Full of action and brief enough to entice even the most unwilling readers.
After school unexpectedly lets out early due to a power outage, 16-year-old Cam heads to a burger place with his friends.
He knows he has to be back in time to meet his 6-year-old brother, Peter, off the bus, never expecting that a powerful tornado will touch down, making that impossible. The tornado flips the car he’s in, killing outright two of his pals and leaving the third, Chrissy, seriously injured. Stunned and hurt himself, Cam is taken back to town by a truck driver, abandoning Chrissy to try to find his brother. Learning that the bus dropped him off before the tornado struck, Cam stops at his nearly destroyed home, where he lies to his parents about where he’s been. After he’s caught in the lie, his furious dad lashes out angrily while his alcoholic mother seems unable to understand the full situation. Struggling with guilt, grief, and rejection, Cam desperately searches for Peter and then has to protect him from vicious looters. The story wraps up quickly, providing a perhaps improbable feel-good ending. Presented in simple text with ample white space, this fast-paced, suspenseful tale is perfect for reluctant readers. Although exposition is necessarily limited, Cam’s angst over leaving Chrissy behind and missing his brother is heartfelt and fully believable. Main characters seem to be White by default; diversity in secondary characters is cued by surname.
Full of action and brief enough to entice even the most unwilling readers. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4598-2726-4
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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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