A skillfully executed, nuanced, and engaging book.
Two teens find each other while dealing with disability and ableism.
Ellie, an 18-year-old Deaf girl, must move back in with her family when her residential Deaf school closes. Now she faces the ableism of her public school classmates, an unprofessional and incompetent interpreter, and living with her hearing (and prejudiced) family members, who don’t understand how to respect her Deafness. Jackson is another senior at Amber High. He’s a disgraced soccer star who cost his team the state championship when he unexpectedly collapsed on the pitch. His dad has dangerously high expectations for him, both in athletics and in life, and his mom thinks everything can be cured with alternative medicine, including Jackson’s mysterious and worsening symptoms. One thing Ellie and Jackson do have is each other. This story is, most simply put, a sweet, well-written romance with just a touch of drama for excitement. The book never feels preachy or lags narratively in the interest of didacticism, yet it also tells a meaningful story about ableism, audism, and self-determination. Readers will pick it up for the plot, but some will come away validated in their own experiences of disability; some will leave with more knowledge and awareness of ableism. That said, what the characters go through avoids any whiff of exploitative “inspiration,” and the story leaves plenty of room for Sortino to explore differing experiences of disability. Ellie and Jackson read white.
A skillfully executed, nuanced, and engaging book. (language note, author’s note) (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593697863
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
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