Each of Us a Universe
Written by Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo
and Ndengo Gladys Mwilelo
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Ever since the day when everything changed, Cal Scott’s answer has been to run—run from her mother who’s fighting cancer, run from her father whom she can’t forgive, and run from classmates who’ve never seemed to “get” her anyway. The only thing Cal runs toward is nearby Mt. Meteorite, named for the magical meteorite some say crashed there fifty years ago. Cal spends her afternoons plotting to summit the mountain, so she can find the magic she believes will make the impossible possible and heal her mother. But no one has successfully reached its peak—no one who’s lived to tell about it, anyway.
Then Cal meets Rosine Kanambe, a girl who’s faced more impossibles than anyone should have to. Rosine has her own secret plan for the mountain and its magic, and convinces Cal they can summit its peak if they work together. As the girls climb high and dig deep to face the mountain’s challenges, Cal learns from Rosine what real courage looks like, and begins to wonder if the magic she’s been looking for is really the kind she needs.

Primary ISBN: 9780374388683
Available As: Hardcover, eBook
Middle Grade, Age 08 or older
Community Represented: Congolese/Congolese American
Themes: Cross-Group Friendship, Own Voices/Lived Experience, Refugee: War/Conflict, Trauma & Healing: Death of Family or Friend, Welcoming by Community, Welcoming by Individual
Setting: United States (Connecticut)
Character’s New Arrival/New American Status: Refugee
Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience
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