Publishers Weekly Australian author Plozza mixes mystery with a teenager's messy reckoning with her family history in her debut novel. Now 17 and living with her aunt, Frankie Vega has never gotten over being abandoned by her mother at age four. So when 14-year-old Xavier shows up, claiming to be her half-brother, she isn't sure what to think. Should she trust him, or will he disappoint her like their mother did? Xavier turns out to be involved in some pretty shady things, including helping a (hot) burglar named Nate. Then again, Frankie and her family aren't exactly angels (she's recently been suspended after breaking another student's nose). Though Frankie isn't sure that Xavier can be trusted, when he goes missing, she takes it upon herself to find him. As Frankie plays detective, the clues lead her to Xavier and help her come to terms with her feelings about her mother and her own sense of self-worth. An edgy and drily funny novel that dives deep into how forgiveness-especially forgiving oneself-can help a person grow. Ages 13-up Agent: Cheryl Pientka, Jill Grinberg Literary Management. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Horn Book Seventeen-year-old Frankie Vega has a quick temper and even quicker wit. Repercussions from attacking a classmate and hurtful memories of those who've let her down (like her addict mother) are compounded by the appearance--and subsequent disappearance--of a previously unknown half-brother, fourteen-year-old Xavier. Frankie's authentic voice carries a gritty and layered story. (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.

Kirkus The members of the Italian-Australian Vega family aren't known for their contributions to society."Dark-olive" Frankie, with her "aggressive tendencies," has been suspended from school for breaking a classmate's nose with the complete works of Shakespeare; Juliet, Frankie's drug-addicted mother, abandoned Frankie when she was 4; and Frankie's uncle Terry is currently serving a 15-year sentence for multiple armed robberies. When Xavier, Frankie's half brother, pops out of nowhere, Aunt Vinnie, Frankie's guardian and the only Vega on the right side of the law, warns Frankie not to get too close to the boy with whom she shares a mother. At first Frankie doesn't know what to think of the 14-year-old. Is he a junkie? A liar? A thief? How far from the Vega tree has this newly discovered apple fallen? Is he involved in the recent spate of burglaries in the neighborhood? When Xavier goes missing, the only people Frankie can rely on are her best friend, the caustically funny Cara Lam (whose implied Chinese heritage goes unexplored), and Nate, a white, blue-eyed law-breaking indie poseur. Frankie's first-person narration gives readers a well-rounded picture of a formerly bullied teen from the wrong side of the tracks struggling to make sense of her past and how it affects her present relationships. A gritty and darkly witty debut. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list One word describes Frankie Vega perfectly: survivor. Ever since her mother abandoned her at age four, she's had to be tough, whether it's getting into fist fights or mouthing off to cops. Only Aunt Vinnie, who runs a questionable kabob stand, and her friend Cara are allowed anywhere near Frankie's heart. That changes when her 14-year-old half brother, Xavier, shows up wanting to establish a relationship. Frankie is excited but cautious. She has no love for their estranged mother and wonders how Xavier fits into their lives. Suddenly Xavier disappears, and Frankie begins a frantic search for the brother she didn't know she loved. Readers will love Frankie for her courage, passion, and honesty as a narrator. Supporting characters are equally as well drawn, from surly yet caring Aunt Vinnie to Nate, a neighborhood ne'er-do-well with deep blue eyes. As Frankie assembles clues to Xavier's fate, the story is unafraid to depict unsavory people, nor does it shy away from bittersweet resolutions. A powerful debut about a girl learning to love despite the dangers.