Quiet children, unlikely friendships and families under strain recur throughout Erin Entrada Kelly’s middle-grade fiction. Hello, Universe links four children over the course of a day after Virgil is trapped in a well and his friends’ separate lives begin to intersect. Lalani of the Distant Sea moves into fantasy, sending a girl from an island village across a dangerous sea in search of help for her community. The Land of Forgotten Girls follows two Filipino sisters living in Louisiana and using stories to survive a difficult home life, while the Ryan Hart books by Renée Watson are a useful comparison for readers seeking similarly character-centred contemporary middle grade. Kelly’s writing is accessible, gentle and observant, with multiple viewpoints common. Across realist and fantastic settings, Kelly is best placed with middle-grade friendship stories, Filipino-American fiction and literary children’s fantasy. Read more Less
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