A rare and welcome reluctant reader title featuring an Indigenous protagonist.
A 14-year-old artist navigates her racial identity and anti-Indigenous racism.
Jen has brown skin like her Cree mother, but her older brother resembles their pale, redheaded Irish father. Though Jen has a loving and supportive family, she wonders if her life wouldn’t be easier if she were light-skinned. Once she’s accepted to a prestigious arts high school, Jen thinks she’s finally found a place where she belongs. But bigotry knows no bounds, and racist students accuse her of only getting in because of her heritage and mock the Indigenous influences in her work. When their racism manifests as destruction of property, Jen at first chooses not to tell any adults about the incident. Instead, she strives on her own to prove that she belongs at art school, possibly leading readers to believe the narrative is suggesting racism should be “overcome” by victims instead of putting the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the perpetrators. Jen gets a happy ending and, fortunately, is able to express herself through her art. The writing is sometimes clunky, but the representation of a contemporary biracial Indigenous girl is valuable. Rather than delving into the larger history of oppression of Indigenous peoples in Canada, the Scottish/Cree author offers a mirror to the sometimes painful emotions and everyday experiences of Indigenous teens of mixed heritage.
A rare and welcome reluctant reader title featuring an Indigenous protagonist. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4598-2586-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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