--Suarez, Reinhardt Copyright 2017 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Publishers Weekly In 1919, a boy and his father emigrate from China to the United States. There, the child is separated from his parent and “taken to a wooden house filled with strangers... Days turned to weeks. This new land was not what he had expected.” After he struggles to clear immigration with an assumed identity, the boy, eventually known as Tyrus Wong, makes his way as an artist, working his way through art school as a janitor before landing a job at Walt Disney Studios. His lush illustrations, influenced by the evocative spareness of Chinese art and calligraphy, became the signature look of Bambi, though Wong is credited “only as a background artist” for his contributions to the film. Sasaki’s appealing illustrations, which blend midcentury stylization with classical Chinese art, complement Leung’s sensitive and skillful telling of Wong’s chillingly timely story. An endnote offers additional details about Wong’s life and career. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Publishers Weekly In 1919, a boy and his father emigrate from China to the United States. There, the child is separated from his parent and “taken to a wooden house filled with strangers... Days turned to weeks. This new land was not what he had expected.” After he struggles to clear immigration with an assumed identity, the boy, eventually known as Tyrus Wong, makes his way as an artist, working his way through art school as a janitor before landing a job at Walt Disney Studios. His lush illustrations, influenced by the evocative spareness of Chinese art and calligraphy, became the signature look of Bambi, though Wong is credited “only as a background artist” for his contributions to the film. Sasaki’s appealing illustrations, which blend midcentury stylization with classical Chinese art, complement Leung’s sensitive and skillful telling of Wong’s chillingly timely story. An endnote offers additional details about Wong’s life and career. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus As the boat sailed from China to America, Wong memorized the minutiae of another boy's life.In 1919, the Chinese Exclusion Act allowed only high-status immigrants into the U.S. So 9-year-old Wong became a "paper son," taking on the identity of a merchant's son. Luckily, Wong passed the grueling immigration interview. After art school, bored by the tedium of "in-betweener" work at Disney Studios, Wong saw his chance to prove himself when Walt Disney announced his next movie, Bambi. Drawing on Felix Salten's novel, his own personal experiences, and his training in both Eastern and Western artistic styles, Wong created lush, impressionistic landscapes inspiring the look of the entire movie. Unfortunately, Wong's work was largely unrecognized; however, he never stopped making art, exploring many media. Digital illustrations emphasize precise details and shape repetition, creating a geometric counterpoint to organic washes of color and loose, impressionistic backgrounds inspired by Wong's work on Bambi. The brief narrative moves swiftly, lingering on just two key moments: Wong's immigration and the making of Bambi. The author's note provides more information about the Chinese Exclusion Act, the proliferation of paper sons and daughters, and additional details about and photos of Wong. Unfortunately, neither text nor backmatter share contextual information about the reasons for immigration, benefits and sacrifices of immigration, or the racial prejudice Wong faced both personally and professionally.A visually engaging introduction to a little-known yet influential American artist (Picture book/biography. 7-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Horn Book This picture-book biography focuses on two pivotal experiences in Wong's life--his 1920 emigration from China to the U.S. at age nine (the well-paced text describes Wong's journey as a ‘paper son,’ a child carrying forged immigration papers) and his work as an animator at Disney Studios (his ideas inspire the scenic design for the 1942 film Bambi). Sasaki's digital illustrations are striking. Back matter includes photos, an author's note offering more detail about Wong's life (he died in 2016 at age 106!), and information about the Chinese Exclusion Act. (c) Copyright 2021. 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.

