Charming.
Senior week isn’t all fun and games if you’re in danger of not graduating at all.
Ask anyone and they’ll tell you Olivia Perkins has got it all. She’s class salutatorian and an accomplished AP student; she’s bagged an acceptance at Louisiana State University and has her majors and future career in international tax law planned to the last detail. So when she learns, shortly before the end of the school year, that she failed her off-campus golf PE class and is at risk of not being allowed to graduate, her entire world shatters. With her future and reputation at stake, Olivia, alongside her small circle of co-conspiring cousins and friends, must find a way to make up her PE hours without tipping off everyone in her highly involved extended Italian American family—while also putting in appearances at the graduation parties filling her week and navigating the shoals of nascent romance as she falls for Leo Perez, the son of old family friends who is possibly cued as Latinx by his name. This dramedy of errors putts along with a great deal of humor and heart. Elston beautifully depicts the warm, in-each-others’-pockets family atmosphere and creates for the cousins a refreshingly believable friendship. Overarching themes of integrity and the dangers of miscommunication avoid becoming heavy-handed.
Charming. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-368-06238-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
Eden’s emotionally raw narration is compelling despite its solipsism. (Fiction. 14-18)
In the three years following Eden’s brutal rape by her brother’s best friend, Kevin, she descends into anger, isolation, and promiscuity.
Eden’s silence about the assault is cemented by both Kevin’s confident assurance that if she tells anyone, “No one will ever believe you. You know that. No one. Not ever,” and a chillingly believable death threat. For the remainder of Eden’s freshman year, she withdraws from her family and becomes increasingly full of hatred for Kevin and the world she feels failed to protect her. But when a friend mentions that she’s “reinventing” herself, Eden embarks on a hopeful plan to do the same. She begins her sophomore year with new clothes and friendly smiles for her fellow students, which attract the romantic attentions of a kind senior athlete. But, bizarrely, Kevin’s younger sister goes on a smear campaign to label Eden a “totally slutty disgusting whore,” which sends Eden back toward self-destruction. Eden narrates in a tightly focused present tense how she withdraws again from nearly everyone and attempts to find comfort (or at least oblivion) through a series of nearly anonymous sexual encounters. This self-centeredness makes her relationships with other characters feel underdeveloped and even puzzling at times. Absent ethnic and cultural markers, Eden and her family and classmates are likely default white.
Eden’s emotionally raw narration is compelling despite its solipsism. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: March 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4935-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
A book that seamlessly brings readers along on a journey of impact and empowerment.
A manifesto for budding feminists.
At the core of this engaging novel are besties Chelsea, who is Irish- and Italian-American and into fashion and beauty, and Jasmine, who is African-American, loves the theater, and pushes back against bias around size (“I don’t need your fake compliments, your pity. I know I’m beautiful. Inside and out”). They and their sidekicks, half-Japanese/half-Lebanese Nadine and Puerto Rican Isaac, grow into first-class activists—simultaneously educating their peers and readers. The year gets off to a rocky start at their progressive, social justice–oriented New York City high school: Along with the usual angst many students experience, Jasmine’s father is terminally ill with cancer, and after things go badly in both their clubs, Jasmine and Chelsea form a women’s rights club which becomes the catalyst for their growth as they explore gender inequality and opportunities for change. This is an inspiring look at two strong-willed teens growing into even stronger young women ready to use their voices and take on the world, imploring budding feminists everywhere to “join the revolution.” The book offers a poetic balance of dialogue among the main characters, their peers, and the adults in their lives. The exquisite pacing, which intersperses everyday teen conflicts with weightier issues, demonstrates how teens long to be heard and taken seriously.
A book that seamlessly brings readers along on a journey of impact and empowerment. (resources for young activists, endnotes) (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0008-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2019
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