Whenever You Are | YA Spotlight

Whenever You Are by Martine Leavitt blends verse fiction, a juvenile detention story, and just enough science fiction to leave readers questioning what is actually possible.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Fifteen-year-old Clemence Todd is nearing the end of his sentence in juvenile detention, where he landed after causing a terrible car accident. Clem dreams of becoming a poet and, more than anything, of someday doing “Something Fine” with his life.

Then he meets Finn, a new detainee with a traumatic past, an interest in physics, and his own regrets to carry.

The boys quickly become friends, but after they stand up for another detainee, both are sent to solitary confinement—or “administrative segregation,” as the facility calls it. There, Finn begins talking about a wormhole in his cell. He believes he can travel into the past, undo the worst mistake of his life, and change the future.

Then Finn disappears.

Much of the novel unfolds as Clem is questioned about his friend’s disappearance by detention officials and other adults. These present-day interrogations appear in prose, while Clem recounts the events leading up to Finn’s disappearance in spare, stream-of-consciousness verse.

The shifting format adds to the mystery: Is Finn’s wormhole real? Is it a hallucination brought on by illness and solitary confinement? And if changing the past were possible, would doing so actually make things better?

TIME TRAVEL AND CHANGING THE PAST

Often, time travel stories explore the dangers of changing the past. In movies like Back to the Future and The Butterfly Effect, even the tiniest change of the past can greatly alter the present. But like in Terminator 2 and Peggy Sue Got Married, the intent of time travel here is specifically to change the past.

What would we do if we could completely erase a past event from existence? What would you change? It’s a great angle to start a booktalk of time travel stories.

TEEN INCARCERATION AND REDEMPTION

Whenever You Are is a deeply human story about regret, friendship, institutional cruelty, and the possibility of redemption. Leavitt does not shy away from the mistreatment and vulnerability of incarcerated teens, but the novel never loses sight of Clem’s hope for a life beyond detention.

With two starred reviews, Whenever You Are is an excellent choice for high school collections, particularly for readers who enjoy novels in verse, unconventional storytelling, and thought-provoking speculative fiction. The unresolved questions surrounding Finn’s disappearance also make this one ripe for discussion.

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