Smart and moving; a beautiful tribute to those living with the threat of wildfires.
A high school girl grapples with personal worries and the devastation wrought by the wildfire that engulfs her small town.
Caprice Alexander both loves Sierra, California, beyond reason and hopes to escape it. While dealing with the stress of senior year, Cappy, who’s white, is also developing an app she hopes will launch her career. At home, she tiptoes around her older brother, Beckett, newly sober after months in rehab. Written after the devastating Camp Fire of 2018 in the author’s hometown of Paradise, this compelling novel has a highly effective narrative frame: The fire doesn’t come as a surprise, but that early knowledge enhances rather than dampens the building tension as Cappy and her family (including their beloved gramps and gram) draw closer to the day that will change everything. Interspersed throughout are archival entries of items lost in the fire, each with an explanation from its owner of the object’s significance. Besides cleverly tying to the book’s conclusion, this structure makes the broader communal loss visible, enlarging the scope of the work beyond Cappy’s individual struggles. Helping Cappy navigate Beckett’s recovery process and the fire’s aftermath are her best friend, Alicia Johnson, one of the few Black people in town, and her crush, River Parker-Holt, newly arrived with his moms and hoping to put down roots after dozens of moves.
Smart and moving; a beautiful tribute to those living with the threat of wildfires. (content note, author’s note, resources) (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: March 18, 2025
ISBN: 9780593405512
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring.
When Death-Cast doesn’t call, fate intertwines the lives of two boys, both haunted by their pasts and with futures they can’t escape.
In this third installment of the series that opened with 2017’s They Both Die at the End, Paz Dario waits every night for Death-Cast to call—as it should have for his father nearly 10 years ago, when Paz shot him to save his mother’s life. But the call never comes. Death-Cast killed Paz’s dreams of an acting career: No one will hire him now because the world sees him as a villain. When Paz tries (not for the first time) to put an end to his suffering, an unexpected encounter with Alano Rosa, the heir of Death-Cast, stops him. Both in a place of desperation, Alano and Paz sign a contract to live for Begin Days instead of waiting for their End Days. As suspenseful and emotionally wrenching as the previous titles in the series, this new installment explores heavy themes of abuse, mental health, self-harm, and suicide. Paz grapples with a recent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Silvera surrounds Alano and Paz with a web of complex relationships. Although the protagonists fall fast for one another and form a deep connection over Alano’s desire to support Paz, Silvera emphasizes the importance of professional help. Both Alano and Paz have Puerto Rican heritage. The cliffhanger ending promises more to come.
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring. (content warning, resources) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780063240858
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 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
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