A poignant blend of queer identity and modern horror.
Coming out is never easy, especially for teens in the small Puget Sound town of Port Promise.
Life seems idyllic in Port Promise—it’s the kind of place where everyone knows each other and high school sweethearts expect to be together forever. The biggest news lately is the gender-neutral casting for the senior musical, Grease. When 13-year-old Mallory Hammond, an “angry, unhappy” closeted lesbian, disappeared, the townspeople thought she’d finally run away. But to her friends Fern Jensen and Jaqueline De Luca, something about her disappearance felt off. On the night Mal vanished, Fern and Jaq found themselves on the edge of the woods without any recollection of what had happened. Five years later, at a party in those same woods, Fern and Jaq are flooded with horrifying memories of that night. There’s no denying it: Mal is dead, and whatever happened to her caused Fern and Jaq to forget their own queerness. The two friends must try to come to terms with their own identities and fix whatever happened that night, even at the risk of their own lives. This strong supernatural thriller tackles the very real issues of homophobia, transphobia, and forced conversion head-on. Parker manages to balance serious discussions of identity and bigotry with genuinely spine-tingling horror. Main characters present white.
A poignant blend of queer identity and modern horror. (resources) (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780593619391
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
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
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