A sparkling jewel of a story grounded in emotional truths.
“Words kill.”
Fifteen-year-old Chianti Minana learns this truth when, in a heated moment, her mother blurts out a long-kept secret: Baba isn’t Chianti’s biological father. Mama leaves Harare for a European tour with her band, and a distressed Chianti runs away to her maternal grandmother, Ambuya, in Mutare. She ignores texts from Mama and little sisters Taren and Tisha but is devastated by Baba’s silence. At Ambuya’s, Chianti gets swept up in the intertwined lives of the gogos, or grandmothers—Ambuya’s best friends, Stella, Tapera, and Ropa—and Mr. Kingsley Pfupajena. The quintet’s close bonds were forged in the 1970s when they fought for liberation in the Zimbabwe War of Independence. Together they run their business, Chedu, buying bales of secondhand clothes that they repurpose into fresh fashions. Soon Chianti is helping to create TikToks to promote Chedu. As she rests and heals in the elders’ warm embrace, Chianti also starts digging around, uncovering old photos and a notebook that pique her curiosity about their wartime days, about which they’re cagey and reticent. With a few deftly chosen words, Musariri’s poetic writing breathes life into her characters’ complex, authentic relationships and the well-realized setting that highlights natural beauty. As Gogo Tapera says, “We haven’t come this far to live on mute.…There is life and there is living; we’re living.” The nuanced exploration of what we say—and choose not to say—will encourage deep reflection.
A sparkling jewel of a story grounded in emotional truths. (discussion questions, glossary) (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798765689134
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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 light and entertaining plot-driven romance.
A Connecticut girl and her best friend devise a series of plans in order to achieve their goals: following a dream and winning back an ex.
Eighteen-year-old Audrey Barbour has a Master Plan: attend Blue Ridge Glass School in North Carolina and someday turn her Etsy shop, Golightly Glass, into a thriving business. But her uber-wealthy parents insist that she instead follow in their footsteps and go to business school. So Audrey decides to go find the tuition money she needs with help from her best friend, Henry Chen. Henry needs a favor, too: He hopes that fake dating Audrey will help him win back his ex-girlfriend, and he points out to a reluctant Audrey that this could make her crush, Griffin, notice her. While Audrey’s parents vacation in France for three weeks, the pair rent out the Barbour mansion on the Long Island Sound. Soon romantic chemistry grows alongside their business partnership. Despite the pair’s great preparation and an abundance of secondary characters with connections and talents to help pull off their increasingly ambitious ideas, plans go awry, leaving Audrey and Henry scrambling and second-guessing their choices. The pacing is even, but the characters often take a back seat to the whirlwind of activity that drives the plot, with the emphasis falling on each person’s practical skills and their role in keeping the action moving over their emotional bonds. Audrey is white, and Henry’s surname cues him as Chinese American.
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593904794
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© 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.
