A sweet, emotional read affirming those who struggle to find a place within religions that profess to hate who they are.
To support her former best friend at their Catholic high school, a closeted queer teen in Canada starts a club for LGBTQ+ students.
Cassie Perera and Ben Yang were best friends until sixth grade when, in a moment of fear and panic and hoping to deflect the homophobic bullying of racist classmates at their Catholic school, Cassie betrayed Ben. They see each other for the first time in years at the start of 11th grade when Ben, back from the National Ballet School in Toronto, arrives at St. Luke’s. Cassie is determined to atone for her actions. After Cassie meets the diverse members of a local public school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, she decides that forming an underground partnership to create a safe space for queer kids at St. Luke’s is the perfect way to show Ben that she’s changed. But navigating school, church, her Sri Lankan immigrant parents’ expectations, and the confusing mess of feelings for girls that she’s tried to push away for years tests her anxious desire to be perfect. Fast-paced and heartfelt, Boteju’s latest examines the intersection of queerness and Catholicism with nuance and compassion while demonstrating the need for safe spaces in schools so that kids can be themselves.
A sweet, emotional read affirming those who struggle to find a place within religions that profess to hate who they are. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9780063358492
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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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