A brisk and engaging tale of discovery and escape.
In Smith’s YA SF novel set in an unnamed, struggling city, a young orphan makes a terrifying discovery about the school in which she resides.
Mona, a student in the third pod for 10- and 11-year-olds at an unnamed residential school in the postwar era, believes she’s lucky to be there instead of in an overrun orphanage. Mona and her friend Owen, a natural storyteller, are gifted with excellent memories, which make them prime subjects for individualized memory training. Their education is also steeped in government indoctrination in a society in which elections aren’t democratic, the Chancellor is selected by a senate, and many live in poverty. Questioning the validity of this system is forbidden. Students are trained in advanced memory techniques, but the school isn’t a school at all but a corporation called the Company that specializes in “Selective Memory Extraction and Implantation.” After Mona realizes exactly what’s going on there, she uses her unique talents and the assistance of a sympathetic lab technician to plot her escape. Smith’s two primary characters are lively and vivid but have appealingly distinct personalities, and the worldbuilding is superb without taking over the story. The author wisely balances material regarding the Company with stories of the kids who reside there. Although it has a postapocalyptic setting, it doesn’t ever feel clichéd; readers see just enough of the world through the kids’ eyes to understand what’s happening, but it’s never heavy-handed or saddled with lengthy backstory. The science at the heart of the story is creative, and the story’s pacing is swift and exciting, particularly in the second half.
A brisk and engaging tale of discovery and escape.Pub Date: March 1, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 273
Publisher: Smelbiney Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2023
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
A sweet, romantic visit to the iconic Disney Fairies world.
The Pixie Dust Root is in danger, and one fairy is determined to save it—and the Pixie Dust Tree that all of Pixie Hollow depends upon.
In this stand-alone story set in the same world as Allison Saft’s Wings of Starlight (2025), Periwinkle, a frost-talent who has a gift for finding things—or maybe they have a way of finding her?—discovers a lost thread of magic that grants her the ability to dream. But not all dreams are as sparkly as Periwinkle. One night, she awakens from a nightmare to find herself in the Winter Woods with a fairy she’s never met, a sparrow man named Weaver, who claims to be a rare dream-talent. Disconcertingly, Weaver knows her—he calls her “perfect Periwinkle” and for some reason doesn’t seem to like her very much. Nevertheless, Periwinkle finds herself drawn to Weaver. When he tells her he can save the Pixie Dust Root by spinning her dreams into thread if she helps him find the magic tools he needs, Periwinkle agrees. Their journey leads the pair, who are pale-skinned, to discover things they like about each other, too. This is an opposites-attract adventure with romantic tension, a high-stakes quest, personal discovery, and betrayal. The characters struggle with inner turmoil while also adjusting their understanding of each other. Bright balances the fun with explorations of themes of snap judgments, labels, and weaponizing fear.
A sweet, romantic visit to the iconic Disney Fairies world. (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2026
ISBN: 9780736447362
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Disney/Random House
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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