A disturbingly compelling fever dream.
A lonely teen witch longs for true connection.
For the witches kept like zoo animals in the Museum, on display for the City tourists who can afford entry to the lavish weekly Parties, life feels hopeless. Monroe Athalia, the Museum’s Curator, owns three witch families—the Adamses, the Kims, and the Raos. The adults are Spectacles, performing rites for patrons. Meanwhile, their children’s magical powers are stripped away by the Machine to avoid any dangerous mishaps due to their unbalanced teenage natures. Other witches are taken to the Sanatorium, where they’re kept comatose—their magic harvested to make the drug World, which is popular in the City, a setting with a European feeling. Despite a ban on fraternizing, Vanity Adams spends her days seeking Ellis Kim and Clover Rao, the other young witches, commiserating over each failure with her vicious twin sister, Ro. When Vanity and Ellis finally do connect, Vanity’s reality spirals in terrifying ways. The story’s time skips and Vanity’s rambling narration make for a difficult reading experience that requires readers to suspend disbelief; however, Vanity’s sense of self and her dramatic depiction of love and toxic relationships are multifaceted and grounding. Similarly, the discussions of drugs, addiction, death, and generational cycles of violence add a grim reality to the fantastical plot. Monroe and Vanity are from the country of Miyeon, which reads fantasy–East Asian; biracial Vanity is half Clara (fantasy-white). Ellis and Clover are cued fantasy-Asian.
A disturbingly compelling fever dream. (content warning) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781368099196
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
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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