The forgotten memories of Vera Glass

Gr 8 Up--Fifteen-year-old Vera Glass, a white Canadian and devout Christian, feels an emptiness that she can't put her finger on. Everyone in Vera's world has a small aptitude, or ability, and she wonders if someone's aptitude could somehow be the cause. When she discovers her friends are feeling the same inexplicable emptiness, she embarks on a journey to figure out why. Through the author's use of dramatic irony, readers quickly discover that Vera and her friends are forgetting the existence of multiple people, as if they were erased from the world. Readers will likely guess the culprit long before Vera makes any progress in her investigation, but the details of how and why are cleverly unfolded. Vera's religious beliefs are a little overt, but altogether not too preachy. The full cast of characters offers a little more diversity, with some of Vera's friends being Black, and her best friend the counterpoint of being atheist. Vera's adept handling of tricky situations will also give teens a clear picture of how having open conversations with friends and parents can solve many problems. VERDICT A fun, light mystery that will likely keep readers turning the pages until the very end.--Candyce Pruitt-Goddard

When people are erased from all memory and existence, Vera's determined to solve the reason behind the emptiness left behind. This story is set in an alternate version of Canada in which magic, in the form of aptitudes (each person has a single ability), is commonplace and scientifically studied. One moment, Vera has an older brother, and the next, all she has is the vague, sad sense that something is missing. Vera, as the first-person narrator, completely loses all knowledge of other characters as they are erased, but--as she's a puzzle-loving, logic-minded protagonist--she notices her strange emotional reactions to seemingly innocuous things and starts taking notes and spinning theories as to what's going on and wonders how to make it stop. While readers know who has vanished (and so will understand the characters' emotional reactions better than the characters themselves), the mystery of how and why includes red herrings and allows for an exploration of the magic system. Part of the mystery may be a bit obvious to some readers, and the eventual solution arrives somewhat easily. That said, the narrative concepts are novel, and the characters are easy to feel empathy for. Vera's devout Christianity is approached with nuance and has a strong influence on her character without being preachy (there's positive atheist representation as well). While Vera's White, both her school and her core friend group have a lot of casual, natural diversity--White isn't an assumed default. A clever head trip. (Fantasy. 12-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.