An appealingly offbeat look at friendship, sex and what’s really “normal.” (Fiction. 14-18)
Tourette’s syndrome gives a distinctive voice to Conaghan’s first American novel.
When Dylan Mint hears a doctor tell his mother that life as he knows it will be over, he wastes no time drafting a list of things to do before his Tourette’s syndrome, aka Mr. Dog, finishes him off. Savvy readers might guess what’s up, but that won’t keep them from following the catchy beat of Dylan’s smart-talking, cockney-rhyming, rapping voice as he resolves to get his dad home from Iraq, have sex with the unapproachable Michelle Malloy and help his best friend, Amir, find a new buddy. It’s going to be harder than he thought—his Tourette’s is the rare swearing type, exacerbated by stress. Fortunately, Dylan has a good heart and sense of humor. (His sheltered naïveté is also often unintentionally funny; his confrontation with a couple of thugs is simultaneously uncomfortable and hilarious.) Sympathetically rendered, Dylan’s Tourette’s punctuates the rhythms of Scottish slang and teenage banter. Drumhill Special School, where kids don’t bat an eye at the occasional outburst, blurs normalcy: When your peers and teachers are hurling racist epithets at your best friend, is unleashing Mr. Dog really inappropriate behavior? A plot twist occurs so late as to feel arbitrary but is resolved well, if hastily.
Pub Date: June 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61963-346-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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