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Remembering Our Curiosity for the Unknown

Lately, it feels like we’ve been looking up again.


With missions like Artemis II on the horizon and stories like Project Hail Mary capturing people’s attention, there’s been a quiet return to something we don’t always make space for in our daily lives: curiosity. Not the kind tied to productivity or answers, but the kind that simply wonders. What’s out there? What could exist beyond what we know?


For a moment, it softens things. It reminds us that we’re all on the same floating rock, moving through space together, trying to make sense of it all.


This month, we’re leaning into that feeling, the pull toward the unknown through stories that explore space, possibility, and what it means to imagine beyond the limits placed on us.


The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez


At its heart, The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez is about belief, especially when that belief isn’t reflected back at you.


Alex is a seventh grader who loves space with his whole being. He watches rocket launches with his Papi, spends hours reading about NASA, and dreams of becoming an astronaut one day. His curiosity is expansive, full of excitement and wonder. But the world around him doesn’t quite meet him there.


Placed in a self-contained classroom, Alex is given work that underestimates him, surrounded by people who constantly tell him “not yet.” Over time, that message starts to weigh on him, not because he believes it, but because it’s repeated so often.


What makes this story resonate is Alex’s insistence on his own possibility. He doesn’t stop dreaming. Instead, he pushes back, advocating for himself in ways that feel both brave and deeply human. His story is a reminder that curiosity is about exploration, and it’s about believing you deserve to be part of what’s being explored.



Vern, Custodian of the Universe by Tyrell Waiters


If Alex’s story is about reaching for the stars, Vern, Custodian of the Universe asks what happens when you stumble into them without meaning to.


Vern is burnt out, directionless, and trying to reset his life when he takes a job as a custodian at a mysterious science facility. It seems simple enough at first, until his daily routine starts including things like cleaning up black holes and dealing with space-time anomalies.


The humor here is sharp and unexpected, but underneath it is something more reflective. As Vern is pulled deeper into a multiverse on the brink of collapse, he’s faced with a question that feels cosmic and very personal: what is the point of all of this?


The story plays with scale in an interesting way. It moves between the absurd and the existential, between galactic stakes and very human uncertainty. In doing so, it captures something real about how it feels to exist in a world that often doesn’t make sense. Sometimes curiosity doesn’t come from wonder. Sometimes it comes from not knowing what else to do.


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Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki


In Light from Uncommon Stars, the unknown isn’t just out in space, it’s in the connections we form, the identities we claim, and the lives we build.


The novel ties together multiple threads: a violin teacher bound by a deal with the devil, a transgender runaway searching for safety and belonging, and an alien refugee trying to create a home on Earth. On paper, it sounds expansive, even chaotic. But in practice, it feels intimate.


What makes this story stand out is how it balances the cosmic with the personal. Yes, there are stars and spaceships and impossible bargains. But there are also quiet moments such as conversations over donuts, small acts of care, the slow building of trust.


It suggests that curiosity doesn’t always have to be grand or distant. Sometimes it’s about opening yourself up to people, to change, to the possibility that something unexpected might bring you closer to home.



Curiosity doesn’t always look like a rocket launch or a breakthrough discovery.


Sometimes it looks like a kid insisting on being seen. Sometimes it looks like asking hard questions without clear answers. Sometimes it looks like choosing connection, even when it feels uncertain.


This month, we’re holding onto that feeling, the urge to look up, to wonder, to imagine something beyond what’s in front of us.


Because maybe that’s where everything starts.





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