Lakelore

Starred review from January 31, 2022
Seven years after their first meeting took them to a mystical world under body of water Lakelore, 16-year-old trans nonbinary, neurodivergent teens Lore Garcia and Bastián Silvano, both Mexican American, meet again when Lore’s family relocates to Bastián’s town to avoid dyslexic Lore’s difficult past. Bastián, who has ADHD, learned from their brother to emotionally regulate by creating alebrijes—papier-mâché sculptures of mythical creatures—that Bastián releases into Lakelore, where the sculptures come to life. But freeing them cost Bastián the world below, since returning would reunite them and their anxieties. When the world under Lakelore begins to rise above the surface, and the reunited teens’ feelings for each other grow, their attempts at normalcy are jeopardized. In this sumptuous tale of magical realism told via alternating perspectives, McLemore (The Mirror Season) holds up realities of being neurodivergent while otherwise marginalized alongside strong friendships and vital family relationships that ground the protagonists. Bastián and Lore are deeply empathetic, loving characters embodying each facet of their intersecting identities with anxiety, hope, and pride that binds them to each other as much as to the loving community that surrounds them. Ages 13–up. Agent: Taylor Martindale Kean, Full Circle Literary.