An emotionally resonant portrait of a young woman learning that home may be less a place than a process.
An Egyptian American Muslim teen navigates the transition from adolescence to early adulthood amid competing personal, familial, and cultural expectations.
Anisa is a high school senior and aspiring artist from Long Island, caught between her creative ambitions and her immigrant parents’ expectation that she follow her older sister, Reem, into medicine. After a discouraging first semester at college, Anisa accompanies Reem, who’s completing a medical rotation, to Egypt, where she spends time with extended family and gains space to reflect and recalibrate. Immersed in a new environment, she deepens her relationship with Islam, experiments with wearing hijab, and begins to take her artistic ambitions more seriously. When a family health crisis draws her back to the U.S., Anisa must reconcile the growth she experienced abroad with the realities she left behind. Hamdy’s storytelling centers on interior conflict, using Anisa’s perspective to examine themes of diasporic identity, religious self-definition, and intergenerational tension. El Mir’s black-and-white art conveys fluid motion, and her inventive layouts keep the narrative visually engaging, alternating between structured panels and looser, sketchlike sequences that reflect Anisa’s point of view. A diverse supporting cast grounds the story in contemporary New York and Egypt, and Arabic text appears throughout the dialogue, contextualized through visuals, narration, and in the backmatter, reinforcing cultural specificity while remaining widely accessible. The result is a measured, thoughtful, and complex coming-of-age story.
An emotionally resonant portrait of a young woman learning that home may be less a place than a process. (author’s note) (Graphic fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9780735229440
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
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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