Not shying away from the pressures inherent in today’s youth-driven underground music culture, this book stands as a...
Self-professed teenage jazz nerd Mira Alden spins into the edgy electronic dance music scene, full of bright lights, booming speakers, dancing crowds…and risky decisions.
When Mira first experiences EDM at a warehouse party in Brooklyn with her older sister, Britt, she is deeply moved; not expecting to like electronic music, she is surprised by her intense, visceral response. But the morals in this warehouse don’t match her family’s fighting-for-middle-class upbringing in suburban Connecticut. Mira has always believed star soccer player Britt to be the favorite within their biracial (white mom, black dad), athletic family. In the shadows, Mira has followed her grandfather’s jazz legacy, aspiring with her best friends to attend an esteemed jazz conservatory in Harlem. When money troubles prevent Mira from attending summer music camp, she embraces the slippery world of EDM, drawing close to her new DJ friend Shay, who is Puerto Rican, and succumbing to the sly charms of the promoter, Derek, who is white. Easy access to drugs in this party scene leads to tragic circumstances. Will Mira be able to maintain her jazz dreams and keep up with this fast-paced culture? It’s sure to be a long summer dance.
Not shying away from the pressures inherent in today’s youth-driven underground music culture, this book stands as a testament to how music within community allows one to discover purpose and possibility against a backdrop of tragedy and tribulation. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5107-3333-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
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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