Intriguing and imaginative.
The latest from Kwaymullina (Palyku) weaves Indigenous Australian culture and experiences into a tale of conquest, resistance, and renewal.
Bell Silverleaf, 15, is a Treesinger. Falling Leaves, her community of interconnected humans and trees, is one of six groves created by the Ancestors—“living worlds of green amongst the hard shine of Radiance,” the city-kingdom that powerful alien deities forcibly relocated them to. The Risen, the gods’ human followers who arrived in Mistfall centuries ago, treat Treesingers as inferiors. After a sickness spread from its Birth tree four years ago, Falling Leaves went dormant. Bell’s granny, her grove’s Matriarch, sent her to seek a cure, but Bell was captured, brutalized, and confined to the sun-temple. Her only companion is Blue, the bright spark of the spirit of the twilight-god. Lying is Bell’s survival skill, keeping her safe. She feigns acceptance when she’s chosen to compete against six girls from across the social classes in the deadly Queen’s Test that will determine Radiance’s next ruler. Bell has support from her Ancestors, Blue, and Tricks, a Traveling, or little flowering branch she wears in her hair who speaks to her in the green language. But to succeed, Bell needs human allies. She knows that “Silverleaf secrets were for Silverleaf women and Silverleaf trees”—yet trust requires reciprocity and honesty. Bell is a smart, scrappy teen with emotional scars and a sense of humor. Tucked into a twisty, fast-paced narrative that explores legacies of colonialism are subtle messages about the ever-changing, symbiotic web of life.
Intriguing and imaginative. (Indigenous futurism. 12-18)Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9780593571781
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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