A deftly written examination of familial relationships, trauma, and post-adolescence.
A teen girl’s life is turned upside down when her missing twin reappears after 12 years.
Ava Rivers, the blonde fraternal twin of auburn-haired Vera, went missing one Halloween night, fracturing her otherwise harmonious family. After Ava’s disappearance, the girls’ brother, Elliott, spends his days living a drug-fueled and rather aimless life; their father quits his job and moves into the family basement, chain-smoking and scouring the Internet for leads about Ava; and their perfectly polished mother crams her days full of high-profile philanthropic events. Wonderfully snarky-voiced Vera is counting the days until she can move from her stifling home in laid-back Berkeley to attend college in Portland, Oregon. However, when Ava suddenly comes back, the Rivers’ lives are seemingly put on hold. Ava’s return brings about many changes for Vera—she defers college; rekindles a relationship with Max, Ava’s African-American childhood best friend; and eventually pulls her family back together—but she struggles to familiarize herself with a person who is both a stranger and an intrinsic part of herself. An unconventional take on the well-trod subject of kidnapping, Gardner’s (Perdita, 2015, etc.) clever offering features a surprising twist and should leave readers ruminating over what truly defines family. Vera is bisexual (as is her male love interest), and she and her sister are multiracial (white father, half Iranian/half Mexican mother).
A deftly written examination of familial relationships, trauma, and post-adolescence. (Fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47830-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
At once accessible and artful, this is an important book about Mexican teens holding onto hope and friendship in the midst...
Born on the poor side of El Paso, Juan and JD fight for their dreams, knowing the odds are stacked against them.
Mendez (Twitching Heart, 2012) tells the touching story of two teenage buddies, their troubled families, and the injustices they endure as a result of being poor and brown. Juan wants to play college basketball. JD wants to be a filmmaker. But following a single bad decision at a party in a wealthy neighborhood, their dreams begin to fall like dominoes. In a setting of police profiling and violent streets, it becomes obvious that the pain in this community is intergenerational. The boys must cope with parental secrets—Juan’s mother never told him who his father is, and JD’s father makes him an accomplice in a dishonest affair. As they seek answers, readers see that the future is a tidal wave pushing them to the brink even as they act with courage and good intentions. Studying, working hard on the court, impressing coaches and teachers, the teens come to understand that the world has labeled them failures no matter how hard they try. In this novel with a deep sense of place and realistic dialogue, characters who are vivid and fallible add deep psychological meaning to a heart-wrenching story.
At once accessible and artful, this is an important book about Mexican teens holding onto hope and friendship in the midst of alcoholism, poverty, prejudice, and despair. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0445-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Jan. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
An uplifting, body-positive story about finding courage and love.
Seventeen-year-old Felipe’s winter break takes a turn when neighbor Caio’s parents go on a trip and he comes to stay.
What was supposed to be three weeks of sitting at home in his apartment in a small Brazilian town surfing the internet becomes a nerve-wracking ordeal for Felipe, who’s had a crush on Caio since childhood. It doesn’t help that Felipe is shy and self-conscious about his weight, both of which make him a target for school bullies. His therapist encourages him to initiate interactions, but the thought of Caio’s attention being directed toward him makes Felipe incredibly uncomfortable. And yet, as the days pass, awkward small talk transitions into casual late-night chats, leading to genuine conversations that allow the boys to open up to one another, including sharing their respective coming-out experiences. The novel, narrated in the first-person, expresses Felipe’s internal turmoil as he endures living in close quarters with a boy he finds irresistible and who, it turns out, also enjoys reading Tolkien, makes delicious brigadeiros, and is happy to join in the daily themed activities planned by Felipe’s supportive single mother. Felipe’s struggle with body image and self-perception is presented thoughtfully, and the frankness with which he tells his story is at turns hilarious and heart-wrenching. All characters are Brazilian; Felipe’s therapist and Caio’s best friend are Black, and the impact of race is discussed in the story.
An uplifting, body-positive story about finding courage and love. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-62082-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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