Hilarious, sweet, and absolutely super!
A fanboy’s dream becomes reality in this queer, romantic superhero story.
Nova City’s resident superhero, Shadow Star, fights his archnemesis, Pyro Storm, and Nick Bell is only a bit obsessed with (and maybe enamored of) him, as evidenced by his extensive fan fiction in which Shadow Star continually rescues Nick’s alter ego, Nate Belen. Nick knows that saving the city has a price, a lesson learned from his police officer father and his mother, who died in a bank robbery two years ago. When Shadow Star foils an attempted mugging, saving Nick and his friend Gibby, Nick nearly makes a complete fool of himself but snags a picture and an autograph that comes with a personalized note mentioning the surname Nick definitely did not tell his hero. Nick, who is white, is a rising junior with pronounced ADHD, and his character is sympathetic and charmingly hapless in the best of ways; readers will root for him to realize all the truths right under his nose, not least of which is his own worth. Nick’s best friend of nearly 10 years, Seth, is a pale, chubby, bisexual boy with thick glasses and baggy clothes. Gibby is a butch black lesbian; along with her girlfriend, they complete their circle of outcast friends. Klune plays with superhero genre tropes and fan-fiction clichés with the skill of a true fan—completely aware of their ridiculousness but in love with them anyway.
Hilarious, sweet, and absolutely super! (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: July 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-20365-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Tor Teen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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