An exhilarating YA adventure of friendship, monsters, and interdimensional travel.
American teens battle evil using their savvy and the power of words in Bastian’s YA fantasy novel, one in a series.
Aaron Anderson, Jake Perez, and Wendy Perrault make up the Storied Trio, using stories to help people and to fight dark forces. They take assignments from “the Council,” which, in this volume, sends them to Sydney, Australia, to find the enigmatic “child that never was.” Their other task is meeting up with a local museum curator who’s having trouble with the Shadow People. These nefarious beings have long sought the powerful Guidebooks that Folktellers like Aaron and Wendy carry. Unfortunately, the teens’ presence in Sydney seems to stir up a host of monsters for the Storied Trio to clash with. It certainly doesn’t help that Aaron’s Guidebook has lately been “unbalanced” due to the considerable volume of evil it’s trapped. He needs to track down the long-lost Master Guidebook to absorb some of that evil. That’s a serious workload for the teens, who still must somehow identify that “child.” Bastian’s fifth series entry moves at an entertainingly swift pace—the members of the Storied Trio work quickly, deciphering clues largely on their own, since the Council is a touch vague with instructions. While they’ve previously faced off against Shadow People, this mission involves new, delightfully assorted creatures. Many are based on mythological beings from Australia’s Indigenous cultures, like the horrifying Yara-ma-yha-who, which has a froglike mouth “large enough to swallow a person whole.” As in previous installments, grounded concerns arise as well: Wendy, for example, must choose a place to stay (her home in an alternate dimension or the world where Aaron and Jake live) lest she be “torn asunder.” The digital grayscale illustrations included throughout, in McEvoy’s sharp comic-book style, vividly capture supernatural moments and the various creatures’ haunting expressions. The end of the novel leaves no doubt that the series is far from over.
An exhilarating YA adventure of friendship, monsters, and interdimensional travel.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781970364057
Page Count: 218
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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