Published by Katherine Tegen Books

Summary:  Boomi is reeling from the death of her father from Covid.  Remote school is isolating, her best friend seems distant, and the final blow comes when she fails an audition at her ballet school.  She receives an old boombox of her father’s under somewhat mysterious conditions, and when she tries to play the mixtape inside, she’s transported back to 1986 England.  There she meets her 12-year-old father, Jeevan, as well as his mysterious older sister, and a younger version of her grandmother, Paati, who lives with Boomi’s family in the present and suffers from dementia.  As Boomi travels back and forth between the present and the past, she learns about the racism that plagues her dad and his family, forcing Asian people to be silent and invisible in their mostly white community.  By helping them speak up, Boomi learns to accept what has happened in her life and to embrace her love of dancing, even if her body is not the size and shape her ballet teacher is looking for.  Working together, Boomi and Jeevan manage to heal the rifts within their families and change their lives for the better.  272 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  I wasn’t expecting the time travel twist, which allowed Boomi to get closure around her father’s death and to witness the racism that shaped both her parents’ early years.  Shanthi Sekaran deftly handles so many difficult topics including not only racism, but body image, grief, and the pandemic.

Cons:  I was actually in London in 1987, which doesn’t feel as much like ancient history as this book makes it seem.