Fanciful, hopeful, and heartfelt.
Separated during childhood, two Cuban teen animal rescuers reunite unexpectedly.
Memories of adventures saving animals “in el monte, our green forest / with its aroma of cocoa” in the Guamuhaya Mountains of central Cuba haunt Vida and Adán, who were close before life forced them apart. A decade later, unbeknownst to either, both teens now live in South Florida. With her parents dead and her photojournalist abuela often absent, Vida lives in an empty home. Climate migrant Adán survives in a packed home brimming with violent tension between his father and abuelo. When Adán rescues a gray tree fox, his good deed leads to a chance reunion with Vida. The years apart, however, have brought change. Wary of men following a boarding school incident, Vida nurtures her burgeoning feminist consciousness; béisbol player Adán, who’s learning to be an ally, realizes that masculinity can be “a promise of kindness / that makes us strong / not weak.” Gradually, they rekindle their love while reinforcing their passion for helping endangered animals. But a rift between their families threatens to disrupt them anew. Moving fluidly between Vida’s pensive perspective and Adán’s anguished narration, Engle’s verse narrative boasts rich language steeped in nature’s spiritual beauty and the reciprocal connection between humans and animals. A sweet slow-burner with tight, evocative poems, this tale of adolescent love glows. Drifting into a carefree flight by the last page, Vida and Adán’s story ends as delicately as it began.
Fanciful, hopeful, and heartfelt. (author’s note) (Verse fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9781665959957
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
This astonishing book will generate much-needed discussion.
After 15-year-old Will sees his older brother, Shawn, gunned down on the streets, he sets out to do the expected: the rules dictate no crying, no snitching, and revenge.
Though the African-American teen has never held one, Will leaves his apartment with his brother’s gun tucked in his waistband. As he travels down on the elevator, the door opens on certain floors, and Will is confronted with a different figure from his past, each a victim of gun violence, each important in his life. They also force Will to face the questions he has about his plan. As each “ghost” speaks, Will realizes how much of his own story has been unknown to him and how intricately woven they are. Told in free-verse poems, this is a raw, powerful, and emotional depiction of urban violence. The structure of the novel heightens the tension, as each stop of the elevator brings a new challenge until the narrative arrives at its taut, ambiguous ending. There is considerable symbolism, including the 15 bullets in the gun and the way the elevator rules parallel street rules. Reynolds masterfully weaves in textured glimpses of the supporting characters. Throughout, readers get a vivid picture of Will and the people in his life, all trying to cope with the circumstances of their environment while expressing the love, uncertainty, and hope that all humans share.
This astonishing book will generate much-needed discussion. (Verse fiction. 12-adult)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3825-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An auspicious ending may seem a bit unlikely to some, but this novel has many appealing aspects that will draw readers in.
Fifteen-year-old Zeke gets a job and becomes involved with community organizers who aim to unionize local food-service workers in this novel in verse for reluctant readers.
Zeke hates their lives in the city with Paul, his alcoholic mom’s abusive boyfriend, a hypocritical Christian, and he misses his old home in small-town Wisconsin. Spurred to action by the idea of making enough money for them to move back, he takes a job at Casa de Pizza, where he comes to understand the desperate circumstances many of his minimum-wage–earning co-workers face. Zeke keeps the job secret, fearing Paul will try to steal his earnings. Pagelong free-verse poems evocatively describe Zeke’s experiences and quickly propel the story forward. The dynamics between the employees at Casa de Pizza (Zeke and several others are white, Timothy is black, Hannah is originally from Oaxaca) will be recognizable to teens who’ve worked in food service. Readers will easily sympathize with the all-too-true-to-life situations with which the characters are coping—racism and sexual harassment, Zeke’s awful home life, and a co-worker’s eviction with her children among them. Though short, this story develops the characters’ personalities, sketches in the history of the labor movement, and includes a subdued romantic subplot, effectively balancing these various elements.
An auspicious ending may seem a bit unlikely to some, but this novel has many appealing aspects that will draw readers in. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5383-8260-8
Page Count: 202
Publisher: West 44 Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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