A highly original tale exploring grief and weaving together the realistic and fantastical.
A guilt-stricken 14-year-old Black girl in Harlem travels with her cousin and her brother’s best friend on an underground odyssey as she tries to make sense of her grief.
The murder of Harriet Adu’s older brother, Tunde, in a shooting at their old school fractured her family. Attending a new school, where her reputation as “The Girl Whose Brother Died” follows her, hasn’t made Harriet feel any less lonely. Even the presence of Nikka (her cousin) and attempts by Luke (Tunde’s best friend) to support her can’t blot out the guilt she feels over the last words she said to her brother during a fight on the morning of the day he died: “I wish you were dead.” The swimming pool, once the only place where Harriet felt safe, becomes strangely malevolent when an unseen force attacks her in the water. Soon after, a new classmate named Alisia arrives and, with her talk of people living in subway tunnels and stories that are “different the second time around,” seemingly offers Harriet a pathway to the absolution that she seeks. Visions of Tunde and a near-drowning lead Luke and Nikka to help Harriet figure out what’s going on. Although the backstory of the underground world isn’t sufficiently revealed, the genre-crossing elements and the story’s surreal fun house vibe will keep readers on the edges of their seats.
A highly original tale exploring grief and weaving together the realistic and fantastical. (Speculative fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781646141814
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and...
A deliciously creepy page-turning gem from first-time writer and illustrator Brosgol finds brooding teenager Anya trying to escape the past—both her own and the ghost haunting her.
Anya feels out of place at her preppy private school; embarrassed by her Russian heritage, she has worked hard to lose her accent and to look more like everyone else. After a particularly frustrating morning at the bus stop, Anya storms off, only to accidentally fall down a well. Down in the dark hole, she meets Emily, a ghost who claims to be a murder victim trapped down in the dank abyss for 90 years. With Emily’s help, Anya manages to escape, though once free, she learns that Emily has traveled out with her. At first, Emily seems like the perfect friend; however, once her motives become clear, Anya learns that “perfect” may only be an illusion. A moodily atmospheric spectrum of grays washes over the clean, tidy panels, setting a distinct stage before the first words appear. Brosgol’s tight storytelling invokes the chilling feeling of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), though for a decidedly older set.
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and outward appearance. (Graphic supernatural fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-552-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
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