He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. 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. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. 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. 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.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. YA)Ī Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart. Chick-lit–reading older teens might be willing to give this a try, but the focus on marriage and parenthood make it more likely to appeal to their mothers. Most of the novel concerns secrets and infidelity three separate affairs plus one imagined and their repercussions occupy center stage, and Moriarty skillfully examines desire, longing and forgiveness. Seven-year-old Cassie and 12-year-old Listen are the only non-adult characters in an ensemble cast, and while Listen’s (lonely and unpleasant) experiences in seventh grade do provide the catalyst for many plot developments, she is overshadowed by the adults. The “Zing Family Secret” necessitates weekly meetings in the garden shed, and the story follows several of the Zings and their associates through the year when the secret (mildly anticlimactic after the immense build-up) finally comes out. publications ( The Year of Secret Assignments, 2004 The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie, 2006), this one lacks teen appeal.
This revised version of an Australian adult novel displays Moriarty’s engagingly quirky writing, but unlike her previous U.S.
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