October 1, 2023: Volume XCI, No. 19

THE KIRKUS PRIZE TURNS 10

THIS HAS BEEN a year of momentous milestones and exciting new developments for Kirkus. In January, the magazine—which began life as the Virginia Kirkus Bookshop Service during the dark days of the Great Depression—observed its 90th anniversary. We celebrated with a special issue and a peek into the Kirkus Reviews archives to revisit some of our most notable reviews.

In September, we unveiled a redesign of the magazine, bringing full color and a sleek new look to the interior pages and debuting an illustrated author portrait on the cover. The first two issues featured novelists James McBride (The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store) and Angie Kim (Happiness Falls); this issue brings artist Jessine Hein’s stunning depiction of award-winning author

Jacqueline Woodson, whose new middle-grade novel, Remember Us (Nancy Paulsen Books, Oct. 10), is a heartfelt coming-of-age tale and a vibrant re-creation of her childhood neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn, in the 1970s. (Read our illuminating interview with Woodson on p. 92.)

Now, as October rolls around, we prepare to present the 10th annual Kirkus Prize at a special ceremony, the first to be held in New York City. The Kirkus Prize began in 2014 as a way to further our mission of discovering and spotlighting the very best of the roughly 10,000 titles we review per year. Of those, approximately 10% receive a Kirkus star—indicating books of exceptional merit—and those books are automatically entered into competition for

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the prizes in fiction, nonfiction, and young readers’ literature.

To learn more about the six finalists in each category, please read the editors’ columns in this issue. The winners will be announced at the event in New York City on Oct. 11. Those winners will each receive a trophy custom-made by the team of Vezzini & Chen in London, plus a cash prize of $50,000. This year’s prizes will bring the total amount awarded since 2014 to $1,500,000—funds that have gone to support the authors and illustrators who are creating the most outstanding literature of our day.

The list of winners is a roll call of great books published in the past decade, and we’re proud to have played a part in bringing them renown. Among many, many others, the winners include A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and Trust

by Hernan Diaz; Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates and How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones; and The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline and Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James. A complete list of finalists and winners can be found on the Kirkus website. The advent of the pandemic meant that we couldn’t hold live ceremonies in 2020 and 2021, but the silver lining was that we began livestreaming the event online. Last year was our first hybrid ceremony; this year, please tune in to Kirkus’ YouTube channel at 7:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 11 to watch the celebration at home. It’s sure to be a memorable evening.

Illustration by Eric Scott Anderson

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KIRKUS REVIEWS

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Contributing Writers

GREGORY MCNAMEE MICHAEL SCHAUB

Contributors

Alana Abbott, Nada Abdelrahim, Colleen Abel, Reina Luz Alegre, Maya Alkateb-Chami, Paul Allen, Stephanie Anderson, Kent Armstrong, Mark Athitakis, Nada Bakri, Robert Beauregard, Elizabeth Bird, Amy Boaz, Jessica Hoptay Brown, Jeffrey Burke, Darren Carlaw, Tobias Carroll, Sandie Angulo Chen, Ann Childs, Amanda Chuong, Carin Clevidence, Anastasia M. Collins, Emma Corngold, Jeannie Coutant, Devon Crowe, Kim Dare, Maya Davis, Sara Davis, Michael Deagler, Dave DeChristopher, Elise DeGuiseppi, Steve Donoghue, Melanie Dragger, Anna Drake, Jacob Edwards, Gina Elbert, Lisa Elliott, Lily Emerick, Chelsea Ennen, Ilana Bensussen Epstein, Jennifer Evans, Rosalind Faires, Katie Flanagan, Cynthia Fox, Mia Franz, Jenna Friebel, Roberto Friedman, Nivair H. Gabriel, Glenn Gamboa, Cierra Gathers, Maura Gaven, Carol Goldman, Amy Goldschlager, Danielle Galván Gomez, Valerye Griffin, Christine Gross-Loh, Mary Ann Gwinn, Tobi Haberstroh, Geoff Hamilton, Alec Harvey, Peter Heck, Lynne Heffley, Bridey Heing, Zoe Holland, Natalia Holtzman, Ariana Hussain, Kathleen T. Isaacs, Darlene Ivy, Wesley Jacques, Lenna Jawdat, Jessica Jernigan, Betsy Judkins, Deborah Kaplan, Ivan Kenneally, Lyneea Kmail, Maggie Knapp, Tom Lavoie, Hanna Lee, Angela Leeper, Judith Leitch, Donald Liebenson, Coeur de Lion, Barbara London, Patricia Lothrop, Georgia Lowe, Wendy Lukehart, Kyle Lukoff, Isabella Luongo, Leanne Ly, Joan Malewitz, Thomas Maluck, Emmett Marshall, Gabriela Martins, Matthew May, Dale McGarrigle, Sierra McKenzie, Zoe McLaughlin, Gregory McNamee, Rita Meade, J. Elizabeth Mills, Karen Montgomery Moore, Rebecca Moore, Andrea Moran, Sarah Morgan, Molly Muldoon, Ari Mulgay, McKenzi Murphy, Jennifer Nabers, Christopher Navratil, Liza Nelson, Randall Nichols, Therese Purcell Nielsen, Sarah Norris, Katrina Nye, Tori Ann Ogawa, Connie Ogle, Mike Oppenheim, Emilia Packard, Derek Parker, Sarah Parker-Lee, Deb Paulson, Marguerite Penick-Parks, John Edward Peters, Jim Piechota, Vicki Pietrus, Kristy Raffensberger, Kristen Rasmussen, Jennifer Reese, Sarah Rettger, Alyssa Rivera, Amy Robinson, Lizzie Rogers, Gia Ruiz, Bob Sanchez, Meredith Schorr, Jeff Schwaner, Sadaf Siddique, Linda Simon, Kirby Sokolow, Rita Soltan, Margot E. Spangenberg, Donna Steiner, Allie Stevens, Mathangi Subramanian, Jennifer Sweeney, Bill Thompson, Renee Ting, Martha Anne Toll, Jenna Varden, Christina Vortia, Francesca Vultaggio, Barbara Ward, Erica Weidner, Lauren Emily Whalen, Angela Wiley, Vanessa Willoughby, Marion Winik, S.D. Winston, Bean Yogi, Jean-Louise Zancanella

KIRKUS PRIZE 2023: FICTION FINALISTS

IT’S AN EXCITING moment to be announcing the finalists for this year’s Kirkus Prize in Fiction as we celebrate the prize’s 10th anniversary. From the first winner, Lily King’s Euphoria, to the most recent, Trust by Hernan Diaz, the nine books that have earned the prize have stood the test of time. Could Ling Ma’s Severance, from 2018, have been any more prescient in the way it conjured a pandemic? Joy Williams’ Harrow was a chilling look at a dystopian future. A Little

Life by Hanya Yanagihara and Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead have become modern classics. As a group, this year’s stellar finalists are somehow timeless while speaking to the concerns of 2023, and I’m thrilled to introduce them:

Witness by Jamel Brinkley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux): This remarkable collection of stories is set in New York City’s Black community, primarily in Brooklyn neighborhoods on the verge of transformation. Brinkley “vividly and, at times,

hauntingly show[s] how the people in those enclaves struggle to withstand, even transcend the changes around them,” according to our review.

White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link (Random House): Across her five collections of short stories, Link has blasted through the boundaries of genre, producing “a body of work that is formally original and emotionally rich,” according to our review. Here, she creates seven modern fairy tales, reimagining the classics in ways that are “enchanting, mesmerizing, brilliant.”

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Farrar, Straus and Giroux): Birnam Wood is a collective of New Zealand eco-activists who plant gardens on unused land, with or without permission. Robert Lemoine is an American tech billionaire who’s buying a remote farm to build a doomsday bunker—the same farm that Birnam Wood has just started scouting. “The novel is as saturated with moral scrutiny and propulsive plotting as 19th-century greats,” according to our review. “It’s a twisty thriller via Charles Dickens, only with drones.”

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead): In the 1930s, the Black and Jewish residents of Pottstown, Pennsylvania,

lived side-by-side in the poetically named Chicken Hill neighborhood, where McBride has set what our review calls a “boisterous hymn to community, mercy, and karmic justice” based around a vital meeting place in the guise of a food store.

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (Farrar, Straus and Giroux): You could compare Murray to an Irish Jonathan Franzen; his latest novel delves deeply into the lives of all four members of the Barnes family as their comfortable life dwindles in the face of a recession, creating brilliantly individual voices for each of them. “A grim and demanding and irresistible anatomy of misfortune,” according to our review.

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward (Scribner): With evocative language and deep empathy, Ward follows Annis, a young, enslaved Black woman, as she’s marched south to New Orleans and sold because she rejects the sexual advances of her owner, who’s also her “sire.” Our review notes “the power, precision, and visionary flow of Ward’s writing, the way she makes the unimaginable horror, soul-crushing drudgery, and haphazard cruelties of the distant past vivid.”

LAURIE MUCHNICK

Laurie Muchnick is the fiction editor.

Illustration by Eric Scott Anderson

EDITOR’S PICK

How much agency does a person have, especially in moments of turmoil, is the question at the heart of Kennedy’s first volume of short stories, set in a contemporary Ireland divided by wealth and education.

Characters here are defined as straining to get by or complacently secure. In “Hunter-Gatherers,” a bookish woman new to rural life is aggravated both by her gamekeeper husband’s inept attempts at “self-sufficiency” and his rich, obnoxious hunting clients; in “What the Birds Heard,” a professional in data science runs away from her husband to a gentrified cottage on the coast and into the temporary arms of a local workman who disdains her as “posh.” Feeling trapped, these and

These Titles Earned the Kirkus Star

many of Kennedy’s women exhibit passive resentment toward the men in their lives. Others face their own complicity in the messes the men create. In the title story, an abandoned wife deals with the financial disaster her husband created but also her guilt at having turned a blind eye when she could have made a difference, while the mistrustful pregnant farm wife in “Imbolc” wishes she’d never suggested her husband grow pot to cover their debts. Kennedy sometimes challenges typical assumptions. In “Belladonna,” a working-class girl misreads—as does the reader—the inner workings of her neighbors’ marriage. Similarly, in “Gibraltar,” empathy shifts unexpectedly from the dissatisfied wife toward her

coarse, self-made husband, who remains devoted to his unloving wife and to the daughter he knows is not biologically his. Portraits of men in emotional turmoil— particularly the forester in “Wolf Point,” who accepts that his young English wife is an unfit mother—are particularly moving in a book mostly focused on women,

as are fleeting moments of union between men and women surrounding their children. “Garland Sunday,” about a damaged marriage, ends the book on an oddly hopeful note celebrating forgiveness and resilience. Irish in its lyricism and landscape, universal in its portrayal of the vagaries of the heart.

By Suyi Davies Okungbowa

39

Cadwell Turnbull

Courting Samira

Awad, Amal | HarperVia (336 pp.)

$18.99 paper | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780063317673

A young Muslim woman looks for love the traditional way in her hometown of Sydney.

Twenty-sevenyear-old Samira Abdel-Aziz is tired of “door-knock appeals”—the Muslim courtship ritual in which she and her family entertain a suitor and his family to see if there’s a connection. So far, for Samira, there hasn’t been. She’s also unhappy at her job as an editorial assistant at Bridal Bazaar magazine. On an outdoor team-building excursion, she meets Menem, a handsome blond man who happens to be Muslim as well. The two hit it off and are soon texting and “accidentally” running into each other at the coffee shop near their respective workplaces—this being a loophole to the classic rules of courtship. Her childhood friend Hakeem tells her she’s too trusting. Her cousin Lara insists that Hakeem is in love with Samira himself, though he hasn’t bothered with his own door-knock. On top of this, Samira is expected to help with her loathed cousin Zahra’s wedding preparations. Samira is witty and funny, sensitive and sweet, a lover of movies and books. Her chatty narration makes her pleasant to spend time with, and she’s refreshingly secure in her relationship to her family and culture. But there are some missed opportunities to deepen the story. Oblique references to “The Boy” imply that Samira has had her heart broken before, but the backstory is never given. The name “Menem” is remarked upon as unusual more than once, but readers never get to hear the reason behind it, which might have given the character more specificity. As Zahra’s wedding preparations ramp up, Samira’s feelings for Menem deepen and she gets more and more (often condescending) noise from those around her. How will she follow her heart?

A tad slow to develop but with a winning heroine.

Nineteen Steps

Brown, Millie Bobby with Kathleen McGurl Morrow/HarperCollins (320 pp.) | $28.99

Oct. 3, 2023 | 9780063335776

A tale of love, war, and tragedy in 1940s London. Brown’s debut is touted as being inspired by events that affected her own family, but just about anyone who has seen a movie about World War II could probably have written a similar novel; the story and tropes are all too familiar. Set in the Bethnal Green neighborhood of London, the story follows young Nellie Morris, who works for the mayor’s office. Nellie, who lives with her parents, brother George, and adored little sister Flo, navigates wartime scarcities and endures the frequent air raids with as much grace as she can muster with German bombers screaming overhead. She does have fun hanging out with her childhood friends Babs and Billy, the latter of whom is not-so-secretly in love with her. But when the sirens howl, laughter is forgotten as the whole neighborhood flees to the Underground station to wait out the bombs. The tedium and terror are interrupted when Nellie meets Ray Fleming, a handsome American airman, who tells her tales of his native Michigan, and suddenly her hopes and dreams for the future blossom. But a shocking tragedy upends their romance, and Nellie must confront hard questions of civil and personal responsibility. Brown is best known for playing the telekinetic Eleven on Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things, and her fans are likely to reach with excitement and hopeful generosity for this coming-of-age story. But it is inexpertly written, its major tragic scene confusing and poorly described, and the characters never transcend the paper-thin clichés with which they were constructed (plucky young woman;

handsome Yank; asthmatic, nobly suffering friend). Though it seems likely to be a hit, the novel lacks the depth to elicit real emotion.

Poorly drawn characters and clichés abound in this familiar story of WWII.

Now It Seems That I’m Not Here at All

Burns, Suzanne | Tailwinds Press (255 pp.) | $14.99 paper | Nov. 14, 2023 9798985312447

Stories featuring unhappy women whose emotional appetites cannot be satisfied. Sweets are everywhere in Burns’ new collection of short stories, her third. In the opener, “The Affair,” a woman on an apple-picking trip with her husband tries to inject their love life with a new spark by pretending they are having an affair with each other. At the story’s climax, the woman startles her sensible spouse by asking him to lick her diner breakfast’s whipped cream off her face. In “The Keeper of the Waldeinsamkeit,” a woman having an actual affair humors her lover’s fantasies about taking her to the patisseries of Paris with the understanding that their mundane reality means they will never do more than eat cupcakes in his apartment. In “Cakewalk,” a woman and her wealthy husband move to a new town in which the annual cakewalk—a bit like Shirley Jackson’s lottery—reveals the sinister underbelly of the seemingly idyllic suburb. The stories are so rich with desserts one can practically taste them, though if these stories are baked goods, they’ve got a large dose of cyanide slipped in, too. The women protagonists of these stories are disenchanted by both the men in their lives—who often treat them carelessly and distantly at best, as bodies to be consumed—and the other women around them, who can’t seem to see how feminine trappings—lipstick, dresses, buttercream frosting—become actual

traps. Burns, as always, is darkly funny and her sentences burst with linguistic riches: Female rage can be delicious on the page. But the stories are nearly strangled by the vitriol in them, as if Burns cannot help but hit the same emotional note again and again. The bitter taste running through these tales can overpower the delicate flavors of which Burns is clearly capable.

The Hunger of Women

Castaldi, Marosia | Trans. by Jamie Richards And Other Stories (256 pp.) | $18.95 paper Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781913505868

A middle-aged widow in a small town starts her own restaurant and a scandalous love affair in this novel by the late Italian author and artist Castaldi. Rosa learned to cook from her mother, who learned to cook from hers, “in the kitchen that was her life’s prison and salvation.” For these Italian women, food occupies a complicated place: “Only by passing down her love for making food that her mother had passed down to her did she find a crumb of eternity on this earth.” In stream-of-consciousness prose free of most punctuation, Castaldi evokes a woman resisting societal expectations, embracing her lesbianism, and practicing the domestic art of cooking. Of food Rosa says, “First it was something divine simple and natural and later became something controlled regimented and overwhelming But food conserves the nature of the ages and the wisdom of God.” Castaldi has an incantatory,

experimental style and a poet’s gift for repetition and imagery. Her gastronomic details are so rich and exuberant they threaten to highjack the narrative, and Rosa’s simultaneous wooing of two local women feels less significant than her recipe for Neapolitan pastiera. A novel about women and their often unseen and unacknowledged manual labor, its strength lies less in plot than in the breadth of its vision and Castaldi’s oneiric evocation of the sensual pleasures—and importance—of food. “Accept my gift— Reader—I have fought my battle in life with food I’ve erected to the heavens cathedrals of pastry and baked longing and pleasure Accept my gift—Reader—I am only a woman I sleep alone Pause with me—Reader—in the suspended time of the eternal present in the land abandoned by God and men under the absolute immobile imploded light of things that exist even without being seen in the sea on the earth in the sky of God in the suspended time of the eternal present in infinite life.” Unconventional, impassioned, vivid, and delicious, though not, perhaps, to every reader’s taste.

Welcome Home, Stranger

Christensen, Kate | Harper/HarperCollins (224 pp.) | $28.99 | Dec. 5, 2023 9780063299702

After a decade away, a woman heads home to Maine to grapple with a resentful sister, a naughty ex-boyfriend, midlife hormones, and sundry personal demons.

Journalist Rachel Calloway, the narrator of Christensen’s eighth novel, is a self-described “middle-aged childless recently orphaned menopausal workaholic.” Her life, she announces, is “hell.” By day, Rachel chronicles the ravages of climate change, and by night retreats to the Washington, D.C., condo she shares with her former husband (who has ALS) and his boyfriend. The marriage ended when Rachel found the men in bed together, but while she has forgiven all, the boyfriend wants her out of the condo almost as much as her “evil little lickspittle rodent of a newly appointed editor in chief” wants her out of her job. That’s more than enough drama to juice a plot right there, but in this smart yet unfocused novel, it’s just distracting backstory. The real action begins when Rachel’s narcissistic mother dies and leaves her a house in Portland, Maine. As Rachel’s plane descends “over thick pine forests rolling to meet the hard metallic skin of the Atlantic Ocean, glinting in the sunlight,” readers will instantly grasp that Christensen is serving up a dreamy new life for her embattled heroine in a postcard-pretty locale. Granted, complications abound. Rachel’s sister, Celeste, frequently berates her for not helping nurse their mother through a brutal cancer death. She’s also a passive-aggressive troublemaker: The night of Rachel’s arrival, she invites Rachel’s old flame, David Mansfield, and his new wife to dinner. It turns out that David wants back into Rachel’s bed, and she would probably welcome him— except he may or may not have done something unforgivable with her late mother. Aiming to sell her inherited house and get back to Washington, Rachel finds a homeless pillhead to move in and help renovate. (As one

Castaldi has an incantatory, experimental style and a poet’s gift for imagery.

THE HUNGER OF WOMEN

For more by Kate Christensen, visit Kirkus online.

does.) A crisis ensues. Throughout this jumpy novel, Rachel has been lost in Dante’s figurative dark wood of midlife, but in its long finale she finds herself wandering around a literal dark wood complete with bears, until a path forward reveals itself. Underbaked novel about how you can go home again and, if it’s coastal Maine, probably should.

The Twelve Days of Murder

Cordani, Andreina | Pegasus Crime (384 pp.) | $27.95 | Nov. 7, 2023

9781639366187

A murder-mystery weekend turns actually deadly for a group of British friends.

Twelve years after the disappearance of their friend Karl during one of their events, the surviving members of the Murder Masquerade Society have met up at Fenshawe Manor in the Scottish Highlands on Christmas Eve to act out a Twelve Days of Christmas–themed play: “Young people of their class didn’t do cosplay, it would never have occurred to them to trudge around sci-fi conventions dressed like Storm Troopers, but this was their equivalent—with a glamorous booze-filled evening of backstabbing fun thrown in.”

Although wealthy, privileged, and on vacation, no one at the party is quite who they seem to be. And when the group is snowed in, the first real victim appears and the body count begins, just like the countdown in the famous Christmas song. No one has reception to call the police, so the friends tough it out in the house without knowing who among them is the killer. Years ago, Charley, the least privileged member of the group, was blamed when a valuable necklace went missing—and she’s determined to avoid taking the fall for the murders. After a long exposition introducing

the game and large cast of characters, the pace quickens as the frenemies grow increasingly suspicious of one another. The author of the play has barely disguised the actors’ real-life secrets as funny fictional backstories for their characters, such as this for Charley’s: “She has stolen a priceless necklace from Mrs Dove...” Meanwhile, the snowy Scottish backdrop turns smelly and bloody from all the dead bodies. The deaths are gruesome and fit the theme. Scandals, hurt feelings, and secret ambitions are the suspected motives, but by the time one character rises to the top as a suspect, they’re killed off. Formulaic without being too predictable, it’s good for spreading holiday fear.

Uhtred’s Feast

Cornwell, Bernard with Suzanne Pollak Harper/HarperCollins (288 pp.) | $32.00 Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780063219366

Three new stories about Uhtred, protagonist of Cornwell’s Last Kingdom series, each preceded by historical background and followed by recipes.

Uhtred of Bebbanburg looks back as an old man on some of his adventures in the ninth century as Englaland went through its “long and brutal” coalescence into the kingdom of England. At age 8, Uhtred is already hearing his father tell him he is useless if he cannot fight. But the wee lad must also trap eels from the local creek, because his father loves to eat them. When the child is ambushed and robbed of his catch by other children, he must fight his enemy with a wooden sword. The stories are light on plot, serving mostly as vehicles to show what people ate. Cornwell and his collaborator, Suzanne Pollak, who crafted the recipes based on Anglo-Saxon fare, clearly enjoyed themselves researching and writing this unusual hybrid of history, fiction, and cookbook. Pork chops

with apples sounds tasty, but do you really, really want a two-page recipe for eel pie? Or for fermented shredded turnip? The historical background chapters offer plenty of interesting nuggets; for example, the fact that people generally drank ale because it was safer than water. Few characters other than Uhtred get much development, but his pungent narration offers plenty of meat. By the time of his reminiscences, he has long since become a confirmed pagan, but he recalls that as a boy he was “scared into a belief in the nailed god because [he] knew no better.” Asked at one point if King Alfred should be declared a saint, he sardonically replies that “as a young man Alfred went through the kitchen maids like a hot seax through butter! He even had a bastard son by one of them”—Uhtred himself. The concept of showing what people ate a thousand years ago is appealing, but adding detailed recipes (for example, “Preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/gas 7” to roast fennel just right) would seem to limit the book’s audience drastically. The stories themselves need to be more eventful and provide greater challenges for Uhtred; the historical background would work better if it were woven into the fiction rather than unloaded in stand-alone sections. That said, Cornwell’s prose is a pleasure to read, and the food facts are fun.

An enjoyable experiment that almost works.

Miss Me Forever

Cross, Eugene | Dzanc | $16.95 paper Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781950539789

A Nepali immigrant comes to America seeking safety and a lost sister.

Tulsi Gurung, the hero of Cross’s debut novel, arrives in Erie, Pennsylvania, from a refugee camp in Bhutan as a teenager. Language is a struggle

WEAK IN COMPARISON TO DREAMS

(Cross handles his early days of broken English well), and he misses his older sister, Susmita, whose whereabouts are unknown to him. But he has the support of his grandfather and a handful of classmates who introduce him to parties, sports, and American-style competitiveness. More complications emerge as he settles in, particularly anti-Asian racism. But in his 20s he finds a job at a casino and a kind of refuge in coworkers there: Rebecca, a single mother and fellow dealer whom he tries to help escape a violent ex-husband, and Chandra, who becomes increasingly enmeshed in some dangerous offbook gambling activity that threatens to upend Tulsi’s efforts to pursue a degree. To be an American, especially an immigrant, Cross suggests, is to be regularly courting danger and separation—in which regard Susmita’s disappearance is just one example. The prevailing mood is melancholy, understandably: Tulsi feels “as though his whole life has been nothing more than a timeline of losses with empty spaces in between.” Even so, Cross writes with a graceful simplicity, and what initially appears to be a gentle, familiar tale of assimilation gets grittier and more intense in its closing pages. There are some cloying notes, particularly in the pining letters written by Susmita (“I write with the understanding that these words will not reach you”) that are interspersed between chapters, and Tulsi’s character at times feels overly simplified into good-hearted naïveté. But the overall arc of the story captures the quiet agony of seeking the people and places that represent home. An ably rendered coming-to-America story.

Weak in Comparison to Dreams

Elkins, James | Unnamed Press (604 pp.) $30.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781951213725

A Canadian man experiences a crisis while visiting a series of international zoos.

“Is there a difference between dreams and waking life?” wonders Samuel Emmer, the narrator of Elkins’ novel, an expert in protozoa who works in water management for the city of Guelph. “In both, things happen slowly while we watch.” It’s an apt description of this mammoth, formally inventive novel which encompasses text, photographs, diagrams, tables, and sheet music. Over the course of the novel—in which Emmer, who’s been volunteered for his city’s Zoo Feasibility Committee, travels around the world visiting a series of zoos—the presence of these highly regimented, eminently logical documents begins to make sense. Even as the documents offer reassuring certainty, Emmer’s own grasp on the world is slipping away. The opening scene finds him thinking back on his relationship with his now-college-age child. Emmer is feeling unmoored by life both personally and professionally, and thinks, “When you lose your place in the world, you suddenly wake up, as if your normal life had been a dream.” Soon, Emmer’s waking life alternates with a series of unsettling dreams, some of which hearken back to the landscape of his youth. A note from his interns in which they detail

their observation of obsessive traits in him—what Emmer terms “some of the same tics and traits as animals or meth addicts”—sends his behavior in more extreme directions, including lying in a professional context and egging on a child pretending to shoot zoo animals. The novel’s final section, which takes on a very different form from what’s come before, puts much of what we’ve read in a new context, and conveys a powerful sense of loss.

A formally inventive yet emotionally engaging work of fiction.

Dazzling

Emelumadu, Chikodili | Overlook (352 pp.) $27.00 | Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781419769795

In a story imbued with magic, the lives of two girls in 1990s Nigeria run on a collision course.

Ozoemena, the school-age daughter of a physician and a pharmacist, begins to experience odd complaints shortly after the death of her uncle. Episodes of visual and aural disturbances and skin eruptions continue, causing misery in Ozoemena’s life. Gradually, her status as the inheritor—after her uncle—of her family’s affiliation with an ancient and shadowy source of magical power is revealed by community elders. Running parallel to the narrative of Ozoemena’s life is the story of Treasure, a young girl mourning the death of her beloved father, and her efforts to survive crushing poverty and social alienation despite her widowed mother’s complete retreat from life and responsibility. Treasure’s own immersion into the powerful world of Nigerian spiritual belief and practice comes about after an encounter with a spirit who insinuates that he can return her father to her in exchange for some things he wants from the land of the living. As the girls each struggle to negotiate the subtleties and details of

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A Canadian man experiences a crisis while visiting a series of international zoos.

THE KIRKUS Q&A: AYANA MATHIS

In her second novel, the author draws on personal experience, Black history, and literary tradition.

BY MARK ATHITAKIS

Ayana Mathis’ new novel, The Unsettled (Knopf, Sept. 26), is a bracing tale of generational and geographic fracture. Set in the mid-1980s, part of the story follows Ava as she’s forced to escape an abusive relationship and enter a shelter in Philadelphia with her 11-year-old son, Toussaint. Meanwhile, Ava’s estranged mother, Dutchess, is trying to hold on to the remaining parcels of Black-owned land in the hamlet of Bonaparte, Alabama, before developers take them over. The novel is at once a nuanced and realistic study of survival and a powerful allegory of the pressures that threaten to undermine Black families and communities in the United States.

Mathis’ debut book, 2013’s novel-in-stories The Twelve Tribes of Hattie , was a critical and commercial success, selected by Oprah Winfrey for her book club. A Philadelphia native, Mathis now lives in New York City, where she teaches at Hunter College’s MFA program. In this conversation, edited for space and clarity, she discusses the long gestation of The Unsettled, her literary inspirations, Black liberation politics, and why she’s skeptical of easy heroism in fiction.

It’s been a decade since The Twelve Tribes of Hattie was published. Have you been working on The Unsettled ever since?

Most of the time. A good eight years, I would say. It took a really long time to understand what it was about and what its central concerns were. I got a real gift in Dutchess. She was like a radio broadcast. She came through really strong and clear early on, but everybody else was staticky. I found myself judging

them, or I was too close to them, or I couldn’t figure them out well enough. Even in terms of her name, Ava kept changing, and I really couldn’t kind of get a bead on her.

And then, of course, in the middle of it there was a global pandemic. There was a lot of lost time there, a lot of inability to focus on work, and a lot of questions about whether or not it was even a valid thing to be doing, given the fact that there was all this carnage around.

Second books seem to be a challenge for a lot of writers. I was in grad school when I wrote my first book, so there was a lot of feedback. You constantly rub up against other people’s opinions, which really helps you define your work. But for second books, it’s like, OK, now you’re a real writer, you’re on your own. You’re bouncing around in your brain for a very long time. I think it makes the process slower in a certain way, which I’m grateful for, actually—it does sharpen, rather punitively and painfully, your sense of discernment.

Dutchess is a retired blues singer. Why is that important to her character?

It’s hard to spend any time reading in the African American canon without there being a lot of jazz and blues influences, whether in

terms of the rhythm of the language or historical influences. I became particularly interested in Black women singers like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, who were pioneers. I was really interested in what it meant for a woman who in other spheres would have been incredibly vulnerable, who would have been understood as being powerless and being on the margins. Female blues singers were exercising a sort of personal and spiritual power. They were heroes in their communities. Their performances were cathartic—they were singing to the people about their troubles, about their pains. People are dancing, people are crying— they provided a huge space for Black expression.

The book is set in the ’80s in Philadelphia, where you grew up.

Mathis published her acclaimed debut a decade ago.

Yes, and that was a little selfish, because I was a kid there. But what particularly interested me about that period in Philadelphia is that in the general cultural imagination, there’s a lot about New York. But Philadelphia was a city that was very, very active. It had a huge Black population. It was super active in the civil rights movement, and in the Black power movement and Black liberation movement. I was really interested in what happened after that. Reagan arrives, and all of the ideals of the ’70s start passing away. So there’s this clash, and folks are falling through the cracks. What’s going on?

The community that Ava becomes involved in, Ark, seems inspired in part by MOVE [a Philadelphia Black liberation commune whose headquarters were bombed

by police in 1985, killing six members and five children]. Absolutely, but I don’t in any way want to lay claim to MOVE’s story. This book is more in conversation with, or an homage to, a series of questions about that what happened there, this horrific explosion that displaced 60 families and killed 11 people. Why is it that so often movements that seek to carve out a different sort of way of living, a different way of existing in a capitalist moment—why is it that those movements are so often met with violence? When those movements include Black women, they’re almost always met with violence, state violence in particular. What are the threats to those movements internally? What are the threats externally? I was interested in exploring the experience

inside a community. What does a woman’s life look like in this thing?

The question that floats over this book is how much of the challenge is ego and internal conflict and how much of this is the downward pressure that comes from outside forces. MOVE was complicated. They weren’t necessarily the best neighbors. Now the fact that they weren’t the best neighbors certainly does not translate into let’s kill them . So there’s something that I wanted to explore there, too. The thing about a character like [Ark leader] Cass is that he’s right about a lot of things but he still is a terrible liar. I always push a little bit against the idea that Black people have to be heroes, that if I put Black characters in a situation

where history is exerting horrible pressures, that people have to be superheroes. They’re just people, and some of them are really awful people. Some of them are really great people, and some are just average kind of people. That seems to me to be a way of honoring one’s humanity. If you have to be a villain or a hero, you don’t get to be a human being. I’m interested in people being human.

Bonaparte and Ark, to an extent, recall other fictional Black communities, like Eatonville in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and the Bottom in Toni Morrison’s Sula. Were you consciously trying to write into that literary tradition?

I was, but not just fictional communities. I did a bunch of research about independent Black communities in the South, and what happened to them and why it happened. With Bonaparte, I was definitely writing into that tradition in the literary sense, but also that kind of historical reality. And then it just met this kind of strange twist of my imagination. As much as Bonaparte is a physical place, it’s also kind of a spiritual home, and also kind of a myth.

9780525519935

Do you have a third book in the works?

I don’t. I’m a one-book-ata-time kind of person. But hopefully it won’t take a decade.

Mark Athitakis is a journalist in Phoenix who writes for the Washington Post , the Los Angeles Times , and elsewhere. The Unsettled received a starred review in the Aug. 15, 2023, issue.

If you have to be a villain or a hero, you don’t get to be a human being.

their new—phantasmagoric—realities, their alternating narratives buttress a complicated plot that wends back and forth over time and includes a varied cast of characters, some mortal, some not. Breadcrumbs along the way hint at a relationship between the two but the cinematic final scenes contain further surprises as Ozoemena is forced to reckon with her unbidden powers and must determine how to incorporate them into her life—as Treasure attempts to outwit the slippery business practices of the not-entirely-benevolent spirits she bargains with. A densely detailed tale of tradition and girl power.

Kirkus Star Pedro and Marques Take Stock

Falero, José | Trans. by Julia Sanches Astra House (304 pp.) | $25.00 | Nov. 7, 2023

9781662601231

A look at poverty and ambition in Brazil.

The title characters begin this vibrant and punchy novel (Falero’s first to be translated into English) as stock workers at a Porto Alegre supermarket. The ball gets rolling when Pedro—the bookish smooth talker of the pair— takes “stock of the world around him” and realizes that all his problems have one solution: money. Meanwhile, Marques—more demure and gruff— is repeatedly “zapped” by “the stinger of self-hatred” as he imagines the meager life in store for his children. He, too, resolves to escape poverty. In a longwinded and entertaining dialogue, Pedro primes Marques on socialism (“The guy was called Marques, like me?” “No. Marx, with the letter ex”), convincing him they deserve a little comfort and luxury—even if comfort and luxury mean breaking a few bourgeois laws. Everyone has “to choose between being a thug or a slave,”

student plots revenge

Pedro says more than once. But once they hatch a scheme to finally move up in the world, the two friends spend the duration toeing that line, eager to attain power and dignity without betraying their values. Falero tells this story in delightful prose. Meandering sentences and wry repetitions breathe personality into the characters’ inner lives, and the landscape of Porto Alegre’s slums is rendered with forlorn affection. Occasional metaphors sing: Pedro is at one point “so tired he felt soft like butter”; we see one character’s “sorrow brim over and touch” another. Through Falero’s lovable characters, readers will meditate on violence and respectability within the death-trap of runaway capitalism. “When reality walks through the door,” he warns, “there isn’t a single smile that doesn’t fly out the window. Head-on against the grim indignities of an unequal world, Falero’s poetic novel embraces humor and empathy.

The Favorites

Hennigan, Rosemary | Graydon House (336 pp.) | $28.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 9781525805097

A law student plots revenge against a professor who took advantage of her sister.

It’s 2016. Jessica Mooney-Flynn, an Irish law student, has enrolled at the (fictional) Franklin University in Philadelphia to take courses with Jay Crane, a professor who had a coercive relationship with one of his

students—Jessica’s sister, Audrey—while he was a visiting instructor at Trinity College, Dublin. The end of the affair devastated Audrey, who dropped out of school and left to travel around Central America, where she died in a bus crash. After finding Audrey’s journal, Jessica spends years planning how she will entrap Crane to gain evidence of his wrongdoing and avenge her sister by becoming one of his “favorites,” having discovered that he has a pattern of inappropriate relationships with students. But far away from home, among a cohort distracted by the 2016 election, Jessica finds her resolve weakening, and she risks losing herself as well as her own future. Hennigan sets out to use a law school to explore the tension between justice and revenge, particularly against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement. The novel never develops momentum, though; Jessica’s motivations and plans are gradually revealed in a way that feels disjointed and clunky. The narrative is presented as an account Jessica is giving in response to questions from an anonymous journalist, which creates an extra layer of distance, further diluting the tension. Similarly, Jessica’s grief is reported rather than deeply felt, and her sister never becomes a fully developed character who the reader is similarly invested in avenging.

A thematically intriguing novel that doesn’t reach the level of thriller.

A law

against a professor who took advantage of her sister.

THE FAVORITES

For another campus novel, visit Kirkus online.

Kirkus Star

Tali Girls: A Novel of Afghanistan

Herawi, Siamak | Trans. by Sara Khalili Archipelago (340 pp.) | $22.00 paper

Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781953861665

The lives of three Afghan girls reflect a legacy of oppression. In the year 2006, the village of Tali has “no electricity, no plumbing for water, no paved roads.” “Wretch” is a common term for females. A girl “marries when the man of the house says so. And then she breeds and cooks and cleans. It is life, my dear.” Yet in this bleak environment, there are moments of hope and happiness. A school opens, giving girls a break from chores to learn to read and write. Some men are kind, supportive. But these moments are few and quickly fade under the constraints of tradition and the spreading pall of Islamic orthodoxy. One day, armed Taliban forces arrive, set the books and blackboards on fire, and take over the schoolhouse, seeking land and workers to produce opium. They’re allied with the powerful, corrupt Director of Religious Education, Mawlawi Khodadad, who will affect the village terribly. Herawi, a former Afghan government spokesman who works as a writer and journalist in London, tells the story of three Tali girls mostly through their own voices. There are echoes here of Miriam Toews’s Women Talking. Kowsar is spared marriage to the 58-year-old Khodadad at age 9 because of her fainting spells. Her friend Simin, also 9, becomes his next choice and barely survives the physical injuries of her wedding night. The third girl, Geesu, seeks to escape an arranged marriage by fleeing the village with her young boyfriend. Herawi’s first novel to be published in the U.S. has been rendered into clear, pointed prose by Khalili. He uses the pervasive rituals of household and village life to

provide color and context and displays compelling empathy when he contrasts older women’s anger and resignation with the girls’ shock and despair upon realizing the physical and emotional imprisonment they face. Eloquent and saddening.

Wings of Red

Jennings, James W. | Soft Skull Press (240 pp.) | $16.95 paper | Nov. 21, 2023 9781593767099

A young man, badly beaten up by life, meanders around the city in this work of autofiction.

June Papers has bet, and lost, his last $10 in a game of dice. He can’t pay the rent and, after that night, he’ll be homeless on the streets of New City (an obvious, if somewhat inexplicable, stand-in for New York). June, a Black writer with an MFA and a day job as a substitute teacher, spends most of his time wandering the streets, handing out copies of his first book, Strays, and jotting in his notebook. But June is not lost. Equipped with a love for his city and an unrelenting thirst, he doesn’t succumb to the hopelessness of his situation, persevering despite getting bruised in the process. June brings the reader inside the public school system, to his grandmother’s home on Martha’s Vineyard, and into his close-knit and supportive, if flawed, community of friends. Occasionally speaking directly to an audience, June offers up pithy, somewhat ironic advice, talking just as much to his future reader as he is to himself. Jennings’ distinct style can be jarring at first, but the reader will quickly sink into his rhythm and appreciate the lively nature of his present-tense verbiage and his quick syntax. And despite the weighty topics of homelessness, racism, and capitalism, among others, Jennings doesn’t lapse into either overt cynicism or rose-colored optimism, instead settling

into a gritty and gripping middle: “Monday comes around and I find myself on another couch not my own. I kneel before it and say a prayer. I brush teeth, pack bag, and step out into the cold.”

A portrait of a writer that is at once harsh and tender.

An Ordinary Youth

Kempowski, Walter | Trans. by Michael Lipkin | NYRB Classics (396 pp.) | $19.95 paper | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781681377209

A German boy comes of age in the midst of World War II. That Kempowski’s latest novel to appear in English is based on his own boyhood does not come as a huge surprise—for one thing, his hero shares a name with his author. Walter is 9 when the book begins and 15 when the novel—and the war—come to an end. Through Walter’s often oblivious gaze, the reader experiences things from a middle-class German perspective—an often uncomfortable vantage point. Though Walter’s father, who eventually serves as an officer in the army, insists that “I’m conservative to my bones, but that doesn’t make me a Nazi,” he’s loyal to the government, and statements like, “Old Hitler has a good head on his shoulders” are not unusual for him. These ironies are presented without comment or explanation. Kempowski favors short, swift vignettes that proceed rapidly, without much background information to clutter the scenes. Family members appear without introduction, for example. That method gives the book a sense of immediacy and modernity that makes it seem as if the events are still taking place. It also lends a sharp irony to many of the darker moments. When a Danish friend, for example, is released from Gestapo prison—a trumped-up charge to begin with—he comes over to tell the

Kempowskis about his experience. “I wouldn’t be able to stand more than three hours in prison…It’s beyond me,” Walter’s mother says. The Danish friend, Sörensen, responds, “What do you think a human being can withstand, Frau Kempowski?” The scene ends there. Still, over the long term—the book approaches 400 pages—these vignettes, which are packed full of parentheticals containing song lyrics, party slogans, and the like, grow somewhat tiresome. One yearns for an honest, straightforward reckoning with the war. And though the book provides a great deal of wisdom and even emotional depth, it doesn’t provide that.

A German bestseller when it was first published, Kempowski’s novel is smart, troubling, and witty—but ultimately imperfect.

Kirkus Star

After Dark

Kent, Minka | Thomas & Mercer (287 pp.) | $16.99 paper | Nov. 14, 2023

9781662511424

Kent charts two childhood friends’ bumpy progress since one of them was convicted of killing the other one’s father.

One night 20 years ago, Afton Teachout found herself standing over Shelter Rock

High School football coach Rick Carson, who was seated on her mother’s sofa. Since Carson was both the father of Afton’s best friend, Sydney Carson, and the lover of her mother, Evangeline, it was no surprise that he was in the Teachout home, but it was utterly shocking that he’d been stabbed to death by a knife in Afton’s hand. Her public defender, John Gregory, used Afton’s sorry family history and her story of a blackout to lessen the charge against her to voluntary manslaughter, and now, as she says, “I’m free as a bird, though it’s never felt that way.”

Alternating present-day narrations by Afton and Sydney with their memories of the fateful year 2003, Kent shows Afton in shaky mental health, popping a variety of pills, and Sydney in a debt-encumbered marriage to her cheating high-school sweetheart, Drew Westfeldt. The discovery that she’s won a $33 million lottery prize promises to change Afton’s life. Or did she just imagine it, the way she apparently imagined that she met with her beloved grandmother a month after Beatrice Murphy died? Indeed, the extraordinary measures Afton must take to get through each day—at one point she lists 10 medications that have been prescribed for her continuing dissociative episodes—make her everyday existence seem as unsettling as her renewed attempts to pierce the veil of her hallucinations to find out just what did happen on the fateful night Rick Carson died. Even readers who see the murder’s inescapable solution coming long in advance will be deeply shaken when it arrives.

The Fiancée Rode in on a Donkey

Khoury-Ghata, Vénus | Trans. by Teresa Lavender Fagan | Seagull Books (184 pp.) $21.00 | Nov. 5, 2023 | 9781803092447

poetic novel

a

is disappointed. She’d imagined the rabbi would have “a potbelly like all well-fed men, with perhaps one or two gold teeth to taunt the sun.” Still, after the rabbi inspects all the tribe’s eligible girls and chooses Yudah as a bride for Emir Abdelkader, she goes with him to the city. She’s soon disappointed: The rabbi’s plan to ingratiate the Jews with the Muslim leader quickly falls apart. Khoury-Ghata’s latest book to appear in English is lyrical and slim and apparently based on a little-known figure from history. Yudah makes for a compelling heroine. When she arrives at his tents, Abdelkader is away at war. He is soon banished from Algeria to the port of Toulon with his wives, while his followers—and Yudah—are sent to Île Sainte-Marguerite. From there, Yudah’s adventures only multiply. Still, Khoury-Ghata’s emphasis is less on plot than on language, which has been beautifully rendered into English by Fagan. On Île Sainte-Marguerite, for example, where Abdelkader’s followers are scared, sick, and starving—and suspicious of Yudah—“an old woman saw Abdelkader in a dream arriving in three signs, three days, or three weeks to take them home. He was riding the waves and the waves flattened as he went over them. He brought back everyone, except the girl who claimed to be his future wife.”

girl

to marry the Emir. When “the scrawny old man riding a donkey” appears between two sand dunes, Yudah

Still, despite the lyricism and Yudah’s compelling story, Khoury-Ghata’s book lacks something—some depth or rich entanglement. A late-stage appearance by Victor Hugo strains credulity even though it is apparently based in fact. This is a lovely book but not, in the end, a great one.

Linguistically rich, Khoury-Ghata’s novel seems only partially complete.

Even readers who see the solution coming will be shaken when it arrives.

AFTER DARK

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about

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meant

Yours for the Taking

Korn, Gabrielle | St. Martin’s (336 pp.)

$29.00 | Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781250283368

A feminist multibillionaire’s solution to a climate change–induced housing crisis comes with a dark underbelly in this debut novel.

Ava is a white 20-something trying to stay afloat in 2050s New York City. Opportunities— and the island itself—are shrinking, so when applications to the Inside Project go live, both she and her girlfriend jump through all number of hoops to apply. Greenlit by the United World Government and funded in part by the enormously wealthy tech innovator Jacqueline Millender, Inside is supposed to provide state-of-the-art insulated housing for three million people selected by lottery. When Ava alone is chosen to go Inside, she starts on a path that will intersect with two other women—Shelby, Jacqueline’s white, trans assistant, and Olympia, Inside’s Black, queer medical director—and reveal how much the program is shaped by Jacqueline’s personal desires and willful ignorance. Korn’s premise couldn’t be more timely, mining ecological anxieties and the disappointments of girlboss feminism, but the novel’s engaging opening act doesn’t provide enough structural support for the back half. Despite regularly deployed reveals, the novel rarely surprises, seeming more interested in taking Jacqueline to task on the page than making her a compelling villain. Each point-of-view character is allowed serious relationships (romantic, familial, or friendly) with a maximum of three people, which gives a book ostensibly about community a very lonely feeling. While the point of Inside may be its unsustainability, the lack of thought about basic functionality (Olympia realizes, 43 chapters in, that there are no codified rules against romantic relationships between Inside medical staff and residents) becomes an

indictment of the author as well as the characters.

Like the woman at its center, this novel sparkles with interesting ideas but struggles to delve deeper.

Upcountry

Lee, Chin-Sun | Unnamed Press (275 pp.) $28.00 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781951213770

Lee debuts with a sometimes eerie, sometimes pragmatic story about three women whose lives intersect in a small upstate New York town during the Great Recession.

Hoping for a new start with her troubled husband, childless Manhattan attorney Claire Pedersen, 43, buys an old house in Caliban in 2009. The reluctant seller, April Ives, whose great-grandfather built the place, is currently a cash-strapped single mother who cleans other people’s houses for a living. When Claire’s husband develops a “fetish” for Anna, a pregnant young Korean American woman belonging to the local branch of an otherwise white Christian cult, tragedy results. Over the next two years, the three women, all outsiders in their communities, crisscross paths as their fortunes alter and each considers the role of luck (especially bad luck), choice, and God’s role in life’s vicissitudes. Claire initially discounts April as a loser, but then Claire’s own life unravels. Having lost her husband, her financial stability, and her health, she feels a growing empathy for April’s hand-to-mouth struggles. But unlike Claire, April finds reserves of inner strength while facing crises concerning her young son and his ex-con father. She also forms an unexpected bond with Anna, who is suddenly forced to question the strict, narrow religious world in which she’s grown up and finds herself re-evaluating her beliefs while discovering the strength of genuine love and trust. Lee’s first novel is refreshingly out of sync with current trends; she manages

to engage readers without relying on a big plot hook or trendy issue, and her point-of-view remains disquietingly ambiguous. Are the hints of the supernatural at work merely in the characters’ minds? Should Anna’s earnest theology be taken seriously? Readers may wonder at times where the open-ended plot is going, and the ending, while logical and satisfying, is not predictable. Life these days seldom is—which may be the novel’s ultimate message.

An engrossing, quietly original take on what women must do to survive in 21st-century small-town America.

Lilith

Marmery, Nikki | Alcove Press (336 pp.) | $18.99 paper | Oct. 17, 2023 9781639105717

In the tradition of Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent (1997), this is a feminist take on biblical and ancient history through the eyes of Lilith, Adam’s first wife, who, according to some accounts, preceded Eve.

As the book opens, Lilith adores Adam, but before long she has many complaints about him, including bossiness and lack of imagination. A disgruntled immortal, she’s soon on a quest to find her goddess mother, Asherah. In the lush language that characterizes the novel, she describes her airborne view as she escapes the Garden of Eden: “Prairies of swaying grass as far the eye can see. Frozen northlands, the very sea turned to tumbling ice….To the south: dense, boiling jungles that steamed when it rained.” She traverses continents across thousands of years. She spends time with Noah and his offspring, detailing the man’s unpleasantness and her conflicts with his wife, as well as with less familiar biblical and mythological ancestors. Lilith has mortal qualities—she gives birth and loses a son to death—and grieves like a human. But like an immortal,

Human Voices

BY CONNIE OGLE

THERE ARE MANY reasons AI should never replace flesh-and-blood audiobook readers, and here are three of the most persuasive. If you thought Ann Patchett couldn’t top having Tom Hanks read the audiobook for The Dutch House, here is the great Meryl Streep to narrate Patchett’s latest novel, Tom Lake (HarperAudio, 11 hours and 22 minutes). Tom Lake contains a story within a story: When her grown daughters return to the family cherry orchard in northern Michigan to ride out the pandemic, Lara Nelson gives in to their begging and recounts the tale of her youthful romance with Peter Duke, a movie star she knew before he became famous. Two timelines unfold, one set in the past, when Lara played Emily in a production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, and the other in the uncertain present.

Oscar-winner Streep uses her talents to add significant depth and richness to a deceptively simple story about love, marriage, and how we stumble unwittingly into our lives. She uses small differences in tone between the young, inexperienced Lara and the mother in her late 50s who is secretly guilty about the joy she feels at

having her girls home again, even in terrible circumstances. This warm narration underscores Patchett’s poignant elegy for the slippery chaos of youth as well as her gentle reminder that we should dare to seek happiness even in dark times.

If you read the print version of Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle, listening to its sequel, Crook Manifesto (Random House Audio, 10 hours and 47 minutes), will make you wish you had listened instead. Reader Dion Graham is a lively, knowing presence as he narrates Whitehead’s rollicking story of 1970s Harlem, where crooks and scammers, hard cases and Black militants, dirty cops and crafty politicians come crashing together as the city’s troubles ignite like a potent Molotov cocktail.

Graham’s deep voice carries much gravi tas, and he’s terrific at delivering lines like “Crooked stays crooked and bent hates straight.” That phrase paints a deft picture of Ray Carney, furniture salesman and occasional jewelry fence who finds himself on the wrong side of the law again when he tries to score Jackson 5

tickets for his daughter. As the decade rolls on, Carney’s sometime employee Pepper, no stranger to criminal activity, searches for the missing star of a Blaxploitation film being shot at Carney’s store, while the Bicentennial approaches and rampant arson rapidly changes the shape of the city.

Crook Manifesto is an engaging and funny book, a history lesson with a wry sense of irony, and Graham is the perfect mouthpiece for Whitehead’s chatty wisdom.

Robin Miles, the narrator of Dennis Lehane’s searing Small Mercies (HarperAudio, 10 hours and 23 minutes), excels at revealing the conflicted soul of Mary Pat Fennessy, the increasingly

desperate mother whose teenage daughter, Jules, has gone missing on the eve of Boston school desegregation in 1974.

Mary Pat is tough, born and raised in South Boston, and Miles nails her accent (she also voices the book’s other main character, the detective investigating the girl’s disappearance). But just as there are fascinating depths to this crime novel, there’s more to Mary Pat than her ferocious, vengeful outer shell. She’s a hard woman to like, but Miles’ interpretation enhances Lehane’s intense, insightful window into the source of ingrained racism.

Three audiobooks to remind you why the best readers are not artificially intelligent.

Connie Ogle is a writer in Florida.

Stephen King and Margaret Atwood React to AI Pirating

The authors’ books were used without their permission to train a Meta large language model.

Margaret Atwood and Stephen King have responded to an Atlantic magazine report revealing that the tech company Meta used their books—without permission—to train an artificial intelligence model.

The report, written by journalist and computer programmer Alex Reis -

ner, found that Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, used more than 170,000 books to train LLaMA, a large language model, which generates prompt-driven text.

Atwood and King reacted to the news in a pair of essays for the Atlantic. In her response, Atwood invoked the 1975 movie The Stepford Wives, based on Ira Levin’s novel, about a town in which men’s wives are replaced with robot replicas.

“The companies developing generative AI seem to have something like that in

mind for me, at least in my capacity as an author,” Atwood wrote. “To add insult to injury, the bot is being trained on pirated copies of my books. Now, really! How cheap is that? Would it kill these companies to shell out the measly price of 33 books? They intend to make a lot of money off the entities they have reared and fattened on my words, so they could at least buy me a coffee.”

King wrote that he looked at the possibility that AI might one day become sentient, and thus capable of creativity, with “a certain dreadful fascination.”

But he is not worried— for now—that AI can replace human authors.

“AI poems in the style of William Blake or William Carlos Williams (I’ve seen both) are a lot like movie money: good at first glance, not so good upon close inspection,” he wrote. “Does it make me nervous? Do I feel my territo ry encroached upon? Not yet, probably because I’ve reached a fairly advanced age.”

—MICHAEL SCHAUB

King: John Lamparski/WireImage; Atwood: Jean Malek

Stephen King & Margaret Atwood

To read about how pirated books are used to train AI, visit Kirkus online.

she trucks with gods and goddesses, couples with the angel of death, visits the underworld, and travels through ancient cultures, immersing herself in their mythology, with her anger always close at hand. Although her female-centric vision makes a compelling throughline, there isn’t much philosophizing; this book is all action. It poses the question of why God is male in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. As demonstrated by historical notes at the end of the book, Marmery has researched religious traditions and ancient cultures to create a sweeping fairy tale, synthesizing all this material so Lilith’s multimillennia romp holds together as one story. Quick and imaginative, this is an engaging feminist revision of the ancient world’s Abrahamic religions.

A Very Inconvenient Scandal

Mitchard, Jacquelyn | Harlequin MIRA (336 pp.) | $30.00 | Nov. 14, 2023

9780778369370

A Cape Cod woman’s life is turned upside down by unexpected developments.

A year ago, Frankie Attleboro’s mother died at age 52 and the family fell apart. Frankie’s father, famous scientist Mack Attleboro, who had always been a distant figure in his children’s lives, was adrift. Frankie fled the Cape, throwing herself into her work as a nature photographer and leaving her brother, Penn, to hold things together. Now engaged and pregnant, she’s excited to share her news when she gets a text from her father asking her to come right away. Worried, she rushes home only to discover that her father is also engaged—to her childhood best friend, Ariel. Who is also heavily pregnant. As Frankie deals with her complicated feelings and her father’s complete lack

of understanding of them, Ariel’s mother, Carlotta, who left when the girls were teenagers, shows up unannounced and ready to ingratiate herself back into Ariel’s life. Mitchard’s tone walks a fine line: Is everything dramatic because there’s actually a sinister edge to affairs, or is Frankie just having trouble dealing with things? Though each plot twist makes everything slightly more ludicrous in a way that would feel silly in another book, Frankie’s reactions and emotions ground the story, so the book can focus not on how absolutely absurd things are but on how one person’s words and actions can affect everyone around them. The novel’s biggest problem is that it doesn’t know if it wants to be a thriller or a family drama and never fully commits to one or the other. Mitchard is deft enough to create a rewarding read, but the book could have used a bit more mystery. An intriguing, twisty-turny tale of family secrets that comes just short of the bullseye.

Kirkus Star Please Tell Me

Omer, Mike | Thomas & Mercer (379 pp.) | $16.99 paper | Nov. 7, 2023

9781662509377

The vital clues to a serial killer’s identity are locked inside the brain of a child unable to speak. How do you treat a 9-yearold who escaped from a kidnapper more than a year after he snatched her and has gone mute? Kathy Stone’s mother, Claire, is lucky enough to have an old friend, Robin Hart, who’s a child therapist. So Robin begins sessions with Kathy, watches her play with figures in a dollhouse, affirms her by describing the scenarios she’s creating, and waits for her to work through the trauma that’s rendered

her speechless. As the sessions go on, Kathy’s games suggest that her memories are intertwined with the murder of influencer Haley Parks, who was stabbed and hanged in Clark State Forest two weeks earlier. Now Robin has a dilemma. She wants to share this information with Det. Nathaniel King, of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, but she can’t violate her bond of confidentiality with her patient, even though Kathy’s father, accountant Pete Stone, is eager to have the police question Kathy directly. Kathy doesn’t regain her voice, but as she begins to act out a widening range of violent fantasies, Robin realizes that she’s recreating the scenes of several other murders as well—including at least one that didn’t take place until after Kathy was rescued. Whatever she witnessed during the 15 months of her captivity, how can she possibly predict a crime that hadn’t happened yet? Even as he shifts gears from one set of riddles and anxieties to the next, Omer keeps the tension consistently high enough to prod you into reading just one more chapter.

