Set during ten days in July, this beautifully written story explores the effect of a stranger on a small town. When 17-year-old Noreen steals her boyfriend’s money and car, she ends up in Pembina Lake, Manitoba, stranded by a storm. Lynda, a café owner, takes Noreen in for the night, even though she senses the girl is trouble. An older neighbor, Dolores, elicits Noreen’s life story: a mother who drinks, a physically abusive stepfather, a loving older stepsister exasperated by Noreen’s selfishness, and Wesley, the kind boyfriend she’s deserted. But the “true confessions” are only one part of a narrative that excels at creating palpably real characters. No matter their age, from Lynda’s young son to a sad middle-aged farmer to Dolores’s aging friend Mary, they are utterly human, often edgy and annoying, but ultimately good. Their relationships, conveyed in convincing dialogue, inevitably entail friction as well as growth as each struggles with his or her own concerns. Introducing Noreen into the mix of familiar neighbors changes everyone, if only a little, as they respond to her fear that she can’t love or be loved, and her longing for both. Brooks (Being with Henry, 2000, etc.) has a masterful hand at description, drawing a vivid picture of the town, its lake, and the prairie around it. She seems to know the place and people intimately and, through them, she shares her vision of the richness of ordinary life in all its pain and glory. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: March 11, 2003
ISBN: 0-374-37806-1
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Melanie Kroupa/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2003
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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