Dark Parts of the Universe

Gr 8 Up–In southern Missouri, the vote to consolidate two small towns—Calico Springs, predominately white, with Lawton, predominately Black—looms, and a group of kids find themselves playing The Game, a powerful online app which promises to create destinies. Manifest Atlas, as the app is called, asks players to enter an Intention. Once entered, a map appears, leading players to their supposed Destiny. It seems like it might actually work: one person was led to some relevant graffiti, while two other kids asked for a dog and got one. Willie, a Calico Springs resident, decides to test it for himself. He asks to “see my future.” The map leads him into the Basin and he tumbles into one of three open graves. His friend, Sarai, a Black girl who has moved from Lawton, decides to really test the app when she requests it show them “something bloody.” When the abandoned mill shivers to life and spits out a maimed body, the kids begin to speculate about how the game works and what kind of menace is afoot. Painterly language moves the story forward, digging into the relationships between Willie and his brother, and the difficult family dynamic they’ve survived. Ultimately the novel delves into the sinister history of sundown towns, where Black people are not allowed on the streets of all-white communities after dark. The racial aspects of this book, although painful, ring true—including Sarai’s differential treatment by the white police force.