Like other Danziger ninth graders, Phoebe Brooks works out problems with her divorced parents and, on the side, acquires a boyfriend who's a "good kisser" and a caring person. She also gets involved in a protest-turned-constructive-committee to improve the yucky cafeteria food at the high school she attends in Woodstock, where she and her father have moved since the divorce. About her cafeteria involvement, Phoebe remarks: "In Woodstock a lot of grown-ups are . . . fighting for good causes, like against nuclear power plants. . . . I think that when kids grow up seeing their parents involved, the kids get involved too." Perhaps in an attempt to make Phoebe less trivial than her previous heroines, Danziger makes her a depository of bumper-sticker virtues, just like all those Woodstock cars. She's for granola cookies and against fur coats, likes the way a friend sends smoking guests outdoors ("We care too much about people to be part of their harming themselves"), and comments, when the doorman tells her that her mother's upper-east-side New York City apartment building may go coop, "I worry though that some people may be evicted, especially some of the poor people and some of the older people on fixed incomes." Phoebe is far more troubled by her mother's proposed marriage to a rich creep, but she finds some instant wisdom to help her through that, too. "I have to learn how to handle this new situation so that it works out well for me—as well as it can without being really what I want. That's it, isn't it?" she asks her approving, understanding father, who has given up a good city job to paint in Woodstock. Now he has taken up with a suitable Woodstock type, the mother of the best friend Phoebe has met on the Divorce Express—her name for the bus that shuttles kids between their Woodstock and New York City parents. Phoebe likes to rearrange the letters in names and key words, and in the end she finds that the letters in DIVORCES also spell DISCOVER. But there isn't much to find behind these snappy lines and readymade attitudes.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1982
ISBN: 0142407127
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1982
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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