A relationship-focused story told with intelligence and wit.
A young woman learns that some of the guys on the wrestling team she manages refer to her by the misogynistic term practice girl after she has sex with them.
Seventeen-year-old Jo’s dad, a high school wrestling coach, meant everything to her. His death from a heart attack several years before crushed her and made her bail on the sport, but her eventual return as the team manager has buoyed Jo. It’s helped her navigate a life with her mom, stepfather, and 4-year-old half sister in which she feels largely ignored and has provided a social group beyond her best friend, Sam, who is a star on the team. Jo’s introspective, funny first-person narrative voice is alive with poignancy and an increasing earnestness as she moves from enraged embarrassment to determination and starts wrestling again. Along the way, she revisits her abandoned friendship with classmate Leah, a rift that left her saying she doesn’t get along well with other girls. She also must face up to the complicated bond she has with Sam and decide whether she wants something more than friendship—possibly with Sam’s rival, Dax, instead. Jo’s dynamics with other people are interesting, and the narrative pulls no punches in its emotional honesty even if the story does wrap up a touch overly neatly. Jo and most other main characters are White; there is racial diversity among secondary characters.
A relationship-focused story told with intelligence and wit. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 17, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-35091-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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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