An important and searing read on the value of family, agency, and belief.
An edge-of-your-seat mystery with speculative elements.
Seventeen-year-old Manny only cares about one thing: watching a show broadcast for local audiences in California with Deacon Thompson, a man from Christ’s Dominion church who claims he saves children. In the backgrounds of these videos, he hopes to catch glimpses of Elena, his sister. It’s how he keeps track of her and knows she’s well—until the day he learns from the news that a body has been found outside a religious camp, and he spirals. Manny is homeless and has been hitchhiking rides with strangers for the past year, but ever since meeting the Varela family near Fresno, he sees a new possibility for his future and maybe his sister’s; that is, if the body isn’t hers. In its gripping and raw exploration of White saviorism and the predatory ways White adults in positions of power are able to endanger children of color, this mystery’s proximity to reality is viscerally nauseating, a testament to the author’s skill. The initially confusing nonlinear timeline and points of view are eventually clearly shown to be deliberately disorienting; everything about the storytelling feels surgically intentional. As they grew up without knowing their family of origin, Manny and his sister aren’t sure of their background but believe they are Mexican like the Varelas. Manny, along with many other characters, is queer.
An important and searing read on the value of family, agency, and belief. (author’s note) (Mystery. 14-adult)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81225-4
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor Teen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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
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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