Patron saint of the sick and patron saint of battle, St. Michael stands at the gate to Heaven, judging people’s lives and weighing the worth of their souls. “Lately I’ve been thinking about those scales,” says 15-year-old Keegan Flannery, and he concludes, “I had nothing—my side of the scales was all but empty.” He feels his life is empty, he has done nothing of worth for family or friends. Keegan’s twin brother Michael died at birth, and ever since, Keegan has felt responsible and guilty for the death and for the family dissolution carried in its wake. To atone, he is planning a suicide when he turns 16, a desperate attempt at forgiveness, absolution, and salvation. This debut novelist succeeds brilliantly at putting readers in to the disturbed and tortured mind of its lonely protagonist. They will experience kaleidoscopic mental images of Heaven and Hell, birth and death, gargoyles, angels, saints, and Frankenstein as Keegan tries to make a life—and death—for himself. Wrestling for Our Lady of Perpetual Help High School becomes his means of doing penance through pain. The title of the novel is a clever play on St. Michael’s scales and the scales in the locker room, representing Keegan’s desire to measure up for patron saint and coach. In a beautifully wrought final wrestling scene—an image of resurrection—Keegan realizes he has found himself, his place, his voice. He realizes he wasn’t so much seeking a way to die but a way to live, and that his prayers might better have been for guidance than for death or release. Keegan has found his own voice for his side of St. Michael’s scales. A richly layered, thought-provoking novel of how one boy learns to make weight. (Fiction. 14+)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-439-19445-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2002
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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