A charismatic, dangerous girl with a flair for drama first attracts and then repels both protagonist and reader in this disquieting story. Dumpy Delia has just moved (again) and is starting midyear at a new high school. Fully aware of her social position (“This week was different from last, when the luster of ‘new girl’ had clung to me shiny as a wet lollipop. . . . Now, kids had figured out that I was nothing special”), Delia is pleased, if wary, when the one-of-a-kind Amandine singles her out for friendship. Together they enact “skits” about their schoolmates and vie with each other for honors in an informal contest to collect “Ugliest Things.” When Amandine lashes out cruelly at a third friend, however, Delia finds the strength to pull away from the relationship—but Amandine will not let her go without exacting revenge. Griffin (Witch Twins, p. 740, etc.) gets Delia just right: her smart, observer’s voice perfectly fits a girl who has sat on the sidelines for most of her life, including in her own home, where her parents clearly take out their disappointment in her with a sort of conscientious neglect (they feed her, for example, but never with them). The language at times approaches the sublime: as a volunteer at a nursing home, Delia “held up the listening end on the slow unraveling spools of other people’s lives.” Some of the characterization is a little incomplete and overtidy—a neighbor who is paid to pick Delia up after school suddenly becomes a surrogate mother to her, Delia herself develops a spine seemingly overnight—but the roots of Amandine’s viciousness, while clearly indicated by her own bizarre household, remain satisfyingly beyond our ken. Beautifully told and emotionally honest. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7868-0618-4
Page Count: 220
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2001
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
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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