Sweet but never sappy; heartbreaking but always hopeful.
Family isn’t limited to those connected by blood; sometimes it includes the people who are dearest to you.
Hazel leaves her mother and the bustle of London to live with her father, whom she’s just met, in a large house by the ocean in Queensland, Australia. Her father is genuinely happy to have the chance to get to know her, and although her first week at her new school isn’t without a few snags, Hazel’s classmates Maddie and Hunter welcome her with warmth and friendliness. She also befriends her neighbor, gay artist Red. The three help ease Hazel’s loneliness, but she longs for the day she can return to London and her mum. Red struggles with the theme of his big art project—family—for his is fractured. His mother tries hard to keep the peace, and his father works away from home most of the time. His fraternal twin brother, Luca, is withdrawn and angry; he hasn’t healed from the death of his best friend the year before. Themes of family, hope, and love permeate the novel as the three teens try to move forward with their lives, never forgetting those who are most important. Third-person narration is shared among Hazel, Red, and Luca and is interspersed with letters of childhood memories that Hazel writes to her mother. All characters are assumed white.
Sweet but never sappy; heartbreaking but always hopeful. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-374-30560-4
Page Count: 369
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
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
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
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