A fun and uplifting story that celebrates female friendship and empowerment. (Fiction. 12-18)
Three smart and tech-savvy teenage girls are teamed up at ValleyStart, the country’s most prestigious high school tech incubator competition.
The prize is an internship with Pulse, the ultimate app that calculates each user’s level of influence across social media platforms. Palo Alto native Lucy Katz, a determined young socialite in the top percentile of her class, plans to elevate her unimpressive Pulse level and get into Stanford University with a win at ValleyStart. Maddie Li, a gifted graphic designer from Cambridge, Massachusetts, could care less about her Pulse score and is only at ValleyStart to build her portfolio. Shy Delia Meyer, a self-taught coder from Littlewood, Illinois, hopes that a Pulse internship will lead to a job that will not require an expensive college education. Upon their first meeting, the three feel incompatible. But the chance to become the first all-female team to win at ValleyStart raises the stakes, encouraging them to prove themselves in a male-dominated field and pave the way for other young women engineers. Predictably, all three fit a specific archetype—Lucy, the fearless leader; Maddie, the tough chick; Delia, the quiet X factor. But their teamwork and appreciation toward women entrepreneurs who came before them make this a welcome addition to the literature. Lucy is white and Jewish, Delia is white, and Maddie is half Irish/half Chinese.
A fun and uplifting story that celebrates female friendship and empowerment. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-4514-8159-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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
SEEN & HEARD
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
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