Easily readable, clear-sighted, and empathetic writing.
In Thompson’s YA novel, a teen grapples with homelessness and a meth-addicted parent while also trying to address his floundering academic performance at high school.
In many ways, Doyle seems to be an average Edison High School student. He is the fastest runner in gym class, but he struggles with math and reading. Using peer tutoring and a helpful website that aids with math skills, Doyle hopes to raise his grades enough to be eligible for the track team. He’s also met a girl he likes named Olive. However, Doyle’s home life is a huge roadblock to his goals. Once, he lived in an apartment with a mom who made great coffee cake; now, the two currently sleep in Dover Park in their Nissan and wash up in the dirty park bathroom. Even worse, Doyle’s unemployed mom is addicted to meth and expects his help supporting her habit: In wealthy neighborhoods, Doyle’s tasked with swiping packages off porches so she can sell the contents. Everything changes when mother and son, holding a stolen laptop, get caught by the police. Though Doyle’s life wasn’t ideal before, he had become accustomed to it. Now, facing new challenges—such as placement with a foster family, life without his now-incarcerated mom, and an unexpected link to his peer tutor—Doyle struggles to once again find his footing. Thompson captures the essence of his 15-year-old narrator; not an enthusiastic reader, Doyle speaks using simple and drab words, but his own difficult circumstances give him sharp perceptions. (Of his English teacher, he says, “She’s old, and sometimes she gets cranky. But she cares about us.”) This pared-down approach also works well for supporting characters; though lightly sketched, they are fully dimensional. (Doyle’s mother’s teeth are turning brown, but she hopes to work again soon; Perry, Doyle’s tutor, is “mad-dogging” him one minute, helpful the next.) Thompson opts for realism rather than moralizing; Doyle is happy his mom will quit meth in prison, but he realizes she may relapse. The author does offer cautious hope and useful advice—to improve academically, Doyle reads books below his grade level and learns to accept help.
Easily readable, clear-sighted, and empathetic writing.Pub Date: May 11, 2024
ISBN: 9798989065769
Page Count: 117
Publisher: Finding Forward Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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