A beautifully executed, much-needed portrayal.
As a mayoral candidate ushers in a surge of harsher anti-immigrant rhetoric and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across Coast City, a young hero discovers within herself the courage and hope needed to take a stand.
It’s a pivotal period in Jessica Cruz’s life, with her junior year of high school bringing college-related deadlines, a museum fellowship, and rigorous academic work. There’s also the undocumented status she shares with her parents weighing on her mind as well as a complicated Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals renewal form. Though the pressures of school, her family’s expectations, and her DACA status fall heavily on Jessica’s shoulders, the growing success of xenophobic candidate Fernanda Villamontes and the increasing presence of ICE in her community exacerbate the ever looming threat of deportation, enough to make a permanent return to Mexico appealing for her and her family. Then Jessica’s nightmares come true when her father is arrested by ICE agents. Feeling isolated, Jessica grapples with her fears in dreams in which Aztec gods—Chalchiuhtlicue, Goddess of the Jade Skirt, and Tezcatlipoca, God of the Smoking Mirror—pull her between love and anger, friendship and conflict. Bolstered by some excellently vibrant, folk-art–flavored illustration, this DC hero’s origin story deftly weaves in contemporary societal issues with a cleareyed optimism that encourages and informs. Still, it’s a heart-wrenching read at times. In the end, a community’s strength and resolve prove crucial.
A beautifully executed, much-needed portrayal. (Graphic fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77950-051-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2021
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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