A rewarding novel for readers who stick with it.
Two friends struggle to find their way through the world after the death of their friend in this follow-up to Barely Missing Everything (2019).
A year has passed since Danny Villanueva and JD Sanchez’s best friend, Juan, was shot and killed by police. Danny is struggling in his first semester of college, while JD, a new Air Force recruit, is 10 days from deployment. The people around them have moved on, but JD and Danny continue to feel angry and unmoored. When JD turns 19, he drives back to El Paso to celebrate with Danny, but Danny’s father has suddenly been hospitalized due to a heart condition. Between visits with his father, Danny works on the art assignment that may save his grade. When a drunk JD asks Danny to meet him at the abandoned building where Juan died, Danny has the idea to create a mural of Lotería cards, in order to narrate the story of what happened to Juan. As time ticks down and JD’s deployment looms, the two friends struggle to clear the weeds and find their true paths. Much of the novel is masterfully realized; its symbolic system is noteworthy, with images that accrue ever more refined meanings. Yet the structure of its interwoven narratives is sometimes confusing, even if one is familiar with the earlier book, and requires patience from readers. Major characters are Mexican American.
A rewarding novel for readers who stick with it. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781534404489
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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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