A compelling tale of pizza, first love, and family loyalty.
In this nostalgic novel, a teenager starts delivering pizza under dire circumstances.
Seventeen-year-old Vinny Esposito has failed his driving test. In Eatontown, New Jersey, the sympathetic instructor lets him drive home, informing him that he can attempt the test again in three weeks. But at home, Vinny learns that his absentee mother has left for good, without even a note of explanation to him or his teen siblings, Laura and Timmy. With their father deceased, Vinny realizes he must join Timmy in the workforce to help support the family. He takes the Espositos’ old Datsun station wagon to Carlo’s Pizza and applies as a delivery driver. Vinny lies about having his driver’s license and joins the iconic neighborhood establishment. As a consistently hard worker, he impresses his mentor, Anthony, who soon promises him the chance for better pay. Eventually, Vinny begins making mysterious deliveries that involve empty pizza boxes and paper bags that he’s forbidden to peek into. He’s content to make the extra money and not ask questions. Then a letter from a bank arrives at the Esposito home. It says that the siblings must pay $17,000 or lose their house. Vinny unburdens himself to Anthony, who has a plan that might solve his problem—but can the teen avoid the entanglements of a dangerous business long enough to enact it? Ferraro’s novel focuses a loving eye on that staple of American culture, the family-owned Italian restaurant. Carlo’s has “plastic red and white checkered tablecloths” and wobbly tables that people forgive because the food is so good. Readers also learn of the restaurant’s sketchier dealings, the details of which play into Hollywood tropes of Italians as mobsters with hearts of gold. Certain elements, like the “rich douche” Billy Muscowski, feel rendered more to scratch the author’s nostalgic itch than serve the plot. But Vinny’s relationship with Anna Fanzotti, his forbidden first love, adds a mythic dimension to the protagonist’s heroic feats. Tonally, there is much to draw in the audience, especially the plot’s compact handling of Shakespearean-tinged romance and tragedy. By the end, readers will crave more from Vinny.
A compelling tale of pizza, first love, and family loyalty.Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2022
ISBN: 9798367131420
Page Count: 351
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring.
When Death-Cast doesn’t call, fate intertwines the lives of two boys, both haunted by their pasts and with futures they can’t escape.
In this third installment of the series that opened with 2017’s They Both Die at the End, Paz Dario waits every night for Death-Cast to call—as it should have for his father nearly 10 years ago, when Paz shot him to save his mother’s life. But the call never comes. Death-Cast killed Paz’s dreams of an acting career: No one will hire him now because the world sees him as a villain. When Paz tries (not for the first time) to put an end to his suffering, an unexpected encounter with Alano Rosa, the heir of Death-Cast, stops him. Both in a place of desperation, Alano and Paz sign a contract to live for Begin Days instead of waiting for their End Days. As suspenseful and emotionally wrenching as the previous titles in the series, this new installment explores heavy themes of abuse, mental health, self-harm, and suicide. Paz grapples with a recent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Silvera surrounds Alano and Paz with a web of complex relationships. Although the protagonists fall fast for one another and form a deep connection over Alano’s desire to support Paz, Silvera emphasizes the importance of professional help. Both Alano and Paz have Puerto Rican heritage. The cliffhanger ending promises more to come.
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring. (content warning, resources) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780063240858
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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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