A powerful novel about systemic racism that challenges readers.
Fourteen-year-old Ayomide struggles to balance life as an activist with her desire to simply be a regular teenager.
The year Ayo was born, her mother, Rosalie, founded See Us, an influential grassroots civil rights group. Similar to Black Lives Matter, See Us focuses on issues impacting Black people—police brutality, racial profiling, and an unjust prison system—but with a local focus on Harlem. Despite being raised in the movement, Ayo is ready to move on and experience life like any kid her age. After an emotional conversation, her mom lets her step away from See Us. Then Rosalie is shot by police at a protest and ends up in a coma, and Ayo must decide if she can take on a leadership role and resume the fight for justice. The main characters are Black, and Arnold seamlessly weaves into the story historical information as well as facts about current issues related to the presumption of Black people’s criminality. The campaign Rosalie organizes after an unarmed Black man is killed by police is especially poignant, shining light on the disproportionate number of Black victims in fatal traffic stops. The way Arnold poses the question of how much one must “pay for the crime of living while Black” will prompt both Black and non-Black readers to ask difficult questions of themselves and society at large. This is simultaneously an intimate story with rich character development and a call to action.
A powerful novel about systemic racism that challenges readers. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-358-44904-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Versify/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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