Review by Booklist Review
TITLE: Carlos Hernandez Fixes the UniverseDEK: This duology closer leaves behind a hopeful haven for young readers.]To paraphrase Kate DiCamillo's paraphrasing of Katherine Paterson, middle-grade authors are "duty-bound to end their stories with hope." Of course, these two kidlit queens are concerned not with shielding readers from reality but, rather, with reflecting the sufferings that befall even the youngest among us. They know it's the author's job to acknowledge the pain and show a path forward. In his Sal and Gabi duology, which began with the Pura Belpré--winning Sal and Gabi Break the Universe (2019), Hernandez takes this quintessential duty to the next level. Hope is the very foundation on which his work stands.On the surface, the world of Sal and Gabi is many things. Filtered through the consciousness of young Sal Vidón, an amateur stage magician with the power of crossing between universes, it's the Miami, FL, of our own reality--hot, humid, diverse--but it's also a science-fantasy wonderland where anything is possible: AI supercomputers, world-eating wormholes, sentient toilets. More importantly, it's home to Culeco Academy of the Arts, whose inspiring approach to education conjures Hogwarts more than homework. It's a school founded on a culture of creativity, collaboration, and support, where students are fully engaged in their theatrical crafts and the principal is as quick to dole out mama-bear hugs as she is to serve up discipline.And yet, as ideal as Culeco is, it's not some carefree Camazotz (à la A Wrinkle in Time), where everything works out for everyone. Despite the story's epic trappings--magic powers and cosmic consequences--there's no supervillain to contend with; instead, the conflicts are rooted in reality, the characters victims of everyday life. Sal is a type 1 diabetic, still mourning his mami's death; Gabi's infant brother is gravely ill; reformed ballerino Yasmany comes from an abusive household. These kids hurt. They're flawed. They make mistakes and go too far--just like real people.To be clear, the book has a plot, as well--Sal's papi, a calamity physicist, is working to close various wormholes created by his son, even as an "Evil Gabi" from a parallel world fights to stop him from inadvertently destroying the multiverse--but plot is beside the point here. Hernandez writes with gleeful abandon, placing readers so firmly in the moment-to-moment of Sal's endlessly wry, insightful, and comical perspective that the narrative vehicle is a series of madcap side quests and subplots: Sal's race against time to not pee his pants, Sal's race against time to flush Gabi's spy-drone down the toilet, Sal and Gabi's race against time to fix the school production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, their regularly paced effort to find Yasmany a safe home.Hernandez writes fearlessly, filling his prose with emojis, interrobangs, and even interactive sections, frequently breaking the fourth wall. With his inventive style, zany world building, and off-the-charts joke-to-sentence ratio, this literary loon is operating somewhere in the space between Lewis Carroll and Louis Sachar, but he outshines all the great L(ew/ou)ises by grounding the madness in the honest, endearing, and authentic voice of Sal. In some ways, this book is an exercise in organized chaos, and it shines brightest when things quiet down and the characters open up, get "smeepy," and let their vulnerabilities show. Beneath his book's comedic veneer, Hernandez is teaching readers how to handle their own calamities: with the help of one another.In Culeco, and in Sal's life, community is everything. Almost every character makes a journey from hardship towards finding family: in the wake of Mami's death, Sal is buoyed by his "American Stepmom" and new Miami friends; Yasmany finds comfort in the school principal and a home among Gabi's myriad of dads; even "Evil Gabi" ultimately gets a second chance with a found family of other multiverse Gabis.That's the gift of these books: not just a rosy ending but a universe built around people's fundamental goodness and grace, grounded in the events of daily life. In the construction of Sal and Gabi's world, Hernandez has himself fixed our own universe--not by removing its flaws but by populating it with people who care for one another. It's a place for readers to live in, a haven they can always escape to for comfort and for hope. And also, fart jokes. But mostly hope.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this heartwarming follow-up to 2019's Sal & Gabi Break the Universe, the titular duo is faced with a new set of challenges when a Gabi from a parallel dimension appears, claiming that Sal's father's efforts to close wormholes will actually destroy the universe. Faced with this desperate doppelgänger of his best friend and mounting evidence that his father's on the wrong track, Sal must find a way to save everyone he loves. Meanwhile, the machine designed to fix the membrane between worlds has gained sentience and has questions--"many, many questions"--for example, about the purpose of life. While Hernandez incorporates a genuine threat to his characters in this rousing adventure, the true focus is on friendship, family, and honesty: Sal remains a bastion of genuine decency, trying to atone for well-meaning mistakes, while Gabi's earnest enthusiasm comes with its own drawbacks, as exemplified by her determined duplicate, the so-called Fix!Gabi. With further emphasis on the protagonists' extended clans, this story also speaks to the importance of both biological and found family, and the impact of love and acceptance. Simultaneously, a subplot involving emergent AIs addresses the nature of personhood and self-awareness. Ages 8--12. Agent: DongWon Song, Morhaim Literary. (May)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review
Sal and Gabi are back in the sequel to Pura Belpr Award-winning Sal Gabi Break the Universe, only this time they have to fix the universe -- and during tech week for their schools production of Alices Adventures in Wonderland (Gabi is playing Alice), no less. Sals father, a calamity physicist, thinks the way to do it is by mending the rips in the membrane between universes, but Sals not so sure. Then a rogue Gabi from another universe pops up, warning of even more dire consequences. Can she be trusted? And must the (truly terrible) show go on? Featuring a diverse cast of characters both human and AI (and introducing Vorgine, a talking toilet whose name means whirlpool in Spanish), Hernandez balances action with playfulness, humor, and heart. As to the childrens quest, No es fcil, to quote Sal (and every Cuban ever), but when its all over, its easy for readers to follow the advice of Sals homeroom teacher Srx. Cosquillas and be generous with the applause. Anamara Anderson July/August 2020 p.138(c) Copyright 2020. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The continued multiverse adventures of Sal Vidón and Gabi Reál. It's been three weeks since Sal and Gabi saved the life of Gabi's newborn brother, Iggy, and everything seems to be back to normal--or at least as normal as possible with a potentially broken universe. Then Sal's calamity-physicist father and Gabi's Dad: The Final Frontier finish work on their remembranation machine, which they hope will fix the holes in the universe created in the Pura Belpré--winning Sal and Gabi Break the Universe (2019)--but has become sentient artificial intelligence in the process. As if that were not enough, Sal's unlikely new friend, Yasmany, seems to have gone missing, and a Gabi from another universe shows up to warn Sal that Papi's research has destroyed her world and killed her own Sal and that they must stop his version of Papi from doing the same. This excellent sequel features nonstop multiverse hijinks, great comedy, and heartening moments that are skillfully interwoven with a subplot that features a delightfully surreal student production of Alice in Wonderland--er, "Alicia" in "el pais de las maravillas." The supporting cast includes a plethora of nurturing adults as well as amusingly melodramatic AI's. Most characters are Cuban American, and Hernandez continues to effortlessly incorporate intersectionalities, including Gabi's loving polyamorous family and Sal's Type 1 diabetes and his aromantic identity. A hilarious, heartwarming, and absolutely unmissable sequel. (Science fiction. 10-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
