Charming dual protagonists headline this twisty, entertaining story that boasts series potential.
Harbison and Johnson’s YA mystery follows teen best friends who catch on to strange—perhaps supernatural—things stirring in their neighborhood.
The small town of Settlers Valley, Utah, is shocked by a brutal murder in 1999 when authorities discover the entirely boneless body of Jessica Townsend, who lived in the “sister town” of Bakersville. People’s fears and interest wane as the case grows cold, but for best friends Nate and Kyle, things are just getting started. In the early 2000s, Jessica’s parents move into the boys’ neighborhood with Canadian exchange student Cassy. This leads to a string of unexplained mysteries, from the enigmatic agents who subsequently appear in Settlers Valley toa system of tunnels over a century old to the weird thing in Kyle’s closet. Even if the boys don’t understand all of what’s going on, a dangerous someone may still think they know too much. Harbison (in his debut) and Johnson deliver a densely packed tale that features a surreal setting and a number of mythical beings. Much of the novel, especially the first half, is humorous, thanks to the never-ending banter between Nate and Kyle. They playfully argue over Kyle’s adamant beliefs of aliens, cryptids, and more (Kyle carries around The Bestiary, a book of “every known nontraditional beast on Earth”); Nate only believes in human monsters (“[a] little girl was brutally murdered, and nobody wants to admit that a human could have done this, so they let their imaginations go wild”). The supernatural elements crop up in the latter half and prove to be frequently baffling, to both the characters and the readers. Nods to Hollywood movies are abundant, most notably in the intermittent, nonlinear scenes of the friends in a local video store that are largely unrelated to the main plot. The uncredited black-and-white artwork prefacing each chapter is, like the story, lighthearted, featuring images of cryptids that are likely meant to be Kyle’s childish doodles.
Charming dual protagonists headline this twisty, entertaining story that boasts series potential.Pub Date: March 16, 2024
ISBN: 9798880254200
Page Count: 284
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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