A masterful melding of everyday domestic suburban fears with serial-killer thrills.

Kirkus Star

Chevengur

Platonov, Andrey | Trans. by Robert Chandler & Elizabeth Chandler NYRB Classics (640 pp.) | $24.95 paper Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781681377681

A splendidly subversive tale of the Russian Revolution and civil war from the great laureate of the working class.

It’s astounding that Stalin, after reading Platonov and scrawling “Bastard” on one page, allowed him to escape the Gulag.

Platonov’s town of Chevengur slumbers on Russia’s high steppes, where

crops fail and peasants leave their farms to seek work in the cities and mines, while a few holdovers resort to “eating raw grass, clay, and bark.” Into this region, ripe for revolution, is born the Christlike Sasha Dvanov, whose father has committed suicide just to see what the afterlife is like. God appears in Platonov’s vivid novel; so does Lenin, and so does a revolutionary Don Quixote who worships the late Bolshevik icon Rosa Luxemburg, on whose behalf he swears vengeance for her assassination. This Kopionkin, whose name means “spear,” is a man of action, while Sasha speaks of big dreams: “Cultured plants will make the earth brighter and more clearly visible from other planets,” he instructs a commissar named, yes, Fyodor Dostoevsky. “And then, the circulation of moisture will increase. The sky will become bluer and more transparent!” Communism isn’t born on the land quite so seamlessly. Instead, civil war breaks out, Kopionkin riding out to meet the enemy on a Rocinante named “Strength of the Proletariat,” a horse that, he growls, has “more revolutionary consciousness than any of you.” People starve, careful plans disintegrate, Bolshevik leaders admit to never having read Marx, and the masses falter: “The communism of Chevengur was defenseless during these dark steppe hours, since people had temporarily curtailed their convictions, allowing the power of sleep to heal the exhaustion occasioned by their inner life of the previous day.” All are all too human in the face of this strange new ideology, which, Platonov daringly makes clear, is as much religious as political. A superb work of Soviet-era Russian literature in a welcome, well-annotated new translation.

Kirkus Star

Inheritance

Roberts, Nora | St. Martin’s (432 pp.) $30.00 | Nov. 21, 2023 | 9781250288325

A woman inherits a haunted seaside mansion in Maine from a long-lost relative.

Sonya MacTavish isn’t having the best year. After finding her fiance in bed with another woman, she wonders why she ignored so many obvious red flags about him. Sonya eventually leaves the Boston graphic design firm where they both worked after months of harassment and gaslighting, but she’s determined to succeed despite these setbacks. One day a lawyer appears at her door, revealing that her late father, who was adopted as a newborn, had a twin brother he never knew about. This uncle left her a large, rambling mansion in a small coastal town in Maine, but his will stipulates that she must live in the house for three years in order to claim her inheritance. Sonya’s innate stubbornness and strong survival instinct come in handy after discovering the house is haunted by a bevy of ghosts, collectively known as the lost brides. In 1806, a woman was murdered inside the house on her wedding day by a jealous witch, creating a curse so powerful it has lasted generations. A total of seven women have been killed by the curse; their ghosts are a benevolent presence in the house, but the witch’s angry, vengeful ghost also inhabits the place and tries to scare Sonya away. While sleeping, Sonya experiences the memories of the murdered brides and

realizes that the ghosts are providing her with clues she can use to finally break the curse. Roberts is in fine form here. Her lush, ethereal world of ghosts and spirits is the perfect foil for Sonya’s down-to-earth, almost spartan manner. Another Roberts hallmark is on display: her continuing thematic exploration of how an individual defeats evil—not by acting alone, but by forming a community and harnessing its members’ strength and power for the coming battle.

Exciting launch for Roberts’ new trilogy, which promises to explore the mystical power of women to do both good and evil.

The Star and the Strange Moon

Sayers, Constance | Redhook/Orbit

(448 pp.) | $29.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 9780316493741

Obsession and dark magic collide in this labyrinthine blending of horror, fantasy, romance, and a touch of mystery. It’s 1968, and at the ripe old age of 22, Gemma Turner, a fading star of American beach movies, finds her career in a shamble. She has one final chance at stardom when she lands a role in L’Étrange Lune, a French Nouvelle Vague horror film directed by arrogant and self-aggrandizing Thierry Valdon. Soon after shooting begins, though, Gemma vanishes from set and finds herself trapped within the world of the film as mysterious and malevolent forces pull the strings. Back in the real

Roberts’ trilogy promises to explore the mystical power of women. INHERITANCE

For more by Andrey Platonov, visit Kirkus online.

world, Gemma’s disappearance remains shrouded in mystery, and no one is more haunted by it than Christopher Kent, a Columbia film student in 1997. For more than 20 years, he been searching for reasons for his late mother’s apparent hatred of the presumed-dead actress, and now he finds himself one of 75 people invited to attend a rare screening of L’Étrange Lune, with all the pomp and melodramatic circumstance one might expect of a secret society. While the book’s concept holds phenomenal potential, the execution drags. The awkward blending of genres may disappoint fans of horror and romance alike as large stretches of the book seem to completely forgo one or the other. The horror elements are never quite unnerving, and the romances suffer from a tell-don’t-show approach. Though the payoff connects all the loose strings, making for an entertaining section at last, the intriguing premise is hampered by the book’s sheer length and uneven pacing. Sayers has demonstrated the importance of killing one’s darlings, as too many of this novel’s more than 400 pages would have been better off left on the cutting-room floor.

An intriguing, if scattershot, novel that would have benefited from substantial tightening.

The Winthrop Agreement

Simpson, Alice Sherman | Harper/ HarperCollins (384 pp.) | $18.99 paper Nov. 21, 2023 | 9780063304086

The daughter of a Jewish immigrant rises from poverty to fame among New York’s upper crust.

Rivkah Milmanovitch arrives at Ellis Island in 1893, pregnant and planning to make a new life with her husband, who had made the trip from Lithuania earlier. But Rivkah can’t find Jacob and instead moves in with a friend from home, Lottie Aarons. With her last name

changed to Milman, Rivkah carves out a hardscrabble life, raising her daughter, Mimi, with the help of kindly neighbors. When Mimi is 15, she meets Frederick Winthrop, the sadistic, 30-year-old youngest son of a wealthy family that employs Lottie as a bookkeeper. Though Mimi and Frederick meet only a few times, the teenager becomes pregnant and loses her mother soon after. Not knowing Frederick’s last name, Mimi can’t seek help—but then rumors start spreading about Frederick and a young girl and the Winthrop family and Lottie put the pieces together. In exchange for Mimi’s silence, the family gives her a building from which she can operate a clothing shop, an opportunity that launches her on a designing career that brings her security and fulfillment. But Frederick’s worst impulses remain unchecked, and the more Mimi hears about him, the more she becomes concerned that his cruelty could pose a danger. Tonally inconsistent, this novel can’t decide what kind of story it wants to be—a thriller about a serial killer, the story of a young woman who makes her way in the world, or a Gilded Age tale of haves and have-nots. The resulting muddle picks up and drops potential throughlines, introducing plot points in brief chapters that reveal too little to be interesting. Characters are inconsistent and underdeveloped, including Rivkah, who is introduced as young and dreamy before immediately being recast into a cold and angry mother with no true depth. This novel never finds a plot worth pursuing.

Girl Among Crows

Vayo, Brendon | CamCat Books (416 pp.) $28.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780744306552

Thirty-three years after a traumatic— and dramatic— time that destroyed her family, Daphne Gauge tries to uncover the truth of the past in order to prevent the same things from happening in the present.

In 1988, several boys in the small town of New Minton, Massachusetts, go missing, including Daphne’s kid brother, Paul. Her father runs a Unitarian church, but there are undercurrents of a darker kind of faith among the town’s inhabitants, and rumors of sacrifices and other rituals involving raven masks. When young boys begin to disappear, possibly part of these rituals, Daphne learns that her mother is from one of the oldest families in town and might herself be implicated in Paul’s disappearance. There is abuse within the family, and secrets, and ultimately a violent confrontation and conflagration that indelibly marks Daphne, her father, and her siblings. In 2021, Daphne receives a strange visit from a boy she knew in childhood. When two more boys go missing, she begins an investigation seeking to root out the evil at the heart of New Minton once and for all—easier said than done, for the entire town seems to be in on it. The switching of narration between 1988

The daughter of Jewish immigrants rises from poverty to fame among New York’s Gilded Age upper crust.

WINTHROP AGREEMENT

and 2021 becomes jarring as Daphne’s mental state gets more and more precarious. She becomes obsessed with revenge to the point that she abandons her own husband and children. The worldbuilding, while intriguing, is also distracting, because it’s often hard to tell how far New Minton slides into the supernatural. Sometimes it seems like a white supremacist cult with a basis in Nordic myth and pagan rites; sometimes, there are stranger things going on. This unevenness and uncertainty is hard to overcome. A heap of folk horror, maybe a dash of Salem witches, in a steaming cauldron of confusion.

Beirut Station: Two Lives of a Spy

Vidich, Paul | Pegasus Crime (304 pp.)

$27.95 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781639365111

Blood flows in Beirut as an American spy tries to stop a killer.

In 2006, civil war rages in Lebanon, and Lebanese American Analise Assad is a spy for the CIA. Her non-official cover is with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and she leads “two lives, one open and known, a lady working for the United Nations, the other a mask known only to Mossad and the CIA’s station chief.” She is at the end of her tour and is glad to be moving on, but the CIA extends her stay for two months. President George W. Bush is sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Beirut to broker a peace deal, and Analise must stop a terrorist named Najib Qassem who plans to assassinate her. Qassem is deemed to be such a serious threat that he “can’t be allowed to live,” and to find him Analise exploits his love for his 13-year-old soccer-playing grandson. Kill Qassem? Of course, Analise thinks, but don’t take out innocent civilians with him. Don’t blow up a neighborhood to get one person.

Mossad’s David Bauman—and Israel— are less discriminating. “We both love Lebanon,” he tells Analise, “but we hate what it has become.” She has an uneasy working relationship with Bauman, an experienced spy. At one point when he makes a suggestion about her future, she reflects that “she knew him better the more he lied.” Meanwhile, car bombs explode, and Israel attacks the suburbs of Beirut. During all this, Analise’s marriage is crumbling, and she occasionally goes to bed with a story-hungry news reporter named Corbin. He would betray a friend before he would sacrifice a scoop. The Mossad station chief sums up what keeps the blood flowing in the streets: “In our work it is better to avenge the dead than mourn them.” There is plenty of death to avenge in this tense, fast-moving novel.

Night Side of the River: Ghost Stories

Winterson, Jeanette | Grove (306 pp.)

$27.00 | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9780802161512

Speculative stories and essays about what comes after death—and after reality as we understand it now.

Winterson’s last novel, Frankisstein (2019), demonstrated that she has a sincere appreciation for horror and science fiction and understands how these fantastic genres create a space in which we can ask big questions. In 12 Bytes (2021), she shared her thoughts about how technology, from Ada

Lovelace’s protean computer programs to Artificial General Intelligence, changes not just how we experience the world but also how we comprehend ourselves. In this collection, she presents modern ghost stories alongside essays about what ghosts have meant to us historically and how they might manifest in a post-human future. Regrettably, it feels like a step backward for her, though the essays might be compelling to readers who have never given much thought to the concept of an afterlife or technological change. “Religion can be considered as humankind’s first disruptive start-up—what’s being disrupted is death” is a creaky attempt to apply contemporary jargon to prehistory, followed by a lot of spurious theology. But even if we assume that most readers are here for the stories, this collection has very little to offer anyone familiar with the last 200 years of ghost stories written in English. Winterson adds flourishes like virtual reality gear, and in one story, she suggests that we might live on as digital avatars. Even as she’s riffing on a long tradition of spooky tales, she writes as if she doesn’t understand how they work and why they endure. For one thing, most of these stories seem to lack purpose. Even though Winterson’s subjects are life and death, there seldom seems to be much at stake here. More significant, though, is that the menacing specter who appears in “A Fur Coat” and “Boots” is the only truly frightening phenomenon in the whole book. There are, however, some poetically chilling lines here and there, such as, “Maybe that’s what haunting is: time trapped in the wrong place.” Winterson somehow manages to make ghosts boring.

There is plenty of death to avenge in this tense, fast-moving novel.

BEIRUT STATION

5 Novels To Read Before They Hit Screens

By Elmore Leonard

By Caroline O’Donogue

By Bonnie Garmus

By Anthony Doerr

Grief Is the Thing With Feathers

By Max Porter

Elegant, imaginative, and perfectly paced. A contribution to the literature of grief and to literature in general.

Antiques Foe

Allan, Barbara | Severn House (208 pp.)

$31.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781448309627

A pair of Iowa antique dealers devotes more of their time to solving murders.

Vivian Borne is a flamboyant diva who enjoys acting, selling antiques, and hunting down killers. Her daughter Brandy, who’s actually her granddaughter, tries with little success to keep Vivian’s adventurous spirit in check. When a friend comes in bearing a signed Babe Ruth baseball she’d just bought at the nearby sports memorabilia store, Vivian immediately realizes that it’s a fake, and the three women head over to All Sports to return it. Shop owner Mark Wheeler refunds the money and thanks Vivian for her lesson in faux sports memorabilia. Soon after, Vivian is excited to be invited as a guest on a podcast called Killers Caught, but then interviewer Nicole Chatterton blindsides her by accusing her of committing the many murders she and Brandy have solved in the otherwise aptly named town of Serenity. When Vivian goes back to Nicole’s hotel that night to talk about rerecording the podcast, she finds the podcaster dead— and soon enough, Vivian is arrested, and not even Brandy’s fiance, police chief Tony Cassato, can keep her out of jail. Luckily, she has an ace up her sleeve: She wore a spy camera and recorded her whole visit to Nicole’s room. Unfortunately, the camera’s battery turns out to be dead, but all is not lost, since there are other suspects and Vivian has an excellent spy network and plenty of friends to help track down clues. Out on bail, Vivian and a reluctant Brandy keep sleuthing until they find the body of Clare Shields, Chatterton’s producer. Then Brandy’s nearly killed, and she emerges from a coma to find her sister/mother and son at her bedside with news that makes her more determined than ever to catch the killer.

A mystery that has it all: humor, zany characters, antiquing tips, and recipes to brighten your day.

The Proof of the Pudding

Bowen, Rhys | Berkley (304 pp.) | $28.00 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780593437889

Lady Georgiana Rannoch has yet another murder to solve. This time she gets some help from Agatha Christie.

Georgie, cousin to King Edward VIII, and her husband, Darcy O’Mara, who does something secret for the Crown, are expecting their first child shortly. Despite their aristocratic connections, they’re not wealthy. Living at Eynsleigh, the Elizabethan house of Georgie’s godfather, they await the arrival of a French chef while surviving on the stodgy food cooked by Georgie’s former maid Queenie, a walking disaster. The long-awaited chef, Pierre, is handsome, and Queenie agrees to act as his assistant. Despite some misunderstandings over language and other matters, their first dinner party is such a smashing success that mystery author Sir Mordred Mortimer asks Georgie to let Pierre cook for a dinner party to raise money for South African orphans. Mortimer seems a bit of a poseur, but his house and gardens, especially the poison garden, are a subject of considerable interest. The guests at his well-attended dinner party include his children, along with some neighbors, some social climbers, an old school friend, and Laurence

Olivier and Agatha Christie. The food is marvelous, and somehow all goes well even though Queenie and a dim maid serve as the only kitchen help. Luckily for her, Georgiana does not eat the dessert, a marvelous fruit tart that gives a number of the attendees food poisoning and leads the police to arrest Pierre for murder. Once Georgie sets out to prove the chef innocent, she is aided by Agatha Christie, who’s quite an expert on poisons.

A charming and often amusing mystery whose malefactor readers will quickly unmask.

East Jerusalem Noir

Burbara, Rawya Jarjoura | Akashic (196 pp.) | $17.95 paper | Nov. 7, 2023 9781617759857

Editor Burbara presents 13 wrenching tales of life in a city “established 7,000 years ago” that “has been attacked 52 times, occupied 44 times, besieged 23 times, and destroyed twice.”

Ziad Khadash documents the long history of dangers faced by Jerusalem’s occupants in “Fleeing From the Assyrian Soldiers.” But most of the stories here deal with more contemporary threats faced by Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. Nuzha Abu Ghosh chronicles the miseries of living under constant surveillance in “The Ceiling of the City.” The agony of negotiating military checkpoints is the focus of “Noble Sanctuary” by Muhammad Shuraim and

A mystery that has it all: humor, zany characters, antiquing tips, and recipes. ANTIQUES FOE

An opportunity to promote the Village Blend coffeehouse turns into murder.

BULLETPROOF BARISTA

“Checkpoints of Death” by Nuzha al-Ramlawi. In “Between the Two Jerusalems,” Osama Alaysa recounts the dangers that face Palestinians who, even unwittingly, cross those boundaries unchecked. The simplest tasks, like obtaining health insurance, are impossibly complicated in a city under occupation, as Majid Abu Ghosh illustrates in “This Is Jerusalem.” And owning a home is nearly impossible, as “The Scorpion” by Ibrahim Jouhar, “In an Extraordinary City” by Rahaf al-Sa’ad, and “An Astronaut in Jerusalem” by Iyad Shamasnah all demonstrate. The burden of grief carried by those who live in East Jerusalem is poignant and palpable. Such a sharp focus on the misery of the occupation creates a certain constriction in the range of storylines. But Burbara’s contributors are clearly willing to sacrifice the chance to showcase the color and variety of the ancient city in order to tell a harrowing tale of its current distress.

Heartfelt and heart-wrenching.

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord

Connally, Celeste | Minotaur (304 pp.) $27.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781250867551

An effervescent noblewoman probes a disturbing mystery.

From dressing in a harness room rather than her chambers to publicly declaring that she’ll never marry, Lady Petra Forsyth enjoys

flouting the conventions of early 19th-century England and shocking her noble friends and family. Her biggest problems seem to be a diminution of invitations resulting from her plainspeaking and free-spirited nature, as well as a related estrangement from her cousin Lynley. Little wonder, then, that she latches onto a baffling mystery and vigorously investigates it. While attending a ball with her bestie, Lady Caroline, Petra learns of the death a fortnight earlier of their mutual friend Lady Gwen Milford, who suffered from a highly nervous disposition and a difficult marriage. At the same event, Petra spots Gwen’s footman, Martin. Despite the social stigma attached to speaking with a servant, Petra’s curiosity prompts her to quiz Martin, who tells her that he and several other servants, all loyal to Lady Gwen, were recently dismissed by Lord Milford. Then he shocks Petra with the claim that he saw Gwen only a couple of days ago. What can Petra do but delve further? Before long, there’s a murder to solve. At length, Petra uncovers an outrageous and dastardly plot. The return of a dashing former lover complicates both her investigation and her commitment to singlehood. Connally’s series kickoff, which moves at a leisurely pace, is more notable for its sparkling repartee than its mystery. Her Regency England resembles the buoyant world of Jane Austen.

A delightful period adventure with pitch-perfect banter.

Bulletproof Barista

Coyle, Cleo | Berkley (352 pp.) | $28.00 Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780593197592

An opportunity to promote the Village Blend coffeehouse turns into a murderous disaster.

Clare Cosi is a big fan of comedian Jerry Sullivan, so she’s thrilled when his popular TV series Only Murders in Gotham chooses the Village Blend as a place to shoot. Another fan is Clare’s barista Tucker, an actor who has a speaking role. The production has already suffered its share of problems. Jerry’s assistant has been injured in an accident, and Lizzy Meeks, the president of Jerry’s fan club, is stalking him. When it appears that the coffee in the craft services truck run by Driftwood Coffee, avowed enemy of the Village Blend, has poisoned the property master, who’s saved by the quick thinking of Clare’s coffee buyer and ex-husband Matt, Jerry cuts Driftwood loose, and Clare and Matt step in. When Jerry shoots Tucker with a gun containing a real bullet instead of blanks, only the fact that Tucker was smart enough to wear a bulletproof vest saves him and the production from disaster. Clare strikes up a friendship with an intern who turns out to be costar Kylee Ferris, who’ll be terrorized by a snake in her trailer. Amid all the other miscues, Clare, who’s helped solve many a murder, follows the property master to Central Park, where he’s shot dead. Though Clare’s fiance, Mike Quinn, is an NYPD detective whose position makes Clare’s own position awkward, he’s willing to ignore minor problems until Clare becomes a target. Scads of red herrings, peeks behind the show-biz curtain, and bountiful appended recipes will leave fans smiling contentedly.

For more books by Cleo Coyle, visit Kirkus online.

Murder Most Treasonable

Doherty, Paul | Severn House (224 pp.)

$31.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781448308651

In 1382, there’s a fragile peace between England and France, and the only battles are fought between spy services that use every dirty trick to gain an advantage.

When a clerk in the office of the Secret Seal sells gossip to a spy for the Chambre Noir, he doesn’t think it can hurt anyone, but it opens a crack that leads to death and destruction. The death of Hugh Norwic, the principal clerk in the king’s Secret Chancery, and the decimation of the English spy ring in Paris call for the expertise of Sir John Cranston, Lord High Coroner of the City of London, and his friend, the clever, humble Brother Athelstan, Dominican Parish Priest of St. Erconwald’s in Southwark. London is already a bustling, dangerous, and filthy city before one of its most troublesome thieves, the Radix Malorum, returns to torment Sir John. Even that problem pales before treason and murder at the House of Secrets, where Thibault, Master of Secrets, shows them Norwic’s body and asks them to discover who could have killed him. Someone is clearly breaching the well-protected area and stealing secrets. Only six trusted clerks work there, and Thibault himself holds the keys. The only other people allowed in are the illiterate men who clean the building and burn the scraps. The clever pair puts their minds and networks together, setting off a high-stakes game

of cat and mouse, with a mounting body count, to uncover the villains whose nefarious plots endanger England.

Unsettling historical detail enhances a story of hate, revenge, and multiple murders.

That Others May Live

Driscoll, Sara | Kensington (352 pp.) $12.99 paper | Nov. 28, 2023 9781496743985

After the death of Ann Vanderlaan, Jen J. Danna, the surviving partner behind the Driscoll pseudonym, shoulders their dog-heavy franchise on her own in this ripped-from-the-headlines tale.

In the week before Christmas, Meg Jennings, a civilian consultant to the FBI’s Forensic Canine Unit, is shocked to hear from her brotherin-law, Washington Post investigative reporter Clay McCord, that Talbot Terraces, an upscale 12-story structure combining retail stores and condos only a few blocks from the White House, has partly collapsed. But she’s not too shocked to spring into action with Hawk, her canine partner on the Human Scent Evidence Team. Along with other team members including D.C. firefighter/paramedic Todd Webb, her fiance, she and Hawk begin an agonizing search of the pancaked ruins for survivors. The descriptions of both the catastrophic destruction and the laborious, dangerous process of searching are so meticulous that

readers will cheer every one of the few successful rescues. Why did the relatively new building collapse? It would seem impervious to natural disasters, and any sabotage would have had to be too carefully planned and extensive to justify a vengeful strike against one of its residents. No sooner has the rest of Talbot Terraces come down, however, than Todd gets word that the Brotherhood of Libertas may have attacked the building and may be eyeing other targets, motivated by a conspiracy theory as outlandish as it is lethal. The shift from a premise inspired by the 2021 collapse of Florida’s Champlain Towers South to a search for possible saboteurs makes the story considerably less suspenseful, especially given its paper-thin characters, but gives its real heroes, those highly trained dogs, another chance to shine before Christmas dawns. Guaranteed to satisfy old fans of the franchise without necessarily building new ones.

West Jerusalem Noir

Eitan, Maayan. | Trans. by Yardenne Greenspan | Akashic (240 pp.) $17.95 paper | Nov. 7, 2023 9781617752292

Fifteen tales that capture the magic and mystery of everyday life in West Jerusalem, which has been the main area of Jewish population from the time of Israeli independence in 1948.

No volume about Jerusalem could ignore the occupation. This one kicks off with Yiftach Ashkenazi’s “A Great Bunch of Guys,” set at a checkpoint at the northern border of the city, and Ilana Bernstein’s ironically titled “You Can’t See the Occupation From Here,” which shows that even in the halls of a great university, you can’t ignore political realities. But most of the stories showcase different kinds of tension. In Liat Elkayam’s “Murder at Sam Spiegel,” a Mizrahi Jewish woman

Unsettling historical detail enhances a story of hate, revenge, and murders. MURDER MOST TREASONABLE

tries to find her place at a largely Ashkenazi film school. In Asaf Schurr’s “Chrysanthemums,” a father tries to conceal his daughter’s involvement in a perhaps-fatal traffic accident. Translator Greenspan chronicles an aging writer’s mental decline in “Top of the Stairs.” But in the volume’s longest and most iconic story, “Dos Is Nisht a Khazir,” Emanuel Yitzchak Levi and Guli Dolev-Hashiloni offer a double narrative with a single theme. Just as signs at the Biblical Zoo inform skeptical haredim in ungrammatical Yiddish that the peccary is not a pig and therefore can be included in the zoo’s collection of animals named in scripture, young Be’eri struggles to explain to his hoped-for girlfriend just what kind of synagogue he attends, where the Torah is read on Shabbat but men and women sit together in prayer led by a female cantor. The point of Be’eri’s struggle to define his congregation, like the point of the zoo’s signs, is to determine who belongs here. Whether these stories are peopled by soldiers, students, children, and parents, they keep asking, “Who belongs in Jerusalem?” and its corollary, “Who does Jerusalem belong to?”—the central questions of this volume, which handles them with heartfelt sensitivity.

Pushes the boundaries of noir in a welcome new direction.

I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died

Flower, Amanda | Berkley (352 pp.) $16.99 paper | Nov. 14, 2023 9780593336960

Maybe all writer Emily Dickinson needed to become a crime-solver was the help of her household maid.

Emily’s not a big fan of change. She’s only just recently been adjusting to her brother Austin’s marriage, even though his wife, Susan, is her closest friend. Now that the couple have returned from their honeymoon, they’re already preparing to welcome their first guest to their home, the Evergreens: famed author Ralph Waldo Emerson, who could either lift up local writers or dash their hopes when he speaks at the Amherst Literary Society. Willa Noble, Emily’s household maid and secret friend despite their class differences, can’t help but worry that Mr. Emerson’s presence will put undue stress on Emily, whose admiration for him runs deep. It turns out that Emily’s been more stressed by the presence of Mr. Emerson’s secretary, Luther Howard, who’s been devoting the week to securing the affections of either Emily or her sister, Lavinia, whomever’s head he can turn first. The sudden death of Mr. Howard is something Emily neither welcomes nor mourns, though she’s sad for Lavinia’s sake. When it appears that Mr. Howard has been deliberately poisoned, Emily and Willa work together to solve the case, each exploiting her social position

as an asset in her investigation. Along the way, they rub shoulders with several other writing luminaries, especially scene-stealing Miss Alcott, whose candor about writing’s bottom line is notably refreshing.

Aside from a few zingers, Dickinson’s a better poet than cozy detective.

Stalking Around the Christmas Tree

Frost, Jacqueline | Crooked Lane (288 pp.) $29.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781639104512

Mistletoe, Maine, is all about Christmas and murder.

Holly White’s parents own Reindeer Games, a tree farm complete with an inn and restaurant. Holly runs the inn, her mom the restaurant and her dad the farm. As if that’s not enough, Holly’s about to get married, an event her best friend Caroline West is organizing down to the last detail. Caroline is also about to star Mrs. White as the featured baker on her YouTube channel, and the appearance of a well-regarded ballet company performing The Nutcracker has prompted Holly’s fiance, Sheriff Evan Gray, to hire extra security to make sure this additional influx of holiday tourists doesn’t disturb the peace On top of all that hustle and bustle, Evan’s sister, Libby, who testified against a gangster, has become reclusive and odd, going about in disguises and dumping her boyfriend. When prima ballerina Tiffany Kreig, the only member of the company to appear in the town’s Christmas parade, dies, apparently of poison, Holly pitches in once again along with her friends and family to help Evan solve the crime before their nuptials become another casualty. Taking the opportunity to get acquainted with some of the ballet company staying at the inn, Holly becomes suspicious of ballet master George Ashton, but because Tiffany had recently been promoted over other, better dancers and given

Maybe all Emily Dickinson needed to solve crimes was the help of her maid.

I HEARD A FLY BUZZ WHEN I DIED

For more noir anthologies, visit Kirkus online.

the starring role, she could have plenty of other enemies. It’s not long before Holly starts to receive threats from someone desperate to leave Tiffany’s death unsolved.

If it weren’t for that one fatality, this would be a happy tale of quirky characters and holiday cheer.

Murder in Williamstown

Greenwood, Kerry | Poisoned Pen (288 pp.) | $16.99 paper | Nov. 7, 2023 9781728279244

The fearless and soignée Phryne Fisher investigates several mysteries as intriguing as they are perilous in post–World War I Australia.

In addition to excellent taste in clothes and men, the Honourable Miss Fisher has something else: a disdain for rules that’s served her well as a private investigator. She can tell that something’s bothering Dot Williams, her lady’s maid and companion, who reveals that an anonymous letter reading only REPENT! was left in Phryne’s mailbox, kicking off the first of her investigations. Her two adopted daughters, Jane and Ruth, are helping out at the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind for a school project, and one of the teachers asks Jane to use her math skills to check over the institute’s books, where it seems “there’s something amiss.” Meanwhile, Phryne drops in on Jeoffrey Bisset, a lecturer in classics and English, who invites her to dinner at his home in Williamstown the next evening. When the time comes, they enjoy each other more than the food, but Phryne finds herself involved in opium smuggling when an after-dinner stroll reveals a man stabbed to death on the beach. Phryne’s sometime lover Lin Chung, a respected leader in the Chinese community, is called to identify the body and resolves to look for whoever’s smuggling opium, a scourge in the community. Phryne sets her adopted son, Tinker,

to investigate the anonymous letter while Jane and Ruth try to sniff out an embezzler at the Institute for the Blind. Reserving for herself the dangerous job of tracking down the murderous smugglers with a little help from her friends, Phryne uncovers some surprising answers.

The always delightful heroine and her sleuthing family do not disappoint in this mélange of mysteries.

Cry Wolf

Jensen, Lark O. | Crooked Lane (272 pp.) $30.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781639104550

A wildlife expert takes a winter job that puts her in mortal jeopardy. Stacie Calder, a part-time volunteer at Juneau Wildlife World, is thrilled to be starting a paid job at the sanctuary. Over the summer, she and her husky, Sasha, have guided visitors on the ClemElk tour boat, and now director Wayne Deerfield is letting the well-behaved Sasha join her in many parts of the sanctuary where she wouldn’t come into contact with the animals. Just before joining the staff, Stacie has a run-in with new manager Oliver Brownling, who wants to throw her and Sasha out, but Wayne takes her side, freeing her to enjoy the biggest part of her job: taking long hikes around the property to check on the animals, who are kept in large, fenced areas for their safety, since some have been injured in the past. But Oliver continues to harass her about Sasha, even after she and another worker notice a wounded wolf and bring it in for veterinary care. When Oliver is found dead, it looks as if he’s been attacked by wolves until the medical examiner determines that some type of weapon caused his wounds. As the person who recently had words with Oliver, Stacie is high on the list of suspects, and Liam Amaruq, the Alaska State Trooper she’s been dating, has to recuse himself and can’t give her

much information. So she’ll have to prove her own innocence even though her inquiries among the staff put her in danger.

Plenty of suspects and wildlife lore are undercut by boring, one-dimensional characters.

Forgotten Trail

Kells, Claire | Crooked Lane (272 pp.) $31.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781639105267

Two investigative agents find that a seemingly straightforward case in Pinnacles National Park may be more meandering than they expected. Investigative Services Branch Special Agent Felicity

Harland barely caught the email that added some of California’s smaller national parks to her list of responsibilities. So when she gets a call about a murder at the Pinnacles Grand Hotel, she has to search her memory to assure herself that it’s in her jurisdiction these days. On the phone, hotel manager James Dunaway, intent on going forward with the hotel’s planned grand opening as soon as the crime is solved, demands that Felicity come out to investigate. Felicity’s dubious, not only because the four-and-a-half-mile hike to the hotel’s remote location is strenuous, but also because her partner in crime-solving, Ferdinand “Hux” Huxley, seems to be off the grid closer to his Sequoia National Park home. She’s not one to let her personal feelings get in the way of duty, though, so she hits the trail to Pinnacles to see what’s what. When she pulls in Bodie Cramer, a pal from her days at the FBI, to help with forensic work on the case, Felicity wonders whether Hux will feel threatened by her friendship with Bodie, which is hard to describe. Felicity and Hux aren’t exactly friends; they’re certainly not more than friends; but they do share a deep connection that she’s reluctant to disturb. When the two of them find Chris Denton with a silk tie cinched around

Four sleuths pursues a Machiavellian killer who calls himself the Minotaur.

PLAY OF SHADOWS

his neck and a glass shard stuck in his back, there’s little question he’s been murdered, with his disgruntled wife the obvious suspect. But like the park it’s set in, the real story has a lot more nooks and nuances.

A deft balance of the mystery, the heroine’s ongoing development, and the well-researched setting.

Murder on Mistletoe Lane

McKenna, Clara | Kensington (304 pp.)

$27.00 | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781496738202

An arranged marriage creates a sleuthing couple with very different backgrounds. Ever since a horse-loving Kentucky girl with a wealthy controlling father married the wild son of an aristocratic family in need of a cash infusion, Stella, Lady Lyndhurst, and Lyndy, Lord Lyndhurst, have slowly forged a loving marriage. Although Stella’s been forced into the mold for upper-class ladies in the early 1900s, she still manages some freedom to pursue her interests, which have recently involved solving murders. Christmas at Morrington Hall is not as cheerful as Stella would like, and she’s uneasy when some of her trinkets go missing and she receives love notes from an unknown person. The infusion of Stella’s money has enhanced the Lyndhursts’ lifestyle, and Lyndy’s mother, Lady Atherly, is so busy hiring more servants and improving the house that she has little time

to pick on Stella and even approves of her charity, Triple R Farm, which rescues and rehabilitates horses. It seems odd to Stella that their Christmas guests, Sir Edwin, Lady Isabella, and their son, Freddy, who’s in love with Lyndy’s sister, Alice, are not particular friends, and indeed the two ladies snipe at each other. When Mrs. Nelson, the housekeeper, is found deathly ill and delirious, Stella springs into action, moving into high gear when the new veterinarian arrives with the news that he’s found Mrs. Nelson dead on Mistletoe Lane. Manages to find a happy Christmas ending despite murder and mayhem.

Play of Shadows

Nickless, Barbara | Thomas & Mercer (447 pp.) | $16.99 paper | Nov. 14, 2023 9781662509988

A quartet of sleuths pursues a Machiavellian killer who calls himself the Minotaur. After attending a bookstore reading of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, a budding serial killer who calls himself the Minotaur follows two audience members to begin a campaign of carnage. His first victim, attorney Samuel Fishbourne, is found sliced nearly in half near a wall marked with black-and-white artwork; shortly before he died, he’d left a cryptic letter full of hieroglyphs on the doorstep of brilliant Dr. Evan Wilding, professor of semiotics, linguistics,

and paleography at the University of Chicago. Evan’s archeologist brother, River, who happens to be visiting, assists in the ensuing investigation.

Nickless’ ambitious third Evan Wilding mystery folds Greek mythology and the deciphering of puzzling clues into a lively plot. Fishbourne’s daughter, Ursula, is taken captive by the Minotaur, and her short chapters alternate with those from several other perspectives. Deciphering the message that Fishbourne left for Evan—“Solve the riddle before the sacrifice is made”—is only the first step in finding the Minotaur. As the case reveals its complexity, Evan and River team up with Det. Addie Bisset, Evan’s best friend and unrequited love, and Diana Alanis, his research assistant. The camaraderie of the four investigators gives the story a buoyant energy complemented by the interesting details Nickless tucks into her depictions of characters across the board. Evan’s hawk, Ginny, and his pooch, Perro, are stalwart sidekicks.

A brisk and clever whodunit with chills and verve.

The Professor

Nossett, Lauren | Flatiron Books (336 pp.) $28.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781250845351

When a promising student at the University of Georgia is found dead, a former detective searches for answers: Do all the fingers point at his professor, the start of a witch hunt, or the path to the truth?

Marlitt Kaplan has been itching to solve a case. For months, she’s been a pariah to the Athens PD after she refused to play by the rules while investigating a fraternity, resigned in disgrace, and damaged her relationship with her former partner and closest friend, Teddy. The whispers about her “assaulting a fraternity member” or having a “gender-coded

psychotic break” only added fuel to the fire—literally: Someone broke into her house and set it ablaze. Now she’s living with her parents and bored senseless. That is, until the Athens PD takes Professor Verena Sobek into the station for questioning. Verena’s student Ethan Haddock was discovered dead from an apparent suicide, and rumors are flying that he and Verena had been sleeping together. Verena’s facing a Title IX investigation, and Marlitt’s mother, her colleague in the German Department, begs her daughter to prove Verena’s innocence. Marlitt’s unease about working on behalf of an accused professor is no match for her desire to investigate again, so she steps into Ethan’s world. Soon, she discovers that her secret wish that the case had been a murder investigation may be coming true. Family secrets, rocky romances, a potentially rogue officer, and vindictive students teem in Nossett’s sophomore novel. Despite a few opening chapters weighed down by exposition, the novel succeeds as a page-turning mystery full of potential suspects, exciting twists, and a few red herrings. Nossett adeptly uses narrative structure to play with readers’ expectations and crafts a mystery that sits in that sweet spot: dropping just enough clues so readers can investigate alongside Marlitt, but not so many that the ending feels predictable. She handles the premise of a former detective trying to prove the innocence of an accused abuser with care. It is no small feat to transform a potentially problematic, black-and-white plot into a thoughtful investigation of the ways academic power structures (and those of law

enforcement) fail individuals, but Nossett pulls it off.

Come for the entertaining, well-crafted mystery, stay for the thoughtful critique of academia.

Some of Us Are Looking

O’Connor, Carlene | Kensington (368 pp.)

$27.00 | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781496737557

A psychopathic killer terrorizes Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula.

Sgt. Barbara

Neely is dealing with local Chris Henderson’s complaints about a pervert he claims is watching one of the girls living in a caravan parked in the village that he’s already complained about. Inspector Cormac O’Brien, who’s nervously standing by, misses a chance to talk with Neely himself when he’s called out to investigate disturbing quotations chalked on walls in the popular tourist town of Dingle, but Cormac’s more concerned with his lapse of judgment in having sex with one of the women from the caravan and the fear that his crush, veterinarian Dimpna Wilde, will find out. When Henderson and two foxes are struck by a hit-and-run driver, Dimpna is called to help. Later that night a hysterical woman shows up at Dimpna’s clinic with a slightly injured hare wrapped in a blood-soaked jacket, a bloody butcher’s knife, and a wild story about someone trying to cut the animal’s foot off. She is Brigid Sweeney, another of the caravan residents,

which also include two mastiffs who keep breaking their chains and chasing cars. After she leaves, Cormac calls to report that someone found the caravan dogs stumbling down the road as though drunk; they are brought to the clinic for the night. Returning them the next morning, Dimpna finds Brigid’s body. She’s been drugged and tied to a tree; her left hand has been cut off and festooned with a rabbit’s foot. Although Cormac, whose mother has just died, shouldn’t be working the case after his encounter with Brigid’s caravan mate, his expertise is needed to solve a crime so heinous and baffling that it has the whole area on edge. An excellent police procedural whose complex characters act out a twisty tale of hate.

A Nutcracker Nightmare

Romeril, Christina | Crooked Lane (320 pp.) $29.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781639104918

Who’s killing off the class of 1999?

SOME OF US ARE LOOKING

That’s a question identical twins Alex Wright and Hanna Eastham have to answer to keep Hanna out of jail. The sisters own Murder and Mayhem: Killer Chocolates and Bookshop in Harriston, Montana, where Hanna dreams up uncommon recipes for chocolate treats and Alex works the bookstore side while gaining a reputation for finding dead bodies. In the days before Christmas, the sisters are extra busy turning out treats, but they’re also involved with providing chocolate and helping at a high school reunion, though they’re relative newcomers to the area. The twins get to meet the graduates, many of whom still live nearby. One of them, Kyle Allerton, turns out to be a thorn in Hanna’s side who won’t take no for an answer, even though Hanna’s already in a relationship, albeit a shaky one, with a sheriff’s deputy. Brash former football

A psychopathic killer terrorizes Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula in this excellent police procedural.

star Kyle appears to have made enemies of all his classmates; he’s rumored to have been involved with everything from cheating scandals to purposely injuring a football rival. At the reunion dance, Alex, going in search of paper towels, finds Kyle dead in the basement utility closet. Despite the obligatory warnings from the sheriff, Alex can’t help but sleuth when Hanna becomes a suspect over an incident with Kyle at the dance. Alex’s biggest problem is winnowing down the list of people who hated Kyle. When a gossipy blogger delivers a comprehensive report on Alex’s sleuthing activities after another classmate is murdered, she becomes a target herself.

Romantic woes and plenty of guilty-looking characters are well integrated into this otherwise cheery Christmas tale.

The Mayors of New York

Rozan, S.J. | Pegasus Crime (288 pp.)

$26.95 | Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781639365258

Lydia Chin and Bill Smith hit the big time, in good ways and bad, when they’re hired by New York City’s mayor—at least, the official one.

Nobody knows that Mayor Carole McCann’s 15-yearold son has run away from home again, and that’s how she’d like to keep it. Since she’s in the middle of negotiating with the police department

over its new contract, she thinks it would show both nepotism and weakness to ask the cops to look for Mark, so she gets her aide, Aubrey Hamilton, to approach Bill, who was once Aubrey’s boyfriend. Lydia, who’s been asked to look into the suicide of Macauley Prep student Amber Shun, turns down that case so she can come along for the ride. And quite a ride it is. Before it’s over, Bill and Lydia will have survived a brawl with costumed superheroes in Times Square; questioned several other unofficial mayors of New York’s neighborhoods and ethnic groups who demand better subway service, improved park lighting, and more immigration attorneys for their constituents in return for their assistance; seriously antagonized the duly elected mayor of New York; traced the motive for Mark McCann’s disappearance to a particularly insidious trafficking ring; and inevitably linked it to the death of Amber Shun. As usual, Rozan is less interested in hiding the culprits than in providing a consistently brisk and illuminating tour of the city, gently probing the underside of any number of rocks, and supplying a triple-barreled climax that will answer all your questions and then some.

Professional-grade work from two of the best private eyes on the scene.

Murder Crossed Her Mind

Spotswood, Stephen | Doubleday (384 pp.) $27.00 | Dec. 5, 2023 | 9780385549288

An old enemy offers everything but an apology to get Brooklyn private eye Lillian Pentecost to track down a sharp old lady missing from the apartment building she turns out to own.

Before she retired in 1941, Perseverance “Vera” Bodine wasn’t just any legal secretary. Her photographic memory made her a highly prized employee at Boekbinder and Gimbal. Now Forest Whitsun, the high-powered defense attorney who left Lillian bloody but unbowed when they crossed swords in court, entreats her to find out what’s happened to his friend Vera, who’s sharp as ever even though she’s pushing 80. Whitsun’s greatest fear is that Vera’s post-legal work as a Nazi hunter has exposed her to enemies who’d stop at nothing even though the war’s been over for two years. Since the case involves a vulnerable woman, Lillian signs on despite her worsening multiple sclerosis, as if she already knows that the greatest dangers will await her right-hand woman (and the novel’s narrator), Willowjean Parker, who begins by getting beaten with her own blackjack by a pair of Coney Island thieves and then gets into even bigger trouble when she traces the culprits to a mob run by the menacing Donny Russo. In his detecting duo’s fourth adventure, Spotswood dials down Lillian’s saltiness and the period details. And this time around he’s even less interested than usual in the big reveal; the different strands of Will’s investigations never come together satisfactorily, and the person behind Vera’s disappearance is an unforgivably minor character.

What remains is the pungent first-person narration. Is that enough? You decide.

Rozan is less interested in hiding the culprits than in providing a brisk and illuminating tour of the city.

THE MAYORS OF NEW YORK

For more books by S.J. Rozan, visit Kirkus online.

SEEN AND HEARD

Steven Rowley Announces Sequel to The Guncle

The Guncle Abroad will follow its caftan-wearing hero to a family wedding in Italy.

Gay Uncle Patrick is coming back.

Author Steven Rowley will publish a sequel to his bestselling novel The Guncle next year. G.P. Putnam’s Sons says the new book, The Guncle Abroad, is “about the complicated bonds of family, love, and what it takes to rediscover yourself, even at the ripe age of fifty.”

The Guncle, published in 2021, followed Patrick O’Hara, a caftan-loving, gay Palm Springs sitcom star who temporarily serves as caretaker for

his niece and nephew after their mother dies and their father enters rehab for substance use disorder. A critic for Kirkus called the book, which won the Thurber Prize for American Humor, “a novel with some real depth beneath all its witty froth.”

In The Guncle Abroad, Patrick, now starring in a new sitcom and reeling from a breakup, travels to Italy for a family wedding, drawn by the promise of seeing his niece and nephew again.

Rowley announced his new novel on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Patrick is back,” the author said in a video. “It’s been five years, and he’s trading in his martini for a spritz, and Palm Springs for an Italian adventure with the kids.”

The Guncle Abroad is slated for publication on May 21, 2024.— M.S.

Paperback ISBN: 9781951213817 eBook ISBN: 9781961884106

“Ken Dychtwald maps out where success intersects with meaning to find your own unique crossing.”

—DEEPAK CHOPRA, M.D.

Available everywhere books are sold.

unnamedpress.com

For a review of The Guncle, visit Kirkus online.

Rowley’s earlier Guncle book won the Thurber Prize.

AWARDS

Mark Twain Award Shortlist Announced

Hernan Diaz and Barbara Kingsolver are in the running for this year’s prize.

The finalists for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award have been revealed, with 10 books in the running for the annual prize that “honors a work of fiction…that speaks with an ‘American Voice’ about American experiences.”

Hernan Diaz made the shortlist for Trust, his high finance–themed novel that previously won the Kirkus Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, which won the Pulitzer alongside Diaz’s novel, was also named a finalist.

Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch, winner of the National Book Award, was shortlisted for the Twain award, as was Ling Ma’s National Book Critics Circle Award–winning story collection, Bliss Montage.

Gabrielle Zevin was named a finalist for her bestselling Tomor-

row, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, as were Morgan Talty for Night of the Living Rez and Elizabeth McCracken for The Hero of This Book

Also making the shortlist were Jennifer Haigh for Mercy Street, Jacinda Townsend for Mother Country, and Andrew Holleran for The Kingdom of Sand.

The award, given by the Mark Twain House & Museum, was established in 2016, and comes with a $25,000 cash prize underwritten by thriller author David Baldacci. Previous winners include Jesmyn Ward for Sing, Unburied, Sing; Ocean Vuong for On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous; and Stephen Graham Jones for The Only Good Indians

The winner of this year’s prize will be announced this month.

—M.S.

To read about 2023 Pulitzer winners Diaz and Kingsolver, visit Kirkus online.

Hernan Diaz & Barbara Kingsolver

Kirkus Star

The Corset & the Jellyfish: A Conundrum of Drabbles

Bantock, Nick | Tachyon (216 pp.) | $21.95

Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781616964078

An engaging collection of 100-word stories accompanied by petroglyphic images.

Bantock tells us in his introduction that the box containing these 100 stories, each 100 words long, and a group of petroglyphic images was “reportedly found in an attic, in North London” and sent to him by the bemused homeowner. The stories have no known author or key to their enigmatic content and images, so Bantock decides to publish them, hoping a reader can solve the puzzle posed in a note found in the box with the manuscript. It seems the idea is to find one word from each tale that will then create a final, 100-word story that belongs to the reader themselves. The whimsical, often humorous, tales are a mixture of SF, fantasy, mild horror, historical, mythological, and/or paranormal fiction, as well as simple vignettes of relatable lives. A woman trying on lingerie receives a tattoo from a passing jellyfish. A man places stars in space using his cabinet of curiosities. Angels are captured and bottled to make quality perfume. A group of 1903 settlers find a crashed starship. God’s Uncle Albert once thought about creating sentient life, but eventually decided it was a bad idea. There are beach-going ghosts, an orangutan pilot from WWII, surrealists playing chess, and a girl who starts chewing her nails and can’t stop until she’s eaten herself. A woman cleverly thwarts a misogynistic tailgater trying to intimidate her. An accountant escapes the Great War via embezzlement. A court jester sacrifices himself for his beloved queen. A small clown appears in a fish tank. The Sandman, Leda and the Swan, and the infamous cat Pangur Ban make appearances.

With each turn of the page, one never quite knows what to expect. The mischievous illustrations, saturated with color, only hint at something recognizable, usually a bit of an animal or plant. Even if the puzzle remains unsolved, readers will find themselves delighted, intrigued, and often moved by the love, pain, and wonder of these finely written drabbles. Spec Fic at its best: accessible and inventive, while remaining thoroughly extraordinary.

The Queen of Days

Kelly, Greta | Harper Voyager (384 pp.) $30.00 | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9780063240964

A ragtag band of thieves joins forces with a mysterious stranger to steal a precious idol.

Balthazar

Vadalen, his half brother, Kai, his cousin, Zeelaya Agodzi, and her husband, Edik, along with Balthazar’s younger sister, Miraveena, haven’t always been outlaws. Years ago, Balthazar was the heir to the governor of the great city of Cothis. But when Balthazar’s father’s second-in-command, Paasch, betrayed him to seize power, Balthazar’s parents and most of his family were killed. Now he and his remaining family steal to live, until they’re offered the job of a lifetime: Steal the idol to the sea god, Karanis, that Governor Paasch plans to reveal to Cothis in a great ceremony celebrating the new temple. If they pull it off, the payoff from Balthazar’s mysterious patron will be enough to set them up with new lives away from

their painful past. The catch? Other than the immense difficulty of stealing the idol, the crew’s patron insists they work with a legendary thief, known only as the Queen of Days. When Balthazar meets this strange figure, who introduces herself as Tass, he knows instantly that Tass is not what she seems. Though he’s reluctant to trust her, he desperately wants the money to ensure a safe, comfortable life for Mira, so he agrees to Tass’s strange price: 30 days of life from each of the crew members. But how can someone be paid in time? And what makes the idol worth stealing, anyway? Kelly is an efficient storyteller, instantly establishing the relationships among her close-knit characters, and crafting thrilling action scenes. If the world Balthazar inhabits isn’t all that immersive, readers who love themes of friendship and community will still appreciate Balthazar’s tension between his own desire for revenge against Paasch and the needs of the little family he has left.

A heist adventure with magical twists.

Kirkus Star Warrior of the Wind

Okungbowa, Suyi Davies | Orbit (480 pp.) | $19.99 paper | Nov. 21, 2023 9780316428972

As the world teeters on the brink of change, factions amass, lost magic beckons, and three young people continue their search for power.

A band of thieves joins forces with a mysterious stranger to steal an idol.

THE QUEEN OF DAYS

In this sequel to Son of the Storm (2021), Danso and Lilong have journeyed into the world beyond Bassa. Lilong is still seeking the reason for her daa’s departure from their island home and the way his quest relates to the magical ibor, while Danso has turned to chronicling their journey and documenting the stories he hears—which may well be true. But the two cannot yet rest. Esheme, Danso’s one-time intended and now the Red Emperor, is still on their trail, using ibor to her own ends and drawing ever nearer. Ultimately, the three approach Lilong’s home in an archipelago shrouded in mystery and legend where revelations about ibor and their own personal quests may lie. Broad and imaginative in scope even as it’s firmly grounded in a West African setting, this installment surpasses the first as the characters’ world opens up and their motivations are explored more deeply. Though the pacing is still ponderous, the slow movement of the plot nevertheless pulls the characters along through increasingly tense and dangerous scenarios and allows room to explore their inner worlds and relationships with each other. From the heat of the savanna to the red eyes of a beast, there is much here to unspool and much still left to follow.

Slow-paced yet expansive, the book follows individual people to paint a much larger picture of empires as they rise and fall.

A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories

Pratchett, Terry | Harper/HarperCollins

(240 pp.) | $26.99 | Oct. 10, 2023

9780063376199

A collection of lost stories from early in Pratchett’s career.

Commissioned to find episodes of a serial story called “The Quest for the Keys,” enterprising Pratchett scholars Pat and Jan Harkin

unearthed this cache of early stories, written for newspapers under the pseudonym Patrick Kearns. “How It All Began…” shows a young caveman inventing fire and troubling the older cavemen with his newfangled ways. Father Christmas quits in “Wanted: A Fat, Jolly Man With a Red Woolly Hat” and can’t seem to find another job where his talents are appreciated. “The New Father Christmas” decides to “ ‘modernize and streamline’ the toyshop,” which means sacking almost all his employees, including the reindeer. In “Mr. Brown’s Holiday Accident,” a man drives through what turns out to be the scenery of his life and discovers the scriptwriters and props managers who make things work behind the scenes. As Neil Gaiman writes in his foreword to the volume, these stories are briskly written: “He has a certain amount of space on the newspaper page…and he’s going to start, build and finish his story to the word-count.” There’s not much space for character development or worldbuilding; these short fictions are essentially jokes, setups, and punchlines delivered efficiently, but with glimmers of the Pratchett charm. Several stories set in the fictional town of Blackbury have a genial, tall-tale feel, and the “proto-Discworld” in “The Quest for the Keys” is a true treat. Like any collection of juvenilia, for committed fans only, but there’s plenty here for them to enjoy.

Kirkus Star We Are the Crisis

Turnbull, Cadwell | Blackstone (342 pp.) $26.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781982603755

In the second installment of The Convergence Saga (No Gods, No Monsters, 2021), the monsters—werewolves, witches, vampires, and other magical beings—have finally emerged from secrecy.

The Cult of the Zsouvox is fomenting a war between humans and monsters for obscure, apocalyptic reasons. On the human side, the Black Hand escalates violence against monsters. Werewolves Laina Calvary, her husband, Ridley Gibson, and Laina’s girlfriend, Rebecca Vázquez, don’t know where to find support in this rising tide of hatred, since few other monsters are willing to reveal themselves and be exposed to attack. Dragon, a tween who can shift into his namesake, has escaped the Cult of the Zsouvox’s basement cell but is being watched both by the Black Hand and a former CIA agent, Alexandra Trapp, who is only partially aware of who’s pulling her strings. And weredog former senator Sondra is hoping her husband, a current senator, can push through a bill establishing legal protection for monsters; she’s keeping a lower profile in hope of concealing her monster identity as well as her presence at a bloody pro-monster rally in Boston three years ago. Will more established pro-monster forces emerge from the shadows before large-scale tragedy strikes? Meanwhile, in a parallel universe, Calvin continues to escape his troubled personal life in sleep, where he secretly observes the events occurring in the “monsterverse” and other universes, a practice which may prove more dangerous than he knows. Turnbull packs a lot of plot and character development in a fairly compact set of pages, using his story to explore complex issues of prejudice, intersectionality, and personal identity, as well as the scars left by the darker parts of one’s past. As in the first book, he also devotes considerable time to not-so-subtly endorsing the model of worker-owned, non-hierarchical cooperative networks. Rather than a jarring insertion into the plot, this helps highlight a key intersectionality issue: Even idealists may not be open to all ideas and varieties of people, particularly when they are afraid. Rich, brilliant, and often sad, because this contemporary fantasy pulls no punches; blood will regretfully be spilled.

Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date

Blake, Ashley Herring | Berkley (416 pp.) | $18.00 paper | Oct. 24, 2023 9780593550571

A bisexual romance author burned by love and an anxious actress fake-date in hope of keeping their meddling friends at bay.

Iris Kelly is happily single, though her friends and family in Portland, Oregon, would have her believe otherwise. While she’d be perfectly fine entertaining one-night-stands at Lush, her favorite queer bar, those closest to her can’t seem to stop intervening in her love life. Iris is the middle child of an Irish Catholic family, squished between picture-perfect married siblings and a mother who constantly sets her up with both men and women. After her latest relationship ended with her girlfriend’s wife showing up, Iris is no longer in a happily-ever-after mood…to the detriment of her second romance novel, which has a deadline coming up. Stevie Scott is in a similar predicament; her best friend/ex-girlfriend Adri is now dating her other best friend, and they’re all working together on the same gender-bent production of Much Ado About Nothing at a local theater. Stevie, who battles anxiety, fears she will never get back in the dating game—not that her friends ever let her forget it. Feigning confidence, Stevie tries her hand at Lush and meets free-wheeling Iris, though the date doesn’t quite end in fireworks. But when Iris unknowingly shows up to audition for Stevie’s play, they realize they can teach each other a few things about romance and sex while appeasing their nosy friends for a couple of months. As they coach each other through the ins and outs of casual dating and wooing, Iris and Stevie begin to find it difficult to keep their ruse strictly educational. The third and final installment of Blake’s Bright Falls series features an eclectic

and diverse, albeit overbearing, cast of friends. Iris and Stevie’s attraction to each other is palpable, and Blake masterfully weaves a tale of growth where friendship, confidence, and passion ensue.

