It’s 1871, and 16-year-old Katie’s widowed father, Jack, has raised her all alone on the slopes of a volcano in the Pacific Northwest. When Katie finally convinces Jack to take her into the town of Badwater, he forces her to dress like a boy and act like a mute. However, she is discovered to be a girl and manages to attract the attention of both town bully Jess Starkey and handsome deputy-in-training Adam Summerfield. When Jess follows the family back up the volcano and attempts to rape Katie, Jack kills him. Jess’ murder sets into motion a manhunt that results in three more dead and concludes with an earthquake, Katie’s marriage to Adam and an unsexy sex scene. Despite the body count and gritty frontier landscape, this is an oddly passionless tale; it is told in limp dialogue that conveys little sense of time period or setting. The author’s choice to set the story in a location that is recognizable as Mount St. Helens but use fictional place names also lessens the plot’s punch and robs the story of context. Katie’s first-person voice is less innocent than it is obvious, and Nelson’s simplistic prose tells far more than it shows. If you’re looking for True Grit, better keep riding. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)
Pub Date: April 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25282-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011
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
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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