I’ll Stop the World

It might be a while since you read a book with teenage protagonists. It’s time. This coming-of-age story has characters who are adolescents to the core, spending their too-fast days on intense friendships, pulling away from parents, and fearing that their high school woes are their destiny. Small-town Warren High School in 2023 is the setting, and the story centers on Justin Warren, whose name is no coincidence: the school is named after his grandparents, who were killed in a fire at the school years before, his mother an infant in the car outside. Things haven’t gone well for Justin. He’s not going to college and he’s in love with his best friend, Alyssa Vizcaino (while they’re seatmates in every class because their last names “function as the alphabetical equivalent of an arranged marriage,” she’s not interested). Then there’s a bizarre twist: an accident throws Justin over a bridge and into…1985. He’s not born yet, his grandparents are still alive, and he still has a chance to change his 2023 lot in life. He meets fellow teen Rose Yin (he’s her pen pal who’s come for a fun visit!), and the two set out to solve a mystery that could mean the world to Justin. Romance is thrown in of course, including a sweet same-sex relationship; combined with the mystery and the tricky logistics of time traveling back to your own town and family in the past, this is one to recommend to book groups and all who like an emotional saga.