Books in Brief: The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S.; Permanent Record, The Power of Yet – Buffalo News

The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told to his brother) by David Levithan; Knopf Books for Young Readers, 224 pages ($16.99) Ages 8 to 12.

Best-selling author David Levithan ("Someday," "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist," with Rachel Cohn) offers a fascinating twist on a familiar genre in this compelling novel, of a portal to a fantasy world, a boy who goes missing and his parents' and friends' hostile reaction to his account of his whereabouts.

12-year-old Aidan has been missing for six days, with the whole town searching for him, when his 11-year-old brother Lucas hears a noise in the attic and finds Aidan there with a bright blue leaf in his hair and an unbelievable tale of his sojourn in another world called Aveinieu, a place reached through an old dresser in the attic, a place where he wanted to stay.

Lucas narrates the tale, revealing only small glimpses of Aidan's experience of this other world and putting the focus on the reaction to his reappearance, the police questioning, the media spotlight, the bullying at school, the family tensions, even the treachery of a friend.

Lucas has been fooled so many times by Aidan's storytelling that he isn't prepared to believe him this time, but as Aidan grieves for the world he has lost and faces the frustration and disbelief of his parents (who insist he see a psychiatrist), and the hostility of the community at large, Lucas moves toward empathetic, loving support of his brother, even trying to concoct a more plausible explanation of Aidan's disappearance just to shut everyone up.

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Books in Brief: The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S.; Permanent Record, The Power of Yet - Buffalo News