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The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly Review: A Newbery-Winning Time Travel Triumph
by Erin Entrada Kelly
The First State of Being is a Newbery Medal–winning middle-grade novel by Erin Entrada Kelly in which twelve-year-old Michael Rosario's life is upended when he meets a mysterious boy from the future. A New York Times bestseller and finalist for the 2024 National Book Award, it is designed to explore themes of friendship, found family, trust, and forgiveness through a time-travel framework — and has earned wide recognition as one of the standout children's books of its year.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Middle-grade readers aged ten and up — especially those who loved Hello, Universe — who want a high-concept time-travel story that puts friendship, found family, and emotional self-discovery front and centre.
Worth it if
The combination of a propulsive sci-fi premise and genuinely layered emotional themes — trust, forgiveness, first loves, and learning to live in the present — is exactly what you want from middle-grade fiction.
Skip if
Readers who pick up time-travel stories primarily for intricate world-building and hard science-fiction mechanics may find that the speculative elements are firmly in service of interpersonal themes rather than the other way around.
What readers & critics say
Common Sense Media describes it as a "truly endearing novel about accepting the unknown, friendship, and found family" with appeal even for readers who aren't sci-fi fans, praising Kelly's skill in creating believable characters and bringing heartfelt emotion to the story. BookBrowse surfaces a starred review from BookPage noting that Kelly "shines when acknowledging today's readers' justified fears while showing them that the key to surviving an uncertain road is traveling it in good company."
“This truly endearing novel about accepting the unknown, friendship, and found family has plenty of appeal even for readers who aren't sci-fi fans.”
— Common Sense Media4.6from 370 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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The First State of Being is Erin Entrada Kelly's Newbery Medal–winning middle-grade novel in which twelve-year-old Michael Rosario's encounter with a boy from the future becomes the gateway to an emotionally layered exploration of friendship, found family, trust, and forgiveness. The time-travel premise serves the human story, not the other way around — Kelly consistently prioritises character and emotional resonance over speculative mechanics, making this the ideal pick for readers who want adventure with genuine interior weight. Readers seeking rigorous science-fiction world-building may find the fantastical elements secondary, but those drawn to Kelly's character-driven sensibility will find her at her very best.
- Is it worth reading?
- For middle-grade readers and the adults who love the genre, The First State of Being is a strong and award-validated choice. LuvemBooks' assessment, grounded in the book's critical reception, is that Kelly's particular gift — meeting young readers where their anxieties actually live rather than smoothing them away — is fully present here. A starred BookPage review captures it well: Kelly "shines when acknowledging today's readers' justified fears while showing them that the key to surviving an uncertain road is traveling it in good company." The one caveat is for readers who want hard science-fiction mechanics; the novel's emotional concerns consistently take precedence over speculative world-building.
- Similar books
- Readers drawn to The First State of Being's blend of high-concept premise and deep emotional grounding will find strong companions in the catalogue below. Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce is a classic middle-grade time-slip novel that similarly uses a fantastical device to explore longing, connection, and the passage of time. Skellig by David Almond shares Kelly's character-first approach, pairing a mysterious stranger with a young protagonist navigating family upheaval. Wonder by R. J. Palacio and Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson both sit squarely in the tradition of emotionally resonant middle-grade fiction about friendship, belonging, and facing life's uncertainties — the same thematic territory Kelly charts with Michael Rosario.
- Who should read this?
- The First State of Being is designed for middle-grade readers ages ten and up (grades three through seven), and is particularly well suited to those who responded to Kelly's earlier work — Hello, Universe or We Dream of Space — and who value character and belonging over plot spectacle. It works equally well for reluctant readers drawn in by the time-travel hook and for thoughtful readers who want emotional complexity and themes of forgiveness and found family to stay with them after the last page. Parents and educators looking for a critically validated, award-winning novel for this age group will find broad institutional endorsement, from the ALA Notable Book list to the Chicago Public Library's Best Fiction for Older Readers of 2024.
- What age is it for?
- Best for ages 10 and up. The publisher places The First State of Being in a grade three through seven range, squarely in the middle-grade sweet spot where readers are old enough to engage with emotional complexity — themes of trust, forgiveness, found family, and first loves — while still energised by the momentum of a high-concept time-travel premise. The novel's depth rewards confident readers at the upper end of that range, but the accessible premise makes it viable for engaged readers as young as eight or nine.
- Where should I start with Erin Entrada Kelly?
- Erin Entrada Kelly has an unusually strong track record for a middle-grade author: Hello, Universe earned her first Newbery Medal, We Dream of Space received a Newbery Honor, and The First State of Being is her second Newbery Medal winner. Readers new to Kelly might begin with Hello, Universe to understand the character-driven, emotionally grounded sensibility that defines her work, then move to The First State of Being to see that approach in its most recent and most decorated form. Either entry point is well supported by the critical record.
- Is it a good book club pick?
