Heartfelt and moving, with enjoyable paranormal elements.
After losing her best friend, a teen who’s fascinated by the paranormal attempts to move on.
Natalie Nakada and her best friend, Imogen Lucas, used to spend summer vacations together at the Harlow Hotel, a popular haunted site in Estes Park, Colorado. Then, a year ago, Imogen passed away suddenly due to an undiagnosed congenital heart condition. Following lots of therapy, Natalie’s ready to tackle her senior project: filming an audition for the TV show Ghost Chasers: Teen Investigators at the Harlow Hotel. But she’s dismayed to learn that “killjoy” classmate Leander Hall—a New York transplant who insults everyone in his column in the school paper—will be there, too. For Leander, it’s personal. He reveals that his widowed mother was exploited by the hotel’s resident medium, Madame Althea, and manipulated into relocating to Colorado. Natalie agrees to help prove she’s a fraud, although she’s torn when Madame Althea can seemingly communicate with Imogen. Natalie also glimpses what might be Imogen’s ghost. Turk explores friendship, self-esteem, grief, and memory in a deftly paced narrative that toggles between flashbacks to Natalie’s history with Imogen and the present, in which romantic feelings begin to grow between her and Leander. Eventually, Natalie makes peace with her journey, coming to honor Imogen’s confident belief in her potential. Natalie was raised by her Japanese American mom; her biological father, a grad student from Scotland, isn’t in the picture. Imogen and Leander are cued white.
Heartfelt and moving, with enjoyable paranormal elements. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9780316703444
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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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