A must-have, a must-read.
As this collection of nine Canadian stories translated from French clearly shows, the awkwardness of sexual exploration is frequently comical and, at the same time, complicated.
There are few moments in one’s life that imprint as deeply as one’s first sexual experience—and these fictional reflections are often funny, sometimes traumatic, and almost always memorable. Not every first time involves another person: In “The Great Fat Bird Migration” by Olivier Semard, the family shower is designated as his “Masturbodrome.” The narrator of Schelby Jean-Baptiste’s story, who’s Québécoise and of Haitian descent, tries to have her first orgasm in a Christian home where privacy is nearly nonexistent. She gives her pleasure zone the nickname “Chouchounette.” In “Hugo Nguyen,” Edith Chouinard’s 17-year-old protagonist, Nadine, is so nervous that she readies herself for the big event with self-motivational talk: “And tonight I need to feel brave.…Tonight I’m going to have sex for the first time.” The collection’s standout story, “This Ain’t Your Grandpa’s Pipe” by Nicolas Michon, features a hilarious and graphic play-by-play as 16-year-old Jung-Woo gives his first blow job to a boy from school. This entry is a reminder that self-doubt can lurk even when all you want is to be sexy: “Why did I say that? What’s the matter with me? Maybe he was just trying to tell me to keep going?” In this truly refreshing and worthwhile read, each story delivers on its titular promise: exploring the first time I did that.
A must-have, a must-read. (Anthology. 16-adult)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781779460349
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: today
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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