Well-drawn, deeply realized characters enliven this spellbinding and fantastical queer coming-of-age love story.
Mags Herrera is bound to her hometown by a dark secret and a tragic accident, but she begins to dream of the possibilities of a new life after reuniting with a long-lost friend.
Mags, who has short, spiky black hair, obeys the expectations of her Latine Catholic mother and grandmother. But beneath the floorboards of their home lies a dangerous monster that Mags must make blood sacrifices to in order to keep it fed and dormant. Mags struggles to conceal this secret from Nessa, a trans artist and childhood friend she reconnects with. The two fall in love and help each other out of dire situations. The beast at the center of the story serves as a potent allegory for the struggles of the story’s many queer characters, especially Mags, who shoulders enormous expectations as well as experiencing rejection, loneliness, and guilt. Her story will resonate with teen audiences, especially those grappling with acceptance of their gender or sexual identity. Ostertag’s illustration style and color palette shift during important moments to convey her characters’ complex inner lives, such as emotional turmoil or strong feelings. Even while delving into difficult subjects, the story’s heart is clearly an optimistic message of acceptance and love that insists that the parts of ourselves we don’t like (or that society doesn’t accept) are inextricable from who we are and should be cared for at all costs.
Well-drawn, deeply realized characters enliven this spellbinding and fantastical queer coming-of-age love story. (author’s note) (Graphic fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781338840001
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
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
Disappointing.
Unlikely friends fight their growing feelings for each other while placing bets on other people’s love lives.
Bailey met Charlie while flying from Alaska, where she grew up, to Nebraska, where she and her mom would be living after her parents’ divorce. Although they briefly bonded over their parents’ divorces, Charlie’s cynicism grated on the rule-following Bailey, and she was thankful to part ways with him. Three years later, to Bailey’s dismay, she runs into Charlie when they both land jobs at Planet Funnn, a mega-hotel that’s “like a giant landlocked cruise ship.” This time around, Bailey and Charlie begin to get along better. To entertain themselves during their long shifts, they observe and make bets about the hotel guests. But they risk taking it too far when they bet on whether their co-worker Theo will end up with Nekesa, Bailey’s best friend, who’s in “a perfect relationship with the perfect guy.” The book explores Bailey’s conflicted feelings toward her mom’s new relationship with Scott (who doesn’t “do anything wrong” but whose presence changes “the vibe” at home), but it does so in a way that diminishes a primary source of conflict. Bailey's and Charlie’s feelings become even more complicated when Charlie helps Bailey with a fake-dating scheme intended to scare Scott off. Some of the banter between the leads, who are coded white, feels more aggressive than playful, detracting from their intimacy, and the circuitous plot may fail to sustain readers’ interest.
Disappointing. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781665921237
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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