Readers will quickly become frustrated by the uneven plot and the setting of summer camp, which never makes it past cliché.
Three sisters try to figure out themselves and their relationships with each other during their last summer together at Camp Callanwolde.
Calla is ambitious, smart and obsessed with her longtime crush and never boyfriend, Duncan. Violet is artistic, confident and head over heels with James, who is definitely off-limits. Daisy is athletic and taken by surprise by Joel, who is as intriguing as he is confusing. Everything seems on course for it to be the best summer ever, when Brynn, a girl who is determined to make things happen, turns all their lives upside down. Brynn is sometimes a catalyst for good, encouraging Daisy to try the zip line and to stand up to the girls intent on bullying her. However, in the midst of her shenanigans she nearly destroys the bonds of trust that exist between the sisters. Rather than forging their own summer experiences, the sisters seem at the mercy of their circumstances, a lack of growth that makes the story unsatisfying. The sisters’ three stories merge and separate as the point of view shifts from one sister to the next with each new chapter. Shifting narrators, a too-large cast and competing, rather than complementing, story lines keep this tale from ever finding its legs.
Readers will quickly become frustrated by the uneven plot and the setting of summer camp, which never makes it past cliché. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: May 3, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0213-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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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