A treat for fake-dating fans and happily-ever-after lovers alike.

Never Wager With a Wallflower

Heath, Virginia | St. Martin’s Griffin (320 pp.) | $18.00 paper | Nov. 7, 2023

9781250787804

An English wallflower challenges an American businessman.

Venus Merriwell is done with romance. Though both of her sisters are now happily married, she’s had nothing but bad experiences with the so-called gentlemen she’s met so far, most of whom can’t see past her “larger-than-average bosom.” So she’s happy to devote the rest of her life to a possible marriage with an arrogant but respectful aristocrat and working at the Covent Garden Asylum for Orphans. When a wealthy benefactor leaves the leaky, overstuffed orphanage thousands of pounds in her will, along with the possibility of the buildings next door, Venus is excited about what the future holds—until the “cocky, golden-haired, green-eyed devil” Galahad Sinclair keeps turning up. Venus only knows Galahad as her brother-in-law’s dissolute American cousin, and he’s given up on convincing her otherwise. But their sudden proximity ignites an instant and confusing chemistry and they keep finding ways to see each other, including a competitive game of whist between the two card sharps. But just as they are on the verge of admitting their feelings to each other, Venus learns more about why Galahad has been in Covent Garden so often, and it may end their acquaintance altogether. The final Merriwell sister completes their shared

trilogy with her own enemies-to-lovers journey in which Heath has once again created a charming and slightly spicy story revolving around an independent-minded heroine and a man who can’t resist her despite the potential danger to his own future. The other sisters make appearances that will please fans of the earlier books, and Galahad, Venus, and even many minor characters are all well-developed. The book is nicely paced, and though it can stand alone, is primarily a satisfying conclusion to a historical series that skillfully combines the glamour of Regency society with a handful of the realities of life in 1830 London for everyone else. An enjoyable romance for fans of quick-witted Regency heroines.

Never Met a Duke Like You

Howard, Amalie | Forever (384 pp.)

$16.99 paper | Nov. 14, 2023

9781538737767

Howard follows up Always Be My Duchess (2022) with another historical rom-com.

Lady Vesper Lyndhurst sees herself as a successful London matchmaker but has no intention of finding a match for herself. In the past, she imagined a future with her neighbor and childhood best friend Aspen Drake, now the Duke of Greydon, but they had a falling out years ago. Aspen has been in America digging for fossils, but now he’s back home and intends to find justice for his father, who died in an asylum after he was unjustly committed by Aspen’s wicked mother. When Aspen and Vesper find themselves accidentally locked in an attic together, their antagonism quickly turns into desire they try to deny. Vesper agrees to help Aspen find a match for his mother’s ward, Judith, but as their lives become increasingly intertwined and complicated, their attraction becomes impossible to ignore. Veteran romance

A dragon shifter hunts for

novelist Howard’s latest is a very mixed bag. The inevitable conflicts between the clearly-made-for-each-other leads are overly drawn out; several plot elements are underdeveloped and add little emotional or dramatic heft; some scenes feel like unnecessary filler. However, the historical setting is rich and clearly well researched, Vesper and Aspen engage in delightfully sharp banter, and their characterizations are enriched by Vesper’s ADHD (mentioned in an author’s note as it would not have been diagnosed at the time) and Aspen’s passion for changing the Lunacy Act.

Fun but forgettable.

When a Dragon Falls

Sparks, Kerrelyn | Kensington (368 pp.) | $16.95 paper | Oct. 24, 2023

9781496735867

A dragon shifter hunts for her kidnapped brother.

Princess Lenushka, or Lennie, of Norveshka is literally one of a kind: She’s the only female dragon shifter in the world. The patriarchal nobility insists she must marry another dragon shifter in order to take her rightful place on the throne, even though she proved her mettle as a highly decorated soldier. All of Lennie’s plans are thrown into chaos on the day of her cousin Roslyn’s wedding. A man named Greer, a member of an evil group called the Brotherhood of the Sun, kills the groom and kidnaps several powerful men, including Lennie’s brother, Pendras. Roslyn and Lennie are determined to

find and rescue Pendras and the other kidnapped men. At the beginning of their journey, Lennie accidentally harms Bran Morris, a shifter known as the Raven, while in her dragon form. He has always had a strong dislike of dragons and this injury only hardens his beliefs. Bran has been hunting Greer for months, desperate for revenge on the man who killed his brother. Lennie decides to keep the truth that she’s a dragon shifter from Bran, knowing he will be a valuable ally on the hunt for Greer. The first half of the book is bogged down in getting all the characters on the road together. When the focus finally shifts to Bran and Lennie’s romance, it feels rushed and underdeveloped. The romance is low-energy because Bran mostly moons over Lennie, convinced she’s the perfect woman. He refers to her as his dream girl while she wallows in guilt for lying to him, and all the conflict hinges on the eventual reveal of her dragon form. The magical world operates on a strong, absolute gender binary, which makes the book feel dated. Slow and plodding.

The Cutthroat Countess

Spencer, Minerva | Kensington (304 pp.) | $16.95 paper | Oct. 24, 2023

9781496738134

Two Regency-era secret agents open up to another person for the first time.

Josephine Brown has secrets. She wears a mask to perform as Blade, the incognito woman at the center of

the daring knife-throwing act in Farnham’s Fantastical Female Fayre. And she’s spent most of her life in hiding, assisting her father with his cloakand-dagger missions for the Crown and never staying in one place for long. She’s grown used to solitude, but since making real friends at the circus after her father’s death, she’s begun to wonder if she should stay put for once. Plus, she hasn’t stopped thinking about Elliot Wingate since they were briefly lovers on a rescue mission in France last year, and staying where she is provides glimpses of him. Elliot hasn’t stopped thinking about Jo, either, even though he knows he should focus on his job for the Home Office and look for a proper lady to marry, as his grandmother desires. Spying on each other and finding excuses to keep in touch, both remain sure of their feelings, but keeping secrets and suppressing desires are hard habits for either to renounce, and some of those secrets may mean it’s safer for them to stay apart. Fans of the first two Wicked Women of Whitechapel volumes will be delighted to see Blade get her time in the spotlight with this story. Unfortunately, because it overlaps significantly with the plot of the second volume, they may also feel a certain amount of déjà vu in this book’s first half. It’s easy to overlook in the face of the undeniable attraction and steamy scenes between Jo and Elliot. Because they are so clearly enamored so early in the story, the narrative tension mostly derives from the suspense in a predictable but enjoyable subplot. Newcomers to the series will be fine starting with this one, which can be read as a stand-alone. Uneven but ultimately successful feminist historical romance.

For more romance by Minerva Spencer, visit Kirkus online.

her kidnapped brother.

WHEN A DRAGON FALLS

Nonfiction

KIRKUS PRIZE 2023: NONFICTION FINALISTS

IT’S HARD TO believe we’re already celebrating the 10th annual Kirkus Prize. From Roz Chast in 2014 to Tanaïs in 2022, our winners (and finalists) have reflected the wondrous diversity of authors and subject matter that has always been an integral element of the reviewing process at Kirkus. This year is no different, as the six finalists include a stimulating mix of memoir, biography, history, cultural criticism, and reportage, all rendered in memorable prose. (All quotes are from our starred reviews.)

In Red Memory: The Afterlives of China’s Cultural Revolution (Norton, May 9), Tania Branigan, a former China correspondent for the Guardian, presents a “heartbreaking, revelatory evocation” of one of the most tumultuous periods in Chinese history. The author’s diligent research and compassionate reporting puts a truly human face on the devastations wrought by the Cultural Revolution. Though lighter in subject matter, Jennifer Homans’ Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century (Random House; Nov. 1, 2022) is just as

riveting. In this “intricate, meticulously researched biography of the revered and controversial dance icon,” the author situates readers front and center for an entertaining, brilliantly written look at the mystery of an often misunderstood artist “whose greatest creation was quite possibly his own mystique, which still fascinates.”

Clancy Martin’s How Not To Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind (Pantheon, March 28) is a tour de force that continues to haunt me months after I first read it. This “disquieting, deeply felt, eye-opening, and revelatory” exploration of mental illness, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation is packed with insight on each page, making for a uniquely powerful reading experience.

How To Say Babylon: A Memoir (Simon & Schuster, Oct. 3) by award-winning poet Safiya Sinclair is a masterful achievement of memoir writing, as the author delves into her difficult relationship with her strict Rastafarian father and her coming into herself as a poet. In shimmering prose, Sinclair grips readers from the beginning and never lets them go: “More than catharsis; this is memoir as liberation.”

For decades, journalist and professor Héctor Tobar has been one of our most important writers on race and marginalized communities in America. His latest,

ERIC LIEBETRAU

Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino” (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, May 9), is “a pensive examination of the many ways there are to be Latinx in America.”

From memoir to reportage to pop culture criticism, Tobar illuminates issues of race and ethnicity as only he can.

“An engaging tale of one enslaved couple’s journey to freedom and a love that conquered all,” Ilyon Woo’s Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey From Slavery to Freedom (Simon & Schuster, Jan. 17) is one of the most riveting historical page-turners I’ve read in recent years. Not just a deft excavation of the historical record, this book is captivating in its account of Ellen and William Craft’s dangerous travels out of bondage in the antebellum South. Woo provides necessary context while keeping readers on the edge of their seats.

Eric Liebetrau is the nonfiction and managing editor.

Illustration by Eric Scott Anderson

EDITOR’S PICK

Comprehensive and fascinating biography of an American music titan. Music historian Tick, author of Ruth Crawford Seeger, presents the first extensive biography of Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) since her death. The author makes excellent use of newly available resources, in particular the digital records of Black newspapers such as the Baltimore Afro-American, “the most widely circulated Black newspaper on the East Coast,” and the Chicago Defender, unavailable to previous Fitzgerald biographers. Tick expertly synthesizes those sources to provide tremendous insight into Fitzgerald’s early and personal life, the jazz and pop worlds in which she thrived and expanded her audience, and her groundbreaking

work as a Black American woman singer and bandleader. The author’s music-history chops are on full display in her consistently intriguing analyses of how and why particular songs and lyrics (“The Object of My Affection,” “Goodnight My Love,” and “Mack the Knife” for example) worked for Fitzgerald musically and culturally; her significance in the world of bebop; early performances in such venues as the Apollo Theater and the Savoy Ballroom; and her radio, stage, and recording career with bandleaders like Chick Webb. Tick excels at describing the stark contrast between Fitzgerald’s onstage presence and her offstage shyness; passages on Fitzgerald’s relationship with the Decca and Verve labels

Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song

and her collaborations with arrangers such as Nelson Riddle are equally valuable. The author also covers prominent music journalists’ reviews of and debates about Fitzgerald’s work and status, her lasting imprint on the Great American Songbook, and her evolution to adapt to a changing American music scene.

“Through her own transformative quests as an artist,” writes Tick, “she changed the trajectory of American vocal jazz in this century.” Essential for casual fans of jazz and music history and Fitzgerald aficionados alike, this thoroughly impressive work will be hard to equal. As masterful and wonderful as its subject.

These Titles Earned the Kirkus Star

David Yezzi

Nuts & Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World (in a Big Way)

Agrawal, Roma | Norton (336 pp.) | $30.00 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781324021520

The author of Built returns with an exploration of the “fundamental building blocks without which… complex machinery wouldn’t exist.”

As structural engineer Agrawal ably demonstrates, from the dishwasher to the International Space Station, modern life depends on some combination of the nail, wheel, spring, magnet, lens, string, and pump. With the invention of the nail, our ancient ancestors could build houses, boats, weapons, and other vital things. Made by hand until the 19th century, metal nails were so expensive that people who moved often burned down their house to recover them. A family of nail cousins—rivets, screws, and bolts—followed. So ingenious is the wheel that some historians argue that it wasn’t independently invented many times, as some believe, but by a single genius whose invention quickly spread across Eurasia. Wheeled transportation conquered much of the world nearly overnight about 6,000 years ago. Springs store and release energy when they change shape. Perhaps the first was the bow, but today they take part in the widest range of inventions. As dampers against noise, vibration, and earthquakes, springs support machinery and even entire buildings. The magnet, a natural phenomenon, is the basis of essentials in the modern world from light bulbs to the internet. Curved glass (i.e., lenses) was known since the dawn of civilization, but humanity didn’t hit the jackpot until the 17th century produced the microscope and telescope. Readers searching for simple explanations of how things work may prefer Henry Petroski; Agrawal, an expert guide, emphasizes the big picture. She often compellingly

digresses into related areas such as the varieties of string instruments and her personal experience with in vitro fertilization. Discussing the final invention on her list—the pump—the author emphasizes the heart, but also covers breast pumps and related topics.

A quirky, entertaining riff on the building blocks of engineering.

The Wolf of Investing: My Insider’s Playbook for Making a Fortune on Wall Street

Belfort, Jordan | Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (336 pp.) | $27.99 | Oct. 31, 2023 9781982197056

The author of The Wolf of Wall Street offers a blustery argument for evading the fast-buck parasites of the finance world in favor of long-term investment.

In this overlong, anecdote-filled text, Belfort draws a sharp line between smart investing and dumb speculation. It’s ironic that in a book that decries snake-oil salesmen, the author writes early on that he “will show you how to deploy your hard-earned money in a safe, secure, and highly deliberate way that will allow you to…consistently beat 95 percent of the top-performing hedge fund managers and mutual fund managers in the world.” Studded with most of George Carlin’s seven forbidden words, Belfort’s narrative delivers a good amount of valuable information for readers seeking to bypass financial advisers and do the work themselves.

The author explains in detail how an ordinary investor can learn to properly value a stock, understanding that value to be a function of many variables that Wall Street claims to be insider knowledge but that can be found with a minimum of searching of public sources; and understanding the numbers on the stock tickers to be expressions of the familiar laws of supply and demand. A key takeaway: “Wall Street, as a whole, [is] completely full of shit and [does] not deserve all the fees they [are] charging,” since anyone can outperform the majority of investment advisers by following some simple rules. It wouldn’t be sporting to reveal them here, and Belfort’s book is well worth reading just to get at sharply pointed adages such as this: “Both history and mathematics have proven that passive, long-term investing is a far better investment strategy than active, short-term trading.” NSFW, to be sure, but a useful handbook for those planning their financial futures.

Remembrance: Selected Correspondence of Ray Bradbury

Bradbury, Ray | Ed. by Jonathan R. Eller Simon & Schuster (544 pp.) $35.00 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781668016978

An inside look at the beloved writer.

“The selection of letters in this volume offers the first sustained look at his inner life from his late teens to his ninth

Fans of Bradbury and literature in general will relish this rich, well-curated collection.

decade,” writes Eller, co-founder of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University. Eller organizes the letters into categories and provides useful information about the recipients, and they are often accompanied by responses that give the collection a highly readable, narrative-like flow. Bradbury wrote to mentors, influencers, young and older writers, filmmakers, publishing people, assorted political folks, family, and friends. The letters reveal a hard-working writer who loved his craft. The first, from the industrious, curious 17-year-old, is to Edgar Rice Burroughs, inviting him to speak at a local Los Angeles book group. Those to Robert Heinlein show a young writer finding his way as more of his stories were getting published in the pulps. In the mid-1940s, Bradbury and Theodore Sturgeon began corresponding. Bradbury was a huge admirer: “You have the touch.” In the early ’50s, Bradbury excitedly writes about publishing his first book, selling stories to popular magazines, book deals with publishers, and a film deal. In a letter to Bernard Berenson he confesses that when “I write my stories, I am as overjoyed as anyone who reads them later.” One from Graham Greene in 1985 pointed out a small error in a story. There’s a strong selection with filmmakers, including John Huston and Truffaut. To August Derleth, Bradbury admits that he took his style “to the edge, the very rim, of the precipice” in Something Wicked This Way Comes. Bradbury’s letters with his longtime agent Don Congdon capture the nitty-gritty of the publishing industry as well as the TV series Ray Bradbury

Theater

Fans of Bradbury and literature in general will relish this rich, well-curated collection.

Kirkus Star

Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics

Brands, H.W. | Doubleday (464 pp.) | $35.00 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780385549240

An astute historian chronicles the less-than-harmonious beginnings of the American republic.

Brands, author of The Last Campaign and many other acclaimed, bestselling books of U.S. history, adds to his sterling reputation with this comprehensive account of the intense political partisanship and personal animus among the Founding Fathers. Despite their best intentions and stated aims, this partisanship predated the Constitution and shaped the competing visions and sometimes shifting alliances of the Federalists and Antifederalists during the debates over its ratification and the Bill of Rights. Brands thoroughly describes how partisanship undergirded and informed the most significant events in the life of the nascent nation: the maneuvering of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison surrounding the Constitutional Convention and scuttling the Articles of Confederation; Hamilton’s forceful rallying of the Federalists to support a powerful centralized government; Antifederalist claims that the Constitution not only usurped the power of the states, but was perhaps drafted illegally; George Washington’s methods

for dealing with disagreements within his Cabinet; the influence of the French Revolution on Thomas Jefferson and American neutrality; Hamilton’s insistence on the establishment of a national bank and the outcry against it from purist republicans who distrusted the financial class; the peculiar personality of John Adams and his bizarre term as president; and the crumbling of a once-congenial relationship between Adams and Jefferson and their brutal presidential contest of 1800. Brands employs his agreeable approach of largely permitting the principals to tell the story while deftly weaving his own balanced analysis within an enlightening, contextually clear narrative. The result is a cogent history of how partisanship and faction shaped the early U.S. and a valuable repository of some of the most important speeches, letters, and declarations produced by serious men who wrestled with serious ideas.

An essential book for understanding the foundation of American partisanship.

Molly

Butler, Blake | Archway Editions/ powerHouse (320 pp.) | $16.95 paper Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781648230370

A husband’s anguished, complex response to his wife’s suicide and the revelations that followed.

“Molly Brodak, Poet and Memoirist of Her Father’s Crimes, Dies at 39,” read the headline of her New York Times obituary. Her problematic father’s appearance at this final juncture is ruefully noted by her husband, Butler, author of Alice Knott, There Is No Year, and other novels. He begins with a gripping account of the day he came home and found an envelope taped to the door containing a suicide note and instructions for

An astute historian chronicles the beginnings of the American republic. FOUNDING PARTISANS

finding his wife’s body. Knowing of her lifelong issues with depression, he was nonetheless blindsided. They had just had a nice evening and been to a museum two days earlier; a picture of her waiting for him in a gallery is one of the book’s lovely color photographs. However, while going through her journals and phone records in the days after her death, Butler learned of Molly’s infidelity with many partners, including her college students, and of a long-term liaison ongoing at the time of her death. He initially thought he would not include this information, but he decided to tell all. This will be too much for some readers, though his attempt to understand is relatable and moving: “A cycle of lying and hiding had likely kept her alive at times, a habit modeled on her father that she’d never learned to break.” This theme takes its place beside many others in Butler’s sprawling, philosophical interior monologue, which includes quotes from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche; spiritualist interludes, in which he communicates with demons and his dead wife; and testimony to the wonderful postmortem support of their friends.

Not for everyone, but it could mean the world to those facing similar shocks and losses.

The Power of Art: A Human History of Art: From Babylon to New York City

Campbell, Caroline | Pegasus (464 pp.) $39.95 | Jan. 1, 2024 | 9781639365494

The director of the National Gallery of Ireland argues that innovative artistic expression reflects the character of the cities that drive it.

Campbell covers a huge expanse of territory as she explores the nexus of culture, cities, and artists. In this wide-ranging book, she examines 15 cities at the moment in time when they generated intense creativity. Some, such as Florence during the Renaissance, are familiar subjects in art history. Others, such as Kyoto in the 11th century and the western African kingdom of Benin from 1500 to 1700, may be new to many readers. Campbell’s chapter titles identify a quality she sees as central to each city and its art during the given period—e.g., faith in 10th century BCE Jerusalem, self-belief in ancient Rome, freedom in pre–World War I Vienna. The author notes that artistic flowerings were made possible by economic booms enabling artists and patrons to escape the daily grind and consider the sublime. In some cases, it was the state or church, usually driven by a legacy-minded leader, that paid for artistic projects. In others, such as New York during the years between 1929 and 1970, artistic rebellion was

made possible by the rise of wealthy, philanthropic individuals. Campbell includes one particularly surprising example: Pyongyang, North Korea, in the second half of the 20th century. Pointing to the neo-socialist architecture and ubiquitous images of the ruling Kim dynasty that exemplify art as a form of control, she reminds us that art can have a dark side as well as an aesthetic quality. Campbell explains all this with measured authority but does not offer an overarching theory about cities and art. The book is more like a series of essays than a coherent whole. Interesting, and supported by beautiful illustrations, but not much more than the sum of its parts.

Everyone But Myself: A Memoir

Chavez, Julie | Zibby Books (216 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 9, 2024 | 9798985282849

A librarian and mother describes her recovery from anxiety and depression.

After Chavez, a librarian at an elementary school, and her children received routine allergy shots, she found herself a few hours later in a hospital room, reeling from an anaphylactic reaction to the injection. This marked the beginning of a period of intense anxiety that escalated to the point that, while her husband was traveling, she experienced a panic attack that made it impossibly frightening to turn off the lights before bed. “In the moment it’s happening, a panic attack can convince you of nearly anything,” she writes. “That night, I believed there was a very real possibility I would die.” The author’s sense of being overwhelmed led her to seek medical attention, but she initially got nothing but runarounds and unhelpful advice like, “You need to quit your job.” She finally visited the physician’s assistant in her primary

Campbell covers a huge expanse of territory as she explores the nexus of culture, cities, and artists.

THE POWER OF ART

For more art history, visit Kirkus online.

care doctor’s office, who prescribed an antidepressant that had helped her in high school, and she started seeing a therapist. In therapy, she realized, “I’ve neglected myself, but it’s been convenient for everyone else, so no one has thought to stop me.” Unfortunately, just as she began to make progress in setting boundaries and intensifying self-care, her husband’s sister passed away, and doctors botched her father’s heart surgery. These traumatic events required an incredible amount of emotional energy that put her coping strategies to the test. Chavez’s frank, conversational voice infuses the text with a welcome layer of humor and intimacy. Despite referencing structural reasons for women’s—and especially mothers’—mental health issues, the author focuses mostly on her specific experiences. For example, she leaves out details about her identity that might have affected her treatment in the medical systems that she critiques only in passing.

Engaging and compassionate, but Chavez could have gone deeper in her analysis.

Unfinished Woman

Davidson, Robyn | Bloomsbury (304 pp.)

$27.99 | Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781620401620

A bestselling Australian author explores the impact of her mother’s suicide.

In 1977, Davidson, then in her late 20s, made a 1,700mile journey across the Australian desert (detailed in her memoir, Tracks ), accompanied by only her dog and camels to carry her gear. In her latest book, she focuses on family. For years, she struggled to write about her mother, who committed suicide when Davidson was 11. Following her death, Davidson’s father was left to raise her and her sister alone. The author shares childhood memories

of her parents and the dynamics of family life, including mockery and anger from her sister. Uncertain about whether jealousy over being displaced in maternal affection was the cause of her sister’s hostility, the author writes, “Either way, one must never forget the crucial importance of point of view.” At age 18, Davidson hitched a ride to Sydney, where she slept in parks and searched rubbish bins for food and other necessities. Over time, she and her father would become “dearest of friends,” but at the time, they were also “strangers to each other.” The author continued her nomadic life, living in more than 50 houses since childhood, taking on odd jobs, and meeting individuals with varying idiosyncrasies, as she attempted to come to terms with her “own strangeness in the midst of strangers.” Eventually, she met Narendra, her companion for more than 20 years. In reflection, Davidson writes, “I wish I could write about that ancestral self as if there were clear continuity between us, but I can hardly believe we are the same person. I cannot enter her mind as it was, but as I imagine it now, from this far-distant perspective.” In this complex yet disconnected memoir, Davidson often remains detached from the events she describes. Well-written and insightful but curiously lacking in emotion.

How To Be Multiple: The Philosophy of Twins

de Bres, Helena | Illus. by Julia de Bres Bloomsbury (272 pp.) | $27.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 9781639730346

An exploration of selfhood and twinship.

Philosopher Helena de Bres, who describes herself as “an East Coast liberal arts college professor who grew up in a

middle-class white New Zealand family with a union organizer dad and a hippie artsy mom,” is also queer, disabled, and an identical twin to the illustrator, Julia. Twinship is central to a collection of engaging essays about binarization, identity, love, free will, objectification, and the depiction and understanding of twins in literature, art, philosophy, psychology, and popular culture. Identical twins, writes the author, are fascinating for singletons, in part because they “enflame broader anxieties about the fragility of everyone’s capacity to stably identify anyone.” From the time they were infants, she and Julia, like many identical twins, were identified by binary differences that reliably told them apart. Rather than feeling pigeonholed by the characterization, the author felt a sense of power from knowing “where my talents and resources lay.” Nevertheless, as different as she feels from Julia’s personality, she acknowledges that a twin faces a particular challenge in defining a sense of separate personhood. “The cognitive, active, and emotional connections between Julia and me—and between many other close duos—are significant enough to make that separation, at best, incomplete,” she writes. Although Helena and Julia were born with a connective tissue disorder and both came out as gay in their 30s, the trajectory of their lives has diverged: Julia lives in New Zealand, raising a daughter; Helena became a U.S. citizen. Being a twin did not determine their lives, leading the author to ask, “what if a person isn’t only something you are, but something you do?” Philosophizing about twins, she suggests, “can help unseat a crusty and constraining model of what it is to be a person.”

A thoughtful, well-rendered collection of musings on identity.

For more from Robyn Davidson, visit Kirkus online.

The Manuscripts Club: The People Behind a Thousand Years of Medieval Manuscripts

de Hamel , Christopher | Penguin Press (624 pp.) | $50.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 9780525559412

A millennium of production, patronage, scholarship, and rediscovery of medieval manuscripts. Manuscript devotees get the star treatment in this fascinating and multilayered art history, a natural follow-up to de Hamel’s award-winning previous book, Meetings With Remarkable Manuscripts. The “club” includes 12 historical figures featured in short biographical chapters. The author begins with Saint Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. In the 15th century, Vespasiano da Bisticci, “the most successful bookseller in Europe,” turned Renaissance Italy’s rediscovery of ancient classics into a business. Simon Bening, active in 16th-century Bruges, is one of the few manuscript illuminators whose name we know. Sir Robert Cotton, an early modern antiquary, owned hundreds of manuscripts, and his classification numbers are still used by the British Library. Rabbi David Oppenheim (1664-1736) acquired Hebrew manuscripts, and Jean-Joseph Rive authored “the most bad-tempered book on manuscripts ever written” in 1789. Other notable club members: Sir Frederic Madden, the first Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum; notorious forger Constantine Simonides; Theodor Mommsen, the only manuscript scholar to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; and Belle da Costa Greene, director of the Pierpont Morgan Library, “the finest library of illuminated manuscripts outside Europe.” This tour through manuscript history is dense with facts and dates but never dry. De Hamel,

manuscript consultant for Sotheby’s since 1975, is a charming and knowledgeable guide, and his “visits” with his subjects—tours of their residences or libraries—brings their obsessions to vivid life. By the end, readers are likely to agree that “illuminated manuscripts are the most entrancing of artefacts, conveyors both of texts and of some of the most refined art ever painted,” as well as “windows into human aspirations, emotions and sense of beauty.” The text features four-color illustrations throughout. An impressive immersion in the storied precincts of art connoisseurship.

Probably Overthinking It: How To Use Data To Answer Questions, Avoid Statistical Traps, and Make Better Decisions

Downey, Allen B. | Univ. of Chicago (256 pp.) $24.00 | Dec. 6, 2023 | 9780226822587

A data scientist explains the common pitfalls of statistical analysis. Sometimes we seem to be drowning in data and statistics that are complex, contradictory, and opaque. Downey, a professor emeritus of computer science at Olin College and author of several books on computer programming, sets out to make understanding it easier. In this book, the author works his way through a number of problems. He sees statistical analysis as an important and useful tool for decision-making, but he admits that things can go terribly wrong, regarding issues ranging from health diagnoses to chess rankings to earthquake predictions. He examines common errors like the base rate fallacy, selection bias, and length-biased sampling, using visualizations rather than equations wherever possible. The chapter on how flawed analysis affected the early attempts to track the spread of the

Covid-19 pandemic is particularly illustrative—and worrying. Modeling can generate counterintuitive outcomes, such as Simpson’s paradox, in which aggregates do not (apparently) match the components. A key issue in statistical analysis is finding the right place in a dataset to start, and Downey does not provide much guidance on this element. He assumes that publicly available data is reliable, but this is not always the case, and politicians and advocates from across the spectrum are usually experts at manipulating numbers to support their own conclusions. Guidance from Downey on how to separate valid source data from misleading material, perhaps in a concluding summary chapter, would have been useful. Broadly, we might have expected more practical advice from an author who clearly knows his subject. This is an interesting book, but many sections require a close reading and a basic familiarity with the math, so it is not for everyone.

Downey does a solid job of explaining why statistical analysis can fail, but overall, the book is a mixed bag.

Kirkus Star Listen: On Music, Sound and Us

Faber, Michel | Hanover Square Press (336 pp.) | $30.00 | Nov. 28, 2023

9781335000620

An entertaining excursus into the noisy world of music.

“When you were born, what did you know about music? The only sounds you instinctively loved were made by your mom.” So writes British novelist Faber, author of The Crimson Petal and the White , in this appealing foray into nonfiction. This isn’t Nick Hornby territory— Faber isn’t interested in sharing his top-10 album list or revealing much

about his musical holdings, save that he doesn’t love the Wings album Band on the Run or early ’70s Deep Purple—but instead a liminal land incorporating neurology, psychology, and sociology. Most of us profess to love music, but do we really listen to it? And what do we listen to? For many seeking to find their tribe, it’s the music that everyone else in that tribe is listening to; for many who’ve already self-identified, music is often a stroll down memory lane. Faber is highly opinionated (“Holland would prove to be The Beach Boys’ last artistically credible album”; “Some people just have shitty taste”), but he’s also self-effacing and -deflating, and he poses fun challenges. For example, if you really love music, then instead of listening to an Eagles knock-off band, seek out the pop tunes of a place like Honduras or Fiji, and then branch out beyond your preconceptions and your nostalgia soundtrack and find something that will carve a few new furrows into your cerebrum. The author also recommends you not waste your time staking out a position in the snobbish arguments about whether vinyl or CDs or mp3s sound better than other media. The real medium, he insists, is your mind, and it’s our instrument, too. “The world,” he writes memorably, “is playing us.” Great, smart fun, and full of theses to provoke arguments and pointers for new ways to, yes, listen.

The Living City: Why Cities Don’t Need To Be Green To Be Great

Fitzgerald, Des | Basic Books (272 pp.) $30.00 | Nov. 21, 2023 | 9781541674509

A vivid look at a key controversy in city planning, written for a popular audience.

To Fitzgerald, a professor of medical humanities and social sciences, urban planners fixated on the idea that more green spaces makes a better city believed “there was something about our cities that was simply bad for us.” Granted, the cities into which humans began flocking after 1800 were crammed, filthy, and wildly unhealthy for anyone except the wealthy. As the century progressed, reforms and technology relieved the worst features, but even today, it remains an accepted belief that crowded cities are sinks of stress and mental illness. By the mid-19th century, planners such as Frederick Law Olmsted had the solution: bring the natural world back into to the city, “so that it was not really a city at all,” but rather a massive landscaped park with hundreds of buildings. This “garden city” remains a powerful influence, perhaps epitomized by Le Corbusier’s iconic designs, which place citizens in scattered skyscrapers among vast tracts of open land for rest and play, connected by multilane freeways to distant offices and factories. Although Fitzgerald agrees that greenery improves a city’s quality of life, he doubts that it exerts “a quasi-religious, even transcendental

effect on nearby humans” and worries that “we have given too much weight to people who don’t actually like cities very much.” That “our buildings should align with complex, natural, evolutionary processes” remains a city planning mantra, and this skeptical overview gives its opponents up-todate ammunition, although they will likely remain a minority. The classic love letter to the messy, unreformed metropolis remains Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities, but open-minded readers will relish many of Fitzgerald’s interesting arguments in favor of traditional city structure.

A lively, opinionated, eminently debatable contribution to a surprisingly bitter debate.

The Children of Athena: Greek Intellectuals in the Age of Rome: 250 BC-400 AD

Freeman, Charles | Pegasus (384 pp.) $32.00 | Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781639365159

A study of the significance of a neglected epoch in Greek cultural history.

Freeman, the author of A.D. 381 and other books, argues that scholars have failed to properly account for the achievements of what is, in fact, an intellectually vital and influential period—namely, the years “between the point when Greece came definitively under Roman rule in the second half of the first century BC up to the time when Christianity became the dominant religion of the empire in the fourth century AD.” In making his case, the author tracks the resilience and dynamism of Greek philosophy during centuries of profound cultural upheaval. He focuses on a series of individuals and their contributions, weaving them into a broader narrative about “a single, unified and vibrant intellectual culture in which debate

A lively, opinionated, eminently debatable contribution to a surprisingly bitter debate.

THE LIVING CITY

read our review of A.D. 381, visit Kirkus online.

was possible across the disciplines.” Freeman considers such luminaries as Plutarch, Epictetus, and Plotinus, as well as lesser-known figures, including Dioscorides, Themistius, and Libanius. In each case, Freeman provides a thorough and astute description of how a thinker drew on specific traditions, adapted them according to the idiosyncrasies and emerging debates of the contemporary milieu, and critically influenced later thought. Among the strengths of the book, which should appeal to general readers and subject experts alike, are the author’s clear summaries of complex philosophical ideas and his revealing commentary on the assumptions and approaches that linked figures from different generations. Especially insightful is Freeman’s account of the impact of Greek philosophy on early Christian history, a topic explored with liveliness in the chapter dedicated to the theologian Origen (185-283 AD).

“Christianity needed a strong intellectual background to give it coherence, and Origen provided it,” writes the author. Overall, this book satisfyingly fulfills its promise of highlighting intellectual landmarks and hidden continuities.

Well-informed, rewarding analysis of an unjustly overlooked period and its intellectual legacy.

Kirkus Star

A Death in Malta: An Assassination and a Family’s Quest for Justice

Galizia, Paul Caruana | Riverhead (304 pp.)

$28.00 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780593543733

A son’s moving account of his quest for justice for his mother, who was murdered in 2017.

Galizia is the youngest of three sons of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who died in a car bombing near her home in Bidnija,

Malta, after a risky career exposing government corruption and graft. In this poignant tribute to his mother, the author methodically builds on a history of Malta as a place historically riven by tensions. The island was occupied for several centuries by Arabs, then European Catholics, then English Protestants, and it grew into a haves and have-nots capital of offshore wealth from Italy. Although Malta gained independence from England in 1964, the inhabitants still speak an Arab dialect and suffer from a clannishness that appalled the author’s activist mother, who became radicalized after she was arrested for participating in protests as a young woman. Married to a lawyer, Daphne moved to the small hamlet of Bidnija just as her career as a newspaper political columnist took off. Malta joined the European Union in 2003. However, as the author writes, “the deeper change—a transition to a true liberal democracy based on secular rather than Catholic ethics, on a civic identity rather than a partisan one— never arrived.” The author shows how access to global markets was exploited by politicians like former prime minister Joseph Muscat, whom Daphne exposed selling favors and passports, money laundering, and deporting refugees from North Africa. She had been working on a case involving a power company, Electrogas, when the car bomb killed her. Along with his brothers and father, the author went to the Council of Europe, garnering international support for their case against the Maltese government. After two years, they were able to prosecute the middlemen involved in the assassination, and the public scandal forced Muscat’s resignation in 2020. A memorable book of a courageous crusade for justice.

The Law of Presidential Impeachment: A Guide for the Engaged Citizen

Gerhardt, Michael J. | New York Univ. (200 pp.) | $24.95 | Jan. 9, 2024

9781479824694

A well-informed look at a crucial safeguard against the abuse of power.

The impeachment of a president veers between a serious constitutional issue and hyperbolic political theater. Gerhardt is a respected professor of jurisprudence and the author of a series of books on constitutional law and legacy. In his latest book, he seeks to explain the legal principles and procedures involved in the impeachment process. The provision that the conviction of a president in the Senate requires a twothirds majority has meant, in practice, that no president has been convicted. The closest was Nixon, who resigned when it became clear that enough Republicans in the Senate were willing to vote to remove him. Since that time, there has been no real possibility that a president would be convicted, despite Trump’s two impeachments. No matter the evidence, it seems, neither party will let the other win. This was the case with Clinton and with Trump (both times). An impeachment vote by the House, where only a simple majority is needed, might have symbolic value, but symbolism is the last resort of the unconvincing. Gerhardt often lets his disdain of Trump show through, and in the section on his second impeachment, the author’s dispassionate tone dissipates. He largely dismisses a crucial point about the House vote: that it took place with no committee investigation and minimal debate. This is an important precedent, and it deserved more attention. Gerhardt insists that the Senate trial was legal—although Chief Justice Roberts apparently disagreed—even though Trump was no longer president. Yes, it might have been legal, but despite Trump’s antics

For more on impeachment, visit Kirkus online.

and lack of decorum, it seemed pointless at the time. The book is a useful reference, but more restraint from the author would have made it much better.

A comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms of impeachment, providing context for recent events.

An Unruled Body: A Poet’s Memoir

Gjika, Ani | Restless Books (272 pp.)

$26.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781632063403

An Albanian American poet retraces the complex path to her sexual awakening.

When she was 12, writes Gjika, she was raped on her way to school in Albania, where she grew up. As she recounts, it took two decades to talk to anyone about the trauma, during which time she married an Indian man named Ishan, who she met in an online poetry class. During their six-year marriage, the two never had sex, mostly because each time they tried, Gjika’s body shut down with fear and pain. The author began to see a sex counselor named Jean, who, the author writes, “will become someone who teaches me to listen to language. I see her as a translator, a fellow linguistic traveler. She engages in deep listening the way I do when I translate poetry.” The language Gjika hoped to learn was that of her own body. Under Jean’s guidance, the author was able to face the toxic elements of her marriage that, she realized, stymied her attempts at intense physical intimacy. In the process of healing, she had a romantic flirtation with a high school crush and

a more serious relationship with a man who had two grown children. Each experience led Gjika closer and closer to facing her trauma—and to her ultimate, triumphant decision to remain a single, fulfilled woman. The author’s poetic prowess is clearly reflected in this text’s lyrical, clean lines, as well as in her compassionate but critical analysis of every character of the story, including herself. Toward the end, the text meanders, lacking the tightly edited, perfect pacing of the first two-thirds. Overall, though, this is a gorgeously written look at a difficult topic. The book won the 2021 Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.

A soulful, insightful memoir about an Albanian immigrant’s quest to learn her body’s language.

American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy

Gonell, Aquilino & Susan Shapiro Counterpoint (240 pp.) | $28.00 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781640096288

A former U.S. Capitol Police officer recounts the events of January 6, 2021, in the context of his life as an immigrant. Gonell, writes Jamie Raskin in the preface, is “Trump’s absolute opposite in nearly every respect.” The author lifted himself up from poverty, joined the U.S. Army and served in Iraq, put himself through college, and stood by the Constitution in the course of doing his job. Sadly, it’s hardly surprising that, “of the 265 elected Republicans in Congress, [Liz Cheney and Adam

Kinzinger] were the only two who ever thanked me” for standing against the mob on that fateful day. Indeed, writes Gonell, the combat that he saw on January 6 was far more violent than anything he experienced in Iraq, and the damages he sustained required him to retire early, “one of the 20 percent of Capitol Police officers who wound up leaving as a direct result of the attacks.” As an up-close view of that combat, Gonell’s account both squares with and complements that of Michael Fanone’s Hold the Line and Harry Dunn’s Standing My Ground. It also resounds with the same righteous anger, for Gonell was one of the first officers to speak before Congress and to the public about the attempted coup. As he notes, bitterly, “Despite the courageous [January 6] Committee’s recommendation to prosecute Trump, as of this writing, not one person responsible for planning, instigating, or paying for January 6 has been arrested yet.” Legal matters are still unfolding, and one hopes that Gonell’s sacrifice will not have been in vain. Among the book’s many revelations is that the police were forbidden to use rifles against the “civil disturbances” and that well into the mêlée, senior officers remained certain that Black Lives Matter and Antifa were “our real enemies.”

A memorable account of a life of public service.

UFO: The Inside Story of the U.S. Government’s Search for Alien Life Here and Out There

Graff, Garrett M. | Avid Reader Press (368 pp.) | $32.50 | Nov. 14, 2023

9781982196776

A history of the decadeslong government involvement in reports of lights in the sky, odd flying shapes, and peculiar radar images.

Veteran journalist Graff, author of Watergate,

>>>

A soulful, insightful memoir.

AN UNRULED BODY

THE KIRKUS Q&A: LESLIE JONES

A new memoir shows the comedian is not afraid to do the work, both professional and personal.

BY LISA KENNEDY

COMES A MOMENT as Leslie Jones talks about her memoir, Leslie F*ckng Jones (Grand Central Publishing, Sept. 19), when the one-time Saturday Night Live comedian, former host of a TV game show, and co-host of The Fckery podcast shows just how deft she is at physical comedy. (Lucille Ball was an inspiration, after all.) She’s been riffing on therapy and begins acting out a therapist rifling through a file cabinet of neuroses, fears, and defenses. It’s funny, to be sure. It’s also indicative of san irrepressible, wholly distinctive energy, a force she wields throughout a memoir that covers childhood sexual abuse, her family’s time in Memphis and Los Angeles, her basketball hoop dreams that were (easily) supplanted by more deeply rooted dreams of becoming a comedian, her arrival at and departure from SNL. We’ve edited the conversation for length and clarity.

What led you to write this memoir now?

When I left SNL after Ghostbusters and all that stuff, people were always saying You should write a book because you’re a really good storyteller . And the first time I heard that I was like, Really? I always thought that I was a gab, gab, gab gabber. I love people to see the story, down to where the fork was sitting. I love that. So, I was like, should I do a book? Am I old enough to do a book? Have I lived enough?

Jamie Foxx gave you advice early in your career: Young’un, you’re going to have to go live.

That fake-it-till-you’re-making-it shit is a thing that kills the youngsters, because they’re trying to figure out, what is this formula? What they need to understand is it’s not a formula. It’s work. You have to work. There’s no microwave. There’s no recipe. At three years, when I was doing comedy, I was like, Shit, I’m famous now. And I asked [comic]

J. Anthony Brown how long

does it really take for you to become a good comic? And he said, 10 years. I burst into fucking tears. And he just laughed and walked off.

Once you got a mic in your hand you had this clarity about wanting to be a comic. Now, after many years, do you have clarity about other things that you are? Yes. I’m decisive. I always say I don’t know what I want, but I do know what I want. I’m just not brave enough sometimes. It’s not even that I’m not brave enough.

It’s that I don’t think people can take it, or I don’t think people are prepared to hear what I want. Or people are going to say, you can’t have that. And trust me, girl, it took me a long time to really accept that.

At one point you sum up the intentions of the book as to “glamorize growth.”

I mean, the turning of the leaves is a real thing. Moving past the fear is courage, right? An example I give is, if you put a wall in front of stagnant water, it molds

Jones wanted her book to “glamorize growth.”

because it’s not moving. You have to move that wall, so the water can flow. You put up that big wall of I’m not going to fucking change, trust me, you will rot. You will die. I hate to say it that way, but you will rot and die. When you go through your problems, when you go through your pain, on the other side of it is a different version of you. There’s no such thing as an overnight success, man. I am a bottle of wine corked in 1967, and now you guys are enjoying the fruits of the cellar.

Having been sexually abused at a very young age, you are very thoughtful about not being a victim. That was a very important thing for me, the victim thing. I know people who have been through it, and they wear it as a uniform—

hey, listen, however you need to get through it, however you need to deal with it, God bless you—but I am the type of person that you’re not going to get to hold me hostage forever. Just because you was able to do something bad to me doesn’t mean that you get to keep me and my brain hostage for the rest of my life, right?

In the book you talk about going back to talk to your younger self. There’s a generosity in that gesture that you also extend to your parents and your brother. It’s empathy, too. When I was writing this book and telling these stories, I kept thinking, damn my dad was, like, in his late 30s raising two kids after doing Vietnam. Like, what the fuck? And we were crazy. When I

hear people disrespecting their parents and stuff, I just be like, damn, you just don’t really understand that these people are like normal human beings that decided to have a child. They are not superheroes. They’re not invincible, and we need to give them more respect.

You’re so good at shoutouts: Fancy Nails salon and Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, Keenan Thompson and SNL guest hosts. You also give a shoutout to therapy in these beautiful, subtle ways. One of the best things that I’ve ever done is go to therapy. Everybody needs it. Everybody needs it. It’s amazing how we can take our car in for oil change, and we can do all this other maintenance stuff on our house, but not ourselves. We try to do our own oil

change. I’m just going to get it right. I’m going to start reading the Bible. I’m going to start working out. I’m going to start saying affirmations. And that’s going to fix everything. No, the fuck it’s not. When I started therapy, the very first thing I realized was how much I lied to myself. Oh my God, the lies we tell ourselves daily are amazing. The lies that we tell ourselves to keep ourselves down, the lies that we tell ourselves to keep ourselves up. We lie to ourselves, and we never tell the story how the fuck the story really is. Therapy is a place where a person comes in who is professionally trained to help you audit your thoughts, help you go into your files: This ain’t supposed to be here. This is supposed to be over here. This is not even a viable piece of paper. This? Garbage, garbage, garbage, garbage. [Jones pantomimes rifling through a file cabinet and tossing stuff out.]

Leslie F*cking Jones: A Memoir Jones, Leslie Grand Central Publishing 240 pp. | $30.00 Sept. 19, 2023 9781538706497

So how do you feel about writing the memoir?

When we finished, it felt like I had just taken a good dump. Now I can move forward. Now I’ve done this. I’ve told this.

Well told, by the way. Thanks, make sure you listen to the audio. It’s nothing like the book, it’s all the stories. The audio is mad.

Lisa Kennedy writes for the New York Times , Variety, the Denver Post , and other publications. Leslie F*ckng Jones was reviewed in the Aug. 1, 2023, issue.

One of the best things that I’ve ever done is go to therapy. Everybody needs it.

The Only Plane in the Sky, and Raven Rock, tracks the popular obsession with UFOs, but his real interest is the way that various agencies of the U.S. government, mainly connected to the Air Force, have responded to sightings and other pieces of evidence. He readily admits that many UFO claims can be debunked, but notes that the Air Force seems to have taken a lot of them seriously. Graff recounts reports of officers turning up to interview people who said they had seen a UFO, often with a view to persuading them that they were mistaken. They were usually unsuccessful, and their attempts often backfired, feeding a growing network of conspiracy theories. Graff keeps his tongue in his cheek when discussing the range of books and articles claiming that the truth was out there but hidden away, and he notes that connecting disparate dots doesn’t necessarily add up to hard evidence. However, America in the 1970s, after Watergate and Vietnam, was fertile ground for conspiracy theories. There were even rumors that the government not only knew about UFOs, but also had alien ships in storage. Meanwhile, some respected scientists were taking the possibility of extraterrestrial life seriously, looking for radio signals and sending their own into space. Some exploratory spacecraft carried messages of friendship. Graff admires the open-mindedness and imagination of these researchers, although he concludes that their work has yet to produce substantial returns. He avoids taking a firm stand on the existence of UFOs but acknowledges that it is a big universe and there are plenty of inexplicable phenomena. An entertaining tour through the world of flying saucers, aliens, and weird science.

Flight of the WASP: The Rise, Fall, and Future of America’s Original Ruling Class

Gross, Michael | Atlantic Monthly (480 pp.) $30.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780802161864

A critical history of the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant cohort of American society, once dominant, now descending. The first people to purchase enslaved Africans in Virginia were WASPs, but they were also among the first to launch coordinated abolitionist efforts. That diametrical division indicates that WASP society was not monolithic. Regardless, WASPs constituted “America’s elite from the eighteenth century until today,” writes Gross, author of Model and 740 Park. That elite remains economically powerful but culturally marginal. The author explains that its decline might be traced to the emergence of John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, as president—though, he adds, Kennedy was culturally aligned with WASPs and served as “a symbol of how an inclusive aristocracy replenishes itself, absorbing and even embracing those willing to learn and adapt to its ways.” That aristocracy was insular and to some extent inbred, though extraordinarily prolific: Were he alive to do so, a patriarch of the Bradford clan would have counted 11,272 descendants in just six generations, including Adlai Stevenson, Julia Child, Hugh Hefner, and Clint Eastwood. One thing is for certain: The American variety of Protestantism, whether “old

school” or fundamentalist, proves Max Weber’s linking of the Protestant ethic to a kind of “hard frugality” capitalism that in many important respects all but replaced religion with business. Interestingly, as Gross writes, politics was long considered beneath the elite, but the crusading Theodore Roosevelt in particular made public service seem attractive to many. In conclusion, the author notes, whereas many WASPs have since retreated to “posh suburbs, restrictive clubs, elite charities, and the powerful financial sinecures that still cocooned them,” others are aligning themselves with a new America that many believe will become minority white by 2045. A book of pop history and sociology that runs wide but not terribly deep, though readable and engaging all the same.

Kirkus Star

A Republic of Scoundrels: The Schemers, Intriguers, and Adventurers Who Created a New American Nation

Head, David & Timothy C. Hemmis Pegasus (448 pp.) | $32.00 | Dec. 5, 2023 9781639364077

A rogues’ gallery of conniving, treasonous men among those who shaped the early American republic.

The leaders of the early republic are often portrayed as having unanimity of purpose and being comprised of the most honorable and upstanding characters. However, this collection of short biographies edited by history professors Head and Hemmis points out the foibles, contrarian thought, and outright scandalous behavior of some their ranks. Vividly written, well-researched contributions by first-class scholars make the story of the early U.S. more complete, interesting, and revealing. As Hemmis notes in his introduction,

A fascinating look at the darker side of early American history.

SCOUNDRELS

these profiles reveal “the many ways to be a scoundrel in the Revolutionary period.” Among several dubious firsts for the new nation are the first federal employee to be impeached (William Blount); the first man to win a congressional seat while jailed (Matthew Lyon); and the first man to be attacked in the House chamber (also Lyon). The book depicts dastardly land speculators seizing upon westward expansion, scheming with foreign powers, and cheating Native Americans and Revolutionary War veterans alike. Other shady characters include a high-ranking general who offered the British a plan to defeat the Revolution (Charles Lee); another general whose “scheming led to the deaths of six US soldiers” (James Wilkinson); and the defendant in a sensational 1801 murder trial (Jason Fairbanks). The essays present a necessary reminder that the founding generation was all too human. Some were geniuses of the highest rank whose establishment and advancement of the American republic is an achievement of great magnitude. Yet this thoughtful and valuable book demonstrates that others were self-serving men on the make whose dishonorable traits and practices were sometimes antithetical or treasonous to the American cause—but also as American as the 4th of July. A fascinating look at the darker side of early American history.

Kirkus Star

A Hitch in Time: Reflections Ready for Reconsideration

Hitchens, Christopher | Twelve (336 pp.) $30.00 | Jan. 2, 2024 | 9781538757659

A well-selected anthology from the pen of the incomparable writer.

Hitchens contributed reviews and essays over a period of two decades for the London Review of Books, some of which are anthologized for the first time here. The anthology is memorable not just for the first-rate quality, but also for showcasing the author’s enviable range. Subjects include the defenestration of the Kennedy and Nixon administrations, which attracted the ire of Arthur Schlesinger; Salman Rushdie; P.G. Wodehouse; a trip to the 1995 Oscars with his son; and an incident in which Hitchens describes being spanked with a rolled-up order of Parliament by Margaret Thatcher (this last essay is worth the price of the book). The author’s profile of Bill Clinton serves as an extended precis of his book about the Clintons, No One Left to Lie To. During his long and celebrated career as a public intellectual, Hitchens often defined an educated person as one self-aware enough to know that he or she could never learn or read enough. Keeping that in mind while reading this entertaining anthology reinforces how much Hitchens did know and how well-read he was.

To every piece, he brings what James Wolcott (a Hitchens colleague at Vanity Fair) describes in the foreword as the author’s “armory of deep reading and lucid recall.” The quality, irony, and intelligence that marks his work leaves readers wishing Hitchens were around to comment upon the current state of affairs, particularly concerning state-sponsored censorship and coercion—not to mention the general lack of quality of what passes for political leadership. But readers can well enough guess given the following from an essay about the first Iraq War: “There were a thousand ways for a superpower to avert war with a mediocre local despotism without losing face. But the syllogisms of power don’t correspond very exactly to reason.” Quintessential Hitchens.

Make Your Own History: Timeless Truths From Black American Trailblazers

Holland, Joseph H. | Dafina/Kensington (432 pp.) | $28.00 | Oct. 24, 2023 9781496743251

Affirmative quotes and stories from an assortment of Black trailblazers emphasize aspects of overcoming adversity and making positive steps in one’s own life.

Holland, an attorney, ordained minister, and entrepreneur, presents a roster of pioneers from colonial times to the present to help readers model behavior and extract lessons. His latest book, he writes, “is not only a resource for those in dire straits; it is also for those confronted by everyday challenges. Tools that fix broken-down vehicles work just as well on cars that only need a tune-up.” In 12 sections reflecting “12 vigorous virtues” (Courage, Self-Discipline, Compassion, Perseverance, Teamwork, Integrity, etc.), Holland picks a lively mix of subjects from across the historical

A well-selected anthology from the pen of the incomparable writer.

For more from Christopher Hitchens, visit Kirkus online.

spectrum. Thomas Morris Chester, the first Black war correspondent during the Civil War, and gymnast Simone Biles are among the “Trailblazers of Courage”). Tennis champion Althea Gibson and NBA legend Kobe Bryant exemplify self-discipline. As demonstrations of the virtue of civility, Holland includes Crispus Attucks, the first man to die during the Boston Massacre of 1770; the founders of the Niagara Movement; and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The first licensed female preacher in the history of the AME Church, Jarena Lee, and the preacher who spurred the Pentecostal Movement, Lucy Farrow, are avatars of faith. Other sections profile “Trailblazers of Compassion” (Ella Baker, Diana Ross, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z among them), “Trailblazers of Perseverance” (including Charlotte Forten Grimké, Serena Williams), “Teamwork” (Harlem Hellfighters, the Obamas) “Industriousness” (Madam C.J. Walker), and “Self-Reliance” (Shirley Chisholm). After a brief summary explaining why he included each subject, Holland lists the life lessons and action items readers should take from their stories under punchy headlines that can serve as slogans for advocacy—e.g., “Tackle Your Fears,” “Take Down Barriers,” “Trigger the Future,” “Move With Unity.”

Solid nuggets of wisdom and purpose.

Alexandria: The City That Changed the World

Issa, Islam | Pegasus (416 pp.) | $29.95 Jan. 2, 2024 | 9781639365456

A comprehensive history of a city that has served as a “representative illustration of some of history’s most consequential empires.”

An Alexandrian by birth, Issa, a curator, broadcaster, and professor of literature and history, relates his native city’s past principally

through attention to its most famous figures and rulers. Alexandria may carry the name of an extraordinary world-historical military genius, but many other celebrated figures— Homer’s Helen of Troy and Paris, Aristotle (Alexander’s teacher), Cleopatra and Antony, and the Ptolemy dynasty—have been associated with it over the centuries. Gamal AbdelNasser, Egypt’s founding strongman, was born there; writers C.P. Cavafy, Anatole France, and Lawrence Durrell evoked it in their work; and composers like Sayed Darwish, known as “the father of Egyptian music,” called it home. Alexandria’s famous library housed the world’s first great collection of knowledge, and its lighthouse was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. As a Mediterranean seaport on the western edge of the Nile Delta, Alexandria’s grain trade sustained other significant cities like Athens, Rome, and Carthage. As Issa emphasizes in his brisk tale, the city’s founders successfully “gambled on two outrageous hypotheses: that gathering a diverse set of people to live and work together would make the strategically located spot a world trading centre; and that collecting and generating knowledge would render it a global power.” Thus, from its earliest days, Alexandria, whose history embodies most of the history of Mediterranean civilization, prefigured later, modern communities in its diverse, polyglot population of pagans, Christians, Jews, and Muslims. It remained vital even as it fell to successive conquests by Rome, Arab dynasties, the Ottomans, French, and British, before Egypt gained its independence in 1953 and Alexandria became the Arab city it is now.

A well-researched, readable history of one of the world’s oldest and most consequential cities.

