I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

When Albie's mother dies from cancer and his father disappears back into his work, Albie knows he must try to find one of the parallel worlds his father has told him about to make everything right again.

This book has so much heart, so much sorrow and so many laughs, it was so hard to put down.

I loved this book, I wish I would of had this book when my mother died when I was 19! Enjoyed every second of this book

I absolutely loved the concept of this book, introducing science and theory to children. Unfortunately, I thought it fell flat. I think the way it was presented was too complex for children to grasp. I even had to re-read a couple of passages to understand what was going on. I thought the rest of the story was cute and provided a good lesson of living in the here and now, but because of the difficulty level I think that my own kids probably would lose interest.

I was very glad to be able to read this story because it is very different from what I usually pick for myself, and yet I found it lovely.

Albie has lost his mother but something his dad says sends him into an adventure—in some parallel universe his mother is still alive, and he's set on finding. With a few adaptations, he creates a machine that creates the paradox he needs to open the door to the other lives he might have had.

Surely, because grief and moving forward is the theme, this is the kind of book to be enjoyed by anyone, kids or grown-ups or anyone in between.

Despite the author's easy explanations, or maybe even because they were so easy, the method Albie finds is incredibly hard to believe. And the weird applications to theory were as unrealistic. However, it didn't get in the way of my enjoying it, because the how is definitely not the point. He could have just stumbled into a magical portal. His journey and the conclusions both Albie and me as the reader reach by the end were really the thing.

I'd actually rate it a 3.5 not for the quality but for lack of creativity. Yes, it was entertaining but the information was nothing new—authors seem in love with the Schrodinger's cat lately— and as mentioned, the application lacked verisimilitude. I believe a book of this kind needs a little more oomph.

And yet, it was really cute. I believe that because this is children's fiction, the book is rather short. This didn't make it rushed in no way. Nonetheless, it did make me yearn for more by the time I reached the ending.

E ARC from Netgalley

Albie's mother and father are both scientists who deal with Quantum physics. His father is a television personality who also writes books explaining physics to lay people, and his mother has worked with the Hadron Collider. When his mother is diagnosed with cancer, the family moves back to England to be near the mother's father. After her death, Albie's father sends him back to school and immerses himself in his work, but has planted the thought that perhaps in a parallel universe, Albie's mother is alive. Albie thinks this is worth investigating, so he makes a Schrodinger's cat type box with his mother's quantum computer, a Geiger counter, and a banana, and manages to travel to several different alternate universes. In one, he meets himself, but he is evil and his mother passed away when he was a baby. In another, he is a girl named Alba, and his mother died in a car accident. When he finally meets his mother, there are other complications, and Albie finally realizes that even if he met his mother in another universe, his father really needs him at home.
Strengths: This actually was fairly upbeat, except for the father neglecting the son. (That's what all grieving parents do, right?) Albie is able to make peace with his reality. It moved quickly and was actually fairly engaging. Appreciated that the mother was a high powered scientist, and lots of science was involved. Bonus points for making his device; sort of like the bathtub with the computer in Welford's Time Traveling with a Hamster.
Weaknesses: Definitely a British book, and might appeal to slightly younger children.
What I really think: Don't think I'll buy this one. Just don't have the readers for it.