Insightful and emotionally resonant.
When 17-year-old Francine Zhang overhears her dying grandfather expressing regret at not having any direct male descendants, she comes up with The Plan: find a boy to be A Gūng’s (fake) honorary heir.
Classmate Ollie Tran is the perfect candidate: Like Francine, he’s Chinese Vietnamese American; he speaks enough Cantonese to chat with A Gūng; and their families have known each other since before they came to the U.S. It makes sense that he’d follow the old custom of assuming the role of male heir for a family that needs one to look after their ancestors. Ollie has no desire to get involved, however. He knows how devoted Francine is to her family but has kept his distance ever since an awkward incident in middle school. Ollie also has his own problem: His strategy of exerting the least amount of effort at school to produce decent results means he has little to show for extracurricular activities. With Francine’s help, Ollie joins the Multicultural Club, where he’s asked to host a booth at their annual fundraising event and showcase his family history, about which he knows little. Alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, this story highlights the interweaving of family and tradition and how this impacts ways love is demonstrated. Francine and Ollie are appealing and three-dimensional characters with opposite personalities that turn out to be unexpectedly complementary when they team up to figure out solutions to each of their challenges.
Insightful and emotionally resonant. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9780063038424
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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
A delightfully autumnal small-town romance buoyed by strong characterization.
Ellis Mitchell has her whole life planned out.
Heading into senior year, Ellis plans to study hard and crush it at the journalism internship her media executive dad got her, paving the way for her acceptance to Columbia University. But then Ellis’ parents announce they’re separating—and that Ellis and her mom will be heading to Bramble Falls to stay with her aunt and cousin. Furious that her careful plans have been upended, Ellis struggles to settle into the small, charming Connecticut town even as everyone around her gears up for the annual Falling Leaves Festival. Ellis runs into Cooper Barnett—her long-ago summer friend from visits to Aunt Naomi and cousin Sloane—who’s grown up to be very handsome. But Cooper isn’t pleased to see Ellis; he’s cold and curt, and she has no idea why. Wilson’s YA debut is chock-full of charm. Readers will swoon at Cooper’s and Ellis’ developing feelings following their frosty reunion and sympathize with Ellis’ difficulties even as Bramble Falls grows on her. She must choose between small-town community ties and big-city ambitions—between what her dad wants for her and what she really wants. Ellis’ relationships with her mom, aunt, and cousin are lovely and aspirational. The depiction of Bramble Falls is evocative, and the book contains enough seasonal delights to satisfy even the most devoted pumpkin spice latte lover. Main characters are cued white.
A delightfully autumnal small-town romance buoyed by strong characterization. (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781665975209
Page Count: 352
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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