A lot of scheming and touches of horror unfolding within the intensity of the ballet world.
An elite summer dance program holds a deadly secret.
Sixteen-year-old Marianne “Mars” Chang has landed a scholarship to Allegra Academy’s summer program, an elite ballet intensive that Mars plans to leverage as her ticket out of suburban Clarksville, New Jersey. Her dream is obtaining a full ride to Harvard. Allegra Academy, it turns out, is full of rich girls—really rich girls. Mars’ roommate, Alexandra Bechler, turns out to be a member of the pharmaceuticals family that founded the academy and funds her scholarship. Alex can do whatever she wants, and Mars finds herself caught between jealousy and attraction. As competition for the lead role in the recital escalates, Mars starts to think that something else is going on at the academy, something dangerous and maybe even deadly—and that it involves her roommate. The elite ballet school setting provides opportunities for examining race (Mars is Chinese American), class, and privilege, and provides a backdrop for high-stakes plotlines that parallel the more ordinary dance-world realities of perfectionism and competition. Gory descriptions of injuries come together with dramatic behind-the-curtains plotting to create a tense, foreboding atmosphere with only occasional stumbles as the characters whirl from scene to scene; the author often seems not to trust readers to make connections and instead spells things out unnecessarily.
A lot of scheming and touches of horror unfolding within the intensity of the ballet world. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: today
ISBN: 9798890032331
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
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
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
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