I was interested in reading this story about Hugo because I have always been fascinated by the underground passages in Paris. I think it was a great setting for the children to have an adventure.

However, I think the story was a bit too long for what really happened and it got a bit too serious. I was hopping for more playful scenes and seeing the world through Hugo's eyes and his friends but some scenes were really scary, especially for kids.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

There are some books that you just find yourself putting off and putting off. This was one of those books. I was fascinated by the history of the catacombs under Paris and I like the representation of Autistic characters in literature. But I just couldn't get myself into this story. Hugo and his friends just didn't interest me long term.

For Hugo, the world can be too loud and bright. He likes the quiet. He likes the dark. And he loves maps.
When Hugo learns that there’s a whole other world under Paris, a network of tunnels, quarries and catacombs mapped beneath his feet, he sets off on an adventure.
Navigating secret passages, narrowly escaping robbers and returning to old friends, Hugo discovers more than just buried treasure …

This was a hidden gem that I absolutely loved from start to finish!

Filled with mystery and adventure this story also includes important messages. Delving into themes of friendship and loyalty the key success of this novel is that the protagonist is a young boy who suffers from autism and the entire story is from his perspective. This affords readers the opportunity to experience the trials and tribulations that young people with autism face on a daily basis and attempts to develop understanding and awareness of these obstacles which is think is a commendable endeavour.

Compassionate and full of heart this is a great story that I think all young readers should experience.

I was interested in Boy Underground because of Hugo who is autistic and I like to find autism rep in books. As a proud aunt to wonderful nephews who have autism, when I find good representation I will pass the details over to my nephews.

I could not put this book down. I thought the story was great and highly recommend!

Could not put the book down. Hugo’s point of view was fantastic and I think it could help a lot of people understand others.
It is very well written and enjoyed by the family

Beneath the streets of Paris is a huge network of underground tunnels. When Hugo finds out about this, he is determined to go exploring and to become a cataphile - a member of the group of underground explorers.

The main reason for Hugo wanting to join this group is because he has no friends above ground. Hugo is autistic, which makes him different, and the other kids don’t want to hang around with him.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I felt the plot became a bit complicated and rushed towards the end, but I was willing to overlook this because of the way Hugo’s autism was described and his special interests and sensory differences were woven into the story. I love books with autistic characters and Hugo is one of the best I’ve ever come across. I enjoyed finding out about the history of Paris too.

This is a lovely, heartwarming story about friendship and accepting people for who they are. I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fantastic.
I loved how it showed that not all children are the same but they are still accepted and that great friendships can come from a place you least expect.
The adventure they have together is great and the plot was so creative and well thought out. I hope there will be another book to come.

I was interested in this because the main character, Hugo, is autistic. And I was also hesitant to read it because the author herself is not, she based the knowledge she has off her autistic nephew. While I’m not well versed in all the things that would be found offensive in the autistic community, I think this did a pretty decent job with it.

Hugo isn’t a caricature of a kid. He’s a kid that has a sensitivity to light and sounds and smells and textures and it was so relatable. I think it was handled really well especially because when it came to how other kids handled it, the cruelty that kids can inflict was there. What made it worse? Hugo’s once best friends were the ones who were now his tormentors. At least in Alex. The other, Julie, straight up ignores him.

There was a scene in the cafeteria that brought me to tears because of an interaction between Hugo and Julie.

While the characters were great, there were some things I took issue with. For one, Julie is apparently Chinese. I say apparently because you don’t know that at all until a sentence toward the end of the book where Hugo describes making Chinese food at her house and says that Julie is Chinese. This character is in the entire book and she’s not described in any way that lets you know what she looks like. She was a blank for me the entire time. Same with Alex. If it weren’t for the cover art, I’d have no idea what any of these kids were supposed to look like.

Then we get to the writing. Hugo lives in France. So there are some things that go by their French names and in parenthesis next to it, has the English translation. Something about that bothered me. I can’t quite explain it but either have the French name for it or the English. Having both sort of disrupted the narrative flow for me.

All in all, it’s a good book that I don’t think is harmful to the community is represents. I give it a 3 out of 5.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to them and the publisher.

I really enjoyed reading this story! I felt it gave a good perspective on someone with autism, some of the challenges they face but also some of the things that make them extra special too. Though it's told from the point of view of an autistic boy and will appeal to other autistic children (Who may see themselves in Hugo and not feel so alone), i get the feeling that it's being told to allow those who aren't autistic to understand those who are better, and hopefully be more understanding and sympathetic towards them. They are just people after all!
the story itself is good fun. it takes a little while to get going, but that didn't bother me. I felt like i learned a lot from this book, with Hugo dropping in little facts that he had learned and things he found interesting.
I liked the friendship aspect of the story too. Hugo used to have two close friends, Julie and Alex, but they drifted apart recently, and they now treat him pretty badly, alex will bully Hugo and Julie mainly just ignores him completely. Hugo doesn't understand why this has happened and it really hurts him. But when they go on their adventure to the underground world beneath Paris, they start to reconnect, discovering why they drifted apart.
there's a great little mystery story thrown in here too, with a missing bottle of wine from the 1700s, and some wine thieves that tie the children up in the underground when they accidentally see them stealing priceless wine from the cellar of the most famous chef in Paris.
it's a story about fitting in without changing yourself, friendship, kindness and understanding.
i will say, i'm not autistic myself (though there is a point in the story wheren Hugo talks about being able to hear the sonic rat repellants and i thought it was just me that could hear them and they drive me mad!), i do have some autistic friends, but that definitely does not make me any kind of expert. So I cannot say that an autistic person would find this depiction accurate. but from an outside perspective, i feel like the author has done a good job. as i mentioned earlier, i think though it's told from the POV of an autistic child, it's really meant to educate those outside the spectrum. the author does seem to have experience herself, with her son being autistic. So she's not completely in the dark and writing about something she knows nothing about.
overall, i was really impressed with this story. it's not a negative depiction of autism, i found it to be a very understanding and sympathetic depiction. and the story itself was really interesting to read.

