YESTERDAY IS HISTORY

Andre’s liver transplant does more than save his life.

After a liver transplant six months ago, things are returning to normal, until one night Andre wakes up on his front lawn—in 1969. Andre doesn’t understand how he has been transported back in time, but he manages to stay calm thanks to Michael, then resident of his house. Michael—a free spirit and musician—is both inspiring and confusing to Andre, and the characters’ dynamics oppose each other well. Andre returns to 2021, where he gets a call from the mother of Dave, his deceased donor, who reveals that they are a family of time travelers and that the gift was passed on to him. Dave’s younger brother, Blake, is tasked with teaching Andre how to “jump” safely, and the more he time travels, the more he begins to question everything he thinks he knows about himself and his future. Strong pacing features Andre splitting his time between past and present-day Boston—and between Michael and Blake. All three boys are gay; Andre is Black, and Blake and Michael are White. In a novel with exciting representation of a gay Black teen where identity isn’t the issue, readers will appreciate the realistic nuance of Andre’s frankness when talking about the White privilege Blake and his family exhibit that makes them unable to see how different and potentially dangerous time traveling is for a 17-year-old Black boy.

A skillful and engrossing time-travel adventure.