Rendered with insight and compassion, Eden’s struggles to make peace with the human condition add up to a riveting...
Nursing a seriously bruised ego, out of sync with friends and family, Eden slipped, hit her head, and plunged into the icy river; in the coma that follows, she’s approached by a strange girl whose urgent message she’s unable to hear.
Unresolved issues slow Eden’s recovery. The white teen’s embittered by her humiliating epic fail in the class she took with Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet. The brown-skinned girl from her coma proves to be another hospital patient, Jasmine, still comatose, her only visitor a quiet, intense white boy named Joe. Through their shared interest in Jaz, Joe and Eden form a bond, at first halting and awkward, intensifying as their mutual attraction grows. Joe’s mother died when he was 8; he helps his florist dad and stepmother grow flowers, some sold at the hospital. Middle-class Eden has been free of domestic chores to pursue her interests. Joe and Jaz, a former foster child, have been friends for years. They’d been each other’s world; without her, he’s as off-balance as Eden is. Though Eden fears losing Joe, she’s as committed to reaching Jaz as he is. If what the coma signifies for Jasmine remains mysterious, for Eden, it’s a chrysalis. The protective cocoon may initiate rebirth—transformation is up to her. Her deliberate, almost meditative present-tense narration chronicling her metamorphosis is punctuated by excerpts from a book she reads about near-death experiences, anchoring readers to her existential journey.
Rendered with insight and compassion, Eden’s struggles to make peace with the human condition add up to a riveting coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-544-53126-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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
BOOK REVIEW
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