A love letter to high school theater.
When the crew tells their stage manager, Melody, that her dating life triggers a theater curse, she attempts to avoid relationships.
Beaconville High School’s performing arts department believes in curses. After two catastrophic performances of Macbeth, including one in 1906 that burned down the whole building, the cast and crew strictly follow all standard theater superstitions. They also decide to create a new superstition for each show. During Mel’s first full show as stage manager, everything is going well until her girlfriend publicly dumps her midplay. Embarrassed but committed to the process because she’ll do anything to make sure the spring musical goes off without a hitch, Mel agrees that the superstition for Les Misérables will be her refraining from falling in love. And she’s feeling confident in her ability to stay single until she begins talking to Odile, one of the stars of the show. Mel is bisexual, Odile is questioning her identity but knows she is queer; both are White. The book is structured like a play with a prologue, scenes, and an epilogue, and the pacing is well done with a good mix of humor and romance. The sheer volume of rules that are described as being “the first rule of theater” is both confusing and amusing, but theater jargon is well explained in context, so even nontechs can enjoy this novel.
A love letter to high school theater. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-240926-3
Page Count: 464
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2020
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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