Review by New York Times Review
Told in verse interspersed with prose, their stories illuminate an Arizona town divided by political and racial tensions, and at times "People Kill People" reads eerily more like nonfiction than fiction, particularly after the first anniversary of the Charlottesville riots: Ominously, there's an upcoming pro-immigration rally, and protesters are planning to be there too. Hopkins weaves in other contemporary political battlegrounds as well, including homelessness, racism and sexual assault, even mentioning recent acts of violence like the 2016 Pulse nightclub mass shooting. The mystery of which character will be killed propels the book forward, but it becomes increasingly uncertain as the plot develops. Hopkins, the author of several best-selling Y.A. novels in verse, including "Smoke" and "Crank," makes all too clear that any of them could fall victim, as well as be motivated to pull the trigger. Yet her essential message - guns make the killing all too easy - will reverberate with readers long after they put the book down. IN UNCLAIMED BAGGAGE (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 379 pp., $18.99; ages 12 and up), Jen Doll's big-hearted YA. debut, 16-year-old Doris is a buoyant, outspoken feminist who yearns to break out of her Alabama town's conservative bubble. Nell has grudgingly moved there with her family from Chicago, where her boyfriend still lives. Grant is a former high school football star with an alcohol problem. What brings them together is a summer job at Unclaimed Baggage, a store that sells items found in lost airport luggage. The story unfolds at the start of a sweaty summer, with temperatures and unsolicited opinions running high (particularly those of the busybody Mrs. Stokes, a church youth group director who admonishes Doris, "We women must behave as God intended"). At work, Doris, Nell and Grant have to sort other people's baggage, keeping the good stuff to sell (a vintage "Titanic" movie poster) and discarding the rest (including, humorously, a sex toy). Doll breezily alternates among the voices of her likable characters as they move toward new discoveries, new romance and unexpected adventure. There are more serious threads as well, as challenges like racism, mental illness, sexual assault and substance abuse enter the plot. Though what brings these characters together is a job that seems like the height of randomness, they soon realize its deeper meaning - they each carry their own baggage, after all, and by beginning to share it, they solidify a friendship. "JUST BE YOURSELF. Yeah. Sure. OK." Evan Hansen, an anxious loner who feels invisible walking his high school's hallways, knows these words are easier said than put into action. But that changes when a letter he writes to himself, intended for no one to read, ends up in the hands of a family faced with the suicide of their son, Evan's anguished classmate Connor MurphyThat's the setup for DEAR EVAN HANSEN: The Novel (Little, Brown, 389 pp., $18.99; ages 12 and up), by Val Emmich with Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, which flips the usual formula by adapting the wildly acclaimed musical of the same name into a book. The authors - Emmich is an actor and novelist ("The Reminders"), and Levenson, Pasek and Paul are the team behind the musical - use a first-person narration that inserts readers directly into the psyche of Evan, who struggles to decide how best to handle the escalating misunderstanding caused by his letter. It may be impossible not to find pieces of yourself reflected in Evan's loneliness and yearning to be accepted. As the Murphys come to believe Connor and Evan were secret best friends, what at first seemed like a harmless fib quickly spirals into a complicated lie Evan can't escape. Yet it's not all bad: Evan goes from being an outcast to finally being noticed - by the Murphys, his peers and even his crush, Connor's sister, Zoe. His anxiety only deepens with the pressure of social media, which further forces Evan and his fabrication into the spotlight. The book, of course, can't offer the glamour and theatrics (or the music!) of Broadway, but it still captures the heartbreaking experience of searching for connection. Evan's character may have been born for the stage, but his earnestness and relatability sing through the book's pages. A WINDOWS-DOWN, feet-on-the-dashboard summer road trip is as American as softserve vanilla ice cream. But in Patrick Flores-Scott's debut, american road trip (Holt, 323 pp., $17; ages 12 and up), Teodoro "T" Avila, a Latino high school student whose family has been hit by the 2008 housing crash, is sure it's a less than ideal way to spend the summer. His audacious sister, Xóchitl, tricks him onto the road in an attempt to save their older brother, Manny, an Iraq vet struggling with PTSD. Their drive down the West Coast toward New Mexico is fueled by sacrifice and fierce, unconditional sibling love. Above all, T says of his siblings, "I want them to be safe." Written in T's vulnerable, observant voice, "American Road Trip" holds true to classic road-trip themes like the emotional power of singalongs and unexpected detours, but it also wades into the darker waters of mental illness with both realism and sensitivity. Along the way, Flores-Scott provides rich slices of Latinx culture - like making tortillas with cheese and a green chile that "stings so sweet I jump out of my seat" - that pave paths for T's self-discovery. Striking a balance between heavy subject matter and lighthearted humor, Flores-Scott isn't afraid to dive into the deep end, then come up for a blissful gulp of air. LIKE MANY TEENAGERS, Darius Kellern, the protagonist of Adib Khorram's darius THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY (Dial, 314 pp., $17.99; ages 12 and up), feels as if he doesn't belong. The self-described "fractional Persian" (on his mother's side) is bullied by jocks, struggles with his weight and has little in common with his father other than a shared depression diagnosis and a love of "Star Trek." But when his grandfather's illness prompts a family trip to Iran, Darius begins to see himself differently. Though Darius's relationship with his father is still strained in Iran and his grandparents (judgingly) question why he needs medication, things start to look up when Darius meets Sohrab, a boy who lives next door. They play soccer and hang out, confiding in each other about their "father issues." Darius even embraces being called Darioush, the Persian version of his name. For the first time, he has a true friend - one who knows "what it was like to be stuck on the outside because of one little thing that set you apart." Yet the more at ease he feels, the more apparent it is that he eventually must go back to his life in Portland, Ore. As a teenage outcast story, "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" may seem familiar, but it's layered with complexities of identity, body image and mental illness that are so rarely articulated in the voice of a teenage boy of color. Khorram writes tenderly and humorously about his protagonist's journey of self-acceptance, making it hard not to want to reach through the pages, squeeze his hand and reassure Darius that he is, in fact, going to be O.K. TAYLOR TRUDON is a former editor at MTV News and The Huffington Post.