A diverting, insightful portrait of surviving adolescence and relying on family.
In Wise’s YA novel, a teenager finds potential romance at a new school where he’s also victimized by bullies.
Not long after his mother dies, 15-year-old Carlton McNeil leaves his Vermont hometown to live in New York City. Things are great with his uncle Ricky, a well-known retired hockey player for the New York Finbacks, who encourages Carlton to treat his penthouse like home. However, the teen runs into trouble at school: Fellow students Chad Eldridge and Marvin Gerhardsson start bullying him almost immediately, and it becomes a daily occurrence. They’re especially brutal—a cafeteria altercation leaves Carlton with a bloody nose, for instance—but Carlton doesn’t want to transfer elsewhere, as he’s smitten with his schoolmate: a charming “Goth girl” named Emily Shelton. To connect with her, he dives deep into the Goth subculture and even pushes Ricky to date Emily’s mother, so that he’ll have more chances to talk to Emily himself. Meanwhile, Chad and Marvin don’t let up; indeed, they frighteningly pursue Carlton outside of school. Carlton can only hope that they’ll eventually grow bored and leave him alone, before things get out of hand. Wise masterfully blends young love, student conflict, and family drama in this novel. Although the accounts of the bullies’ violent assaults are painful to read, they’re happily offset by the scenes of Carlton and Emily’s developing relationship. The tale also reveals that adults can be victims of bullying, too, when Ricky, as a guest commentator on a TV sports show, gets grief from its regular panelists. The dynamic cast also includes Ricky’s instantly likable former teammate Sébastien LeFort, and a teacher, Ms. Telton, who refuses to ignore the ongoing bullying, unlike other faculty members. An overall theme of being true to oneself shines through, despite the fact that Carlton’s reason for embracing the Goth lifestyle seems a bit questionable. Still, he has realistic and believable faults; he can be a bit manipulative with adults, but he’s also smart and mature enough to acknowledge his shortcomings.
A diverting, insightful portrait of surviving adolescence and relying on family.Pub Date: July 9, 2024
ISBN: 9798989876723
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Caverly Place Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 8, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
