This heartfelt and page-turning debut introduces readers to a whip-smart and wise heroine.
The daughter of a bestselling mystery author turns to her favorite literary sleuths for inspiration to find her missing father.
A few days before winter break of her senior year, 17-year-old Imogene Scott's father, a medical mystery writer (think Robin Cook meets Patricia Cornwell), leaves in the middle of the night and doesn't return home. While her therapist stepmother wants the police to go public with the news, Imogene secretly believes he's gone looking for her birth mother, who abandoned the family when she was a baby. With just a couple of clues and a lifetime of investigative skills she's memorized from reading her father's books and classic mysteries, Imogene goes on a hunt to find both her long-lost mother and her now-gone father. Refreshingly direct and unapologetic, Imogene is far from a stereotypical people-pleasing, boy-obsessed teen girl. She's intelligent and courageous and has no patience for foolishness, even though she nurses an unrequited crush on her best friend’s older brother. She's not always easy to like, but she's captivating as she delves into the murky waters of her dysfunctional family tree. Imogene's fiercely determined to arm herself with the spirits of Lisbeth Salander, Annika Bengtzon, Sherlock Holmes, and her father's own protagonist, Miles Faye, to figure out her life's greatest mystery: the truth about her parents. Although there's a sprinkling of romantic tension and an authentically portrayed best friendship, the author smartly focuses on Imogene's journey of self-discovery.
This heartfelt and page-turning debut introduces readers to a whip-smart and wise heroine. (Mystery. 13-18)Pub Date: Jan. 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-237334-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
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
A standing ovation.
Tackles family secrets, toxic masculinity, and socio-economic differences with incisive clarity and candor.
Camino Rios lives in the Dominican Republic and yearns to go to Columbia University in New York City, where her father works most of the year. Yahaira Rios, who lives in Morningside Heights, hasn’t spoken to her dad since the previous summer, when she found out he has another wife in the Dominican Republic. Their lives collide when this man, their dad, dies in an airplane crash with hundreds of other passengers heading to the island. Each protagonist grieves the tragic death of their larger-than-life father and tries to unravel the tangled web of lies he kept secret for almost 20 years. The author pays reverent tribute to the lives lost in a similar crash in 2001. The half sisters are vastly different—Yahaira is dark skinned, a chess champion who has a girlfriend; Camino is lighter skinned, a talented swimmer who helps her curandera aunt deliver neighborhood babies. Despite their differences, they slowly forge a tenuous bond. The book is told in alternating chapters with headings counting how many days have passed since the fateful event. Acevedo balances the two perspectives with ease, contrasting the girls’ environments and upbringings. Camino’s verses read like poetic prose, flowing and straightforward. Yahaira’s sections have more breaks and urgent, staccato beats. Every line is laced with betrayal and longing as the teens struggle with loving someone despite his imperfections.
A standing ovation. (Verse novel. 14-18)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-288276-9
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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