Review: Sal and Gabi Break the Universe

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe is a solid and charming middle-grade SFF novel with a strong Cuban influence. Salvador Alberto Dorado Vidón is a magician. He also pokes holes in the space-time continuum. His Papi Gustavo, who studies calamity physics and so-called calamitrons, and his wonderful wife Lucy, aka American Stepmom, are a little unsettled with Sal's penchant, knowingly or not, for tapping into parallel universes and bringing back Mami Muerta, (Dead Mommy), because he misses Mami Viva (Live Mommy) so much. (Let's face it, having your 2nd wife and your dead wife at the same dinner table is a little awkward.) Sal usually tries to keep his gift... his curse... under wraps. But one morning during the first week of school at his new Miami school, he is being bullied by Yasmany Robles, who breaks Sal's bag of insulin. (Sal has Type 1 diabetes and lives a  
cautious life with respect to his diet because ketoacidosis is what killed Mami Viva.) Sal kind of loses it, opens a hole and pulls through a whole chicken (ready to roast) and leaves it oozing in Yasmany's locker, freaking out everyone. Yasmany gets in trouble and is threatened (again) with suspension. Enter Gabi Reál, student council president at Culeco Academy of the Arts. Gabi sits down in the Principal's office to act as Yasmany's attorney. Sal is instantly drawn to her and low and behold, it turns out Gabi is one of the only people who can see the hole he made in Yasmany's locker. You know, the hole in the space-time continuum? Gabi has a very interesting family, a very ill baby brother, and an interest in what the heck Sal is doing. Sal makes a bunch of interesting friends in his new school. Maybe he even makes friends with a bully, since as part of his detention, Yasmany has to learn all about Type 1 diabetes and feels terrible that Sal has it.

This is a warm and funny MG novel and I'm glad to be reviewing the second book in the series next month.

The audiobook, narrated by Anthony Rey Perez, was terrific and would make a perfect road-trip audiobook for families with kids in the middle school age range. Even younger children and adults will enjoy its humor.

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