Reluctant readers will be engaged by this suspenseful and heartening tale.
Seventeen-year-old Hannah Dresher is tired of being responsible for her dysfunctional family.
Her alcoholic mother’s frequent benders leave Hannah concerned about the welfare of Seth, her younger brother. When she returns from work to find her mother passed out in bed with a strange man, Seth missing, and Seth’s broken cell phone on his bed, along with a bong and the empty rent money envelope, Hannah knows this is another problem that she’ll have to fix. With no reliable adults to turn to, Hannah begins a journey through dangerous parts of town in search of Seth. Fortunately, she comes across Eli, a cute and helpful boy she barely knows from math class, who joins her on her hunt. During an action-packed night, they question a drug dealer, run from cops, and almost get beat up. Over the course of their adventure, they go from strangers to something more. Hannah is a young person weighed down by unfair responsibilities, and in meeting Eli, she realizes that she wants to put her own needs first, setting off an internal conflict that becomes a running theme throughout the book. This thrilling story is ultimately realistic but optimistic, with Hannah learning to find hope in the people around her. Hannah and Eli are cued white.
Reluctant readers will be engaged by this suspenseful and heartening tale. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781459838574
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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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