Following Caesar: From Rome to Constantinople, the Pathways That Planted the Seeds of Empire

Keahey, John | St. Martin’s (256 pp.) | $30.00 Dec. 12, 2023 | 9781250792402

Traveling with the Caesars, Cicero, and Horace along Roman byways. At the apex of its power, the Roman Empire had 50,000 miles of paved roads. Constructed chiefly for military purposes, some 372 roads connected the empire’s 113 provinces, from Britain to Mesopotamia and from the Danube River to Spain and North Africa. Nearly 30 roads left Rome itself. Keahey, the author of Seeking Sicily and Venice Against the Sea, begins much earlier, with the extraordinary achievement of the Roman Republic in building three ancient routes: the Via Appia, Via Egnatia, and Via Traiana. The author devotes most of the book to the first and most famous route—the Appian Way—and to those who traveled it in war or for diplomatic missions. To revisit the political, geological, and architectural history of each, Keahey’s journey stuck as close as possible to the original routes, coursing through some of most arresting landscapes, ruins, villages, and towns of modern Italy, Greece, and Turkey. The author, who has written widely about Italy, reveals engineering marvels built largely by Roman soldiers, all the more impressive because so much of the pavement created from varied local materials still survives. Instrumental in the success of both journey and book were the numerous informal guides who assisted Keahey along the way, helping him separate fact from folklore and locate the most intriguing places. His own knowledge of the interplay between the great figures of the Republic and the Empire, of ancient mythology and earlier Italian cultures, is just as vital. Readers less enamored of the subject will be slowed

by the sheer weight of journalistic detail and occasional repetition, but for others, it’s an admirable travelogue reflecting Keahey’s passions and an ideal step-by-step guide to anyone wanting to duplicate his excursions. The ancient routes of Rome come alive in this appealing new history.

Kirkus Star

God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America’s Most Hated Man

Kelly, Jack | St. Martin’s (320 pp.) | $29.00 Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781250281951

An invitation to accompany America’s most notorious traitor and weigh him in the balance.

Kelly, author of Valcour and The Edge of Anarchy, presents the complete story of Benedict Arnold (1741-1801), one of the Revolutionary War’s most brilliant strategists, including the personal and professional slights (real and imagined) that drove him to commit the act of treason that made him infamous. The author weaves Arnold’s upbringing into the narrative of the American uprising against the British, focusing in particular on his keen business acumen, invaluable experiences as a trader on the high seas, and his father’s alcoholic downfall (“one of the key passages of [his] life”), which sidetracked his formal education and

fueled a lifelong sensitivity to insults and disrespect. Kelly’s accounts of Arnold-led land battles, marches, and naval operations are vividly descriptive, placing readers alongside Arnold and his men to feel the harrowing tension, physical courage, and bravery of those involved. Especially deft are the author’s portraits of Arnold’s march through the Maine wilderness en route to invade Quebec, the taking of Fort Ticonderoga, and the Battle of Saratoga (his military apex). Kelly also excels in detailing the stinginess with which the Continental Congress allotted funds and supplies and determined promotion and rank. Arnold’s fragile ego and sense of honor were routinely wounded as individuals he considered inferior took credit for his strategies and victories and were elevated in rank and esteem. Kelly also ably explains Arnold’s relationship with George Washington, who, more than most, recognized his genius and importance to the American cause and interceded with Congress on Arnold’s behalf during court-martials and inquiries. The author chronicles Washington’s supreme anguish after his firsthand discovery of Arnold’s treachery and explains how they became polar opposites in the hearts and minds of Americans.

A dazzling addition to the history of the American Revolution.

Teddy and Booker T.: How Two American Icons Blazed a Path for Racial Equality

Kilmeade, Brian | Sentinel (368 pp.) | $30.00 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780593543825

The story of an unlikely partnership between a president and civil rights leader.

Fox News host Kilmeade, author of a variety of books about American history, describes fascinating similarities and contrasts between Booker T. Washington and Theodore Roosevelt and their roles in advancing civil rights for Black Americans from their respective positions of prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The author narrates their stories in parallel, volleying back and forth between Roosevelt, asthmatic son of a wealthy aristocrat who remade his body to match his mind and rose to the heights of American politics; and Washington, born enslaved, who employed his formidable ambition and ingenuity to found Tuskegee Institute and become a respected orator. Kilmeade tracks Roosevelt’s audaciousness at various positions in New York State and federal government and Washington’s nimbly prudent manner in balancing the advancement of Black Americans with the entrenched mores of the South, eventually leading to a collaboration between the two. While the book is full of useful information, capably framing the times in which Washington and Roosevelt operated and frankly assessing each man’s shortcomings, Kilmeade’s prose is saccharine and overly colloquial. Readers searching for a more scholarly approach to—and deeper analysis of—the lives and times of the primary subjects can easily find both elsewhere. This book may be considered a primer for learning the fundamentals about both Washington and Roosevelt; this “story of triumph and tragedy, of cooperation and disagreement,”

A dazzling addition to the history of the American Revolution.

GOD SAVE BENEDICT ARNOLD

For more on Benedict Arnold, visit Kirkus online.

embodies the phrase accessible history Yet in this age of general historical ignorance, apathy, and slander, accessible history is better than internet rabbit holes and rampant disinformation. Kilmeade reintroduces readers to the unique and fruitful relationship between these titans of American history and their efforts to bring justice and equality to the republic. A straightforward, fast-paced read about two American originals.

Kirkus Star Whistles From the Graveyard: My Time Behind the Camera on War, Rage, and Restless Youth in Afghanistan

Lagoze, Miles | One Signal/Atria (288 pp.) $29.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781668000038

A former Marine Combat Cameraman recounts the hell of battle.

After high school, Lagoze arrived at a Marine Corps recruitment office to escape his teenage wasteland. Asked what he wanted to do, he replied, “Combat Camera.” That landed him the status of POG, a person other than a grunt, “the worst thing you could be called in the Marines….similar to a desk jockey.” What he filmed, officially, earned approval, but for his own purposes, he filmed forbidden things like Marines smoking hash in the field and fighting high—and, far worse, scenes of them mistreating human corpses and living animals. “You’re not a Marine until you do what Marines do, which is go to war,” writes the author. “Earn your strips. Get your Combat Action Ribbon.” War is, of course, hell; even though a fellow videographer assured him that Afghanistan was “a really long, messed-up camping trip,” it still felt like the worst place on Earth. Learning just how horrible it was—a realization built up over

months in the field in a war “run by eighteen to twenty-three-year-old kids without college degrees and little on their minds besides getting some trigger time”—resulted in a surrealistic documentary, Combat Obscura, that questioned everything, including his own role: “In my head we were still good guys; not ‘the’ good guys, but still okay.” In fact, he concludes in a book that stands up next to Anthony Swofford’s Jarhead and Michael Herr’s Dispatches, they weren’t OK, and they would never be OK again. One sign of the mental toll, notes Lagoze, was the veteran-studded attempted coup of January 6, 2021, which he links directly to foreign interventions that led radicalized young warriors to the steps of the Capitol. Gonzo, ghoulish, and unforgettable: one of the strongest books yet to emerge from America’s misadventure in Afghanistan.

Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education

Land, Stephanie | One Signal/Atria (288 pp.) $28.00 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781982151393

The bestselling author of Maid returns with a gripping account of her struggles balancing higher education, parenthood, and poverty.

Land picks up close to where her previous memoir left off. After years of struggling as a housekeeper and single mother, the author moved to Missoula to study English at the University of Montana. However, despite the realization of a long-held dream, her battle to become financially stable continued. In candid, compelling prose, Land describes balancing child care, multiple jobs, and school over the oppressive hum of poverty. “It was common for me to only have ten bucks in my bank account and live off peanut butter for the final few days of the month,” she

writes. “Long-term financial planning is for people who aren’t living in poverty. I didn’t have the time or the energy to calculate how much debt I was in or how much interest I paid every month or how much interest I would pay on my student loans….All I cared about was a continued ability to feed, clothe, and house my kid.” The author sheds necessary light on the challenges of anyone living in poverty, especially parents. While many of her teenage classmates were able to direct their focus on school exclusively, Land spent countless hours navigating government assistance programs and mothering her child. This book serves as an illuminating portrait of a part of the higher education experience that is often ignored. Land’s recurring bitterness, however, somewhat sours the narrative. Though she is a successful writer, she harbors a surprising amount of rancor about her rejection from Montana’s graduate creative writing program. Still, the overall quality of the writing and the importance of the story make for a powerful read. Part memoir, part manifesto: Fans of Maid will enjoy this next installment from a dedicated writer and mother.

Kirkus Star

Inside Knowledge: Incarcerated People on the Failures of the American Prison

Larson, Doran | New York Univ. (320 pp.) $35.00 | Jan. 9, 2024 | 9781479818006

What prisoners can tell us about the true costs of incarceration. This book brings together— and provides edifying commentary on—a selection of writings by incarcerated Americans who reflect on their experiences as inmates. Larson, a professor of literature and co-founder and director of the American Prison Writing Archive, seeks

to “reassess law, crime, punishment, and justice, and the triggers between them.” This is a consistently searing indictment of the ways in which prisons harm prisoners, as well as their families and communities, while doing little to fulfill the institution’s ostensible objectives: enacting appropriate retribution, promoting rehabilitation, containing criminality, and deterring future offenses. The author frames prisoners’ writings with revealing accounts of the original goals of the American penitentiary system, its evolution and divergence from foreign models, and the contemporary political dynamics driving policies of mass incarceration. Larson ably demonstrates the cruelty and illogic of prison environments, which systematically dehumanize the incarcerated and preclude possibilities for genuine atonement. “A convicted person, once confined, must identify with the person they were outside in order to acknowledge that it was their actions for which punishment is being imposed,” writes the author. “Yet imprisonment aggressively severs life inside from life outside.” Many of the writers, he notes, “describe manufactories of indiscriminate personal and social disaster.” Larson makes abundantly clear the moral significance of bridging that divide and harmonizing the stated ideals of the justice system with its actual functions. Also compelling are the suggestions given for plausible reforms, including the incorporation of prisoners’ stories into legal training so that lawyers might better comprehend the stakes involved in sentencing. As this compelling text shows, filling in longstanding silences about what prisons actually do may have far-reaching and desperately needed

benefits for those inside and outside the institution’s walls. Profound reflections on the unacknowledged inhumanity of the nation’s prisons.

The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI

Li, Fei-Fei | Moment of Life Books/ Flatiron (336 pp.) | $29.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 9781250897930

A leading AI scientist looks back at her decades of research and its personal impact.

Li’s path to the “epicenter” of artificial intelligence began with an insatiable curiosity and stoic defiance inherited from her parents, who came of age during China’s Cultural Revolution. Moving to the U.S. with her family in 1992, when she was 15, the author was drawn into the digital revolution, especially the false starts and stalled progress of AI—a discipline that, Li clarifies, goes back further than today’s headlines suggest. With the support and encouragement of mentors and collaborators, she attended Princeton, participated in breakthrough work at Caltech, and built a dazzling, boundary-crossing career merging physics with neuroscience and human evolution. Ultimately, she became the chief scientist of AI at Google Cloud and director of Stanford’s storied AI Lab. Li attempts to translate the

scientific details of some of her work, but many of these sections are murky and tedious for readers without a tech background. The author is strongest in her broader observations about the primacy of human sensory interpretation and the rise in the importance of data for AI, or the similarities between the immigrant experience and scientific discovery. The author chronicles how she helped shepherd AI from its most recent “winter,” as well as the opening of the floodgates between academia and the tech firms of Silicon Valley. Li’s personal and professional experience position her to illuminate the looming challenges in this accelerating trajectory, along with its ethical tensions and inherent tendency to promulgate a privileged perspective. Unfortunately, she short-circuits the power of her insights and calls for a human-centered approach to AI by relying on technical detail, professional jargon, and personal anecdotes, conveyed with a distance that muffles their impact.

Li is a pioneer, but she misses an opportunity to meaningfully weigh in on a pressing current issue.

Starkweather: The Untold Story of the Killing Spree That Changed America

MacLean, Harry N. | Counterpoint (336 pp.) $28.00 | Nov. 28, 2023 | 9781640095410

A new examination of “the first modern-day mass killer.”

MacLean, author of In Broad Daylight, has a personal interest in the case: Like Charles Starkweather (1938-1959) and Caril Fugate (b. 1943), Starkweather’s girlfriend, he is a native of Lincoln, Nebraska. They were 19 and 14 respectively when the crimes occurred, and the author was 15. Before the eight-day rampage in January 1958, “Lincoln was a large rural town of peace, predictability, and relative prosperity.” The book’s chronological sections, from “The Setup”

A leading AI scientist looks back at her decades of research and its personal impact.

THE WORLDS I SEE

through “The Killings” to “Impact,” are bookended by an introduction and epilogue. The couple’s spree began after an argument, and he borrowed a rifle and murdered her mother, stepfather, and 2-year-old sister. Starkweather hid their bodies in an outbuilding, telling Fugate her family was alive, tied up. By Jan. 28, MacLean writes, they had “left a trail littered with bodies young and old, male and female, poor and wealthy.” In contrast to Starkweather’s claims that she was “free to leave,” Fugate said she was “a hostage.” The author presents “two versions of each killing: one from Charlie’s point of view, the other from Caril’s.” Before their arrest, 11 people had been slaughtered, including a gas station attendant Starkweather killed weeks earlier. Although his version of events repeatedly changed, Starkweather confessed to the murders; Fugate admitted nothing. “The question of Caril’s participation in the killings,” MacLean concludes, “will likely never be settled once and for all.” Both were convicted; Starkweather was executed, and Fugate served 18 years before her parole. Their infamous story “kicked off a blaze of storytelling,” including movies, music, and books. Given this fact, it’s hard to see the need for MacLean’s adequate retelling; true-crime readers will have encountered this notorious case in one of the many other accounts in print or on screen.

A thorough true-crime saga that breaks little new ground.

Everywhere an Oink Oink: An Embittered, Dyspeptic, and Accurate Report of Forty Years in Hollywood

Mamet, David | Simon & Schuster (256 pp.)

$27.99 | Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781668026311

The frequently misbegotten experiences of a playwright in Hollywood.

“I did ten features as a director, the world’s best job; and wrote forty

or so filmscripts, half of which got made,” reports Mamet. His directing credits include House of Games and Oleanna, and he wrote screenplays for Wag the Dog, The Verdict, and the film version of his Pulitzer-winning play, Glengarry Glen Ross . He has rubbed elbows with several generations of Hollywood stars, from Myrna Loy and Billy Wilder to Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer, along with off-screen figures like David Geffen and Mike Nichols. The author’s anecdotes and ruminations on filmcraft are peppered with a constant fire of jokes and one-liners, many of them dated. Early on, Mamet offers a cold assessment of his memoir: “My life form, having succeeded in Hollywood and then aged out, scavenges some benefit from tell-alls, cartoons and captions.” The cartoons, the most endearing parts of the book, include posters and storyboards for Hollywood brainstorms like “The Little Engine That Could Meets Anna Karenina”; a sequel to Titanic (“but this time, it’s not the Titanic that sinks, but the iceberg—so: the story centers around two penguins!”); and a film called “Mutton for Punishment,” which “raises the baa on the sheep-action genre.” Mamet characterizes his book as “a descendant of the Movie Mag,” but if it is, it’s one with quite a bit more attitude than its predecessors: Audrey Hepburn was “the sole actress more beautiful than Gary Cooper”; and F. Scott Fitzgerald, “who wanted to be liked by rich people,” also “wasn’t fit to puke into the same toilet as Hemingway.” In general, a lot of Mistakes Were Made, some of which, the author acknowledges, were his own fault. Cantankerous, scattershot, and often funny. Come for the celebrity anecdotes; stay for the cartoons.

Unshrinking: How To Face Fatphobia

Manne, Kate | Crown (320 pp.) | $28.00 Jan. 9, 2024 | 9780593593837

An incisive examination of fatphobia in all its guises.

For more on fatphobia, visit Kirkus online.

Americans are becoming more tolerant of difference in many areas, writes Manne, a professor of moral philosophy at Cornell and author of Down Girl and Entitled. One exception, however, is anti-fatness, which is actually increasing. The author has spent much of her life fighting her weight and body image issues, and she frankly recounts the many insults she has endured. There is constant pressure to lose weight, conform to a media-generated, often unrealistic beauty standard, and be something other than yourself. Aside from the social stigma of being fat, the world can be a hard place for fat people, in everything from clothes to furniture. Some of the worst offenders are doctors who, when examining an obese patient, often fail to look for anything but weight issues. Manne also points to research showing that fat people earn substantially less than their “average”-weight counterparts and are often seen as less capable. However, body weight is often determined by inherent physiognomy. “Fatness is by and large out of our control,” writes the author, “making the supposed moral obligation not to be fat likely moot from the beginning.” The argument that obesity is always unhealthy is also highly flawed. The data shows that fat people can be entirely healthy, and if they are ill, it might be due to extreme dieting (which never works), medication, or invasive surgery. The key is to be willing to listen to your body, and Manne has made it a personal rule. “I eat when I am hungry. I eat what sounds good to me. Sometimes, even often, I have the goddamn lasagna,” she writes

in a fitting conclusion to a brave, thought-provoking book. With rigorous research and personal experience, Manne tackles and dismantles fatphobia in all its forms.

Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story

Marshall, Max | Harper/HarperCollins (304 pp.) | $30.00 | Nov. 7, 2023

9780063099531

How the wealthy fraternities of the storied College of Charleston became the hubs of an interstate drug ring.

According to Charleston police working the 2016 case, the drug dealers of Kappa Alpha and Sigma Alpha Epsilon sold Xanax, cocaine, and marijuana, mostly to college students across the South. “One of the largest busts in the city’s history, a six-month collaboration between local police, state law enforcement, the DEA, the FBI, and the US Postal Service,” it was connected to the murder of the son of a real estate developer who was also a board member at the college. Police seized hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, 43,000 pills, seven firearms, and a grenade launcher. Marshall, a freelance journalist, dives deep into fraternity life and drug dealing to figure out how this happened. His ability to identify with the fraternity bros at the center of the drug ring helped him get access to sources. However, it soon becomes clear that his interest lies more with the drug dealers—especially one

of the ring’s leaders, Mikey Schmidt— than their numerous victims. “When Mikey and I were in school,” writes Marshall, “most boys in our bubble shared a dream of what college might look like….There’d be white pong balls splashing in red Solo cups, and hot girls who wanted to wrestle in mud or Jell-O.” The author refers to most of his anonymous sources by their fraternity or sorority affiliation, as if that is someone’s most distinguishing trait, and he seems overly enamored of his subjects’ connections, wealth, and hard-partying lifestyles. While he does expose a dark side of campus life, he misses an opportunity to offer a deeper, more interesting story with appeal beyond the Tucker Max demographic. A flashy disappointment, leaning more on drug dealer fantasy and frat-boy excess than real crime drama.

Kirkus Star

1932: FDR, Hoover, and the Dawn of a New America

Martelle, Scott | Citadel/Kensington (288 pp.) | $28.00 | Nov. 28, 2023 9780806541860

A compelling account of a pivotal year in U.S. history.

Veteran journalist Martelle, author of The Madman and the Assassin and Blood Passion, among other titles, provides a fine account of the run-up to “one of the most consequential elections in U.S. history.” He

begins many chapters with excerpts from contemporary diaries, and readers will squirm at the level of suffering they reveal. The fact that many sufferers were white and middle class was a shock in a country historically indifferent to the sufferings of Black and working-class people. Inaction against the economic crisis was fostered by a political status quo long predating 1932, in which progressives and conservatives vied for influence in the Republican Party, and Democrats, who were strong in industrial northern states (including Franklin Roosevelt), frequently deferred to the reactionary South. Although the Depression and 1932 election feature prominently, Martelle’s coverage of lesser-known events enhances his vivid account. Like abortion today, Prohibition was so controversial that many politicians, including FDR, tried to avoid the subject. Conservatives (Hoover included) seemed unaware that Americans were growing tired of it, and Martelle delivers a long account of the repeal movement, largely led by the same women who fought for suffrage. Even readers aware of how badly Black Americans were treated in the Jim Crow South will be dismayed by the details. For example, Southern cities faced with growing unemployment fired their Black employees and replaced them with white workers, and white mobs attacked building sites and businesses to drive off Black workers and take their jobs. Martelle’s admiring depiction of FDR is appropriate for the president who faced and surmounted one of the nation’s greatest crises. Like many other historians, he portrays Hoover as an energetic technocrat with poor political skills overwhelmed by the economic collapse.

An expert portrait of a national turning point.

For more on 1932, visit Kirkus online.

A compelling account of a pivotal year in U.S. history. 1932

www.laevnotes.com

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7343635-3-1

Kindle eBook ISBN: 978-1-7343635-4-8

“Rich

—BookLife Reviews

“A tender, personalitycentered biography of golden age Berlin.”

—Kirkus Reviews

Book to Screen

Amber Ruffin Adapting Book for Peacock

The comedian and her sister are developing their book You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey. Comedian, author, and talk show host Amber Ruffin is adapting one of her two books for NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, Deadline reports.

Ruffin is developing a series based on You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey, the book she co-wrote with her sister, Lacey Lamar. The book, published in 2021 by Grand Central, recounts

stories of racist encounters the sisters have endured as Black women living everyday life in America.

In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called the book “both maddening and funny, an eye-opening look at how its daily targets cope with racism.” Ruffin and Lamar followed up the book last

year with The World Record Book of Racist Stories; in an interview with Kirkus, Ruffin said, “Since everything in the book actually happened, writing as a duo was easier than you think. We really weren’t ‘writing’ as much as we were just remembering.”

Ruffin is known as the host of Peacock’s The Amber Ruffin Show and as a longtime writer for Late Night With Seth Meyers. Both shows have been off the air for the past few months because of the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike.

The You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey series, according to Deadline, will follow Ruffin in New York and Lamar in Nebraska, where the sisters grew up. Ruffin and Lamar

will write the adaptation and will serve as executive producers with Meyers and Jenny Hagel, Ruffin’s writing partner.—M.S.

For a review of You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey,

Ruffin, left, and Lacey Lamar

visit Kirkus online. Lloyd Bishop

The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset That Drives Extraordinary Results

McAfee, Andrew | Little, Brown (320 pp.)

$30.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780316436700

Solid business economics meets a nouveau-science insistence on quick learning and quicker cultural evolution.

McAfee, co-founder of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy and author of More From Less, describes an ethic whereby people “get fascinated by a topic and won’t (or can’t) let go of it, no matter what others think.” Gathering those kinds of people and getting anything done involves “cultural solutions, not technological ones.” One of them is a highly developed tolerance for chaos. Another is developing a thick skin when it comes to criticism, since these geeks are seldom hypersocialized and tend to speak their minds without filtering. McAfee examines numerous organizations that have built nonbureaucratic and—importantly—nonperfectionist cultures, such as Planet, a company launching satellites, radios, and cameras into space, with a new rocket shooting into near space every three months or so. Says one Planetoid, “we have an iteration time schedule that’s measured in months while NASA’s is measured in a decade or two,” a “pace of innovation” that hinges on the good-enough rather than the perfect. (So far, thank the stars, the good-enough hasn’t ended in catastrophe.) A similar emphasis on speedy action has resulted in Netflix’s supremacy as a streaming service as opposed to the ultra-cautious, now-extinct Quibi, which “was structured and run like a twentieth-century Hollywood studio.” Cautionary tales abound, since, as McAfee notes, the tendency to bureaucratize is always there to kill or discourage McAfee’s mantra-like insistence on “innovation, agility, and execution.” As much as anything else, he adds, a successful geek-culture enterprise will eschew emotion for science, which

is empirically verifiable and whose terms are constantly argued over, hopefully without anyone being offended in the bargain. On that note, the author offers another mantra-like element to consider: “Reflect, don’t defend.”

A valuable guide for would-be economic, technical, and cultural disruptors.

Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy, and a Quest To Honor America’s First Black Generals

Melville, Doug | Black Privilege Publishing/ Atria (288 pp.) | $27.99 | Nov. 7, 2023

9781668005132

A descendant of the first two Black generals in U.S. military history traces the difficult course of their careers.

Benjamin

Oliver Davis (1877-1970) was the brilliant, driven son of a Black civil servant in the post–Civil War federal government who “demonstrated for others, foremost his children, what it meant to work within a system to help evolve it—to build political and financial capital.” Louis Davis’ networking skills didn’t help Ollie much, for, determined to become a military officer, he discovered that, “for political reasons, President William McKinley wouldn’t appoint a Black man to West Point.” He enlisted instead, and so distinguished was his service that he became one of only two commissioned Black officers in the entire Army. Eventually he would attain the rank of general, as would his son, Benjamin Davis Jr. (1912-2002), Melville’s great-uncle, who attained renown as one of the Tuskegee Airman, a group that has since been subjected to “Disneyfication.” Ironically, after the war, when the military began planning to integrate, Ollie was forced to retire by President Harry S. Truman, who “was no saint when it came to race relations.” The newly

minted Air Force beat Truman to the punch by voluntarily integrating, and Davis Jr. was instrumental in that fact. Melville traces the travails his ancestors faced while building records of excellence in a military that, it often appeared, only grudgingly accepted them. Moreover, he recounts his own efforts to be sure they are properly recognized and honored. “I can see how the quest never ends,” Melville writes, and one aspect of that quest is for his military ancestors to be thought of as they wished: Americans, period. “Black history,” he writes, “is American history—even that which has been invisible until now.”

A thoughtful, highly readable blend of family and military history.

Breaking Twitter

Mezrich, Ben | Grand Central Publishing (336 pp.) | $30.00 | Nov. 7, 2023

9781538707593

Delving into the takeover of Twitter (now X) by Elon Musk uncovers rampant bad judgment and ego-driven hypocrisy.

Bestselling author Mezrich has written a string of nonfiction books and novels, and sometimes it isn’t easy to know which category this one falls into. This is partly because the story and its central character are both so strange, but also because the author plays fast and loose with the narrative. “Some dialogue has been reimagined,” he acknowledges, “and the dates of some of the events have been adjusted or compressed. Also, at some points in the story I employ elements of satire.” Mezrich also occasionally presumes to know what Musk was thinking, even though Musk refused to participate. The book should be read with a grain of salt, but the author has plenty of intriguing material to work with, and he turns up a few useful insights. Mezrich admits that Twitter was already somewhat

broken before Musk took over and sought to merge his philosophical and political views with the management of a social media company. It had a bloated payroll and confusion about its role in the marketplace; begun as a digital venue for the free exchange of ideas, Twitter increasingly censored or banned contributors. Musk apparently wanted it to be a completely open platform but soon ran into numerous practical realities. At the management level, he did not so much trim fat as run a chainsaw through the company. Twitter’s financial indicators spiraled downward, and by the time Musk stepped down as CEO, “the blowback had tarnished his reputation, perhaps irrevocably.” As for Twitter, now re-branded as X, the real question, which Mezrich avoids, might be not whether it can survive, but whether it deserves to.

Significantly flawed, but with some important things to say about business in the social media age.

The Cancer Factory: Industrial Chemicals, Corporate Deception, and the Hidden Deaths of American Workers

Morris, Jim | Beacon Press (264 pp.)

$32.00 | Jan. 23, 2024 | 9780807059142

Morris,

founder of Public Health Watch, tells the story of a Goodyear Tire and Rubber plant in Niagara Falls, New York, and its use of the chemical ortho-toluidine, which was responsible for 78 cases of bladder cancer between the early 1980s and 2022. Among others, the author introduces us to Ray Klein and his wife, Dottie, two of whose children were born with birth defects; Harry (“case No. 37”) and Diane Weist; Kris Penny, who died in 2016 at age 40; and Dorothy Kowalski, whose bladder cancer most likely came from washing her husband’s “reeking” work clothes. Morris also follows the career of Steve Wodka, who began as a researcher for the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers’ Union and later became a lawyer who sued the DuPont Company numerous times for failing to reveal the carcinogenic dangers of ortho-toluidine. As Morris points out, however, lawsuits asking for compensation face “the worst of corporate America—its capacity for duplicity [and] its callousness toward the workers who generated its profits.” Union representatives, occupational disease specialists, and medical doctors in and outside the industry publicized the dangers of ortho-toluidine and called, mostly in vain, for more stringent regulations. The work of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, created in 1970, helped, but industry lobbying and political interests that limit funding continue to curtail its effectiveness. Detailed descriptions of the pain and debilitation of bladder cancer and the suffering involved in its treatment make this book emotionally challenging, yet important nonetheless. Morris’ conclusion is grim: “The safety of [America’s] workers will, for

the foreseeable future, be a hit-or-miss proposition.”

A powerful indictment of corporate greed and regulatory laxity and a moving commentary on its human costs.

Falling Rocket: James Whistler, John Ruskin, and the Battle for Modern Art

Murphy, Paul Thomas | Pegasus (432 pp.) $29.95 | Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781639364916

Historical account of the battle between two Victorian heavyweights. Murphy chronicles the intellectual fight between American painter James Whistler and British art critic John Ruskin. “Always the dandy,” Whistler left Paris for London in 1860, immersing himself in England’s rich art community. Paintings such as Harmonies and Symphonies aspired to pure aestheticism; Nocturne in Blue and Gold: The Falling Rocket, Murphy writes, “pursued darkness to a revolutionary point he had not reached before.” Ruskin visited the gallery where it was exhibited, and in his published critique called Whistler “a coxcomb [who asked] two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face.” Attacking modern art in general and Nocturne in particular, “Ruskin was accusing [Whistler] not of creating bad art, but of creating no art.” Because of his position as a feared arbiter of English taste, this attack could destroy Whistler’s reputation, so the painter sued Ruskin for libel and “damages of a thousand pounds and costs”—and he needed the money. Characterizing his statements as “fair and bona fide criticism,” Ruskin welcomed the chance to take on Whistler and educate the public. In November 1878, the trial began without Ruskin, who was in the throes of a severe mental health crisis, and the immensely amusing proceedings were brief. Twelve male

An impassioned account of the U.S. chemical industry’s indifference to the health of its workers.

award-winning journalist and

A powerful indictment of corporate greed and regulatory laxity.

THE CANCER FACTORY

jurors viewed some of Whistler’s works, heard testimonies, and made a decision: Whistler won, receiving one farthing but no costs. Both men were disappointed: Ruskin’s words had been found libelous, and the derisory damages meant that Whistler was “legally victorious but facing inevitable financial ruin.” Instead, as Murphy nicely chronicles in chapters detailing the trial’s aftermath (and mainly about Whistler), this “artistic Barnum” was already busy with new projects and commissions, while Ruskin’s health continued to decline. He died in 1900, three years before Whistler.

A lively, entertaining tale of art and criticism.

What Really Happens in Vegas: True Stories of the People Who Make Vegas, Vegas

Patterson, James & Mark Seal Little, Brown (352 pp.) | $32.50 Dec. 4, 2023 | 9780316406901

Las Vegas, behind the scenes. Patterson and Seal bring us inside tales of those who have made the nation’s entertainment capital their home, focusing on the “endless battalions who build, service, and maintain the perpetually expanding facilities; the dealers and croupiers who run the games; the international superchefs, cocktail wizards, and servers who fortify the multitudes; the dazzling superstars of stage, screen, nightclub, and stripper pole; the pilots, limo drivers, and cabbies who keep the city on the move.” This is a book full of zippy profiles of success and struggle on a variety of socioeconomic levels, as the authors introduce us to a host of interesting characters: Charolette Richards, a plucky entrepreneur who opened the first drive-through wedding chapel; Chundrea Gardner, an elite yoga

instructor who flies his clients by helicopter for open-air classes in the Mojave Desert; Kaitlyn, a 21-year-old nursing student who made a small fortune as an exotic dancer; and Shin Lim, a former concert pianist who rose from obscurity to score a residency position as a magician at the Mirage. There is nothing that feels especially insightful or surprising about these biographical sketches, but they make for energetic reading. The writing moves along briskly to create a pleasant—if blinkered and sentimental—panorama of the city’s vitality and its potential for fulfilling the most outlandish fantasies. Readers will gain a dynamic sense of how the city channels extraordinary flows of money and hope through its complex infrastructure, nourishing seductive promises amid sparkling eclecticism. This is a book about positive outcomes—or gambles that paid off—and the authors offer very little commentary about Vegas’ role in generating misery through excess and, often, exploitation. For those intrigued by such a viewpoint, the entertainment value is high. Lively tales of those who labor and dream in Sin City.

Kirkus Star Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Petraeus, David & Andrew Roberts Harper/HarperCollins (400 pp.) | $40.00 Oct. 17, 2023 | 9780063293137

The progress of modern warfare from 1945 to the present and into the future.

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to rage, with ongoing reporting drawn to the increasingly sophisticated warfare maneuvers executed from the military on both

sides, this conflict serves as a touchstone for authors, and this book is particularly timely. Petraeus, a global affairs specialist and retired Army general, and noted historian Roberts, author of Leadership in War and Master and Commanders , judiciously trace how modern warfare has progressed since 1945 through the present moment, and they set forth the possible implications of the Russian-Ukrainian war for global conflicts in the future. They closely examine key battles that contributed to this evolution—“such as in tactical concepts, or a crucial new weapon, or when defense became superior to offence (or vice versa)”—and consider a future that will likely entail cyber warfare and AI. The authors explore the Korean War, Vietnam, the two Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, and Iraq, as well as where the U.S. had less or no direct involvement: Indo-China, the Arab-Israeli wars, the Balkan wars in former Yugoslavia, and brutal guerrilla wars in South African countries such as Rwanda. Petraeus and Roberts analyze the failures, achievements, and the lessons learned, emphasizing why the need for effective leadership at the strategic level “is absolutely critical—and can, in many cases, determine the outcome of a conflict.” As examples, they cite Moshe Dayan’s command of the Six-Day War in 1967 and Volodymyr Zelensky’s leadership in Ukraine. On the flip side, the authors show when a leader’s ego can lead to disastrous outcomes—e.g., Putin’s hubris in expecting a swift invasion of Ukraine. The authors’ conclusions may spark debate among some military strategists, but their arguments are consistently well grounded and based on vast experience. A must-read for military historians and strategists.

For more on David Petraeus, visit Kirkus online.

Gangsterland: A Tour Through the Dark Heart of Jazz-Age New York City

Pietrusza, David | Diversion Books

(320 pp.) | $19.99 paper | Nov. 14, 2023

9781635769890

On-the-ground tour of places, extant and extinct, where key episodes in New York’s organized crime history took place.

“Few of the characters we meet here end well. Fewer deserve to….Just don’t turn your back on anyone,” writes Pietrusza at the beginning of this wide-ranging compendium of people and places. It’s good advice, for even if one of those scenes has since become “the much more respectable site of a Whole Foods,” there are still plenty of criminal venues that still stand today—though most have been repurposed. For instance, the old Knickerbocker Hotel, on 42nd Street and Broadway in the heart of today’s theater district, was once a hangout for the gangster Arnold Rothstein (about whom Pietrusza has written a biography), enjoying a dining room captained by a budding restaurateur named Vincent Sardi. Rothstein used the Knickerbocker as a venue for his “high-stakes floating card and craps games,” and the hotel was also, conveniently, where his lawyer kept his office. The Knickerbocker may now be a condominium complex, but the spirits of gangsters and patsies, to say nothing of onetime resident F. Scott Fitzgerald, still hang over the place. Though he made a decent buck arranging such events as the Chicago “Black

Sox” throwing of the 1919 World Series, Rothstein was mortally shot at a nearby hotel for, by one account, having run up one too many unpaid debts. As Pietrusza notes in passing, though the World Series scandal took place in Chicago, it was a New York–born scheme—and a New York journalist took the lead in exposing it. William Randolph Hearst, Jimmy Durante, Babe Ruth, W.C. Fields, Damon Runyon: All figure in these spry pages, featuring countless episodes of the bad behavior that New York’s gangland concocted. The book includes a chronology and cast of characters.

An entertaining, sometimes grisly stroll through Gotham’s bad old days.

Kirkus Star

An Inconvenient Cop: My Fight To Change Policing in America

Raymond, Edwin with Jon Sternfeld Viking (352 pp.) | $29.00 | Oct. 17, 2023

9780593653166

A high-ranking whistleblower from the NYPD recounts his embattled tenure in the country’s largest police force.

Many Americans first encountered Raymond in 2016, when he was the subject of a New York Times profile that detailed his role as the lead plaintiff in a civil suit filed on behalf of minority officers in the NYPD. The lawsuit centered on the use of quota-based policing, despite a 2010 ban on the practice. In this vital, timely memoir,

the author begins with his childhood in Brooklyn’s East Flatbush neighborhood, where he was raised by Haitian immigrants. His mother died when he was 2, and his father was soon plagued by health problems, leaving the author and his brother to mostly fend for themselves. As a Black teenager, Raymond became the target of “aggressive policing,” and he thought to himself, “the NYPD must hire a lot of bigots.” It was only after he became an officer himself, at 22, that he understood this wasn’t the case; even cops who had come from the same communities as Raymond “were now perpetuating the same problems they had recently faced.” Later in the book, he notes, “their behavior is policy dictated from the top.” The author carefully explains exactly how the “numbers game” of policing works. A particularly eye-opening passage details Raymond’s first day as a transit cop, when he was told to hide in a supply closet in the subway station to catch turnstile jumpers. The author joined law enforcement to be an “antidote to racially motivated policing.” For his efforts, he was harassed online, passed over for promotion, and punished with retaliatory posts. Readers will be impressed by Raymond’s courage and integrity, and he presents an inspiring story, captivatingly written and exciting to read.

An urgent exposé, essential to understanding the fractured state of policing in America.

Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant

Reeves, John | Pegasus (352 pp.) | $29.95 Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781639365272

A fine account of the formative years of Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885).

Historian Reeves, author of The Lost Indictment of Robert E. Lee, clearly displays his knowledge of the inner life of the

An urgent exposé, essential to understanding the fractured state of policing in America.

AN INCONVENIENT COP

EDITORS’ PICKS:

Actually Super by Adi Alsaid (Knopf)

Stickler Loves the World

By Lane Smith (Random House Studio)

The English Experience

By Julie Schumacher (Doubleday)

ALSO MENTIONED ON THIS EPISODE:

See You in the Cosmos

By Jack Cheng

Open Throat

By Henry Hoke

Head-Long

By Michael Frayn

Skios

By Michael Frayn

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: Atom Bomb Baby

By Brandon Gillespie

What’s Next? Short Fiction in Time of Change

By Sharyn Skeeter

Fully Booked

National Book Award finalist Jenn Shapland’s essays explore interconnectedness.

BY MEGAN LABRISE

EPISODE 334: JENN SHAPLAND

On this episode of the Fully Booked podcast, Jenn Shapland joins us to discuss Thin Skin: Essays (Pantheon, Aug. 15). “A distinguished essayist explores the permeability of human bod ies—including her own—to the modern world and its vagaries,” Kirkus writes in a starred review of Thin Skin, the highly anticipated follow-up to Shapland’s first book, My Autobiography of Carson McCullers

Shapland’s critically acclaimed debut was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award and winner of a 2021 Lambda Literary Award. The New Mexico–based writer holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas at Austin and works as an archivist for a visual artist. Her essays have appeared in New England Review, the New York Times, Guernica, and Tin House

Here’s a bit more from Kirkus’ starred review of Thin Skin: “In her second book, Shapland transforms ‘systemic sensitivity’ into a lens through which to consider human fragility as it manifests via bodily ailments, considerations of gender, and excess consumerism. Her first piece muses on physical and psychological vulnerability. In ‘Strangers on a Train,’ [she] considers gender vulnerability, discussing the meaning of moving through misogynist society as a (white) female.…[She] expands her exploration of gender in ‘The Meaning of Life,’ in which she examines childbearing in post-Roe America.…Breathtaking in their sharp synthesis of a variety of ideas and experiences, Shapland’s essays are a truth-telling balm for mind, body, and spirit. An eloquent and vibrantly lucid collection.”

Shapland and I discuss our shared

Thin Skin: Essays

Shapland, Jenn Pantheon | 288 pp. | $26.00 Aug. 15, 2023 | 9780593317457

affinity for the word undergirded; how the essay collection grew from a number of disparate ideas that didn’t seem all that connected at first; whether Shapland saw herself as looking for answers to the questions that spurred her essays; the daunting task of acknowledging our interconnectedness to every living thing; where she’s coming from (physically speaking); Cartesian dualism; The Invisible Kingdom by Meghan O’Rourke; coping mechanisms; self-care; the potential limitations of professional identities; Michel de Montaigne; incorporating other voices into one’s essays; living a meaningful life; and much more.

Then editors Laura Simeon, Mahnaz Dar, and Laurie Muchnick share their top picks in books for the week.

Megan Labrise is an editor at large and host of Fully Booked.

Fully Booked is produced by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.

To listen to the episode, visit Kirkus online.

Civil War general. Son of a prosperous Ohio tanner, Grant showed no interest in entering the family business. Getting an education appealed to him, so his father used his influence to get him into West Point, where the education was free. He was a middling student who distinguished himself in the Mexican War, married the daughter of a wealthy Missouri slave-owner in 1848, abruptly resigned his commission in 1854, and spent the following five years working on her father’s farm. He returned north in 1860; a year later, he was quickly appointed a general as the only man in his community with military experience. He was a success because he knew how wars were won: resources and persistence. Lesser generals (such as Lee) believed that wars were won by battlefield victories. Readers surprised at the book’s sudden end in 1864, when Grant was appointed commander of all Union armies, should reference the subtitle. Reeves maintains that he never intended to write a definitive biography; rather, he focuses on Grant’s rise to the pinnacle of his profession, with an emphasis on his connection to slavery. Never a deep thinker, the young Grant had no objection to slavery, but his father-in-law owned 30 slaves, and Grant made use of them during his years on the farm. Like most northerners, he fought to preserve the Union, but as the war dragged on, he concluded that slavery had to be eliminated. By the time he became a national figure, he approved recruiting Black soldiers into the Union army—a sign of advanced thinking even then.

A capable portrait of Grant’s critical period, with more than the usual attention to his racial views.

Kirkus Star

Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation To Build a Sustainable Planet

Ritchie, Hannah | Little, Brown Spark (336 pp.) | $30.00 | Jan. 9, 2024

9780316536752

Combining scientific expertise with convincing statistics, an Oxford researcher offers an antidote to do-nothing doomsayers.

At some point, despair over climate-related issues has become fashionable, to the point where many people choose not to have children. This attitude, writes Ritchie, an Oxford academic specializing in environmental science and deputy editor and lead researcher at the authoritative Our World in Data group, is mere foolishness. In her first book, she sets the record straight, drawing on a wealth of data to show a pattern of steady improvement in everything from infant mortality to deforestation to air pollution. On the issue of climate change, she notes that global per capita emissions are steadily falling, and the trends point toward an absolute decrease in the foreseeable future. In the U.S., since 2005 “emissions have fallen by a quarter both domestically and when we adjust for offshoring.” Ritchie makes clear that she is a firm believer in climate change; her thesis is that improvements have happened, and should continue to happen, through concerted action at the government

and regulatory levels, as well as technological advances. Hand-wringing and whining get you nowhere, and the author points to problems that have been addressed—e.g., acid rain and the deterioration of the ozone layer, to show that co-operative answers are achievable. She has sharp words for journalists who take a few lines from a detailed scientific report out of context in search of a sensational headline, and for those people who seem determined to believe the worst. “Doomsayers are not interested in solutions,” she says. “They have already given up. They often try to stand in the way of them.” Ignore them, Ritchie suggests, and get to work instead.

This book is a refreshing change and, as a call to further action, puts forward a sensible, equitable agenda.

Kirkus Star

Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto

Saito, Kohei | Trans. by Brian Bergstrom Astra House (272 pp.) | $27.00 | Jan. 9, 2024 9781662602368

A Japanese author argues that combatting climate change requires an alternative to capitalism.

In this English translation of a popular Japanese title, Saito, a professor of philosophy at the University of Tokyo, warns that capitalist strategies for addressing the ever-escalating climate crisis are fundamentally flawed. Whether it’s

A cogently structured anti-capitalist approach to the climate crisis.

SLOW DOWN

For more optimism about climate change, visit Kirkus online.

the Paris Agreement, the Green New Deal (which the author calls “Green Keynesianism,” or Nobel laureate William Nordhaus’ economic models, our approaches to climate change make the dire mistake of prioritizing economic growth over ecological repair. “To determine which direction is right, we must trace the current climate crisis to its root cause,” writes Saito. “The root cause is capitalism, and understanding this is key. The enormous increase in carbon dioxide emissions began…with the Industrial Revolution…when capitalism first began to truly operate in the world.” The author advocates for “degrowth,” the benefits of which were evident during the pandemic: When the global economy slowed down, worldwide ecological indicators improved. To achieve degrowth, Saito argues for a new economic system based on Marx’s approach to communism, which avoids authoritarianism while democratizing the means of production. Indeed, the author begins the book with a clear rejection of what he calls “Soviet” communism. In contrast, writes Saito, we must turn to a Marxist model. “We must all manage the earth together,” he writes, “as the ultimate commons.” While many readers may find the idea of communism off-putting—something the author acknowledges in the book’s introduction—his alternative to capitalist consumption is surprisingly practical. Saito’s clarity of thought, plethora of evidence, and conversational, gentle, yet urgent tone—even when describing the most alarming aspects of the climate crisis—are sure to win over open-minded readers who understand the dire nature of our global situation and that “green capitalism is a myth.”

A cogently structured anti-capitalist approach to the climate crisis.

The Price of Humanity: How Philanthropy Went Wrong―and How To Fix It

Schiller, Amy | Melville House (256 pp.)

$28.99

| Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781685890223

How capitalism has transformed modern giving into an act that erases rather than restores human dignity.

Philanthropy means “love of humanity,” writes journalist and academic Schiller. However, in our 21st-century Gilded Age, “charitable appeals are not about actual people.” Instead, they turn human beings “into ciphers, uncomplicated representations of desperation and vulnerability.” This approach stems from the early Christian view that philanthropy was a personal virtue, as opposed to the ancient world’s understanding of it as a civic responsibility. Schiller argues that contemporary philanthropic philosophies combine this early Christian idea with a capitalist ethos that judges the poor worthy of the basics for physical survival, but not necessarily of “a quality of life far beyond sustenance, into [opportunities] to excel, create.” Terms such as “social entrepreneurship” and “philanthrocapitalism,” embodied by in the charitable work of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and other “self-important yet small-minded” business owners, frame giving as a form of investment. Schiller sees only a few exceptional philanthropists aware of social inequality, including MacKenzie Scott and LeBron James. However, even they are subject to the inexorable power of capitalism because their giving does not address the uneven power relations that give rise to structural inequality. The author wants to replace the utilitarian ethos underlying philanthropy with a more humanistic one, ideally in conjunction with a government committed to offering basic sustenance to all. Offering meaningful ways for everyone to give— as Joseph Pulitzer did in 1885 when

he asked working-class New Yorkers to contribute to a Statue of Liberty pedestal fund—would also enhance public commitment to broader social well-being. Schiller presents a hopeful vision of philanthropy and society designed to enable all human beings to fully participate in all of life’s pleasures, including the uniquely human capacity for imagination, creativity, and cooperation.

Thoughtful, timely reading, both intelligent and humane.

The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning With the Myth of the Good Billionaire

Schwab, Tim | Metropolitan/Henry Holt (496 pp.) | $29.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 9781250850096

How the Gates Foundation acts “a great deal more like Microsoft than Mother Theresa” and why that matters.

As investigative journalist Schwab demonstrates in his debut book, Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has been mythologized as the ultimate good guy, albeit often by the very media and political outlets he has funded through his philanthropic ventures. However, the author argues convincingly that “the Gates Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-privileged charity that is acting like a private equity investor, venture capital fund, or a pharmaceutical company.” For example, the foundation “has positioned itself to see the confidential business information of competing companies” and asks charitable partners to give it licensing claims to their technology. Furthermore, Schwab notes, Gates poured his greatest sums into the foundation during two periods when he most needed positive publicity: during the investigations into Microsoft as a possible monopoly, and a spell when Gates’ personal life was in the spotlight. The author is most troubled by the lack of transparency in the U.S. involving

For more on philanthropy, visit Kirkus online.

not just Gates, but also the increasing number of billionaires with private foundations. These organizations are not held to the same transparency standards as public companies, government agencies, or political actors. This is true even though tax breaks mean that some 50% of every dollar spent by foundations like Gates’ is “public money.” Schwab sends a clear message to legislators that they must begin regulating the foundations they have left comparatively unexamined since the 1960s. “Our democracy is only as strong as we allow it to be and only as accountable as we force it to be,” he writes. Though the author extends his reach beyond Gates, he always returns to him, as “it would be difficult to name a more powerful, less scrutinized political actor than the Gates Foundation.”

An eye-opening look at the use of tax-subsidized money by private philanthropy.

Jumpman: The Making and Meaning of Michael Jordan

Smith, Johnny | Basic Books (336 pp.)

$30.00 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781541675650

The ascendance of Michael Jordan in American culture.

Smith, a professor of sports history and author of The Sons of Westwood, takes his title from the silhouetted figure based on Nike’s Air Jordan poster of the NBA star soaring to the hoop against the backdrop of the Chicago skyline, a 1987 creation that is now ubiquitous. The author examines the endorsement deals, particularly with Nike and Gatorade, that made Jordan an iconic presence, contrasting this stature with Jordan’s often-contentious relationships with coaches, team executives, and teammates as he led the Chicago Bulls to their first championship in 1991. Smith makes great use of secondary sources to examine Jordan’s “double consciousness” as a Black man with incomparable crossover appeal

to white America and the unintended expectations and consequences that accompanied that status. He leans heavily on other books, including Sam Smith’s The Jordan Rules and Phil Jackson’s Sacred Hoops, to delve into the hypercompetitive Jordan’s on-court rivalries with the Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Lakers en route to the pinnacle of the NBA. The book will appeal to fans of Jordan, the Bulls, and the NBA of the 1980s and 1990s, as the author provides interesting backstories about team, league, and corporate figures who surrounded Jordan, particularly his opportunistic agent David Falk, greedy Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, and paranoid general manager Jerry Krause. Relying heavily on secondary sources and following in the wake of the wildly popular documentary The Last Dance and the film Air, the book does not break new ground or offer particularly profound insights. The lack of deeper explorations of the similarities of Jordan’s circumstances and personality to sports stars like Joe DiMaggio, who also reached rarified air in the American consciousness at severe personal expense, leaves readers with a sense of opportunities missed. A thoroughly sourced compilation of familiar material.

To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul

Smith, Tracy K. | Knopf (288 pp.) | $27.00

Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780593534762

The Pulitzer Prize–winning poet combines memoir and history in a powerful new book.

Smith, translator, memoirist, and poet laureate of the U.S. 2017 to 2019, delves into her family’s history—a history of subjugation, violence, and enslavement—in order to “endure the intractability of the world I know.” In the world of her forebears, and in her own, she asserts, “the Freed are discouraged

from confusing themselves with the Free.” Freed though they were, her great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents were oppressed and threatened by a world rife with racism. “I descend from a history of daily miracles,” she writes, “by which the soul of a people whom institution upon institution has sought to annihilate yet lives on.” Smith’s search into her past took her to archives, military records, and census forms, where, she notes, “there is no column for Love,” but still, the forms reveal “names and traces” that allow her to reconstruct “stories and lives that can liberate us.” Those lives were buoyed by a strong sense of spiritual community, where the “ring shout” served as “a shared heartbeat.” The shout, Smith explains, is “a cultural practice rooted in praise, song, and the soul-sustaining power of something so unperturbed by logic as to call itself the Holy Ghost.” Because of her parents’ “titanic effort,” Smith and her siblings grew up to transcend many racial barriers—Smith graduated from Harvard, where she now teaches—and, she writes, “were allowed to mistake ourselves for the Free.” But as she reflects on her education, career, marriages, and motherhood; and on many recent, recurring incidents of violence against Blacks, she increasingly identifies with the Freed. “What,” she asks, “might this nation stand to learn from a people whose soul alone has carried them through centuries of storm and war?”

A lyrical memoir conveys an urgent message.

How To Draw a Novel

Solares , Martín | Trans. by Heather Cleary Grove Press (224 pp.) | $20.00

Dec. 12, 2023 | 9780802159304

The (graphic) art of fiction.

In a variation on diagramming sentences, Mexican novelist Solares, author of Don’t Send Flowers and The Black Minutes,

encourages aspiring novelists to draw their stories. “Of all the ghosts that inhabit the novel, structure is one of the most elusive,” he writes. “It is also the most exquisite.” In the author’s estimation, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a looped line rising to a heart and descending to an arrow; Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is an upward sloping line with stitches along its length. These drawings— more like squiggles—are meant to represent the story’s basic turning points, plot lines, atmosphere, and characters. The promise is that they will help authors to identify their novel’s core sensibility. As Solares writes, we must “ask ourselves where the truth lies.” When in doubt, simplify and do it visually, pen to paper. The author illustrates his advice with examples from North American, English, European, and Latin American authors. He also addresses themes common in how-to books on creative writing: character, beginnings, endings, titles, time, structure, and creating excitement and tension. A drawing of this book would be a jagged, discontinuous, wandering line. Solares strays from advice-giving to defend the novel against insults, consider the possibility of the perfect novel (candidates include Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives and J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace), relate a dream about being devoured by lions, compare the initial sketch to the draft to the final version of Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo, and provide timelines for the novel’s evolution, each novel with its own drawing. Like all such books, the value and the pleasure come as much from spending time with the author’s likes and dislikes as the practical guidance being offered.

A quirky, playful addition to the well-populated subgenre of fiction writers writing about writing fiction.

Putin’s Exiles: Their Fight for a Better Russia

Starobin, Paul | Columbia Global Reports (128 pp.) | $17.00 paper | Jan. 30, 2024 9798987053607

A veteran reporter introduces us to anti-Putin activists who are building a resistance from abroad.

Starobin, a former Moscow bureau chief for Businessweek, cites an astonishing figure: Since Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, more than 1 million people have fled the country. Many of these exiles have settled quietly elsewhere, but others have continued to fight against Putin however they can. As the author conducted his interviewers, he found a wide range of motivations, from liberals who want to see a democratic Russia to dissident priests who could not accept the Orthodox Church’s support for Putin and his war. Several exiles left because they believed that their outspoken views made them a target, and they still worry that the tentacles of Putin’s security services will reach out for them. Others left Russia simply to avoid conscription into a war that seemed pointless and futile. In fact, the lack of unity is a key weakness for the exiles, and the Kremlin propaganda machine has been able to depict them as a ragtag bunch of noisy troublemakers. One figure that the Putin circle seems to fear, however, is Alexi Navalny, a longtime opponent of Putin who survived a poisoning attempt. Despite

being imprisoned in Russia, he has a substantial organization working on his behalf in other countries, and he continues to attract Western support. Still, Putin remains powerful despite the collapse of his plan for a quick victory in Ukraine. Starobin notes that Russia has a history of exiles returning to play a central role, writing that “the lesson of exile movements is that they must be viewed with a long timeframe. Their lifecycle is typically measured in decades.” Many readers will hope that is the case in this situation.

Starobin’s hands-on examination of Russia’s exile community is a remarkable story of brave people looking to the future.

Kirkus Star

How Not To Be a Politician: A Memoir

Stewart, Rory | Penguin Press (464 pp.) $30.00 | Sept. 19, 2023 | 9780593300329

A personal, sharp exposé of British politics.

Stewart, who once ran to become Britain’s prime minister, recounts his time as a politician, first representing Cumbria as a member of Parliament and later holding six ministerial positions in four departments. The author, who wrote The Prince of the Marshes , The Places in Between , and other books, entered politics with the hope of effecting needed change. As acting governor of an

A personal, sharp exposé of British politics.

For more on Putin, visit Kirkus online.

NEW FROM CHESTNUT HILL PRESS

ISBN: 979-8-98575-008-9

RELEASE DATE: 10/16/2023

“A labor of love that ably explores the relationship among three women and their shared love of music.”

—Kirkus Reviews

ISBN: 979-8-88855-005-2

RELEASE DATE: 5/27/2024

For lovers of memoir and music alike.

ISBN: 979-8-88855-004-5

RELEASE DATE: 5/27/2024

ISBN: 979-8-88855-000-7

RELEASE DATE: 10/9/2023

This collection of twenty-one wry short stories features various animals that an acclaimed Polish writer uses to illustrate his experiences.

ISBN: 979-8-88855-003-8

RELEASE DATE: 11/15/2023

This humorous satire on communist Poland in the 1970’s takes place in an imaginary hotel deep in the Tatra Forest of Poland.

NONFICTION FICTION

Alden Mellor Heck ties deeply personal experience to the expressiveness of her own paintings.

ISBN: 979-8-88855-006-9

RELEASE DATE: 11/30/2023

These stories pose philosophical and moral questions, inviting readers to contemplate their own place in the world and the nature of human responsibility.

humor, intelligence, and sensitivity.

Iraqi province in 2003, he saw how much Iraqis resented the U.S. and U.K. and “how humiliating and degrading our work had become.”

