A dreary, detached tale of a promising young boxer with a little too much testosterone. Readers will wince at the pounding Steven takes in practice rounds, but the gym’s owner offers to enter him in the upcoming West Coast Golden Gloves tournament—if he can come up with the fees and airfare. No problem, Steven claims, though he’s just quit his job, his pianist father can barely make ends meet, and he’s too proud to ask his estranged mother, or her parents, for help. An alternative presents itself; his friend Raymond, always eager to stir things up, has been touting a new acquaintance, Chad, who has a brother in stir and a questionable reputation. Chad turns out to be big, tough, and obviously bad news. After a certain amount of roosterish posturing, Steven finds himself with Chad and Raymond cruising Oakland in a car that is most likely stolen, nerving themselves to knock off a store—“ ‘It would work, if you did it right. It would be easy,’ ” Steven tells himself. Then Chad casually pulls a handgun out of the glove compartment, upping the stakes. In the end, the robbery doesn’t come off, but Chad has worked himself into such a state that he suddenly snatches, clubs, and shoots a stranded motorist. Though Steven knocks Chad out before he can kill her outright, readers won’t need the final sound of approaching sirens to know that trouble’s coming. Cadnum (The Edge, 1997, etc.) captures something of the thrill his characters feel pushing themselves to the edge, but Steven is a distant narrator, so seldom forthcoming about his reactions that, though the boxing action is vivid, the rest of his life seems colorless, beyond even Raymond’s love/hate relationship with risky behavior to animate. Above average, but not equal to the author’s best work. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-670-88775-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2000
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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