An intricately crafted story of teen pregnancy helmed by a bold, achingly real protagonist determined to decide her own fate.
After a snowmobile accident leaves her boyfriend in a coma, a girl must confront her memories before she can make a life-altering decision.
High school sweethearts Taylor and Scott grow distant after he moves away to attend college. Everything seems fine, though, until Taylor discovers she’s pregnant. Distraught, she considers suicide, but when she confides in Scott, he reprimands her for her selfishness. Disturbed by his response, she decides to break up with him, but he whisks her away to their favorite little snowy island in northern Minnesota and surprises her with a proposal that she can’t bring herself to turn down. Tragically, on the way back, their snowmobile crashes, leaving Scott with a fractured skull, lost in a coma. Now Taylor waits at his bedside, still undecided about the baby and with a secret engagement ring in her pocket. She can’t help but wonder if this is all her fault—did she swerve? Did she have a death wish? She can’t remember, but the process to finding out what really happened, and who Scott really was, grows increasingly complicated each day he doesn’t wake up. Ever confident in her choices and blessed with a trenchant narrative voice, Taylor makes for an engaging, strikingly unsentimental portrait of a teen girl facing tragedy head-on. Her path is fraught with all the messy, painful truths no one should face so young, and it’s both heartbreaking and beautiful in its resolution.
An intricately crafted story of teen pregnancy helmed by a bold, achingly real protagonist determined to decide her own fate. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7387-4731-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Flux
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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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