Even frothy fun needs a deep bass line that isn’t found here.
When the only exit from Floridian monotony is winning a drag contest, beggars can’t be losers.
Why would 17-year-old JT Barnett want to live in the moment? His moment is a future assessing pesky love handles, pumping gas, dealing with despondent parents, and being left behind by his best friends in Clearwater, Florida. He wants nothing more after graduation than to go to college and become a writer and drag queen, but with grades as lackluster as a gown sans sequins, his prospects are flatter than a broken stiletto. When his too-good-for-him, gorgeous boyfriend and best girlfriend convince him to enter a drag contest in NYC (even though he has only performed once with disastrous results), a road trip to Manhattan—and to learning some self-love—is born. JT has no issue with being gay, so this isn’t about the trials of coming out. Instead, it’s a learn-to-love-yourself odyssey in which a diversity of secondary and tertiary characters appears only after they've crossed through the Holland Tunnel. On his pilgrimage, self-deprecating JT’s conflicts tend to lead easily to solution (a rich benefactress materializes after a flat tire; one makeup lesson results in a skill no seasoned queens question), making his struggles more a series of mended broken nails than catastrophic ripped couture before curtain call.
Even frothy fun needs a deep bass line that isn’t found here. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: April 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-82993-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: PUSH/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
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
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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