Catch Me If I Fall

A dystopian future Australia provides the backdrop for this smart speculative read revolving around the profound love of a twin brother and sister. Twelve-year-old siblings Aiden and Ashleigh Delatour live privileged existences in Sydney, where they attend an elite private school and have the best of everything courtesy of their tech-mogul mother, an AI engineer. “Siblings are there to catch you when you fall,” they are taught, representing a vital bond in a climate change–ravaged world in which many people suffer and die beyond enclave walls. Quiet Aiden, who’s “a bit of a loner,” has a genetic condition that impedes digestion; first-person narrator Ashleigh, quick to brag about their expensive home, struggles to make friends. After he sustains a grave injury while kayaking, Aiden begins to change in radical ways, becoming argumentative around an increasing awareness of the larger world’s grim realities. Though Ashleigh questions their relationship, Aiden’s awareness of the duo’s privilege eventually causes Ashleigh to open her eyes, culminating in a deftly handled conclusion that compassionately examines the intersection of ethics and familial love. Jonsberg (A Song Only I Can Hear) creates a timely, disturbingly plausible future of haves and have-nots that examines mature concerns through a savvy middle grade viewpoint. Ashleigh and Aiden have black hair and pale skin. Ages 9–12. (Mar.)