Equal parts fantasy, romance, and mystery, this book shimmers with an irresistible energy.
On a small island called By-the-Sea, two young women discover their magical powers and resilience.
Seventeen-year-old white girl Georgina Fernweh and her twin sister, Mary, have one more summer at home helping their widowed mother, Penelope, at their family’s inn before they leave for college. Every year, bird enthusiasts flock to By-the-Sea for the arrival of Annabella’s Woodpecker, dubbed the world’s rarest bird and discovered and named by a distant Fernweh foremother about 300 years ago. Panic ensues when Annabella never appears, and the birders find her corpse in a barn, surrounded by her torn-up nest. The islanders superstitiously blame Mary, suspecting her of wielding magic, and Georgina promises Annabella that she will track down the murderer, even if it really is her sister. A tender, gentle romance between Georgina and Prue, visiting the island with her ornithologist brother (both are assumed white), accompanies the suspenseful murder mystery and is captured in lyrical prose. There is a clear distinction throughout between healthy relationships built on consent and harmful, uninvited attention. Along with romantic love, fierce bonds between family and friends play an important role in the story; Georgina’s aromantic, asexual best friend, Vira, stands by her side to the end, and Georgina’s mother supports her children by giving them the freedom to find their own ways into their magical gifts.
Equal parts fantasy, romance, and mystery, this book shimmers with an irresistible energy. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249362-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
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
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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