SEPTEMBER 2018 - AudioFile
The youthful glow of narrator Maya Burton’s performance brings a generous amount of authenticity to the voice of teenaged Yvonne, a violinist who has lost her passion for music. Burton tones down the warmth and enthusiasm in her voice as Yvonne struggles to overcome her ennui, until she finds inspiration through Omar, a bohemian street musician. Burton immediately hooks into Omar’s laid-back West Coast vibe, and she contrast it with a more rigid and intense portrayal of Warren, the young sous chef who has also captured Yvonne’s heart. When Yvonne discovers she is pregnant, she finds herself at a crossroads. Burton is the perfect narrator to bring home this story about difficult choices and searching for your passion. J.E.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
"Brandy Colbert has crafted a meaningful and masterful book that explores all of the different ways that we can surprise ourselves. Yvonne's path through family ties, hidden talents, and difficult decisions reveals the hard-won truth of an unforgettable character. I loved this book."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}Robin Benway, National Book Award Winner and New York Times bestselling author of Far from the Tree
"A pitch-perfect song of a book about all the ways a heart can break and mend, Finding Yvonne will stay with you long past its final, bittersweet notes."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}Elana K. Arnold, author of National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of
"Colbert's excellent ear for dialogue is on display in her latest, and she does a fantastic job of capturing the particular anxieties of a highly intelligent, talented teen at a crossroads, as well as the weight of microaggressions about everything from race to sexuality to economic status."—Booklist
"Colbert delivers another emotionally layered story."—Publishers Weekly
"Readers will be able to relate to the challenges faced by the diverse and realistic characters that Colbert has created."—School Library Connection
"[Yvonne's] a compelling protagonist, and she'll speak to readers thrown by the lack of certainty in their own futures."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Praise for Little & Lion:
"Little and Lion is beautifully insightful, honest, and compassionate. Brandy's ability to find larger meaning in small moments is nothing short of dazzling."—National Book Award Finalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything Everything, Nicola Yoon
"Brandy Colbert further establishes herself as one of contemporary YA's biggest talents in this thoughtful and thought-provoking examination of identity, loyalty, and what it means to live with integrity. Little & Lion is a stunningly good novel."—Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author of And I Darken
"Brandy Colbert takes us on an emotional and gorgeous journey with a protagonist who is trying to figure out where she fits in with her family as well as in the world. A book full of overwhelming love and courage."—Sara Farizan, author of Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel
* "This superbly written novel teems with meaningful depth, which is perfectly balanced by romance and the languorous freedom of summer."—Booklist, starred review
* "A moving, diverse exploration of the challenges of growing up and the complicated nature of loyalty."—School Library Journal, starred review
* "Colbert sensitively confronts misconceptions about mental illness, bisexuality, and intersectional identity.... A vibrantly depicted Los Angeles."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* "From the threads of love and romance, to redefining family life, readers of all walks of life will find an entry point to this title."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review
"A moving and well-realized examination of secrecy, trust, and intimacy."—Publishers Weekly
" Hand [Little & Lion] to readers who like thoughtful, edgy stories with no easy answers."—VOYA
"With compelling honesty, Colbert portrays Suzette's evolving understanding of her sexuality, Lionel's longing for self-sufficiency alongside the challenges of his mental illness, and the difficulty of shifting familial relationships."—Horn Book
School Library Journal
05/01/2018
Gr 9 Up—L.A. high school senior Yvonne lives with her single father, a high-end chef, and has identified as a violinist since she was a small child. Now, her music seems to have failed her as an identity, and she longs for the mother who deserted the family a dozen years earlier. She is also shifting between two markedly different young men. There is much potential here, both for Yvonne and readers, to consider in terms of knowing oneself, evaluating prospective paths of action, and moving ahead. However, the story is littered with only partially realized, and thus frustrating, symbolism and less-than-credible turns. By the end of the novel, readers will understand that Yvonne's father is depressed, but it takes a long time to get to that realization from what seems to be his primary presentation as a habitually pot-smoking, often absent parent. The inclusion of an LGBTQ nod is relegated to the sidekick's lesbian mothers, present in a few passages. The nuances of passing and racial erasure in the contemporary African American community is one area handled here with grace and cogency through the frustration of one of Yvonne's love interests, who feels slighted when an interviewer fails to identify him as black. Lacking the spark of energy of Little & Lion, Colbert's latest seems underdeveloped. VERDICT An additional purchase.—Francisca Goldsmith, Library Ronin, Worcester, MA
SEPTEMBER 2018 - AudioFile
The youthful glow of narrator Maya Burton’s performance brings a generous amount of authenticity to the voice of teenaged Yvonne, a violinist who has lost her passion for music. Burton tones down the warmth and enthusiasm in her voice as Yvonne struggles to overcome her ennui, until she finds inspiration through Omar, a bohemian street musician. Burton immediately hooks into Omar’s laid-back West Coast vibe, and she contrast it with a more rigid and intense portrayal of Warren, the young sous chef who has also captured Yvonne’s heart. When Yvonne discovers she is pregnant, she finds herself at a crossroads. Burton is the perfect narrator to bring home this story about difficult choices and searching for your passion. J.E.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2018-06-18
Privileged teenager Yvonne must decide what to do with her future.Yvonne has lost her passion for the violin...or she never had it to begin with. She's unsure, but what is clear is that her longtime violin teacher has dropped her, and she feels lost. Yvonne's mother left when she was little, and her famous chef father is rarely around and stoned most of the time. Feeling she has nothing to distinguish her—other than a passing compliment for her musical abilities from her childhood orchestra teacher—Yvonne is acutely aware of the fawning attention her father receives for his gifts. One day, strolling Venice Beach with her not-quite-official boyfriend, Warren, Yvonne is enraptured by two buskers. She's especially taken by the violinist—handsome, dreadlocked Omar. After Warren prioritizes work on her 18th birthday, Yvonne begins hanging out with college-dropout Omar, whom she soon sleeps with, leading to complications. Yvonne engages in endless introspection, but her character feels flat, and the lack of forward momentum makes it difficult to sustain interest in her story. The musical theme does not ring true, and secondary characters are underdeveloped. The book takes on gentrification, double standards around female sexuality, and race (light-skinned Warren has a white father and identifies as black), but readers may long for more depth. All major characters are black, and Yvonne's best friend has two moms.Patient readers may appreciate this one. (Fiction. 14-18)
