A suspenseful story of friendship and magic.
Four girls reckon with the costs and benefits of disappearing from their lives.
Callie kicks off the summer before senior year by welcoming her close friend Cleo back to her small, touristy town of Little Beach, North Carolina. Cleo’s a gay girl from Washington, D.C., who comes to the area every year to visit her grandparents; Callie and her best friend, Talia, met Cleo while playing on the beach as children. Joining Cleo this summer is Polly, a quiet girl whom Callie initially perceives as having “no presence whatsoever.” Soon, however, the four of them become fast friends. The three old friends are looking forward to working their usual summer jobs at the roller-skating rink as well as pursuing a group summer project, a long-standing tradition; last year, they learned to make ice cream. This summer, Cleo proposes something radical: learning how to disappear. She produces evidence from YouTube of girls who have successfully become invisible. Interspersed throughout the girls’ dogged disappearing efforts are the complications of teenage life; Talia is battling a toxic boyfriend, and bisexual Callie’s falling for sweet Adam Liu, her first boyfriend. The topics of disordered eating and race (Callie, Talia, and Polly read white, while Cleo is Black) are touched upon but would have benefitted from further interrogation. Nonetheless, the strength of the girls’ bonds makes this an original and worthwhile journey. Ominous, strategic foreshadowing creates anticipation, building eventually to a shocking, well-earned climax.
A suspenseful story of friendship and magic. (playlist) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9780593646175
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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