As director of a small charity in Afghanistan for three years, he witnessed the “mess, corruption, and half-failures” of Britain’s international aid programs. After directing Harvard’s center on human rights and global governance, he decided to take the plunge into political life. Stewart explains the complicated process of becoming a candidate: vying for party support at many levels and mounting a frenetic campaign to muster votes. After winning handily, he found himself in a system “defined by claustrophobia.” The culture was “inert, depressing, and shallow,” and he was treated like an upstart. Frustrated, he decided to devote himself to community action and local issues, where he achieved real success. After several years as a backbencher, he was promoted to ministerial positions, where the power he anticipated wielding was repeatedly compromised by calcified systems and staff lacking expertise. Doctors, for example, “were not allowed on the health legislation committee.” Change, he saw, “did not come from winning arguments on merits.” With rapier wit, Stewart skewers many of his pompous, cynical colleagues: glib David Cameron; Liz Truss, who affected “instead of accuracy, vagueness”; and Boris Johnson, a blustering “egotistical chancer.” The author’s disillusion proved insurmountable: “I began to feel that the longer I stayed in politics, the stupider and the less honourable I was becoming.”

A biting, captivating memoir.

Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You

Stutz, Phil | Random House (208 pp.)

$27.00 | Nov. 28, 2023 | 9780593731086

Guidance on the road to wellness.

Frustrated with traditional therapy, which “was designed to make it impossible for patients to change,” psychotherapist Stutz argues that facing life’s challenges requires developing one’s inner energy and acknowledging “the life forces of the universe.” As he argued in his previous book, The Tools, individuals have the power to effect productive transformations in their lives if they make a serious and ongoing determination to do so. He emphasizes the importance of a transcendent connection “to higher life forces,” which need not derive from organized religion, but must nurture our feeling of faith, “the force that gives us peace and certainty regardless of our outer circumstances.” Stutz cautions against believing that happiness can be achieved through accumulating wealth, renouncing responsibility, or indulging in pleasure. Real freedom “is exactly the opposite. It is developed through submission to the three inescapable aspects of reality: pain, uncertainty, and effort.” He underscores the importance of effort in living creatively, giving up destructive habits to set an example for one’s children, and practicing self-love: “the process of accepting the most inferior part of yourself.” Love is central to overcoming anger, as well—projecting “a loving energy to someone who has hurt you is called active love, and is the highest stage of selfhood.” To counter negative thinking, Stutz advises directing one’s inner energy to gratitude for gifts large and small that come from “the dynamic spiritual organism that underlies reality.” He offers advice on parenting young children and surly teenagers, marriage, friendships,

work problems, and relationships with elders. Self-control, discipline, and empathy are as vital for positive change as connection to a “holistic universe.” “If you find yourself without spiritual direction,” he writes, “without interest in anything creative, without involvement in a community, without deep relationships, you are not moving forward.”

Thoughtful advice for personal growth.

The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are

Trotter, Tariq & Jasmine Martin

One World/Random House (176 pp.)

$26.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780593446928

Renowned hip-hop artist

Trotter, aka Black Thought, describes how his most important relationships affected his art and his life.

At the age of 6, Trotter accidentally burned down his family’s home. While his family quickly forgave him, understanding that he was just a child, “that experience of total loss became the basis of all that I am.” He continues, “When I was six, there were parts of me, subconscious maybe, that marked my fiery mistake as the beginning of the unraveling of my family. I internalized a simple narrative: it was my fault.” By the time Trotter was 16, his experiences as a young graffiti artist, a student at Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, and a witness to the destructive force of the crack epidemic unfolding in his beloved neighborhood in South Philadelphia, made him realize that his community’s struggles—and, in particular, his mother’s murder—were caused by circumstances that began long before his birth. Although he fondly describes his loving relationship with his grandmother, who had high hopes for Trotter and his half-brother, “her only grandkids,”

Trotter’s family life was far from stable. Long before he dealt with his mother’s crack addiction and subsequent death, the author also endured his father’s murder. Throughout these extremely difficult times, Trotter credits his access to art and his strong sense of community with his ability to eventually heal. Beyond his family story, the author traces the origin of his musical group The Roots, focusing particularly on his decadeslong friendship with Ahmir Thompson, aka Questlove. The book’s lyricism, clarity, and tone beautifully reflect Trotter’s facility with words, which he has demonstrated for years in the studio and on stage. Although the storyline sometimes meanders, overall, the author’s vulnerability, circumspection, and compassion render this an outstanding read.

An eloquently insightful autobiography from an iconic rapper and wordsmith.

World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music

Tweedy, Jeff | Dutton (240 pp.) | $26.00 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780593472521

The Wilco front man muses on 50 favorite songs. Describing his latest as a “weird little book of love letters to songs,” Tweedy offers a deeply personal, Dylan-esque, “philosophical” take on the works that have influenced him as a songwriter and a person. Woven in and out of his diverse choices are Rememories,

“dreamlike passages recounting specific events” in his life. A “bong-bruised, coughed-up lung of a song,” Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” made the “first dent in my musical mind.” Next, the author writes about how Leo Sayer’s “Long Tall Glasses” makes him think about his father. Bob Dylan is Tweedy’s favorite artist, and he chooses “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” because it’s the first of Dylan’s songs he fell for. Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” feels “like it’s been a part of me for as long as I’ve had a me to feel,” and Patti Smith’s “Horses” is a “shard of poetry sung with the spirit and cadence of a taunt.” At age 12, Tweedy was blown away by “My Sharona”—and still is. Whenever he thinks about Volcano Suns’ “Balancing Act,” he feels “frozen forever in the amber of my youth.”

The New Lost City Rambler’s “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down” helped the miserable teenaged author feel better, and the Minutemen’s “History Lesson—Part II” is the “ground on which I stand.” The song “Little Johnny Jewel,” by Television, “simultaneously ripped me apart and held me together.”

Tweedy adores the Ramones and “The Weight,” especially the version with Mavis Staples from The Last Waltz. In the early days of Wilco, he often sang Carole King’s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” as an encore. He wishes he had written Souled American’s “Before Tonight,” and his jog down memory lanes closes with the Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There.”

Easygoing and thoroughly entertaining.

A Brilliant Life: My Mother’s Inspiring True Story of Surviving the Holocaust

Unreich, Rachelle | HarperCollins (352 pp.) | $19.99 paper | Nov. 28, 2023 9780063328754

Journalist

Unreich makes a graceful book debut with a family history, gleaned from interviews that she conducted with her 89-yearold mother, Mira, before she died from cancer.

Born in a Czech village in 1927, Mira was the youngest of five children of Dolfie and Genya Blumenstock, Jewish shopkeepers. Her peaceful childhood ended in September 1940, when she was 13. Jews were banned from owning businesses or attending school, and their private property was confiscated by Czechoslovakian officials. In 1942, the round-ups began. Vowing to keep his family safe, Dolfie strategized their escape. Mira, like her siblings, had non-Jewish papers, but for her safety was sent away from the family to another town, where she rented a room and worked. At the same time as Dolfie protected his own family, he and his son smuggled Jews out of the Bochnia and Warsaw Ghettos, with the help of non-Jewish drivers. They hid the fugitives in homes, including Dolfie’s own, before sending them on to Budapest. But in 1944, the family met the fate of so many other Jews: Mira witnessed as Dolfie was murdered outside of his house; she and her mother were sent to a camp, one of over 40,000 situated all over Eastern Europe. Kraków-Płaszów, where Mira was sent first, was located in the south of Poland. “Originally a forced labour camp,” Unreich writes, “it had become an effective killing location.” By the time the war ended, Mira had spent nearly eight months in four camps; her mother and a brother had been killed. Mira’s recollections

Easygoing and thoroughly entertaining. WORLD WITHIN A

For more from Jeff Tweedy, visit Kirkus online.

of the cruelty and sadism of the Holocaust are wrenching, yet the experiences did not quash her abiding faith in humanity. As a wife, mother, neighbor, and friend, she both embraced and enacted goodness. A daughter’s tender portrait of a woman who lived through terror.

Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South

Varon, Elizabeth R. | Simon & Schuster (516 pp.) | $35.00 | Nov. 21, 2023

9781982148270

A biography of the Confederate general whose support of constitutional rights for Black Americans after the Civil War enraged Southern critics and ignited a campaign to destroy his reputation.

Gen. James Longstreet (1821-1904) had the courage of his convictions, and he suffered for it. Second in command to Robert E. Lee, after Appomattox, Longstreet made a startling choice, accepting the terms of the surrender and vowing to support the Union. A slave owner and loyal Confederate before the war, he came to believe that Southerners should leave behind their “Lost Cause” and move forward to rebuild their economy and society. He moved to New Orleans, taking up a post in the federal government and advocating for equal rights for Black people. In 1874, Longstreet challenged one of Reconstruction’s most outrageous assaults on federal authority, directing an integrated force of policemen and soldiers in the battle against thousands of New Orleans insurrectionists who briefly wrested power from the federal government. Wounded in the fray, he left the state and spent the rest of his life answering his detractors, who labeled him “traitor number one.” University of Virginia historian Varon, a Gilder

Lehrman Lincoln Prize winner for Armies of Deliverance, tells Longstreet’s story with authority and insight, and she portrays a man with complicated motives. Some of Longstreet’s postwar stances can be traced to political ambition, fostered by his West Point friendship with Ulysses S. Grant, but for the most part, he was considered a friend to Black citizens and leaders until his death at 82. Varon never quite defines what gave him the perspective to think independently, but she reclaims his reputation and does him justice. Her style is accessible, and her scholarship buttresses the narrative. Readers interested in the Civil War and the horrors of Reconstruction should not miss this book. Comprehensive, readable, and accessible.

Kirkus Star Songs on Endless Repeat: Essays and Outtakes

Veasna So, Anthony | Ecco/HarperCollins (240 pp.) | $28.99 | Dec. 5, 2023

9780063049963

Fragments from an unfinished life. In his first book of stories, Afterparties, Veasna So (1992-2020) took readers to California’s Central Valley to explore the lives of second-generation Cambodian Americans and their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles—people who fled their home during the Khmer Rouge’s campaign of genocide during the 1970s. Sadly, the author did not live to see his debut become a critical and commercial success. This anthology is a collection of writings he left behind, a mix of fiction and nonfiction, some previously published, some appearing for the first time. The essays cover a broad range of topics. In tone, they range from the thoroughly personal to the erudite, and the fact that the

most scholarly piece is about reality TV says a lot about this writer’s ability to mix so-called high and low style. There’s a lot happening in this critique, but one anecdote stands out: Veasno So’s description of watching Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s food-and-wine expert crown the homecoming king and queen at Syracuse University—an event that would have been surreal even if the author hadn’t been high on poppers. An astute, heartfelt review of the film Crazy Rich Asians , written for n+1, begins with a paragraph that is, all by itself, a tiny masterpiece. “Baby Yeah” is about the author’s love of Pavement and a friend who took his own life, and reading it knowing that he lost his own life to an accidental drug overdose is devastating. Most of the fiction here is from Straight Thru Cambotown, the novel Veasna So was working on at the time of his death. It seems impossible to read these excerpts without wishing for more— from these characters, from this narrative, for this author. Another posthumous publication from a writer who was only just discovering his brilliance.

Kirkus Star

The Path to Paradise: A Francis Ford Coppola Story

Wasson, Sam | Harper/HarperCollins (384 pp.) | $32.99 | Nov. 28, 2023 9780063037847

A vivid biography of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (b. 1939) and his production company, American Zoetrope.

“As no other filmmaker does,” writes veteran film biographer Wasson, “Coppola lives in his stories, changing them as they change him, riding round an endless loop of experience and creation”—until,

usually reluctantly, letting go of them, only to watch some crash and burn. “Artistic perfection has never been integral to Coppola’s colossal experiment,” writes the author. “Learning and growing have been. Living is. Dying is. The adventure is.” Part of the pain in the failures is that, like his successes, Coppola’s films cost a fortune, and money flows freely through his fingers. Indeed, the author devotes significant attention to the finer points of financing, with one elusive film, Megalopolis, yet unmade, projected in 2001 to cost at least $100 million. It’s not that Coppola’s films haven’t made money: Apocalypse Now, the tortured tale of whose making forms the heart (of darkness) of this book, turned a profit after it threatened to drag all involved into bankruptcy, and The Godfather and American Graffiti sent generations of film executives’ kids to college. Throughout, Wasson shows the studio system as a source of constant hindrance, imposing conditions that sometimes work out and sometimes don’t. Coppola’s oneman-band perfectionism is another enemy. “They had to move quicker,” writes Wasson of one shoot. “But if Coppola the producer said that to Coppola the director, the latter would tell him to take it up with Coppola the writer.” Not to mention Coppola the businessman, with a wine business bringing in about $100 million per year, enough to keep his beloved, legendary American Zoetrope studio afloat “not as an alternative to Hollywood, but a complement”—though still not enough to make Megalopolis a reality, at least not yet.

A memorable portrait of an artist who has changed the cinematic landscape and whose work will endure.

Food, Inc. 2: Inside the Quest for a Better Future for Food

Ed. by Weber, Karl | PublicAffairs (336 pp.) | $18.99 paper | Dec. 5, 2023 9781541703575

A collection of essays on the problems that plague America’s food supply chain at every level. This collection accompanies the documentary series Food, Inc. 2, sequel to Food, Inc., and several pieces cover the same ground as the previous book. The contributors focus on the corporatization of agriculture and the ruthlessness of the massive companies involved. Many small farmers find it difficult to earn a living, and exploitation is common across the entire supply chain, from the people who pick the vegetables to cooks, servers, and other restaurant staff. Several articles look at the unhealthiness of much of the food that is currently produced, and food journalist Larissa Zimberoff, author of Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valley’s Mission To Change What We Eat, has worrying things to say about lab-produced food. The problem with this book is that much of the information has been examined before, sometimes decades ago. Does anyone still think that highly processed foods are good for you? A number of writers cannot resist the temptation to take a swipe at Donald Trump, and Cory Booker’s article, “Politics on Your Plate,” reads like an advertisement for the Democratic Party. Similarly, the essay by Michiel Bakker, “From Food Services

to Foodshots,” feels like a promotion for his employer, Google. In their analysis of agribusiness, some articles drift close to conspiracy-theory territory, and in some places there is a self-righteous, preachy tone. More interesting material includes an article on expanding the aquaculture sector and an essay that calls for improving financing options and access for sustainable farms.

“The Four Bites,” social entrepreneur Christiana Musk’s exploration of plant-based quasi-meat, also raises intriguing possibilities. Readers who buy everything from Whole Foods will like this book; others may pass. Other contributors include Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, and Leah Penniman.

A mixed bag covering a great deal of territory.

Kirkus Star

On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

White, Ronald C. | Random House (512 pp.) $35.00 | Oct. 31, 2023 | 9780525510086

A full-length biography of the Union officer whose stand on Little Round Top made him one of the heroes of the Battle of Gettysburg. Distinguished historian White, the author of A. Lincoln and American Ulysses , follows the remarkably varied career of Joshua Chamberlain (1828-1914), though his military service is the central focus. Born outside Brewer, a small shipbuilding town in Maine, Chamberlain was the son of a prosperous farmer. He was raised in the Congregationalist church, and his mother urged him to become a minister; his father wanted him to attend West Point. Instead, he embarked on a rigorous course of

A revealing portrait of an American hero who deserves even wider recognition.

ON GREAT FIELDS

independent study to qualify for admission to Bowdoin College, where he graduated with honors, eventually mastering nine languages. He also met his future wife, Fanny, organist for the church choir he directed. After three years at Bangor Theological Seminary, Chamberlain was invited back to Bowdoin to teach, and he took the opportunity to introduce a more progressive approach than the lectures and rote recitation then typical of higher education. When the Civil War began, he answered the call of duty and found himself second-in-command of the 20th Maine, which performed memorably at Little Round Top. He was promoted to general after receiving a serious abdominal wound at Petersburg, an injury from which he never fully recovered. Still, he had an illustrious postwar career, including his time as the president of Bowdoin and four one-year terms as the governor of Maine. White is at pains to substantiate Chamberlain’s actions during the war, which have been questioned by some other historians, and he goes into considerable detail on how his religious beliefs affected his actions throughout his life. Ultimately, he delivers a satisfying biography that will satisfy military and Civil War buffs. A revealing portrait of an American hero who deserves even wider recognition.

Drunk-ish: Loving and Leaving Alcohol

Wilder-Taylor, Stefanie | Gallery Books/ Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) | $27.99 Jan. 16, 2024 | 9781668019412

A sharp, self-deprecating look at overcoming addiction.

In her latest book, Wilder-Taylor recounts her relationship with alcohol and her painful journey to sobriety. She previously wrote

several books, including Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay and Naptime Is the New Happy Hour , about how alcohol helped her take the edge off the strains of being a new mother while juggling a career as a comedy writer. She admits that she had always drank too much, and with a wry eye on her own foibles, she explains how booze had become the center of her social and emotional life, even while she was hiding her level of consumption from her husband. The author offers plenty of funny jokes about her capacity for self-deception, while a part of her admitted that her drinking was sliding out of control. The turning point was when she realized she had driven home while falling-down drunk, with her children in the car. She started going to AA meetings and was, after a huge effort, able to quit. Giving up prescription drugs was another battle. Soon, a new round of addictions emerged, including candy, computer games, and even her cellphone. They were not as harmful as alcohol, but she knew that she needed to conquer them for her psychological peace. Once sober, she realized that many mothers of young children likewise drank too much. After she wrote about her battle with addiction on her blog she became a minor talk-show celebrity, although she had mixed feelings about it. All this could have easily turned into a melodramatic plea for sympathy, but Wilder-Taylor’s willingness to make fun of herself makes Drunk-ish a brave, entertaining book, with much to say about living in our times.

Wilder-Taylor’s story of becoming sober after years of drunkenness is told with wit, intelligence, and engaging honesty.

The Risk It Takes To Bloom: On Life and Liberation

Willis, Raquel | St. Martin’s (384 pp.)

$29.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781250275684

A Black transgender activist recounts her journey to political and personal self-discovery.

During her childhood in Augusta, Georgia, Willis felt supported and loved. Her older sister, Jessica, was like a second mother to her, and she knew she could rely on her brother, Chet, for protection and unflagging support. Things began to change when she thought that she was gay, an identity that was forbidden by her family’s mostly white, and sometimes racist, Catholic congregation. After coming out to her mother and father—both of whom eventually accepted her—Willis enrolled in college at the University of Georgia. There, she was exposed to drag culture and began performing as a drag queen. These performances, combined with her relationship with a trans man, helped the author realize that she was not a gay man, but a trans woman. “It was affirming,” she writes, “to have a trans boyfriend in this early era of my gender transition,” she writes, and he became “a haven” for her. Unfortunately, she was not able to come out as a trans woman to her father, who died prematurely. During the time that she began to tell her family about her trans identity, Willis took on leadership roles in several campus LGBTQ+ organizations, a decision that would foreshadow her future career as a journalist and activist. The decision to be a part of these clubs felt fraught, though, as Willis felt she was forced to choose between her Black and queer identities, a pattern that would follow her throughout her life. The author’s sociopolitical analysis is well layered, and her frankness and vulnerability render her voice intriguingly endearing. Although her prose oscillates between clumsy and lyrical, the book’s fundamental elements are

For more from Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, visit Kirkus online.

strong, suggesting even more sophisticated work to come.

A promising debut memoir from a young activist with an already impressive career.

The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty

Wolff, Michael | Henry Holt (320 pp.) $29.99 | Sept. 26, 2023 | 9781250879271

A mogul’s downward spiral. Journalist

Wolff, author of a spate of books skewering the dysfunctional Trump presidency, returns to his investigation of the Murdochs with a fast-paced, gossip-filled recounting of family drama—rivaling Succession in intrigue and bitter strife—and the travails and scandals that have roiled Fox News. In focusing on the media giant, though, the author is concerned “less about what is on the air, than what is in its heart, or churning in its stomach. Here is a television story of ego, money, power, and the unnatural obsession to be on the air.” His goal, he adds, “is to bring to life the contradictory forces that now tear at the network.” Those forces are not limited to the enmity between Murdoch’s sons James and Lachlan and the machinations of their sister, Elisabeth, but includes the late, disgraced Roger Ailes, an arch-manipulator; Ailes loyalist Sean Hannity, “addicted to airtime and the sound of his own voice”; self-aggrandizing Tucker Carson; the recent Dominion

lawsuit that cost the company hundreds of millions; and Murdoch himself, “disconcertingly inarticulate, seemingly stuck in a zeitgeist and emotional time warp, and barely able to function outside of his closed circle of henchmen.” Wolff is merciless in his characterization of Murdoch’s sons: Lachlan, weak and indecisive; James, simply “a prick”—supercilious, needing “to justify whatever choices he’s made and actions he’s taken as being of a higher order than everyone else’s. He is aided in this by a natural hostility and overweening smugness and a punchbefore-getting-punched spirit.” Wolff weaves verbatim conversations, the inner thoughts of his melodramatic protagonists, and his own wide-ranging speculations to predict the eventual fall of Murdoch’s empire. Now 92, Rupert is “shaded by doubt, ambivalence, regret, and bafflement, and the harsh and clanging voices of his children. Not the best mindset with which to hold a kingdom.”

A sordid family and journalistic history.

Kirkus Star

Late Romance: Anthony

Hecht―A Poet’s Life

Yezzi, David | St. Martin’s (480 pp.) | $35.00 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781250016584

Chronicle of an acclaimed poet.

Yezzi, a poet, playwright, and editor of the Swallow Anthology of New American Poets, makes his debut as a biographer with a

sensitive, comprehensive study of Anthony Hecht (1923-2004), former poet laureate of the U.S. and winner of the Pulitzer Prize and many other honors. Hecht was born in New York City to a wealthy family of non-observant Jews. While his brother, whose infirmities included epilepsy and partial paralysis, drew all the family’s attention, Hecht grew up feeling “solitary, adrift.” He attended tony schools but was a desultory student. Only in 1940, when he landed at Bard College, did he begin to thrive. The war intervened, though, and he enlisted in the Reserve Corps. Accepted into the Army Specialized Training Program, he was sent to Carleton College to learn German in preparation for translating. When the program was discontinued, he was thrown into the infantry, and his wartime experiences marked him forever. Although he never killed anyone, he emerged with an “excruciating sense of moral compromise” and PTSD. On the GI Bill, he enrolled at Kenyon College, where John Crowe Ransom was his academic adviser. The Ransom circle “became his literary home base, a place of belonging from which to begin writing in earnest.”

Yezzi engagingly traces Hecht’s growing reputation; friendships with a host of literary stars, including Saul Bellow, Anne Sexton, James Merrill, Joseph Brodsky, Leonard Baskin, and W.H. Auden; his coveted awards; and his teaching career at Bard, Smith, Harvard, Georgetown, and the University of Rochester, where he was “the star of the English department.” His personal life at times was volatile—he was prone to depression and suffered breakdowns; his first marriage ended in divorce. His second, though, proved a source of lasting happiness. Yezzi’s intimate knowledge of Hecht’s poetry informs a sympathetic, authoritative portrait.

An artful, well-informed biography.

For more on Fox News, visit Kirkus online.

Yezzi’s intimate knowledge of Hecht’s poetry informs a sympathetic, authoritative portrait.

LATE ROMANCE

Children's

KIRKUS PRIZE 2023: CHILDREN’S FINALISTS

COMBING THROUGH our many, many starred reviews—608, to be precise—to come up with the six finalists for the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature was a challenge. But this year’s jurors were up for the task. High school librarian Ayn Reyes Frazee and author Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, a Kirkus Prize finalist in 2020 for her middle-grade novel Fighting Words, worked with editor Laura Simeon and me to select our list. I’m delighted to introduce the picture book and middle-grade finalists (for the young adult finalists, see Laura’s column on Page TK).

In the picture book Together We Swim (Chronicle Books, Aug. 15) by Valerie Bolling, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita, a Black family spends a day at the pool. The mother teaches the youngest to swim—an experience that’s by turns fun, overwhelming, and exhilarating. Bolling’s simple but deft text positively sings, while Juanita’s retro-style images depict a tightknit, loving family that strikes a balance between supporting the little one and allowing him

to take chances. Juanita’s attention to background details makes for a vivid and utterly immersive work that will have children returning for rereads.

João by a Thread (Elsewhere Editions, 2022) by Roger Mello, translated from Portuguese by Daniel Hahn, opens with a premise with which many youngsters will be intimately familiar: A boy lying in bed one night finds his thoughts wandering. The very blanket that covers him inspires wild imaginings, and it transforms into a mountain range, a lake, and a huge fish caught in a net. The blanket eventually unravels until young João must stitch it back together using his own imagination. Contemplative text matches the feelings evoked by Mello’s dynamic, abstract illustrations: wonder, uncertainty, fear, and hope. A work of art unto itself, this is a profound yet age-appropriate testament to a child’s innate sense of creativity.

Both this year’s middle-grade finalists are heavily illustrated works that follow protagonists on big journeys. Julia and the Shark (Union Square Kids, March 28) by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, illustrated by Tom de Freston, centers on a 10-year-old girl who, along with her parents,

temporarily relocates from Cornwall to a lighthouse in the Shetland Islands so that her scientist mother can track down the Greenland shark. When Julia’s mother, who has bipolar disorder, exhibits alarming behavior, Julia believes finding the shark is key to solving their problems. Hargrave’s portrayal of a girl grappling with big emotions is pitch-perfect, while de Freston’s illustrations are mesmerizing; it’s rare to see a novel that so seamlessly integrates text and art.

Why has young Otilla run away to a mysterious house in the woods? Who is the talking skull she meets? And what terrors lurk at night? With The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale (Candlewick, July 11), Jon Klassen offers few answers, instead trusting readers to form their own conclusions. Economical prose and muted, hauntingly lovely art blend for a story about pain, courage, and the power of friendship. A retelling of a folktale that Klassen read and then misremembered (in the best possible way), this gorgeous book will spur aspiring authors to follow suit and pen their own versions of well-known stories.

Illustration by Eric Scott Anderson

MAHNAZ DAR

Mahnaz Dar is a young readers’ editor.

EDITOR’S PICK

A whodunit where the “who” and the “dunit” are the least interesting parts of the story.

Cat has just walked in to discover a cookie jar shattered on the floor, the cookies nowhere to be seen. When asked to explain what happened, cheeky Mouse is more than happy to oblige. Mouse tells a story of how the cookies, tired of being cooped up, destroyed their own jar and are now wandering the countryside, free. “Honestly we should be happy for them.” When Cat doesn’t buy it, Mouse follows up the tale with one about a slimy monster, then one about an alien named Georgette, then one about a bug with multiple hungry

relatives. Cat screams for Mouse to just tell the real story, so Mouse does. “I stole and ate all the cookies, and then the jar fell and broke. The end.” Morality isn’t in question here. In fact, it’s only at this point that Cat realizes how dull the truth can be. Ultimately, Cat asks for another cookie story, which Mouse provides…for a cookie. Brimming with marvelous read-aloud potential (frustrated characters make for fantastic vocal oscillations), Ruzzier’s latest provides plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, many stemming from Cat and Mouse’s odd-couple relationship. The text is simple enough

The Real Story

Ruzzier, Sergio | Abrams | 32 pp. | $16.99 Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781419755262

for younger readers, while the surreal watercolors are the perfect complement to Mouse’s out-of-this-world imaginings.

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A superb celebration of storytelling when the truth proves insufficient. (Picture book. 3-6)

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A Year of Black Joy By Jamia Wilson; illus. by Jade Orlando

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The Golden Apples By Dan Yashinsky; illus. by Ekaterina Khlebnikova

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I Can Open It for You By Shinsuke Yoshitake

Jurassic Smarts: A Jam-Packed Fact Book for Dinosaur Superfans!

Agresta, Jen & Stephanie Warren Drimmer

National Geographic Kids (216 pp.) | $19.90

PLB | Sept. 19, 2023 | Series: Nerdlet

A compendium of dinosaur discoveries with vibrant illustrations and paleontology facts.

The title may refer to the Jurassic period, but the book also includes dinosaurs from across the Mesozoic era (and even some mammals). A flow chart directs readers to choose their own path for exploring the book, asking questions that lead them to the Triassic, Jurassic, or Cretaceous periods. The book covers familiar ground, with entries for dino celebrities like Tyrannosaurus rex and the Stegosaurus, while also highlighting more recent discoveries from around the world. The individual entries include fossil facts, details about diet, and scientists’ beliefs about social habits alongside richly colored, highly realistic illustrations of the animals in action. “Dino Pro” spotlights interspersed throughout introduce readers to the work of professionals from diverse backgrounds. “Destination Dino” segments show readers locations around the world, from the Jurassic Coast of southern England, where renowned 19th-century paleontologist Mary Anning made many discoveries, to the Zigong Dinosaur Museum in Sichuan, where visitors can see a dig site in progress. Though the organization is loose, the rhythm is right, balancing specific facts with sharing the broader context. Readers will also be intrigued and inspired by how much is yet to be discovered.

A visually enticing, high-energy dinosaur fact book that both satisfies and sparks curiosity. (index, glossary, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

What’s a Germ, Joseph Lister?: The Medical Mystery That Forever Changed the Way We Heal

Alexander, Lori | Illus. by Daniel Duncan Clarion/HarperCollins (144 pp.) | $19.99 Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780358538172

A biography of Joseph Lister focused on his advancements in antiseptic medicine.

Joseph Lister lived at a time when hospitals were dirty places and surgery was a brutal affair that frequently ended in death from hospital-born infections. Yet young Joseph was fascinated by how bodies worked, and he grew up to become a surgeon who tackled the mystery of why so many people died after surgeries. He systematically studied the role of inflammation in healing and—inspired by the work of Louis Pasteur—tested the theory that the infectious agent was microscopic. His story is told in clear, easy-to-read text; the clean prose is especially helpful when showing how he used the scientific method to refine his understanding. The curiosity that drove Joseph powers the mystery of the book and makes him a relatable, admirable figure. The text is broken up with illustrations, some full-page and many more in spotlight format. The use of sidebars and additional context from other scientific minds working on germ theory stumbles only in the conclusion of a brief discussion of Ignaz Semmelweis (“With his research ignored, Semmelweis went mad and eventually died in a mental institution”), which oversimplifies and uses othering language. Extensive backmatter includes relevant photographs and images, a timeline, a glossary, source notes by chapter, a

bibliography, and an index. Final art unseen.

A compelling read sure to inspire young minds. (Biography. 8-14)

Kirkus Star

Small-Girl Toni and the Quest for Gold

Anatol, Giselle | Illus. by Raissa Figueroa Viking (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Dec. 26, 2023 9780593404867

A charming tale in tribute to the life and imagination of storytelling powerhouse Toni Morrison.

Small-Girl Toni is certain that stories— her stories—can change the world. Many adults in her predominantly Black community disagree, but Small-Girl Toni does what real-life Morrison will become known for when faced with doubt from critics—she tells stories anyway. Like stories about treasure in her town to draw her siblings into a hunt. The foursome pick blackberries as they search for doubloons in lonely Ms. Solomon’s backyard; they offer to walk Widow Sersee’s dogs in the hope the canines will sniff out long-buried gold; they peer enthusiastically through the candy shop window at golden treats, only to be rebuffed by the white store owner. All the while Small-Girl Toni spins her tales, and as the siblings arrive home glumly with no treasure, she helps them see the gold they found along the way—“It’s all in how you tell the story.” Bold softness is as much a signature for Figueroa’s illustrations as it is for Morrison herself. Bright, rich spreads celebrate the deep roots of Toni’s small town and the exuberant heights of her story landscapes. Readers will return again and again to search the pages—younger ones to find the different examples of gold and older ones to find Anatol’s creative nods to Morrison’s writings, referenced in the appended biographical note. Glowing and overflowing with the legacy of the author who inspired it. (Picture book. 4-8)

To read our review of Awesome 8 by Jen Agresta, visit Kirkus online.

A beautiful, powerful addition

the pantheon of feminist folktale reimaginings.

STORIES OF THE ISLANDS

Stories of the Islands

Angkasa, Clar | Holiday House (176 pp.)

$22.99 | $14.99 paper | Oct. 31, 2023 9780823449781 | 9780823455737 paper

A graphic reimagining of three classic Indonesian fairy tales that center their female protagonists. Three folktales are told in three chapters, in different color palettes, separated by spot-illustrated title pages. In “Keong Mas (Golden Snail),” an eldest princess is transformed into a snail after manipulating her selection as the prince’s bride. She must reflect on her actions and empathize with others to break the curse. In “Bawang Merah Bawang Putih (Shallot Garlic),” two sisters have to seek their own happiness when tragedy strikes their blended family. In “Timun Mas (Golden Cucumber),” a healer and her supernaturally born daughter use their knowledge and talents to outwit a monstrous being. Curving, swirling lines convey movement against the backdrop of Indonesian villages and landscapes, highlighting the characters’ connections to sea and land. Backmatter includes a prose version of each story, and the author’s note describes Angkasa’s motivations for examining women’s roles and relationships in fairy tales beyond reductive tropes, as active agents in shaping their own destinies; she aims to empower readers to question perceived self and societal limitations. Illustrations and terminology hold cultural and environmental texture, some broadly Indonesian, some regionally specific, such as

details of clothing, furniture, and rice paddies. With dialogue written in clear, modern language, this collection will be broadly accessible. A beautiful, powerful addition to the pantheon of feminist folktale reimaginings. (three “original stories” with illustrations) (Graphic fiction. 8-13)

Tim Does His Own Thing

Antonissen, Bianca | Illus. by Lisa Brandenburg | Clavis (32 pp.) | $18.95 Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781605379463

In this Dutch import, a group of birds tries to teach a newly hatched babe how to fly. Readers see only a tiny portion of the parent before the egg rolls away to hatch. A (geographically improbable) collection of other birds flock to the chick and ask all sorts of questions. While the tot knows his name is Tim, that seems to be all he knows, so Master Owl determines that the first order of business must be to teach him how to fly (never mind that only one bird species can fly right after hatching). Mother Blackbird and Father Duck each give Tim a lesson, but he’s too busy watching the world around him to pay attention. Miss Eagle, on the other hand, gets the other birds to fashion larger wings for Tim, then transports him to the cliff top. But he shrugs the wings off and shouts, “I DON’T WANT TO FLY!” With that, Tim hears the familiar voice of his dad, a penguin. The other birds look chagrined, even more so once Tim decides to give them all a lesson in diving. Brandenburg’s illustrations

are more realistic than cartoonish, the various species identifiable though not labeled. While the story itself isn’t rooted in realism, the takeaway—sometimes it’s best not to listen to the crowds—is a sound one.

Marching to your own drummer is sometimes the best way of being true to yourself. (Picture book. 4-7)

Duel

Bagley, Jessixa | Illus. by Aaron Bagley Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) | $24.99 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781534496552

Constantly fighting sisters face off in a high-stakes duel.

GiGi has worked hard to be the perfect eighth grader and the best athlete on the fencing team.

New sixth grader Lucy is nervous about starting middle school. The only thing they have in common is a love of fencing, and ever since their father died, their bickering has worsened. Everything culminates in a public scene in which GiGi humiliates Lucy in the school cafeteria. Lucy pulls out her foil and challenges GiGi to a duel. As the sisters prepare for their bout, the whole school begins picking sides. GiGi and Lucy must also choose: themselves or each other? The story is told from both sisters’ perspectives, allowing readers to sympathize and understand each of their sides, ensuring that neither one is seen as merely cruel. Each chapter opens with a sepiatoned page resembling an excerpt from an old sporting manual that explains an aspect of fencing. Those not interested in fencing may get bogged down in the technical details, but those who reflect on them retroactively will notice the clever way they relate to the events of the story. The artwork is simple, with flashbacks drawn in light indigo against a white background and contemporary events in full color with an emphasis on the characters’ expressions. The sisters read biracial, with a

to

white-presenting mother and a father who appears Black.

Intense and complex, exploring siblings’ grief, love, and forgiveness. (author’s note, photos, sketches)

(Graphic fiction. 8-12)

Ready, Set, Dough!

Baptist, Kelly J. | Crown (176 pp.) | $16.99

$18.99 PLB | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9780593429174

9780593429181 PLB

An aspiring journalist raises funds for a new computer. The family computer keeps crashing while Zoe attempts to finish writing a feature for the school paper, but her parents are indifferent. Money is tight, and buying a new computer is the last thing on their minds. What’s an enterprising young writer to do? Then she sees it, the solution to all her problems: a cookie dough–selling contest at her school. The winner gets a brand-new Horizon WordPro GT laptop. What starts out as an earnest quest to outsell her rival turns into a desperate race to sell, sell, sell. When Zoe attempts to reach out to relatives, including one who turns out to be dead, Mom steps in to slow her down. But the owner of the flower shop where Mom works allows Zoe to sell cookie dough there in exchange for working after school during their Valentine’s Day rush. Zoe finds herself on a roller-coaster ride of trials and tribulations. Baptist does a great job of building suspense. Though the first half of the book feels a bit slower, once the momentum picks up, readers will be hooked. This tale of entrepreneurialism run amok isn’t new, but it is fun. Readers will root for Zoe while relating to the exasperation of those around her. Zoe and her family are cued Black. A funny, heartfelt romp, with a charming protagonist at its heart. (Fiction. 8-11)

I’m Trying To Love Germs

Barton, Bethany | Viking (40 pp.) | $18.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780593326725

An invitation to meet our microbial friends and foes. Cleverly urging viewers to treat her pages like pinchable screens to make pretend transitions between the micro and macro worlds, Barton continues the series that began with I’m Trying To Love Spiders (2015). In a rollicking exchange between an unseen narrator and a talking germ about the differences between (benign) microbes and (less benign) pathogens, the author highlights the importance of good hygiene and, when necessary, using medicines. Googly-eyed specimens of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoans that are “can’t-be-seen-withyour-regular-eyeballs small” parade past in cartoon scenes that alternate with views of a diversely hued and dressed band of children looking generally miserable or uncomfortable. The specimens “Can’t be pronounced either!”—though for anyone willing to give it a go, Barton does provide scientific names with phonetic hints. The message that we share our bodies as well as our world with germs comes through loud and clear. Better yet, following a closing appeal to readers to use their hand-washing “superpower,” the author supplies a nicely targeted reading list for those who want to know more. She has a more generally applicable insight to share, too: “Sometimes just appreciating how different something is can make you love it!”

An effervescent introduction to the fungus (etc.) among us. (Informational picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Star

The Magicians

Blexbolex | Trans. by Karin Snelson

Enchanted Lion Books (210 pp.)

$34.95 paper | Nov. 7, 2023

9781592704040

In this translated French import, three magicians materialize from prolonged dormancy, but hot on their heels are a huntress and a mechanical lion/dragon.

Eleven chapter headings organize intriguing third-person episodes. Some hint at aspects of the trio’s personalities: “A Scoundrel” (the elephant), “A Pest” (the bird), and “A Sly Fox” (the redheaded girl). The opening suggests that this fantasy occurs “now,” while the conclusion says it “will be again.” Nearly square, silkscreenlike images in a controlled palette are framed by the borders of abundant, soft, creamy pages. Several sentences per page—all in blue caps—reveal an elegant translation: The elephant slams the door “with the surly incivility of a traveler in a hurry.” Climactic moments fill double spreads. When the main characters combat their pursuers and acquaintances, tilted angles and sharpedged shadows dominate; when the protagonists escape “outside” through a tear in the page, the compositions are less saturated, with childlike scribbles producing a more innocent vibe. Most people have pink skin; some people toward the end read Black. Recurring threads emerge: the quest for home, the tension between orderliness and chaos, the desirability of magic in the world, and the wisdom of reconsidering first impressions. As these motifs wend through transformations and cameos containing familiar folkloric elements, readers experience the sense of a gifted storyteller improvising as ideas flow. Protecting magic, extending grace, leaping into the future with hope—this tour de force will nourish souls. (Graphic fantasy. 8-adult)

To read our review of I’m Trying To Love Spiders by Bethany Barton, visit Kirkus online.

Holly’s Secret

Brandis, Katja | Illus. by Claudia Carls

Trans. by Rachel Ward |

Arctis Books

(280 pp.) | $16.00 | Nov. 14, 2023

9781646900220 | Series: Woodwalkers, 3

Puma shapeshifter Carag’s best friend faces guardianship issues that threaten her presence at the school in this fantasy set in Wyoming and translated from German.

Following the events of A Dangerous Friendship (2023), Carag is still dwelling on the nonspecific threats from the human-hating chief villain, Andrew Milling. Carag quickly (and too conveniently) learns that after his refusal to help Milling, the villain has found a new spy in the school. One-dimensional wolf bully Jeff starts making cryptic comments that undercut any mystery as to who the villain’s helper is this time. At one point, the book even acknowledges that a situation is a repeat from a previous installment. Meanwhile, in the ostensible main plot, the arrival of a mean human at the school—a man claiming he’s orphan Holly’s new guardian—throws the kids into turmoil, as he wants to pull Holly out of the boarding school. His motives, like those of most characters in the book, are never justified. With Principal Clearwater conveniently out of town, leaving nasty teacher Mr. Ellwood in charge, Holly feels vulnerable enough to run away and hide, with help from Carag and friends. (The bullying culture in the book also includes a played-for-laughs subplot about vandalizing a teacher’s

art.) A final storyline—aside from Milling’s still-nebulous plots—involves a bank robbery that the kids decide to try to solve. The ending restores the status quo. Carls’ black-and-white spot art showing expressive, naturalistic animals are a highlight. Most characters are cued white; there is some racial diversity in the supporting cast. Implausible plotlines rely on flat characterization. (Fantasy. 8-13)

Daytime and Nighttime: Explore the Earth’s Habitats During the Day and Night

Bright, Michael | Illus. by Nic Jones | Words & Pictures (64 pp.) | $19.95 | Sept. 26, 2023 9780711283527

Profiles of varied diurnal and nocturnal inhabitants of global habitats.

Like the creators’ North Pole / South Pole (2020), this book is evenly divided between two types of animals; kids can start off reading about one group, then flip the volume over to learn about the other. Crepuscular animals mediate between the halves. Each page briefly identifies and explores a particular habitat, from the Australian outback to North American prairies. The same environments appear in both sections. Intriguingly labeled paragraphs describe noteworthy denizens (like the “rabbit imposter” vizcacha of the Andes Mountains) and the habitats themselves. The well-written text includes wonderfully specific details, like the speed at which a panther

chameleon thrusts out its tongue, as well as some esoteric information, like the difference between monotremes and marsupials. (Though clownfish and sea anemones offer a perfect illustration of symbiosis, that term is not used to describe their relationship.) The visuals balance their focus between settings and inhabitants. On some pages, the animals are labeled with small-type pages; not all are (though they are identified in the main text), which may frustrate curious readers. As in the previous book, the absence of an index is disappointing, and the nighttime section avoids mentioning human light pollution. But the dramatic and colorful artwork is attention-grabbing and provides both context and detail.

Celebrating some of the multifarious life-forms in diverse Earth environments. (Informational picture book. 7-11)

Too Many Interesting Things Are Happening to Ethan Fairmont

Brooks, Nick | Union Square Kids (224 pp.) $16.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781454947103 Series: Ethan Fairmont, 2

A boy and his friends do their best to reconnect with an alien friend while avoiding alien enemies in this sequel to Nothing Interesting Ever Happens to Ethan Fairmont (2022).

Ethan had a wild summer that included befriending an alien named Cheese, defeating evil alien hunters, and starting the Create Space, a science learning center in his hometown of Ferrous City. Now that sixth grade is about to start, he’s excited for his favorite subject, science, especially since he’ll be with good friends Juan Carlos and Kareem. But a new girl named Fatima Adebayo joins his class and threatens Ethan’s place as smartest in the class. She loves science and inventing,

An adventure filled with fun hijinks and personal growth.

TOO MANY INTERESTING THINGS ARE HAPPENING TO ETHAN FAIRMONT

JACQUELINE WOODSON

The National Book Award winner is haunted by the ghosts of her past.

BY MAHNAZ DAR

The paranormal may not figure in her work, but Jacqueline Woodson has been writing ghost stories for years. “I think that’s what all historical fiction is, to an extent. If it has any kind of emotional gravitas to it, then it is about ghosts. The past in and of itself is a ghost,” she tells me from a writers retreat in Griante, Italy, when we speak by phone.

Set in Bushwick, Brooklyn, during the 1970s, Woodson’s new

middle-grade novel, Remember Us (Nancy Paulsen Books, Oct. 10), follows a 12-year-old Black girl named Sage who watches as her neighborhood is wracked by a series of mysterious fires. Though it’s a work of fiction, the novel was inspired by Woodson’s own experiences growing up in Bushwick; her neighborhood was dubbed “The Matchbox” by many newspapers due to the many fires. It’s a story she’s long felt compelled to write, but

figuring out how to tell it has taken nearly her whole life. “I started writing it as a screenplay at one point,” she says. “I started writing it as a long poem. I started writing it as a letter to my childhood. I feel like I had all these false starts and then finally landed on telling it through the lens of fiction, with that emotional core of truth to it.”

Many of Woodson’s works are rooted in personal experience, from the National Book Award– and Newbery Honor–winning memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming (2014), to the picture book The World Belonged to Us (2022), illustrated by Leo Espinosa. Writing helps her revisit her childhood. “That’s the beauty of literature. It can take us all home again.”

Going home presents some challenges. Though Woodson doesn’t live all that far from her old home—she resides in Park Slope, Brooklyn—the Bushwick of her past feels worlds away from the gentrified neighborhood of today. The park where she once played basketball is now covered in Astroturf, while the graffiti she remembers has long since been scrubbed away. To get into the right mindset, she listened to the music of the era, from Earth, Wind & Fire to José Feliciano. She also looked at old photos to home in on details like the bluestone sidewalks. “Even now, when you walk down

Toshi Widoff-Woodson

That’s the beauty of literature. It can take us all home again.

Woodson’s novel is set in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

certain streets, the siding is very new and different than it was 20, 30, 40 years ago,” she says. Reminding herself of how things looked and sounded helps her “get back into the place.”

Woodson infuses Remember Us more joy than she felt at the time. Like her protagonist, she saw friends and neighbors lose their houses to the fires. But despite the pain, Sage’s love for her neighborhood is palpable. In one of Woodson’s favorite scenes, Sage and her new friend Freddy look on as a young boy named Jacob jumps on an old, half-burned mattress. As she wrote, Woodson was charmed by “the absolute joy I felt in his joy”: “all those somersaults and him just flying through the air and all the joy in that and his bright green shorts and just the blur of him and Freddy and Sage watching it.”

She adds, “There’s this joy circling the edge of a lot of devastation. In the moment, it didn’t always feel joyful. So I think I rewrote it to show the joy in retrospect, and that’s different from what it was in the moment.”

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Woodson found herself pulled back to her adolescence once more as sirens permeated the air—this time not from firetrucks but from ambulances. “I think about the things that our young people are going through and, by extension, adults, too. When we have young people in our lives, we experience [things] twice—through our own experience of it and through the experience of the young people we love… watching how it shapes them, how they’re moving through it.”

She adds, “It always takes me back to my own childhood and what I’ve moved through, and I think that’s a way of being able to connect with [young people] and also have empathy for what they’re going through.”

Throughout her career, Woodson has displayed an intuitive understanding of the way young people see the world, and she brings that sensitivity to bear on her latest novel. Sage, who prefers basketball to makeup, has started to feel out of place among her female friends. While shooting hoops

one day, she’s harassed by a boy who takes her ball and taunts her (“What kind of girl are you?…I should punch you in the face just to show you you ain’t a dude”). That was the scene Woodson found toughest to write. In an early draft, the boy merely yells at Sage before leaving, but Woodson was inspired to change it after her friend the musician Toshi Reagon, who reads all her work, confided that she’d had a similar experience growing up; hers ended with the boy taking her ball and then punching her. Though Woodson didn’t want to write a violent scene (Sage emerges physically unscathed), she did want to convey the hurt Sage feels. “The violation is not just in him taking her ball; it’s what he says to her that cuts deeper, because it’s an age where you’re already questioning everything about who you are, whether you’re aware of it or not. There’s such a deep fragility to adolescence.”

Keenly aware that young people grappling with such roiling emotions need patience and understanding, Woodson wrote Sage’s mother as

more of a “21st-century mom.” When Sage, reeling from her encounter with the boy, lashes out by setting fire to the bathroom, her mother is initially furious but eventually listens when her daughter opens up about her uncertainties. Woodson’s own mother likely wouldn’t have been so sympathetic, she says, but her “hope is that I’m having that relationship with my own kids. Being able to just talk.”

A mother of two—a daughter, 21, and a son, 15—she often draws from her own experiences as a parent. “As a writer, I truly have to be both the parent and the child to be able to tell the story.” To readers, it’s clear that Sage “just had this trauma; she’s feeling kind of trapped; she’s feeling unattractive.” But her mother “has no sense of any of that.” For Woodson, it’s crucial to be able to present events in a multifaceted way. “I love being able to do that—to be in both their heads and understand why things happen.”

Though Sage feels confused and alienated, she ultimately finds a sense of belonging when she meets other girls who share her love of basketball. “People forget there was a time before the WNBA. It’s such a young organization. There was this time when there was such an isolation to being a girl who loves sports. Now we see people like Sha’Carri Richardson and Brittney Griner and all these people bearing the flag.”

Woodson hopes that readers will take solace in seeing Sage find her people. “For me, it felt like such a triumph and kind of a message for myself. If I’m the only one loving this, it does not make me wrong. If I feel alone in this moment, I’m not actually alone. There’s somebody, or many bodies, out there who have these same desires, who have these same talents, who want to play ball or run track or write a book, whatever it is. Eventually you find your community, and it becomes such a triumph and a reckoning and a validation.”

Remember Us received a starred review in the Aug. 15, 2023, issue.

and even worse, she’s a member of his group project. Ethan wants to study the communication device Cheese left behind, but that would require letting Fatima know all about his extraterrestrial interactions. Ethan must decide whether bringing Fatima into their confidence would help or hurt things. With strange events taking place in Ferrous City, he’ll have to learn to trust Fatima in order to protect their hometown and Cheese. Brooks hits the ground running with the next installment of this series that centers Black and brown kids. Ethan is determined to be great, but he struggles to accept help, and this may be a harder challenge than defeating aliens. The issues converge smoothly, providing a solid backdrop to the humor. An adventure filled with fun hijinks and personal growth. (Science fiction. 8-12)

Bad Kitty Does Not Like Easter

Bruel, Nick | Roaring Brook Press (24 pp.)

$10.99 | Dec. 19, 2023 | 9781250884770

Series: Bad Kitty

Perennial favorite Bad Kitty returns in search of a prize.

Bad Kitty and her friends are going on an egg hunt, but besides the usual dyed eggs, a golden egg holding “the best thing ever” is waiting to be found. Bad Kitty imagines that it will offer a host of tangible goodies, picturing catnip, fish, treats, a ball of yarn, etc. Bad Kitty’s strategy is not clever: In quest of the gold, she passes up all the colored eggs, which are of course gathered by her friends Stinky Kitty, Chatty Kitty, Big Kitty, and Puppy. Soon those eggs are all gone, and the “golden” one she finally pounces on turns out to be the curved back of Puppy—in whose mouth she now sees the golden goal. Surprisingly, her friends are not eating candy from their eggs. When opened, each contains a friend-related challenge, like “write a story about your friend,” or “give a present to your

friend.” It’s Puppy who gets that one and who, in response, gives Bad Kitty the golden egg. It turns out to have a special message inside from all her friends. Large, serif type will help developing readers. The illustrations are in the established goofy Bad Kitty cartoon style, with exaggerated facial expressions and frenetic, easy-to-read body language supporting the simple text. Easter means colored eggs only here: no mention of religion.

This Easter message is that friends are golden. (suggested friend challenges for Easter eggs) (Picture book. 4-7)

Super Boba Café

Chanani, Nidhi | Colors by Sarah Davidson Amulet/Abrams (224 pp.) | $24.99

$16.99 paper | Oct. 24, 2023

9781419759567 9781419759574 paper Series: Super Boba Café, 1

A girl learns that there’s more riding on her grandmother’s boba shop than just making customers happy with sweet drinks. Thirteen-yearold Aria is going to visit Nainai, her Taiwanese paternal grandmother, in San Francisco for the summer (her mom’s side of the family is Indian). The two quickly fall into a fun routine: exploring the city in the mornings before opening Super Boba and ordering takeout from local restaurants for dinner. Some things are strange, however: There’s a bunch of prairie dogs living behind the shop, and every evening, Nainai sneaks off

alone. Aria has a secret of her own— she’s trying to put a terrible experience with bullying and social media behind her and is apprehensive about going online again. Initially, Aria is so focused on trying to help Nainai bring in much-needed customers that she’s reluctant to hang out with Jay, an Indian American teen neighbor. When Bao, the shop cat, surprises them by having kittens, Aria realizes it’s an ideal social media opportunity. Eventually Nainai’s big secret is revealed, one that involves a wacky combination of prairie dogs, boba, and a threat to everyone in the city. Ultimately, Aria, Nainai, and Jay work together, finding a solution that’s neatly tied up. The story explores family, friendships, and moving on from past hurt with a light touch. The attractively colored panels and expressive characters are visually engaging, ramping up both the suspense and the cuteness factor. Refreshing and filled with charm. (design and process notes) (Graphic adventure. 8-12)

Lila and the Jack-O’Lantern: Halloween Comes to America

Churnin, Nancy | Illus. by Anneli Bray Whitman (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Sept. 7, 2023 9780807566633

A young Irish immigrant to the United States adapts her traditions to a new land.

In mid-19thcentury Ireland,

A loving family, a verdant garden, and Gullah Geechee traditions are key ingredients to this delightful stew of a story.

OKRA STEW

Jack is a “sly spirit,” a prankster, deterred from entering a house by a carved turnip face lit by a glowing coal placed in the window. Lila and her two younger siblings journey with their Ma to join their Da in an unnamed American city, ca. 1850. The urban landscape is very different from their green fields, and the younger children are anxious about maintaining traditions around Halloween (an Irish festival import). Ma assures Lila that she’ll still “bake colcannon and barmbrack” (though as the recipe at the end confirms, colcannon is not baked). But, alas, there are no turnips to be had. At an open-air market, Lila quickly finds a friend, olive-skinned Julia—and an idea for a turnip substitute. She explains Irish Halloween to Julia, inviting her to participate. Julia explains the edibility of pumpkin seeds (and says that the stringy pumpkin “guts” can be turned into pie, though actually, they can’t). The younger children dress in sheets to scare Jack away (trick-or-treating will develop later). There is no recipe for barmbrack, a sweet Irish tea bread, more complicated than colcannon. The appealingly simple but realistic illustrations, featuring light-skinned, redheaded Lila and her family, are alight with autumnal color and replete with details of tenement life.

A warm story of heritage, and the anxieties and rewards around change. (history, recipe) (Picture book. 4-8)

Poetry Prompts: All Sorts of Ways To Start a Poem From Joseph Coelho

Coelho, Joseph | Illus. by Georgie Birkett, Amanda Quartey, Grasya Oliyko & Viola Wang | Wide Eyed Editions (64 pp.) $22.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780711285125

Children’s

Laureate Coelho encourages young readers to awaken “the poet within.”

The author offers 41 ways to get started…beginning with hard-to-follow directions for folding and tearing a sheet of paper

to make a blank booklet but going on to more helpful demonstrations of one-word poems (“the trick is to have a long title”), rhyme and repetition, alliteration, onomatopoeia, concrete and found poetry, select poetic forms such as haiku and (for a special challenge) triolets, and poems for holidays or other occasions. If his examples set low bars for regular rhythms or heightened language—“In the middle of the NIGHT / two KNIGHTS had a thought / to head out for adventure, / to leave behind their boring fort”— they are at least easy to emulate, and for more ambitious writers he does add a “Poetry Power-Up” exercise for each prompt. Coelho also occasionally breaks from the generally jocular tone to suggest, for instance, crafting a poem about plastic waste or on the theme of “Home Is…” for World Refugee Day. Four illustrators working in closely similar styles depict a racially diverse cast of children in exuberant poses along with colorful figures of fanciful flora, fauna, and food to provide further inspiration. The message that poetry is “about having fun with words” comes through loud and clear. Enticing suggestions and exercises for budding Byrons and hesitant Heaneys. (Instructional picture book. 7-10)

Be Wild: Amazing Animal Behaviors To Inspire Growing Humans

Crandall, Leigh | Illus. by Angela Edmonds Whitman (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Sept. 7, 2023 9780807506288

Sometimes acting like animals can be a good thing. In a series of comparisons that are, to say the least, stretched, Crandall invites readers to wash their ears and feet like jackrabbits, “make” their beds the way orangutans literally do every night, be good listeners like owls, which can “pinpoint even the tiniest scuffle of a mouse beneath the snow,” and look to other animals for similar behavioral

cues. Some behaviors do seem at least somewhat analogous—she notes that a polar bear wishing to share another bear’s meal will ask permission “calmly and respectfully” by touching noses. But characterizing two elephants twining trunks as exchanging a “handshake” may be understating the intimacy of the gesture, and her assertion that hippo sweat “works just like sunscreen” may give readers misapprehensions about their own perspiration. Edmonds illustrates the author’s premise with cozy scenes of friendly-looking wild creatures in natural settings, from chimps grooming one another and jackrabbits cleaning themselves (with their tongues) to koalas and sea otters sacked out in their respective habitats and honeybees and humpback whales demonstrating teamwork. No human figures are depicted. The book closes with a brief note from Crandall about the importance of protecting wild animals and their habitats, as well as a short list of reference books. Easy on the eyes but saddled with an overstrained, anthropomorphic premise. (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Star

Okra Stew: A Gullah Geechee Family Celebration

Daise, Natalie | Henry Holt (40 pp.) | $18.99 Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781250849663

A loving family, a verdant garden, and Gullah Geechee traditions are key ingredients to this delightful stew of a story.

