A grieving teen fights Asian hate by finding her voice in this complex, timely story.
A Chinese American teenager learns that silence can bind families together but also prevent them from standing up for larger causes.
Maybelline Chen is mourning the death of Danny, her beloved older brother who struggled with depression and died by suicide right after being accepted to Princeton. Her family’s deep pain is compounded when local Silicon Valley magnate Nate McIntyre publicly blames Asian families for the hypercompetitive school environment, attributing Danny’s suicide to what he claims are widespread Asian parental pressures. Infuriated and hurt, May writes an impassioned poem for the local paper in response, sparking a heated discussion about racism. But when her mother’s job working for Mr. McIntyre’s friend is imperiled by her activities, May must make a choice between speaking out and honoring her parents’ fear of making waves. With the help of her best friend, a daughter of Haitian immigrants, May rallies her classmates to reclaim the narrative while embarking upon a journey of recognizing her own complicity and complacency about racism. She acknowledges Asian discrimination against Black people, faces prejudice from other Asians, and comes to understand the harm of Asian silence and the model minority myth. The array of issues in this story is sensitively and beautifully handled, and May is an appealing character who moves through a complicated range of realistic emotions, including anger, fear, guilt, and jealousy.
A grieving teen fights Asian hate by finding her voice in this complex, timely story. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 14, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-305934-4
Page Count: 448
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
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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