Tackles a complex subject without sufficient depth.
Prompted by an unplanned pregnancy, an adoptee seeks out her birth mother.
Lizzie has always felt out of place as a Black adoptee raised by White parents. She’s also a disappointment, with a boyfriend her mother doesn’t like and poor performance at school. Certain she’s destined to be hated by her predominantly White community forever and finding herself pregnant and unsure of whether she wants to terminate or not, Lizzie flees town in search of her birth mom. When her Airbnb falls through, she lands in a women’s shelter where she experiences conflict with another resident before she serendipitously meets a counselor and other mentors. Those adults quickly track down a nurse who, nearly two decades after the fact, remembers when Lizzie was born and may be able to locate her biological mother. All the while, Lizzie finds herself in the position of many biracial teens: too Black for some people, too White for others. Taylor has clearly grasped the high interest part of hi-lo with her gritty plot, but the pacing makes the story difficult to follow, undermining accessibility for the target audience of reluctant readers. The varying portrayals of Lizzie’s mom as, at times, a distant, racist person, and at others a loving parent, don’t just give readers whiplash, they also present without nuance negative stereotypes about transracial adoption. A heavy reliance on racial tropes and outdated language that doesn’t ring true for zoomers make the work feel out of touch.
Tackles a complex subject without sufficient depth. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4594-1496-9
Page Count: 192
Publisher: James Lorimer
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Eden’s emotionally raw narration is compelling despite its solipsism. (Fiction. 14-18)
In the three years following Eden’s brutal rape by her brother’s best friend, Kevin, she descends into anger, isolation, and promiscuity.
Eden’s silence about the assault is cemented by both Kevin’s confident assurance that if she tells anyone, “No one will ever believe you. You know that. No one. Not ever,” and a chillingly believable death threat. For the remainder of Eden’s freshman year, she withdraws from her family and becomes increasingly full of hatred for Kevin and the world she feels failed to protect her. But when a friend mentions that she’s “reinventing” herself, Eden embarks on a hopeful plan to do the same. She begins her sophomore year with new clothes and friendly smiles for her fellow students, which attract the romantic attentions of a kind senior athlete. But, bizarrely, Kevin’s younger sister goes on a smear campaign to label Eden a “totally slutty disgusting whore,” which sends Eden back toward self-destruction. Eden narrates in a tightly focused present tense how she withdraws again from nearly everyone and attempts to find comfort (or at least oblivion) through a series of nearly anonymous sexual encounters. This self-centeredness makes her relationships with other characters feel underdeveloped and even puzzling at times. Absent ethnic and cultural markers, Eden and her family and classmates are likely default white.
Eden’s emotionally raw narration is compelling despite its solipsism. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: March 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4935-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
An enticing, turbulent, and satisfying final voyage.
Adrian, the youngest of the Montague siblings, sails into tumultuous waters in search of answers about himself, the sudden death of his mother, and her mysterious, cracked spyglass.
On the summer solstice less than a year ago, Caroline Montague fell off a cliff in Aberdeen into the sea. When the Scottish hostel where she was staying sends a box of her left-behind belongings to London, Adrian—an anxious, White nobleman on the cusp of joining Parliament—discovers one of his mother’s most treasured possessions, an antique spyglass. She acquired it when she was the sole survivor of a shipwreck many years earlier. His mother always carried that spyglass with her, but on the day of her death, she had left it behind in her room. Although he never knew its full significance, Adrian is haunted by new questions and is certain the spyglass will lead him to the truth. Once again, Lee crafts an absorbing adventure with dangerous stakes, dynamic character growth, sharp social and political commentary, and a storm of emotion. Inseparable from his external search for answers about his mother, Adrian seeks a solution for himself, an end to his struggle with mental illness—a journey handled with hopeful, gentle honesty that validates the experiences of both good and bad days. Characters from the first two books play significant secondary roles, and the resolution ties up their loose ends. Humorous antics provide a well-measured balance with the heavier themes.
An enticing, turbulent, and satisfying final voyage. (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-291601-3
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
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