When our young narrator, Bobo, awakes, Papa is already in the kitchen preparing warm biscuits for the child and the rest of the family: Mama, Big Sis, and Grandpa. But the day’s work is just starting as Papa and Bobo set out to cook okra stew for dinner tonight. The hard work and garden-grown veggies that go into this meal are on full display in illustrations

that rely on acrylic paints, textiles, and various natural materials. Bobo describes the smells and sensations of the “dayclean” (a Gullah term for morning) with vivid detail and a youthfully inviting charm. Midday has father and child gathering shrimp and seashells at a nearby creek, and, upon their return home to the kitchen, the cooking finally begins. Chopped veggies fly across the page and take center stage before making their way into the pot, and the warmth of the kitchen gives way to a flashback of Papa and Grandpa cooking together a generation ago. The recipe is mouthwateringly detailed, skillet-baked cornbread is prepped as a side, and Bobo’s glee is palpable when the rice “rains down into the pot.” Mama and Big Sis return from work and school just in time for stew, and Grandpa joins them, too.

Delicious from “dayclean” to “when the sun red fa down.” (more information on the Gullah Geechee people, glossary of Gullah term, recipe for okra stew) (Picture book. 4-8)

My Little Sweet Boy

Duff, Hilary | Illus. by Kelsey Garrity-Riley

Random House (32 pp.) | $19.99

Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780593300756

A companion offering to actor Duff’s My Little Brave Girl (2021) with sound, sensitive advice from parents to children on their journey through childhood.

A gracefully drawn watercolor palette limns a diverse group of boys portrayed not just as brave and strong, but as kind, caring, and observant. They can climb trees and be physically active while also being encouraged to “honor the power of all [their] emotions.” A boy is sitting unhappily with his dad on their front stoop waving goodbye to his mom, who’s leaving for a trip; when you’re sad, it’s certainly OK to cry. Understanding right from wrong is important, demonstrated

by two boys shown intervening when a third is being nasty to a fourth younger child. Picking apples and planting and harvesting a vegetable garden illustrate ways to take care of their bodies. A boy making signs for his class president candidacy depicts confidence and the ability to use his voice. A final scene stresses the importance of listening, questioning, and being willing to learn, whether by choosing books to read, walking to school with other children, or conversing with a grandparent. The visual examples given to enhance each portion of the narrative should elicit discussion through the inferences implied.

Though directed at sons, the guidance presented is sensible for kids of all genders navigating life. (Picture book. 6-8)

Buster Gets Back on Track

Earnhardt Jr., Dale | Illus. by Ela Smietanka Tommy Nelson (40 pp.) | $18.99

Sept. 19, 2023 | 9781400233373

Series: Buster the Race Car

In NASCAR champion Earnhardt’s latest, Buster the race car learns how to manage big emotions.

Once again motor sports meet dealings with feelings. Having learned how to cope with performance anxiety in Buster’s Trip to Victory Lane (2022), the young race car now struggles with frustration as team members Click and Jimmy Jam keep winning practice heats. Coach Hog counsels taking a moment: “Breathe in deep. / Count 1, 2, 3. / Breathe out slow. / And off you’ll go!” Before Buster can take that advice to heart, though, he acts out—roaring away from the track into the woods and trying his wheels on a muddy off-road course against retired Humvees Kat and Gus, with no better success. Eventually, of course, he gets back on track both literally and figuratively…and breathes his way to a triumphant win. “But knowing he

didn’t have to get stuck in his feelings? Well, that felt even better.” Smietanka puts smiling faces on the grilles of the four-wheeled cast, along with identifying accessories like a ball cap for Buster and pink “camo” for Kat. Racing fans will pore over an aerial view of the entire off-road course, and the cartoon illustrations extend into a trio of closing exercises for any readers who want to try out Coach Hog’s technique in various off-road situations. Pedal to the metal, but once the dust settles, it’s all about the instructional load. (Picture book. 6-8)

Miss Daisy’s Flowers

Eberhard, Wina | Clavis (32 pp.) | $18.95 Sept. 5, 2023 | 9781605379157

A young rodent copes with death. Miss Daisy is Mouse’s muchloved teacher. But she is ill and might not get better and return to school. Her farewell gift for each student is a live plant; Mouse’s grandmother helps plant Mouse’s in the garden, and Mouse “takes very good care of the flowers.” Then Mouse has an idea: writing Miss Daisy letters describing all the mouse friends’ activities. Mouse will draw the pictures, and Mom will write the words. Mouse asks Mom if Miss Daisy might die, like Cat and Fish (crosses in the garden suggest their graves). Mouse becomes upset when Mom says yes. When Mouse eventually learns of Miss Daisy’s death, Mom comforts and hugs the child. And there are distractions for young Mouse, both before and after Miss Daisy’s passing: the garden, where Miss Daisy’s flowers—naturally a type of daisy—have flourished and spread, a large toy airplane, a tree house, a kite made by Grandpa. The pictures ostensibly drawn by Mouse have wavering lines, but they are clearly more competent than average child art. The soft images depict gray, tan, and white mice that straddle the line between realistic and anthropomorphic. Setting colors

are subdued, with lots of chartreuse, and the gentle style complements the subject; many vignettes float in the middle of the pages.

Subtly suggests ways to cherish memories after someone is gone. (Picture book. 4-9)

La Mariachi

Estrada, Isabel | Illus. by Addy Rivera Sonda Sleeping Bear Press (32 pp.) | $18.99

July 15, 2023 | 9781534111912

Series: Own Voices, Own Stories

Tuchi dreams of playing the guitarrón in a mariachi band, but she falters when she learns girls are not allowed in the ensemble.

Hearing the mariachi band playing in the plaza inspires Tuchi. But she’s disappointed when her teacher, Mr. Sanchez, tells her she can’t play in the school’s group: “Mariachi is only for boys.” Later, when her grandfather plays with his friends, Tuchi asks to join in but is told that mariachi requires “strength and stamina. It’s just for boys.” After she finds her grandmother’s old instrument, her Nana encourages her by teaching her how to play and emboldening her to stand up for herself. Although Tuchi is unfairly discouraged by the adults she trusts early in the book, her grandmother’s mentorship, love, and heirloom guitarrón help Tuchi prove that she belongs in the mariachi band and that girls deserve the same opportunities as boys, especially in the classroom. Tuchi’s grandmother is a wonderful example of a positive role

model, and their close and nurturing intergenerational relationship will resonate with many. Spanish words are sprinkled throughout; a glossary defines them. Characters are brownskinned and cued as Latine; the focus on mariachi implies a Mexican setting. Music notes weave through the bright, cartoonlike illustrations, evoking Tuchi’s passion for mariachi. Musically inclined readers will appreciate backmatter with information on other mariachi instruments, with photos. Uplifting and harmonious. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-7)

Hans Christian Andersen Lives Next Door

Fagan, Cary | Illus. by Chelsea O’Byrne Tundra Books (160 pp.) | $16.99 Sept. 5, 2023 | 9781774880159

Andie explores a newfound love of poetry as she contends with teasing and speculates about her mysterious new neighbor.

Andie’s lived in her small Ontario town since she was little, transplanted by entrepreneurial parents seeking a simpler life. When a tall man moves in next door, Andie notices the letters HCA on his mailbox and, consulting a portrait of Hans Christian Andersen in a picture book, concludes the fairy-tale master is her new neighbor. Inspired, she writes her own version of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” in verse, with a slightly revised ending. Andie forms a friendship with new student Newton: He’s a sympathetic ear when she confides her secret about

her neighbor, and she listens to his future plans of wrangling roos in Australia. When classmate Myrtle, who’s long bullied Andie, points out that the real Andersen is dead, Andie lashes out. Andie’s misunderstanding about her neighbor’s identity feels a bit dragged out; it’s unclear why she fails to figure things out sooner or why the neighbor indulges her assumptions for so long. Overall, though, this is a lighthearted look at friendship and change—Andie uses her poetry to process her emotions, while Myrtle digs deep to admit that her insults often don’t leave her feeling very good. Amusing black-and-white line drawings and examples of Andie’s poetry are interspersed throughout. Main characters are cued white. An enjoyable story of understanding (and misunderstandings), sprinkled with fairy tale–inspired poems. (Fiction. 9-12)

Swimming Toward a Dream: Yusra Mardini’s Incredible Journey From Refugee to Olympic Swimmer

Faruqi, Reem | Illus. by Asma Enayeh Page Street (40 pp.) | $18.99 | Sept. 5, 2023 9781645679837

Syrian athlete Yusra Mardini overcame countless setbacks on her path to the Olympics. A talented swimmer, young Yusra was trained by her father and by 14 had made her mark, representing Syria in international competitions. But her world changed when war broke out. With schools closing and bombs falling on Damascus, Yusra’s family made the difficult decision to send her and her sister to flee with relatives to Germany. The sisters embarked on a tumultuous voyage by air, sea, and land. Crossing from Turkey to Greece on an overcrowded boat with a failing engine, Yusra and her sister displayed great bravery as they leapt into rough waters, grabbed the boat’s ropes, and

Subtly suggests ways to cherish memories after someone is gone.

MISS DAISY’S FLOWERS

pulled everyone to safety. Despite yet more challenges ahead, Yusra eventually achieved her dream of swimming in the Olympics. Beautiful, textured watercolor and gouache illustrations add a compelling emotional dimension to Yusra’s incredible journey. Overall, this is a well-told story, but some readers may find several moments slightly confusing—notably, why war broke out and why countries closed their borders. Backmatter offers more context, as well as a timeline of Yusra’s journey and a map, though readers seeking more concrete information on the origins of the war should look elsewhere.

A testament to the power of pursuing one’s dreams despite forced displacement. (author’s and illustrator’s notes) (Picture-book biography. 7-10)

Attacked!: Pearl Harbor and the Day War Came to America

Favreau, Marc | Little, Brown (240 pp.)

$17.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780316592079

A fresh account of Pearl Harbor through the eyes of those who experienced it.

The “ ‘official’ story of Pearl Harbor cast a long shadow,” writes Favreau, erasing many other ways the events could have been remembered. Here, he includes American, Native Hawaiian, and Japanese experiences, rounding out readers’ understanding. For example, there are the stories of Black mess attendant Doris Miller, who received a Navy Cross for heroism, only to drown in 1943, when a Japanese torpedo sank his ship; nervous Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa, 28; and the Japanese American Watanabe family of Honolulu, who lost their father when he was shot by U.S. fighter planes while working on his fishing boat. The book also includes Japanese perspectives, from Emperor Hirohito to Kazuo Sakamaki, who left Japan for

Hawaii on his 18th birthday, knowing, as he put it, that he “was saying good-bye to all things to which a normal person clings.” The multitude of voices straddling national, political, and hierarchical boundaries reveals the tremendous cost to all. Favreau reminds readers that this was a crisis on American soil that, like others, has led to racist responses. His measured tone successfully conveys that in times of tragedy, we must avoid scapegoating. He accessibly and engagingly shows readers that with Pearl Harbor, the real story is “more complicated— and much more interesting, tragic, and heroic—than the simplified version.” An inclusive, expansive take on a pivotal historical moment. (key figures, timeline, source notes, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Nature’s Rule Breakers: Creatures That Don’t Fit In

Fries-Gaither, Jessica | Millbrook/Lerner (32 pp.) | $29.32 PLB | Oct. 3, 2023

Broad labels don’t always work. Scientists use categories like herbivore or coldblooded to sort animals, but this intriguing title makes the point that our binary classifications can be too rigid. Science educator Fries-Gaither discusses 22 animals that don’t fit neatly into the standard groups, instead falling somewhere in between. The Eurasian eagle-owl, for example, is neither nocturnal nor diurnal but crepuscular, meaning it is active at dawn or dusk. In winter, wood frogs may seem dead, with no heartbeat, but in spring they thaw and come alive. She also describes animals that move between fresh and saltwater, those that can be both male and female, and those that have both lungs and gills (or neither). Short paragraphs of text are set on or alongside colorful, close-up stock photographs. The author emphasizes her point: “Our categories don’t fit them.” Readers who’ve been saddled with unwanted

labels may appreciate the lesson here.

“Standing OUT is IN their nature.”

(The design incorporates changing text cases and colors for emphasis.)

Fries-Gaither concludes by explaining the utility of categories for general scientific purposes and introducing other examples, including plants and extinct animals. Not your ordinary display of interesting and appealing animals, this offering has an important message for young readers and the adults who care for them.

For in-betweeners everywhere. (glossary, further reading, photo credits) (Informational picture book. 5-9)

Ruptured

Fritz, Joanne Rossmassler

Holiday House (272 pp.) | $17.99

Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780823452330

The cadence and imagery of poetry illuminate a journey through grief and fear to healing and self-discovery. In her second verse novel, Fritz uses narrative free verse and the imagery of oceans and lighthouses in rhythmic poetry to tell the story of Claire Sloan, a 13-year-old who navigates an awakening sense of self along with the shock of witnessing her mother suffer a serious medical event. The poems, told in Claire’s first-person narration, are divided into three parts that build on one another like successive waves. In “Low Tide,” readers learn about Claire’s family’s summer vacation in Maine and the sudden onset of her mom’s ruptured brain aneurysm. Claire brings readers with her through her mom’s time in the hospital and her fears about what it might mean if she doesn’t survive. In “Midtide,” poems narrate Claire’s return home to Pennsylvania, where she enters eighth grade, swims in the churning waters of young adolescence, and explores her grief. In “High Tide,” Claire’s mom returns home from rehab; the poems evoke

the entire family’s healing journey, including Claire’s discovery of how to best express her own burgeoning hope and understanding. The author’s note describes Fritz’s personal experiences with two brain aneurysm ruptures. The strong pace and interesting subject matter make this work broadly compelling and accessible. The Sloans are white; Claire has good friends who are Black and Latine.

A compulsively readable account of a young teen’s journey toward hope. (Verse fiction. 9-14)

Doña Gracia Saved Worlds

Goldberg, Bonni | Illus. by Alida Massari

Kar-Ben (24 pp.) | $19.99 | Dec. 5, 2023

9781728466996

A unique true story from Jewish history.

A young girl named Gracia learns from her family how—and why—to practice her religion in secret. In the 16th-century Iberian Peninsula, “all religions except Christianity were against the law,” so her family hid their traditions from the outside world. As an adult, Gracia marries another Sephardic man who controls ships that import “spices and silks from the Indies”; once widowed, she takes over his business. Building wealth and favor by giving lavish gifts to the king in exchange for a promise that he won’t arrest secret Jews, Gracia uses her power to help other clandestine Jews. She even engineers an escape for herself and others, guided by the principle that “a

person who saves even one life saves a whole world,” by hiding people on one of her ships bound for Antwerp. The rich, dark colors of the illustrations are often overlaid with patterns resembling an ancient tapestry, adding texture and depth to otherwise staid scenes. This zoomed-in look at longago but still relevant history ably describes a complex political situation to younger readers, revealing an interesting figure making a difference despite incredible odds. The book will most likely appeal to an older picture-book audience with an interest in history and human rights, and it may start conversations about being true to oneself and working for a community. Quiet but strong. (author’s note) (Picture book. 6-9)

Glow: A Family Guide to the Night Sky

González, Noelia | Illus. by Sara Boccaccini Meadows | Magic Cat (64 pp.) | $22.99

Sept. 12, 2023 | 9781419767807

Series: In Our Nature

our insulating, aurora-generating atmosphere. Aside from artificial satellites (“Heroes of Communication and Cooperation”), all are natural. In each double-spread entry, the author explains how to find the object (a no-brainer for the sun and the Milky Way but useful for spotting, for instance, Acrux, one of the stars in the Southern Cross), some of its distinctive features, and a “Brief History” that gathers relevant names and lore from various world cultures. Though capable of poetic lines like “Sirius is the brightest star in our dark, velveteen sky,” the author occasionally oversimplifies, as when she claims that two galaxies are in the same “region of space” as Ursa Major. Meadows opens each chapter with an invigorating montage of swirling colors, evocative motifs, and stylized historical and mythological figures, then goes on to brighten ensuing pages with smaller images in the same stylized vein. An inconsistent jumble, better for browsing than research. (glossary, further reading) (Nonfiction. 8-10)

Different Kinds of Minds: A Guide to Your Brain

Grandin, Temple, with Ann D. Koffsky Philomel (256 pp.) | $18.99 | Nov. 28, 2023 9780593352878

Introductions to celestial wonders— some astronomically distant, others closer to home.

Casting her subjects as “cosmic heroes,” NASA science writer González profiles a randomly mixed lot of 15 stars, asterisms, and residents of our solar system—beginning with the moon, which is a “Hero of Rhythm and Renewal” for its regular phases, and finishing up with that “Hero of Pageantry and Protection,”

Animal behaviorist Grandin and children’s author Koffsky collaborate on a rambling exploration of different kinds of thinkers. Grandin was born in the 1940s, when, as an autistic kid, she was labeled “brain damaged,” yet she eventually earned a Ph.D. She credits much of her success to being an “object visual thinker.” Grandin’s definitions foreshadow the work’s troubles: They’re vague, rely heavily on the empirically unsupported framework of multiple intelligences, and omit any mention of growth mindset, while frequently referring to

The cadence and imagery of poetry illuminate a journey through grief and fear to healing.

RUPTURED

things that certain types of people are “good at” or “bad at” (which seems designed to limit rather than expand their horizons). In the strongest moments, the book presents ofttold anecdotes from Grandin’s own career. In its weakest, it devolves into lengthy praise of “geniuses”—almost entirely white men—who are depicted in glowing terms and neatly slotted into Grandin’s categories. Grandin also complains mightily about how the education system has worsened since she was young, but her admirable push for more practical, hands-on education is mired in non-specific complaints, inconsistencies, historical myths, and ignorance about contemporary education; only in the chapter on animal thinking does her expertise get the chance to shine. Grandin often seems out of touch with contemporary young people’s conversations around disability, identity, and activism; similarly, for a generation traumatized by school shootings and active shooter drills, praising Samuel Colt for an invention that allowed a gun “to be fired multiple times before it needed to be reloaded” may not land well. Pop science and longing for a sentimental ideal are leavened with a smattering of intriguing anecdotes. (bibliography, image credits) (Nonfiction. 9-13)

The Rescues Finding Home

Greenwald, Tommy & Charlie Greenwald

Illus. by Shiho Pate | Red Comet Press (40 pp.) | $14.00 | Sept. 5, 2023

9781636550763 | Series: The Rescues, 1

Two shelter dogs win over both a human visitor and a new feline companion in this cozy adoption story.

Moose has one eye and two toys, Bear has three legs and a ball, and the two are fast friends. One day they draw the notice of Cathy—a brown-skinned adult human visitor

who hugs them lovingly and takes them to a new and bigger space, where they can romp and make friends with Mailman Joe. When a fence appears that’s too tall to jump over but not quite low enough to dig under, they have an adventure, then are surprised to meet Tiger, a shy, frightened new friend in the yard. Cathy, too, is surprised but welcomes Tiger with a bath and a warm blanket. Despite lots of vigorous play and a lullaby sung by Moose, nervous Tiger still has trouble falling asleep come bedtime but closes his eyes at last once Moose and Bear have “snuggled in close to their new brother.” The sweetness may be laid on here with a trowel, but the two pups brim with unselfconscious vim, their doggy dialogue adds comic notes (“ ‘I have been thinking,’ said Moose. ‘You do not look like a bear.’ ‘That’s funny. I have also been thinking,’ said Bear. ‘You do not look like a moose’ ”), and the easy acceptance they and their adoptive human offer to the timorous new arrival will draw enthusiastic responses from younger audiences.

Warm and snuggly. (Early chapter book. 5-8)

Kirkus Star

Lullaby for the King

Grimes, Nikki | Illus. by Michelle Carlos Beaming Books (40 pp.) | $19.99

Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781506485621

Grimes and Carlos’ take on the birth of Jesus celebrates the majesty and diversity of the natural world. As the story opens, the animals learn that the Holy One has been born, and they begin to make their way to Bethlehem, laden with gifts. Antelope brings an alabaster flask containing myrrh, while Lion brings a bronze bowl. Donkey carries dates and dried apricot cakes, while Crane brings a spoon made from ebony, and

Jackal the Clever brings a linen sash and frankincense. Goat’s gift is a harp, while Leopard’s is a crown of electrum. At last, they all arrive in Bethlehem at the stable where Mary and Joseph are waiting with Jesus. All three present as Black; Mary and Joseph have Afro-textured hair, and Mary’s hair is in braids. Nightingale gives the first gift to the Holy One: the gift of song, which startles—and delights—the baby. The other animals, inspired, play their own instruments. Grimes’ lush verse is brought to life by Carlos’ vibrant, ornate art, which depicts the fancifully colored animals striking dynamic poses and carrying sumptuous gifts. The angels, depicted as ghostly white ephemeral beings, contrast beautifully with the multihued animal ensemble. Text and visuals strike a wonderful balance between whimsy and solemnity. Backmatter includes an original song with accompanying sheet music.

Masterful prose and exquisite images combine for an unforgettable Nativity retelling. (Picture book. 4-8)

The Yawnicorn

Hamilton, Emily | Bloomsbury (32 pp.) $18.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781547613113

A mythical beast helps send little ones to sleep.

“Your head is all busy, / your legs are all twitchy, / your brain won’t stop buzzing, / your blanket is itchy.” A young tot with pale skin and a mop of red hair is having trouble falling asleep. But not to fear, the Yawnincorn is here! “He’s made up of starshine and magic and light— / he’ll help find a dreamland / for you that’s just right.” A bright white unicorn swoops in the window on a trail of sparkles. The youngster grabs his hoof, and they soar into the night. The Yawnicorn takes children to whatever imaginary landscape they can dream up. Whether it’s sitting on puffy clouds and sliding down rainbows (standard unicorn fare that

of course needed to be included), having a musical parade, exploring in the jungle, or diving deep under the sea with turtles and whales, anything is possible as long as you start to yawn once the adventure concludes. The lilting rhymes are soothing and relaxing, and the palette changes from bright pops of color to deep blues and purples as eyelids get heavier. Readers will hopefully stretch and yawn along as they snuggle in for the night. Move over, sheep: another hoofed animal is here to take over bedtime. Snoozy with a touch of sparkle and magic. (Picture book. 3-6)

What If One Day...

Handy, Bruce | Illus. by

Ashleigh Corrin

Enchanted Lion Books (80 pp.) | $19.95

Sept. 26, 2023 | 9781592703838

Handy’s latest picture book explores what might happen should different parts of our world suddenly be erased.

“What if one day…all the birds flew away?” Or if “all the water disappeared?” How about if there were no plants or colors or people? This text gets readers thinking about aspects of our world that can easily be taken for granted. It offers some gentle consequences, like worms relaxing in birds’ absence, before pivoting to ask readers to imagine what might be missing one day “because it hadn’t been dreamt of yet.” The well-intended attempt at encouraging readers’ thoughtfulness is undermined by some oversights.

Namely, for many readers, such as those who live in areas threatened by climate change and deforestation or without access to clean water, these are not what-if scenarios; they are current or looming realities that are dismissed each time Handy insists “but there is water” or “but there are birds.” The book’s conceit—calling upon children to use their imaginations to envision how the world might look—is promising, but instead of empowering readers to create meaning for themselves, the text gets more muddled the closer they look. Depicting racially diverse characters, Corrin’s full, vibrant spreads convey movement and stillness, humor and pensiveness, hitting just the right visual tones, but the writing doesn’t quite manage to live up to the artwork.

Readers will need to mind the gap between this book’s premise and what it actually delivers. (Picture book. 3-7)

Just the Way They Are

Hest, Amy | Illus. by Kady MacDonald Denton | Candlewick (48 pp.) | $16.99 Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781536214208

Series: Billy and Rose

Gentle words and fluid watercolor-and-ink illustrations remind readers how special friendship is. Four short vignettes feature Billy, a curlyhaired sheep, and Rose, a pig. The pair don’t seem to agree on anything, except that they are friends. Billy

prefers tall blue books, while Rose insists fat red books are best, but both get caught up in the stories and enjoy reading and rereading together. Billy and Rose disagree about whether it will rain, but when a downpour begins, both embrace the joy of walking in the rain together. When Billy thinks he’s having a bad hair day, Rose agrees that his assessment is correct but reassures him that she likes him even when his hair sticks up. Neither Billy nor Rose is having a birthday, but their disagreement over what constitutes the perfect cupcake threatens to end their friendship— until they separate and reflect before coming together again. Patterns within the stories will help early readers break into reading (for example, each story begins with “Billy and Rose are having a serious discussion. The subject is…”), but what stands out is how Billy and Rose clearly and calmly verbalize their opinions and model sharing, compromise, acceptance, and respecting individual differences.

A treasure trove of social-emotional skills. (Early chapter book. 4-8)

Bent Out of Shape

Hokkanen, Mirka | Candlewick (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781536223682

Series: Kitty and Cat

A stinky cat hides when it’s time for a bath.

As in Kitty & Cat: Opposites Attract (2023), the animal adventures start on the copyright page. Spotlight illustrations show a disgruntled Cat, food bowl empty, scrounging for food in a garbage can and a flowerpot. Black fur now marred by brown filth, Cat enjoys a nap, but the feline’s peace is broken by the human announcing: “Cat!

Time for a bath!” The rest of the story sees Cat hilariously contorting into various shapes—as cats are so talented at doing—to hide behind household objects, while little Kitty and Puppy aid in the search. On each spread, readers see a room while the

Gentle words and fluid watercolor-and-ink illustrations remind readers how special friendship is.

JUST THE WAY THEY ARE

Book to Screen

Disney+ Releases Trailer for Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The series based on Rick Riordan’s bestselling novels will premiere Dec. 20. Disney+ has released a trailer for Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the highly anticipated series based on Rick Riordan’s series of children’s fantasy novels.

The television show has been in the works for more than three years. It is an adaptation of Riordan’s book series, which kicked off in 2005 with The Lightning Thief ; the sixth and latest installment, The Chalice

of the Gods, is slated for publication next month by Disney-Hyperion.

The novels follow the title character, a boy who discovers he’s a demigod and must help defend the world from the evil Titans. The first five books were huge bestsellers, and the first two were adapted into films that have since been bashed by Riordan.

The Disney+ series stars Walker Scobell as Percy, with other cast members including Leah Sava Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri, Jason Mantzoukas, Megan Mullally, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Timothy Omundson. Riordan, who has voiced enthusiasm for the series, is among

its executive producers.

The trailer features brief scenes from the series, with a voiceover saying, “The stories that I have told you about Greek gods and half-bloods—they are real.” At the end, there is a

shot of Scobell, Jeffries, and Simhadri looking into the distance as a voice says, “Percy Jackson, we’ve been expecting you.”

Percy Jackson and the Olympians will premiere on Disney+ on Dec. 20.—M.S.

For a review of Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief, visit Kirkus online.

Michael Buckner Variety via Getty Images

From left, Leah Sava Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri, and Walker Scobell.

5 Spooky Halloween Picture Books

1 Bruce and the Legend of Soggy Hollow

By Ryan T. Higgins Laughter abounds in this spirited tale with a sprinkle of spookiness.

2 The Boo Crew Needs You!

By Vicky Fang, illus. by Saoirse Lou Appealing and interactive, kid-friendly spooky fun.

3 Every Night at Midnight

By Peter Cheong

Warm and dreamy, this sweet story captures the joy of finding your pack.

4 The Light Inside

By Dan Misdea Appealing, for Halloween or anytime.

5 The Goblin Twins

By Frances Cha, illus. by Jaime Kim

A sweet, comical Halloween venture for all.

For more Halloween picture books, visit Kirkus online.

human asks, “Where’s Cat?” With each page turn, Cat’s hiding place is disturbed with a, “There’s Cat!” The book allows young readers to deduce the clear patterns themselves—the shapes Cat takes are forecasted in the front endpapers. A pair of flies accompany the filthy, fragrant Cat from room to room, helpfully narrowing down possible hiding spaces. Finally, the human finds Cat, leading to the feline’s two most hilarious expressions in the book—cartoonish horror upon discovery and pure, unadulterated grumpiness in the bath. The ending combines the adorable with the humorous as the tables turn for Kitty and Puppy.

Clever, cute, and child-friendly, with excellent use of book design. (Picture book. 2-7)

Kirkus Star Milo Walking

Howe, James | Illus. by Sakika Kikuchi Abrams (40 pp.) | $18.99 | Nov. 7, 2023

9781419755200

What will Milo see on his walk today?

Milo, a young boy with curly brown hair and beige skin, sets out on a walk through the neighborhood, holding hands with his mother, who has long, wavy brown hair and beige skin. They come upon a big puddle, and Milo decides the rain has left it for him to discover. When Milo pretends his reflection is a real child, his mother plays along and replies. From there, the pair hear buzzing bees humming as they go about their daily activities. They see bright yellow flowers whose perfume reminds Milo of his mother, and they see white tails in the sky from a plane hidden in the clouds. Milo’s mother gently encourages Milo’s imaginings and even helps him with an art project that Milo works on to help them remember the day. Howe’s sensitive prose expertly

guides readers through this sensorial adventure, offering touchstones of wonder and delight (especially the welcoming slobbery kisses from a friendly pooch). Kikuchi’s luminous palette depicts whimsy and joy in each small moment—the images are awash in delicate blues and warm yellows, outlined in soft grays and browns. Varying perspectives provide close-ups of Milo’s experiences as well as bird’seye views of him and his mother in nature, keeping young readers engaged and curious themselves. An enchanting invitation to go outside, take in nature…and enjoy every moment of it. (Picture book. 3-6)

Warriors Super Edition: Riverstar’s Home

Hunter, Erin | Harper/HarperCollins (528 pp.) | $20.99 | Sept. 5, 2023

9780063050518 | Series: Warriors Super Edition

RiverClan’s feline leader grows into his job.

Taking center stage in events that have been largely chronicled elsewhere from different points of view in the Warriors: Dawn of the Clans sequence, silver tom Ripple, later known as River Ripple and finally Riverstar, is carried downstream from a Twoleg park to a wilder woodland, where he reluctantly becomes head of a burgeoning group of strays while struggling to reconcile his own love of peaceful coexistence with the necessity of fighting for space and hunting rights against bands of

aggressively territorial rivals. Even confirmed series fans may need help from online wikis to keep track of the teeming feline cast—other species have neither names nor speech, and are mostly prey quickly dispatched with an oft-mentioned “killing bite.” But many notables, like young Thunder and vicious rogues One Eye and Slash from earlier volumes, pad in and out of view as the Clans coalesce under the guidance of the ethereal spirit-cats of StarClan. A decisive battle with Slash, along with the arrival of kittens and a sharp clash with opportunistic SkyClan, all lead to Riverstar’s final choice of home between the park and the river at the close of this standalone doorstopper. Feeding, feuding, and fan service: sure to please the felines’ legion of followers. (cast list, map) (Animal fantasy. 9-12)

Three Important Jobs

Ivinson, Yvonne | Greenwillow Books (32 pp.) | $19.99 | Nov. 21, 2023 9780062842916

A young wolf is given three jobs that are more innocent than they first appear. Wolf Cub has been assigned three “important” jobs by Big Wolf and sets about completing them with a sense of purpose, but without any context—which creates a sense of suspense and sets up the twist at the end. Wolf Cub’s first job is to capture Little Mouse in her jaws, with a full page showing Wolf Cub’s “sharp and strong” teeth

An enchanting invitation to go outside, take in nature…and enjoy every moment of it.

MILO WALKING

from an interior perspective, making the scene intimidating and ominous. After Little Mouse pleads not to be eaten, Big Wolf promises she “won’t feel a thing.” Wolf Cub’s next task is to capture Floppy Rabbit in a similar manner and deliver him to Big Wolf. This whole time, the reader expects something gruesome to happen with those big teeth, but Big Wolf’s “den” turns out to be a dentist’s chair, and the creatures, including Wolf Cub, get their teeth cleaned under Big Wolf’s care. The full-color painterly acrylic artwork is beautifully rendered, but the story, which is presumably meant to help young readers overcome anxiety-provoking situations, might do the opposite: In this age of learning about consent and bodily autonomy, not letting the animals know what’s going on beforehand strikes a sour tone, and the twist at the end falls flat. Adults may want to intervene to offer context and explanations. The payoff might not be worth the ride but could be a springboard for important conversations if used correctly.

(Picture book. 4-8)

The House With 100 Stories

Iwai, Toshio | Holiday House (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780823455683

Tochi receives a mysterious piece of mail and climbs 100 stories to meet the sender at the top of a building.

When an unsigned letter floats in his window, Tochi opens it to find a map and an invitation to the highest floor in a tall tower. As he climbs the stairs, Tochi discovers a new animal house every 10 stories. The book is meant to be read vertically, turned on its side, so that the full effect of the ascent is fully visible. Each floor is a well-imagined, detailed peek into the critters’ lives. There’s the mouse house, complete with an exercise wheel; a complex frog shower

system involving a leaf that collects rainwater; and, rather than stairs, tubes for the snakes to slither through. Children will need to orient themselves to the book’s unique layout, which takes a bit of effort in sorting out how reading left to right actually means bottom to top as Tochi climbs higher. The story itself is simple, but the illustrations really bring Tochi’s world to life. The unique details, interactions, and whimsical, thoughtful touches make this Japanese import a feast for the eyes and the imagination. The most stunning illustration is the panorama of the tower fading into the night sky, the tiny windows in the distance sparkling alongside the stars in the sky. Tochi has light skin and brown hair. A vertical journey through a well-imagined, wonder-filled world. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Star The Stars and Other Stories

Jarvis | Candlewick (64 pp.) | $15.99

Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781536231380

Series: Bear and Bird

Four heartwarming stories deepen the exploration of friendship introduced in Bear and Bird: The Picnic (2023).

“Bestest” pals Bird and Bear have quarreled. Neither can remember why; both vaguely blame a spoon. Each sets out to find a replacement friend before inevitably reuniting, recognizing their affinities, and laughing at themselves. In “The Cake,” Bear comes across a treat that doesn’t belong to him and greedily inhales it. Remorseful, he bakes a replacement, adding ingredients (fish, flies, worms, etc.) to please every possible owner. The story closes by engaging readers: “Would you have tried a slice of Bear’s cake?” Attempts to keep their promises accidentally lead to the two becoming separated in

“The Rock.” But not for long. In “The Stars,” the two gaze up at the sky and decide everything is perfect. Almost. Both friends imagine add-ons, starting with cocoa (food figures in every story) and escalating to a pure fantasy that leads them to reaffirm their friendship. The book has occasional italics and small hand-lettering on signs, a few challenging words (coincidence, mechanical), and one unusual word (dung), but most of the text is easy to read, in clear type. These humorous, touching, imaginative stories are matched by illustrations with the same qualities. Naïve-looking, soft-colored flat backgrounds focus attention on the black-outlined animals, especially the textured, stuffy-like bear and simplified bluebird, both expressive and huggable.

Friendship at its best. (Chapter book. 5-7)

Love Is in the Little Things

Jones, Stella J. | Illus. by Jane Massey Tiger Tales (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 9781664300415

“Love is in…each small sight and sound.”

Gentle prose from veteran children’s author Jones details the many everyday moments full of love: “through summer, winter, / fall, and spring.” Written in the first person, the reassurances of love in all the little things follow a nursery rhyme–like rhythm expertly crafted to comfort little ones. There are verses devoted to smiles, hugs, bubble baths, and bedtime kisses. Spot art and full-page spreads follow a slightly anthropomorphized, giant teddy of a bear and a towheaded, light-skinned human child. The bear appears to be the child’s caretaker, and the two watch fireworks, read bedtime stories, dance, tell jokes, have tea parties and baths, and so on. The sketchy visuals err on the side of oversimplified. A scene where the two gaze at each other while the text refers to “quiet, love-filled, gentle smiles” that

“mean more than words can say” leaves the characters looking more blank than loving. While nothing in the prose or the nameless characters offers anything particularly grand or memorable, this offering will make a serviceable script for real-life caretakers reading aloud to sleepy listeners; as the book makes abundantly clear—“love is in the little things,” after all.

The “I love you so much” bookshelf can never be too full. (Picture book. 1-5)

Smoke at the Pentagon: Poems To Remember

Jules, Jacqueline | Illus. by Eszter Anna Rácz | Bushel & Peck Books (32 pp.) | $18.99 Sept. 19, 2023 | 9781638191520

Free-verse reflections and observations in remembrance of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Using conversational language, Jules adopts the voices of 19 local children: Kelvin (age 5) and Delia (17) both report feeling the shock of the initial explosion without understanding what’s happened, while 8-year-old Michael thinks of his older brother, who would go on to Afghanistan in the attack’s wake and never come back. Karima, 13, responds to news that American Muslims have been attacked in response: “ ‘But we live here. I was born here,’ I say. / ‘You still need to be careful,’ Dad answers, / his voice low and sad.” Aside from one child hearing a mention of “charred bodies” from Dad, a first responder (“My mom touches Dad’s lips / with her fingers. ‘Shh!’ she whispers. / ‘The kids are listening’ ”), any violence or devastation remains out of sight, both in the poems and in Rácz’s somber views of diversely hued figures with downcast eyes. An author’s note explains that Jules was working as a school librarian in Arlington, Virginia, on 9/11 and that the stories are “composites drawn from personal experiences

with students and friends.” Following two final poems that mention vows to rebuild, as well as describing the Pentagon memorial that opened seven years later, the author appends a complete list of those who lost their lives in the tragedy.

A sad, subdued commemoration. (Picture book/poetry. 6-8)

Once Upon My Dads’ Divorce

Kirst, Seamus | Illus. by Noémie Gionet Landry | Magination/American Psychological Association (32 pp.) | $18.99 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781433840746

A child processes parental separation. When Daddy and Papa decide to divorce, Grayson’s life suddenly includes elements that will be familiar to many children. The parents share custody, switching off every week. Grayson’s life is split down the middle, too. The child takes some possessions back and forth between two residences that don’t feel like home after their “big brick house” got sold. Grayson also worries about being somehow responsible for the split, though a lack of defining characteristics makes it hard to know why, aside from this being a common concern among children whose parents separate. At one point Grayson hides under the bed in protest over having to move houses again, leading to a heartfelt conversation where both parents model ideal behavior during a divorce, talking through Grayson’s feelings together and making clear that the divorce stemmed from mutual change rather than animosity. With an overabundance of exclamation points and static illustrations that directly mirror the text, this is a necessary text for children who don’t see their family structure represented in other divorce books, but it’s a workaday solution to that problem rather than an engaging story that could reach a wider audience. A

readers’ note offers adults more information on helping children cope with divorce. Papa is light-skinned, bearded, and burly; Daddy is slim, Black, and bespectacled. Grayson is tan-skinned. Perfectly practical. (Picture book. 4-7)

Come and Join Us!: 18 Holidays Celebrated All Year Long

Kleinrock, Liz | Illus. by Chaaya Prabhat Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) | $19.99 Sept. 5, 2023 | 9780063144477

Join a classroom of children as they describe festivities from faith and cultural traditions around the world.

An unnamed, Asian-presenting teacher and a diverse group of elementary school students sit in a circle ready to share some of the holidays they and their families observe. The kids acknowledge that many people associate holiday celebrations with “winter, decorated trees, and everything colored red and green.” But they invite readers to experience 18 celebrations that take place throughout the year, from Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to Diwali to Juneteenth and much more. The description of each festivity is followed by a question; for instance, “What VALUES are uplifted on your holidays?” From the candles and flowers with which Buddhists decorate their homes on Vesak to the ofrenda of Día de los Muertos, Prabhat brings each holiday to life with beautiful, vibrant digital illustrations that capture important cultural details like clothing, food, and decorations. Careful readers will notice a little white cat who appears on nearly every page—a fun, whimsical detail. While the author’s note rightfully acknowledges that it’s impossible to include every nonwinter holiday, the book features good representation across groups, making it an appropriate classroom tool to foster an inclusive

environment. A helpful glossary defines potentially unfamiliar terms. An important read to support equity in discussions around holidays. (Informational picture book. 4-9)

All About the Heart

Kowalski, Remi | Illus. by Tonia Composto Berbay Publishing (40 pp.) | $18.99

Sept. 12, 2023 | 9781922610607

Series: All About

A basic introduction to hearts and what they do, written by a pediatric cardiologist.

Though schematic diagrams label major valves and vessels, Composto’s stylized, distractingly busy illustrations generally offer more hindrance than help for Kowalski’s simple descriptions of hearts in various types of animals and how our human one functions. Still, for readers not put off by all the garish colors, misshapen figures in odd poses, and space-filling sprays of dots, stars, and confetti in the art, Kowalski presents a reasonably lucid picture of the organ’s anatomy, blended with insights into its behavior. No, our hearts don’t stop when we sneeze, nor do they actually break…but they do beat at different rates (“children’s hearts are best at pumping very fast to help with exercise, and athletes’ hearts are best at pumping more powerfully” than others’). They sometimes need medical help and, at the ends of our lives, stop working, “just like the other parts of our body.” So “take care of yours,” he writes. “It’s working really hard for you. And

next time you give someone a hug, remember that you are really touching hearts with them.” Human figures are depicted in a range of hues, natural and otherwise. Visuals distract rather than enhance, but overall, this is a sensitive and, fitfully, specific exploration. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

The Ferris Wheel

Kozikoglu, Tülin | Illus. by Hüseyin Sönmezay | Crocodile/Interlink (40 pp.) $18.95 | Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781623717216

This Turkish import follows parallel stories centering on families in vastly different situations.

On the left-hand side of a double-page spread, a mother and son step outside. Their neighborhood has challenges: construction, busy intersections. The mother takes her son’s hand and tells him, “Be careful.” The right-hand side of each spread shows a father and his daughter also facing difficulties: rubble from explosions, tanks in the street. “Be careful,” the father warns. As they pass a candy store, each child eagerly looks inside. “No, dear,” says the mother, “not before lunch.” But the father, seeing broken glass and spilled candy, says, “No dear, not anymore.” The two families continue to engage in similar actions but in very different circumstances. At each step, an adored pet fish that the girl must leave behind floats gently in the sky next to the father/ daughter duo. Kozikoğlu’s author’s note states that conflict in her native Turkey inspired the book and explains

that the fish symbolizes “longing for the home left behind as well as hope for the future.” Its orange scales are echoed in the compelling art, shining bright and conveying hope. Each family ends up on a Ferris wheel as this tender, cleverly told tale reminds readers that we’re all on the same ride, no matter how different our lives may seem. Characters are tan-skinned and dark-haired.

The disparities may seem stark, but the similarities resonate the deepest. (Picture book. 5-8)

The Museum on the Moon: The Curious Objects on the Lunar Surface

Latham, Irene | Illus. by Myriam Wares

Moonshower/Bushel & Peck Books (48 pp.) $19.99 | Sept. 19, 2023 | 9781638192039

In poems and descriptive notes, a catalog of items left by human visitors to the Moon.

From Neil Armstrong’s boot prints to flags, family mementos, golf balls, and bags of poop, humans have been leaving signs of their presence on our nearest neighbor for more than 50 years. While freely admitting that much of it is “space junk,” Latham urges readers to take a more elevated view and regard the detritus as a record of human aspirations and achievement—easier to do for, say, the memorials for dead astronauts and cosmonauts than the waste “collection bags” left by multiple Apollo missions. Wares’s views of light- and darkskinned children in street clothes standing on the lunar surface with vacuum-suited astronauts abandon accuracy for symbolism, and many of the poems, as the author notes at the end, are written as examples of various literary forms from “triolet” and “Golden Shovel” to “pantoum” and so come off more as exercises than spontaneous lyrical expressions. Still, there’s something that encourages reflection in knowing a falcon’s

An important read to support equity in discussions around holidays.

COME AND JOIN US!

feather and the ashes of a renowned astronomer, not to mention the plaque reading “We came in peace for all mankind,” are up there waiting for our return.

A provocative tally of treasures and trash. (timeline, end notes) (Informational picture book. 7-10)

Mighty Muddy Us

Levis, Caron | Illus. by Charles Santoso Abrams (40 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 3, 2023

9781419763731| Series: Feeling Friends

An injured newborn elephant gains strength from a loving older sister.

Ely’s legs are bent and stuck when he’s born, which means he’s unable to stand and go to the watering hole. Big sister Enid trumpets a loud, reassuring song. Her brother tries again and again. He pushes, wobbles, and falls again and again, but he perseveres. Finally, with legs splayed and unsteady, Ely stands! Mama Echo cautions that Ely will still need help. Enid vows to be her brother’s protector. They bellow silly songs: “Too-wee, too-wee, too-weeeee!” and splash in the mud, declaring their sibling strength by shouting, “We are MIGHTY MUDDY US!” But as Ely grows, his independence does, too. His legs still wobble at times, but his adventurous spirit is strong. Enid is sad her brother doesn’t need her anymore, but when a dust storm separates the two, Enid realizes she needs her brother just as much. Levis and Santoso, the duo behind other inspired animal stories such as Feathers Together (2022), bring these lovable pachyderms to life. Dusty,

parched, orange-colored scenes give way to joyful water splashing, showing the many, ever-changing conditions elephants face. Sibling support and strong family relationships prevail. An author’s note explains the real-life elephant family that inspired the story. Nurtures encouragement, grit, and love. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

Sail Me Away Home

LeZotte, Ann Clare | Scholastic (304 pp.) $18.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781338742503

Series: Show Me a Sign, 3

Mary Lambert returns for a journey that takes her to London and Paris in this follow-up to Set Me Free (2021). It’s 1810 and Mary, a deaf white teenage girl, is the teacher in her village on Martha’s Vineyard. In her world, deaf and hearing people live and work together, and nearly everyone knows Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language. As in the previous books, Mary leaves home, this time to travel with missionaries to Europe and learn how schools for the deaf are run there. Though this experience is far less harrowing than her first two adventures, she still encounters audism at every turn, ranging from condescension to an attempt to sell her to a workhouse. LeZotte’s prose is as lovely and descriptive as ever, vividly depicting Mary’s world as well as her inner life, which is plagued by the traumas of her previous experiences. The author continues to comment on not only audism but also varied prejudices and colonization. Without turning the story

into a lecture, she depicts the benefits of bilingual education for deaf students and weaves Mary into Deaf history as she comes into her own as a deaf educator. The open ending does leave space for Mary to grow in the minds of readers, but it feels comparatively underwhelming and unresolved. This book may be enjoyed on its own but is better appreciated as a continuation of Mary’s story.

Fans will be pleased with this third installment in a delightful series. (additional information) (Historical fiction. 8-14)

What Really Happens at Night?

Li, Muge | Clavis (32 pp.) | $18.95 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781605379654

WHAT REALLY HAPPENS AT NIGHT?

A book of bedtime questions big and small. “What are you thinking about?” Mom asks a child at the foot of the bed in a cozy room scattered with socks and books. The child is resisting sleep because of a racing mind—relatable content sure to hook caregivers and youngsters alike. Each spread contains a single question in chunky black text, with the “Why,” “Where,” or “What” enlarged for emphasis. Some of the questions are simple on the surface (like “Where’s the last piece of cake?”), but a closer look at the illustrated scene suggests mischief in the form of ants devouring the cake, crumb by crumb. Other scenes cheerfully introduce magical realism, as a fish watches TV with the child, a lost clicker dropped in the fish’s bowl, to wordlessly answer the question, “Where’s the TV remote?” Attention to the quietly improbable possibilities behind each question encourages imagination, and reading can be scaled for a wide age range. Plenty of negative space balances the thoughtful art, which is based in pinks, blues, and earthy grays and browns. The human characters have light skin tones; names and gender identities are not shared.

Delightful bedtime fare and, ironically, a potential get-to-sleep tool.

Those who have had mundane and existential queries zip through their minds while they’re trying to sleep will revel in the innocently blunt tone of this brief, gratifyingly inconclusive story of inquiry.

Delightful bedtime fare and, ironically, a potential get-to-sleep tool. (Picture book. 1-5)

Tim Possible & the Secret of the Snake Pit

Maisy, Axel | Aladdin (256 pp.) | $13.99 Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781534492752

Series: Tim Possible, 3

Toothy, outsize mole rats from Pluto turn out to be just one challenge facing anxiety-prone Tim and his fourth-grade compatriots in their latest planet-saving exploit.

Hardly have Tim Sullivan, reckless buddy Tito Delgado, and genial time-traveling T. rex Oskar decided to team up as the Justice Three than they find their work cut out for them. A sudden town-wide rash of sinkholes leads, after several daffy twists, to a brisk round of literal Whack-A-(Were-) Mole and a climactic confrontation with a gigantic weremole queen. Meanwhile, Tim at last begins to get a better handle on controlling his worries—which is a particularly good thing because, as series fans will know, his superpower is making anxious what-ifs turn real. And though “always-snotty-and-rich-beyond-measure” nemesis William Woodrow Wiggle the Third is once more on hand to irritate our heroes, still, the Justice Three have become Justice Friends with the addition of Tim’s cool and unsurprisingly competent crush Zoe Charms. Line drawings featuring shark-mouthed rodents and pop-eyed kids (some, like Tito, who’s cued as Latine, with lightly tinted skin, but most paper white) crank up the comedy. Readers unfamiliar with the earlier installments can

jump right in but will want to return to Tim Possible & the Time-Traveling Rex (2022) and Tim Possible & All That Buzz (2023).

Further antic adventures, with a bit of character development folded in. (Fantasy. 8-10)

The Big Book of Butts

A breezy disquisition on a fundamental topic. Manzano opens with a broad survey of human bottoms (“Every butt has its own personality. Some might be quite shy, while others are quite bold”). She goes on to probe the overall evolution of anuses from the Cambrian period on, as well as the glorious variety of colors, shapes, and functions enjoyed by the posteriors of modern creatures of land and sea. Giraffes place their necks on their “speckled butts” before going to sleep, while the Papilio xuthus butterfly has photoreceptors on its butt. Most memorably, she explains how animal butts send and receive messages using each of the five senses—or four, anyway: “Actually, you know what? Let’s skip taste. Ick!” Urberuaga has chosen to illustrate these easily grasped scientific observations (translated from Spanish by Ross) in a comical way, with cartoon figures of humans in diverse arrays of skin hue and body type, bare or sporting loudly decorated underwear, alternating with either detached butts endowed with faces and stick limbs or fanny-flashing

wildlife from mandrills and manatees to dogs and sea slugs. “No two butts are alike,” Manzano concludes, but they all “love to dance.” Readers will have no trouble getting…behind that.

Cheeky fun, with bits of solid matter. (Informational picture book. 5-7)

Could You Ever Waddle With Penguins!?

Markle, Sandra | Illus. by Vanessa Morales Scholastic (32 pp.) | $17.99 | Dec. 5, 2023

9781338858792

An invitation to younger children to act like Adélie penguins.

Morales’ cartoon illustrations alternating with nature photos place a racially diverse group of young folks in cool-weather dress amid flocks of the diminutive penguins. Markle not only offers observations about penguin behavior but also urges readers to squawk, sled, waddle, take “power naps,” “fly through the ocean,” and leap away from predators right alongside them. Sidestepping the topic of reproduction requires an awkward hop. The author’s “Adélie pairs regularly gift [nesting] pebbles to each other” is misleadingly restated in the adjacent box as “When you live with penguins you will gift pebbles to your best friends.” And no grown-up is going to thank her for this cheerfully suggestive line: “Hungry Adélie chicks call nonstop until a parent finds them and feeds them.” Still, such playful suggestions are certainly child-friendly, and the series premise continues to artfully entice audiences to exercise both bodies and minds for insights into the world of nature—readers will especially enjoy the idea of

Manzano, Eva | Illus. by Emilio Urberuaga Trans. by Cecilia Ross | NubeOcho (48 pp.) $18.99 | Sept. 5, 2023 | 9788419607218 Series: Somos8

Cheeky fun, with bits of solid matter. THE BIG BOOK OF BUTTS

tobogganing down a snowy slope like a penguin. Fans of the creators’ Could You Ever Dive With Dolphins?! (2023) will be pleased. A closing page of additional facts includes aerial images of Antarctica in summer and winter. Well worth a waddle. (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Is This Love?

Marley, Bob | Adapt. by Cedella Marley Illus. by Alea Marley | Chronicle Books (36 pp.) | $16.99 | Nov. 21, 2023

9781452171739

Forsooth

Matejek-Morris, Jimmy | Carolrhoda (360 pp.) | $19.99 | Nov. 7, 2023

9781728457598

IS THIS LOVE?

An older child shares in the joy of growing up alongside a younger sibling.

Cedella Marley utilizes the repeated refrain of Bob Marley’s song “Is This Love” to tell a story of sibling love. Readers first meet the sibling pair when the younger is a baby. As pages turn, we see the children grow. The older sibling plays the role of teacher, loyal and supportive, sharing activities such as building a blanket fort, riding bikes, and playing with blocks. The rhyming text expands on Marley’s lyrics and includes the famous lines “Is this love? Is this love that I’m feeling?” along with a few others from the song. The bold illustrations feature bright blues and deep purples with plenty of tropical touches. The family is drawn with deep brown skin and dark brown hair. A particularly stunning pair of layouts shows the siblings on the beach as the sun gives way to a sparkling night. The bright pinks fade into purple, dark blues, and black. Constellations of the children’s faces light up the starry sky. This palette is echoed on the final page, as the family builds a sandcastle beside their home in the day’s fading light. The themes of siblinghood—that treasured unique relationship—are familiar and comforting. Though it pays homage to Marley’s beloved music, the book welcomes all readers, not just his fans.

A lovely read for welcoming a new baby and celebrating family bonds. (Picture book. 2-5)

Oh no! Theater kid Calvin’s bestie is abandoning him for a New York City performing arts school: Would a movie about her life convince her to stay?

Seventy-three days after hapless 13-year-old Calvin falls off the stage during Cinderella, he learns his best friend, Kennedy, is leaving. Plus, he sees her and Jonah, his other BFF and secret crush, kissing. Argh! Then new neighbor Blake starts knocking on Calvin’s window. While Calvin’s controlling, devoutly Catholic mother has concerns about Blake, who’s covered in hand-drawn tattoos, Calvin feels drawn to him, and Blake talks him through anxiety attacks. Between the Kennedy movie, church choir, confusing feelings for two boys, and keeping his parents in the dark about, well, everything, Calvin’s going to have a summer of drama—forsooth! Calvin’s life offers many laugh-out-loud moments, like when he accidentally sets the priest on fire. But the story’s core is Calvin’s learning how to be a good friend, repair relationships he’s broken, cope with anxiety, and be his best self. His anxiety struggles and worries over his parents’ discovering his sexuality are sensitively handled. The layered, complex characters struggle with similarly complicated and challenging friendships. A lack of closure about Calvin’s crushes may irritate readers, however, and the cover

art reads deceptively young. Most main characters are cued white; Jonah is Black and Jewish.

A funny and thoughtful exploration of middle school relationships. (author’s note, discussion questions) (Fiction. 11-13)

Time After Time

Mlynowski, Sarah & Christina Soontornvat Illus. by Maxine Vee | Scholastic (192 pp.) $15.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781338628319

Series: Best Wishes, 3

In this latest series installment, the magical bracelet finds its way to Lucy Usathorn.

Ten-yearold Lucy’s parents have been divorced since she was 3, and Lucy splits her time between her parents. She’s looking forward to her field trip to the Fort Worth Natural History Museum, where her dad works. But the day quickly turns sour. Strict Ms. Brock, the school librarian and her dad’s girlfriend, is chaperoning the trip, a classmate vomits on Lucy’s new sneakers, and Lucy’s pushiness alienates her best friend, Olive. Just when things can’t get any worse, Lucy’s father proposes to Ms. Brock, and Lucy runs off crying. At her mother’s house, Lucy discovers a strange package containing a bracelet. She connects via text with the bracelet’s previous owners (series fans will be familiar with their stories), who explain that this is no ordinary piece of jewelry but warn her to be careful what she wishes for. Lucy decides to use the bracelet to redo her

A lovely read for welcoming a new baby and celebrating family bonds.

terrible day...and prevent the proposal. Told in the form of a letter from Lucy to an unseen girl named Maya (the bracelet’s next recipient), this is a lighthearted yet poignant tale. Once again, the fantastical premise is used to wonderful effect—as Lucy relives her day, she eventually learns a muchneeded lesson. Lucy and her father are Thai, while Ms. Brock appears to be light-skinned in Vee’s artwork. Gentle, inventive, and delightfully magical. (Fantasy. 8-11)

Flubby Does Not Like Valentine’s Day

Morris, J.E. | Penguin Workshop (32 pp.)

