WE ARE NOT ALONE

After his best friend’s death, a boy vows to continue their UFO investigations.

Thirteen-year-old Sam Kepler Greyson is dealing with “Big Things™”: His Hodgkin’s lymphoma is in remission, but his best friend, Oscar Padilla, recently died of brain cancer. When Sam returns to school, he’s greeted with hostility—thanks to a rumor spread by “former friend, current jerk” Kevin Bellman, who claims that he lied about having cancer. Moreover, he’s partnered with Cat Pellegrini—whose clique peripherally includes Kevin—for eighth grade’s annual California History Project. To cope, Sam imagines Oscar giving him advice. Before his death, Oscar left Sam a message in their UFO notebook: “We are NOT alone in the universe.” Sam finds an unlikely ally in Cat, who’s secretly a fellow UFO enthusiast. As they investigate cryptic clues from a mysterious online contact, their friendship grows, and Sam finally feels like a normal kid—a welcome relief from being treated as fragile or heroic. So how can he tell Cat about Oscar—or the full story of his own cancer? And if Sam tells his moms about the bullying—or the new pain in his chest—how could life ever return to normal? While Bury, herself a cancer survivor, intricately explores Sam’s conflicting emotions, Sam’s occasionally wry narration and imagined banter with Oscar add levity, and his moms are heartwarmingly supportive. Sam and one of his moms are white and Jewish; his other mom is Black.

A moving, humorous exploration of friendship and trust.