A quietly devastating book about clashing hopes and realities.
Seventeen-year-old Asad feels trapped by a life of poverty and disillusionment in Gaza.
As he walks from the two-room home with its tin roof that he shares in the refugee camp with his mother and seven siblings, past the prison where his father is being held, Asad feels the weight of the world on his shoulders. When he’s not in school, he helps support his family by working at a printing press, but his future seems clouded by despair. At Um Fawzi’s neighborhood store, Asad finds comfort in her frank speech and wise words. The older lady in turn trusts him with her deepest secrets. He also shares an unspoken bond with a beautiful girl named Houriya, which grows through the books they exchange. Um Fawzi steers Asad toward channeling his simmering resentments into securing a scholarship abroad. Later, as he leaves Gaza, he reflects on Um Fawzi’s eerily prescient words: “the specters of those who lived in Gaza…remain in Gaza.” Set in 2011–2012, and recently translated from Arabic, this compelling novel by Attaallah, a Palestinian author from Gaza, provides glimpses into daily life. Asad’s frustrations and crushing, claustrophobic environment are balanced by Um Fawzi’s and Houriya’s hope and love. Gaza itself is a living, breathing character. Its quiet libraries, music concerts, eager students, tall residential towers, and parks full of laughing children, cheek by jowl with refugee camps, feel like haunting echoes of a once vibrant and resilient city.
A quietly devastating book about clashing hopes and realities. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: June 16, 2026
ISBN: 9781646146291
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
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
Exactly what the title promises.
A grieving teen’s devotion to romance films might ruin her chances at actual romance.
Liz Buxbaum has always adored rom-coms, not least for helping her still feel close to her screenwriter mother, who died when she was little. Liz hopes that her senior year might turn into a real-life romantic fantasy, as an old crush has moved back to town, cuter and nicer than ever. Surely she can get Michael to ask her to prom. If only Wes, the annoying boy next door, would help her with her scheming! This charming, fluffy concoction manages to pack into one goofy plot every conceivable trope, from fake dating to the makeover to the big misunderstanding. Creative, quirky, daydreaming Liz is just shy of an annoying stereotype, saved by a dry wit and unresolved grief and anger. Wes makes for a delightful bad boy with a good heart, and supporting characters—including a sassy best friend, a perfect popular rival, even a (not really) evil stepmother—all get the opportunity to transcend their roles. The only villain here is Liz’s lovelorn imagination, provoking her into foolish lies that cause actual hurt feelings; but she is sufficiently self-aware to make amends just in time for the most important trope of all: a blissfully happy ending. All characters seem to be White by default.
Exactly what the title promises. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6762-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK TO SCREEN
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