An endearing story about coping with struggles and finding your chosen family.
High school senior Maeve Stephens is a furry. She’s not a full-on fursuiter, but wearing her cat ears is one of the few things that makes her happy.
Maeve’s MauveCat fursona helps her cope with her parents’ divorce and her mother’s extreme hoarding. While she doesn’t have many real-life friends, she has a strong and loyal online following. Maeve has her eye on a prestigious art school in Portland, Oregon, so when her father offers to pay for Furlympia, a local furry con, Maeve jumps at the chance to meet her online art mentor and idol, Sunspire, who might be able to help her snag a scholarship to her dream school. But when Maeve’s mother refuses to let her attend Furlympia, Maeve decides to go anyway. While there, Maeve keeps her new friends at arm’s length while she battles with separating her home and furry lives. Luckily her community is persistent in showing her support. This is an uplifting story of finding oneself despite the pull of a loved one’s severe mental illness: Maeve navigates her emotions and relationships in a positive way, keeping readers rooting for her success and happiness. The timeline is sometimes fuzzy, but the nerdy sweetness will keep both furry and nonfurry readers turning pages. Maeve, who is questioning whether she is asexual, is cued as White; there is some diversity among supporting characters.
An endearing story about coping with struggles and finding your chosen family. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: July 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64567-526-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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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