Tin Heart

Starred review from January 1, 2019
Seventeen-year-old Australian Marlowe Jensen--just returning to high school after a successful heart transplant--obsesses about her anonymous donor while also navigating relationships with friends, family members, and her first love.Marlowe, who is of Danish descent, narrates the tale in present tense. Among her many anxieties: "There is no 'me' anymore. They're seeing a girl with a borrowed heart." Although this and other insecure musings pepper the text, it is also filled with Marlowe's witty comments. Her zany, controlling mother and adoring younger brother provide additional humor: Mum, owner of the "vegan-organic-wellness store called Blissfully Aware," participates in showy, anti-establishment protests, and 10-year-old Pip--who seems younger--uses every possible occasion to wear outrageous, painstakingly created costumes. High school bully Eddie Oro and his bubble-headed followers are stock characters, but Marlowe's budding friendships with cool, gay Zan Cheung and maybe-the-sister-of-Marlowe's-heart-donor Carmen Castillejo ring true. So does the slow move from adversary to love interest with Leo, the next-door butcher's son--which begins with a series of escalating pranks on both sides. Without didacticism, the text offers a glimpse into two sets of rare challenges: those faced by Marlowe, grappling with the fact that her life was restored by another's death, and those faced by Carmen and her father, still grieving over 16-year-old Luis, whose organs were donated after a car accident.Readers will cheer for Marlowe's bildungsroman--simultaneously unique and universal. (Fiction. 12-16)

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December 1, 2018
Grades 9-12 Who are you when you have someone else's heart? This question drives Plozza's latest as Marlowe struggles through the challenges of high school, boys, and living as a heart-transplant recipient. Rather than experiencing pure elation following her life-saving heart transplant, Marlowe mostly feels lost and guilty about the life that ended to save hers. While her fiercely vegan mother and costume-loving younger brother continually embarrass her, and the butcher's son next-door both infuriates and intrigues her, Marlowe sets out on a mission to find her donor's family in an attempt to thank them and to truly know the heart that beats in her chest. With a witty yet awkward main character at the helm, this story will quickly hook readers and keep them laughing, crying, and rooting Marlowe on, even as she continually makes questionable decisions. Between Pip's enthusiastic costume design and her new friend Zan's tough-but-tender personality, the dynamic supporting cast make the story even more lovable. A great read for fans of LGBTQ-friendly coming-of-age stories.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)