Another Dimension of Us

Gr 9 Up–Tommy and Pris are both young, queer teens at Heron High, separated only by time—Tommy’s present is 1986, while Pris is in the year 2044. When a mysterious book and suspicious series of events results in a demon from the astral plane effectively kidnapping Tommy’s crush, Rene, and Pris’s best friend, Jayde, the two find themselves working together on the astral plane—directed by a lollipop cereal mascot as their spirit guide—to come to the rescue. “The Virus,” implied to be COVID-19, is still present in 2044 with schools experiencing lockdowns and requiring additional safety measures; in 1986, the AIDS crisis is mentioned several times but is largely tangential to the plot. With the story told from the points of view of all four teens as well as an additional two characters, the narrative is often cluttered and difficult to follow. The pacing is rapid, with little time spent fleshing out the characters outside of nominal description of their racial and queer identities. Supplemental material about astral projection is included at the end of the book.