Unlikely to draw much of a crowd—but it could be meaningful to the readers who need it most.
A closeted teen galvanizes his small town’s first-ever Pride parade.
Months after Ryan saved Jack from drowning, Jack wonders if they’re really friends at all. Meanwhile, Jack takes swimming lessons from Cody, a Thompson Mills “triple threat” (“misogynistic, homophobic, and relatively racist”). Things on the friendship front start to look up when gorgeous, city boy Benjamin shows up in art class. As luck would have it, Benjamin is gay, too. But, unlike Jack, Benjamin has no intention of hiding it. After a tragic accident sends Benjamin to the hospital, Jack decides to show Thompson Mills—a town that’s “so small that being different usually means you’re flying solo”—exactly what community looks like. This companion novel to Shaw’s Caterpillars Can’t Swim (2017) shifts the first-person narrative focus to Jack instead of Ryan. Though there are two biracial leads (Jack is Guatemalan/white, Benjamin is Chinese/white), their descriptions name and focus on their nonwhite ancestry in a way that only serves to emphasize whiteness as the default. Ryan has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. This story of rural Pride is at times inspirational, but it is flattened by Shaw’s perpetuation of queer stereotypes (e.g., the camp gay mentor). Nonetheless, the intersectional characters make this “out of the closet, into the fire” tale a slight scratch above the rest.
Unlikely to draw much of a crowd—but it could be meaningful to the readers who need it most. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77260-108-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Second Story Press
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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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