An entertaining personal journey with plot twists galore.
A teen seeks the answer to a long-buried family secret during a drama-filled summer.
Millie Price knows she wants to perform on Broadway, where her outgoing and larger-than-life personality will shine, and attending a prestigious musical theater pre-college program in Los Angeles for her senior year would help her get ahead of the game, not to mention offering a fresh start after being haunted by an excruciatingly embarrassing viral video from her middle school musical. Unfortunately, she would be leaving behind New York City; her school’s epic senior year musical; her theater crew; her lifelong best friend, Teddy; and her single father. The summer after junior year, Millie and Teddy, both implied White, discover the LiveJournal her father kept at age 20 and realize from clues it contains that Millie’s mother, who left her as a baby, might be living in the city. Millie leaps into Mamma Mia!–inspired action, tracking down the three women who could be her mother. Chock-full of musical theater references and humor, the novel includes high-stakes emotional drama that is balanced by supportive friendships and strong, deep family connections. The slow-burn rivals-to-lovers romance with Oliver, a Chinese American classmate, is satisfying and relies on a slowly built relationship of trust. Millie’s anxiety contrasts with her flamboyant and outwardly confident personality, adding to an intriguing exploration of self-image, self-worth, and belonging as she searches for her mother.
An entertaining personal journey with plot twists galore. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-78334-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
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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