Captivating and heartfelt.
In 2024, a 17-year-old New Jersey girl travels to Cuba to honor her abuela’s deathbed wishes.
Third-generation Cuban American Evamar adored her mysterious, folklorist grandmother so much that she overcomes her fear of visiting Cuba, with all its suffering and instability. She travels with her brother, Cedro, to spread sunflower seeds nourished by their grandmother’s ashes in her homeland. Eighteen-year-old musician Río was raised in Florida, but at age 16, after being wrongly accused of drug smuggling, he was deported alone back to his birth country of Cuba. Initially forced to do his military service—hard labor just like that endured by his “enslaved / Taíno / and Yoruba / ancestors,” talented drummer Río now suffers extreme poverty under the oppressive dictatorship. He resists misleadingly lucrative Russian army recruitment offers that involve “spreading death all over Ukraine.” When Cedro hires him and his cousin as guides, Río and Evamar meet. Written in beautifully emotive verse, the story alternates between the pair’s perspectives as they fall passionately in love, despite the looming challenges of a long-distance romance complicated by international politics. Río is by Evamar’s side as she fulfills her abuela’s final wishes, including reading her diaries and embracing her Taíno heritage and the Taíno language, awakening “the words / that have waited so patiently for so long.” Readers will root for the young couple and, after a deeply buried secret is revealed, they’ll hope for a sequel to explore its possibilities.
Captivating and heartfelt. (author’s note, references) (Verse fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9781665988070
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
PERSPECTIVES
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
