A sweet story told with intelligence, humor, and just the right amount of kissing.
Three Austin, Texas, teenagers push the boundaries of death and friendship and discover how far they're willing to go to find meaning in their lives.
It can be hard for Stevie, a home-schooler, to make friends. That's partly why she's so close to her best friend, Sanger, and her cousin, Joel. When a new kid, Max, moves to the neighborhood, he's interesting enough for Stevie and Sanger to like hanging out with him. They even support him on his quest to fake his own death in 23 different ways. But the stakes are higher than they expect, and when Stevie realizes that Max has real problems, she worries that they're helping him go too far. It doesn't help that Stevie is diabetic and knows how scary it really is to come close to dying. A witty and emotional tale of friendship plus more, told against a background of alternative education and teen activism that explores the seismic differences in socioeconomics, partnerships, and family members. Stevie’s working-class and white; Max is preppy and Latino; and Sanger is well-to-do and bicultural—one of her moms is white, and the other is Japanese-American. Ormsbee writes with an occasionally tongue-in-cheek tone that manages to be authentically emotional while delivering a realistic picture of a population that rarely gets much scrutiny in fiction for young adults: home-schoolers. The smart, efficient language features dialogue that pops.
A sweet story told with intelligence, humor, and just the right amount of kissing. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: June 7, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5528-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
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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