The Paper Museum by Kate S. Simpson

The Paper Museum by Kate S. Simpson is an extraordinarily unique novel about a girl named Lydia. Ever since her parents’ sudden disappearance, Lydia has been living with her Uncle Lem in the Paper Museum. Lydia lives in a world where paper is a rarity and most people use “Aer Readers”, a phone that you can put on your finger. However, when her Uncle Lem has to leave for a mysterious trip, she is left with his cranky brother, Renald. This isn’t the only problem. Government agents have been showing up more and more to the museum, taking notes and mumbling about how it would make a great place for a park. And even more trouble arises when she finally sends a missing persons report when her parents still don’t show up,\ and it reads that if her parents don’t activate their Aer Readers in thirty days, all their property, including the museum, will be given to the government. With all this trouble Lydia can barely keep things straight and she must do everything she can in the absence of everyone she loves to try to keep the things the loves.

Along with that, there have also been new interns at the museum, new interns that Lydia doesn’t trust a bit. One of the interns is also been her old friend who she had a fight with, Jane, and hasn’t spoken to her since, complicating things even more.

Throughout the troubles, Lydia starts looking for clues about her parents’ disappearance even more than ever, hoping that getting her parents back could solve everything else as well. As she uncovers clues, more secrets are revealed, about both her parents’ disappearance and also as to why the government agents keep coming to the museum.

I loved the way Simpson was able to mesh everything together so that it all flowed perfectly, from the metaphors she used to just the overall plot. I also loved how Simpson always kept it focused on the books with Lydia almost all the time in the library of the museum, working vehemently to try to get back her missing parents.