A modestly daring coming-of-age tale with a (presumably) unintentionally preachy tone.
Shockingly, Rachel overhears her rabbi having sex in the sanctuary of her synagogue before confirmation class.
Unnerved and sickened, she doesn't know whom to tell. Recognition that a man she's always admired and trusted is imperfect, along with tension in her parents' marriage and an impossibly wide chasm between herself and her friend Alexis, make Rachel's moral compass spin out of control. She lets the rabbi's bad-boy son, Adam, talk her into losing her "pot virginity." Her lifelong friend and current crush, Jake, saves her from making a spectacle of herself. Heiligman's ear for teen dialogue and situational humor is particularly keen here, as Rachel goes from thinking she's not stoned to a declaration that "pot = truth serum." When Rachel starts shoplifting with Alexis, Jake suggests that she follow Rabbi Cohn's advice and atone for her transgressions. "Rabbi Cohn? Fuck Rabbi Cohn! Jake! I heard him screwing someone on the bima. He's a terrible person!" Rachel's path to understanding what it means to act with intention winds through a brief stint as a tutor to a special needs boy, past revelations about her parents, and finally to forgiveness. Lessons learned, the plot wraps up a little too neatly. The story is framed by the adult Rachel looking back on the events.
A modestly daring coming-of-age tale with a (presumably) unintentionally preachy tone. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-375-86861-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2012
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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