An affecting, if slow-paced, tale that sheds light on a difficult condition.
After being diagnosed with lupus, a teenage girl struggles to adapt in this YA novel.
Fifteen-year-old Rayanne Ericson lives with her mother and stepfamily in Savannah, Georgia, but regularly visits her Swedish father, Nils, in Ann Arbor, where he’s an economics professor at the University of Michigan. When she arrives on her latest trip, Ray is seriously ill, with red skin, a rash on her face, and painful and swollen joints; she’s fatigued and short of breath. Nils takes her to a rheumatologist, who diagnoses Ray with the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus, also called lupus or SLE. With Michigan having better medical care, Ray accepts her father’s offer to move in with him. She’s got one friend her age there already, Charles Wong, whose mother is Nils’ best friend. Charles drives himself hard to reach his goal: being accepted into Caltech’s robotics program. He considers himself a geek, believing that his crush on model-gorgeous Ray is hopeless. As for Ray, she suddenly realizes that Charles is beautiful but thinks that, although she’s a talented artist, she is not smart enough for him and could be a distraction. Each has personal challenges to overcome if their friendship will ever become something more. In her second novel featuring a hero with lupus, Hsu deftly explains the symptoms, treatment, and prognosis of the disease. Beyond that, Charles and Ray expand their horizons over the course of the book. Their slowly developed romance is sweet but also becomes heated. Both have struggles that add emotional depth; Ray, for example, learns that her mother lied about Nils not wanting her. But momentum drags because of much repetition of well-established points, such as Charles’ belief that “girls like her didn’t date guys like me.”
An affecting, if slow-paced, tale that sheds light on a difficult condition.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73654-341-2
Page Count: 283
Publisher: Li-Mei Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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