A fun, fast-paced update of Peter Pan sure to please a new generation of fans.
Swaim’s YA fantasy novel reimagines and modernizes Peter Pan.
When readers first meet 15-year-old Wendiaqui Darl, she’s desperately trying to hold on to her scholarship at the prestigious—and expensive—Unity Academy. Wendi is nearing the end of a pivotal Year Seven, and if she doesn’t score highly enough on her history exam, she could lose her tuition grant. It’s the worst-case scenario when the power in her home city of Othan goes out and her teacher simply cancels the test, leaving Wendi without recourse for improvement. As if things at school weren’t bad enough, she’s also isolated Rowan, her one close friend, after rebuffing his romantic advances. All these worries pale in comparison to the recent trauma of losing her mother to saffron fever. While out holiday shopping with her father, Wendi sees a man in red flee a docked ship and a group of children running after, calling him “Hook.” She largely forgets the moment until a young boy, Peter, shows up and offers her a new life on that same flying ship—a chance to escape the mess in which Wendi is mired. But Wendi soon discovers that there’s no fully escaping real life: Peter isn’t everything he seems, and the villainous Hook is in hot pursuit. Swaim has taken on a daunting task in her debut novel by attempting to bring a new perspective to the oft-told story of Peter Pan, which she does admirably in these pages. The imaginative, SF-ish technology she employs—headsets, personal screens, flying ships, and the like—paint fresh colors on an aging tale. The author plumbs real character depth in Wendi: “The attention was awkward, and the dress was uncomfortable, but discomfort was still better than loneliness. What if she simply played along? Tried to be normal? Maybe something would click.” The plot points may be largely borrowed from Barrie, but Swaim brings something all her own to the legend.
A fun, fast-paced update of Peter Pan sure to please a new generation of fans.Pub Date: April 21, 2026
ISBN: 9798218617615
Page Count: 376
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.
In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.
Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250346797
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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