Ride The Universe

Teddy lost his older sister Jean when their father had a sailing accident. Jean’s twin sister is angry about the loss of her sister. She feels incomplete. His sister decides to spend time away from the family as she needs to reconcile the conflicts she has inside her. Teddy catches a baseball winning the Little League Championship. Somehow the light exposed how the ball would be hit by the bat and where the ball would land. Teddy is mystified by the moonlight as he and his dad spend time looking at the stars. As Teddy asks questions, his dad answers them. When Teddy meets up with Tem, they talk about stars and then light. Teddy has many questions still. However when Tem mentions his father’s hiding spot that hold amulets from the Egyptian past, Teddy wants to see them. They plan a time when Tem’s parents aren’t home. As they examine the amulets, one strikes a white light at Teddy. It makes him feel very warm and different. Both boys are more curious about the amulets and Egypt. Teddy asks for a book about Egypt from Tem’s father. He learns about Egypt’s gods and goddesses. With his sister at home, she asks if she can talk to him about her sister’s death. Will Teddy be able to help her? As Teddy learns more about light and photosynthesis, Teddy wants to see the amulets again. When Teddy sees them, he takes one home and the light/energy takes him out to the universe where he explores the planets and then out further until there is only darkness. Why does Teddy want to explore the universe? Will Teddy go back home?

The story is a combination of science fiction and fantasy. It discusses death and how it affects the family. Teddy not only develops much more science knowledge but also about his own spirituality. He begins his path to the period of his life known “coming of age.” He and his friend Tem were on an adventure that does not end at the end of the book. It’s a great adventure with secrets and surprises. I enjoyed Teddy’s ride in the universe. Such wonders are described perfectly.

This book gave me major Bridge to Terabithia vibes, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not quite yet. I'm still working on processing this entire book, there's a lot of different feelings it brings up. It's an odd comparison, but both the language and content seemed similar to me for some reason. The only difference is that this book came out in 2019 and that is considered a modern classic and every single kid I know has read it because of school.

One thing I personally wasn't a fan of was the dialogue in this one. It felt stunted at times, and the character's ages weren't altogether believable due to it. There were a fair amount of conversations that didn't flow properly simply because of the voice the author was using, but it's a fairly small nitpick. I also wasn't a fan of what felt like an information slog, dumps of what the majority of people already know that take away from the story in some places and seem to be just there to buffer length. I understand its place, to show Teddy's insatiable curiosity, but it was a little detracting from the story at places.

Ultimately, a decent book if fairly old feeling. It's cute, and there's definitely an audience for it. It says at the back that it's gonna be a trilogy, I hope the author keeps writing because it was a fun little adventure!

This is a pretty good book for a young person. It has metaphysical aspects and likeable characters and some mystery. There's a fair amount of explaining of science concepts and a decent plot. I'm a bit old for this but I think pre-teens would like this.

I really appreciate the review copy!!

Wow, this was quite a story. If you have kids that like science and history this book has a lot of both. Teddy and Tem are best friends and both of their Dads are scientist. Tem’s Dad is Egyptian and the boys found some stones hidden in his den. The stones really effected Teddy and his car seemed to be acting differently also.. The boys study and every time they can they take the “stones” and see what they do. I found this a fun book until the last couple chapters when it seemed to go totally imaginative but kids may enjoy them. This is a trilogy and I will read the next two books!! I recommend this book.