Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Eleven-year-old Bell is basically a normal kidexcept for the fact that he lives on Mars.Bell is the youngest of the children in Americas Mars settlement. Life on Mars is pretty good; all the adults are caring, and although there are a lot of responsibilities, there are just a few strict rules, including a ban on contacting other nations settlements. The arrival of a shipment of supplies from Earth is a cause for celebration, but soon the adults in the settlement begin getting deathly ill. Bell and the other children have to break the rules and seek out help before its too late for all of them. Holm puts care and thought into her worldbuilding, dropping hints about what is happening on Earth while indicating that there is a whole universe to be explored and leaving the details to readers imaginations. She borrows from real science to create her vision of the future, something that will intrigue science-minded readers and maybe even make it a gateway to science fiction for some. The characters are endearing, the story is compelling, and the book has a positive but not didactic message, although the conflict is resolved a bit too easily. Bell is part of a community on Mars that is without racial categories; he describes his skin tone as being in the midrange of those around him.A delightful space adventure. (author's note, additional resources) (Science fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Eleven-year-old Bell is the youngest resident of the American settlement on Mars. Along with the older kids -- like Bell, all orphans transported from Earth -- and the settlement's adult staff, Bell spends his days in a colony constructed within the lava tunnels of Mars, going to class, working on the algae farm, cleaning up dust, and staying far away from the French, Finnish, Chinese, and Russian settlements, which are firmly off limits following a fatal rover accident many years earlier. Bell is closest to Leo, the settlement's cat, and Phinneus, who oversees the farming operations, and he misses fourteen-year-old Trey, who seems to be avoiding him in an effort to fit in with the older kids. When a disease carried by stowaway mice on a supply ship infects all the settlement's adults, Bell and Trey team up to seek help from the other settlements, and discover that the Americans have cut themselves off from a vibrant international community of settlers over a series of misunderstandings. The kids' determination to stay in touch with their new friends brings fundamental changes to life on Mars. Although the messages are less subtle, and more pointed, than in some of Holm's (Full of Beans, rev. 7/16) previous books, the well-wrought setting, including thoughtful depiction of lowish-tech Martian life, and a strong cast of well-developed characters make for an intriguing and compelling read. (c) Copyright 2023. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Eleven-year-old Bell is basically a normal kid—except for the fact that he lives on Mars. Bell is the youngest of the children in America’s Mars settlement. Life on Mars is pretty good; all the adults are caring, and although there are a lot of responsibilities, there are just a few strict rules, including a ban on contacting other nations’ settlements. The arrival of a shipment of supplies from Earth is a cause for celebration, but soon the adults in the settlement begin getting deathly ill. Bell and the other children have to break the rules and seek out help before it’s too late for all of them. Holm puts care and thought into her worldbuilding, dropping hints about what is happening on Earth while indicating that there is a whole universe to be explored and leaving the details to readers’ imaginations. She borrows from real science to create her vision of the future, something that will intrigue science-minded readers and maybe even make it a gateway to science fiction for some. The characters are endearing, the story is compelling, and the book has a positive but not didactic message, although the conflict is resolved a bit too easily. Bell is part of a community on Mars that is without racial categories; he describes his skin tone as being in the midrange of those around him. A delightful space adventure. (author's note, additional resources) (Science fiction. 8-12) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.