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 23, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
Evan Hansen, a teen crippled by anxiety, starts each day by writing a letter of encouragement to himself. When loner Connor Murphy finds one of the letters at school and dies by suicide days later, his parents deliver the Dear Evan Hansen to Evan, who lies about being Connor's best friend. As the Murphys embrace Evan, his lie goes viral, giving comfort to the grieving family and making him a social media darling. But as the lies build, Evan's guilt forces him to admit the truth. In this stage-to-page adaptation, characters' back stories offer depth only hinted at by the Tony Award-winning musical. Connor's posthumous narration offers insights into his mental state, while Evan's voice and interior monologues reveal the intensity of his own. The ending eases some of the rockiness of Evan's life, and while there are no overt consequences for his deception, he is seemingly left to ponder his actions. Readers who long for acceptance will welcome this opportunity to experience Evan's story.--Jeanne Fredriksen Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Plenty of books have been adapted into theater, but this novel inverts the formula, drawing on a Tony Award-winning musical for its empathetic story. Evan Hansen is a lonely, anxiety-ridden teenager whose therapist suggests he write an affirmative note to himself every day. When one of Evan's letters falls into the hands of a classmate who later commits suicide, the boy's parents mistakenly believe that Evan was his best friend. Evan struggles with correcting the misperception, which succors the dead boy's parents and brings Evan popularity when a speech he gives, about how every life matters, goes viral. Alongside the show's creators, actor and writer Emmich (The Reminders) is well suited to the task of taking Evan's tortured conscience from stage to page, offering a particularly authentic first-person narration about family dynamics, the importance of kindness, and the horrors of not fitting in at high school. The timely plotline, about how one innocent lie can spin out of control with the help of the internet, makes this a must-read for teens and those who care about them. Ages 14-up. Agent: Jeff Kleinman, Folio Literary Management. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-A novelization of the Tony award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. Evan Hansen, deeply lonely, anxious, and invisible to his peers, finds himself accidentally associated with the suicide of a classmate. The web of lies and truths and growth that comes from the original mistake changes Evan's life and many lives around his. Emmich, in collaboration with the playwright and song-writing team of the original musical, has pulled off a very successful translation from stage to page, helped by the fact that the core themes are classic YA material-heartfelt, morally ambiguous without being morally impossible, and tuning into the small connections and discoveries between teens. VERDICT An unpredictable and endearing take on some classic themes, this novel will especially appeal to fans of the show but will also be easily accessible to new audiences.-Katya Schapiro, Brooklyn Public Library © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
With Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul. A novelization of the Broadway musical. When classmate Connor commits suicide, Evan perpetuates the misunderstanding that he was close friends with Connor. Evan's tribute goes viral, making him the poster boy for teen-suicide awareness. Evan's social anxiety is superficially developed and feels like an excuse for his poor choices. Nevertheless, the focus on teen suicide and our increasing disconnection through social media could start vital conversations. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Emmich (The Reminders, 2017) joins the team behind the Tony-winning musical to create this novel adaptation.Awkward high school senior Evan Hansen has zero friends and a debilitating mixture of depression and anxiety. As a coping mechanism, his therapist assigns him to write letters to himself to reframe his thinking. When one of those letters is found on the body of Connor Murphy, a loner classmate and brother of Evan's crush, Zoe, the Murphys assume that Connor addressed a suicide note to Evan and that the boys were secretly friends. Evan does nothing to dissuade this notion, and soon his lies build as he experiences belonging and acceptance for the first time. But as his anxiety winds ever tighter and others notice loopholes in his story, Evan begins to unravel as he fears exposure. Evan's first-person narration is simultaneously sympathetic and frustrating, female characters feel underdeveloped, and the story's representation of mental health issues is at times underwhelming. Inserted interludes of Connor's ghostly first-person, post-death perspective provide marginal insight into his character, although it is here that readers learn of Connor's fluid sexuality. Whether or not they've seen or listened to the musical, many readers will latch on to the story's message that "no one deserves to be forgotten." Evan presents as white, and other major characters are African-American and Latinx.Without the rich music and stage performance it's a middling story with themes better handled elsewhere; impeccably timed for the musical's national tour, however, teens will clamor to read it. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
