An entertaining, distinctive voice addresses a serious and timely subject with intelligence and insight.
A 14-year-old girl’s predatory teacher takes advantage of her crush on him in this YA novel.
Navigating your freshman year can be difficult, but at least auburn-haired Coral Wilene Anderson can ride the bus to Charles Creek High School with her best friend, Delainey Cleveland. Cheerleader Delainey has a new circle of A-list friends; she tries to include Coral, but it’s not a good fit. Team captain/queen bee Brancy Weaver and her moneyed clique wear sexy designer outfits, drink, steal, and make out in public, all unthinkable in Coral’s straight-laced family. A bright spot is Mr. Satchel Patterson, the algebra teacher; Coral has a ginormous crush on him and is thrilled when her parents hire him to tutor her in math. After a diary-related disaster, Coral gets an undeserved reputation as a snitch, blowing up her social life. When she bursts into tears during tutoring, Mr. Patterson is kind and supportive; he listens, supplies a handkerchief, gives her a hug—and kisses her. He begs her not to tell and she agrees, since she’s no snitch, and besides, the kiss is heavenly. The immoral Mr. Patterson continues his disturbing, predatory grooming, leading to serious consequences. Eadie, who has written several books, gives Coral a vividly slangy, hyperbolic teenage voice, especially in her diary’s catch phrases, such as “Paging God. Urgent knee-mail.” Coral’s emotions are all on the surface, but her narration also reveals subtle undercurrents: her parents’ overly strict, infantilizing rules; Mr. Patterson’s sly, careful manipulation of her naïveté and vulnerability; and the victim-blaming that Coral faces in the aftermath of revelations, even from her family: “My father didn’t look at me too much anymore or talk to me. He said he was ashamed.”
An entertaining, distinctive voice addresses a serious and timely subject with intelligence and insight.Pub Date: July 30, 2020
ISBN: 979-8-66-419092-2
Page Count: 230
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 7, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring.
When Death-Cast doesn’t call, fate intertwines the lives of two boys, both haunted by their pasts and with futures they can’t escape.
In this third installment of the series that opened with 2017’s They Both Die at the End, Paz Dario waits every night for Death-Cast to call—as it should have for his father nearly 10 years ago, when Paz shot him to save his mother’s life. But the call never comes. Death-Cast killed Paz’s dreams of an acting career: No one will hire him now because the world sees him as a villain. When Paz tries (not for the first time) to put an end to his suffering, an unexpected encounter with Alano Rosa, the heir of Death-Cast, stops him. Both in a place of desperation, Alano and Paz sign a contract to live for Begin Days instead of waiting for their End Days. As suspenseful and emotionally wrenching as the previous titles in the series, this new installment explores heavy themes of abuse, mental health, self-harm, and suicide. Paz grapples with a recent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Silvera surrounds Alano and Paz with a web of complex relationships. Although the protagonists fall fast for one another and form a deep connection over Alano’s desire to support Paz, Silvera emphasizes the importance of professional help. Both Alano and Paz have Puerto Rican heritage. The cliffhanger ending promises more to come.
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring. (content warning, resources) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780063240858
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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
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