An ultimately hopeful portrayal of dance, coming of age, and being true to yourself.
Students at an elite dance school in Bucharest confront their identities and futures.
Ana Florean and Carina Scarlat have been secretly dating for three years. In Romania, being out can have dangerous consequences, and Carina doesn’t want to jeopardize her promising ballet career. Ana understands—mostly—and resigns herself to supporting Carina, stepping in as her practice partner in empty studios. But with Carina busy rehearsing, Ana finds herself wondering whether she even likes dancing anymore. She starts spending more time with her new roommate, Sara Dumitrescu, who’s also in the contemporary dance program. As the two become friends, Ana finds someone she can trust with her ambivalent feelings about Carina, and Sara, who thinks she might be gay, too, finds someone who’s willing to visit queer spaces with her. As the girls move through the dynamically illustrated panels, they explore their sexuality and what they want from dance. Most of the work features bold, fluid, black linework against a soft pink background, but many dance sequences include bright bursts of color. While the portrayal of the world of pre-professional ballet is sobering, reflecting the struggles of many dancers who present as queer or have bigger bodies, it also shows glimmers of a better future as the girls rediscover the joy of dancing and explore how gender norms can be bent or broken.
An ultimately hopeful portrayal of dance, coming of age, and being true to yourself. (Graphic fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781250838292
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
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
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense.
Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.
Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood; he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. The original investigation concluded with most of the evidence pointing to Sal, who was found dead in the woods, apparently by suicide. Andie’s body was never recovered, and Sal was assumed by most to be guilty of abduction and murder. Unable to ignore the gaps in the case, Pip sets out to prove Sal’s innocence, beginning with interviewing his younger brother, Ravi. With his help, Pip digs deeper, unveiling unsavory facts about Andie and the real reason Sal’s friends couldn’t provide him with an alibi. But someone is watching, and Pip may be in more danger than she realizes. Pip’s sleuthing is both impressive and accessible. Online articles about the case and interview transcripts are provided throughout, and Pip’s capstone logs offer insights into her thought processes as new evidence and suspects arise. Jackson’s debut is well-executed and surprises readers with a connective web of interesting characters and motives. Pip and Andie are white, and Sal is of Indian descent.
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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