Fans of relationship-driven stories will adore this sweet novel.
A drama student falls for her statistics tutor while struggling to balance classes and her first paid acting job.
Persian college freshman Nasrin Mahdavi lives for musical theater and has been accepted to New York University’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. She quickly makes friends with fellow drama student Beckett Banerjee, who is gay and Indian American, and lands a role in a web series. The only problem is that her parents think she’s in business school. Nasrin reasons that it’ll be easier to tell them the truth once she can show them how well she’s doing, and she signs up for a statistics course to help maintain the illusion. However, she struggles with it and, without realizing who is behind the statstutornyu email address she finds advertised, hires her class’s rude TA to tutor her. But as Nasrin spends more time with handsome White boy Max Fletcher, she realizes there’s more to him than meets the eye. Meanwhile, things become increasingly difficult when her parents surprise her by moving to New York from Indiana. Worse, Minu, Nasrin’s cousin from Tehran, who’s in the States to attend Barnard, starts blackmailing her over her secret. Readers will enjoy following Nasrin’s journey as she grows in maturity both as a friend and daughter and learns to be true to herself. The portrayal of drama school as both exciting and challenging is also appealing.
Fans of relationship-driven stories will adore this sweet novel. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-368-07755-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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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