The paper museum

An inquisitive 12-year-old moves into a house of antiquities after her parents disappear in this speculative middle grade fantasy by Simpson (Ouch: Tales of Gravity). Three months after her data analyst father and laboratory officer mother vanish, narrator Lydia remains with her uncle Lem at the Paper Museum, which her family has run for generations. The gated institution houses paper and paper artifacts, considered outmoded in a world where few objects are shared, magic based on interpersonal connections has been banned, and people rely on holographic aer readers to accomplish most tasks. Under the guise of a bookmark-cataloging project, Lydia attempts to locate a clue to her parents' whereabouts in the emblem-embossed volume she last saw her mother holding. When Uncle Lem abruptly departs, her cheerless uncle Renald takes his place just as three interns--one more than expected--arrive, along with a representative from the mayor's office, searching for a foreign object of magical importance. If hazy worldbuilding undercuts the mystery as Lydia stumbles into tensions around technology reliance and surveillance, emotional drive confers depth in this clue-riddled novel. Characters default to white. Ages 8--12. Agent: Tracy Marchini, BookEnds Literary. (Sept.)

Hoping to find her missing parents, a young girl desperately searches for clues in the museum where they worked. Twelve-year-old Lydia lives in a world where books and paper are obsolete, and everyone relies on personal devices called aer readers. The Paper Museum her family operates houses the few existing books, paper artifacts, and typewriters, but it rarely has any visitors. Since her parents vanished 3 months ago, Lydia's been living at the museum with her Uncle Lem, searching for the book her mother was holding before she disappeared, which may provide some answers. When Lem goes away, leaving his strange brother, Renald, in charge, Lydia makes the mistake of filing a missing persons report on her parents, which means the museum could be confiscated within 30 days unless they return. Trusting neither Renald nor the interns, Lydia continues searching for clues and discovers a hidden chamber and well beneath the museum. When artifacts disappear, aer readers fail, and the mayor threatens to confiscate the museum, Lydia relies on old technology to unleash vital magic the museum has concealed. Lydia's suspenseful first-person narration effectively conveys her distrust, confusion, and amazement as well as her determination to find answers while creating a rich subtext focusing on the old world of books and paper and raising timely questions about the technology replacing them. Characters default to White. An absorbing, complex debut. (Fantasy. 9-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.