A powerful coming-of-age story about growing in faith and self-awareness.
Two teens questioning their faith find love together.
Meg was supposed to go to a summer church camp to start off her gap year but decides instead to spend time with her newfound biological family in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Her life was turned upside down after accidentally discovering that her strict, controlling Christian mom actually got pregnant with her following a one-night stand at a church youth group event and then hid the identity of her biological father, who died before learning she was pregnant, for 18 years. While visiting her paternal great-grandmother and uncle, she meets a boy called Micah who has his own issues with faith after his pastor father engaged in sexual misconduct and then went to prison for embezzling church funds. While Meg and Micah fall for each other, a sweet dog, a high-stakes rescue, and exploration of complicated family relationships complement their emotional journey. Alternating chapters showing Meg’s and Micah’s perspectives provide a close look at their views on faith and relationships with God. The characters affirm a belief in God and love of Jesus as the nuanced narrative includes their frank questioning of their religious communities’ treatment of the vulnerable and stances on modesty and purity culture, abstinence education, and homosexuality. Readers of Hahn’s More Than Maybe (2020) will remember Meg as a secondary character, but this work stands alone. Main characters are White.
A powerful coming-of-age story about growing in faith and self-awareness. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-76124-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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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