Circa Now by Amber McRee Turner

Pages: 276
Intended Audience: Tweens
Genre: Real life / Grief
Notes for Parents: The main character’s father dies. Also, there are references to child abuse.

The Back Cover

Twelve-year-old Circa Monroe has a knack for restoring old photographs. It’s a skill she learned from her dad, who loves old pictures and putting fun digital twists on them. His altered “Shopt” photos look so real that they could fool nearly anybody, and Circa treasures the clever stories he makes up to explain each creation.
One day, her father receives a strange phone call requesting an urgent delivery, and he heads out into a storm. The unimaginable happens: a tornado, then a terrible accident, and Circa never sees her dad again. Just as Circa and her mom begin to pick up the pieces, a mysterious boy shows up on their doorstep, a boy called Miles who remembers nothing about his past. The only thing he has with him is the photograph that Circa’s dad intended to deliver on the day he died.
As Circa tries to help Miles recover his identity, she begins to notice something strange about the photos she and her father retouched—the digital flourishes added to the old photos seem to exist in real life. The mysteries of the Shopt photos and Miles’s past are intertwined, and in order to solve both, Circa will have to figure out what’s real and what’s an illusion.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

This is the author’s second book.

What’s good?

An imaginative plot, well-drawn characters, and a hint of fantasy make this an appealing story. The writing is strong and expressive, and the plot is evenly paced. The ambiguity surrounding Miles, Captain Mann, and the Shopt photos builds a good mystery and creates an enjoyable amount of tension throughout the story. The grief that Circa and her mom experience is realistic and palpable, as is Circa’s frustration and her mom’s effort to be strong. The Maple Grove project is a touching addition to what is ultimately a sweet story about grief, acceptance, and imagination.
Best Part: The stories that went with the Shopt pictures were funny.

What isn’t good?

The target audience is quite young so the plot is uncomplicated and fairly predictable. There’s not a lot of action so some parts feel slow as the story navigates through required backstory.
Worst part: The Shopt pictures. They didn’t “look so real that they could fool nearly anybody.”

Recommendation þþþoo

It was good. The premise was original, the characters were likeable, and the storytelling was well done. It was a quick read and will most likely appeal to younger readers who want something engaging but easy.

Turner, Amber McRee. Circa Now. New York: Scholastic, 2015.