- The First State of Being is a strong book club selection for middle-grade, family, or adult-reading-children's-fiction groups. Its interlocking themes — friendship, found family, trust, and forgiveness, all carried within a time-travel premise — give discussion groups substantial and emotionally resonant ground to cover. The BookPage starred review's framing, that "the key to surviving an uncertain road is traveling it in good company," offers a ready-made lens for conversation about how the novel speaks to readers' real anxieties. Its Newbery Medal and National Book Award finalist status also make it a culturally anchored pick that groups can situate within the broader landscape of children's literature.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
What age is it for?
Where should I start with Erin Entrada Kelly?
Is it a good book club pick?
Summarize this book
The First State of Being centres on twelve-year-old Michael Rosario, whose world is permanently altered when he meets a mysterious boy who has arrived from the future. From that collision of timelines, Erin Entrada Kelly builds a story the publisher describes as exploring "time travel, friendship, found family, and first loves" — with the speculative premise serving as a lens for examining family bonds, trust, and forgiveness. A New York Times bestseller and winner of the Newbery Medal, it was also a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award, confirming its standing as a consensus landmark of its publication year.
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Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Ages 8–12
Reading level
Middle grade
Best for: Ages 10+ — the novel's emotional complexity, including themes of forgiveness, found family, and first loves, is best suited to confident middle-grade readers, though engaged readers from age 8 or 9 may access it comfortably.
Skip if you want hard science-fiction world-building and rigorous time-travel mechanics at the centre of the story.
Our Review
Erin Entrada Kelly's Newbery Medal–winning middle-grade novel earns every one of its accolades — a warmly constructed, thematically layered story that secures her place among the foremost voices writing for young readers today.
The First State of Being: Friendship, Family and Time Travel Collide by Erin Entrada Kelly front cover
What the Story Is About
At the center of The First State of Being is twelve-year-old Michael Rosario, whose world shifts permanently the moment he encounters a boy who has arrived from the future. From that collision of timelines, Kelly builds a narrative that the publisher describes as a story of "time travel, friendship, found family, and first loves." The novel's central engine is not simply the science-fiction premise but what that premise makes possible: an exploration of family bonds, the mechanics of trust, and what it means to forgive — both others and oneself. Kelly frames these emotional stakes against the time-travel conceit in a way that sources consistently describe as thematically rich, allowing the fantastical element to amplify rather than overshadow the human questions at its core.
Its Place in Kelly's Career and the Genre
Kelly arrived at this novel already carrying rare distinction. She previously won the Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe and received a Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space — a track record that makes The First State of Being her second Newbery Medal win, a remarkable achievement in children's literature. The novel was also named a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award and is a New York Times bestseller, confirming its reach beyond the awards circuit. Recognition from the ALA Notable Book for Children list, the Chicago Public Library's Best Fiction for Older Readers of 2024, the 2025 Excellence in Children's and Young Adult Science Fiction Notable List, and best-of-year selections from BookPage, Shelf Awareness, and Common Sense Media further establish it as a consensus landmark of its publication year. For readers who track the middle-grade genre, this is a novel that arrived with — and has sustained — serious critical momentum.
Character Development and Voice
The sources that describe the novel's literary qualities converge on a few consistent strengths. The book is characterized, in the publisher's framing, by its "voice, character development, setting, and exploration of the issues that resonate with middle grade readers." BookBrowse notes that the novel reminded one reader why Kelly's earlier Newbery winner connected so deeply, and that this time-travel story "did the trick" in a way that many middle-grade novels since had not. A starred review from BookPage, as excerpted in available sources, observes that Kelly "shines when acknowledging today's readers' justified fears while showing them that the key to surviving an uncertain road is traveling it in good company" — a line that captures Kelly's particular gift for meeting young readers where their anxieties actually live, rather than smoothing them away.
Themes and Emotional Range
What distinguishes The First State of Being from a purely plot-driven adventure is the breadth of emotional territory it covers. Friendship, found family, first loves, trust, and forgiveness are not decorative themes appended to a time-travel chassis — they are, per the record, the novel's primary concerns. Kelly structures the story so that the relationship between Michael and the boy from the future becomes a lens through which each of those themes is examined. The BookPage starred review's observation — that the novel's insight is that uncertain roads become survivable in good company — points to an emotional philosophy running beneath the speculative mechanics. This dual register, adventure premise carrying serious interior weight, is consistent with Kelly's approach in her earlier celebrated work.
Who Will Find It Most Rewarding
The First State of Being is designed for readers ages ten and up, with a grade-level range of three through seven, placing it squarely in the middle-grade sweet spot where readers are old enough to engage with emotional complexity but still drawn to the energy of a high-concept premise. Readers who responded to Hello, Universe or We Dream of Space will find Kelly's sensibility — her interest in character over spectacle, in belonging and forgiveness as genuine stakes — fully present here. The combination of a grounded emotional core with time-travel adventure makes it equally well suited to reluctant readers who need narrative momentum and to thoughtful readers who want something to sit with after the final page. This review is based on the book's content and published critical reception; hands-on assessment of the reading experience is left to the reader.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
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- 4
- Further reading
- 5
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