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The First State of Being

Audiobook
2 of 4 copies available
2 of 4 copies available

WINNER OF THE NEWBERY MEDAL

A FINALIST FOR THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

INDIE BESTSELLER

Chicago Public Library Best Fiction for Older Readers of 2024

Shelf Awareness Best Books of 2024 for Kids and Teens

BookPage Best Middle Grade of 2024

Common Sense Media Best Books of 2024

2025 Excellence in Children's and Young Adult Science Fiction Notable List

When twelve-year-old Michael Rosario meets a mysterious boy from the future, his life is changed forever. From bestselling author Erin Entrada Kelly, also the winner of the Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe and a Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space, this novel explores themes of family, friendship, trust, and forgiveness. The First State of Being is for fans of Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me.

It's August 1999. For twelve-year-old Michael Rosario, life at Fox Run Apartments in Red Knot, Delaware, is as ordinary as ever—except for the looming Y2K crisis and his overwhelming crush on his sixteen-year-old babysitter, Gibby. But when a disoriented teenage boy named Ridge appears out of nowhere, Michael discovers there is more to life than stockpiling supplies and pining over Gibby.

It turns out that Ridge is carefree, confident, and bold, things Michael wishes he could be. Unlike Michael, however, Ridge isn't where he belongs. When Ridge reveals that he's the world's first time traveler, Michael and Gibby are stunned but curious. As Ridge immerses himself in 1999—fascinated by microwaves, basketballs, and malls—Michael discovers that his new friend has a book that outlines the events of the next twenty years, and his curiosity morphs into something else: focused determination. Michael wants—no, needs—to get his hands on that book. How else can he prepare for the future? But how far is he willing to go to get it?

A story of time travel, friendship, found family, and first loves, this thematically rich novel is distinguished by its voice, character development, setting, and exploration of the issues that resonate with middle grade readers.

Finalist for the National Book Award and Winner of the Newbery Medal.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 18, 2023
      When a mysterious teenager named Ridge appears at Michael Rosario’s apartment complex on Michael’s 12th birthday in 1999, Michael believes there’s “something off” about him. Ridge soon reveals he’s from 2199 and, after being goaded by his brothers, used the recently developed, controversial Spatial Teleportation Module to travel back to 1999, his “favorite year in history.” Shy, awkward, and compassionate Michael, who is half Filipino and assumed half white, and only has two friends—his 15-year-old babysitter and crush Gibby, who cues as white, and “brown weathered” Mr. Mosely, the complex’s 62-year-old maintenance man—has been secretly, obsessively stockpiling (and shoplifting) supplies for himself and his loving, hard-working single mother in preparation for the assumed disaster of Y2K. Michael realizes Ridge can tell him if Y2K was indeed a worldwide crisis, but Ridge refuses. As Michael and Gibby indulge Ridge’s fascination with shopping malls and 1999 objects, he develops a previously unknown self-confidence that is well rendered and endearing. Interspersed audio transcripts and textbook excerpts from 2199 provide background for Ridge, and an epilogue reveals a delicious, thought-provoking twist on a question posed early on by Kelly (Those Kids from Fawn Creek): would the disruption of time influence past, present, or future events? Ages 8–12.

    • School Library Journal

      April 1, 2024

      Gr 3-5-Since voicing Kelly's 2018 Newbery Medal-awarded Hello, Universe, prolific de Ocampo (who shares Kelly's Filipino American heritage) continues as the author's male voice of choice, notably channeling ages, genders, and backgrounds with confident ease. In August 1999, 12-year-old Michael shoplifts canned peaches to augment his Y2K stockpile. His overworked single mother (who loves peaches) thinks he still needs a babysitter-16-year-old Gibby who smells like strawberries. His only other friend is Mr. Mosley, their apartment complex's maintenance manager. And then Ridge appears, asking for the date, wearing strange clothes, and speaking unfamiliar phrases. Michael and Gibby must figure out who he is, and then how to get him home. Kelly regularly interrupts her 1999 narrative with excerpts dating well into the future that de Ocampo imbues with a slight, lyrical accent, as if the English decades ahead might not be what we hear today. VERDICT De Ocampo's expert narration is also an encouraging choice for reluctant readers.

      Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Ramn de Ocampo offers a charming performance of this middle-grade fiction with a touch of science fiction. Michael and his crush, Gibby, run into Ridge, a strange boy who soon reveals he's visiting from the future. The year is 1999, and with the threat of Y2K brewing, the kids come together and bond through their doomsday planning. De Ocampo's flexible narration moves between many characters smoothly. The performance is quite wholesome and adds brightness to the trio as they navigate their emotions and learn the importance of family. De Ocampo's portrayal of Michael is thoughtful and sometimes anxious, but listeners will find his development when befriending the carefree Ridge to be rewarding. G.M. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • School Library Journal

