Four students at a high school for the performing arts find that sometimes life’s most important auditions happen off-stage.
Told from the point of view of each of the four main characters, this narrative chronicles the unique situations affecting artists as well as the very familiar drama of high school. Emme, a talented songwriter, longs to be more than the behind-the-scenes talent. Carter, a former child star, is frustrated as the past he wants to put behind him keeps rearing its head. Sophie, a powerhouse singer, wants it all, even if it means alienating the very people she needs the most. Finally, Ethan cannot figure out how he can be so smart about music and so dumb about love. The story, based on the familiar premise of artsy teens, shows surprising depth as it tackles issues including emotional vulnerability, authenticity and betrayal. Realistic dialogue and a healthy dose of teen angst keep the pages turning. Unfortunately, Emme’s and Ethan’s stories quickly outpace Carter’s and Sophie’s, causing the story to lag even as it progresses. The ending, while predictable, is never cloying, managing to be both genuinely sweet and emotionally satisfying.
Stage-worthy despite its missteps. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-33474-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Point/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2012
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Engrossing, contemplative, and as heart-wrenching as the title promises.
37
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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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PROFILES
Passionate, impulsive Chloe and her popular older sister, Adalyn, were inseparable—until the Nazis invaded France in 1940 and Adalyn started keeping secrets.
Over half a century later, Alice, Chloe’s 16-year-old American granddaughter, has just inherited her childhood home in Paris. The fully furnished apartment has clearly been neglected for decades and raises more questions than it answers: Why didn’t Gram talk about her childhood? Who is the second girl in the photos throughout the apartment? Why didn’t Gram’s family return there after the war? Alice’s father is reluctant to discuss anything that might upset Alice’s mother, who’s still reeling from her mother’s death, so Alice decides to find answers on her own. What she eventually learns both shocks and heals her family. Chapters alternate between Alice’s and Adalyn’s voices, narrating Adalyn’s experience as a French Christian of the Nazi occupation and Alice’s attempts to understand what happened after the war. The girls’ stories parallel one another in significant ways: Each has a romance with a young Frenchman, each has a parent struggling with depression, and each must consider the lengths she would go to protect those she loves. Though at times feeling a bit rushed, Alice’s engaging contemporary perspective neatly frames Adalyn’s immersive, heartbreaking story as it slowly unfolds—providing an important history lesson as well as a framework for discussing depression. Alice and her family are white.
Gripping. (Historical fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-293662-2
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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