A sweeping, heartfelt read that celebrates the power of truth.
Hindu epic meets high school drama.
A mock trial becomes intensely personal for Indian American sophomore Siya Kumar when the case her team is working on is eerily similar to the circumstances of her lawyer mother’s death. She has a budding crush on good-looking Rajiv Raghavan, school all-star and co-head of the mock trial team, but things get even more complicated when truths become mired in controversies, secrets, and distrust, obscuring Siya’s foundational relationships and memories. Still, the aspiring attorney holds on to her mother’s belief in telling the truth. The story becomes entwined with that of the goddess Sita from the Ramayana. Siya’s mother loved Sita, the wife of Rama, even giving her daughter one of her many names. (Raj, coincidentally, was named after Rama.) Siya’s English teacher encourages her to consider depictions of women, and she reflects on what it takes to tell the truth, and how Sita’s “story ends with loss…not because she couldn’t prove herself a truth-teller, but despite the fact that she did.” The book questions privilege, social media fallout, and bitter rivalries, but it also tenderly portrays grief and its aftermath, as the Kumars navigate changes, including Siya’s college-aged sister Asha’s disapproval of their father’s dating the widowed Aparna Auntie. In her YA debut, LaRocca weaves a gripping narrative with sharply etched characters, a tightly written plot, and emotional highs and lows.
A sweeping, heartfelt read that celebrates the power of truth. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2026
ISBN: 9780063296879
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 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
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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