An often affecting poetic portrait of familial trauma.
Whiting presents a YA novel in verse about a grieving teenager and her family.
In the opening scene, set in 2022, Cassie Fowler happily celebrates her 13th birthday with her parents; her 11-year-old sister, Courtney; and her 9-year-old brother, Jeremy. The narrative then jumps to 2024, and the milieu is decidedly different: Cassie’s father has died from cancer, and her mother is grappling with pill addiction. Cassie sums up the family dynamic thusly: “we’re like three strangers who just / happen to live under one roof, a / roof that’s about to collapse.” At school, she struggles to relate to her peers and feels disengaged from her lessons. Then, a teacher assigns Cassie a project about butterflies, and she becomes intrigued by the concept of metamorphosis. She learns about poetry in another class and finds satisfaction in writing haiku. These two interests converge in lines such as “Wings in flight, you’re free / Yet even you stop and rest / Beauty in the now.” When Cassie’s mother abruptly departs the home to seek treatment for her addiction, a neighbor, Mrs. Lee, stays with the teens; she and Cassie soon form a meaningful bond. Whiting’s narrative authentically explores a complex range of emotions, including the teen protagonist's emotional turmoil—anger toward her mother, frustration with her siblings, and longing for her father. About her mother, Cassie wisely inquires, “How can I hate someone and miss / them all at the same time?” Whiting also effectively uses the butterfly metaphor to underscore Cassie’s transformation. However, at times, the use of verse feels like an awkward fit for the action: “Our first stop is McDonalds. McDouble and / fries. My favorite. // Next, Walmart.”
An often affecting poetic portrait of familial trauma.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781957656793
Page Count: 274
Publisher: Monarch Educational Services, L.L.C.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution.
A teenage girl finds herself alone after everyone else in her town mysteriously disappears, leaving her scrambling to figure out how to find them all.
One late summer day, everybody in July Fielding’s town disappears. She is left to piece together what happened, following a series of cryptic signs she finds around town urging her to “GET THEM BACK.” The narrative moves back and forth between July’s present and the events of the summer before, when her relationship with her best friend, cross-country team co-captain Sydney, starts to fracture due to a combination of jealousy over July’s new relationship with a cute boy called Sam and sweet up-and-coming freshman Ella’s threatening to overtake Syd’s status as star of the track team. The team members participate in a ritual in which they jump off a cliff into the rocky waters below at the end of their Friday practice runs. Though Ella is reluctant, Syd pressures her to jump. Short, frenetically paced sections move the story along quickly, and there is much foreshadowing pointing to something terrible that occurred at the end of that summer, which may be the key to July’s current predicament, but there is much misdirection too. Ultimately this is a story without enough setup to make the turn the book takes in the end feel fully developed or earned. All characters read white.
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593327173
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
A poignant and romantic coming-of-age tale.
The boy she believed was the fated love of her life dies; now a 17-year-old girl must find a new future—and a new version of herself.
After the death of her boyfriend, Beck, and her military family’s latest move, Amelia Graham tries for a fresh start. On her first day at her new school, she nearly hits fellow senior Paloma with her car but ultimately finds a new friend in her. After months of being depressed and alone, Lia realizes she’s living again. And then there’s the boy. Although she feels an immediate connection, Lia stays away from him, trying to honor her love for Beck. But Isaiah is there when Lia needs support, and she’s increasingly drawn to him. As the past recedes, Lia realizes that who she was with Beck wasn’t all she’ll ever be. Told through Lia’s first-person point of view and moving between past and present, this story covers heartbreak, healing, and learning to live when the person you lived for is gone. Upperman’s writing is engaging, and although the emotions are heavy, an undercurrent of hope snakes through the narrative, growing brighter as Lia comes back to life and begins to see that the future holds multiple possibilities. Central characters present white; Paloma is cued Latine.
A poignant and romantic coming-of-age tale. (A Geographical History of Amelia Graham) (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781464217784
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
© 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.
