A compelling story of personal growth and new understanding.
High school junior Felix Ma has a transformative year while making a movie.
Chinese American Felix is feeling pressured: According to his college admissions coach, he needs something unique to set himself apart, but he quit piano, and he’s “not even the best Ping-Pong player at the Flushing Community Center.” After Felix and new friend Gaspard Pierre-Duluc become the school film club’s co-presidents (as well as its only members), they decide to make a short film starring senior Cassie Chow. This project will not only help his college resume; it also gives Felix a reason to spend more time with a girl who intrigues him. But their potential friendship becomes complicated when the movie’s plot starts to feel too closely inspired by Cassie, and Felix must confront and reflect on how he moves through the world. He’s struggled since moving from Flushing to the suburbs of Long Island; Cassie is a reminder of the life he could have had, and her confidence forms a contrast to his own feelings of inadequacy. But by romanticizing Cassie’s life, Felix ultimately doesn’t truly see or listen to her. In this intimate narrative, Yang explores perception, consideration, storytelling ethics, and growing pains as Felix tries to make sense of his motivations and their impact. The resolution avoids being unrealistically neat, but the book ends on an optimistic note, and readers will clearly see Felix’s trajectory.
A compelling story of personal growth and new understanding. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: July 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780063340411
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
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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