Next book

RIGHT ON CUE

A compact, emotionally resonant tale ideal for reluctant readers.

A high school senior dreaming of a filmmaking career gets sidetracked when her newly sober mother reenters her life.

Five years with stable, loving foster parents have enabled Alex to leave her chaotic childhood behind and envision a future studying film at a New York college to which her art teacher, a former foster kid herself, encourages her to apply. Each applicant must submit a short documentary. Alex has procrastinated and further loses focus when she learns that her birth mom, Marie, now sober but gravely ill, wants to see her. Fearing a reprise of Marie’s humiliating drunken behavior in public two years earlier, Alex visits reluctantly. Aware that frail Marie is eager for her companionship and love, Alex holds back, unwilling to trust her continued sobriety—they’ve been here before. But witnessing Marie’s illness firsthand dissolves Alex’s resistance; she begins to let go of past pain and, with awakening compassion, to forgive. Ignoring college application deadlines, Alex embraces this all-consuming reconnection. Then Marie starts pulling away and suddenly disappears. The short, evocative poems bring Alex to passionate life, sustaining readers’ interest. Selectively omitting granular details, Bradley keeps readers’ attention on the universalities of Alex’s journey to acknowledge and heal the emotional scars she bears, accept the support she needs, and, despite everything, find a place for Marie in her heart. Characters are racially ambiguous.

A compact, emotionally resonant tale ideal for reluctant readers. (Verse novel. 12-18)

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-9785-9617-7

Page Count: 200

Publisher: West 44 Books

Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022

Next book

INDIVISIBLE

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

Awards & Accolades

Likes

  • Readers Vote
  • 10


Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT


  • New York Times Bestseller

Next book

CARAVAL

From the Caraval series , Vol. 1

Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.

Awards & Accolades

Likes

  • Readers Vote
  • 10


Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT


  • New York Times Bestseller

Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.

Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.

Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016

Close Quickview