A stellar example of how the horror genre can embody authentic emotional experiences.
There are ghosts in the woods…but they’re not the worst things out there.
Their mother, who struggled with addiction, has skipped town, so 17-year-old Riley Walcott lives on the edge of Voynich Woods with her 10-year-old sister, Sam, and their uncle. Uncle Toby makes a living giving tours of the woods to tourists who are morbidly interested in the many people who have disappeared there. One day, Sam wanders off during a tour, looking for the Wishing Tree, another one of the woods’ mysteries. Riley follows to keep an eye on her but ends up getting lost herself. She stumbles across the elusive Wishing Tree—and is promptly murdered by people in masks. Shortly after, Madelyn, who lives in the woods with her abusive witch mother, revives Riley with her own magic. But—at Riley’s own invitation—something attached itself to her before she came back to life. As events bring the two girls closer together, they each seek an escape—Riley from being another Voynich Woods mystery and Madelyn from her power-hungry mother. Cipri’s young adult debut is a coming-of-age tale that’s dripping with dark magic, steeped in mother-child trauma, and brimming with feminine power. Readers get a strong sense of place and characters from the text, which candidly reveals the two protagonists’ complicated inner emotional lives. Even the more outrageously fantastical elements fit naturally into this world. Characters largely present white.
A stellar example of how the horror genre can embody authentic emotional experiences. (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781250791405
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
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
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
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