A worthy story about Cuba’s feminist history that moves too quickly.
Rima Marín fights overwhelming oppression in 1920s Cuba.
Life isn’t easy for Rima, a 12-year-old living in Guanabacoa, Cuba, in 1923. She lives with her mother and grandmother and helps them with their lacemaking and blacksmithing, but she’s a squatter on her father’s land. Brown-skinned, multiracial Rima is a “natural” child, born out of wedlock, possessing no rights, and not acknowledged as a member of her father’s family; meanwhile, her light-skinned half sister, Violeta, leads a privileged life with their father. Rima lives in a time when it is within the men’s legal rights to murder their wives or daughters if they are caught with a lover (the other men are fair game, too). Clearly, she’s got a lot to rebel against, and readers will understand why she becomes a mambisa, joining a legacy of women activists on horseback who fought for Cuba’s independence from Spain and women’s suffrage. The life of this fictional character highlights crucial subjects, such as Cuba’s complex ethnic and racial history and the long struggle for women’s rights. Unfortunately, the book’s brevity doesn’t allow readers to dig deeply enough into these issues. The poetry is beautiful, but the verse form paired with a fast-paced plot—Rima’s narrative jumps through time and plot points at lightning speed—leaves readers feeling breathless.
A worthy story about Cuba’s feminist history that moves too quickly. (historical note, timeline) (Verse novel. 12-18)Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-8693-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
Ideal for readers seeking perspectives on war, with a heavy dash of romance and touch of fantasy.
A war between gods plays havoc with mortals and their everyday lives.
In a time of typewriters and steam engines, Iris Winnow awaits word from her older brother, who has enlisted on the side of Enva the Skyward goddess. Alcohol abuse led to her mother’s losing her job, and Iris has dropped out of school and found work utilizing her writing skills at the Oath Gazette. Hiding the stress of her home issues behind a brave face, Iris competes for valuable assignments that may one day earn her the coveted columnist position. Her rival for the job is handsome and wealthy Roman Kitt, whose prose entrances her so much she avoids reading his articles. At home, she writes cathartic letters to her brother, never posting them but instead placing them in her wardrobe, where they vanish overnight. One day Iris receives a reply, which, along with other events, pushes her to make dramatic life decisions. Magic plays a quiet role in this story, and readers may for a time forget there is anything supernatural going on. This is more of a wartime tale of broken families, inspired youths, and higher powers using people as pawns. It flirts with clichéd tropes but also takes some startling turns. Main characters are assumed White; same-sex marriages and gender equality at the warfront appear to be the norm in this world.
Ideal for readers seeking perspectives on war, with a heavy dash of romance and touch of fantasy. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-85743-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
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
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