Well-meaning but does not add much to well-explored territory.
Growing up together in a small German town, Edie and Sabine are the best of friends.
As Hitler rises to power, things worsen for Edie, who is Jewish. She flees to Montreal with her mother after Kristallnacht, leaving behind her father and a heartbroken Sabine, whose own family is splintered by their different feelings about and involvement in Nazism. As the girls grow, their individual circumstances and the horrors of the world become terribly real, and each must make choices about who they will be and how they will live in dangerous times. While the goals of the story are worthy of respect, the relationships and plot points come across as heavy-handed and didactic rather than organic and dynamic. The narrative voices of the two protagonists often blend together despite their disparate experiences. Edie and Sabine are vessels for a narrative that tries to pull on readers’ heartstrings while lacking the complexity and depth of feeling this time in history deserves. It’s noteworthy that the details of Sabine’s German cultural milieu feel more fully realized than Edie’s Jewish heritage, which is touched on relatively lightly, often in moments that make a wider point about antisemitism rather than highlighting other aspects of Jewish life. This righteous gentile meets star-crossed friendship parable is a familiar tale that has been executed more effectively many times before.
Well-meaning but does not add much to well-explored territory. (author interview) (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-88995-663-6
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Red Deer Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
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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