This unlikely story is likely to be a hit.
With her best friend headed off to camp and college, Sadie Sullivan knew that the summer before her senior year was bound to be different, but she never could have imagined how different it would be.
While working at a local farm stand on the East End of the Hamptons, Sadie is brutally attacked while trying to save a baby from the back seat of her drunk and enraged father’s car. Sadie’s selfless act earns her recognition, a richly diverse new group of do-gooder friends, and a summer unlike any other. Firestone’s (The Loose Ends List, 2016) sophomore novel offers readers a refreshing, diverse cast of teens headed by mixed-race Sadie, whose mom is Persian and dad is white. They are determined to quash the internet trolls and “lizards” of the world and champion their targets. What starts with small acts of kindness soon becomes a movement, and Sadie and her crew of “unlikelies” boldly tackle everything from fat shamers to heroin dealers. While Sadie, Alice (white), Gordie (white), Jean (Haitian), and Val (Salvadoran) are “homegrown heroes,” they are also teenagers reflective of a multicultural world and deal with typical teenage problems. Though several characters are more fully developed than others, readers will find plenty to relate and aspire to as the kids attempt to better the world and confront their own struggles with love, loyalty, and friendship.
This unlikely story is likely to be a hit. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-38286-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
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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