I just couldn't take to this, I'm afraid. While all the woke demands for "lived experience only!" really pee me off, I felt this was one instance where narrating this as an autistic character was not the best idea – for moralistic and entertainment reasons, both. The opening chapters are just bludgeoning in portraying the lead's autism, resultant bullying and loneliness, and it takes far too long to get underground and get on with anything exciting. Also, having to be set in Paris feels counter-productive as regards sales and interest, too. And if the other characters were once the lead's friends, as he alleges, why are we still stuck with him explaining his eidetic memory to them at the start of Chapter Seventeen??!!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Isabelle Marinov, and the publisher of this book for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderful story about a Hugo a boy with Autism, who loves maps and decides to go all the way into the undergrounds of Paris. While underground, Hugo not only learns about all the tunnels and catacombs, but also learns that old friends will sometimes surprise.

A sweet read about an amazing boy! I hope this allows students to see that everyone is special and unique in their own way.

The world is overwhelming for Hugo, who prefers the dark and quiet over the bright and loud. After learning all he can about the Parisian underground, he sets off to find a way in and be in his element.

Boy Underground is a lovely middle grade novel perfect for any map lover, and especially the cataphiles of the world. Based on the Parisian underground, Boy Underground introduces the reader to the tunnels and catacombs located under the city of Paris. New travel goal: unlocked.

Hugo, our main character, is autistic and his special interest is maps, and specifically, the underground. Throughout his journey, we see how he interacts with the world and how his sensory sensitivities affect everything he does. We see how he is able to be more himself in the underground where the world isn't so overwhelming so far under Paris.

Although I really enjoyed this book and the overall story and autistic representation, I was also a bit underwhelmed by Hugo's character. I was expecting a bit more in regards to his identity than we saw, which is a me problem and not the book, as I thorougly enjoyed everything else!

It was really great to watch as Hugo and the two major supporting characters grew throughout the story and learned things about themselves and eachother, all while becoming kinder people as they experienced all the unknowns together. My favorite part though has to be the atmosphere created by Marinov's writing. It's not too difficult to imagine the underground and everything the kids experience while exploring it, and it will definitely (re)awaken the reader's wanderlust.

Identities: autistic MC, East Asian SC

CW: bullying

Rating system:
5 - absolutely love, little-to-no dislikes that did not impact my reading experience

4 - great book, minor dislikes that did have an impact on my reading experience

3 - good/decent book but for some reason did not hook me or there were some problematic things that just were not addressed or greatly impacted my reading experience

2 - is either a book I did not click with and did not enjoy, problematic aspects are not addressed and severely impacted my reading experience, or I DNF'd but think it has potential for others

1 - is very problematic, I would not recommend the book to anyone

This is an amazingly wonderful book which puts a focus on the world of an autistic child and the difficulties which they experience in the world that we live in. It shows how they interact differently and how they view the world

I started this book, lost a bit of mojo and then came back to it and devoured in a day. Absolutely brilliant writing, had me hooked. The characters were perfectly portrayed so that I was desperate to know that things turned out right for them.

I really enjoyed the story of Boy Underground. It was interesting to see the world through his eyes and to discover how determined Hugo became in pursuit of his interest in maps. I also found the information about the Parasian cataphiles to be really interesting and the perfect background for an adventure of self-discovery and being comfortable in your own skin.

Boy Underground is an interesting read, following Hugo, an autistic boy who is struggling to feel like he belongs. After hearing about the Parisian catacombs, Hugo decides to seek solace deep underground away from the world that he feels he doesn’t fit into. His subterranean voyage turns into an unexpected quest. Does he have the skills to survive underground?

I liked this story. It was an easy and insightful read. I wasn’t particularly gripped by it but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

We read this as a family, having ADHD and autism in our family. It is focused on Hugo's difficulties and his view of how to navigate the world but also the two subsidiary characters have their own problems which makes the book far more balanced. The book shows that we all have our strengths and talents but also everyone's experience of life is different. We absolutely loved it. The story is interesting and exciting and is well paced. This will become a favourite in our home.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the catacombs, but I did not like how the characters were portrayed.

The premise is about an autistic boy finding his way, written by a mother for her son, This is where I find fault in this story, It is written very much how someone would imagine being autistic is like and this resulted in a character that was too self-aware of environmental triggers, that someone his age or even any age should be. As lovely as this story was intended I believe autistic stories should be written by autistic authors.