Kutub, Naz No Time Like Now. Bloomsbury, 2024 [320p]
Trade ed. ISBN 9781547609284 $18.99
E-book. ed ISBN 9781547609390 $13.29
Reviewed from digital galleys  R* Gr. 8-10

See this month’s Big Picture, below, for review.

Meganck, Margaux Speck: An Itty-Bitty Epic; written and illus. by Margaux Meganck. Knopf, 2024 [40p]
Trade ed. ISBN 9780593301975 $19.99
E-book ed. ISBN 9780593301999 $10.99
Reviewed from digital galleys  R* 3-6 yrs

Wei, Tang Grandma’s Roof Garden; written and illus. by Tang Wei; tr. by Kelly Zhang. Levine Querido, 2024 [40p]
Trade ed. ISBN 9781646147014 $18.99
Reviewed from digital galleys  R* 4-7 yrs

No Time Like Now

By Naz Kutub

Time is a strange thing, both orderly and tricksy, a construct to make meaning of an unpredictable existence. It is, perhaps more specifically, two things: there is the measuring of time—minutes, weeks, years—and then there is the concept of Time, the passing of which is either too fast or too slow, ephemeral or a slog, and rarely as tidy and knowable as we’d like. It’s a messiness that the best type of science fiction can tap into, drawing on its disruptive nature to explore our most human moments, in joy, grief, curiosity, and despair. In this month’s Big Picture, author Kutub offers a particularly unique take on time and time travel, introducing readers to Time themself as well as Hazeem, a grieving teen with an unexpected power.

In the year since his father’s unexpected death, Hazeem’s mother has thrown herself into work, and Hazeem’s three best friends have each had reasons to be distant from him. So, Hazeem spends a lot of time floating through life with Mary Shelley (his surprisingly old hamster) and his grandmother. When his grandmother dies, Hazeem does the thing he has been able to do since his dad died: he gives her more time so that he doesn’t lose her as well. In fact, he has done this multiple times for different people (and one hamster), thinking he has gained an incredible superpower. The gift appears to be a boon until Time shows up, informing Hazeem that he gave away years of his own life in each time exchange and has built up a time debt that now threatens the whole timeline and billions of lives unless Hazeem resolves it. Time insists Hazeem has to take back at least some of the time he gave to others, and thus begins a time hopping journey through the past year, as Hazeem relives each of the moments when he extended someone’s life.

The sci-fi concept is creative, and Time, irascible and utterly baffled by humanity, is a fantastic companion to Hazeem as he re-evaluates each of his choices and struggles with tough emotions to make things right. The purest, strongest heart of this novel is the hundreds of days in a row Hazeem revisits the day of his father’s death and tries to save him from a heart attack. In each iteration, he spends quality time with his dad, knowing he is hours away from once again watching his father die, while also trying every medical intervention he can think of. Eventually exhausting every option, Hazeem realizes all he can do is love his dad one more day, share the things he had never shared with him (like coming out, although his parents already knew), and then . . . let him go.

Kutub gives this series of days the space it deserves, and it is a searing and beautiful exploration of grief. The writing, while casual and direct, beautifully captures the extraordinary in just a few lines. On their last morning, Hazeem asks his dad to hold him like when he was little: “At first, I’m clueless, because this is all so new. But then I slowly inch my way over, then lay my head on his chest. And a pain instantly strikes me, as the only thing to fill my eardrums is the thunderous thumping of my dad’s heart.” Hazeem’s voice, raw, vulnerable, and wildly open-hearted, describes a closeness to his father that is a gift, albeit a bruising one.

Time is messy, readers learn, and the living embodiment of Time is even messier, proud to announce they know nothing of human emotions when they first meet Hazeem. As the book progresses, however, Time is indelibly changed by Hazeem, opening up to a clearer sense of just how much goes on inside any one minuscule blip of a human’s lifetime in the grand scheme of forever, and how much value the collection of moments that make up a life actually has. As in most time travel books, the rules can be a bit vague here, but readers will be nonetheless reminded that even the most heartbreaking moments can be intentionally treasured, no matter how they hurt.

—April Spisak, Reviewer