A thoughtful look at body positivity and the mixed messages girls are forced to reckon with.
DeChambeau’s debut centers on 15-year-old dancer Esme as she wrestles with the unwanted attention and physical obstacles that come with having large breasts.
After Esme and her best friend, Mia, achieve their dream of making the Elite team, the highest level at their dance studio, everything should be perfect. But the girls soon realize being the youngest on the squad of 12 comes with isolation from the older dancers, most of them seniors, who make them feel like they don’t belong. Esme also faces bullying about her body, and the cutting remarks negatively affect her performance. Besides being unsure about how to feel about her breasts, Esme must manage her fears surrounding the accident her dad, an exterminator, suffered, leaving him unemployed and in need of surgery they can’t afford. When Mia suddenly starts to pull away, Esme wonders if anything will ever feel normal again. The verse, which includes concrete poetry, moves across each page like a dance, using the space to stretch, “soaring” as Esme does, “energy pulsing / adrenaline pouring— / … / the music roaring.” Through it all, Esme receives lots of support, including from dynamic Grammy Jean, who empowers her to trust and love herself regardless of what others think. Esme is implied to be white, and Mia, who’s middle class and attends private school, is biracial (cued Black and white).
A thoughtful look at body positivity and the mixed messages girls are forced to reckon with. (Verse fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9780823458134
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 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
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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