A sweet story exploring sibling bonds, disability, and blossoming love.
A college-bound teen facing possible vision loss takes an unexpected road trip with her crush.
Unlike her board gaming rival, Declan Weber, who happily rolls the dice and trusts the odds, Iris Biagi is “decidedly not a fan of probability.” There’s a 25% chance she’ll develop Stargardt’s disease like her older sister, Amelia, whose central vision is progressively worsening. Iris, who sustained moderate hearing loss from a childhood illness and wears hearing aids, worries that vision loss combined with hearing loss will cause people to treat her differently. When Iris agrees to drive Amelia home from college, the sisters end up driving in tandem from Philadelphia to Omaha, Nebraska, with Declan and his older brother, who coincidentally attends the same college as Amelia. Along the way, Iris and Declan find themselves falling for one another as they banter and collaborate on a board game competition entry. But with roadblocks including car trouble, overbearing siblings, and communication breakdowns, what are the odds their relationship will survive? Though uneven pacing causes the resolution of some conflicts to feel slightly rushed, and Declan is somewhat underdeveloped, readers will empathize with Iris’ fears of losing her vision and growing apart from her sister. Iris and Amelia’s bond is heartening, and the depiction of their respective disabilities is informative; Sortino’s portrayal of deafness and blindness as existing on a spectrum is particularly refreshing. Main characters are cued white.
A sweet story exploring sibling bonds, disability, and blossoming love. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9798217005178
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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