A moving family tale that offers a powerful set of mother-daughter teen narratives.
In this YA contemporary novel, a guarded Texas teen gains life-changing insights into her fractured family after she is given her mother’s 1990s journal.
Jade Jennings, 14, lives in Oak Grove, Texas, where “the only person in the whole universe that gets me” is her cousin Colby. They “catch a lot of flack at home because we always have our nose in a book. And then we catch a lot of flack from people at school because we live out on the ‘Jennings’ Compound’ like a bunch of welfare hillbillies.” Jade tries her best to avoid her drug-using, ex-con, widowed father, who lives in a camper with her on the compound. She is also wary of Mrs. Patterson, her high school counselor, who keeps checking in on Jade, which can only mean trouble. But Jade does find pleasure in the job that she worked her “way into,” minding 8-year-old Jathan, the abandoned “fire station baby” adopted by a middle-class couple in town; hanging out with Colby; and doodling in a journal. This shaky equilibrium gets disrupted when Mrs. Patterson hands Jade the journal that Ruby, the teen’s mother, started in 1994. At the time, Ruby was about Jade’s age. By reading through Ruby’s journal entries, Jade learns more about her mother’s struggles: her placement in a group foster home, the push-pull of her parents’ age-inappropriate relationship, and then, most critically, the series of events that led to the teen’s death. By the novel’s end, Jade has a new understanding of her world and shares with Mrs. Patterson a long-held secret of her own.
Stewart’s spare, stark novel is an artful showcase for two compelling, first-person coming-of-age stories. Readers first invest in Jade through her acerbic, wise child commentary, as when she refers to Jathan’s mother as “having the soul of a parakeet and all.” Then, along with Jade, readers dive deep into Ruby’s romantic yearnings and aspirations and then tragic missteps in dramatic “real time” through her page-turning journal accounts. The tale’s White-trash milieu feels a bit over-the-top at times, with the Jennings’ compound including a mean grandmother who figures little in the plot. The book also ends rather abruptly, with Jade’s terse acknowledgement of the true role a person plays in her life. While Jade’s disclosure of her secret late in the story doesn’t come as a complete surprise given the hints she sprinkles throughout her narrative, her full detailing of her last days with her mother has a payoff. It’s a striking sequence of sadness and horror that makes for a potent, cinematic moment. Furthermore, this tale conjures up a visual world in its detailing of the sketches and drawings that both teens engage in and discuss. In addition to Jade and Ruby shining bright as distinct teen voices, several secondary characters—including Colby, Jade’s father, and a local drug-world figure—are fleshed out with some sympathy and nuance. While this poignant story has its downbeat elements, it ultimately delivers uplifting notes that not all adults are to be feared and that Jade, stronger than her mother, has a future that holds promise.
A moving family tale that offers a powerful set of mother-daughter teen narratives.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2013
ISBN: 9798987864203
Page Count: 277
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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