Continuing the story of the Tillermans of Crisfield, Md. (Dicey's Song—Newbery Medal, 1983—plus four other books, more or less related), Voigt chronicles the spring Dicey's two brothers seek news of their father. James, 15, a thinker who does so well in school that he dismisses himself as a dork, is the one who wants to know; Sammy, a doer, is willing to help, although as a seventh grader with no self-image problems he doesn't see the point. They know nothing of their father except that he never married their mother, leaving her to cope alone with four children. Frank Verriker's trail leads them to his third-grade teacher, who adored him in spite of his mischief; a high-school principal who expelled him; a seedy Baltimore dockside bar where the name Verriker evokes such anger that they escape the ensuing brawl only after both are injured. Meanwhile, James has listened to Sammy's advice to just be himself, and Sammy has become the one more deeply involved in the quest for a father—or his own identity. In the end, each realizes that "people never exactly duplicate[d] one another." Though they recognize and fear in themselves the qualities of their charming, conscienceless con-man father, they are not doomed to repeat them as faults, and may even share them as virtues. Close friends of the Tillermans—and there are many—will be engrossed even in the slow-moving and introspective parts of this long story. At the climax, there's enough action to reward the patient. And at the conclusion, it's clear that though James' and Sammy's search for a father to follow was always bound to fail, each has in the other a close friend and advisor with complementary talents. It's also clear that Voigt has, with her usual careful crafting, built toward this moment with every line of a complex novel.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1987
ISBN: 0689808895
Page Count: 292
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1987
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
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told.
A devastating tale of greed and secrets springs from the summer that tore Cady’s life apart.
Cady Sinclair’s family uses its inherited wealth to ensure that each successive generation is blond, beautiful and powerful. Reunited each summer by the family patriarch on his private island, his three adult daughters and various grandchildren lead charmed, fairy-tale lives (an idea reinforced by the periodic inclusions of Cady’s reworkings of fairy tales to tell the Sinclair family story). But this is no sanitized, modern Disney fairy tale; this is Cinderella with her stepsisters’ slashed heels in bloody glass slippers. Cady’s fairy-tale retellings are dark, as is the personal tragedy that has led to her examination of the skeletons in the Sinclair castle’s closets; its rent turns out to be extracted in personal sacrifices. Brilliantly, Lockhart resists simply crucifying the Sinclairs, which might make the family’s foreshadowed tragedy predictable or even satisfying. Instead, she humanizes them (and their painful contradictions) by including nostalgic images that showcase the love shared among Cady, her two cousins closest in age, and Gat, the Heathcliff-esque figure she has always loved. Though increasingly disenchanted with the Sinclair legacy of self-absorption, the four believe family redemption is possible—if they have the courage to act. Their sincere hopes and foolish naïveté make the teens’ desperate, grand gesture all that much more tragic.
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: May 13, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-74126-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
PROFILES
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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