The bildungsroman never goes out of style, and Nelson still executes it well, if predictably.
An affluent white teenage boy begins to question his place in his peer group after an odd new girl challenges his assumptions.
Sophomore Gavin Meeks is “one of the popular kids” at Evergreen High School in Portland, Oregon. His hobbies and dating choices are mostly based on his friends’ opinions and his family’s wealth. Everything changes when he meets Antoinette Renwick, a white girl who smokes, “dresses like a freak,” and had a brother who committed suicide. At first, Gavin can’t imagine being friends with her. But once he spends more time with Antoinette, he realizes that she “wasn’t just some pissed-off teenager. She had a plan…and the rest of it: high school, social life, teachers, parents…it was just noise to her.” Antoinette is the catalyst that initiates Gavin’s transformation from privileged tennis player to thoughtful photographer. Gavin knows he’s in love. But can Antoinette ever be in love with someone like him? Nelson returns to his now-familiar, linear plot of a clueless suburban teen awakening to the world’s complications under the influence of a quirky outsider. While references to Facebook may seem dated, Nelson gives a nod to the current cultural context when Gavin tries to photograph an angry protest that erupts as a result of a police shooting of an African-American teenager.
The bildungsroman never goes out of style, and Nelson still executes it well, if predictably. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8813-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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