Although Pajalić bravely deals with some serious adolescent issues, the book lacks an original angle on teen drama.
In Pajalić’s high school YA drama, a Bosnian girl in Australia attends a new school where she tries to befriend the sister she didn’t know she had.
Alma Omerović experiences the “most traumatic day” of her 15 years of life—she learns that her father, Esad, had a daughter no one in the family knew about (including Esad himself). In an effort to get to know this daughter, Sabiha, Esad moves the family from Hobart to Melbourne and enrolls Alma in the same school as his estranged daughter. Sabiha grew up under the assumption that Esad had abandoned her and her mother, and she spurns his affections as well as Alma’s attempts to establish a sibling bond with her. Alma slowly makes some headway into Sabiha’s group of friends—they call themselves the “Sassy Saints,” a coinage typical of author Pajalić’s thoroughly predictable montage of adolescent tropes. Alma laments her lonely experience as the outsider: “Every day was like walking underwater and fighting to get to the surface for a breath. There were currents and undertows and I constantly wished that I’d been able to stay in my old school and avoid the drama.” Meanwhile, Alma begins a romantic relationship with older student Alex Payne, a smooth talker with a “sparkling smile” who is either a sweet boyfriend or an exploitive scoundrel. The author hits all the big issues of adolescent life—religious bigotry and racism, sexual identity, the perils of sexting, and the pressure to cross the threshold from virginity into sexual maturity. It’s hard to ignore the feeling of a checklist being diligently completed here. Yet the author does perceptively capture the sneaking suspicion among teens that their adult superiors are monstrously hypocritical, a revelation encountered as a betrayal. Still, much of the book is a rehash of familiar themes, lacking freshness and vivacity.
Although Pajalić bravely deals with some serious adolescent issues, the book lacks an original angle on teen drama.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2022
ISBN: 9781922871176
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Pishukin Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A prototypical survival story: after an airplane crash, a 13-year-old city boy spends two months alone in the Canadian wilderness. In transit between his divorcing parents, Brian is the plane's only passenger. After casually showing him how to steer, the pilot has a heart attack and dies. In a breathtaking sequence, Brian maneuvers the plane for hours while he tries to think what to do, at last crashing as gently and levelly as he can manage into a lake. The plane sinks; all he has left is a hatchet, attached to his belt. His injuries prove painful but not fundamental. In time, he builds a shelter, experiments with berries, finds turtle eggs, starts a fire, makes a bow and arrow to catch fish and birds, and makes peace with the larger wildlife. He also battles despair and emerges more patient, prepared to learn from his mistakes—when a rogue moose attacks him and a fierce storm reminds him of his mortality, he's prepared to make repairs with philosophical persistence. His mixed feelings surprise him when the plane finally surfaces so that he can retrieve the survival pack; and then he's rescued. Plausible, taut, this is a spellbinding account. Paulsen's staccato, repetitive style conveys Brian's stress; his combination of third-person narrative with Brian's interior monologue pulls the reader into the story. Brian's angst over a terrible secret—he's seen his mother with another man—is undeveloped and doesn't contribute much, except as one item from his previous life that he sees in better perspective, as a result of his experience. High interest, not hard to read. A winner.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1987
ISBN: 1416925082
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987
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