A lighthearted but affecting narrative of childhood’s many changes.
In Amman’s YA novel, a young, spirited girl in Italy struggles to navigate her early adolescence.
It’s 1987, and 8-year-old Leda “Lee” Balni doesn’t enjoy stereotypically girly things. She rejects pretty clothes and dolls and prefers riding bikes and climbing trees in her small Italian town of Arese; she also enjoys being part of a trio of “sworn brothers” with pals Flavio and Peo. Lee faces continual bullying, though. At home, her teenage sister Viola taunts, slaps, and chokes her, and a thuggish classmate, Nico Salisi, mocks her, calling her “Four Eyes” due to her glasses; yet, confusingly, Lee sometimes feels a bond with him. Many changes occur during her three-part story, spanning the years 1987 to 1989: Lee gets her first crush on an older boy; Nico tries to drown Lee in the swimming pool, before the trio of friends becomes a quartet; Lee worries about the state of her soul after looking at a porn magazine; and her parents divorce. But Lee knows the biggest, and worst, change of all will be starting middle school and the probable dissolution of her tightknit friend group. Although Amman’s novel convincingly resembles a child’s diary, it astutely examines such themes as religion, sexuality, family relations, and gender, and the youthful narrator sees multiple sides of those around her—except maybe Flavio, who, at one point, discusses “tarzanelli: dingleberries of poo that hang from your butt…hanging like Tarzan from a vine.” Nico’s surprising feeling about a beautiful spring day is “Anguish”; vicious Viola once experienced nightmares about Pinocchio; and Lee’s mom and dad appear less confident after separating. Italy itself plays a formative role in the story, often reflecting the highs and lows of the narrator herself. In the town of Flavon, with pal Flavio, Lee discovers “Neverland,” “a sunny, grassy glade enchanted with countless wildflowers,” but Arese in 1989 is “necrotic,” as Lee feels “unmoored yet without a destination” while contemplating elementary school’s end.
A lighthearted but affecting narrative of childhood’s many changes.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
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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