A gentle, honest, and occasionally perplexing exploration of how people seek solace during anguishing situations.
Dazed by her father’s inexplicable disappearance, Callie spends the next several months searching for answers and adjusting to the new family dynamic that’s developing with her mother.
Following her father’s disappearance, Callie finds herself imitating normal life, until driving by the construction site where her father was last seen makes her realize her dad has been missing for 39 days. Stunned at what feels like her complacency, Callie renews her efforts to solve the mystery of her father. Sadly, all she ever finds is her father’s abandoned backpack, which offers no new clues. But, while visiting a centenary exhibit of photos from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Callie believes that she sees her father in one of the photos. She begins researching the earthquake and its aftermath, privately convinced her father may have been somehow transported back to that time period. Adding possible credibility to her theory are the evocatively detailed chapters featuring a nameless man with amnesia wandering around San Francisco after the 1904 earthquake. He vaguely senses he is missing something—could it be Callie and her mother in 2006? Ultimately Callie gains few answers, but her journey toward acceptance of both her father’s disappearance and her feelings of loss is painstakingly, sensitively rendered.
A gentle, honest, and occasionally perplexing exploration of how people seek solace during anguishing situations. (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3071-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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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