A thought-provoking look at femininity and sex, made all the more confusing by that ultimate contact sport—ballet.
Georgia’s first year at a prestigious Toronto ballet academy is fraught with conflicts arising from her parents’ disintegrating marriage and the blurred lines between her awakening sexuality and a most physical art form.
For the 14-year-old, the realization that her father, a married psychiatrist, had an affair with her mother when she was his student in college is one factor leading to her own obsession with her ballet teacher. Every touch in ballet class, meant as a correction to placement, is viewed as erotic. Spiraling downward, she photographs herself in the same pose as an online porn model, wraps the pictures in her thong and leaves them in his desk. Her family and the adults at the academy assume that she was the victim of a nonexistent exploitation, and Georgia is initially unable to voice an explanation or an apology. Another disturbing chain of events at the ballet academy leads a not-quite-thin-enough girl to anorexia. Schabas, in her debut title, does not include much detail about ballet class or rehearsal. Rather, she offers a penetrating glimpse into the troubled world of teen anxiety, compulsive behavior and peer pressure as seen through the eyes of a young woman with heightened sensory perceptions.
A thought-provoking look at femininity and sex, made all the more confusing by that ultimate contact sport—ballet. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-374-38086-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
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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