Hits all the right notes.
When Jai Patel’s band, Infinite Sorrow, loses its lead singer mere weeks before a major indie band competition in Los Angeles, Nate Hargreaves volunteers to take his place.
Seventeen-year-old Nate, who is gay, hasn’t performed onstage since he froze during an audition 5 years ago, but he’s determined to see this through. It helps that band practice means Nate gets to spend more time with best friend Jai, who is bi and on whom Nate has developed a huge crush. He’s not rushing to confess, though: Nate’s first relationship ended with heartbreak and unanswered questions, and he doesn’t want to ruin this friendship. With summer coming up, Nate is also looking forward to traveling with his mother to Johannesburg for his cousin’s wedding and learning more about his deceased father. When a scheduling conflict prevents his mother from taking time off work, Jai volunteers to accompany Nate. Jai’s interest in Nate—apparent from the start to everyone but him—makes the romance storyline a reassuring matter of when rather than if that naturally builds anticipation. The atmosphere is comfortably positive throughout thanks to Nate’s good-natured and snarky narration as well as the unwavering support he receives from friends and family during moments of emotional turmoil and vulnerability. Nate’s American mother is described as mixed race; his South African family members are Black and White, and Nate learns about the history of race relations in the country.
Hits all the right notes. (song lyrics) (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-37642-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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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