How to Break a Heart

September 15, 2015
After 13-year-old Mabry Collins is dropped by her heartthrob, Nick Wainwright, (her 19th straight dumping in a row), Thad Bell, a boy with his own grudge against Nick, promises to teach her how to become the yin to Nick's yang. Thad's lessons come with a condition, though: once Nick is smitten, Mabry has to promise to break his heart. It's a cute premise, though the problems the two protagonists face are so disproportionately weighted that its execution feels uneven. Mabry, Stewart's one-note histrionic protagonist, primarily spends her days obsessing about love, picking up her exaggerated romantic ideas from La Vida Rica, a telenovela she watches religiously. On the other hand, Thad's father recently died in an accident that also left his mother disabled, and he's still reeling from the loss as well as his new familial responsibilities. So while Mabry's problems are essentially trivial, Thad's are deeply profound, which makes it difficult to summon up sympathy for the tediously self-involved heroine. Still, Thad and Mabry have a nice give-and-take-they slowly develop a real connection-and as Mabry grows emotionally, readers' impatience should largely dissipate. Although overlong and narrowly aimed at romantically minded early-adolescent girls, this story will reward tenacious readers with a touching conclusion. (Fiction. 10-13)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 15, 2015
Grades 5-8 If only the course of true love ran like it did on her telenovelas. Unfortunately, real life is much messier. So, when Mabry's boyfriend's mother calls to break up with her on his behalf, she is devastated and willing to do anything to get Nick back. Mabry's friends are not quite as sympathetic as she would likethey are critical of Nick's behavior and tell her that she's better off without him. Only Thad, a boy who dumped Mabry in fourth grade, seems willing to help her get Nick back in time for the cotillion. But Thad has an ulterior motive, one that will complicate the reconciliation. Alternate chapters are told from Thad's and Mabry's points of view, cluing readers in on the full story. Chapters from Mabry's point of view open with Spanish vocabulary words: romper, herder, dolerall words to express her anguish. Thad's chapters reflect his feelings as well: crash and burn, crime and punishment. Margo Rabb's Kissing in America (2015) would be a perfect read-alike.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)