A tear-jerker about love, family, and learning to trust yourself.
Ada, a gifted teen artist, draws in order to help see the world around her.
But art won’t help her answer the questions she is struggling with the most: Does she love her boyfriend? Is she ready to have sex? How will she know, and who can she talk to about how she really feels? Ada feels stuck between pressure from her popular boyfriend, Leo, and warnings from her older and more experienced sister, Afton. To make matters worse, Ada senses growing tensions between her mother, a successful, and increasingly unavailable thoracic surgeon, and her stepfather, Pop, an emergency room nurse. When her mother whisks Ada and her two sisters off with her to a medical conference in Hawaii, leaving Pop behind, Ada begins to worry her family is falling apart. During the week away, Ada realizes that sex can change everything: your family, your relationships, and your sense of self. The novel centers a multiracial blended family—Ada, Afton, and their mom are White; Pop is Black; and the girls’ younger sister is biracial—with an ambitious, often absent mother and a father who acts as the central caretaker. These identities are named but not explored in the story. The emotionally well-developed central characters, smooth pacing, and frank and open discussions of sex, love, and relationships make this a satisfying read for teens and adults alike.
A tear-jerker about love, family, and learning to trust yourself. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: March 30, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-269319-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
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
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense.
Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.
Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood; he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. The original investigation concluded with most of the evidence pointing to Sal, who was found dead in the woods, apparently by suicide. Andie’s body was never recovered, and Sal was assumed by most to be guilty of abduction and murder. Unable to ignore the gaps in the case, Pip sets out to prove Sal’s innocence, beginning with interviewing his younger brother, Ravi. With his help, Pip digs deeper, unveiling unsavory facts about Andie and the real reason Sal’s friends couldn’t provide him with an alibi. But someone is watching, and Pip may be in more danger than she realizes. Pip’s sleuthing is both impressive and accessible. Online articles about the case and interview transcripts are provided throughout, and Pip’s capstone logs offer insights into her thought processes as new evidence and suspects arise. Jackson’s debut is well-executed and surprises readers with a connective web of interesting characters and motives. Pip and Andie are white, and Sal is of Indian descent.
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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