Royalbery Book Club for Rising 6th-8th Grades: The First State of Being

* *Note: $5 registration fee can be used as a credit toward a purchase at the Caboose. The credit expires the day of book club.**

* *Parents welcome to shop at the Caboose or Sidetrack while their child participates in the event, or drop off and come back. However, Sidetrack staff is not responsible for book club participants or their drop off/pick up logistics. All participants must be picked up no later than 6:30 p.m.**

About The Book

WINNER OF THE NEWBERY MEDAL

A FINALIST FOR THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

2025 Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction Notable List

Michael Rosario, a twelve-year-old Filipino boy living with his single mother in an apartment complex in Delaware, meets a mysterious boy from the future in this suspenseful stand-alone novel by the award-winning and bestselling Erin Entrada Kelly. For fans of Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me.

It's August 1999. For twelve-year-old Michael Rosario, life at Fox Run Apartments in Red Knot, Delaware, is as ordinary as ever—except for the looming Y2K crisis and his overwhelming crush on his fifteen-year-old babysitter, Gibby. But when a disoriented teenage boy named Ridge appears out of nowhere, Michael discovers there is more to life than stockpiling supplies and pining over Gibby.

It turns out that Ridge is carefree, confident, and bold, things Michael wishes he could be. Unlike Michael, however, Ridge isn’t where he belongs. When Ridge reveals that he’s the world’s first time-traveler, Michael and Gibby are stunned, but curious. As Ridge immerses himself in 1999—fascinated by microwaves, basketballs, and malls—Michael discovers that his new friend has a book that outlines the events of the next twenty years, and his curiosity morphs into something else: focused determination. Michael wants—no, needs—to get his hands on that book. How else can he prepare for the future? But how far is he willing to go to get it?

A story of time travel, friendship, found family, and first loves, this thematically rich novel is distinguished by its voice, character development, setting, and exploration of the issues that resonate with middle grade readers.

About The Author

Erin Entrada Kelly is the author of the Newbery Medal–winning novels Hello, Universe and The First State of Being, which was also named a finalist for the National Book Award. She received a Newbery Honor for her acclaimed novel We Dream of Space. Erin Entrada Kelly grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and now lives in Delaware. She teaches in the MFA in writing for children and young adults program at Hamline University. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Philippines Free Press Literary Award for Short Fiction and the Pushcart Prize. Before becoming a children’s author, Erin worked as a journalist and magazine editor and received numerous awards for community service journalism, feature writing, and editing from the Louisiana Press Association and the Associated Press.

Erin Entrada Kelly’s debut novel, Blackbird Fly, was a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, an ALSC Notable Book, and an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Honor Book. She is also the author of The Land of Forgotten Girls, winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature; You Go First, an Indie Next Pick; Lalani of the Distant Sea, an Indie Next Pick; Those Kids from Fawn Creek, named to numerous best-of-the-year lists; and five popular novels for younger readers, Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey, Surely Surely Marisol Rainey, Only Only Marisol Rainey, Your Turn Marisol Rainey, and Felix Powell, Boy Dog, which she also illustrated.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Caboose: Sidetrack Bookshop for Kids, 220 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak, United States