The Infinity of You & Me

Gr 8 Up-This book starts like many teen problem novels. Alicia struggles to maintain a normal high school life despite vivid and unpredictable hallucinations. The neighborhood bully hassles her, teachers don't understand her, and her father left when she was small. Things get more mysterious, though, after her father shows up at her 16th birthday party, and Alicia learns that she isn't hallucinating after all. Instead, she slips into other worlds of the multiverse. Her father tells her about their shared ability to move between universes and create further ones by making different choices. Before explaining more, however, he's chased away by his brother. Is the brother a kindly uncle trying to protect Alicia, or a villain attempting to take advantage of her ability? So begins a chase in and out of universes and different versions of herself as Alicia tries to discover the truth and save a dying world. Alicia's first-person voice is consistent and likable. The science fiction is explained in just enough detail to serve the action-packed plot without getting bogged down.