A teenager holds the moral high ground, but doesn't know what to do there until wise advice sets him straight. Bo Brewster has already taken years of bullying from his father; when his football coach/English teacher tries the same tactics, Bo leaves the team, blows up in class, and winds up forced to join an early morning anger management group to stay in school. As both personal test and statement, he also begins to train intensively for Yukon Jack's Eastern Washington Invitational Scab- Land Triathlon. Crutcher's background as a family therapist comes out on nearly every page here, as Bo writes analytical letters to talk-show royalty Larry King, conversations within the group become confessions, and the presiding teacher—cast as a drawling Texan ex-bronco rider of Japanese descent—dispenses perceptive comments about anger, fear and self-knowledge. Bo is surrounded by a colorful array of sages (including Lion Serbousek, baddest of the bad in Stotan!, Greenwillow, 1986, and now, ironically, a school counsellor who is gay), jerks and journeymen adults with damaged souls—most of whom are groping their way toward maturity. As always, Crutcher tells a potent, well-knit story, with moments both horrific and hilarious, and a cathartic but not unrealistic ending. Less intense than Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes (Greenwillow, 1993), this is still strong enough to carry its messages with reasonable ease. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: April 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-688-13503-X
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1995
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Engrossing, contemplative, and as heart-wrenching as the title promises.
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What would you do with one day left to live?
In an alternate present, a company named Death-Cast calls Deckers—people who will die within the coming day—to inform them of their impending deaths, though not how they will happen. The End Day call comes for two teenagers living in New York City: Puerto Rican Mateo and bisexual Cuban-American foster kid Rufus. Rufus needs company after a violent act puts cops on his tail and lands his friends in jail; Mateo wants someone to push him past his comfort zone after a lifetime of playing it safe. The two meet through Last Friend, an app that connects lonely Deckers (one of many ways in which Death-Cast influences social media). Mateo and Rufus set out to seize the day together in their final hours, during which their deepening friendship blossoms into something more. Present-tense chapters, short and time-stamped, primarily feature the protagonists’ distinctive first-person narrations. Fleeting third-person chapters give windows into the lives of other characters they encounter, underscoring how even a tiny action can change the course of someone else’s life. It’s another standout from Silvera (History Is All You Left Me, 2017, etc.), who here grapples gracefully with heavy questions about death and the meaning of a life well-lived.
Engrossing, contemplative, and as heart-wrenching as the title promises. (Speculative fiction. 13-adult).Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-245779-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
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A resounding success.
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This literary DeLorean transports readers into the past, where they hope, dream, and struggle alongside beloved characters from Thomas’ The Hate U Give (2017).
The tale begins in 1998 Garden Heights, when Starr’s parents, Maverick and Lisa, are high school seniors in love and planning for the future. Thomas proves Game of Thrones–esque in her worldbuilding ability, deepening her landscape without sacrificing intimacy or heart. Garden Heights doesn’t contain dragons or sorcerers, but it’s nevertheless a kingdom under siege, and the contemporary pressures its royalty faces are graver for the realness that no magic spell can alleviate. Mav’s a prince whose family prospects are diminished due to his father’s federally mandated absence. He and his best friend, King, are “li’l homies,” lower in status and with everything to prove, especially after Mav becomes a father. In a world where masculinity and violence are inextricably linked to power, the boys’ very identities are tied to the fathers whose names they bear and with whose legacies they must contend. Mav laments, “I ain’t as hard as my pops, ain’t as street as my pops,” but measuring up to that legacy ends in jail or the grave. Worthy prequels make readers invest as though meeting characters for the first time; here they learn more about the intricate hierarchies and alliances within the King Lord gang and gain deeper insight into former ancillary characters, particularly Mav’s parents, King, and Iesha. Characters are Black.
A resounding success. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-284671-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION
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