A dreary, detached tale of a promising young boxer with a little too much testosterone. Readers will wince at the pounding Steven takes in practice rounds, but the gym’s owner offers to enter him in the upcoming West Coast Golden Gloves tournament—if he can come up with the fees and airfare. No problem, Steven claims, though he’s just quit his job, his pianist father can barely make ends meet, and he’s too proud to ask his estranged mother, or her parents, for help. An alternative presents itself; his friend Raymond, always eager to stir things up, has been touting a new acquaintance, Chad, who has a brother in stir and a questionable reputation. Chad turns out to be big, tough, and obviously bad news. After a certain amount of roosterish posturing, Steven finds himself with Chad and Raymond cruising Oakland in a car that is most likely stolen, nerving themselves to knock off a store—“ ‘It would work, if you did it right. It would be easy,’ ” Steven tells himself. Then Chad casually pulls a handgun out of the glove compartment, upping the stakes. In the end, the robbery doesn’t come off, but Chad has worked himself into such a state that he suddenly snatches, clubs, and shoots a stranded motorist. Though Steven knocks Chad out before he can kill her outright, readers won’t need the final sound of approaching sirens to know that trouble’s coming. Cadnum (The Edge, 1997, etc.) captures something of the thrill his characters feel pushing themselves to the edge, but Steven is a distant narrator, so seldom forthcoming about his reactions that, though the boxing action is vivid, the rest of his life seems colorless, beyond even Raymond’s love/hate relationship with risky behavior to animate. Above average, but not equal to the author’s best work. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-670-88775-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2000
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring.
When Death-Cast doesn’t call, fate intertwines the lives of two boys, both haunted by their pasts and with futures they can’t escape.
In this third installment of the series that opened with 2017’s They Both Die at the End, Paz Dario waits every night for Death-Cast to call—as it should have for his father nearly 10 years ago, when Paz shot him to save his mother’s life. But the call never comes. Death-Cast killed Paz’s dreams of an acting career: No one will hire him now because the world sees him as a villain. When Paz tries (not for the first time) to put an end to his suffering, an unexpected encounter with Alano Rosa, the heir of Death-Cast, stops him. Both in a place of desperation, Alano and Paz sign a contract to live for Begin Days instead of waiting for their End Days. As suspenseful and emotionally wrenching as the previous titles in the series, this new installment explores heavy themes of abuse, mental health, self-harm, and suicide. Paz grapples with a recent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Silvera surrounds Alano and Paz with a web of complex relationships. Although the protagonists fall fast for one another and form a deep connection over Alano’s desire to support Paz, Silvera emphasizes the importance of professional help. Both Alano and Paz have Puerto Rican heritage. The cliffhanger ending promises more to come.
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring. (content warning, resources) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780063240858
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
