A high school drug dealer learns some harsh truths.
Matt Nolan has been doing the bare minimum to get by in school, and he’s close to graduating with a grade average just above the state-mandated 60 percent. The only reason Matt shows up to school is to sling drugs to the teenage client pool that other drug dealers can’t get to. The vice principal has plenty of circumstantial evidence against Matt and is frothing at the mouth to catch him red-handed, but the authorities don’t know that Matt is using the proceeds to take care of his beloved uncle. Jack took Matt in when Matt had nowhere to go, and the pair lives in a cramped trailer while Jack slowly dies of cancer. The author weaves a desperate tale filled with money problems, emotional baggage, and a compelling central character. Unfortunately the peripheral characters are fairly thin. Uncle Jack is a kindhearted, proud guy and not much else. Amanda, the plus-sized pariah who befriends Matt, is a voice of support that stretches credulity. These thin characters and the cartoonishly evil vice principal conflict harshly with the author’s exploration of Matt’s isolationist complex. The novel is well-structured, moving quickly between beats but not rushing. This is a laser-focused book, interested in exploring fear and grief regardless of other shortcomings; casting his characters as white ensures that this focus remains fixed.
An unbalanced but still effective tear-jerker. (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-53466-5
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
Categories: TEEN FAMILY | TEEN SOCIAL THEMES
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Lara Jean prepares for college and a wedding.
Korean-American Lara Jean is finally settled into a nice, complication-free relationship with her white boyfriend, Peter. But things don’t stay simple for long. When college acceptance letters roll in, Peter and Lara Jean discover they’re heading in different directions. As the two discuss the long-distance thing, Lara Jean’s widower father is making a major commitment: marrying the neighbor lady he’s been dating. The whirlwind of a wedding, college visits, prom, and the last few months of senior year provides an excellent backdrop for this final book about Lara Jean. The characters ping from event to event with emotions always at the forefront. Han further develops her cast, pushing them to new maturity and leaving few stones unturned. There’s only one problem here, and it’s what’s always held this series back from true greatness: Peter. Despite Han’s best efforts to flesh out Peter with abandonment issues and a crummy dad, he remains little more than a handsome jock. Frankly, Lara Jean and Peter may have cute teen chemistry, but Han's nuanced characterizations have often helped to subvert typical teen love-story tropes. This knowing subversion is frustratingly absent from the novel's denouement.
An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments. (Romance. 14-17)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3048-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Categories: TEEN FICTION | TEEN ROMANCE | TEEN SOCIAL THEMES
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Two 17-year-olds from the northern suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, work together on a campaign for a progressive state senate candidate in an unlikely love story.
Co-authors Albertalli (Leah on the Offbeat, 2018, etc.) and Saeed (Bilal Cooks Daal, 2019, etc.) present Jamie Goldberg, a white Ashkenazi Jewish boy who suffers from being “painfully bad at anything girl-related,” and Maya Rehman, a Pakistani American Muslim girl struggling with her parents’ sudden separation. Former childhood best friends, they find themselves volunteered as a team by their mothers during a Ramadan “campaign iftar.” One canvassing adventure at a time, they grow closer despite Maya’s no-dating policy. Chapters alternate between Maya’s and Jamie’s first-person voices. The endearing, if somewhat clichéd, teens sweetly connect over similarities like divorced parents, and their activism will resonate with many. Jamie is sensitive, clumsy, and insecure; Maya is determined, sassy, a dash spoiled, and she swears freely. The novel covers timeless themes of teen activism and love-conquers-all along with election highs and lows, messy divorces, teen angst, bat mitzvah stress, social media gaffes, right-wing haters, friendship drama, and cultural misunderstandings, but the explicit advocacy at times interferes with an immersive reading experience and the text often feels repetitious. Maya’s mother is hijabi, and while Maya advocates against a hijab ban, she chooses not to wear hijab and actively wrestles with what it means to be an observant Muslim.
Best leave it at maybe so. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-293704-9
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
Categories: TEEN FICTION | TEEN ROMANCE | TEEN SOCIAL THEMES
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