In this sequel to Joseph (2008), the title character now lives with his Aunt Shirley, Uncle Todd and cousin Jasmine. He works at Target and looks forward to beginning his sophomore year. Despite his attempts to distance himself from his drug-addicted mother and her dangerous boyfriend, Bow, she constantly solicits him for drug money. Hopes for a fresh start are shattered when an armed Bow comes to Joseph’s home in a rage looking for his mom. When Joseph refuses to open the door, Bow shoots and kills Jasmine. Even as he tries to comfort his inconsolable aunt and uncle and cope with his own guilt over Jasmine’s death, Joseph heroically strives to keep up with his schoolwork, his job, sports and a girlfriend. Joseph’s almost superhuman resilience and dogged determination are moving and inspiring. The narrative power of Joseph’s many struggles loses some impact, however, when Moses resolves his troubles too abruptly and neatly. Emotionally invested readers will be pleased with the hopeful ending, though, even if it’s on the tidy side. (Fiction. 12-16)
Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4169-3942-9
Page Count: 160
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
A cute, feel-good coming-of-age story.
A DNA test reveals that Abby has a sister she never knew about—and they head off to summer camp together to uncover family secrets.
When 16-year-old Abby’s best friend and secret crush, Leo, asks her to do a mail-in DNA test with him, Abby mostly agrees to give him a little push, as he clearly wants to find out more about his birth family. While the results don’t help Leo, they bring a shocking result for Abby: She has a full-blooded sister, 18-year-old Instagram wellness star Savvy, who lives in another Seattle suburb. After meeting and realizing their respective parents used to be friends, the two girls decide to meet again at summer camp. Unfortunately, camp gets off to a rough start; Savvy is a stickler for rules, Abby didn’t read the rules in the first place, and Leo is a camp chef, which only intensifies Abby’s feelings for him. With a summer full of new friends, hijinks, delicious food, and digging up secrets, Abby has to learn to lean in and own up to the complicated parts of life. This is a heartwarming novel of friendship and family, with a little romance. The story and characters have depth and emotion, touching on topics of broken friendships, losing a loved one, deception, social media, and pursuing what you love. Abby, Savvy, and Leo’s adoptive parents are White; Leo is Filipino.
A cute, feel-good coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-23730-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
SEEN & HEARD
Within the standard-issue teen romance is a heartfelt, wryly perceptive account of coming to terms with irrevocable loss...
Jessie’s unassimilated grief over her mother’s death makes her dad’s abrupt marriage to Rachel, a wealthy widow he met online, and their subsequent move from Chicago to her mansion in Los Angeles feel like betrayal.
Rachel’s son wants nothing to do with Jessie. Her first week at his private school is agonizing. When she gets an email from “Somebody Nobody,” claiming to be a male student in the school and offering to act as her “virtual spirit guide,” Jessie’s suspicious, but she accepts—she needs help. SN’s a smart, funny, supportive guide, advising her whom to befriend and whom to avoid while remaining stubbornly anonymous. Meanwhile, Jessie makes friends, is picked as study partner by the coolest guy in AP English, and finds a job in a bookstore, working with the owner’s son, Liam. But questions abound. Why is Liam’s girlfriend bullying her? What should she do about SN now that she’s crushing on study-partner Ethan? Readers will have answers long before Jessie does. It’s overfamiliar territory: a protagonist unaware she’s gorgeous, oblivious to male admiration; a jealous, mean-girl antagonist; a secret admirer, easily identified. It’s the authentic depiction of grief—how Jessie and other characters respond to loss, get stuck, struggle to break through—devoid of cliché, that will keep readers engaged. Though one of Jessie’s friends has a Spanish surname, rich, beautiful, mostly white people are the order of the day.
Within the standard-issue teen romance is a heartfelt, wryly perceptive account of coming to terms with irrevocable loss when life itself means inevitable change. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-53564-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
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