Part mystery, part love triangle, and a whole journey of self-discovery.
Familial longing and a mysterious letter set the stage for a Jamaican American teen’s growth and exploration.
Despite graduating as valedictorian and having the steady support of her father and her best friend, Jaliya concludes her senior year with the feeling that she’s not quite enough. When an unsigned letter arrives expressing love, concern, and apology, she reasonably assumes that it’s from her estranged mother. Jaliya abruptly decides to visit Jamaica, her mom’s last known whereabouts, before heading off to the University of Miami. Jaliya, who hasn’t been back to the island in seven years, hides her true goal from her father. Together with her cousin Shevaughn; childhood crush, Andre; and new friend, India, Jaliya has decidedly messy adventures and digs into questions of identity, sexuality, and who she wants to be. Jaliya’s thoughtful narrative voice, which conveys her persistent feelings of insecurity over being “too American for the people here, but too Jamaican for the people at home,” makes each step of this coming-of-age story compellingly relatable even though attentive readers may see the twists coming long before she does. Award winner Davis’ sophomore novel explores themes of homophobia, particularly in Jamaican culture, as well as the shadow cast by parental abandonment, making for difficult discoveries, a complicated twist, and a refreshing take on coming out, not just as queer but as your true self.
Part mystery, part love triangle, and a whole journey of self-discovery. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 23, 2026
ISBN: 9781665952682
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
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
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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