Dreamy and thoughtful.
Two girls living centuries apart are connected by music—and something more mysterious.
In 2025, 17-year-old Lula is attending the New England Conservatory of Music after being home-schooled by her mother, who aggressively supports her dream of becoming a famous singer. Lula struggles to find her footing, even as she forms friendships with her roommate and classmates, including a boy she develops romantic feelings for. When she begins a research project for her History of Music class, she’s inexplicably drawn to Barbara Strozzi, a prolific but often-overlooked Italian composer of the baroque era. An invitation to join an ensemble that will compete at a music festival in Venice feels like a breakthrough for Lula, but a sudden, traumatic act of violence threatens everything she’s worked for. In 1635 Venice, Barbara is a sharp-witted servant girl with a gift for music. When some powerful men make a condescending wager on whether she can become an accomplished musician, she seizes the opportunity, determined to defy the odds and forge her own path, even as she grapples with sexism and injustice. Moving between the girls’ lives, this dual-timeline novel gradually reveals the bond that connects them. Told in evocative verse, this skillfully crafted and emotionally resonant story explores ambition, resilience, identity, trauma, and the reclamation of women’s voices across history. The main characters are cued white; there’s some racial diversity among secondary characters.
Dreamy and thoughtful. (note about story structure, author’s note) (Verse fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781665972178
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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