Intense and sometimes scary, but chock-full of heart and heady affirmation.
Multiple trials make a neurodivergent Minnesota teenager’s last days of high school decidedly tumultuous.
Like Aretha, the octopus she tends devotedly as a volunteer at the nearby zoo, Evvie Chambers has an intense personality as well as the ability to camouflage herself when needed. Both qualities come into play when a possibly romantic connection develops with a fellow volunteer and the band storage room known as the Lair (a safe retreat for students who need it) is exposed. Due entirely to mutual personal animus, a teacher also threatens to deny her the grade she needs to graduate. (Though that same bad apple stands by silently while a vicious teen bully targets classmates, other staff members do show up to do the right thing.) Neurotypical characters generally stay in the background; most of those in Evvie’s circle, including her own divorced mom, have diagnosed differences that are clearly and sensitively observed in Evvie’s first-person narrative but never named. This approach allows readers to go beyond labels to see the unique mix of abilities and vulnerabilities in each person. Ultimately Evvie does successfully, even joyously, weather both emotional and academic challenges. On the way to a buoyant ending, the author splices in rich veins of encouragement as well as useful coping strategies, and at the very end, Aretha slithers onstage to deliver a heartening, informative, informational pep talk. Most of the cast registers as white.
Intense and sometimes scary, but chock-full of heart and heady affirmation. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 18, 2024
ISBN: 9780316567954
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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