A deliciously wicked love letter to obsessive readers.
In Harish’s debut, a Tamil girl, a dead author, and a hellhound cross paths on Halloween.
Sixteen-year-old Thulasi is the Srinivasan family’s dutiful eldest daughter. She lives in Applesweet, a close-knit New England town whose entire identity rests on the legacy of their most famous former resident, 19th-century horror author Addison Greer. On Halloween morning, Thulasi picks up her order of a signed first edition of Greer’s The Black Dog and Other Stories from the local bookstore. That evening, she’s at the home of her classmate Sam Safra, a cute Egyptian Jewish and white football player. Sam gets a paper cut from the book, and his blood stains the page, leading the ink to run off in sheets and sending the book’s monsters pouring out into streets. Trapped in the chaos with Sam, his little sister, and her young cousin, Thulasi must survive attacks from myriad creatures and the threat of Addison herself, newly released from the book’s pages—while uncovering Applesweet’s dark history. Atmospheric Victorian horror bleeds into a present-day mystery, but the novel shines most in its social texture: Thulasi’s anxious people-pleasing ways and her exhaustion over dealing with casual racism as a brown girl in a predominantly white town feel painfully real. Sam serves as a thoughtful foil, while Thulasi’s bond with her cousin is the story’s warmest thread. Though the middle sags with prolonged siege sequences and much interiority, the Addison subplot rewards patience.
A deliciously wicked love letter to obsessive readers. (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2026
ISBN: 9798217003020
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
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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