Engrossing, dramatic, and character-driven.
San Francisco teens are drawn into a missing person investigation involving a famous young influencer.
Best friends Philippa “Pippa” Santos and Elizabeth “Bidi” Jones are in some ways an unlikely pair: Dreamy, impulsive Pippa is preoccupied with flowers, while Bidi’s self-possessed surety drives her plan to run for city council as soon as she’s 18. When Pippa witnesses the abduction of Estella Aubergine, a wealthy Black girl with a strange, reclusive white mother, she and Bidi, tempted by the life-changing $250,00 reward, decide to find her. They rope in Bidi’s cousin Maurice “Mo” Walker, a tech-savvy scholarship student at Beaumont Academy, where Estella is a rising senior. The narrative moves backward and forward in time, primarily alternating between the two friends’ first-person perspectives. Each voice is distinct, allowing readers to understand more about the teens’ lives and how their experiences have shaped them. Brazilian American Pippa doesn’t have her “Mamãe’s melanin, but [she] did get her hair,” which is thick and curly. She was raised by her Tia Jo, and they struggle to keep their neighborhood shop going amid the pressures of gentrification. Bidi, who’s Black, is passionate about social issues, including “the imbalance in resources offered when lower-income Black and Brown girls go missing.” The story contains shocking twists, an intricate backstory, and an almost gothic atmosphere that mystery fans will appreciate.
Engrossing, dramatic, and character-driven. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: July 14, 2026
ISBN: 9780593124345
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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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