Wrenching and unmissable.
An immigrant family travels across the country to escape persecution.
Valentina González Ramirez, a teenage Colombian immigrant living in Southboro, Vermont, still remembers when the president won his third term and started building the Great American Wall between California and Mexico, implanting ID chips in people, and increasing deportation raids. It was in one of those raids that her father was captured and returned to Colombia, where he was murdered. After years of living in relative calm in Vermont, Vali and her family see a live-feed of a land mine exploding under the feet of a skinny girl in a worn Mickey Mouse T-shirt as she tries to cross the heavily guarded territory between Mexico and the U.S. Soon Vali’s world changes forever. Violent raids, increased security measures on ID chips, and California’s seceding to become a sanctuary push Vali, her mother, and her 8-year-old brother, Ernie, to embark on a journey to California and freedom. Mendoza and Sher’s novel is set in a not-so-distant dystopian future in which the government controls the broadcasting system and censors the media. In their portrayal of Vali’s family’s quest for safety, the authors beautifully mirror the treacherous, painful, and terrifying treks involving natural and human threats that migrants to the U.S. undertake as they traverse continents and oceans. Gruesome at times and always honest, Vali’s journey depicts immigrants’ desire for a safe and dignified life.
Wrenching and unmissable. (authors’ note) (Dystopian. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-984815-71-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: July 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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