Heartfelt but inconsistent.
Eliza Marino’s family, lifelong residents of New Jersey’s Long Beach Island, lost nearly everything in a devastating hurricane.
Five years later, she and her friends are on a mission to preserve their coastal marshland as a habitat for turtles and other wildlife. A lifeguard and talented surfer, Eliza, 17, remains traumatized by the storm that nearly killed her little brother. She and her friends resent the seasonal residents whose oceanfront mansions replaced the modest homes that were destroyed. Ensuring the marshland is preserved is challenging, however. Spontaneously venting their frustration, the teens vandalize a giant home under construction. For Eliza, teaching Milo Harris, a handsome, wealthy, vacationing New Yorker, to surf proves a happy distraction. However, each keeps secrets that threaten their fledgling romance. Despite one character’s referencing Indigenous activists, the text does not consider the Indigenous people displaced by the islanders’ ancestors. Eliza’s dad works in construction, and the cafe her mom co-owns depends on tourists. Such conflicts, though depicted, aren’t explored in depth and are primarily framed in an interpersonal context. The novel’s strengths are Eliza’s compelling voice—her hurricane flashbacks are mesmerizing—and the conveying of emotion; it only lightly explores the theme of youth climate change activism and issues connected to it. Most characters read as White; several secondary characters are Latinx, and one is nonbinary.
Heartfelt but inconsistent. (author’s note, resources) (Verse novel. 12-18)Pub Date: July 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0916-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
Movingly unravels themes of belonging, Islamophobia, and the interlocking oppressions thrust upon immigrant women.
What happens when both the place you come from and the place you are feel distant and unaccepting?
These are the questions Nima sets out to answer. A 14-year-old, working-class, Muslim, immigrant kid raised by a single mother in suburban America—that’s Nima. They left their unnamed homeland (contextual clues point to Sudan) in pursuit of a better life, one that didn’t seem to find them. But Nima’s mind often wanders back to her roots, to the Arabic songs she listens to on cassette and old photographs of her parents—things she longs to be a part of. At school, Nima is bullied for her accented English, her obvious poverty, and her mother’s hijab. Haitham, the neighbor boy who’s more like a sibling, goes to the same school and is Nima’s only friend. But one day Haitham is beaten up in a hate crime, winding up in the hospital hooked up to machines. The abyss between Nima and her mother begins to grow as Nima learns more about her father’s absence. Elhillo’s novel, which contains light fantastical elements, tells the story of a Muslim girl traversing post–9/11 America with the baggage of a past she does not yet fully understand. The vivid imagery creates a profound sensory experience, evoking intense emotions in a story that will resonate with readers from many backgrounds.
Movingly unravels themes of belonging, Islamophobia, and the interlocking oppressions thrust upon immigrant women. (Verse novel. 12-18)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-17705-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Make Me a World
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
A love letter to words and their ability to not only define us, but shape who we are.
A tender coming-of-age story about an Iranian American boy getting to know his grandparents, learning more about Persian culture, facing prejudice, and growing in self-knowledge.
It’s July 2001, and Omid is a rising high school sophomore in Tucson, Arizona, when Baba Joon and Maman Joon, the maternal grandparents he’s never met before, move to the U.S. from Iran. Baba Joon gives Omid a journal in which he begins to document his daily life: his crush on the new girl at his private prep school and the Shakespeare play he auditions for so he can be close to her, his experiences navigating two cultures, and the bigotry he hears about and faces in the aftermath of 9/11. Omid, whose father’s family is Muslim and mother’s family is Baha’i, tries on Shakespearean dialogue for size and reaches for words in Farsi as ways to better comprehend and express himself and his heritage, but what finally resonates most is the rap music his best friend introduces him to. Through rap, his self-awareness and confidence grow. Although slow to start, this novel in verse quickly becomes more engaging, and the first-person narration becomes more refined as the story progresses. This is a heartfelt and nuanced depiction of what it’s like to straddle different cultures and the critical need to understand oneself.
A love letter to words and their ability to not only define us, but shape who we are. (Verse fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780063248359
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Allida/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
