A triumphant tale about finding home.
An undocumented Pakistani teen has to grow up very quickly after her mother is suddenly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
High school senior Rania’s life changes forever when she abruptly wakes up to the news that ICE agents have arrived to arrest her mother. It’s 2019, and she, her mother, and her brother, Kamal, are living in Brooklyn as they wait to see if they will be granted asylum due to the fact that Rania’s father—a journalist in Pakistan—has gone missing. Ammi brought them to America on her own, and they’ve lived as if they might have to take off at any time. Still, gifted writer Rania has done well in school. After Kamal and Rania are taken to a shelter for unaccompanied minors, she’s horrified by the conditions around them and decides that escaping to Connecticut and getting a long-estranged uncle to care for them is their only hope. With the vital assistance of Carlos, a fellow teen and shelter resident, the siblings sneak away for the road trip of a lifetime. Budhos vividly portrays the fear and confusion many undocumented families experienced after the implementation of Trump-era asylum and immigration policies while also unflinchingly detailing the tensions and secrets within Rania’s family. As Rania learns more about her mother’s mysterious past, she realizes that solidarity and community are both essential tools for freedom as vulnerable people seek the right to a safe haven.
A triumphant tale about finding home. (author’s note, ghazal lyrics) (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-12020-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
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
An adventurous and romantic addition to the genre.
Lim blends “Beauty and the Beast” with Chinese folklore in her wondrous new tale set in the same world as her Six Crimson Cranes series.
After Baba, her father, is lost at sea, Truyan Saigas turns to art forgery to support her mother and two sisters. But Tru’s efforts to make ends meet aren’t enough, and gangsters threaten to take away her sisters if their mother’s gambling debts aren’t paid. When the authorities come to arrest Tru for her crimes, she escapes—and then encounters Elang, a cursed half-dragon, half-human prince. He offers a deal she can’t refuse: If she marries him and helps him dethrone his tyrannical grandfather, the Dragon King, he’ll ensure that she and her family are safe and debt-free and help her get answers to her father’s disappearance. After they’re officially bound in a loveless marriage, Tru enters Ai’long, a magical underwater realm where she’s guarded by turtles, befriends merfolk, and, with the aid of a hot-tempered water demon, masters her gift of Sight (an ability to see glimpses of the future) through painting. The inevitable romance is enhanced by a beautifully rendered subaqueous backdrop and beguiling folkloric elements. In this fantasy Chinese world, Tru’s blue hair is evidence of her Balardan heritage on her father’s side, a trait regarded as “a damning sight”; but being visibly different motivates her to be independent and self-loving.
An adventurous and romantic addition to the genre. (map) (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780593650615
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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