A gripping cautionary tale.
Two 10th graders become entangled in a social media relationship.
Lainey Johnston is reeling from too many changes: Her parents recently divorced; her twin brother, Aidan, is leaving Connecticut to live with their dad in California; her stepmother is pregnant; and her friends are seemingly growing apart from her. Lainey’s anxiety compounds her feelings of being overwhelmed. Fortunately, she finds a supportive friend and confidante online—Elizabeth “Bliss” Batrowny, a TikTok influencer from New York with cerebral palsy. Optimistic and witty, Bliss is confident enough to pursue what she wants, like her school musical’s lead role, Cinderella. But behind the scenes, as her follower numbers skyrocket and paying sponsors come knocking, Bliss feels trapped by objectifying, prying fans, and her financially struggling parents’ strict management of her content. Her experiences vividly illustrate how social media can perpetuate ableist tropes, such as casting disabled people as inspirations or charity cases. When Bliss cracks under the pressure, Lainey rushes to her aid—and everything changes. Lainey’s and Bliss’ alternating first-person perspectives weave between past and present, building uneasily to a shocking, tension-filled twist. Though somewhat heavy-handed at times, their respective narratives highlight numerous critical issues, including the pitfalls of social media influencing, the psychology of parasocial relationships, disability and financial concerns, and the complicated aftermath of divorce. Lainey and Bliss are white, and there’s racial diversity among the secondary characters.
A gripping cautionary tale. (authors’ note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2025
ISBN: 9781339038261
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
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
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told.
A devastating tale of greed and secrets springs from the summer that tore Cady’s life apart.
Cady Sinclair’s family uses its inherited wealth to ensure that each successive generation is blond, beautiful and powerful. Reunited each summer by the family patriarch on his private island, his three adult daughters and various grandchildren lead charmed, fairy-tale lives (an idea reinforced by the periodic inclusions of Cady’s reworkings of fairy tales to tell the Sinclair family story). But this is no sanitized, modern Disney fairy tale; this is Cinderella with her stepsisters’ slashed heels in bloody glass slippers. Cady’s fairy-tale retellings are dark, as is the personal tragedy that has led to her examination of the skeletons in the Sinclair castle’s closets; its rent turns out to be extracted in personal sacrifices. Brilliantly, Lockhart resists simply crucifying the Sinclairs, which might make the family’s foreshadowed tragedy predictable or even satisfying. Instead, she humanizes them (and their painful contradictions) by including nostalgic images that showcase the love shared among Cady, her two cousins closest in age, and Gat, the Heathcliff-esque figure she has always loved. Though increasingly disenchanted with the Sinclair legacy of self-absorption, the four believe family redemption is possible—if they have the courage to act. Their sincere hopes and foolish naïveté make the teens’ desperate, grand gesture all that much more tragic.
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: May 13, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-74126-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
PROFILES
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