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The Probability of Everything
CCBC Review:
Kemi, 11, is eating Sunday breakfast with her parents when her younger sister, Lo, 17 months, draws their attention to the living room. Kemi’s dad investigates, followed by Kemi and her mom. On TV is news of a planet-altering, life-ending asteroid heading toward Earth. Kemi loves science and probability, but not now, when the chance of a full collision with earth is 87 percent. Kemi’s family goes to stay with Kemi’s aunt, uncle, and cousins across town in their old neighborhood. There is comfort there—Kemi and her family, who are Black, had moved into a neighborhood that is predominantly white and not as welcoming. Fixated on creating a time capsule to tell something meaningful about her family for future humans on earth, Kemi also hopes to help her dad, who had quit his high-pressure job, determine what kind of meaningful work he might have loved before their time runs out. As this story progresses, moments suggesting that the narrative Kemi is telling does not add up or reflect the literal truth of what is happening become more plentiful, until it’s clear the asteroid is a metaphor—Kemi’s response to some unknown trauma. The violent truth of what happened, and the devastating loss Kemi must face, is shocking and painful, rooted in racism and the response to Kemi’s Black family’s moving into a space that someone decided was not for them. Hope, healing, and change begin with confronting the hardest truths in this story of trauma, grief, and loss. ©2023 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 9-13
Age Range:
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
African Americans
Death and Dying
Disasters
Discrimination and Prejudice
Fathers
Grief and Loss
Hope and Healing
Illness and Disease
Racism
Trauma
Diversity subject:
Black/African
Publishers:
Clarion, HarperCollins
Publish Year: 2023
Pages: 326
ISBN: 9780063256552
CCBC Location: Fiction, Everett