A suspenseful story of friendship and magic.
Four girls reckon with the costs and benefits of disappearing from their lives.
Callie kicks off the summer before senior year by welcoming her close friend Cleo back to her small, touristy town of Little Beach, North Carolina. Cleo’s a gay girl from Washington, D.C., who comes to the area every year to visit her grandparents; Callie and her best friend, Talia, met Cleo while playing on the beach as children. Joining Cleo this summer is Polly, a quiet girl whom Callie initially perceives as having “no presence whatsoever.” Soon, however, the four of them become fast friends. The three old friends are looking forward to working their usual summer jobs at the roller-skating rink as well as pursuing a group summer project, a long-standing tradition; last year, they learned to make ice cream. This summer, Cleo proposes something radical: learning how to disappear. She produces evidence from YouTube of girls who have successfully become invisible. Interspersed throughout the girls’ dogged disappearing efforts are the complications of teenage life; Talia is battling a toxic boyfriend, and bisexual Callie’s falling for sweet Adam Liu, her first boyfriend. The topics of disordered eating and race (Callie, Talia, and Polly read white, while Cleo is Black) are touched upon but would have benefitted from further interrogation. Nonetheless, the strength of the girls’ bonds makes this an original and worthwhile journey. Ominous, strategic foreshadowing creates anticipation, building eventually to a shocking, well-earned climax.
A suspenseful story of friendship and magic. (playlist) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9780593646175
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
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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