Book list When he was nine years old, Tyrus Wong became a Paper Son, using a false name and pretending to be another boy in order to immigrate with his father to the U.S., or Gold Mountain. After months alone on Angel Island being questioned by immigration authorities, Wong was finally reunited with his dad, taking up a tough life as the new kid in a place where he didn't know the language. He went on to art school while working nights as a janitor and eventually became the art director of Disney's Bambi, though he never received the credit he deserved. Leung's reverent, poetic prose captures the subject's lifelong love of art and his perseverance through adversity. Sasaki's lush renderings are reminiscent of the animator's iconic style, heavily influenced by his Chinese heritage. Young readers and aspiring artists will pore over the stunning digital art, which presents an ink-and-watercolor style. The entire collaboration highlights the many contributions immigrants have made to our country and its culture, making this a lovely work for all shelves, displays centering artists, units on immigration, or showcases during Asian American History Month. Notes from author and artist, in addition to photos of Wong and his family, add further context and value to this gorgeous picture-book biography about an unsung hero of animation and Chinese American history.--Shelley M. Diaz Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

School Library Journal PreS-Gr 3—From humble origins as a nine-year-old Chinese immigrant with false papers, Tyrus Wong challenged adversity to become a professional artist. Celebrated as the man behind the design for Disney's Bambi, Wong worked for other film studios as well. Leung's smooth exposition emphasizes the difficulties facing young Wong Geng Yeo, who traveled in 1921 under the identity of Look Tai Yow, a merchant's son, in order to evade the restrictions of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Days of practice on the long voyage allowed him to pass his immigration interview and be released to join his father, but only after an extended detention on Angel Island. Wong finished high school and art school, but continued to face discrimination as a Disney employee. Sasaki's digital illustrations portray him as the single non-white man among a group of Disney animators drawing the repetitive "in between" frames of movies. The art often reflects the style of Chinese watercolor and ink paintings. One notable spread shows the artist working as a janitor, swirling his mop trails to paint a running horse on a tile floor. Other images are stylized but recognizable and appropriate to the mood and the period. The helpful back matter includes author and illustrator notes and photos from the Wong family albums, including his immigration card. The endpapers feature the kites Wong designed and flew on the beach near his California home. VERDICT A well-told story that spotlights the too-often unrecognized talent and contributions of America's immigrants.—Kathleen Isaacs, Children's Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list This seamless tie-in to Montell's Cultish (2021) and her podcast, Sounds Like a Cult, examines the recent upsurge in cults, conspiracies, extreme fandom, and distorted nostalgia. Refreshingly entertaining and informative, Montell links research and social science with humorous and touching anecdotes. The book reviews some common cognitive biases and fallacies that may be magnified by online culture and rampantly spread. Montell attributes the contagion of astronomical levels of hopelessness and alienation to this phenomenon, especially in those inclined to mistrust institutions of power. Research reflects how relentless exposure to information without weight, context, or veracity perpetuates the overconsumption of its sources, she finds. Credibility increases when a concept is embedded in a repetitious narrative that elicits strong emotion, condensed into a simplified form that encourages immediate response. Montell aims to inspire online users to identify and counter ingrained tendencies toward superstition, groupthink, and mental shortcuts. She exemplifies the power of compelling stories by employing her own memorable metaphors and disclosures as an invitation to consider more deeply what we choose to consume and share.

From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Kirkus A leading social commentator puts the weird trends of our time under the microscope. Montell, author of Cultish and Wordslut, examines a profound, timely question: How do we get out of the constant cycle of confusion, obsession, second-guessing, and information overload? The author approaches the dilemmas of the 21st century with her tongue firmly in her cheek, although she recognizes the way that “magical thinking,” or the belief that internal thoughts and feelings can affect unrelated events in the external world, is slowly unraveling our society. The book is more a series of essays than a cohesive narrative, but Montell ably demonstrates the fundamental mismatch between the way our brains operate and a world defined by the internet, media saturation, and AI systems. It’s become almost impossible to separate truth from marketing ploys, so there’s a tendency to retreat into cynicism—or, even worse, conspiracy theories. Everything seems to be a crisis, pushed along by attention spans that continue to shrink. Montell covers a great deal of ground, from the “stans” (that is, stalker-fans) of celebrities, to mental health gurus selling “vibes,” to the allure of commercialized nostalgia. On the psychological side, the author leads us through the thickets of confirmation bias, the recency illusion, and the sunk-cost fallacy, and how such flawed thinking can undermine our attempts to make sense of the world. Montell is better at analysis than providing answers, but she believes that a good dose of considered self-awareness can go a long way. Getting away from the screen and doing something physical, even assembling furniture, can also be an antidote. The author presents an engaging package suitable for anyone who wants to better understand the chaos of our modern society. Montell’s take on how irrationality went mainstream is informed by erudite wit and an eye for telling images. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.