MMGM- Boy 2.0

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Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
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Always in the Middle 

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Unleashing Readers

Baptiste, Tracey. Boy 2.0

October 1, 2024 by Algonquin Young Readers

E ARC provided by Netgalley

Win "Coal" Keegan has been living in foster care with Tom, but when his foster dad has a mental health crisis, he ends up on the McKay's doorstep. The father, Jackson, and the mother, Candace (or "Doc"), haven't had a foster child before, but have three children, Aaron, who is in high school, and young Mia and Hannah. The family is friendly, but boisterous and a little overwhelming. Doc makes sure to give Coal some space, and to let him know she understands that the move is difficult. When Coal decides to get some air and go for a walk, Aaron agrees to tell the adults where he's gone, but also tells him to be home by dark. Coal finds a small side street where he can draw a picture in chalk of a woman who has been wrongfully killed, but when he is almost finished, a man comes after him with a gun. Panicked, Coal runs, and when the police arrive, he tries to hide behind a dumpster. He notices something odd-- he's become invisible, and so the police go right by him. When he gets home, Doc is worried, since he seems shaken. She's a psychiatrist, so knows when teens are lying to her, but gets Coal cleaned up and sends him. To bed. He's tried to tell her about the invisibility, but it's hard to explain something like that. He also tells his best friend, Door, at school the next day. Wanting to know more, Coal does some research, and comes across the Mirror Tech labs that are located nearby. He and Door take a tour of the facility with some other kids on the weekend, but don't feel comfortable doing any of the screenings that the director, Dr. Hunter Achebe, is having others do. Coal has interacted with some mimetic fabric, and a volunteer there, Isadora, mentions that the fabric usually doesn't act that way. There are still lots of questions, and Coal does unpack some of his worries with Doc, as they do yoga and run through some breathing exercises. When Coal mentions all of this to Aaron, Mia, and Hannah, they help him research, and come across information about Project Snow White, which was run through Mirror Tech, and which was supposed to help women with infertility issues. At school, the vice principal pulls Coal aside, and he thinks he is in trouble, but the vice principal wanting only to mention that there was a chalk drawing found, and the police wanted the artist to know that he could file charges against the man who shot at him. Coal and Door have tried to figure out what makes Coal turn invisible, and figure that it has something to do with a fear response. When Dr. Achebe asks Coal to be an intern, he's flattered until they get to the lab and the scientist not only takes blood and spit samples, but also some skin! Coal finds out that Tom, his foster father, was a scientist working at Mirror Tech. He and Door decide to break into the lab with Isadora's key card that Door swiped, and try to get more information. The boys claim to be going to a silent protest, but sneak into the lab. They manage to find some secrets and retrieve some files, but are, of course, caught. Doc shows up to protect him, but Coal knows he needs to figure out these secrets from the past. Does Coal's ability to turn invisible have anything to do with his birth mother, Mirror Tech experiments, and genetic manipulation, or is it something else? Will he be taken by the military and researched, or will his new found family, and Coal himself, be able to save the day? (I don't want to spoil the twists and turns!)

Strengths: The positive depiction of a foster family is good to see, and I particularly liked Aaron. Coal's concern for his foster father Tom is well placed, and the family tries to provide him with information that he needs. It's good that he's allowed to continue to go to school and see Door. The most unusual part of this book is that Coal TELLS people what has happened to him, and asks for help from Door, but even his foster siblings and parents. The connections between Coal, Doc, Tom, and Mirror Tech are fascinating, and revealed slowly. There is also an intriguing reason for Coal to turn invisible that is NOT connected with the lab. The cover is fantastic, and it's a short, punchy sci Fi adventure with a good message that I think will have broad appeal. 
Weaknesses: I wish there had been more scenes where Coal was invisible and less yoga with Doc. If he has the ability, couldn't it have been used to better effect in Mirror Tech? This might just be me projecting my desire to run around and whap people upside the head when I'm invisible, like the characters in Ray's 2012 Calling Invisible Women. 
What I really think: This is an excellent choice for readers who want a good dose of science in their science fiction adventures. There are a couple of books that deal with teens turning invisible, like Clements' Things Not Seen (which has left me permanently wary of electric heating pads!) or Kessler's Has Anyone Seen Jessica Jenkins?  , or Welford's What Not To Do If You Turn Invisible, and it's something we could see a lot more of. Middle school students always feel that they are TOO visible. Boy 2.0 has a lot of things that make it unique. There are some genetic mystery adventures, like Smith's Boy X (2017) and Werlin's Double Helix (2004) Messner's Wake Up Missing (2013), but this also has a lot of family secrets. I thought it might be a series until the very end of the book, when things were wrapped up. I wouldn't mind reading more about Coal and the McKays, which is a good sign! 

I've been doing my #OOTD (Outfit Of The Day) on Bluesky, inspired by The Sartorial Librarians. This was a recent thrift find, and even has a tag in it that says "Made especially for you by Marion Walton". I've thought all weekend about how it ended up at my local thrift store. It's very similar to sweaters I have knit, so I couldn't just abandon it!  Sydney Dunlap has a new book coming out in February, Racing the Clouds, that I need to read tonight, since I'm working on April releases and somehow missed it, so my #BookADay is her intriguing It Happened on Saturday.  

"Made Especially For You!"

Jenny loved Nana Marion. She did. But for every Christmas and birthday, there was a new, elaborate sweater. They were beautiful, and she knew that Nana took great pride in them, but they took up a lot of room in her closet, and they weren't really the sort of thing she wore now that she worked remotely. 

Thankfully, the sweaters from her childhood were gone; once Brittany trotted them out at the holidays for great grandma to coo over, Jenny pretended that she had given them to Scott for his kids, and his wife... well, who knows what Amy did with them after the divorce. 

Over the years, she made excuses. The pastel fair isle with inexplicable penguins at the yoke was so admired by a friend that it was given to her. The beautiful Aran knit that weighed 25 pounds became "so worn out". Jenny saved a few to wear when she visited Nana at Quiet Pines, but those dwindled over the years as Nana's eyesight faded and she didn't remember what Jenny wore the last time she visited. 

Standing at Nana's grave, tugging the neck of the last, itchy wool sweater, Jenny started to wonder if there was some sort of... retaliatory component to Nana's work. Eveything was either a little too short or a little too long, but never in a reliable way. Hadn't that penguin sweater appeared after young Jenny used sidewalk chalk one Easter on the covered back porch? The mustard popcorn stitch vest after she announced her engagement to Brad, whom Nana disliked? The too tight cardigan with the extra long sleeves not two months after she commented, very carefully, on Nana's weight gain? Coming home after the service, Jenny peeled off the star yoked brown wool sweater that Nana made her in college. It was her favorite, but her internal thermostat now made wearing such heavy wool unbearable. She didn't need a sweater to remember Nana. Someone else who didn't know its history would enjoy it.