An original storytelling style and post-apocalyptic setting make this coming-of-age novel a worthy and special read.
A rising senior struggles with her life path and her twin sister’s recent death.
Julieta Villarreal, 17, can’t imagine working toward building her future while the world falls apart around her. Set in a near future where the climate crisis has turned her Florida home into a dangerous and increasingly uninhabitable hellscape, the story follows Colombian American Juli as she weathers her grief, depression, and feelings of hopelessness alone. She refuses to open up to her friends or therapist and avoids answering questions from caring AP English teacher Ms. Hawthorne and from her Mami (who’s also struggling to avoid “falling into the darkness again”). Eventually, Juli considers leaving the world behind and launching herself into the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the corporation StarCrest’s inaugural Cometa Mission, which will send 15 U.S. seniors into space for five years to establish a base camp on the moon. Alternating between prose and poetry, this innovative story explores the conflicted inner life of its traumatized protagonist and her journey to self-acceptance, vulnerability, and purpose. Adding to its appeal, the story also touches on many everyday aspects of young adult life, such as school, friendship, romance, preparing for life after graduation, and following your dreams. It also deftly explores complex topics such as the climate crisis, single motherhood, grief, poverty, and predatory business practices that target vulnerable populations.
An original storytelling style and post-apocalyptic setting make this coming-of-age novel a worthy and special read. (letter to readers) (Climate fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780823458363
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
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
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
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