An important, difficult book that will appeal to girls who feel lost in the world.
In this hard-hitting YA novel, a teenage girl wrestles with low self-esteem, body image issues, and an eating disorder after she is unable to ingratiate herself into the popular clique at school.
As junior high begins, Katie Mills thinks she has found a clear path into the cool clique at school through her lab partner, Anica. However, after a shoplifting expedition spearheaded by Anica goes awry, Katie is more shunned by the upscale “Orchard Hills girls” than ever. Her next tactic is to try out for the cheer squad, but that also backfires when her tomboyish friend, Carly, gets picked instead of her. As Carly begins hanging out with the popular crowd and her other best friend, Dominic, acquires a new girlfriend, Katie feels more left out than ever. Her divorced parents don’t help matters: mom would rather harangue Katie for being pudgy than support her, while dad is preoccupied with spoiling his new daughter from his second marriage. After she overhears head cheerleader Amy Bowie throwing up in the bathroom after lunch, Katie decides to be more like the pretty, skinny, popular girls the only way she knows how: lose as much weight as possible by bingeing and purging. Soon, Katie’s secret threatens to get in the way of her burgeoning friendship with the cute new boy at school, Hunter, not to mention her existing relationships. Farnham (Click. Date. Repeat., 2014) has created a powerfully relatable character in Katie, whose struggles to fit in will ring true for many. Be warned though: the vivid first-person descriptions of Katie’s bulimia and the feelings she associates with bingeing and purging may be triggering for some readers. “After I eat, I can’t think about anything but the food churning around in my stomach, just waiting to be absorbed by my body,” she says. “My chest feels like it’s going to explode if I don’t get rid of the food.” Other intense issues covered by Farnham, albeit in a deft and sympathetic way, include divorce, bullying, and abuse.
An important, difficult book that will appeal to girls who feel lost in the world.Pub Date: April 20, 2015
ISBN: 978-1500850333
Page Count: 312
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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