The Gravity of Us
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4.3 • 6 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
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"I'm so starry-eyed for this wise, romantic gem of a book." - Becky Albertalli, bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
'A big-hearted, witty, and intensely relatable debut about reaching for your dreams without losing what grounds you.' - Karen M. McManus, New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying and Two Can Keep a Secret
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Two teens find love when their lives are uprooted for their parents' involvement in a NASA mission to Mars in this smart, heart-warming YA debut, perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera.
Cal wants to be a journalist, and he's already well underway with almost half a million followers on his FlashFame app and an upcoming internship at Buzzfeed. But his plans are derailed when his pilot father is selected for a highly-publicized NASA mission to Mars. Within days, Cal and his parents leave Brooklyn for hot and humid Houston.
With the entire nation desperate for any new information about the astronauts, Cal finds himself thrust in the middle of a media circus. Suddenly his life is more like a reality TV show, with his constantly bickering parents struggling with their roles as the "perfect American family."
And then Cal meets Leon, whose mother is another astronaut on the mission, and he finds himself falling head over heels--and fast. They become an oasis for each other amid the craziness of this whole experience. As their relationship grows, so does the frenzy surrounding the Mars mission, and when secrets are revealed about ulterior motives of the program, Cal must find a way to get to the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cal is a young queer man with a plan, building a following on social media and preparing for a future as a journalist, but his whole life turns upside down when his pilot father is chosen as an astronaut candidate for NASA's Mars mission. After his white family relocates from Brooklyn to a small town near Houston, Cal determines to adapt to his new life as best he can, tweaking his reporting to work alongside NASA's publicity department, necessarily appearing on the reality television show that follows the astronauts and their families, and making friends and more than friends with fellow "Astrokid" Leon, a brown-skinned gymnast. Stamper thoughtfully handles Cal's struggles to fit in with the other astronauts' "perfect families, fancy parties, and petty gossip," the stress of the mission, Leon's depression, and the spotlight of public attention. Despite the dramatic backdrop, this quiet debut is a openhearted novel that shows a realistic, imperfect queer relationship and a young man growing to know and to be true to himself even when everything is shifting around him. Ages 13 up.)
