Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kennedy is the 2018 Newbery Award Winner.  With a contemporary setting, its story covers only a couple of days and switches viewpoint amongst the minor and major characters.  With generous spacing in the typeset and a few illustrations sprinkled throughout, this is a quick read.  For those who like reality, the events of this book are entirely plausible and relatable, but perhaps not terribly engaging.  There is nothing to complain about regarding the novel—it is well-constructed, but it is not likely to be as popular with young readers as it was with the Newbery selection judges.  It was a little bit under-whelming for a Newbery Winner.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  1 religious exclamation

Violence/Gore:  Report someone was killed (non-detailed); report of person pushed against wall; fictional story is told about a crocodile which a girl kills with a log; character imagines grabbing another by shirt; fictional story told about a creature that eats people/others; character imagines being attacked by a rhino; character imagines doing things to a bully; character provokes and animal with a stick and is bit; bullying; character forcefully takes an item from another and drops it in a well.

Sex/Nudity:  A boy likes a girl; joke about making out.

Mature Subject Matter:

Psychics/astrology, bullying.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None