by Sofia Quintero ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 14, 2015
A must-read for fans of Walter Dean Myers' All the Right Stuff and other lovers of proud urban realism.
Academic ambition and hip-hop intersect in the South Bronx, where two friends spend a summer growing up and, unwillingly, apart.
Quintero details the summer of 1983, when the teens work what appears to be their final summer together as camp counselors. Raymond “Smiles” King is a smart, ambitious black teenager who has recently lost his mom to sickle cell anemia, and Guillermo “Nike” Vega is a Nuyorican Casanova and break-dancer who attempts to woo beautiful Sara, a new, mysterious girl in their neighborhood. Break-dancing and hip-hop are barely keeping their friendship together; shootings, neighborhood thugs, girls, and separate schools are no help. Racial and religious tensions are high not just in the Bronx, but in the Middle East, where the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is killing thousands, and all the while, the fear of AIDS is ever growing. Writing in an alternating first-person narrative, Quintero masters the characters’ colloquialisms and voices—Smiles is sensitive, self-aware, and Nike is hot-tempered, quick to challenge; both aspire to better lives. Quintero’s ability to deliver musical references, knowledge of 1980s vernacular, and b-boy jargon rivals Nike’s acrobatic, intricate footwork. Aside from a couple moments of misused Spanish, the Puerto Rican slang is in tune. The story is powerful and thought-provoking, an homage to a climactic hip-hop era, when friends are caught between aspirations and predetermined social disadvantages.
A must-read for fans of Walter Dean Myers' All the Right Stuff and other lovers of proud urban realism. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: July 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-375-84707-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
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by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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by Laura Nowlin
by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2013
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
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by Laura Nowlin
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