An agreeable but unbalanced work that aims high but ends up a bit too short.
Two teens find romance on the road.
White teen Homer spends his days working in his adoptive fathers’ Florida tourist-trap gift shop and pining for the older, pregnant, mysteriously accented, and racially ambiguous Mia. When Mia decides to skip town and join her long-lost sister up north, Homer and his younger brother, Einstein, offer to drive her in a beat-up car purchased by their empathetic fathers. The resulting road trip ambles here and there as the trio encounters increasingly absurd characters, even taking along a teenage Indian-American historical re-enactment worker along the way. All this goofy nonsense is infused with several dashes of magical realism that allow the residents of each stop to happily provide a veiled piece of advice at the perfect moment. It all feels just a bit too twee, and the emotional story (Homer needs to admit his feelings to Mia and allow himself to let her go) has a too-familiar vibe. Readers will get déjà vu as Homer and Mia circle each other flirtatiously over and over again, from the book itself and the better works that have come before. The quirkiness that surrounds the couple just overwhelms them. For this enterprise to work, the emotional truth needs to balance out the zany world they live in, and that balance simply isn’t here.
An agreeable but unbalanced work that aims high but ends up a bit too short. (Fiction. 14-16)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-229372-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking.
Sixteen-year-old Mandy considers herself the anti-Starfire: Unlike her scantily clad superhero mother, she doesn’t have superpowers, can’t fly, and doesn’t even own a bathing suit.
Mandy dyes her hair and dresses in all black to further call out how different they are. Mandy’s best friend, Lincoln, whose parents were born in Vietnam, insightfully summarizes this rift as being down to an intergenerational divide that occurs whether parents and children come from different countries or different planets. Mandy tries to figure out what kind of future she wants for herself as she struggles with teenage insecurities and bullying, her relationship with her mom, and her budding friendship (or is it something more?) with her new class project partner, Claire. Yoshitani’s vibrant and colorful stylized illustrations beautifully meld the various iterations of Starfire and the Titans with the live-action versions of those characters. Together with Tamaki’s punchy writing, this coming-of-age story of identity, family, friendship, and saving the world is skillfully brought to life in a quick but nuanced read. These layers are most strongly displayed as the story draws parallels between cultural differences between the generations as evidenced in how the characters address bullying, body positivity, fatphobia, fetishization and sexualization, and feminism. This title addresses many important concepts briefly, but well, with great pacing, bold art, and concise and snappy dialogue. The cast is broadly diverse in both primary and secondary characters.
Equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking. (Graphic fantasy. 14-16)Pub Date: July 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77950-126-4
Page Count: 184
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2021
Chaotic
Angels and devils fight grim wars across the five boroughs.
Fans of A Touch Mortal (2011) are advised to reread before they pick up this sequel, as none of the myriad plot threads— some involving delusional, amnesiac or otherwise unreliable narrators—are revisited for forgetful readers. Instead, volume two leads right into a tangle of names: Eden is living with Az and Jarrod, who works with Zach and befriends Sullivan, and all of them distrust Madeline and hide from Luke while seeking Gabe and ignoring Kristen's worsening mental illness... Somewhere in all of this is a paranormal adventure. Eden and allies are mostly Siders, living undead who remain immortal and forgotten after their suicides. Eden and her beloved Az (the angel Azazel, caught in a limbo between heaven and hell) are seeking Gabe, Az's best friend and the angel who Fell at the conclusion of this series' first volume. Inexplicable politics between Eden and the other Sider leaders prevents them from banding together against a common enemy: Luke, otherwise known as Lucifer. As if that weren't bad enough, Heaven's involved now, and neither celestial nor infernal forces seem to be looking out for the best interest of the Siders. Eden has her hands full keeping Az from Falling the rest of the way to hell, seeking Gabe and hiding her own deterioration.
Chaotic . (Paranormal romance. 14-16)Pub Date: March 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-200502-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
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