Raw and achingly truthful.
When aspiring artist Daya Keane falls for “the most unavailable girl in school,” there’s nowhere to hide in her small, fundamentalist Christian Arizona town.
Beckett Wild, a vision of vibrantly dyed hair and promised purity, glows like the sun in the oppressive shadows of Grace Redeemer Church. In no universe can Daya imagine she has a chance with a “super-Christian, über-straight” girl, but their worlds collide at a house party where neither of them belongs. As a school project and pressure from her single mom to join the church push Daya into Beckett’s orbit, she discovers a side of her crush the rest of the world doesn’t see. Heartbreaking and hopeful all at once, this contemporary queer coming-of-age story treads deeply into heavy topics, particularly intertwined grief, abuse, and religious trauma. Even as Daya recognizes the wrongness of the discriminatory messages spread by her mother’s church, she reckons with feelings of guilt that she might be abandoning her mom the same way her dad abandoned them. Gordon’s debut captures the full tapestry of Daya’s emotions in prose rich with vivid imagery and metaphor. The resolution (neither a fairy tale nor a fiery car crash) chooses honesty over complete closure. Self-care and learning to release misplaced personal blame are significant aspects of Daya’s growth. All the central characters develop with realistic complexity. Daya and Beckett are cued white; the world around them contains racial diversity.
Raw and achingly truthful. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9780063318373
Page Count: 304
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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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