An engrossing slasher story that honors the genre while feeling fresh.
There’s a new murderer in Satterville, Ohio—better known as Slasherville thanks to the fictionalized accounts of the town’s two massacres by a pseudonymous author.
CJ Smith, a white-presenting, bisexual, genderqueer teen, abhors Moon Satter’s novels because their own life is so entwined with the actual events. Their dad survived the first massacre, perpetrated by a killer who donned a wolf mask at a summer camp in 1996, but he was killed in the second attack, six years ago. CJ survived by hiding in a closet. When an unpublished manuscript for a third Moon Satter novel shows up on CJ’s doorstep, they think it must be a prank…until elements of the story, which recounts new Wolf Man killings, start to come true. When the final girl in Satter’s unpublished novel instead winds up being the first victim in real life, CJ must step into the main character role to stop the killings. This metafictive work plays with horror tropes in entertaining and exciting ways and keeps the suspense up with twists aplenty. CJ is a captivating lead, figuring out how to stand out and take charge and when to ask for help and accept support. Secondary characters, including CJ’s Costa Rican American classmate and new friend, Nadia Martínez, and Sebastián, Nadia’s cousin and CJ’s crush, are equally dynamic. These relationships add warmth and humor to a story that’s not afraid to dabble in the dark.
An engrossing slasher story that honors the genre while feeling fresh. (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: yesterday
ISBN: 9781547616312
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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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