Frank yet empathetic, Malone’s gritty portrayal of interpersonal relations offers readers a telling example of a...
A teen and her loved ones battle her liver disease.
Malone (The Art of the Swap, 2018, etc.) presents a badass high school senior in need of a liver transplant. Eighteen-year-old Lia Linehan has grown up aware that her rare congenital condition, biliary atresia, could someday cause her liver to cease functioning, but, up until the novel’s start, she has never let that knowledge in any way constrain her interests or actions. In fact, one might argue that her passionate disposition and affinity for roller derby, where Lia relishes her role as a speedy, take-no-prisoners jammer, all stem from her refusal to be cowed by her health condition. All that changes radically in the spring of her senior year, when a spontaneous upper-GI bleed at a derby bout makes Lia spew blood, turning the track “into the set of a slasher film.” Lia, her best friend, and her family must then come to grips with the harsh reality that her liver has begun to fail and the timeline for needing a lifesaving transplant has greatly shortened. Told from Lia’s perspective, Malone’s realistic narrative presents her protagonist’s resulting identity crisis well as she reckons with the perceptions of others and ultimately her own understanding of herself as a “MAYBE/MAYBE NOT DYING GIRL.” Major characters are assumed white.
Frank yet empathetic, Malone’s gritty portrayal of interpersonal relations offers readers a telling example of a life-and-death ordeal from the inside out. (author’s note) (Fiction. 13-adult)Pub Date: July 23, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-279538-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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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