The Inevitable Collision of Birdie & Bash

May 1, 2017
Tragedy hovers over a blossoming romance.Brazilian-American Sebastian "Bash" Alvarez is just trying to get by when he meets the nerdy, white Birdie Paxton. The two spark up some romantic fire, but disaster quickly strikes. Late one night, Bash and his ne'er-do-well pal "Wild" Kyle are driving erratically (Kyle is at the wheel) and slam right into Birdie's baby brother, Benny. The boys flee the scene, while Benny slips into a coma and the town begins to hunt for the perpetrators of the hit-and-run. Bash keeps his secret from Birdie as they grow closer, and readers will roll their eyes at the excessive misery. The author gives Bash a dying mother to balance out the equation, but the choice overloads the devastation factor. With everything emotional and awful and crazy and turned up to 11, nothing really sticks out. The two moping, guilt-ridden protagonists are drawn well enough--they alternate narration--but seem to be stuck in a narrative hell bent on getting readers to cry. Secondary characters are poorly sketched, given no interior life, and merely activated to interact with Birdie and Bash. The novel's end is disproportionately sunny and hopeful, giving readers tonal whiplash. A last-minute Hail Mary act gets the teens out of the narrative corner, but it feels spectacularly tacked-on. A tear-jerker that fails to connect despite desperate effort. (Fiction. 14-17)

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June 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-After a charged encounter at a party, the lives of two strangers become unknowingly entwined. Bash is in the passenger's seat as his intoxicated friend hits the stroller carrying Birdie's younger brother before driving off in a hit-and-run. Both Birdie and Bash must contend with guilt as they navigate their individual family struggles. Bash works to present a facade of success to his dying mother and cover for his rich, troubled friend as his life crumbles. Birdie feels responsible for her brother's accident and copes by maintaining a veneer of denial, going to school, and starting a new job. The two coincidentally meet a week later when Birdie begins work at the roller skating rink where Bash is employed. As their feelings for each other grow, Bash must decide whether to confess his role in Birdie's brother's accident. Told in alternating chapters, the book weaves the theme of chemistry into the story (Birdie loves it, while Bash can't understand it), and "lessons of the day" at the end of each chapter use the chemistry motif to convey Birdie's feelings. A potentially intriguing plot goes largely unmined owing to little character development and lack of credible plotting. VERDICT An additional purchase.-Hillary St. George, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2017
Grades 8-11 Brazilian American Bash is an artist on the cusp of getting kicked out of high school. Birdie's a chemistry whiz with a penchant for photographing dead animals. They meet (sort of) cute at a party, but it's a later, much more destructive collision that holds significance. When he isn't tending to his dying mother, Bash passes time with Kyle, a messy product of too much privilege. While intoxicated, Kyle gets behind the wheel with Bash riding shotgun, and after accidentally hitting Birdie's two-year-old little brother, Benny, the two flee the scene. With Benny in a coma, Birdie and Bash run into each again, and, a bit predictably, they fall for each other. Ganger alternates between Bash's and Birdie's perspectives, and readers will be anxious for Birdie to realize Bash's true identity, and for Bash to come forward to someoneanyonewith the truth. Bash's friendship with the troubled Kyle, who does nothing but treat him poorly, is puzzling, fascinating, and yet painfully true to life. Hand to fans of Jennifer Niven's All the Bright Places (2015).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)