$9.99 | Dec. 26, 2023 | 9780593523421 Series: Flubby

Having survived snow and sleep, Flubby faces his most dire opponent yet: heart-shaped holidays.

Right from the start, Flubby’s owner, a brown-haired child with brown skin, declares that since today is Valentine’s Day, they intend to show Flubby some love. Flubby, a stubby-legged white cat with gray markings, reacts as any cat would— which is to say, he couldn’t care less. Cards, fruit baskets, and flowers all prove insufficient gifts for an insufficiently interested cat—he can’t read, he doesn’t like to eat fruit, and the flowers make him sneeze. Fortunately, where gifts fail, good old-fashioned hugs are always a welcome choice. Any cat-owning kid reading this story may instantly recognize Flubby’s very catlike instincts to curl up in an empty heart-shaped box or try to sit in the fruit basket. Humor is conveyed in Flubby’s complete lack of facial expressions, more than anything else. The simple text, ideal for new readers, shines through, illuminating the heart within the story. As holiday titles go, this one sticks to the rudimentary basics of what it truly means to love your pet. Child readers may also find

that they identify sometimes with the child owner, and sometimes with the preternaturally self-possessed Flubby. A holiday title worthy of even the most reticent feline companion. (Early reader. 5-8)

Balto and Togo: Hero Dogs of Alaska

Moss, Helen | Illus. by Solomon Hughes Godwin Books (192 pp.) | $19.99 Nov. 28, 2023 | 9781250792532

The historic sled dog “Serum Run” was undertaken to prevent a diphtheria epidemic in Nome, Alaska. Inventing minor details as needed to construct a seamless narrative while sticking closely to participants’ memoirs and other documentary evidence, Moss recounts each leg of the nearly 700-mile relay— capturing both its urgency and the serious dangers faced by the 19 teams of dogs and men who undertook it. Exerting authorial license around a claim that the “malamute chorus,” a sort of canine news and social network that even worked over long distances, was a real Alaska thing, she tells the tale from doggy as well as human points of view by weaving in engaging exchanges of canine banter: “I can feel it in my bones—we’re headed for Norton Bay. I know that Togo here loves the sea ice, but it gives me the heebie-jeebies.” Still, nearly every member of the cast, two- or four-legged, was real, as were the extreme cold, severe winds, blinding snow fog, and other obstacles faced by the tough dogs and rugged-looking, fur-clad men in Hughes’ stark black-and-white illustrations. The disease claimed one child identified as Inupiaq/Norwegian, and one musher was part Athabascan; otherwise the human cast reads as white. True to life and compellingly dramatic. (afterword, source list, end notes) (Fictionalized nonfiction. 10-13)

Books Make Good Friends

Mount, Jane | Chronicle Books (48 pp.)

$18.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781797209654

You’re never lonely with books. Lotti loves books; reading is easy and fun for her, but making friends is hard. At the library, Lotti asks for a book about friends to help her understand “how they work.” She worries it might be weird to sit next to a schoolmate, but that girl’s an avid reader, too, and before long, Lotti’s made a friend! She discovers bonding with people isn’t so tough and, though “still shy,” she figures out how to befriend a new student. Narrated in Lotti’s selfaware, first-person voice, this book offers an insightful glimpse into a young person’s feelings about friendship, self-worth, personal growth, and passion for books and reading. Throughout, readers will note the spines and covers of actual children’s and middle-grade books on Lotti’s bookshelf, bedroom floor, or in piles. They’ll recognize books they may have already read and will likely find items to add to their own to-read lists, from Louis Sachar’s Holes (1998) to Celia C. Pérez’s The First Rule of Punk (2017) to Jerry Craft’s New Kid (2019). The lively, boldly colorful illustrations are created with gouache, ink, and gel pens. Blond, bespectacled Lotti and her family are pale-skinned; other characters are diverse. Books do make good friends. Add people, and you’ve got the perfect mix. (Picture book. 6-10)

To read our review of My Ideal Bookshelf, illustrated by Jane Mount, visit Kirkus online.

SEEN AND HEARD

Did Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn Spur Library Pause?

A Texas school district may have frozen library purchases because of a picture book.

A children’s book about a kitten who wants to be a unicorn might have led a Texas school district to halt library book purchases, LGBTQ Nation reports.

In June, the school district in Katy, Texas, paused buying new books for its libraries and ordered new books that had already been bought into storage. The district has previously been criticized for banning books from its libraries and classrooms.

At a school board meeting in June, one of the board members, Morgan Calhoun, claimed that she had found books in grade schools that were sexually explicit.

Later, a “Katy ISD mom” named Anne Russey posted on X— formerly known as Twitter—“Meet the book that triggered the...board of trustees to withhold thousands of taxpayer funded library books from 94,000 students, weeks before the start of school.”

The post is accompanied by the cover of Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn, a 2021 children’s book written by Shannon Hale and illustrated by Leuyen Pham. The book tells the story of a kitten who wishes she were a unicorn.

Russey posted what appears to be a screenshot of a Facebook message from Katy ISD board member Morgan Calhoun, in which she writes that in the book, “the main character does want to transform into something they are obviously not.” Calhoun also claims, incorrectly, that the book’s protagonist is referred to with the pronoun “they.”—M.S.

For a review of Itty-BittyKitty-Corn, visit Kirkus online.

Hale’s picture book dis pleased a school board member.

V Is for Victorine

Nesbet, Anne | Candlewick (320 pp.)

$18.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781536228281

The sidekick in Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen (2020) takes center stage in this silent film–era sequel. It’s 1915, and about a year has passed since 13-year-old white heiress Victorine Berryman vanished, assumed a new identity, and became a member of Darleen Darling’s family and their New Jersey photoplay production company. After watching an adventure loosely based on her own life, Vee dreams of becoming a photoplaywright. A family trip to Hollywood helps Vee realize her dream and brings the struggling Darling business a chance to showcase new technology. The shenanigans, which include stolen treasures and switched satchels, continue in the spirit of the first book and reflect serial adventures of the time. The girls head to California alone, where they stay with Hollywood royalty Lillian and Dorothy Gish, meet influential director Lois Weber, and become embroiled with a villainous artifact collector. This time, however, the over-the-top antics occasionally clash with more serious topics rather than being seamlessly integrated. Nesbet once again introduces an abundance of early film history, including D.W. Griffith’s controversial The Birth of a Nation. African American actors (both real and fictional) underscore the lack of opportunities for actors of color and offer a tarnished look at the silver screen. Vee comes to see the need for representation of more different voices and responsible approaches to making art. Ultimately, as she’s discovering her imagination as a playwright, Vee also claims her true self.

A clever peek at early Hollywood exploring themes that still resonate today. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 8-12)

Ink Girls

Nijkamp, Marieke | Illus. by Sylvia Bi Greenwillow Books (288 pp.) | $15.99 paper Nov. 21, 2023 | 9780063027107

Cinzia loves Siannerra, a bustling city of diverse people and stories. She’s especially passionate about her job as apprentice to printer Mestra Arrone and dreams of following in her footsteps. When they publish evidence of criminal activity within the royal family, and her mestra is imprisoned, Cinzia flees, encountering young Contessina Elena. The isolated Elena is considered odd and standoffish by her subjects, yet she longs to know her city and its people. The girls become caught in a web of political intrigue and urban corruption as they work to expose treachery and make a better world. They’re helped by spirited pirate Carlotta and Aneeqah, a hijabi apprentice papermaker. The star of the show is Siannerra itself: Drawn in warm jewel tones and embellished with charming details, the Renaissance Italy–influenced metropolis is as alive and changeable as any of its people. Bi’s meticulous, lively art captures the bustling streets and a sense of adventure around every corner. The character designs are endearing, and there’s a dynamic sense of movement, particularly in the way Cinzia navigates her world as a cane user whose disability never excludes her from the action. Elena’s neurodivergence is presented as an asset, her unique way of looking at the world a strength. The girls’ connection is sweet, but

too little time is spent developing it. Cinzia has light-brown skin; Elena has dark-brown skin, and the girls inhabit a racially diverse world.

A topical ode to truth-telling and community. (author’s note) (Graphic fantasy. 8-12)

Kirkus Star

Silverwing: The Graphic Novel

Oppel, Kenneth | Illus. by Christopher Steininger | Simon & Schuster (224 pp.) $23.99 | Sept. 19, 2023 | 9781665938488

Series: The Silverwing Trilogy, 1

A young bat separated from his migratory flock in a storm weathers deadly dangers in this graphic version of the original 1997 novel.

Steininger’s art transforms a tale that was already rich in soaring heights and breathless hazards into an even more vivid and vertiginous odyssey, with quick transitions accelerating the pace to warp speed between rare moments of rest. Forced to flee from vengeful owls after breaking an ancient rule by staying up to watch the sunrise, young Shade has only a sonic map of his flock’s customary migratory path to guide him to safe winter quarters. Along with depicting diverse bird and bat species with exactitude and subtle, expressive touches of anthropomorphism and viewing them from fluid aerial angles as they swoop, flutter, and dodge, the artist ingeniously captures a sense of how bats use sound to perceive their surroundings,

A clever peek at early Hollywood exploring themes that still resonate today.

and even to create illusory shapes and signals. He’s also a dab hand at portraying both the story’s mystical, otherworldly moments and the savagely naturalistic ones that tend to follow as Shade encounters shuddersome menaces on his long journey—most notably a horde of sewer rats with a raving king and two demonically hideous tropical bats with cannibalistic tastes. The episode ends with Shade, accompanied by loyal brightwing friend Marina and other volunteers, setting out in search of his vanished father. A graphic adaptation of the sequel, Sunwing, can’t come too soon.

A brilliantly evocative reboot. (Graphic animal adventure. 9-13)

Patchwork Prince

Paul, Baptiste | Illus. by Kitt Thomas Dial Books (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 17, 2023

9780593463444

You don’t have to be rich to be a prince. A young boy and his mother— both Black and described, respectively, as a prince and a queen— set out early one morning. A truck dumps pieces of fabric before peeling away, and the two start to go through the abandoned scraps. But the truck returns, and now the driver has a box of matches: “a signal that poor families were not welcome.” The prince and his mother cram their bags with fabric before the driver sets fire to the fabric. Back at home, the child scrubs the floors while the queen measures, cuts, and lays out the pieces before carefully stitching them together to make a patchwork garment fit for a young prince. “Each piece tells a story,” his mother tells him. “Black for beauty. Gold for royalty. Blue for dignity.” The prince dons his new outfit, and the two dance together. Then the prince runs outside, where friends admire his ensemble. In an author’s note, Paul describes how the story is rooted in a childhood memory of salvaging fabric with his mother in St. Lucia. Thomas’

vibrant illustrations are filled with energy and movement, with swirls of color and yellow stars dancing across the spreads. Paul’s text makes wonderful use of specific details; together text and images speak to the resilience of the human spirit and the ability to reinvent what others deem trash. A tender reminder that treasure can come from anywhere. (Picture book. 5-8)

Rock Stars Don’t Nap

ROCK-a-bye, baby!

Jimmy was born to rock and roll: His loud wails in the hospital nursery prove he’s a star as he out-shrieks the other newborns. As Jimmy grows, he wows crowds everywhere—the highchair, the bedroom (where he and Mama, his “biggest fan,” “rocked the nights away”)—the playground, the supermarket. When Mama announces that it’s naptime, the star decides that’s not in his contract and quickly rocks out of control—biting, scribbling on walls, and staging an epic tantrum— until, finally tuckered out, the rocker settles into his biggest fan’s arms and snoozes the night away. Much of the text employs snippets of classic rock lyrics, mostly from ’60s-’80s tunes. The author is self-referential, conveying his obvious musical passions and love of parenting. The book has an adult, tongue-in-cheek sensibility, appealing more to knowing parents of babies than to child readers; this will make a fun gift for baby showers and new parents. Many young parents, however, may not recognize references to some of the older classic rock tunes and will certainly benefit from the song list in the backmatter; it’s too bad a QR code isn’t included. The comic, cartoony digital illustrations are dynamic and depict the “superstar” infant and his parents as brown-skinned.

There’s only one perfect rock-star baby in the world—and every parent has one. (Picture book. 4-7)

Breaking News

Platt, Christine | Illus. by Alea Marley

Walker US/Candlewick (80 pp.) | $15.99 Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781536222098

Series: Frankie and Friends, 1

Breaking a news story requires more than skill—you need grit, determination, imagination, and friends.

Frankie feels sad as she watches her journalist mother, who has a breaking news assignment, pack to go to the airport. The whole family—including Papa and Frankie’s big sister, Raven—gathers to give Mama a big hug and say goodbye. Though Frankie recalls memories of joining her mother at work and even sitting behind the news desk, she still can’t help feeling left behind. After Mama encourages her to “be on the lookout for developing stories,” Frankie gets an idea. She will indeed look for stories at home, and she’ll do it with the help of her pals—her doll Farrah, her King Tut and Queen Cleopatra action figures, her teddy bear Dan, Robert the Robert, and her cat, Nina Simone. When they hear a mysterious crying sound, everyone works together to break the story. Vibrant and witty, this new series installment balances an age-appropriate exploration of the ins and outs of journalism—the importance of asking questions, how to develop a story—with a fun and gentle story. This is the perfect introduction to journalism for cub reporters. The art contains plenty of white space, which contrasts crisply against the bold primary colors throughout. The book closes with information on understanding the news. Frankie and her family are Black.

A charming read for budding newshounds. (Chapter book. 6-9)

Perkins, Jason | Illus. by Cale Atkinson Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) | $19.99 Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780063158429

If You See a Bluebird

Rahman, Bahram | Illus. by Gabrielle Grimard | Pajama Press (32 pp.) | $18.95

Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781772782844

A young Afghan boy misses his homeland.

Ali and Nana wake early one morning to go berry picking. As they ride their bikes to the blackberry patch, Ali reminisces about their home in Kabul, where his family gathered in their backyard to listen to his mother playing the ghichak and laugh together as they picked mulberries. With the onset of war, soldiers came to their home, breaking his mother’s musical instrument and shattering their peace. Fearing for their safety, Ali and his family made the arduous journey by foot, bus, and plane to get to a safe place. Here in the present, Nana spots a bluebird and tells Ali to make a wish before it flies away. While his grandmother is thankful to have the family together, Ali wishes he could go home. His grandmother’s healing words help Ali process the idea that home is not a place but the love his family has for each other. The story thrums with the sadness of places left behind and the danger that forces people to leave. It also hints at the challenges Ali and his family face in their new home. The vivid illustrations demarcate the past and present by contrasting the bright blue skies and rolling green plains of Ali’s new home with the rustic terracotta hues of his homeland.

A sweetly sentimental story that places people at the heart of a home. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Star

Goddess: 50 Goddesses, Spirits, Saints, and Other Female Figures Who Have Shaped Belief

Ramirez, Janina | Illus. by Sarah Walsh Nosy Crow (112 pp.) | $24.99 | Sept. 5, 2023 9798887770109 | Series: British Museum

Fifty timeless, fascinating, and instructive female figures in still-vital traditions and cultures all around the world.

Like all abiding myths, the stories of these saintly, divine, or spirit-women reflect enduring human wishes, hopes, and fears. Organized by tens in categories (Ruling and Guiding, New Life, War and Death, Love and Wisdom, Animals and Nature), many transcend their placement and could fit into other groups. Concise but detailed profiles discuss the goddess’ names, powers, famous myths, and iconography. Explanations of how believers saw each figure over time add both clarity and complexity. Many goddesses are overall positive forces, like the Yoruba deity Oshun, “the source of all good things.” Others are more complex (like Babylonian goddess Tiamat) or even terrifying (Hindu goddess Kali). Creation, civilization, family and political conflict, survival, and protection are among the many recurring themes. Varied views of what it means to be a woman (or man; men are often involved in the stories) are eye-opening. Many figures are still venerated today; one, based on a historical Chinese woman, was

reportedly sighted as recently as 2016. Strikingly stylized, colorful, and iconlike illustrations depict the goddesses and typically incorporate characteristic symbols and story components. They’re visually pleasing but also informative, such as with Baba Yaga’s mortar and pestle. A glossary covers terms like Hinduism and Sumeria, but overall, readers get limited help with pronunciation.

Inspiring role models and some cautionary tales. (Nonfiction. 9-12)

Jhupli’s Honey Bee Box

Ray, Achintyarup | Illus. by Shivam Choudhary | Trans. by Achintyarup Ray Amazon Crossing Kids (32 pp.) | $17.99 Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781662514678

A Bengali girl worries about her father when he sets out for the jungle.

IF YOU SEE A BLUEBIRD

Every day, Jhupli’s Baba takes his boat across the river to the jungle to collect honey, which he sells to support the family. Baba’s money pays for their food, like the fish in the chochchori that Ma makes for dinner. While Jhupli understands that he must go, she still frets that her father—like others before him—will fail to come home. As the omniscient narrator explains, “These Sundarban jungles are full of tigers. Those who go in there, go in danger.” Fearful for her father’s life, Jhupli has an idea and asks her teacher if the village can get government-issued honey boxes so workers like her father can “make honey at home.” Jhupli’s teacher appreciates her idea and does the legwork necessary to supply the village with boxes, ensuring that honey gatherers like Jhupli’s father won’t have to risk their lives again. At times, the verbose prose, translated from Bengali by the author, wanders into constructions too awkward for children to understand, and the resolution relies more on the actions of Jhupli’s teacher than Jhupli herself, making the book feel a bit like an instructional text for adults. Still, the tender tone

Thrums with the sadness of places left behind and the danger that forces people to leave.

and softly smudged illustrations lend the tale a gentle, dreamlike quality sure to delight young readers. A sweet story about harsh realities, laced with hope. (glossary, information on honey bee boxes and the honey gatherers of the Sundarbans, map) (Picture book. 3-6)

Animal Snuggles: Affection in the Animal Kingdom

Reid, Aimee | Illus. by Sebastien Braun

Sourcebooks eXplore (40 pp.) | $14.99 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781728275406

An introduction for young children to the world of animal affection.

A spare, rhyming text showcases 13 animals and the various ways that they bond through touch. A mother otter and her pup snuggle “belly to belly,” while a young colt nestles a mare “cheek to cheek.” Kangaroos hug “elbow to elbow,” while swans touch “beak to beak.” Each pairing radiates love and comfort between adult and youngster. To widen the audience, the main text appears in large, bold lettering, while a smaller typeface adds supplementary information. For instance, “On a cold snow drift, / toes to toes” sits alongside “Emperor penguin fathers hold their / newborn chicks in a special pouch by their feet.” One could simply read the larger text as a lullaby to the youngest listeners, or expound further for older, curious minds. Appended facts at the end provide additional context on each animal. Braun’s golden highlights

shine on sands, forests, ponds, and grasslands. Even the underwater and icy tundra landscapes exude warmth from the cuddles. The final pairing shows humans with a variety of skin tones giving snuggles: “Nothing is sweeter. / Nothing more true. / Heartbeat to / heartbeat. / Me with you.” Readers will no doubt want to practice the adorable nuzzling actions of the animals as well.

Love in its most natural state. (Informational picture book. 2-7)

Tagging Freedom

Roumani, Rhonda | Union Square Kids (288 pp.) | $16.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 9781454950714

Two cousins find common ground in their love of art and graffiti in this dual-perspective novel set on the verge of the Syrian revolution.

Samira is a seventh grade Syrian American Muslim girl living in smalltown Massachusetts. She’s artistic and is particularly drawn to fonts and lettering. After her cousin Kareem is nearly caught spraying graffiti to protest the Syrian government, he’s sent from Damascus to stay with her family. Initially, the cousins clash. As the only student at her school who’s Arab or Muslim, Samira tries to blend in, going by Sam and staying quiet when her friends make ignorant, xenophobic comments. Kareem can’t understand Samira’s need to fit in. He befriends Ellie, Samira’s Jewish best friend, and

the two decide to secretly graffiti the town using spray chalk as a way of drawing people’s attention to events in Syria. But as the graffiti divides their small community, Kareem and Samira find common ground and mutual empathy. The cousins grow, both individually and in tandem with their evolving relationship. Samira ultimately realizes who her true friends are, while Kareem finds a way to thrive where he is, despite his intense desire to return home. One event, in particular, realistically juxtaposes Kareem’s safe new life with the growing dangers for his family in Syria. As readers follow the characters’ evolution, they’ll clearly absorb the message that it is worth it to stand up for what you believe in.

A well-characterized novel offering insight into Syrian perspectives. (author’s note, glossary, poem) (Fiction. 8-12)

Champions of the Fox

Sands, Kevin | Viking (464 pp.) | $18.99 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780593620953

Series: Thieves of Shadow, 3

The band of thieves pull their biggest job yet in this trilogy closer. After the events of Seekers of the Fox (2022), the mysterious Eye continues to give Cal bossy orders— and obeying is the only way to get its voice out of his skull. While the young thieves travel to a new city—one that prides itself on progress and embraces technology over the Weavers’ magic— Cal also starts to have strange dreams that turn out to be more than just dreams. There’s a bit of a slow build-up as the team finds their footing in the new town (which includes interacting with the dangerous local head of the Breakers), only to learn that the Eye’s mission for them—finding the Hollow Man—actually requires a jailbreak from the kingdom’s most secure prison. To give weight and stakes to following (or

Two cousins find common ground in their love of art and graffiti in this dual-perspective novel.

TAGGING FREEDOM

disobeying) the Eye, there’s plenty of lore, which, while clearly well thought out, does sometimes get in the way of the convoluted cons and heisting that the team must pull off. Though the lore is important for the final confrontation, the story is stronger when it stays closer to the young protagonists. The ending thoroughly wraps up the mythical, magical storylines but leaves numerous plotlines relating to human threats dangling. Most characters read white.

A trilogy closer that provides partial answers, resulting in a conclusion that feels incomplete. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Willow and Bunny

Schulte, Anitra Rowe | Illus. by Christopher Denise | Two Lions (48 pp.) | $17.99 Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781542025690

A symbiotically bonded rabbit and a willow tree weather a tornado.

Heeding an unseen voice, Bunny seeks “a safe place to grow.” He finds it with Willow, whose mass, strength, and pendant, leafy branches offer a protective refuge from the open wood. Through the seasons, Bunny grazes clover, grooms himself under Willow’s generous canopy, and shelters in a den beneath her. One evening, a powerful storm brings “an angry spiral” to the woodland… and frightened animals to Willow’s sheltering expanse. Willow keeps them safe all night, but morning reveals the damage Willow has suffered. As she views her reflected injuries in the creek, “at last, Willow wept.” Casting Bunny and other animals in gardening roles, Schulte renders them untangling Willow’s branches and carrying “her cuttings into the wood to plant.” Eventually, after “many moons, many rains… // and many warm, sunny days,” new trees begin to grow. While other animals often visit Willow, Bunny remains with his old friend: “Every day was theirs to

share.” Caldecott honoree Denise’s digital illustrations confer a visual disequilibrium, combining blurred landscapes and naturalistic, highly rendered animals. The storm’s eerie light is compelling, but a preponderance of suffused, golden backlight, combined with Schulte’s personified dialogue, lends a Disney-fied vibe to the story. On the overly sweet side but will appeal widely. (Picture book. 4-8)

Frizzy Haired Zuzu

Sharif, Medeia | Illus. by Basma Hosam Magination/American Psychological Association (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 9781433841576

Zuzu dislikes her voluminous, frizzy red hair. In a quest to help Zuzu get rid of her curls, her cousin, sister, and mother all attempt various methods that only exacerbate the situation. Ultimately, she decides to spend the money she’s saved from her allowance and her birthday on a trip to the salon, where her hair is straightened. This transformation leaves her feeling unlike herself, however, and she finds herself annoyed when her friends compliment her new look. As Zuzu goes home, it begins to rain, and, knowing what happens when her hair becomes wet, she starts to dance rather than running inside. Her hair is big and curly once more, and Zuzu is thrilled. The book’s beautiful, sometimes whimsical cartoon illustrations skillfully depict the unsuccessful endeavors to reduce Zuzu’s hair volume and capture her emotions in response. The tale offers an important message—that kids should love and accept themselves wholeheartedly—but Zuzu’s shift in perspective feels abrupt, and it isn’t clear why she’s suddenly learned to embrace her locks. Street signs in Arabic are interspersed throughout, many women are depicted wearing headscarves, and in an author’s note, Sharif states that she drew inspiration from her Iraqi Kurdish mother’s childhood.

A brief but joyful story of a girl coming to terms with her unique hair. (Picture book. 4-8)

The Lion Queen: Rasila Vadher, the First Woman Guardian of the Last Asiatic Lions

Singh, Rina | Illus. by Tara Anand Cameron Kids (40 pp.) | $19.99 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781951836849

Rasila Vadher’s dream of caring for lions began when she visited the Gir Forest as a girl.

Each day after school, young Rasila sold peanuts to help her family make ends meet. On a school trip to the Gir Forest, she learned about the Asiatic lions, which were nearly hunted to extinction. Inspired to protect these magnificent beasts, she seized an opportunity to work as a forest guard, but gendered roles kept her confined to office work. Rasila tamped down her desires but jumped at the chance to head a rescue operation for an injured lioness. Her one face-to-face encounter with a lion left her with a sense of elation. Rasila’s confidence and abilities grew as she took on more responsibilities—catching pythons, patrolling for poachers, caring for abandoned lion cubs at the rescue center, and training other women on the force—which earned her the title Lion Queen. The bright illustrations in vibrant indigos, sunset oranges, and deep greens showcase lush forest landscapes as Singh details how Vadher realized her goal of becoming the first woman forest guard despite the constraints she faced as a woman in a conservative community. Though the narrative is a bit choppy in places, her determination and commitment are deeply moving. Backmatter offers information about Vadher, the other “Lion Queens” hired as rangers in Gujarat in 2007, and Asiatic lions.

A stirring story of persistence and courage. (Picture-book biography. 4-8)

The Bookshop Mice

Starling, Robert | Andersen Press USA (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Nov. 7, 2023

9798765608333

Cut Loose!

Stroker, Ali & Stacy Davidowitz | Amulet/ Abrams (288 pp.) | $17.99 | Oct. 24, 2023

9781419764042

Series: The Chance to Fly, 2

reaction to a nonspeaking student is uncomfortably realistic. But the infectious enthusiasm for theater never wanes, and a stirring conclusion leaves readers on a high note. Nat reads white; Malik is cued Black, and there’s diversity among the secondary cast. A rousing celebration of friendship, self-expression, and self-advocacy. (Fiction. 9-13)

Kevin Goes First

Tahboub, Hala | Clarion/HarperCollins (48 pp.) | $19.99 | Nov. 7, 2023

Spreading the love and magic of books and friendship, one mouse at a time.

Astrid, a small brown mouse, hurries to her first day at Maple Street Mouse School, where her teacher asks the students to introduce themselves. All the students and their families live and work in businesses along Maple Street, but when Astrid introduces herself, the students and teacher say she’s either fibbing or very imaginative. Could Astrid’s mom really be an astromouse who brings moon cheese home? And, in the evenings, do Astrid and her dad truly swim in a tropical lagoon and eat supper on a mountaintop? One by one, the students visit Astrid in her home, the Book Nook, and soon understand that the books in Astrid’s home open the doors to an imaginative world of pirates, monkeys, dinosaurs, medieval times, and more. One student still refuses to believe that Astrid’s mother is an astromouse, but, at show-and-tell, Astrid’s mom explains that reading books about space as a kid made her want to be an astromouse, and now she is one. Illustrations feature adorable mice against vibrant backgrounds with just the right amount of detail. Be sure to “read” the endpapers, which, in the beginning, show the human version of Maple Street, then detail the mouse version at the end.

A delightful homage to the inspirational power of books that also asks readers to be kind to new friends.

(Picture book. 4-8)

Aspiring musical actor Natalie Beacon sets her sights on Broadway in the sequel to The Chance To Fly (2021).

A month after their Wicked performance, 13-year-old Nat feels totally synced with her fellow Oz Bounderz—especially her boyfriend, Malik. But the new school year threatens to disrupt their harmony. The Bounderz are split between schools, which makes Nat’s not-so-accessible introduction to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School as the “New Kid…in the Wheelchair” even harder. Fortunately, musical theater’s bound to be a bright spot—especially if MLK Jr.’s upcoming performance of Footloose lands the cast a shot at winning the Timmys, a junior Broadway competition. When Nat and Malik are cast as the lead couple, Nat is ecstatic, but stumbling blocks abound. Malik’s preoccupation with his band disrupts their rehearsals, and Hudson, enthralled with his boyfriend, is strangely aloof. Worst of all, the choreographer prizes synchronization, but it’s hard for Nat to translate her castmates’ flashy footwork to wheelchair dancing. Are her castmates’ snide comments true—was Nat’s casting based on her disability rather than her talent? Stoker and Davidowitz poignantly and perceptively explore external and internalized ableism; in particular, Nat’s initially awkward

9780063254190

A group of friends learns the importance of taking turns to be first.

A light-skinned boy named Kevin and his animal friends stumble upon a mysterious ladder. Although Fox was the first to spot the ladder, Kevin announces that he will be the first to climb it. Most of the animals don’t argue, but Fox and Gorilla whisper between themselves that they wanted to be first and reflect on other situations in which Kevin went first without considering the wishes of his friends. As Kevin climbs the ladder, he even gloats by saying, “Winners go first,” but as he climbs uncomfortably high, he soon realizes that going first has its drawbacks. When he reaches the top of the ladder, a huge Mouse greets him, and Kevin quickly encourages his friends to join him so that they can help balance out the seesaw Mouse wants to ride; Kevin boards the seesaw second, letting his friends go first. There’s no true central tension and the plot’s a little thin, but nevertheless the story successfully underscores the importance of being thoughtful and treating your friends as equals. The artwork is sparse but cute and engaging, with some of the story being played out wordlessly in the illustrations.

A low-stakes lesson in courtesy and in being a good friend. (Picture book. 4-8)

A stirring story of persistence and courage.

THE LION QUEEN

I’m Going To Be a Princess

Taylor, Stephanie | Illus. by Jade Orlando Nosy Crow (32 pp.) | $17.99 | Dec. 5, 2023

9798887770345

My Dog and I

Tortolini, Luca | Illus. by Felicita Sala Milky Way (48 pp.) | $20.99 | Nov. 7, 2023

9781990252303

Betty and the Mysterious Visitor

Twist, Anne | Illus. by Emily Sutton Candlewick (32 pp.) | $17.99 | Sept. 5, 2023 9781536234862

A Black mother and daughter discuss role models.

A young girl named Maya dreams of being a princess, much to the consternation of her mother, who shares examples of amazing Black women through history to coax her daughter away from what she sees as a stereotypically feminine desire. Wouldn’t Maya rather be a doctor, like Alexa Canady? Or a dancer, like Misty Copeland? Or a rocket scientist, like Annie Easley? As the two walk home from school, Mom offers more examples of women whom she hopes Maya will emulate. Though these women are fantastic, Maya is steadfast about wanting to be a princess. And at the end of the story, she tells her mother she wants to be just like Princess Amina, a warrior princess who, centuries ago, ruled the Zazzau Kingdom in West Africa—a fearless leader, she was devoted to her people and worked tirelessly for them. This satisfying conclusion flips the narrative and upends assumptions about who a princess is and what she might look like; caregivers of princess-obsessed kids may chuckle at the reveal. The text is conversational, accompanied by lively illustrations that set a light, fun tone. The book strikes a good balance, including subjects that readers may not be familiar with as well as better-known names. Backmatter offers more information about the women featured in the book. Amusing, informative, and relatable, for young readers and caregivers alike. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

Just your typical lost pet tale, with a significant twist.

One day a bespectacled child finds a bear in the park. Or, as the young narrator puts it, “I’ve always wanted a dog. And then one day…I found one.” Convinced that the creature is a rather large canine, the youngster builds him a home and finds him to be a delightful companion, fond of games and dress-up. The protagonist puts up Lost Dog signs, but no one claims him. Better still, bullies leave the child alone, and even the dark has lost its more frightening qualities. Unfortunately, one day the “dog” runs away, and the child must come to terms with this loss. The book then proceeds to give readers not one but two endings. The child finds a lost “kitty” (with a significant mane), and the “dog” and his new family return. This second ending feels superfluous in what is otherwise a charmer of a book, its warm predator/prey relationship much in the same vein as Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea (1968). Sala, serving both as artist and translator for this tale originally written in Italian by Tortolini, drenches the book in jewel tones that exude a singular comfort. The protagonist is brown-skinned; other characters are diverse.

A furry friendship certain to be the envy of young readers everywhere.

(Picture book. 3-6)

During her summer visit to Grandma, Betty cleverly scares off the badger that’s wreaking nocturnal havoc on Acorn Hollows, the neighborhood’s community garden.

Betty loves the Hollows; she swings in the tall oak tree and helps Grandma pick berries for the jam she sells at the village market. One morning, Betty spies a mess: Something’s torn up the grass. That evening, after their return from an excellent day at the market, Betty catches a glimpse of the creature from her bedroom window. She describes it to Grandma, who suspects a badger. “Once they find a place to dig for food, they come back again and again.” Indeed, the nightly damage continues. As Betty hatches a plan to frighten off the badger, Twist’s occasional rhymes give way to several rhymed lines that describe Betty’s preparations. She transforms her gathered supplies—sticks, string, old clothes, and objects that whirl, twinkle, and peal—into a scarecrow. That night, Betty glimpses her noisy creation frightening the badger away, “back to its den and its safe little place.” Next morning, Grandma welcomes the news as worthy of celebrating with hot chocolate in the garden. New flowers will grow—and meanwhile, it’s time to

Flips the narrative and upends assumptions about who a princess is and what she might look like.

I’M GOING TO BE A PRINCESS

make more jam. Sutton’s bright watercolors elevate the story with cheerful scenes of the garden, village, and market. Betty and Grandma are lightskinned; their community is diverse. A satisfying tale of a child’s resourcefulness. (Picture book. 3-7)

A Gift for Nai Nai

Ung, Kim-Hoa | Feiwel & Friends (32 pp.)

$18.99 | Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781250871596

A young girl of Chinese descent learns to crochet a hat for her beloved Nai Nai’s birthday.

Lyn Lyn’s grandmother has a tradition of crocheting a new hat for her every year. With Nai Nai’s birthday coming up, Lyn Lyn concocts a plan to return the favor by making her a hat “with a touch of red for good luck.” But things don’t turn out the way she expects when her stitches come out “too tight. Too loose. Too weird.” Struggling, she seeks out her Nai Nai’s help, under the ruse that the gift is for her best friend. With perseverance and her Nai Nai’s warm guidance and love, Lyn Lyn is able to create a hat that, although a little lopsided, makes her Nai Nai proud. Debut author/illustrator Ung’s use of gentle pastel colors paired with soft textures brings an additional layer of cozy warmth to this tale of intergenerational connection. Each stage of Lyn Lyn’s crochet journey, from her initial frustration to her renewed determination and creative problem-solving, is sure to resonate with anyone who has ever struggled to pick up a new skill. The book concludes with a crochet pattern for Nai Nai’s hat. Nai Nai is depicted using a wheelchair. A sweet story celebrating the special

bond between a granddaughter and her grandmother. (Chinese-English glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)

Lost Inside My Head

9781459835948

In this tale translated from French, a young boy with ADHD describes his thought processes. Life is full of distractions, but for someone with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), all those distractions can seem chaotic and lead to paralysis as well as low self-esteem. In Vincent’s case it keeps him from concentrating or completing simple tasks. But it also allows his imagination to blossom. After being unable to complete a recitation task in school, Vincent, a light-skinned boy, feels discouraged and seeks a solution to his concentration problems. By dividing his brain into various rooms, he’s able to find a quiet place to help him focus. The text meanders a bit, but its weaknesses are countered by strong artwork that allows readers a glimpse into the various “rooms” in Vincent’s brain. There’s even a chute meant to send away “all the not-so-nice things people say,” with an illustration filled with those negative comments. One of the most telling and relatable double-page spreads features a plethora of crows attacking him and urging him to be “like everyone else.”

Eventually, Vincent accepts that he isn’t like others but has his own particular strengths and ways of navigating life, a reassuring message for anyone whose

brain functions differently. A wild ride inside an imaginative but easily distracted brain. (Picture book. 6-8)

The Light She Feels Inside

Wallace, Gwendolyn | Illus. by Olivia Duchess | Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (40 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 3, 2023

9781728239798

A young Black girl looks to her ancestors. Maya has an indisputable light. As she navigates her world, positive interactions—a conversation with her parents, an unexpected gift from a neighbor—reinforce the glow she feels within. But sometimes she experiences “a different kind of glow, a burning one.” Like when a classmate pushes her or when her brother, taking her to get ice cream, is stopped by police. These moments bring Maya’s anger to a crescendo. When things become more than she can bear, she visits the library to confide in Ms. Scott, who is Black. The librarian offers words of encouragement and books about Black women who channeled similar feelings into effecting change. Ida B. Wells reported on injustice, Nina Simone sang “about what freedom might feel like,” and activist Marsha P. Johnson helped start a shelter for LGBTQ youth. Maya feels her glow, and later, her parents tell her about the women in her family who turned adversity into opportunities to do good. This gentle, heartfelt tale shows young readers how to find inspiration from role models. Illustrations use color to depict Maya’s emotions—when she’s joyful, the glow is a bright yellow; when she’s angry, it’s a bright crimson. Once she feels more empowered, her light transforms into an effervescent rainbow of colors.

Sure to light up young readers—and encourage them to help make the world a better place. (brief biographies of the women mentioned in the book) (Picture book. 4-8)

A wild ride inside an imaginative but easily distracted brain.

LOST INSIDE MY HEAD

Vigg | Trans. by David Warriner Orca (72 pp.) | $21.95 | Oct. 17, 2023

Rose Wolves

Warner, Natalie | Top Shelf Productions (80 pp.) | $14.99 | Nov. 14, 2023

9781603095310 | Series: Rose Wolves, 1

A wordless miniature myth about a girl and a flower-tailed forest-dweller.

A dark-haired, pale-skinned young girl wakes up eager to explore; sticking a twig in her hair, she heads out for the woods. While surveying the forest floor, she tumbles down a hillside and arrives at a cave housing a brambly bush. She plucks a rose from the bush and brings it home, where she sets it by her bedside, beneath the full moon’s glow. In the morning, she’s delighted to meet a black figure at her bedside, an exuberant young wolf with a rose for a tail. The wolf is missing a leg, mirroring her own missing arm, and the pair bond quickly. They play fetch, she feeds it strawberries, and she observes that its petals are beginning to fall. She resolves to return her new friend to the rosebush from whence it came—but not before encountering a dangerous situation in the woods along the way. Warner communicates the loneliness, curiosity, blossoming friendship, and deepening bond between the girl and her lupine companion with wide-eyed surprise and gentle embraces in spare, effective visual language. Warner’s illustration style is intently cute without being saccharine, bittersweet without being ponderous.

An exploration of love, kindness,

and duty communicated eloquently without a word. (preliminary sketches) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)

Girls in Flight

Whitley, Jeremy | Illus. by Jamie Noguchi papercutz (132 pp.) | $19.99 | Nov. 28, 2023 9781545806951 | Series: School for Extraterrestrial Girls, 2

Changes abound when a girls’ school is moved to an all-boys campus.

After their alma mater was destroyed in Girl on Fire (2020), Tara, Misako, Kat, and Summer’s beloved School for Extraterrestrial Girls relocates to the isolated School for Extraterrestrial Boys. The quartet of alien friends now find themselves in a co-ed environment. Tara, who has the power to create fire, unpacks her complicated feelings for and history with winged roommate Misako (in the first book, Tara learned that her people nearly wiped out Misako’s). She also befriends troublemakers Evan and Ian, who are fairies like Misako. Like all students, Summer wears a watch that makes her appear human; when she meets a handsome boy, she fears showing him her true tentacled form. Meanwhile, observant Kat may have uncovered a conspiracy. Misako’s and Tara’s dual perspectives are delineated in light blue and green, respectively, and readers get a more character-driven approach in this follow-up. Those seeking high-octane action must be patient until nearly the cliffhanging conclusion, but the flashy

final fight scene is worth the wait. With vividly hued illustrations from artist Noguchi, Whitley’s fizzy interstellar romp will leave readers buzzing for the next installment as he explores the girls’ dynamics both as a group and individually. In their human forms, Tara and Summer are brown-skinned, Misako is cued Asian, and Kat appears white. Fast-paced SF fun. (Graphic science fiction. 10-16)

Kirkus Star Not He or She, I’m Me

Wild, A.M. | Illus. by Kah Yangni | Henry Holt (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 17, 2023

9781250818607

A day in the life of a nonbinary kid.

From the first page, Yangni’s mixed-media art sets a dynamic tone for this exuberant story. Accompanied by rich layers of acrylic paint, newsprint, crayon, watercolor, and more, gently rhyming text follows the young narrator as they get dressed, eat breakfast with Mom, and ride the bus to school. Throughout, the child repeats the titular mantra: “Not he or she, I’m me.” Instead of offering an explicit definition of nonbinary, Wild opts to represent one child’s version of it through a day brimming with wonder, connection, and play. An afternoon spent riding bikes with friends depicts young people embracing differences without fanfare. And how affirming it is for the protagonist when they get to be “them with friends / and them at home / them even when alone.” Amid a growing landscape of gender-focused picture books, this title shines for its effervescent illustrations and simple, utterly normalizing narrative. A perfect addition to any school, public, or home library, this story will delight young readers of any gender. The child at the heart of this charming story is Black, with a puff of coily hair; their mom is Black, with darker brown skin and long red hair, and the child’s

Whitley’s fizzy interstellar romp will leave readers buzzing as he explores the girls’ dynamics both as a group and individually.

GIRLS IN FLIGHT

A YEAR OF BLACK JOY

classmates are racially diverse. How refreshing to see nonbinary joy so lovingly depicted. (Picture book. 3-9)

Just Lizzie

Wilfrid, Karen | Clarion/HarperCollins (320 pp.) | $19.99 | Nov. 14, 2023

9780063290297

What does it mean if you’re an eighth grade girl who doesn’t “like” boys—or anyone, for that matter?

Lizzie’s tough year starts with a move following a neighbor’s frightening harassment of her mother and her beloved brother’s departure for college. Also, her best friend, Sarah Nan, is obsessed with boys and crushes, and Lizzie just doesn’t get it. How do you start “liking” someone like that? What does “liking” even mean? Is some part of her missing? Learning about asexual reproduction in science class opens up a new world for Lizzie. But why can everyone accept her taking self-defense classes to manage her fear following their neighbor’s actions but not her revealing she’s asexual? Not even her mother or her favorite teacher validates her. How can Lizzie simultaneously cope with anxiety over the harassment, others’ aphobia, and her own fears that asexuality will mean always being alone? Lizzie’s feelings, struggles, and fears, arising from the author’s own experiences (which she describes in her author’s note), will ring true to many readers on the aromantic and asexual spectrums. Also poignant is Lizzie’s lingering fear of men as she wonders why victims, not

perpetrators, must move. Hope comes from her successfully navigating friendships and family relationships, taking a deep dive into research, and finding true mentors in unexpected places. Main characters are cued white. Some secondary characters are cued lesbian or gender nonconforming. A welcome addition to the growing number of novels exploring and embracing asexuality. (resources) (Fiction. 10-13)

Kirkus Star

A Year of Black Joy: 52 Black Voices Share Their Life Passions

Ed. by Wilson, Jamia | Illus. by Jade Orlando Magic Cat (112 pp.) | $22.99 | Oct. 10, 2023

9781419767784

An exploration of Black joy through the eyes of a myriad of changemakers from around the world.

Organized by month, the book pairs relevant holidays with entries from Black comedians, athletes, activists, musicians, and others. The contributors discuss what’s inspired them along the way and offer opportunities for readers to engage with these topics. For International Day of Choreography, artistic director Davalois Fearon describes how her love of dance helps her connect to her ancestors, while for Mother Language Day, linguist John McWhorter reminisces about the first time he heard a language other than English; for the Autumn Equinox, chef Andi Oliver includes a recipe for spiced squash and caramelized red onion skirlie. Readers

also get glimpses into a variety of other passions, including wheelchair racing, beekeeping, and chess. Although the page spreads are busy, text and illustrations complement each other effectively; the bright palette and energetic visuals are a strong match for the passionate, upbeat writing. The information is clearly conveyed. Young people will be inspired to seek out their own passions. Throughout, themes such as forging connection, learning to appreciate the world, and realizing that nothing is too minor to be celebrated come through clearly. This compendium is perfect for parents and educators looking for fun ways to ignite the imagination, recognize Black achievements, and spotlight lesser-known holidays.

An inspiring source of creativity for all readers. (Nonfiction. 8-12)

When I Smile: A Book of Kindness

Witek, Jo | Illus. by Christine Roussey Abrams Appleseed (30 pp.) | $18.99 Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781419769160

Fans of the creators’ In My Heart (2014) and its related titles will smile on reading this one.

The ninth entry in the popular Growing Hearts series by this author/illustrator team is, unsurprisingly, another book about feelings, mostly positive ones. This book especially recalls My Little Gifts (2017): It presents a smile as a gift to oneself as well as to others. The narrator/main character (who appears to be well past the toddler stage) reflects on the many different types of smiles and their uses. A “breakfast smile” says good morning; a friend’s smile initiates an exchange of wacky facial expressions; a shy or nervous smile can be partly hidden by one’s hands; smiles can smooth social interactions and repair breaches between friends. En route to school, the protagonist is also the recipient of a smile from little sister Lili, and the narrator, who suffers from academic anxiety, needs

An inspiring source of creativity for all readers.

that reassurance. Also, of course, a smile can express love. Smiling makes the narrator happy, and the last page asks an engaging question: “How do you feel when you smile?” Whimsical line drawings on a flat field are interspersed with saturated-color graphics; some drawings represent the siblings and their cat, while others are quite abstract. On every page, a big half-circle suggests a very generous grin. Such a warm message might turn some frowns upside down. (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Star

The Golden Apples

Yashinsky, Dan | Illus. by Ekaterina Khlebnikova | Running the Goat (60 pp.) | $15.99 paper | Oct. 3, 2023

9781998802050

Despite being better at following recipes than advice, a savvy third son prospers in this retold folktale.

Based on a version from a Cape Breton storyteller, this tale puts a Canadian slant (“As the King of Hockeyland once said, ‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’ ”) to elements both modern and drawn from multiple traditions. Jack enjoys baking with his mom, the queen, but bravely leaves the kitchen to track down the golden bird who’s stealing golden apples from the royal garden. Repeatedly accepting a talking fox’s advice and then forgetting it in the clutch, he escapes bad ends by taking on a string of daunting tasks. But he does stay focused long enough to land a job as palace cook in the next kingdom over, get help from a princess with “the kindest eyes in the world,” and return home with her. The author doesn’t exactly follow his own dictum about not making folktales “too nicey-nicey” when he has Jack rescue his older brothers from a crowd “about to drive them out of town”

(the illustration has them placed on a gallows). Still, along with dressing Jack’s crowned father in shorts and a T-shirt, plastering the princess’s bedroom wall with rock band posters, and tucking in other amusing details, Khlebnikova ably captures the story’s fluid pacing and dramatic tension. Characters, even the same ones from page to page, vary in skin tones. Brisk, engaging fun. (afterword) (Picture book. 7-9)

Body Music: Poems About the Noises Your Body Makes

Yolen, Jane & Ryan G. Van Cleave Illus. by Luis San Vicente | Moonshower/ Bushel & Peck Books (32 pp.) | $18.99 Sept. 5, 2023 | 9781638192015

Rhymes and reflections on body noises, from groans and giggles to sneezes, wheezes, and snores.

“Cough heads north, / fart goes south. / One by bottom, / the other by mouth.” Though the authors will no doubt be slapping their foreheads for neglecting to mention that there’s a word for tummy growls (“borborygmus”), they otherwise definitely deserve claps on the shoulder for this effervescent set of verses on sounds we produce…awake and asleep, voluntarily or otherwise. San Vicente’s rubbery figures, mostly a light- or dark-skinned array of young folk, blast or blow in theatrical accompaniment, and prose notes in the margins expand on each knee-slapping topic with explanations of biological causes (“sniffles and snuffles” are symptoms of a head cold) and chortle-worthy sidelight facts (“20% of people regularly crack their knuckles. Are you a frequent snap, crackle, and pop-er?”). Gagging, humming, and a few other sounds don’t make the cut, while yawning gets in without quite fitting the sonic premise. Still, the notion that bodies can become whole

percussive orchestras for a rhythmic “dance party” gets airings fore and aft—offering readers an invitation to crack their knuckles and clap out musical explorations of their own. The crowd-pleasing premise makes this a snap for reading solo or to virtually any audience. (Picture book/ poetry. 6-8)

Kirkus Star

I Can Open It for You

Yoshitake, Shinsuke | Chronicle Books (52 pp.) | $15.99 | Sept. 26, 2023

9781797219943

A frustrated child dreams of the day when opening packages and jars won’t be so hard. Here’s a theme to which any young person, and plenty who aren’t that young, can relate. Defeated after mighty, comical struggles with a small snack package that Mom tears open without apparent effort, an overalled tyke dreams of a time when—TA-DA!— the child, too, will be able to open anything with ease. Yoshitake festoons the simple cartoon illustrations with dozens of visualized items, from familiar bottles and cans to a heavy safe, a thief’s suitcase, a cage full of wild animals, a self-important grown-up’s zippered fly, and even a house and a whole planet…all of which will flip open like magic with an appropriate “blurp,” “phssst,” or “shwifft” someday. Until then, Dad promises, he will help, and together they’ll open all sorts of things—something he’s happy to do because, as the child becomes more independent, Dad won’t be needed as much. “But I’m still small, and can’t open anything yet.” Oh, that’s not true, responds Dad, who invites the little one to hold a cookie in front of his face. Young audiences will share the child’s delighted “Oh!” at the result: “I opened your mouth!” (And, as a silent final image reveals, the trick works with Mom, too.) The characters have skin the white of the

A lovely ode to the childhood magic of movement and freedom.

THE NEW BICYCLE

page and brown hair. Cozy, droll, perfect. (Picture book. 3-6)

The Lucky Red Envelope: A Lift-the-Flap Lunar New Year Celebration

Zhang, Vikki | Wide Eyed Editions (24 pp.)

$22.99 | Dec. 5, 2023 | 9780711285927

A young Chinese girl and her family celebrate the Lunar New Year Festival in this lift-the-flap book.

Readers see what Yue’s family does on each day of the festival and learn the meaning behind various symbols and objects, resulting in an extremely comprehensive overview of the holiday. Red and yellow hues dominate Zhang’s bustling images, which burst with details to be pored over: the candles the family lights for the kitchen god; the sumptuous pork buns, candied lotus root, and eight treasure rice pudding they eat; and, of course, the red envelopes filled with money that are handed out to the children as gifts. Dozens of delicately illustrated elements are clustered on every page, with household objects, festive decorations, or celebratory symbols and patterns covering all available space. In addition to the few paragraphs of main text on each spread, small captions highlight specific items of cultural interest or ask readers to look for objects. Twelve flaps on each spread take the learning and looking even further. Some simply reveal the inside of the object on the flap, others explain a new concept, and some contain a seek-and-find item. Depending on readers’ attention span, this level of detail and visual miscellany

may be overwhelming, or it may prove fascinating, worthy of many rereads. Interactive and densely packed with information and images. (Novelty picture book. 3-8)

Atana and the Firebird

Zhou, Vivian | HarperAlley (256 pp.) $24.99 | $15.99 paper | Nov. 7, 2023 9780063075924 | 9780063075917 paper Series: Atana, 1

A mermaid and a firebird explore Earth together in this duology opener.

Mermaid Atana was living alone on an island and in its surrounding waters (on land, Atana has legs), until the night firebird Ren appeared from the sky. Ren’s fearless curiosity inspires Atana to join her adventure, despite the mermaid’s fears of magic hunters, and the two set off together. It’s been centuries since firebirds last appeared on Earth, and Ren’s arrival hasn’t gone unnoticed. The two are immediately waylaid by magic hunters, taken in by a stranger, and invited into the protection of the mysterious Witch Queen. But does the Witch Queen’s hospitality come with a hidden cost? Along the way, Ren and Atana pursue their own family secrets, and they befriend Witch Guard trainee Cosmos, who’s on a mission of her own. This intriguing, complex story is simply and elegantly drawn, with many wordless panels. Readers may need to reread portions of the book to identify characters or work to pick up on other visual clues. Just as the rapport between Atana, Ren, and Cosmos starts to gel, the plot hurtles to

a climax, and the story comes to an end. Still, lovers of the genre will find plenty to enjoy. Ren’s human form has brown skin and long, white-blond hair; Atana has light-brown skin and close-cropped green hair, and the supporting cast is varied in appearance.

An uneven but appealing introduction to a fantasy world. (development art) (Graphic fantasy. 8-12)

The New Bicycle

Zoells, Darcy Day | Clavis (32 pp.) | $18.95 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781605379647

Mari’s new, bigger bicycle takes her on far-flung adventures and right back home again. Setting off on her new wheels, pup in tow, Mari pedals through her neighborhood, across a body of water, past a sphinx, and to the savanna. And, of course, her bicycle even brings her home. Readers ride along through Mari’s imagination. The big basket on the back of her bicycle picks up an elephant holding a balloon. She sails by a large ship and glides along the side of a pyramid. The text never directly discusses what readers see in the illustrations, even though they pair perfectly. With her new bike, “Mari could make discoveries and deliveries,” the text sitting neatly across an illustration of Mari’s elephant making its way out across the savanna. The images are compelling, with expert use of color and perspective. Mari dons her red outfit and shoes throughout, often standing out against more muted browns and greens. Her elephant companion is always grabbing readers’ attention: reaching for an almost-lost balloon or spraying water at a whale. Mari and her father have light brown skin; her mother is white. This is a lovely ode to the childhood magic of movement and freedom, an open road full of possibility and imagination.

Beautiful illustrations pair perfectly with simple, succinct text. (Picture book. 3-6)

Young Adult

KIRKUS PRIZE 2023: THE YA FINALISTS

THE JURORS FOR the Young Readers’ Literature category of the Kirkus Prize possess extensive knowledge of books for infants through teens in a variety of formats. They worked with editor Mahnaz Dar and me to come up with six finalists. Our YA choices— America Redux: Visual Stories From Our Dynamic History , written and illustrated by Ariel Aberg-Riger (Balzer + Bray/ HarperCollins, May 2), and The Eternal Return of Clara Hart , by Louise Finch (Little Island, June 13)—are models of excellence, and

we could not be prouder to present them to the world.

You’re never too old to appreciate visual arts, as America Redux demonstrates. Aberg-Riger uses archival images to create enticing collages that invite readers to pore over details and consider how context changes the way we interpret information. Short chapters using accessible, engaging language focus on carefully selected subjects, some that are widely discussed (like America’s history with guns) and others that are less so (like the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i). As

the author writes in the afterword, “We can’t change the past. But we can live in relationship with it in a way that informs and energizes our present.”

Readers seeking other books that visually engage with history should pick up They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, and Steven Scott, illustrated by Harmony Becker (2019), a moving graphic memoir about the famed actor’s childhood in a Japanese American incarceration camp; Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall, illustrated by Hugo Martínez (2021), an eye-opening adult graphic nonfiction account with strong teen crossover appeal about lawyer and historian Hall’s research; and Movements and Moments edited by Sonja Eismann, Ingo Schöningh, and Maya (2022), a graphic nonfiction anthology highlighting Indigenous women activists around the world, past and present.

In The Eternal Return of Clara Hart, Finch ingeniously uses the popular time-loop device to pull off literary magic in a story as profound as it is entertaining. This novel critiques rape culture through the perspective of Spence, a boy many teens will recognize—the well-intentioned, decent kid,

neither ringleader nor underdog. Some readers will grow in comprehension alongside Spence, while others will immediately perceive his limitations—and, incredibly, the book succeeds either way. Clara and the other girls are fully developed, neither accessories nor props for Spence’s growth. Finch persuasively shows how toxic masculinity does tremendous damage, regardless of one’s gender.

Those interested in related books should look for Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles (2020), which is likewise conversational in tone and punctuated with humor, with strong girls surrounding the likeable (and fallible) male lead; I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers (2022), a complex and riveting thriller that, like Finch’s book, demands readers develop new insights alongside the narrator, a teen girl who has internalized toxic and deadly norms around gender, beauty, and success; and Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater (2023), which vividly shows the impact of racism and misogyny among smalltown teenagers.

LAURA SIMEON

Laura Simeon is a young readers’ editor.

Illustration by Eric Scott Anderson

EDITOR’S PICK

The dangers of love letters, honest feelings, and trying to do right by your community are on full, gay display in this duology opener.

