Published: 2022
Series: N/A
Author: Kate Simpson
Illustrator: N/A
Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Dystopia, Children’s Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction, Juvenile Literature, Young Adult
Audience (Grade Levels): Elementary Level
Number of Stars: ⭐⭐⭐
Goodreads Link: The Paper Museum
Triggers / Content Warnings: Magic, themes of parental abandonment/disappearance.
Review By: Monica Morse
Publisher’s Summary:
In a world where paper is obsolete and magic is all but forgotten, Lydia has moved into the Paper Museum with her Uncle Lem following the disappearance of her parents. Convinced the key to finding them lies in the museum’s book collection, Lydia spends her days digitally scanning her way through the museum’s library.
But when Uncle Lem is called away and her Uncle Renald is put in charge of the museum, Lydia’s scanning project comes to an abrupt halt. Uncle Renald takes her aer reader—the personal device that everybody uses for reading, shopping, messaging, and more—but not before Lydia makes a desperate attempt at filing a missing persons report for her parents.
The report activates a countdown, and now with nothing but a secret typewriter in her dogwood fort and a cryptic message, Lydia has thirty days to find her parents and stop the mayor from commandeering the museum. Otherwise, both her family home and the Paper Museum itself will be reassigned to someone else. With aer readers on the fritz and the town descending into chaos, Lydia needs to find her parents before the Paper Museum—and her parents—are lost for good.
Review:
Kate Simpson wrote a unique story that is set in the future. However, this book started out slow, and did not grab my attention until the end when the plot started to unfold. I did enjoy reading about how some people still love reading from a printed book, while others believe paper is obsolete. I was able to relate to that since maybe people listen to books, or read them from a tablet. This would be a great story for someone who enjoys reading about magic, but also enjoys a good drama. Kate Simpson did a wonderful job expressing how the main character, Lydia, misses her parents and wants everything to go back to how it was.
Classroom & Curricular Connections:
- ELA (English Language Arts): Excellent choice for intermediate literature circles exploring the concept of speculative fiction, text-to-world connections, and evaluating the narrative structures of quest-based mysteries.
- Social Studies / Media Literacy: Highly applicable for discussions on societal evolution, the transition from physical to digital materials, and the cultural value of historical preservation, archives, and museums.
- SEL (Social-Emotional Learning): Provides strong instructional pathways for exploring themes of separation anxiety, processing parental absence, navigating unexpected domestic transitions, and managing stress during a high-stakes crisis.
- Extension Activity / Library Application: Perfect for an interactive elementary school library program or classroom activity. Librarians can coordinate a “Museum of the Future Archive” workshop. After exploring Lydia’s world, students can select one everyday modern object (a pencil, a physical key, a printed ticket) and draft a brief “historical museum exhibit label” explaining what the object was used for to a future society that only uses digital tools.
- Diversity & Representation: The book highlights cognitive resilience, self-reliance, and independent problem-solving through a young female protagonist who uses intellectual grit rather than physical dominance to change her circumstances. While the cultural world-building remains relatively uniform, the text provides a meaningful exploration of non-traditional family structures, validating the lived experiences of children who are being raised by extended family members or guardians due to parental separation.
