A superlative, culturally relevant coming-of-age story.
Award-winning middle-grade author Young (Diné) makes his YA debut with this story set at a prestigious boarding school.
Fifteen-year-old Derrick Hoskie is moving from New Mexico to Connecticut’s Sagefield Academy, leaving behind everything he’s ever known, including his best friends and his extensive multigenerational family. In this classic fish-out-of-water tale, Derrick needs to figure out how to balance his old and new lives. Off the Navajo reservation, he’s suddenly become a minority, thrust into the spotlight and facing questions and comments from people that are based on stereotypes; Indigenous readers will recognize the fatigue of having to educate others. As a scholarship kid and competitive wrestler, Derrick feels pressure to perform in both the athletic and scholastic realms. Encouraged by his Sagefield history teacher, he becomes interested in recording his great-grandmother Másání Mildred’s Indian boarding school stories before she passes, but she has no intention of talking about those experiences. His assignments are piling up—and he sees that his classmates have found other ways to work the system, such as cheating or abusing ADHD medication. Derrick is a realistic teenager who makes good and bad decisions and has to deal with the consequences. The story, with its well-drawn school setting, has strong pacing that will keep readers engaged. Young’s author’s note describes his own time as a New England boarding school student dealing with culture shock.
A superlative, culturally relevant coming-of-age story. (glossary, note from Cynthia Leitich Smith) (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9780063229082
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Heartdrum
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 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
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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