If you are reading this, then chances are that
"My name is Kemi Carter, and I'm a scientist .... My favorite type of science is the science of probability. Probability is pretty great because it tells you how likely something is to happen or not happen. It is a way of predicting the world."
BREAKING NEWS: MASSIC ASTERIOD ALTERS PATH, NOW ON COURSE TO MEET EARTH! NASA RELEASES STATMENT: DO NOT PANIC! PRESS CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN THIRTY MINUTES!
"How long did we have until the end of the world?"
Kemi knows the world is about to end. This is huge and impossible to process so she decides to collect a box of treasures so that the people who come next have some idea about her life and the lives of various members of her family.
Begin here with this video by Colby Sharp - "this book is blowing everyone's mind" ... "this is the best book to read when you know nothing about it!" ... "You are in for the ride of your life."
Colby also says do not read the back cover (blurb) - luckily I was not able to do this because I read the ebook of The Probability of Everything.
Now listen (just play it without the image) to this video where the reviewer explains it is best to come to this book knowing nothing about the plot. This review is 9 minutes and at the end the librarian says she would like one million dollars so she could buy this book for everyone - surely that makes you curious about this story.
This book will shock and shake you - it is utterly fabulous but any more plot points will spoil it. I will however list a few text quotes:
"A sudden chill entered the room. It was Narnia cold, the kind of cold that makes your bones ache, and I shivered. The front door creaked like it had been left open, and I wondered if that was the reason for the cold."
"Amplus ... has a 84.7 percent chance of hitting us."
"When Mrs Wallace had taught us about asteroids, I hadn't really considered the possibility of one colliding with us. It was kind of the way I hadn't paid too much attention to our lesson on Tasmanian devils because I knew they were only in Australia."
"Would Baby Z be born before the asteroid hit? Mom was only five months pregnant, which meant the world would have to last another four months at least, if we were ever going to meet the baby. We didn't even know if we had four hours."
"... the end of the world might sound like a whoosh, like a thunderclap, or like a peaceful silence."
"Four days meant less than a full week of school. It meant we would never meet Baby Z, that I would never have two sisters instead of one. It meant the world would end on a Thursday."
"There has to be a way to make sure they don't forget all about us."
"I'm make a time capsule ... If I save all the most important stuff, the things we love the most, then nobody has to feel so sad about the end of the world. ... If I saved one thing that was precious to each member of my family, then something that was part of them - something that they loved - would always be here. It wouldn't be destroyed by the asteroid, and the next earthlings could find it and know about us."
What are some things to put in a time capsule:
- Photographs
- Newspaper clippings
- Favourite books (Kemi likes The One and Only Ivan; Charlotte's web and Where the wild things are).
- List of movies or tv shows you love
- A mobile phone
- Food (that won't spoil)
- Clothes
- A map of your town showing all your favorite places
- Letters between you and your loved ones
ONLY after you have read this book (yes you do need to read it) you might look at a few reviews such as this one from Kirkus (star review).
Awards:
- NPR Books We Love 2023
- Publishers Weekly Best of 2023
- Winner of the Governor General's Literary Awards for Young People's Literature
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