An ambitious tale that mostly falls flat.
A grieving teen lashes out in this dark comedy.
In a small town in Montana, 15-year-old Tiffany Templeton is “the toughest girl in the trailer park”—but no one knows she keeps a typewriter case filled with secrets hidden behind the laundromat. Tiffany used to be bullied for how fat her parents were, but then her father died unexpectedly last year. Her mother had bariatric surgery and now tracks her weight loss on the price sign in front of the town’s only gas station. Tiffany stays busy working on a play she wrote about young prostitutes who died in a fire in 1911—directed by her gay best friend and acted by a group of senior citizens. In scenes that flash back and forth in time, Tiffany reveals the events that led to her being sentenced to three months in juvenile detention. Fifield (The Flood Girls, 2016, etc.) succeeds in delivering a cast of quirky, unpredictable characters and an intriguing plot, especially when he focuses on the unspooling of Tiffany’s backstory. However, the uneven pace and several unfortunate flippant and insensitive remarks that misfire as humor are at odds with the otherwise strong writing. All main characters are white except for Tiffany’s probation officer, who is black.
An ambitious tale that mostly falls flat. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3589-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Exhilarating, nonstop fun.
A murder on The Escape Game, a popular reality TV show, puts the next round of contestants at risk—can they all get out alive?
The previous season of the show, in which groups of teens race to get through escape rooms, ended in disaster when Sierra Angelos and her team discovered another player lying dead in a coffin—her older sister, Alicia. But the network and ruthless executive producer determine that the show will go on. Prickly, olive-skinned Sierra, whom some suspect of murder, is returning—and she’s determined to find the killer. Her new team includes math whiz Carter Kelly, who’s Black; home-schooled, white-presenting Beck Matheson, who designs his own escape rooms and is trans; and Aditya Parvesh, who’s cued South Asian, has a way with words, and was pushed into auditioning by his movie star mother. At first, Team Helsing struggles to gel, but the teens’ shared desire to prove themselves makes them a formidable powerhouse—even if they’re hiding some of their true goals from one another. As clues to the killer’s identity start appearing, the players must try to make it to the finale before someone else becomes the next victim. This thrilling whodunit moves at a page-turning pace; the occasional reveals for the main mystery are well balanced with the tighter sequences of solving the escape rooms. The narration rotates among the central cast, allowing readers to empathize with each character in turn and be privy to even more intrigue.
Exhilarating, nonstop fun. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798217006120
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 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
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