      February 1, 2024

      Gr 3-5-Kelly returns with another solid middle grade novel exploring themes of time travel and personal responsibility. In 1999, anxiety-ridden 12-year-old Michael, in the throes of prepping for a potential disaster thanks to Y2K, happens upon a teen named Ridge, who is strangely dressed and speaks in unfamiliar phrases. Ridge has traveled back in time from 2199 thanks to his mother's scientific work and a dare from his siblings. Although the opportunity to know any and all future outcomes is irresistible to Michael, he understands he must help Ridge get home. Small bumps in logic and pacing are this story's only issues. The loss of a kindly mentor throws a wrench into the rhythm, with the urgency of Ridge's return set aside for a stretch that feels longer than the number of pages it takes to read. However, Kelly has deftly assembled a community of empathetically rendered characters, making this an enjoyable, uplifting reading experience. The elements of sci-fi will be enough to sate fans of the genre while remaining approachable for all audiences. VERDICT A lovable cast buoys this time travel drama by one of the most reliable authors in children's literature.-Alexandra Quay

      Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • The Horn Book

      May 1, 2024
      It's the summer of 1999. Twelve-year-old Delawarean Michael has worries, chief among them the approach of Y2K. What if everything falls apart? Family finances are precarious, so he's amassing a stash of groceries acquired through shoplifting. Then he meets an odd new kid. Ridge appears disoriented, as well he might, as he has time-traveled there from two hundred years in the future. In transcripts of conversations and documents from that future, we discover that Ridge went rogue and time-traveled without permission, putting himself and possibly the whole history of civilization at risk. There's a technical blip that might trap the traveler at the end of the twentieth century. A time-travel plot always involves logical conundrums, and Kelly (Those Kids from Fawn Creek, rev. 3/22) neatly grounds the mind-bending what-ifs of cause, effect, and the nature of time with real, present relationships and situations, kids with a secret, and a major problem to solve. It's a well-crafted adventure surrounding a big philosophical idea with a side of middle-grade romance. The non-dystopian (although still fragile) vision of the future is tantalizing: cures for allergies and the common cold, progress on plastic pollution, women taking the lead in science and technology. (But apparently teens and tweens will still drive their parents up the wall.) Sarah Ellis

      (Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

    • Kirkus

      January 15, 2024
      In the lead-up to Y2K, a Delaware 12-year-old preparing for disaster meets a time traveler from 2199. It's August 1999. Michael Rosario is stealing canned peaches from Super Saver. It's for a good cause: He's stocking up in case the world collapses when the clock strikes midnight on January 1, 2000. And his mom loves peaches. They live together (his father's long been out of the picture) at the nearby Fox Run Apartments, where Michael narrowly escapes to after getting hassled by the supermarket manager's bullying son. Still hiding his loot, Michael, who's "half Filipino," is chatting with maintenance man Mr. Mosley when a dazed teenager wearing uniformlike clothing introduces himself as Ridge and asks what year it is. After more unusual encounters, Michael and his 15-year-old babysitter, Gibby, discover that Ridge is from the future. How did he travel back in time--and how will he get back? Excerpts of informational text and audio transcripts interspersed throughout the novel follow Ridge's family members as they try to save him at the same time that he's trying to save himself with the help of his new friends. The worldbuilding in this brisk work, largely devoted to elucidating spatial teleportation, is a feat of vocabulary rather than of plot tension. Still, Kelly's memorable character development is on full display as anxious and sensitive Michael learns to embrace the present, while Ridge's charming misuse of slang adds humor to this amusing ride. A warmhearted blend of nostalgia and futurism. (Speculative fiction. 8-12)

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      January 1, 2024
      Grades 5-7 Newbery winner Kelly gives us a time-travel book that stays grounded, despite the subject matter, and draws on the power of human connection through time and space. Ridge is a teenage genius and the world's first time traveler--only, he wasn't supposed to use the device, and now he's stuck in 1999. Michael Rosario is a 12-year-old boy who is also stuck, in a way: his family struggles financially, something he blames himself for; as Y2K approaches, his anxiety leads him to doomsday prepping in a less-than-legal way; and his only friend is his babysitter, whom he has a huge crush on. Ridge may be trapped in time, but Michael is trapped in his own head, and when the two meet, Michael must either betray his new friend's trust or finally push aside his own fears and learn what it means to "do better tomorrow." This quiet book with a solid emotional core will be a treat for readers who love stories about found family and bravery, as well as those who would empathize with Michael's anxieties about the unknown future.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • The Horn Book

      January 1, 2024
      It's the summer of 1999. Twelve-year-old Delawarean Michael has worries, chief among them the approach of Y2K. What if everything falls apart? Family finances are precarious, so he's amassing a stash of groceries acquired through shoplifting. Then he meets an odd new kid. Ridge appears disoriented, as well he might, as he has time-traveled there from two hundred years in the future. In transcripts of conversations and documents from that future, we discover that Ridge went rogue and time-traveled without permission, putting himself and possibly the whole history of civilization at risk. There's a technical blip that might trap the traveler at the end of the twentieth century. A time-travel plot always involves logical conundrums, and Kelly (Those Kids from Fawn Creek, rev. 3/22) neatly grounds the mind-bending what-ifs of cause, effect, and the nature of time with real, present relationships and situations, kids with a secret, and a major problem to solve. It's a well-crafted adventure surrounding a big philosophical idea with a side of middle-grade romance. The non-dystopian (although still fragile) vision of the future is tantalizing: cures for allergies and the common cold, progress on plastic pollution, women taking the lead in science and technology. (But apparently teens and tweens will still drive their parents up the wall.)

      (Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

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