We Are Not Alone

October 1, 2024
After his best friend's death, a boy vows to continue their UFO investigations. Thirteen-year-old Sam Kepler Greyson is dealing with "Big Things(TM)": His Hodgkin's lymphoma is in remission, but his best friend, Oscar Padilla, recently died of brain cancer. When Sam returns to school, he's greeted with hostility--thanks to a rumor spread by "former friend, current jerk" Kevin Bellman, who claims that he lied about having cancer. Moreover, he's partnered with Cat Pellegrini--whose clique peripherally includes Kevin--for eighth grade's annual California History Project. To cope, Sam imagines Oscar giving him advice. Before his death, Oscar left Sam a message in their UFO notebook: "We are NOT alone in the universe." Sam finds an unlikely ally in Cat, who's secretly a fellow UFO enthusiast. As they investigate cryptic clues from a mysterious online contact, their friendship grows, and Sam finally feels like a normal kid--a welcome relief from being treated as fragile or heroic. So how can he tell Cat about Oscar--or the full story of his own cancer? And if Sam tells his moms about the bullying--or the new pain in his chest--how could life ever return to normal? While Bury, herself a cancer survivor, intricately explores Sam's conflicting emotions, Sam's occasionally wry narration and imagined banter with Oscar add levity, and his moms are heartwarmingly supportive. Sam and one of his moms are white and Jewish; his other mom is Black. A moving, humorous exploration of friendship and trust. (author's note)(Fiction. 9-13)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2025
As Sam Kepler Greyson heads back to school for the first time after going through chemo, he's still worried about his illness -- now in remission -- and processing the loss of his best friend, Oscar, who died from brain cancer. He doesn't expect things to get better when he's paired with Cat Pellegrini for their eighth-grade California history project, especially when Cat's friends start speculating that he lied about being sick for attention. Sam becomes even more determined not to talk about his cancer -- to anyone, including his moms -- even when he starts having concerning symptoms. But Cat turns out to be the same kind of nerdy as Sam, and they connect over a favorite TV show and a passion for UFOs. With Cat's help, Sam continues the work he'd begun studying extraterrestrials with Oscar, and together they follow clues to locate the author of a mysterious article on the subject. When a health crisis puts his friendship with Cat at risk, Sam has to deal with things he'd rather avoid. The book deals honestly with conflicting emotions of some cancer survivors (including Bury, as an author's note explains) without becoming maudlin, with Sam's wry sense of humor at the core. The cancer and UFO plot threads interweave elegantly, and the book offers possibilities but no easy answers. Sarah Rettger

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)