A tale of the power of inner worth told in a distinct and humorous voice.
A collaboration between two Black girls who used to be close is threatened by wealth disparities, complicated relationship dynamics, and diverging ideas.
Reya Samuels and Sommer Watkins, who live in Prince George’s County, Maryland, used to be best friends. But that was before Reya’s mother’s reality television career changed their lives and they moved from Seat Pleasant—“where bus stop benches provide seating for the overworked and beds for the unhoused”—to a large brick house in Bowie. Now Reya flaunts her wealth while Sommer has multiple side hustles (including creating digital fashion designs for Black gamers) that will hopefully pay for Spelman College. But when Reya is wait-listed by the Fashion Institute of Technology, she makes Sommer an irresistible offer: She’ll hire her to help put together entries for their school’s annual fashion show that Reya can present in her new portfolio to FIT. The girls connect at their gifted school and Sommer’s dad’s bookstore but otherwise inhabit separate realms, and they must deal with the social class judgments of their friends and family and their own perceptions of self. Readers witness their relationship’s growing pains and remnants of their old closeness bob to the surface in their alternating first-person narratives. Wilson cleverly weaves insights about money’s ability to distort personalities into every relationship in the story. The romance storylines are realistic and sweet but not overly saccharine.
A tale of the power of inner worth told in a distinct and humorous voice. (suggested reading) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: July 1, 2025
ISBN: 9780593525647
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
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
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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