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This was a remarkably smart and nuanced realistic middle grade novel. The premise sounds so simple: Lekha hides her Indian American culture from her classmates as much as possible until she meets Avantika, a girl her age and recent immigrant from India, who is unashamed of who she is. But there's so much that gets touched upon without it feeling overwhelming: identity, colorism, allyship, friendship, family dynamics, even journalistic ethics. It touches on so many issues without feeling like an "issues book"; instead, the characters are fully fleshed-out and believable, the events natural and organic. Lekha experiences racism both overt and subtle; Indian kids will feel seen, while non-Indian kids will learn to better understand the effects of the kinds of comments her classmates make. Ultimately, the book is about finding yourself and standing up for what's right, even if it's hard, even if you don't get it perfect every time, and that's a powerful message.

What a gorgeous, gorgeous book. Annabelle is such a fun, spunky character, and it's a joy to get to know her over the course of the story and to watch her get to know herself. The development of the relationship between Annabelle and her parents, particularly her dad, throughout the book is rendered so carefully and well. I've read so few middle grade books with trans characters, and I've never read anything about a dad who was the gestational parent, so this was such a breath of fresh air, and I learned a lot. All this and more is explored in a way that feels loving and organic. I appreciate how various characters, including Annabelle and her dad, mess up in their understanding of Bailey's identity but are given a chance to get things right, and how by the end, everyone was able to happily own their queer identities (I got a little teary over the epilogue). Everything unfolded in such a natural, well-written way, and I just loved this story. I hope Kyle Lukoff writes a hundred more middle grade novels because I will read them all.

Assorted thoughts:
-In a world in which it takes me months to get through a single book, I blew through this one in under a week. Some of that was the time pressure of book club, but some of it was the fast pace and general readability of the book; many other books I would have abandoned rather than plowing through for book club.
-The ending felt abrupt and several loose ends were not tied up, which was annoying.
-It was refreshing to read a science fiction book where not only was the main character not white/an alien, but also their specific culture was so central to the narrative. I loved the incorporation of both folklore and Spanish.
-The exploration of grief really got to me.
-As far as originality of a science fiction novel, it's probably more of a three-star read, but I have to bump it up because I'm a librarian and therefore a sucker for stories about the importance of stories.
-Where do I sign up to have information dropped into my brain while I sleep?