Though not perfect, moving and of interest to teens experiencing similar stresses.
Five teens work on their mental health during four weeks at a wilderness-therapy camp.
Each teen speaks in this novel, revealing his or her individual issues: Stella has anger-management problems and depression; Clarisa has OCD; Andrew suffers from an eating disorder; Mason is a narcissist; and Ben is dissociative—his part of the narration is formatted as a movie script. At Camp Ugunduzi, a pricey therapy camp, the five teens (evidently white save for Asian Clarisa) will hike, meditate, and engage in group and solo talk therapy. While friendships form and romance blossoms among the campers as they create a Safe Space cabin, they’re also working toward progress and dealing with setbacks. Andrew loses it when he gains weight. Clarisa and Ben’s romance hits the rocks. Clarisa and Stella fight when Stella deals her some hard truths. Yet when tragedy (undescribed in the text) occurs, the group draws together to support each other, revealing just how far they’ve come. First-time novelist Yu does a good job of presenting the therapy process, capturing the words therapists use and realistically describing the uncertain arc of recovery. But choosing to stage the tragedy off-page mutes its impact, and the plethora of voices makes it hard to connect with all the characters.
Though not perfect, moving and of interest to teens experiencing similar stresses. (Fiction. 14-16)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-373-21230-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Seventeen Fiction/Harlequin Teen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A solid, warmhearted Sapphic romance showing how joy emerges when the bullies aren’t in charge.
Sixteen-year-old Ellie Young, bullied in middle school for her then-undiagnosed autism, believes she’s solved her social life challenges.
Following her rules (like “Rule #4: Always keep the topic of the conversation on the other person”)—even when that means hiding her true self, as her therapist points out—at least leads to people treating her “like a human being.” So it’s unfair when her boyfriend, Daniel Solomon, dumps her, drunkenly telling everyone she lacks personality. He’d invited her to attend beach volleyball camp, and even though she doesn’t enjoy kissing him and is strangely unbothered about the breakup, she plans to use the camp to make him want to get her back—proving that he was wrong about her being “cute but boring.” Ellie and her social circle at school are cued white; her group of new camp friends comprise a mix of religions, ethnicities, races, sexualities, and gender expressions. Also unlike school, at camp “the people who normally hide in the shadows to protect themselves get to live a little without constantly being judged.” The biggest complication is Sierra Levine, the white-presenting daughter of a beach volleyball legend. Ellie can’t understand why she’s so drawn to Sierra—until she finally gets it, complicating everything. Although the secondary characters are minimally developed, the pacing is nice and light. Schae’s pleasant debut offers a humane, compassionate view of teens supporting each other in pain and joy.
A solid, warmhearted Sapphic romance showing how joy emerges when the bullies aren’t in charge. (Romance. 14-16)Pub Date: May 12, 2026
ISBN: 9798217033263
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
Equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking.
Sixteen-year-old Mandy considers herself the anti-Starfire: Unlike her scantily clad superhero mother, she doesn’t have superpowers, can’t fly, and doesn’t even own a bathing suit.
Mandy dyes her hair and dresses in all black to further call out how different they are. Mandy’s best friend, Lincoln, whose parents were born in Vietnam, insightfully summarizes this rift as being down to an intergenerational divide that occurs whether parents and children come from different countries or different planets. Mandy tries to figure out what kind of future she wants for herself as she struggles with teenage insecurities and bullying, her relationship with her mom, and her budding friendship (or is it something more?) with her new class project partner, Claire. Yoshitani’s vibrant and colorful stylized illustrations beautifully meld the various iterations of Starfire and the Titans with the live-action versions of those characters. Together with Tamaki’s punchy writing, this coming-of-age story of identity, family, friendship, and saving the world is skillfully brought to life in a quick but nuanced read. These layers are most strongly displayed as the story draws parallels between cultural differences between the generations as evidenced in how the characters address bullying, body positivity, fatphobia, fetishization and sexualization, and feminism. This title addresses many important concepts briefly, but well, with great pacing, bold art, and concise and snappy dialogue. The cast is broadly diverse in both primary and secondary characters.
Equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking. (Graphic fantasy. 14-16)Pub Date: July 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77950-126-4
Page Count: 184
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2021
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