A highly informative novel for teens that puts veterinary facts front and center.
A group of teens want to work for their local veterinary clinic in Woolsey’s YA novel.
Whenever someone in Clearview has a pet problem, Parkside Veterinary Clinic is the place to go. Dr. Ben Hughes and his wife, Helen, are excellent veterinarians who get the job done with the assistance of high school interns, such as Matthew, Gina, and Rachael. It’s now summer, however, and it’s time to pick a new batch of kids to help ease the load as the two professionals think about their future: “The best insurance for succession and retirement was to hire a vet with local ties, who wanted to return to the town to take over Parkside.” Although they aren’t able to do that right away, Ben and Helen interview a few likely intern candidates: Megan, the entitled daughter of the friends; Tom Griffith, a quiet computer tech; José Martinez, a smart but unmotivated student; and Claire Todd, whose dream job is to become a vet. Woolsey follows each of these teens in turn, juggling their close third-person perspectives deftly as she traces their paths to working at Parkside. It isn’t until a natural disaster hits the town that the story’s slow pace picks up and all hands are on deck to save Clearview from tragedy. Woolsey, a veterinarian, shows her expertise in her painstaking detail, as when describing the history of colleague Dr. Amy Wang’s past small-animal cases or a horse’s complex intestinal anatomy. Readers interested in becoming vets themselves will appreciate this level of specificity, while the more squeamish may find it less useful. Clearview’s main residents are likewise well sketched out, though lesser characters, such as Amanda (a cartoonishly bad influence on Megan) and Mr. White (Ben’s 90-year-old assistant), are less developed.
A highly informative novel for teens that puts veterinary facts front and center.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 9798986911137
Page Count: 278
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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