Victoria Carless, Lani and the universe, HarperCollins, January 2024, 336., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781460763933
Lani Scrub is forced to leave her city home when her mother decides she needs a tree change and books them into the alternative lifestyle venue called Passing Waters. Not only is Lani unable to see her frequently-absent father, but all her plans for studying hard and getting a double PhD like her idol scientist Kit Galway are thwarted. Her friendship with Astrid ends. Though Lani is unhappy about the relocation, she recognises that she does get on with 9 year old Lentil and Meadow, the cook who is also doing astro-physics research, and adjusting her attitude to all the groups’ animals. She misses everyone when she persuades her father to collect her and take her home. The city is not quite the happy place she remembers.
Passing Water’s viability is threatened when Kevin, the group leader, announces that the land is being sold to an anonymous buyer and they’ll have to leave within a very short time. But the community, the Folk, don’t accept the news as readily as Kevin expected. Lani re-joins them to try to prevent the sale going ahead.
It took me quite a few pages before I began to enjoy the book, but once I accepted the main characters’ quirks, I looked forward to finding about their changed lives. The main themes are friendship, family values and relationships, environmental protection, and astronomy. There are many STEM concepts. I particularly enjoyed the seamlessly introduced physics concepts, including that black holes could be used for time travel and the use of radio-telescopes in astronomy.
Recommended for middle-school, and older, students.
Reviewed by Maureen Mann