Candace, the Universe, and Everything

The secrets of a middle schooler’s locker connect three generations of Black girls across time in this speculative novel by Smith (Pearl). Struggling to navigate changing friendship dynamics, 13-year-old Candace Wells starts eighth grade with a pit in her stomach. After “a bird of unordinary colouring” flies out of her locker, Candace discovers a notebook belonging to someone named Tracey Auburn, who seems to be sending Candace messages through the pages from the past. Tracking down the volume’s owner, Candace meets adult Tracey, who shares that the same bird flew into her locker in 1988. Candace and Tracey soon encounter elderly quantum physicist Loretta Spencer, who informs the pair that the locker is a knot in time through which only the unusual bird can travel—and that Loretta needs Candace and Tracey’s help to map all the knots in Chicago. Chapters alternate between Candace in the present, Tracey in 1988, and Loretta in 1968; interspersed throughout are brief, sensorial excerpts from an in-universe children’s story about a window in the sky. The trio’s heartwarming bond takes center stage; with help from the older women, who act as her mentors, Candace learns how to navigate friendship woes and a first crush. Ages 10–up. Agent: Kirby Kim, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Sept.)