Kind, buoyant, and cleareyed.
A senior in high school learns to live—and live well—with bipolar disorder.
It’s autumn, and the new school year presents a challenge to 18-year-old Natalie Cordova. She has to navigate the college admissions crush and withstand the tireless grind of the gossip mill at school. She also must hide the truth about the near-catastrophic car accident she got into at the beginning of the summer: namely, that it wasn’t really an accident. If anyone at school learns about her bipolar diagnosis or the suicide attempt that precipitated it—well, it would spoil her mother’s picture-perfect Christmas card narrative, for one thing. As the pressures of the year mount, the secret grows heavier. There’s the prestigious art show, an opportunity for Natalie to show off her talent and open up the path to art school, and there’s Ella, a classmate who knows too much, says what she thinks, and sticks to Natalie like glue. Worst of all is Ty, a beautiful boy in a baseball cap and Birkenstocks who makes her light up. Achingly truthful, the book sees Natalie through the quagmire of the journey to self-acceptance with humor and insight. Webb works with intelligence and candor to chip away at the stigma that surrounds mental illness. Alongside Natalie, other characters living with differences also find full, loving, and safe lives. Main characters default to White.
Kind, buoyant, and cleareyed. (resources) (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68263-457-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Peachtree Teen
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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