Topic: Diverse & Inclusive Books for Upper KS2

This story follows twelve-year-old Cora, who describes herself as autistic, as she befriends a boy called Adrien who has ADHD. Cora learns to trust Adrien, who confides in her about his own ADHD, and as the pair become close, they enjoy each other’s unquestioning acceptance and bond over their experiences of not quite fitting in at school.

Adrien’s Dad runs a company called ‘Pomegranate Technologies’, and Cora finds herself drawn to their innovative programme of creating incredibly lifelike holograms (or ‘grams’) of people. Having recently lost her own mother, the idea of being able to interact with a loved one after they die appeals instantly. Before long, Cora notices something amiss with one of the grams and begins to unravel some surprising truths about what is going on behind the scenes at Pomegranate…

We enjoyed the artificial intelligence strand of the plot very much, and in particular, how thought-provoking the story was about the ethics of AI in both the hypothetical sense of holograms, but also hinting at a closer, everyday sense. There’s food for thought aplenty, and yet the writing is watertight and never strays from the plot to dwell on these themes or impose judgment.

This is a stand-out story and a must-have for classrooms and school libraries where there are mature readers aged 10+.