Jukebox

Jukebox
Nidhi Chanani
First Second, 2021
224 pages
Grades 3-8
Graphic Novel

Shaheen's father goes missing without a trace and it is up to her to find him. Luckily, she has her bestie, slightly older cousin Naz, to help. The investigation leads the girls to Dad's favorite record store, where as a collector he is a regular customer. Upstairs they find a mysterious jukebox that plays full albums. Plugging in the jukebox and putting on an album magically transports the girls back to the time the album was pressed, where they stay until the album finishes playing. Since the jukebox was unplugged they deduce that Dad is trapped in a different time period. There are albums scattered all over the floor. Which one was the album that transported and trapped Dad? The only way to find out is by trial and error and the girls are determined to spend their summer trying each one. They travel to many important time periods including Civil Rights and the fight for Women's Liberation. Unfortunately, all of this time traveling is causing physical pain to Naz. Can they find Dad before she can no longer time travel?

This is my kind of book. I love both music and time travel and it is clear that Chanani feels the same. Music is very powerful and can bring us back to the time that we listened to a particular song or artist. For this reason, a magical jukebox seems like the perfect conveyance for time travel. I love the events chosen by Chanani and readers will learn a bit about lesser known events of the past. Presented in full-color, the illustrations are vibrant and eye-catching, managing to illustrate music in an understandable way. I am a fan of the author/illustrator's other graphic novel for middle grades, Pashmina, and feel that this lives up to the original. A playlist at the end of the volume will lead readers to the songs highlighted within the pages and may broaden their musical tastes. The girls are diverse and Naz, who is older than Shaheen, is discovering that she is bisexual and eventually tells her conservative family, a plot-point told subtly, that will go over the heads of younger children. Lots of fun with something to say, this graphic novel is the perfect summer read for music lovers and non-music lovers alike.