The Quantum July

Here we have a YA book predicated on science (check), but the narrator, Danny Parsons, HATES science (and math -- check, check), so his sister, Bridget, explains it all in layman terms (thank God, check). Oddly, it all works. THE QUANTUM JULY is an admirable first effort by teacher Ron King, as the premise is as unusual as it is creative. True, the plot is slow in the offing, and true as well, only Danny and Bridget are truly developed among the Parsons family, but overall readers will get caught up in the brother-sister combo's discovery of a parallel universe where there is more than one Dad (a beaten, loser dad and a bullwhip-cracking, take-command dad) and more than one older brother Simon (Simon says: one good and one evil). What's more spooky is that one universe includes the formula-writing Bridget and the other doesn't. That's right. She's never born. Fans of time travel will enjoy the predicament because, in many respects, the problems presented are a YA version of those seen in Audrey Niffenegger's THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE. Young readers will appreciate this whether they love science or not, and King respects them enough not to talk down to them or baby them. Bridget does her best to explain the mysteries of quantum physics, the sharp simplicities of Occam's razor, and seeing-is-believing conundrum that is Schrodinger's Cat. Got that? See you in July, then.

For anyone who has ever enjoyed a Madeline L'Engle book, this book is for you. Ron King combines a thought provoking plot with snappy dialogue, and people-next-door characters. Added to that is a sprinkling of Quantum physics which is clearly explained and acts as the sauce which keeps the story together. It is a scientific story for non-scientists. Run, don't walk, to the book store!

Thirteen-year-old Danny Parsons belongs to an eccentric family. His father is an underachiever with some training in Eastern esoterica. His ambitious mother took a degree in particle physics in college and now wants to put it to use. Enigmatic Simon, Danny's older brother, has some dark corners; and his younger sister, Bridget, isn't quite Einstein, but she's close. Escapist Danny decorates his room's walls with elaborate alternate lives he could live, and he daydreams about exploits he could undertake. At school Danny is known as "the space cadet," and he secretly worries that, like his Harvard-educated, stock boy father, he may drift aimlessly in life. But, observant Bridget knows Danny is very special; she is convinced he's some kind of human conduit for coalescing change on a cosmic level. She tries to give her brother an explanation for his ability to " 'unleash the power of the quantum world' " or, in his father's words, " 'ride the energy.' " She feeds him facts about quantum theory. She tells him about Schroedinger's cat, a famous thought experiment that illustrates a law of the quantum world called superposition...or, in layman's terms, "Until you look, both exist." Danny longs to understand this weird concept because he thinks he is experiencing some major superposition of his own: he has seen another version of his father in their barn. Soon after this encounter, Danny experiences more and more superposition. Different realities bring different and drastic consequences to his family, and Danny concludes he must try to reintegrate these shifting alternate existences. Perhaps his strange talent -- which blew up a shed on their property because he touched a blackboard formula -- is the Parsons' only hope when their family splinters and tragedy befalls them. Author Ron King assumes for the sake of THE QUANTUM JULY that superposition and other aspects of quantum reality can manifest in the macro world, a notion current science bars. But he has a lot of fun posing the idea that it could. And readers young and old can enjoy his audacity in stretching the boundaries. THE QUANTUM JULY presents an rousingly imaginative and suspenseful story for young people (and adults) interested in science as well as Eastern meditation and visualization practices. It presents quirkily rounded characters with weaknesses and worries common to most of us -- although they can also represent types (e.g., scientific vs. spiritual). This, however, isn't only a sci-fi tale. It also bids readers to think about what binds families and what can tear them apart. And, Danny's questions about who he is and wants to be mirror concerns of real young people, even if their quests and resolutions aren't likely to rival his for extenuating drama.

Science has always been a mystery to me, especially the study of physics. I vaguely remember learning about quantum theory, chaos theory, and the Uncertainty Principle way back in high school. It was Greek to me then and even after reading THE QUANTUM JULY by Ron King, it is still Greek to me now. I like Danny Parsons. He is a dreamer. We all have slipped into a daydream every now and again where we dreamed that we were someone else or somewhere else. Danny takes daydreaming to a whole new level. He actually catalogues the lives that he lives in his dreams. He has notebooks organizing them. For example, the blue notebook is titled "Royal Lives" and in that notebook there is story of him being taken from the family of the "dragon king" in Bhutan. In the red notebook, titled "Adventure and Intrigue," stories include him being the son of a KGB agent stationed in Berlin before his capture. There is one notebook he keeps, an orange one, hidden away. All of the other books are past lives but this one is different. This notebook tells of his future lives. The entries in this notebook frighten him because they seem to come true as he puts them down on paper. You have to love his imagination. Vivid doesn't even begin to describe it. I wish I could dream like Danny does. He is so sure that he was meant to be someone else. If he doesn't dream, he may end up like his father, who stopped dreaming and appears to be lost. That is why their mother left them. Danny's father is not the same man she fell in love with. His mother is a scientist, and it looks like his sister will be following in her footsteps, being the youngest student ever to be accepted into Youth Scholarship Academy. Everything to them can be explained in scientific terms. Bridget thinks Danny has a gift, a special power of being able to set events in motion, based solely on touch. She came to this conclusion after she and Danny checked the shed their mother uses as lab and it blew up. She is so sure it is all because he touched an equation on the board. Bridget, in true scientist mode, wants to prove her theory, so she gets Danny to carry around an equation in his back pocket. The equation she gave him explains one of the most central proofs of the quantum theory. She thinks that if she is correct in her hypothesis that Danny will notice a difference, like things around him will look different and that sometimes he will feel like there are moments when he isn't where he is supposed to be. Almost immediately, things start to change, starting with the parents who announce that they are separating -- but that is not all that happens. It seems that his realities are actually splitting and Danny is trapped in the chaos of the quantum world. There comes a time when quantum laws and the laws of the universe makes sense to each other and only at that time can quantum laws change -- but only if you to choose well. Does Danny have the power to choose well or will this gift simply destroy every