by Courtney Sheinmel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 17, 2019
Contrivances notwithstanding, this is a sympathetic, thoughtful exploration of depression, suicide, grief, and healing.
A 17-year-old Jewish girl seeks answers after her sister dies by suicide.
Sloane laments missing critical signs after her beloved older sister, Talley, takes her own life, leaving only a list bearing a California phone number, the initials “TSL,” and cryptic references to names and places. Determined to decipher Talley’s code, Sloane embarks on a road trip across California with Adam, the phone number’s handsome, evasive owner. As clues fall into place via an implausible series of coincidences, Sloane learns that Talley was keeping a painful secret. Unfortunately, Talley is portrayed as one-dimensionally “special”: brilliant, kind, and universally admired. However, Sheinmel’s (Let’s Mooove!, 2019, etc.) painfully realistic depiction of depression sensitively emphasizes that “it's a medical condition, a potentially fatal one.” Though the author intricately portrays Sloane’s grief and guilt, her poignant take on the butterfly effect—including thought-provoking references to the Holocaust and its legacy—explores not only suicide and its aftermath, but survivors’ capacity to heal. The bond between Sloane and her fiercely supportive best friend, Juno, lightens the mood, their chats about boys and babysitting gently reassuring readers that life goes on. With few physical descriptions, the book seems to follow a white default. Juno is deaf, and two of Sloane’s friends are gay.
Contrivances notwithstanding, this is a sympathetic, thoughtful exploration of depression, suicide, grief, and healing. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-265500-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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by Susan Verde & Courtney Sheinmel ; illustrated by Heather Ross
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by Adam Silvera ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 6, 2025
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring.
When Death-Cast doesn’t call, fate intertwines the lives of two boys, both haunted by their pasts and with futures they can’t escape.
In this third installment of the series that opened with 2017’s They Both Die at the End, Paz Dario waits every night for Death-Cast to call—as it should have for his father nearly 10 years ago, when Paz shot him to save his mother’s life. But the call never comes. Death-Cast killed Paz’s dreams of an acting career: No one will hire him now because the world sees him as a villain. When Paz tries (not for the first time) to put an end to his suffering, an unexpected encounter with Alano Rosa, the heir of Death-Cast, stops him. Both in a place of desperation, Alano and Paz sign a contract to live for Begin Days instead of waiting for their End Days. As suspenseful and emotionally wrenching as the previous titles in the series, this new installment explores heavy themes of abuse, mental health, self-harm, and suicide. Paz grapples with a recent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Silvera surrounds Alano and Paz with a web of complex relationships. Although the protagonists fall fast for one another and form a deep connection over Alano’s desire to support Paz, Silvera emphasizes the importance of professional help. Both Alano and Paz have Puerto Rican heritage. The cliffhanger ending promises more to come.
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring. (content warning, resources) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780063240858
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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by Daniel Aleman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 4, 2021
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
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