A deft, delightful, and emotionally complex examination of intergenerational relationships.
Goo takes readers on a journey examining the impacts of Korean American heritage and parental expectations on mother-daughter relationships.
Sixteen-year-old Samantha Kang doesn’t understand her perfectly poised mother’s desire to conform to wealthy White American society. Likewise, Priscilla Kang doesn’t understand her daughter’s choice of boyfriend or lack of ambition. When Halmoni, Sam’s beloved maternal grandmother, falls ill, intense feelings bubble up, leading to family turmoil. Sam downloads Throwback Rides, a magical ride-share app that drops her off in 1995, where she must help teenage Priscilla’s all-American dream come true if she hopes to return to the present before her phone battery dies. Goo’s masterful storytelling examines the complex nature of familial relationships: As Sam observes the daily microaggressions Asian students face at school and the tense relationship between Priscilla and Halmoni, each still dealing with residual grief following Priscilla’s father’s death, she begins to empathize and understand the person her mother becomes. The strength of this realization lies not in excusing her mother’s behavior but compassionately understanding the ongoing fallout of trauma. Sam navigates the delicate balance between the ways parents’ dreams for their children can be at odds with what children wish for themselves. The story maintains lightness as Sam attempts to make her mom homecoming queen, falls for a football player in the ’90s, and tries her best to fit into an era at odds with her progressive 21st-century values.
A deft, delightful, and emotionally complex examination of intergenerational relationships. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-63893-020-4
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Zando Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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
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
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