Sales’ (Once Was a Time, 2016, etc.) latest takes a messy dive into the world of public shaming and callout culture.
Seventeen-year-old Jewish high school senior Winter Halperin has her life figured out. Thanks to her blogger mother’s world-famous parenting strategies, she’s a National Spelling Bee champ who dreams of being a writer and is excited to be attending college in the fall. Everything is going smoothly until she casually tweets: “We learned many surprising things today. Like that dehnstufe is apparently a word, and that a black kid can actually win the Spelling Bee.“ Her tweet goes viral and her punishment is swift and severe: Brutally publicly shamed online, her spelling bee title and college acceptance are revoked. Winter is devastated; thinking she made a clever throwaway joke, she doesn’t understand how the world can see her as racist. She decides to sign up for a “reputation rehabilitation retreat,” where, through self-reflection, she ultimately finds a spark of hope for her future. While she is sometimes sympathetic and frequently frustrating, Winter never demonstrates a true shift toward understanding microaggressions, systemic racism, and white privilege. The few characters of color primarily seem to exist to explain race and white privilege to both the white protagonist and white readers. While clearly a cautionary tale, the book’s ultimate message is as muddled as the world of online shaming.
Timely but, like all of us, painfully imperfect. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-374-38099-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
Did you like this book?
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. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
Did you like this book?
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense.
26
GET IT
Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.
Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood; he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. The original investigation concluded with most of the evidence pointing to Sal, who was found dead in the woods, apparently by suicide. Andie’s body was never recovered, and Sal was assumed by most to be guilty of abduction and murder. Unable to ignore the gaps in the case, Pip sets out to prove Sal’s innocence, beginning with interviewing his younger brother, Ravi. With his help, Pip digs deeper, unveiling unsavory facts about Andie and the real reason Sal’s friends couldn’t provide him with an alibi. But someone is watching, and Pip may be in more danger than she realizes. Pip’s sleuthing is both impressive and accessible. Online articles about the case and interview transcripts are provided throughout, and Pip’s capstone logs offer insights into her thought processes as new evidence and suspects arise. Jackson’s debut is well-executed and surprises readers with a connective web of interesting characters and motives. Pip and Andie are white, and Sal is of Indian descent.
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
Did you like this book?
© Copyright 2023 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
