Teens with a little patience will be drawn into Mike’s struggle to keep going after death has changed everything.
The only thing worse than having your father die unexpectedly is having your mother claim custody of you, or so it feels to Mike.
Michael, almost 16, lives happily with his divorced father in a coastal North Carolina town, running a successful charter fishing business and sharing an easy give-and-take as they work side by side. Mike is pleased when Dad announces his plan to marry longtime girlfriend Maggie. But on the way back from buying a ring, Dad is killed by a drunk driver, and suddenly, Mike finds himself dealing with profound grief, the agonizing steps of planning a funeral and the terrifying prospect that his long-estranged mother might try to take him away from Maggie. Justesen hits the emotional points perfectly, using first-person narration to reveal Mike’s impressive powers of observation and his puzzlement over his own unfamiliar behavior. The novel takes place over the course of about a week, from ring to accident to custody hearing, with solemn pacing and little action until the gripping courtroom scenes. (The cartoonish depictions of Mike’s mentally ill mother and her sweaty lawyer are the book’s weak spots.) A scene in which Mike gets naked (but doesn’t have sex) with his girlfriend is touching rather than spicy.
Teens with a little patience will be drawn into Mike’s struggle to keep going after death has changed everything. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-933718-90-3
Page Count: 275
Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
A sweet, undemanding summer read.
The summer before her senior year, 17-year-old Avery unexpectedly finds romance on a family vacation.
Avery’s family spends their summers away from Los Angeles, enjoying the outdoors; this year it will be two months at a remote resort in the California woods. Her 15-year-old sister, Lauren, an outgoing video blogger, is distraught by the camp’s lack of internet access while go-with-the-flow Avery is just hoping for no drama, upset after having found out her best friend kissed her ex-boyfriend. An initial miscommunication makes things tense with handsome camp staff member Brooks—until Avery agrees to help him write songs for a band competition in exchange for his helping her step out of her comfort zone. Of course, staff aren’t supposed to fraternize with campers, which leads to much sneaking around, though Avery and her sister attend several staff parties thanks to befriending lifeguard Maricela and drummer Kai. Avery learns to find her voice, both metaphorically—she feels her parents don’t take her seriously—and literally, as she must overcome her stage fright when asked to step in for the vocalist in Brooks’ band when they compete in the festival. Avery’s complicated relationship with her family feels underdeveloped, though the love story with Brooks hits all the right notes. Fans of West will enjoy this watered-down Dirty Dancing tale, with its swoony romance and uncomplicated plot. Most characters are White; Maricela is implied Latinx, and Kai is Polynesian.
A sweet, undemanding summer read. (Romance. 12-16)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-17626-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
A timely and well-paced story of personal discovery.
Time travel brings a girl closer to someone she’s never known.
Sixteen-year-old Kiku, who is Japanese and white, only knows bits and pieces of her family history. While on a trip with her mother to San Francisco from their Seattle home, they search for her grandmother’s childhood home. While waiting for her mother, who goes inside to explore the mall now standing there, a mysterious fog envelops Kiku and displaces her to a theater in the past where a girl is playing the violin. The gifted musician is Ernestina Teranishi, who Kiku later confirms is her late grandmother. To Kiku’s dismay, the fog continues to transport her, eventually dropping her down next door to Ernestina’s family in a World War II Japanese American internment camp. The clean illustrations in soothing browns and blues convey the characters’ intense emotions. Hughes takes inspiration from her own family’s story, deftly balancing complicated national history with explorations of cultural dislocation and biracial identity. As Kiku processes her experiences, Hughes draws parallels to President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban and the incarceration of migrant children. The emotional connection between Kiku and her grandmother is underdeveloped; despite their being neighbors, Ernestina appears briefly and feels elusive to both Kiku and readers up to the very end. Despite some loose ends, readers will gain insights to the Japanese American incarceration and feel called to activism.
A timely and well-paced story of personal discovery. (photographs, author’s note, glossary, further reading) (Graphic historical fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-19353-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
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