An optimistic but unremarkable coming-of-age narrative.
When a hateful, viral email exposes a gay teen’s plan to ask his crush to prom, he and his friends rally together against the bigotry in their small Michigan town.
The end of senior year looms on the horizon. After Sky came out as gay over the winter holidays, his conservative Christian mother kicked him out, and he moved in with his friend Bree, a wealthy girl with a supportive family. Sky’s life explodes when someone hacks into the yearbook’s weekly email newsletter and spreads an Islamophobic, homophobic message about his private plans to ask another boy to prom. Apart from Sky’s crush, Ali, who is Iraqi American, and Sky’s best friend, Marshall, who is Black, the characters are all White. Learning to understand race and privilege plays a role in the story for Sky; early on he states that he’s among the few people close enough to Marshall to joke with him about race. Later he recognizes how many details about his friend’s life he is unaware of. A minor trans character also serves as a learning opportunity for Sky. The characterization overall lacks depth: Ali’s family’s experience living in an area filled with MAGA supporters is not developed, and Bree’s autistic 12-year-old brother, who has a neurotypical twin, is depicted in a way that feels infantilizing. However, the plot is suspenseful, the resolution is hopeful, and the story has positive moments—as with the casual, nonstigmatizing acknowledgement of porn.
An optimistic but unremarkable coming-of-age narrative. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-7785-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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