An interesting premise and engaging protagonist let down by overall execution.
High school senior Hallie plans to attend college by winning a prestigious local scholarship, but unforeseen circumstances jeopardize her dreams.
Hallie thought she knew all the rules governing the Verhaag Scholarship, which is awarded to the Santa Barbara High School student who writes the best research paper about famed poet Robert W. Service, rumored to have been intimately connected with family matriarch Augusta Verhaag. But it turns out she didn’t. Some fine print—and the award committee’s reputation for nepotism—mean that to have a fighting chance she must encourage another classmate to apply while hustling to find an extracurricular activity to round out her college applications. Hallie also continues working many hours at her father’s pest control company to earn money. While detailed information about rodents and insects is made genuinely interesting, the rest of the novel is a plod through three slow-moving subplots: machinations to win the scholarship; a romance with Spencer, the boy next door; and a search for last year’s yearbook supplements that were supposedly stolen by a boy who refuses to let her join the yearbook staff. Hallie’s voice has an authentic, often snarky, ring and her pluck is admirable. However, supporting characters are thinly drawn, and the novel is unevenly paced, gets bogged down in irrelevant details, and ends abruptly. All major characters are presumed White; Spencer is cued as Latinx.
An interesting premise and engaging protagonist let down by overall execution. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68442-812-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Keylight Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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