It's great to step into a magical wardrobe and be transported to a fantastic world, but what happens when you come back? Returning from a magical place called Aveinieu with a royal blue leaf in his hair, 12-year-old Aidan finds he's been missing for six days, his inexplicable disappearance resulting in a massive, town-wide search as well as endless police questioning of his family and best friend. But joy over his safe return quickly turns to unease about his inability to account for the time--Aidan knows he won't be believed, and his exhausted parents don't know whether to be worried or furious. His brother, 11-year-old Lucas, previously duped by Aidan's fanciful stories, tries to catch him in inconsistencies in a brotherly arc that moves toward emotional support. Via Lucas's urgent narration, Levithan (19 Love Songs) validates both Lucas's real-world experience and Aidan's post-portal mourning, telling a well-paced story about the collision of realities in the vein of Laura E. Weymouth and Seanan McGuire. Ages 8--12. Agent: Bill Clegg, the Clegg Agency. (Feb.)

Lucas's brother Aidan goes missing, which leads to the worried, sympathetic response one would expect from his community. Six nights later, Lucas finds Aidan in the attic, claiming that he's been somewhere impossible -- which generates a whole new set of responses from disbelievers: media attention, resentment from those who helped with the search, prying and even some amateur spy work by other kids. That Lucas, rather than Aidan himself, serves as narrator allows the novel to focus on the effect on their family of Aidan's disappearance and return. It also, relatably, brings in the viewpoint of the sibling of someone getting all the attention. Other than the one major piece of possible magic, YA author Levithan's (Every Day, rev. 2/12; the Dash Lily books) middle-grade debut is set squarely in the real world, with a voice accessible to realistic fiction fans. But it urges readers to consider a fantasy trope from a practical angle: if someone really went to, say, Narnia, what would happen when they got home? Shoshana Flax March/April 2021 p.95(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Eleven-year-old Lucas' brother, Aidan, older by one year, has gone missing. No one can find him until, on the sixth evening of his absence, Lucas hears the thump of something falling in the attic. Curious, he investigates and finds Aidan lying on the floor, looking lost. When Lucas asks where he has been, Aidan responds "Aveinieu." Initially refusing to say any more, Aidan--under police questioning--admits that Aveinieu is a fantasy world that he accessed by going through the tall double-doored dresser in the attic (à la Narnia). Of course, no one believes him--not even Lucas at first--but as Aidan tells his brother about this strange world with a green sky, blue trees, a silver sun, and animals (including unicorns) unlike any on Earth, Lucas comes to believe. Unfortunately, the confidentiality of the police report is compromised and soon everyone knows what Aidan claims. But do they believe him? Not a chance. How Aidan and Lucas deal with this is the substance of the superb story that follows. Richly imagined, Levithan's first book for middle-grade readers is an unqualified success. At the book's end, Lucas, who narrates the story, says, "Like all honest stories, it lives within us." It will live within Levithan's readers, too.

Gr 4--7--When 12-year-old Aidan disappears one day, his family, friends, and indeed the whole town are thrown into turmoil. Search parties, police interrogations, and family tensions ensue. Lucas, his 11-year-old brother, is particularly affected, and when he finds Aidan alive and well in their attic six days later (in a place that had been searched multiple times), the mystery of where Aidan had been intensifies. Aidan's claim that he entered a fantasy world called Aveinieu through a dresser in the attic is greeted with skepticism and disbelief. Only Lucas tends to believe his tale. Everette Plen narrates the audiobook in an expressive way from the perspective of Lucas in the first person. He captures Lucas's anxiety and confusion while Aidan is missing, reading in a clipped manner. There is little role differentiation; rather than performing unique voices for the characters, Plen treats the book as a read-aloud. Listeners waiting for action sequences or details of the fantasy world Aveinieu will be disappointed, as the audio focuses more on the believability of Aidan's tale and the relationship between the brothers. VERDICT This audio may appeal to more reflective listeners but in most cases should be treated as an additional purchase.--Julie Paladino

A missing boy returns from another world. Will anyone believe his story? When 12-year-old Aidan goes missing, his family and community members search everywhere in their small town. Things progress from worrying to terrifying when Aidan doesn't turn up. No note. No trace. Not even a body. Six days later, Aidan's younger brother, Lucas, finds Aidan alive in the attic they'd searched many times before. Aidan claims he was in a magical world called Aveinieu and that he got there through a dresser. While everyone around the brothers searches for answers, Lucas gets Aidan to open up about Aveinieu. Lucas, who narrates the story, grapples with the impossibility of the situation as he pieces it all together. Is any part of Aidan's story true? YA veteran Levithan's first foray into middle grade is a poignant tale of brotherly love and family trauma. The introspective writing, funneled through a precocious narrator, is as much about what truth means as about what happened. Though an engaging read for the way it makes readers consider and reconsider the mystery, the slow burn may deter those craving tidy resolutions. Bookish readers, however, will delight in the homages to well-known books, including When You Reach Me and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The cast defaults to White; the matter-of-fact inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters is noteworthy. A thought-provoking title for sophisticated readers. (Mystery/fantasy. 10-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.