magic the museum has concealed. Lydia’s suspenseful first-person narration effectively conveys her distrust, confusion, and amazement as well as her determination to find answers while creating a rich subtext focusing on the old world of books and paper and raising timely questions about the technology replacing them. Characters default to White.

An absorbing, complex debut.