Bookish high school junior and diehard romantic Joseph “Jay” Dupresh is used to feeling invisible, but a number of boys around the K-Town neighborhood of Savannah are showing interest lately, including sweet but rough-around-the-edges Leroy. While Jay focuses on writing love letters on commission as his growing side hustle (and some just for himself), Leroy’s family affiliation with the Black Diamonds puts both boys

at risk, forcing them to hit pause right when things start to heat up. Despite their reputation and even Jay’s assumptions, the BDs are primarily a grassroots cooperative that happens to be made up of gangsters looking to protect and take ownership of their community. While Jay narrates his chapters with vulnerability and a delicate touch, Leroy provides contrast in both language and imagery from the peripheries of gang life. Together, they paint a rich, dynamic image of Black queer boyhood in a vividly depicted Southern community. The teens’ willthey-won’t-they romance is

Pritty

Miller, Jr., Keith F. | HarperTeen (416 pp.)

$19.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780063264922

accompanied by the presence of a healthy number of other handsome queer boys and the life-threatening intrigue of a community violently turned against itself before discovering the

real enemy. These storylines make for a compelling debut that impressively balances the sweet and the suspenseful.

Queer Black boy joy at its juiciest. (Fiction. 12-18)

By Laurie Boyle Crompton

Pritty

By Keith F. Miller, Jr.

For some great YA STEM titles, visit Kirkus online.

A rich, dynamic image of Black queer boyhood in a vividly depicted Southern community.

Our Cursed Love

Abe, Julie | Wednesday Books (304 pp.)

$20.00 | Dec. 12, 2023 | 9781250851321

A Palo Alto high school senior must find a way to spark her best friend’s memory before she forever loses him—and a chance at love.

Remy Kobata is in love with her childhood best friend, Cameron Yasuda, but she’s afraid of telling him and losing his friendship. But with the Japanese American teens heading to different colleges, she decides their winter break trip to Tokyo is the perfect time to confess. All Remy’s dreams of love come crashing down, however, when an ominous tea leaf reading reveals she doesn’t have a soulmate. When the two stumble across a secret magical apothecary, Remy is determined to get help with changing her fate. The bartender offers them a long-banned love potion, which Remy drinks out of desperation and Cam takes out of scientific curiosity—but instead of falling for Remy, Cam forgets who she is. Even worse, they learn that on January 1st, the effects will become permanent: Remy has just six days to find a cure.

Told from Remy’s and Cam’s alternating third-person viewpoints, this sweet story is full of magic, adding fun twists to the friends-to-lovers storyline. It also explores common teen issues, like parental expectations and worries over college admissions and future plans, alongside the message that “every moment is one chance in a lifetime.”

Although the setting is infused with fantastical elements, the descriptive writing captures Tokyo’s real-life vibrancy and culture.

A charming fantasy for lovers of cozy romance. (Romance. 12-18)

Captures Tokyo’s vibrancy and culture.

Nightbane

Aster, Alex | Amulet/Abrams (416 pp.) $19.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781419760907

Series: Lightlark, 2

Missing

Brown, Savannah | Sourcebooks Fire (384 pp.) | $11.99 paper | Dec. 5, 2023 9781728259468

Having broken several ancient curses in the opener, Lightlark (2022), Isla has to make a high-stakes choice between her virtuous Sunling lover and her hot Nightshade one.

Supplying a punchy title but playing no significant role in the actual story, the eponymous flower makes a good emblem for a rambling follow-up that includes lots of angst and stabbing but neither substance nor a coherent storyline. Having stolen Isla’s memories of their forbidden love, the centuries-old, “filthy, deadly—surprisingly attractive—Nightshade” Grim announces that he’ll return in 30 days to destroy the island of Lightlark: “You can choose to flee to your newlands… or join me in a new future.” Complicating matters, Isla’s current beau, the aptly named, equally ancient Oro, is Lightlark’s king. This advance warning of impending doom allows time for Isla to recall in backtracking flashbacks, bit by strung-out, tantalizing bit, how her supposed nemesis is nothing of the sort (which readers of the first volume will already well know). She also fills in the time by struggling to control her newly won magical powers, while setting off to marshal alliances and tour her new lands. Despite a dire prophecy regarding her hunky lovers, a series of increasingly steamy scenes culminate in a spectacularly anticlimactic face-off that exposes one of their motives. Characters are diverse in skin tone. Slapdash. (Fantasy. 13-18)

Roxy Raines went missing in 1986, but that won’t stop Mona Perry from investigating her disappearance decades later.

One summer night, young singer Roxy disappeared from the sleepy Delaware island town of Sandown Bay. Years later, 17-year-old Mona travels to the island, determined to find out what happened to Roxy—and to report the findings on her podcast, How To Disappear. Mona started the podcast after her older sister, Celeste, mysteriously vanished while the pair were on a hike in the woods. Lying about her age and posing as a seasonal summer employee, Mona dedicates her free time to poking around Roxy’s former haunts. She befriends 15-year-old Ellis, a local boy who shares her interest in finding out more about Roxy’s disappearance. Can Mona and Ellis piece together what really happened? Vivid, poetic language builds the picture of a quiet beach town that’s never recovered from its tragic past. Mona is a complex character whose drive to discover the truth shines through her many, very human flaws. Side characters largely lack the same depth, although one of the story’s strongest figures is Celeste, who looms over the central plot as a mythic figure whose disappearance spurs Mona’s passionate interest in “documenting…all the ways a life can pause.” Most characters are cued white. A rich, complex story about the secrets that a small town is determined to keep. (Mystery. 14-18)

For another YA romance set in Japan, visit Kirkus online.

The Brontës of Haworth Moor: How the Three Daughters of a Country Parson Became the Most Revolutionary Novelists of Their Time

Browning, Diane | Rowman & Littlefield (256 pp.) | $34.00 | Nov. 8, 2023

9781538172315

Drawing on primary and secondary source material, this well-researched collective biography delves into the Brontë siblings’ day-today lives in the parsonage of Haworth and explores their later achievements.

The six Brontë children—Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne—weren’t permitted to play with the local children but found solace and companionship with each other, playing, writing, and taking long walks on the moors. The children’s educated and literary mother may have influenced their curate father, who came to support education for his daughters. But a disastrous foray in a harsh boarding school tragically led to the tuberculosis deaths of Maria, 11, and Elizabeth, 10, just a few years after the loss of their mother. Writing sustained the surviving siblings. Branwell and Charlotte, always close, continued to create their imaginary world, Angria; Anne and Emily had their own saga. Readers are shown how their insular yet creative childhoods set the tone for the sisters’ classics, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Grey. Browning also introduces novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, explaining how her 1870 biography of Charlotte has been the source of many misconceptions about the family. This work presents a nuanced story of an extremely close-knit family, both supportive of and sometimes at odds with each other, often happy, but just as often suffering from grief, anxiety, and depression. Occasional black-and-white illustrations add little to the work.

Thorough, nuanced, and well researched. (author’s note, who’s who, endnotes, bibliography, index) (Biography. 12-17)

Artifacts of an Ex

Chen, Jennifer | Wednesday Books (288 pp.) $20.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781250865663

An art lover turns her ex-boyfriend’s breakup box into a collaborative exhibit about teen heartbreak.

Soon after Type A 16-yearold Chloe Chang and her parents abruptly move from New York City to Los Angeles to live with her Taiwanese grandmother, who’s struggling with dementia, Chloe’s boyfriend, Jake, an up-and-coming Black artist, breaks up with her via a mailed shoebox full of mementos. Devastated, the teen paper-planner influencer and aspiring curator finds inspiration from a classmate and fellow artist to create Heartifacts, an exhibit of breakup memorabilia collected from teens who’ve experienced heartbreak. At the exhibit’s opening night, Chloe meets a young Korean American filmmaker named Daniel, whose best friend’s breakup is featured in the show. Daniel—who knows Chloe’s grandmother via her family’s cafe—encourages Chloe to utilize his filmmaking skills to strengthen the exhibit and familiarize herself with L.A.’s art scene. As the two grow closer, Daniel insists they remain friends, because Chloe’s obviously not over her ex, and he doesn’t want to end up being a rebound guy for the sixth time. Equal parts romance and tribute to Los Angeles, this charming debut combines a strong sense of place and community with well-developed supporting characters, a lovely intergenerational family, and a just-kiss-already love story. The diverse adolescent ensemble includes strong queer representation. An endearing exploration of loss, love, and the transformative nature of art.

(Fiction. 13-18)

Where He Can’t Find You

Coates, Darcy | Sourcebooks Fire (416 pp.) $11.99 paper | Nov. 7, 2023 9781728278940

“Doubtful, Illinois, was a glue trap. People sometimes came in, but they very rarely left.”

Abby and friends Rhys, Connor, and Riya have rules to keep themselves safe and avoid getting taken by the Stitcher. The serial killer preys on people in this former mining town, stitching victims’ body parts together with red thread. The four teenagers, who call themselves the Jackrabbits, keep tabs on the Stitcher’s activities, but the Doubtful police seem unable or unwilling to solve the case. Officer Thompson, a new arrival from New York City seeking a quieter place after years of policing in the big city, is trying to learn more about the town. His teenage daughter, Jen, struggles to believe that the Jackrabbits’ warnings are true—but things are getting worse in Doubtful. Technology is failing, and the Jackrabbits are having nightmares—signs that the Stitcher is gearing up to take another victim. In this page-turning horror story, everyone is at risk of falling into the Stitcher’s clutches, no matter how careful they are. The rural Midwestern setting may seem familiar, but the evil that haunts Doubtful permeates the pages. Creepy imagery offsets scenes of amateur detective work. First-person chapters tell stories of those affected by the Stitcher; the rest follow the teen protagonists in the third person. Most characters read white; Riya is cued South Asian. Final art not seen. A small-town nightmare unfolds in this terrifying tale. (Paranormal horror. 14-18)

For another rural YA horror novel, visit Kirkus online.

Kirkus Star

The Denim Diaries: A Memoir

Crompton, Laurie Boyle | Zest Books (352 pp.) | $38.65 PLB | Nov. 7, 2023

An honest, brutal memoir told through poems and line-art illustrations about surviving trauma and disordered eating and deciding to truly live.

In 1968, the author’s grandfather wanted her teenaged mother to have an abortion. Instead, her mom called off “the contract hit” and married her 20-year-old boyfriend. Dad drank too much, Mom made the best of things, and two younger siblings came along. Laurie, who reads white, loved being a big sister but was the “weird girl” who didn’t fit in. Slowly, she learned from family, friends, and the media that she was “too much / too big / too earnest / too intense-in-your-face,” and she began to dislike herself. Caring for siblings while Mom worked and Dad drank, Laurie tried to be an ordinary 1980s teenager, but she felt like an imposter. Struggling to maintain control amid divorce and loneliness, she convinced herself that losing weight would fix everything. Thus began her journey to anorexia and bulimia. When Laurie left community college to move to New York City, her relationship with food and her body worsened as she also grappled with surviving sexual assault. Eventually, she realized she’d die if she didn’t learn to love herself enough to live. This memoir, enhanced by the author’s sketches, is both original and moving—but not for the faint of heart. In often graphic detail, beautiful turns of phrase quickly become hard-cornered truths, providing a poetic roadmap from self-doubt to self-hate and, finally, self-acceptance. Relatable, visceral, and memorable. (author’s note, resources) (Verse memoir. 16-adult)

GODLY HEATHENS

Edgmon, H.E. | Wednesday Books (400 pp.) $20.00 | Nov. 28, 2023 | 9781250853615 Series: Ouroboros, 1

Gem, a transmasc teen in a small Southern town, finds it increasingly difficult to discern between nightmare and reality when a new girl comes to town and informs Gem that they’re a god.

Following a difficult divorce, Gem and their mother moved to Gracie, Georgia, their mom’s hometown, which is also closer to their ancestral Seminole lands. It’s been four years, but Gem feels alone and dreams of moving to Brooklyn, where their best friend, Enzo, a Native trans boy with a thriving queer social life, lives. Gem and Enzo talk regularly, but Gem has never mentioned the vivid nightmares—full of “blood and gore and magic and sex demons”— that have haunted them since childhood. So when beautiful new classmate Willa Mae saves Gem’s life and claims that the two of them are gods and soulmates, Gem’s mom begins to question whether Gem is hallucinating like their father did. But taking their meds is not a top priority for Gem right now: They have to find a magic knife and stave off the demons that are threatening their life while figuring out what to do about loving two people at the same time. Fast-paced and engaging, the novel addresses queer identity, mental health, and belonging to and disconnection from one’s land and language, while weaving a vivid magic realm with its own logic.

A thrilling fantasy series opener. (map) (Fantasy. 15-18)

Caught in a Bad Fauxmance

Gonzalez Rose, Elle | Joy Revolution (320 pp.) | $18.99 | Dec. 5, 2023 9780593645796

Back home in Florida for winter break, a Latino college freshman faces emotional upheaval.

Struggling after his first semester at CalArts, an art school in Los Angeles, Devin Báez feels like a fraud. He’s also feeling distant from his family—twin sister Maya, dad, stepmom, and stepbrother. Returning to their old cabin near a lake for the first time since Mami died is bittersweet, especially with the small town’s decline and the neglected cabin’s deterioration. Adding to the stress, Dev is trying to finish his application for a prestigious animation mentorship, money is tight, and they might have to sell the cabin. When Dev bumps into Julian Seo-Cooke, the Korean and Cuban son of neighbors who are “loaded, obnoxious, and annoying as hell,” everything becomes even more complicated. Julian has become distractingly handsome, and he asks Dev to pretend to be his boyfriend in order to get a persistent ex to leave him alone. Everything culminates at the town’s annual Winter Games, historically the scene of a bitter rivalry between the Báezes and the (likely cheating) Seo-Cookes— and this year, the stakes are higher than ever. The sweet enemies-to-lovers romance develops slowly and believably. This debut also explores changing familial relationships, particularly between Dev and Maya, whose life paths diverge amid their financial troubles. The treatment of grief is layered, reflected throughout the family’s shared memories as they figure out how to move forward. A satisfyingly complex story encompassing both romance and family healing. (Fiction. 14-18)

To explore some YA biography and memoir, visit Kirkus online.

Only She Came Back

Harrison, Margot | Little, Brown (256 pp.)

$18.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780316536080

A true-crime fan on the hunt for a story connects with a former classmate who may be a killer. When 18-year-old Kiri Dunsmore becomes a suspect in her survivalist influencer boyfriend Callum Massey’s murder after turning up in his bloody sweatshirt, Samara recognizes her as shy Katie Dunsmore from junior year English class. A self-professed obsessive true-crime fan, Sam is always on the lookout for a story, and realizing that Kiri could be her big break, she seizes the opportunity to strike up a friendship. Though Kiri isn’t willing to talk about what happened to Callum, the diary she lets Sam read spells out how she fell prey to his manipulation and control. As rumors swirl, Sam’s developing feelings for Kiri threaten to override her better judgment, even though Kiri still hasn’t been cleared of the murder. Although Sam feels more like a plot device than a fully rounded character, the combination of formats—video and podcast transcripts, diary entries— plus plenty of red herrings add intrigue as the story tackles consent, grooming, emotional abuse, mental illness, survivalist culture, eating disorders, and social media. Undeniable parallels to the tragic, widely covered 2021 murder of Gabby Petito underscore the slippery nature of abusive behaviors and illuminate warning signs for readers learning to navigate romantic relationships of their

own. Kiri is white; other characters are minimally described and racially ambiguous.

A twisty thriller exploring important social topics. (Thriller. 14-18)

What the River Knows

Ibañez, Isabel | Wednesday Books (416 pp.)

$18.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781250803375

Series: Secrets of the Nile, 1

In 1884, a 19-year-old Argentine and Bolivian heiress sets sail to investigate the mysterious deaths of her parents in Egypt.

Inez Olivera grew up in Buenos Aires largely without the presence of her mother and father, who often were in British-ruled Egypt, assisting Tío Ricardo, her archaeologist uncle, with his expeditions. When word comes that Inez’s parents have disappeared in the desert and are presumed dead, she intends to find out exactly what happened to them—much to the chagrin of secretive, smoldering Whitford Hayes. Former British soldier Whit works for Tío Ricardo, who orders him to send the reluctant Inez back home for her own safety. But Inez repeatedly and craftily evades this demand. She realizes that a golden ring her father sent from Cairo before he disappeared has imprinted her with magic that may help unearth Cleopatra’s tomb.

Tío Ricardo, a historical preservationist who opposes colonial exploitation, is desperate to find it before greedy treasure hunters can rob Egypt of its artifacts. As the story unfolds through

Inez’s and Whit’s alternating points of view, the chemistry between them sizzles, and they run into danger and deception at every turn of their epic quest—all while remaining unsure if they can even trust one another. Extensive worldbuilding in the first half pays off with a fast-paced conclusion laden with shocking twists. A jaw-dropping cliffhanger in the epilogue will leave readers deliciously questioning everything and hungering for the sequel.

A romantic, heart-pounding adventure. (map, timeline, author’s note) (Historical fantasy. 13-18)

Bladestay

Johnson, Jackie | CamCat Books (240 pp.) $19.99 | Nov. 28, 2023 | 9780744306941

A scheming female antihero goes undercover as a man to survive the hostile takeover of her small hometown in this raucous 19th-century Western.

Seventeen-year-old Theodora “Theo” Creed finds herself in jail after stabbing the young man who attacked her following years of harassment. Soon after, a traveling gang led by a man named August Gaines, who’s looking for both an enormous missing diamond and his old enemy, Lucas Haas, takes over Bladestay, Colorado. Theo dons men’s clothes to gain access to August’s group, hoping to protect her family and guarantee her own survival. Complicating her efforts is one member of the gang, Mexican rancher and gunslinger Brody Boone, who grows to care for her. Twists abound; many characters are not who they initially appear to be, making their interactions feel awash in intrigue and subterfuge. Unfortunately, the gradual reveal of characters’ backstories leaves them feeling underdeveloped and will muddy readers’ understanding of their motivations. Main characters are

A poetic roadmap from self-doubt to, finally, self-acceptance.

THE DENIM DIARIES

THE KIRKUS Q&A: ELIZABETH RUSCH

The author’s new YA book tells the true story of 21 young people who sued the government over climate change.

BY ILANA BENSUSSEN EPSTEIN

Elizabeth Rusch’s latest book, The Twenty-One: The True Story of the Youth Who Sued the US Government Over Climate Change (Greenwillow Books, Sept. 26), tells the ongoing story of Juliana v. United States. In the landmark case, filed in 2015, a group of 21 youth plaintiffs sued the federal government for its contribution to the worsening of climate change and for violating their constitutional rights to a safe, clean, and healthful environment in the process. Representing them in the endeavor was Our Children’s Trust, a legal nonprofit founded by the lead attorney for the case, Julia Olson.

The book recounts the hurdles, both legal and personal, faced by these young people in the years since the case was filed. An enormous hurdle came in January 2020, when a Ninth District court dismissed the case, stating that the relief requested by the plaintiffs was beyond the court’s constitutional power to grant. Undeterred, they continued their battle: The 21 asked for an additional hearing, seeking to amend their complaint in response to the court’s feedback. District Court Judge Ann Aiken did not rule on the question until June 1, 2023.

Kirkus spoke to Rusch on the day a judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs (also represented by Our Children’s Trust) in Held v. Montana, a similar youth-led case against the state of Montana. Rusch, who lives in Portland, Oregon, answered our questions over Zoom after driving to the coast to escape 104-degree heat in the usually temperate city. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

This book is a history in the making. As we see from the exciting update in Montana this morning, it’s continuing to unfold. The book I received from your publicist is even an update from the galley Kirkus reviewed in June.

I feel like I could revise this book forever. I got my contract to write the book in 2021. June 2021 was the hearing to amend the plaintiffs’ complaint, and my deadline wasn’t until March 2022. I thought I had all the

time in the world to get the ruling, and I wanted to make that the last chapter of the book.

A year goes by, no ruling. A year and a half goes by, no ruling. The book goes through editing, through copyediting, through design. In the end, and I think this is the galley Kirkus reviewed, there were blank pages where we wrote, “This is what it is like to wait for a judge to rule on a case you care deeply about and that affects your future.” That’s what was going to press, and then on June 1, Judge Aiken ruled in the kids’ favor. Meanwhile, the Montana case was going to trial in two weeks, so I asked, “Can you hold a couple paragraphs for the Montana trial?” I took a road trip to Helena to watch part of it. I think I literally typed the last period as the book was

going to press. I would be updating it right now if I could!

You write about the entire legal process in a very clear, engaging way. Was that hard to achieve?

I feel like I got a mini law degree in the process of writing. I read thousands of pages of court documents and hearing transcripts. The legal battle for this case has been complex and somewhat technical; much of what the book covers is pretrial hearings. I kept asking myself, How do I make this interesting for young readers? In 2019, I attended a hearing for the case in Portland, and I was absolutely riveted. Remembering that, I began thinking I could write the book as a sort of legal thriller.

I also knew I wanted to focus on the stories of the

Lynn Spencer

Rusch was updating the book until the eve of publication.

youth, the actual people behind it, in between the more technical moments. There was Sahara and Isaac, who are both athletes who suffer from asthma and whose lives have been endangered by wildfire smoke. And there’s Levi, who’s been evacuated from his home in Florida twice because of severe hurricanes. And Jayden, who’s been stranded and sickened by floodwaters in Louisiana. The stakes in all their stories are undeniable.

The book certainly highlights how much storytelling plays into the legal process. There’s a lot of artistry in building a legal argument.

[Lead attorney] Julia Olson says that as well. She says that good lawyers are good

storytellers. Her job is to tell a story for the judge that helps them look at the law a certain way. She’s a really good lawyer, so she’s a really good storyteller.

The 21 youth plaintiffs need to establish that they have a right to be heard by the court, that their story is one that the court needs to listen to. Simply getting to the place of holding a trial is a huge part of the battle. The way the legal system works, there has to be a record of facts. The trial establishes that record. All these cases are laying the groundwork for what could become a constitutional right to a stable climate.

And regardless of the outcome of Juliana v. United States, that groundwork remains.

And that’s what happened with Plessy v. Ferguson [in 1896]. The court ruled that “separate but equal” was constitutional, but then there were all these other cases, not just Brown v. Board of Education [in the 1950s] but many others as well, and some said yes and some said no, and eventually it got back to the Supreme Court, and they could no longer deny it.

It has to get to a place where there’s no other conclusion. You can’t have life, liberty, and property if you can’t breathe. The core principle of this case is that not only is the government not doing enough, but it’s actively contributing to and supporting the fossil fuel industry. That’s a very different way of thinking about climate change. I think that the

best way to change minds is through stories, and this is an incredible story. These youth have the biggest goal possible: to save the planet. They have one of the most powerful opponents: the U.S. government. They have a couple things on their side: They’ve got the science on their side; I think they have the Constitution on their side. And then they have this small-town environmental lawyer who’s managed to pull together an incredible team of legal thinkers. It’s a real David and Goliath story.

Not only are they facing the U.S. government, but they’ve now faced three different presidential administrations.

The Twenty-One: The True Story of the Youth

Rusch, Elizabeth Greenwillow Books

304 pp. | $19.99

9780063220850

Yeah, the case was filed under the Obama administration. The government’s response to it, from Obama to Trump to Biden, has not changed: that the youth do not have a right to go to trial. I find that fascinating. Democrats say they’re better on climate change, and Biden did pass a big package with a lot of money for renewables. But he also campaigned saying “no more drilling on public lands,” and now he’s permitted quite a lot of drilling on public lands. I think, with the connection between the fossil fuel industry and the money that’s going into paying for campaigns, it’s virtually impossible for the legislature to make these difficult decisions. The only thing is if the courts say, “You have to stop doing this.” There’s no other way.

Ilana Bensussen Epstein is a writer and filmmaker in Boston. The Twenty-One received a starred review in the July 1, 2023, issue.

I began thinking I could write the book as a sort of legal thriller.

white; August’s group of men includes a formerly enslaved person and an Indigenous person. Together they create a genuine sense of family as they travel in search of Haas. Shocking acts of violence punctuate most chapters, including an explicit incident of torture, but wordy descriptions slow down the pace of the action.

A twisty but unevenly executed novel that packs quite a few literal punches. (content warning) (Historical fiction. 14-18)

Dance Like No One’s Watching

Jones, Vanessa | Macmillan Children’s Books (352 pp.) | $11.99 paper | Dec. 5, 2023 9781529013146

In this follow-up to 2020’s Sing Like No One’s Listening, readers return to the cutthroat world of a prestigious London performing arts academy.

Seventeen-yearold Antoinette Delaney-Richardson had a fantastic summer with Fletch, her adoring new boyfriend. After the stress of her first year at Duke’s, she’s returning with a renewed sense of confidence and is looking forward to seeing friends. The place is aflutter with the excitement of a docu-series that will be capturing students’ daily lives. But this means there’s even less room for mistakes, between cameras in the classrooms and rehearsals for the demanding school musical. A video of Nettie singing went viral the previous year, and now the director wants to feature her in the program. She’s hesitant, but the director threatens to expose sensitive information about Nettie’s late mum and even manipulates footage to manufacture a story for ratings. Her friends experience their own troubles, including dancer Kiki’s ongoing struggle with body image. Fletch springs the announcement of a once-in-a-lifetime six-month apprenticeship two hours away, and

alongside the continued search for answers about her ballet dancer mum’s past, Nettie faces industry and personal struggles. While just as enjoyable for musical theater aficionados as the earlier entry, this sequel gets into more intense aspects of a career in the arts. There’s plenty of drama to keep pages turning as readers root for Nettie. Nettie is white; diversity is woven into the supporting cast. An honest, thoughtful look at show business’s personal toll. (resources) (Fiction. 13-18)

Facing the Enemy: How a Nazi Youth Camp in America Tested a Friendship

Krasner, Barbara | Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers (368 pp.) | $17.99 Dec. 5, 2023 | 9781662680250

The story of a friendship torn apart when Nazi ideology arrives on America’s shores.

It’s 1937, and two young best friends—Benjamin Puterman, who is Jewish, and Thomas Anspach, who is German American and presumably Christian—are anticipating the joys of summer. But Tommy’s harsh father has other plans: He enrolls his 13-year-old son in Camp Nordland in rural New Jersey. The camp’s purpose is to immerse German American youths in their heritage, including the propaganda of Hitler’s Nazi Party, and Tommy quickly learns that he can’t be friends with Benjy anymore. But the people of New Jersey aren’t staying silent about Nordland, and when Benjy’s father joins the Newark Minutemen, a group of “anti-Nazi vigilantes,” Benjy, also 13, pleads with his elders to let him help. His plea leads to the founding of the Minutekids.

As the years pass and Hitler marches across Europe, Benjy and Tommy, who are in school together, circle each other. When the 1940s roll around,

the ground shifts. Is reconciliation possible? Each boy struggles with different types of personal adversity, and the challenges of their relationship highlight an important, lesser-known chapter in U.S. history. Unfortunately, many of the poems feel flat, and the two teens’ voices sound very alike and not much like those of real adolescents. Critical historical information conveyed through poems that don’t do justice to the subject’s emotional weight. (author’s note, glossary, timeline, source notes, bibliography, further reading/viewing, picture credits) (Verse historical fiction. 13-18)

Catfish Rolling

Kumagai, Clara | Amulet/Abrams (432 pp.) $19.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781419768514

After a great earthquake alters life in Japan, a teen girl navigates a time-distorted world.

Legend says that a giant catfish lives under the islands of Japan, causing earthquakes whenever it twists and turns. Sora Campbell hates that catfish. Seven years earlier, a massive quake altered time, resulting in the disappearances of the Japanese and white Canadian teen’s mother and grandfather. Sora now lives near zones where time flows faster or slower than elsewhere. High school is over, her best friend is leaving for Tokyo, and Sora isn’t sure what the future holds for her. Spending too much time searching in the restricted zones proves dangerous, and she can see the toll it’s taking on her time-obsessed researcher father. When he goes missing, too, Sora (with help from friends) delves deeper into the time zones than anyone has before. Meanwhile, she also develops an unexpected crush on new Okinawan and Black American friend Maya, who is a fellow hafu, or biracial, girl. Poetic, expressive writing creates a fascinating tale blending myth, legend, philosophy, and science. Sora’s journey of self-discovery is rooted in loss, grief,

memories, learning to let go, living in the now, and moving forward. Told from Sora’s first-person point of view, the present-day narrative is broken up with memories that add crucial context. Each chapter title page is beautifully illustrated and named after a period of the lunar calendar and its micro-seasons, reflecting an old, nature-based way of telling time.

An intriguing, contemplative tale. (image credits, glossary) (Fantasy. 13-18)

Make Me a Liar

Landers, Melissa | Disney-Hyperion (256 pp.) | $17.99 | Dec. 5, 2023

9781368098380

Body-swapping can be a neat side hustle—until it gets you framed for murder.

With consent, 17-year-old Tia Dante can headhop, or take over another person’s body, leaving her own temporarily uninhabited. Tia makes good money as an immersionist, using her power to carry out her clients’ nerve-wracking errands, like breaking up, coming out, or fighting back against bullies. For Tia, it’s all fun, games, and escaping her many food allergies until someone steals her own body and uses it to kill a district attorney. In Tia’s subsequent quest to clear her name, her cheeky one-liners (“Pies before guys,” “Deal with it like a normal person and day drink”) give the brisk narration a Veronica Mars–like appeal. While there is some mention of serious contemporary

issues like criminal injustice, child abuse, and eating disorders, the story omits deeper systemic observations. Although Tia’s afraid of the treatment she might receive as a member of a supernatural minority, in the end, her interactions with the police do not bear these fears out. A brief, charged flirtation with Blade Romanovitch, the son of a prominent Russian gangster, teases further danger but doesn’t add much to the story. The murder case often takes a back seat to the second-chance romance between Tia and her ex-boyfriend, Nash Brock, but this storyline does provide a sweet coda. Most characters read white; Nash has dark skin. A satisfactorily escapist page-turner enhanced by its sarcastic humor. (Paranormal thriller. 13-18)

The Year My Life Turned Upside Down

Lapointe, Stéphanie | Illus. by Marianne Ferrer | Trans. by Ann Marie Boulanger Arctis Books (370 pp.) | $18.00 paper Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781646900244 | Series: Franny Cloutier, 1

A teenager wrestles with complicated feelings, family secrets, and deep frustration in this title translated from French.

When 14-yearold Franny’s widower father, a hobbyist inventor, gets the chance to travel to Kyoto to participate in a contest, she’s uprooted from Montreal to the “suburban hellscape” of St. Lorette to live with maternal relatives

she never knew she had. To say that Franny resists is an understatement. Ruefully acknowledging that she has “a knack for acting first and thinking… later,” Franny navigates her transition with one instance of self-sabotage after another. But she eventually overcomes her aversion to new classmate Leona’s dorkiness to make friends and warms up to her aunt Lorette’s stepson, Henry. The three kids buckle down together to solve the mysteries surrounding Franny’s mother’s death. Franny chronicles the events (which span a few months rather than a year) in her diary, the extremely busy design of which involves color-coded dialogue, faux-handwritten annotations, and occasional sketches, courtesy of Ferrer. The illustrations suggest an all-white cast. It isn’t at all convincing as a simulacrum of a diary, but there’s no denying it’s eye-catching. Boulanger’s translation from French is mostly smooth; in it, Franny’s voice is abrasive and frequently includes ableist language, but amid the anger and hurt gleam piercing, often beautiful insights: “Adults are like that. They shape the truth like modeling clay, until things are marginally bearable.” It’s in moments like these that Franny shines. Shrewd, empathetic observations distinguish this Québecois import. (Fiction. 12-14)

Vengeance of the Pirate Queen

Levenseller, Tricia | Feiwel & Friends (352 pp.) | $24.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 9781250864970 | Series: Daughter of the Pirate King, 3

An “assassin among pirates” embarks on a mysterious, thrilling recovery mission.

In this standalone companion to the Daughter of the Pirate King duology, Queen Alosa asks 18-yearold dark-brown-skinned Sorinda to lead search efforts for a missing vessel in uncharted waters north of

A fascinating tale blending myth, philosophy, and science.

CATFISH ROLLING

the Seventeen Isles. “I’m not who you send to save people,” reflects the austere assassin to herself in hopes that the request will prove to be a playful ruse. Though the queen’s invitation seems in conflict with her hitwoman duties, Sorinda accepts the risky endeavor and subsequently receives an accompanying crew peppered with familiar faces. Kearan—an excellent sailor tasked by the queen to assist Sorinda—is someone she would prefer to evade despite his desire to forge a reconnection. Once the expedition is underway, the voyage slowly grows into an adventurous rumpus, beginning with eerie disappearances and a gripping sea battle that forces Sorinda and her crew to prepare for whatever or whoever is lurking in the treacherous seas. Themes of vulnerability and self-possession dominate the story as the guarded protagonist—usually cloaked in secrecy—steadily reveals more of herself. Seemingly inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, Levenseller largely captures a similar blend of humor, fantasy, romance, and action. The defining difference here—a focus on women characters—is a fine attribute. An action-packed story expanding the world of women pirates. (chapter annotated by the author) (Adventure. 13-18)

Gender Rebels: 30 Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender

Expansive Heroes Past and Present

Locke, Katherine | Illus. by Shanee Benjamin | Running Press Kids (120 pp.) $18.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780762481613

A collection of queer lives throughout history.

Short biographical profiles of historical and contemporary trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, and intersex people, each accompanied by a color portrait, are interspersed with definitions of various terms and information about their usage. A

variety of nationalities and ethnicities are represented, from Callon of Epidaurus in ancient Greece to contemporary figures like Arab Christian Israeli model and actor Talleen Abu Hanna and Jin Xing, a dancer and TV celebrity in China. Household names like Laverne Cox, Jazz Jennings, and Elliot Page are mixed with more obscure figures. While the collection sheds much-needed light on many people and subjects, some elements feel less well considered, such as the casual inclusion of deadnames, or in need of greater depth, as with the framing of gender dysphoria. Additionally, key facts are omitted from some profiles, such as the tabloid harassment of the Wachowski sisters, filmmakers Lana and Lilly. In their single-page profile, the women’s coming-out stories are framed as empowering events, and the missing context about the events that influenced their timing will affect readers’ understanding. Due to the brevity of the profiles, which run to one or two pages, some loss of nuance is inevitable. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t contain source notes or further reading suggestions that would have helped guide readers in further exploration.

A broad-brush overview in need of refinement. (glossary, resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)

Swarm

Lyle, Jennifer D. | Sourcebooks Fire (336 pp.) | $11.99 paper | Nov. 7, 2023 9781728270913

A group of teenagers band together to defend themselves against an invasion of terrifyingly large creatures swarming the sky.

For more queer YA reads, visit Kirkus online.

From the window of her history class, high schooler Shur notices a giant butterfly perched on a nearby rooftop. Despite its size, it looks like a regular monarch butterfly, but moments later, emergency alerts blast through her classmates’ cell phones, urging people to stay indoors and away from windows. Shur; her twin brother, Keene; her younger brother, Little; and the boys’ two friends race to take shelter, on their way witnessing a butterfly latching onto a pedestrian’s arm and ripping it off. At Shur’s house, they follow news reports and learn that the worldwide appearance of these killer butterflies may be related to climate change. The teens prepare for worstcase scenarios, stocking up on food and supplies, boarding windows, and turning the basement into an emergency refuge while waiting out the horrors. But a series of events rattle their relative peace, testing their bonds as they realize that the butterflies are not the only threat they face. The author delivers a fresh take on a popular genre, weaving in current and relatable topics like climate change, grief, depression, and anxiety while adding depth to the exciting dystopian survival storyline. The character-driven plot brims with

A fresh take on a popular genre, weaving in relatable topics like climate change and anxiety.

SWARM

heartbreaking scenes, horrifying images, and a bit of romance. Main characters read white; Keene’s best friend has brown skin.

A page-turner that will keep even the most stoic readers on the edges of their seats. (Dystopian. 14-18)

Breakthrough: Katalin Karikó and the mRNA Vaccine

McPherson, Stephanie Sammartino Twenty-First Century/Lerner (136 pp.)

$38.65 PLB | Nov. 7, 2023

The story of Katalin Karikó—a scientist key to the development of the mRNA vaccine for Covid-19—is one of perseverance and dedication.

Born in Hungary in 1955, Kati Karikó has never been a stranger to stacked odds. From her childhood as the daughter of a political dissenter, her young adulthood battling for access to the best science education Hungary offered, and her career working in the trenches of the relentlessly hierarchical system of academic science, her path to success proved a winding one. With this timely book, McPherson sheds light as much on the quirks and pitfalls of academic and industrial science as on the scientific discoveries that paved the way for the mRNA vaccine. Contextualizing Karikó’s struggles within her identities as a woman and an immigrant to America, the author highlights the biases and the rigid definitions of success that continue to characterize many hallowed institutions. The descriptions of scientific concepts are succinct and clear, providing enough detail that readers will be left informed but not overwhelmed with minutiae. Frequent inserts offer historical context and colorful detail. The controversies and misinformation surrounding the development of vaccines are touched upon but not explored deeply. The work shines most when elucidating

the long path to scientific discovery, including the many failed experiments and minor discoveries that necessarily precede breakthroughs.

A stimulating and accessible foray into recent scientific history. (timelines, glossary, source notes, bibliography, further information, index, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Win Lose Kill Die

Murphy, Cynthia | Delacorte (272 pp.) | $12.99 paper | Nov. 28, 2023 9780593705476

Somebody has it in for the pupils of elite British boarding school Morton Academy.

After last year’s tragic boating accident left head girl Morgan dead and narrator Liz hospitalized with a head injury, Liz is looking forward to her final year before graduation. The first order of business: the secret Society of Jewel and Bone, replete with robes, candles, and a skeleton in a glass coffin. The group convenes to appoint Jameela as Morgan’s successor, and Liz’s roommate Taylor as her deputy. Jameela’s time as head girl is short-lived, however: At that night’s traditional senior pajama party, a serious asthma attack ends her life. Deputy head boy Frank raises the alarm, making a public scene in which he declares that Jameela was murdered—and soon, he’s dead, too. As headmistress Dr. Patel tries to keep her students focused on academics, the deaths continue to stack up, and red herrings abound. Morton Academy is isolated—an hour from the nearest major town, with anachronistic policies for students banning cell phones and social media and seriously restricting internet usage—which upholds the lack of outside scrutiny. Fans of dark academia whodunits will be on familiar ground but may find the final reveal anticlimactic, and pacing issues make unfolding events feel more disjointed than suspenseful. Most characters are

cued white; contextual clues point to some ethnic diversity.

A plot-driven mystery that doesn’t quite coalesce. (Thriller. 13-18)

Dark Heir

Pacat, C.S. | Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins (464 pp.) | $19.99 | Nov. 14, 2023

9780062946171

Series: Dark Rise, 2

Coming of age proves difficult when one’s identity is deeply tied to the past. Will has accepted the horrible truth: He is not the Reborn Lady of Light but rather the Reborn Dark King. Katherine, a true descendant of the Lady, tried to kill him when she found out, losing her life in the process. Will must keep his identity secret from his remaining companions as they try to maneuver and stay a step ahead of the forces still working to resurrect the Dark King’s power. The group opens a magical gate that takes them to the Umbria region of Italy, but half the party is left behind, including Violet, their strongest fighter, and young Elizabeth, the other descendant of the Lady. Will travels with James, the Reborn betrayer of the Light, who holds a former connection to the Dark King. The two young men grow closer, but how much of their relationship is colored by their past selves? Meanwhile, an ancient champion reawakens in Katherine’s body. The second installment of this series following 2021’s Dark Rise clips along at a much more energetic pace than the earlier entry, especially now that the main characters better understand their circumstances. The author includes a good blend of action, intrigue, and relationship-building moments. Queer relationships and elements of body dysphoria are addressed. Most characters are light-skinned; Violet is white and Indian.

A focused and fast-paced entry that moves the storyline along. (Historical fantasy. 14-18)

SEEN AND HEARD

New Book by Holly Jackson Coming Next Spring

The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder author’s YA thriller will be published by Delacorte.

Holly Jackson is turning to the true-crime genre for inspiration in her next novel.

Delacorte Press will publish The Reappearance of Rachel Price next fall, the Random House Children’s Books imprint announced in a news release. It describes the young adult novel as “a mind-blowing masterpiece about one girl’s search for the truth, and the terror in finding out who your family really is.”

The novel will follow Bel, an 18-year-old woman whose mother disappeared when Bel was 2. After her family participates in a documentary about the case, her mother reappears, but Bel isn’t sure she

believes her story.

Jackson is the author of the hugely popular Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series, which launched in 2020. The most recent novel in the series, As Good as Dead, was published in 2021, and a television adaptation starring Emma Myers is currently in the works at the BBC.

Jackson was also recently named the winner of the author of the year honor at the TikTok Book Awards U.K. and Ireland, reflecting her popularity among users of the video sharing service.

She announced the news of her new book on Instagram, writing, “Writing this book utterly wrecked me, and that’s why I think it might be my best yet. With everything readers have come to expect from me: twists that will make it embarrassing to read in public, a mystery that will have you questioning just how unhinged I am, and a protagonist with a three-letter name (I don’t know why this keeps happening!)”

The Reappearance of Rachel Price is slated for publication on April 2, 2024.—M.S.

Georgia School District Removes Book About Queer Teen

Mike Curato’s Flamer has been pulled from shelves in Cobb County.

A Georgia school district that recently fired a teacher for reading her students a book about gender identity has banned a graphic novel about a queer teen from its schools, WXIA-TV reports.

The Cobb County School District, which operates more than 100 schools in north-central Georgia, pulled Mike Curato’s Flamer from school library shelves, along with copies of Jesse Andrews’ 2012 bestseller, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl Curato’s 2020 graphic novel follows a biracial queer teenager who endures bullies.

Both books have been targets of book challenges and bans in schools and libraries throughout the U.S., and each showed up on the American Library Association’s recent list of the most banned books in the country.

A spokesperson for the district told WXIA-TV that the books were removed because of sexual content.

“We removed the books immediately, are in an ongoing investigation, and are committed to ensuring our students are taught with content in line with

Georgia standards, board policy and the law,” the spokesperson said.

The removal of the books follows the firing of Katie Rinderle, a fifthgrade teacher who lost her job after reading her students Scott Stuart’s My Shadow Is Purple, a book about a child who is gender fluid.

The literary nonprofit PEN America condemned Rinderle’s firing, with the group’s Jonathan Friedman saying, “Every child deserves to be joyfully represented in their classroom and with their peers, and every educator deserves a space to teach without fear of censure or termination for exercising their professional judgment.”—M.S.

For a review of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, visit Kirkus online.

For a review of Mike Curato’s Flamer, Delacorte Press

Curato’s book has been a frequent target.

Holly Jackson was inspired by true crime tales while writing her latest young adult novel.

How To Draw a Graphic Novel

Pagani, Balthazar & Otto Gabos

Illus. by Marco Maraggi | Trans. by Howard Curtis | Thames & Hudson (96 pp.)

$19.95 paper | Nov. 14, 2023

9780500660201

Eragon: The Illustrated Edition

Paolini, Christopher | Illus. by Sidharth Chaturvedi | Knopf (368 pp.) | $45.99

Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780593704462 Series: Inheritance Cycle, 1

A beginner’s guide to graphic novels and what goes into making one, translated from the original Italian.

“How to draw” is a little too specific for what this book offers, which is an overview of graphic novels and how they are made, with some attention to illustration tools and techniques. The first section consists of two-page guides that define and demonstrate various aspects of graphic novels, from print and digital publishing methods to creating one’s own font. The middle portion is written and drawn by graphic novelist and teacher of comic arts Gabos, conveyed via his avatar. Gabos delivers a point of view that’s more akin to a personable lecture than the previous section. Both portions acknowledge that readers should maintain good working habits and make mistakes through experimentation, keeping the creative process in their hands. Some topics demand more depth than the brief coverage they receive, such as coloring, copyright, and pitching to publishers. A dozen brief profiles of comics creators and five interviews with professionals from diverse backgrounds about their techniques, advice, and preferences offer readers a global view of career options. The author’s enthusiasm shines through when introducing readers to notable figures, as in his impassioned recommendation of Art Spiegelman’s Maus and his connecting of the personal angles of Marjane Satrapi’s and Jillian Tamaki’s work to readers’ own. Broad but shallow, offering tips for creating a graphic novel and a basic, general comics primer. (index, reading list) (Graphic nonfiction. 12-18)

A newly illustrated addition marking the 20th anniversary of the wildly popular fantasy series opener. When unassuming farm boy Eragon finds a strange blue stone while out hunting, the last thing he expects is for a dragon to hatch from it. Eragon is now one of the fabled dragon Riders, whose ancient order was destroyed from within by King Galbatorix. Eragon is content to live his days quietly with Saphira, his dragon, but Galbatorix will not suffer the existence of a Rider who’s beyond his control. When tragedy strikes at the hands of Galbatorix’s agents, Eragon embarks on a journey of revenge and self-discovery across Alagaësia. This new edition features stunning artwork that excels at capturing the personalities and bringing to life the textual descriptions of the human characters. Eragon looks every inch the youthful and naïve hero, Brom has a truly magnificent beard, and Arya is beautiful and

defiant. But the art fails to convey the true size and majesty of Saphira as well as original cover artist John Jude Palencar’s work did; at times it makes her appear diminutive, in contrast to descriptions in the text. Long-time fans will also likely be disappointed by the limited number of illustrations featuring beloved character Murtagh. The full-color map of Alagaësia, however, is superlative. Attractively executed; will please newcomers, but ardent fans may be less satisfied with some of the artistic choices. (map, pronunciation guide, glossary) (Fantasy. 12-18)

Powerless

Roberts, Lauren | Simon & Schuster (538 pp.) | $21.99 paper | Nov. 7, 2023 9798987380406

Series: The Powerless Trilogy, 1

The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.

Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t

Realistically captures the tension and rage of a teenager who’s been betrayed by people she trusted.

HER DARK WINGS

bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters. A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)

Her Dark Wings

Salisbury, Melinda | Delacorte (336 pp.) | $12.99 paper | Dec. 12, 2023

9780593705582

A fresh take on the Persephone and Hades myth told through the eyes of a modern teen girl.

Seventeen-year-old Corey has grown up on the Island, where Greek gods and their mythology pervade the community’s culture and serve as their religion. Corey feels most at home when spending time with her friends and family and working in her garden. When Corey’s boyfriend, Alistair, unexpectedly leaves her for her best friend, Bree, Corey is certain they’ll now be enemies for life. But on the night of Thesmophoria, the Island’s ancient annual celebration, Bree drowns in the lake. While Corey grapples with confusion—a combination of her ongoing hatred for Bree, mixed with the shock of sudden grief and nagging guilt—she finds herself pulled into the world of the Greek gods she’s grown up with. She’s dragged through the river Styx into the Underworld, where she joins Hades and other familiar figures, including Hermes and the Furies. This is an enjoyable interpretation of the story of Persephone and Hades with plentiful nods

to perennially popular figures and tales from Greek mythology. While the plot occasionally drags and the worldbuilding is a little fuzzy, Salisbury realistically captures the tension, anxiety, and rage of a teenager who’s been betrayed by people she trusted against the backdrop of a darkly atmospheric setting. Main characters read white; there is some racial diversity among secondary characters. Original and compelling. (Fantasy. 13-18)

The Way I Am Now

Smith, Amber | McElderry (432 pp.) | $21.99 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781665947107

In this follow-up to 2016’s The Way I Used To Be, a high school senior comes to understand that surviving rape is only the first part; what comes next is hard, too.

Eden is learning how to live after coming forward and publicly naming her rapist following three years of self-loathing and destructive behavior. In counseling, she’s working to understand who she is now, while also maintaining relationships with friends who don’t know what happened and family members who are dealing with guilt and anger in their own ways. Others’ reactions often leave Eden feeling like her honesty was more burdensome than helpful. She awaits the trial and reconnects with Josh, the boy she loved even when she couldn’t love herself and the only person outside her family who knew the truth. While Eden and Josh want love to be enough, both come with emotional baggage that must be dealt with before they can truly give themselves to each other. This emotional story about learning to take back control explores the fraught journey back to self for survivors and those who love them most. It is well paced and well executed and effectively shows how the legal system can make victims feel pressured and lonely. Readers need to

be familiar with the first volume to fully understand this one. Main characters are cued white. Highlights with painful honesty the process of moving forward following trauma. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)

With or Without You

Smith, Eric | Inkyard Press (336 pp.) | $19.99 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781335458070

Jordan and Cindy hate each other—or do they?

Seemingly caught in the throes of a long-standing family feud, Jordan Plazas and Cindy Ortiz do their best to keep up appearances in public, often hurling insults at each other across a park where their respective families have rival Philly cheesesteak food trucks. The truth, however, is weirder than that. Because the conflict attracts good business, the pair of Latinx teens must keep their romance a secret. With high school now over, Jordan and Cindy plan on leaving their alleged feud behind in pursuit of dreams of their own. But those plans get derailed when a producer offers to turn their family squabbles into a reality TV show pilot. Truthfully, both families could use the extra money, but can Jordan and Cindy’s relationship survive postponing what they truly want? Smith sets up a delightful secret lovers romance plot, but unfortunately one never quite believes that the young lovers are actually in love. The story, told in their alternating perspectives with reality TV–style confessionals interspersed, gives readers a lot of interiority about why their relationship doesn’t work but not enough reasons to root for them as a couple. The reality show elements are initially thrown in without enough explanation, which may cause confusion. Nonetheless, the prose and subsequent pace are solid and are supported by excellent food descriptions. Stay for the cheesesteak but not the love story. (Romance. 13-18)

THE KIRKUS Q&A: LAWRENCE LINDELL

Blackward celebrates the joys—and challenges—of being young, queer, awkward, and Black.

BY BRANDON TENSLEY

WHAT DO YOU DO when your haven for all the Black queer misfits gets shut down? Well, you build something new.

Perseverance is one of the animating themes of Lawrence Lindell’s hilarious and sweet new graphic novel, Blackward (Drawn & Quarterly, Sept. 26). The book follows the adventures of four friends—Lika, Amor, LaLa, and Tony—who simply want to hang out and enjoy one another’s company but can’t seem to catch a break. Trolls infiltrate their club and, to the surprise of no one, incite an altercation that gets the quartet kicked out of the community center. This ban forces them to figure out a different way to carve out a space for weirdos like them. (Blackward is a portmanteau of “Black” and “awkward.”)

Lindell has written a number of other works, including From Truth With Truth and Couldn’t Afford Therapy, So I Made This , and he’s contributed to publications including the New Yorker and the San Francisco Examiner. His comics—in print and on the web—frequently explore Blackness, queerness, and their intersections.

In a starred review, Kirkus called Blackward ’s art “lively” and “panel-breaking” and said that the book is “a paean to the radical joy of being every part of yourself.” Lindell and I recently spoke via Zoom to discuss his latest work. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Where did your inspiration for this story come from?

I started it as a webcomic in 2018. I was sitting in a gallery in San Francisco— because my spouse was putting up a group show— and I was reading Bingo Love. And I was like, I wanna make a comic that’s my own Black queer story. And that’s

what happened. I started putting it on Instagram, and people began to gravitate toward it. And I was like, This might be something

Could you talk a bit about the graphic novel’s style? It’s striking—vivid. And in some ways, it has the buoyancy of the cartoons

I watched as a kid in the 1990s. That’s exactly it. I was born in ’88, so a lot of the ’90s cartoons were a big influence on me. It’s funny: I was just watching Bebe’s Kids, and I was like, Oh, I can see how this influenced me. I know that these kinds of things influenced me, but I never realize until I go back and watch them that I’m like, Oh, that’s why I draw like that. Or: That’s why I do this kind of comedic beat. So, my style is definitely influenced by ’90s animation like Dexter’s Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls and by comic strips like Peanuts

One of the chief joys of reading this book is that it makes clear that Blackness can look a million different ways, depending on the person and the context. How did you approach this worldbuilding?

In the original webcomic, that was the intention—to show that Black kids also are into punk and hardcore goth. I’m someone who grew up in punk and hardcore scenes but who also grew up with a very large Black family. My experience was never like, I’m surrounded by white kids. It was just that I was into this other stuff but still very Black.

Originally, it was very wordy and kind of in your face—like, This is what this means. And my editor said, “That’s great, but your readers aren’t dumb, so expand on the world and tell readers without telling them.” I had to start thinking like, OK, since this isn’t taking a webcomic form, what does it look like as a graphic novel, and what do the characters’ everyday lives look like? I wanted to

Illustration by Lawrence Lindell

A self-portrait by Lindell, who found inspiration in ’90s cartoons.

show that Black stuff is also just normal stuff.

I couldn’t stop laughing when you introduced the Hotep character. His political narrow-mindedness is constantly reaffirmed by a white ally, a woman who seems to latch on to him simply because she can express her own unsavory opinions through him, and that relationship makes her views seem more palatable. Tell me what you were thinking when you created those two characters. They were in the original one, too, and they really resonated with readers. I also had some reservations, because doing a graphic novel involves a different audience from doing a webcomic for a

bunch of other Black nerds. So, there was a risk, I felt, with putting him in there; people might identify with him and say, “This is the type of Black person we should have,” or people might think that I’m demonizing Black people. I even had reservations about putting him in a dashiki, because I didn’t want that to be synonymous with “a bad Black person.”

I had to think about all of that but eventually was like, I’m just gonna tell the story. The people who know, know. Those who don’t, don’t

And then the white character was just a day-to-day thing. There’s always one who’s decked out in all the Black Lives Matter clothes and everything, but it’s a show. And I thought that it’d

be funny to make it cartoony, so that’s how that character happened.

I’d like to hear a bit more about audience. Were you worried that some things might be legible to Black audiences but not nonBlack audiences? Not so much. I was self-publishing 10 years before anything like this came about, so I was already comfortable about audience—people who know me, know me. It wasn’t until later that I thought, Oh, they have a different readership, not me. But with my editor, there was never a moment where they were like, “Oh, what does this mean?” They were just like, “Well, that’s what it says.”

It was comfortable—it was comfortable to turn something like that in, and no one batted an eye or thought twice about it. There was a lot of love and a lot of freedom.

This book lands a particular way in our current moment of political turmoil, when there are very real trolls thwarting discussions on important race and identity issues. Did you write Blackward with the intention of shaping or informing these conversations?

It’s interesting. When I created the troll characters, I wasn’t even thinking like, Oh, they fit into a particular conversation in the world. I think that these are just things that we’ve lived with for a long time now, and they manifested naturally. And in some instances, these trolls might not actually hate you—they might just want attention. Sometimes they’re just 12-year-old kids in their house, talking mess.

So, I didn’t approach this with the goal of fitting into a specific conversation. Really, I just wanted to make a joyful and funny story.

What do you want your readers to take away from Blackward?

Blackward

Lindell, Lawrence Drawn & Quarterly 188 pp. | $22.95 Sept. 26, 2023 9781770466784

I hope that people read it and have fun, but then I also hope that they go back and say, Oh, let me start thinking about why Lawrence chose to put this panel here or why he used this color there. Those kinds of things. Because these are things we’re always thinking about as cartoonists.

Brandon Tensley is the national politics reporter at Capital B. Blackward received a starred review in the July 15, 2023, issue.

Really, I just wanted to make a joyful and funny story.

Ansuz

Sølvsten, Malene | Trans. by Adrienne Alair Arctis Books (710 pp.) | $20.00

Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781646900268

Series: Whisper of the Ravens, 1

A girl and her canine companion begin to unravel the intertwined mysteries of her visions and a series of local murders in this title translated from the original Danish.

Anna Sakarias’ reputation precedes her as she starts high school, but her new acquaintances don’t seem to be fazed by the stories. Mathias Hedskov and Luna Sekibo are persistent in their attempts to befriend her; when Luna’s mom and dad are revealed to have known Anna’s long-lost parents, Anna’s resistance falters. Aside from recurring visions foretelling a series of grisly murders, Anna has little knowledge of her own history, but she possesses other inexplicable supernatural powers and has a surreal canine companion named Monster. The missing pieces of her identity begin to fall into place now that “something evil” has arrived in Ravensted to fulfill an ancient prophecy. The extreme violence of the murders and the intrigue of the central mystery blend with fascinating symbolism, history, and mythology in a lengthy work that drags at times. Additionally, some dialogue feels unnatural, one villain’s moniker is a colonialist slur, a sexual situation involving a recurring peripheral character raises unresolved questions of consent, and the large cast feels a bit muddled at times. Most characters are white; biracial Luna’s father is described as generically West African. Intriguing, with bountiful Norse mythological and folklore connections, but marred by problematic elements. (glossary; list of characters, places, and concepts) (Fantasy. 14-adult)

Reimagining Police: The Future of Public Safety

Tyner, Artika R. | Twenty-First Century/ Lerner (168 pp.) | $38.65 PLB | Oct. 3, 2023

An overview of policing as well as its intersection with race.

In six chapters plus introduction and conclusion, Tyner, an educator and civil rights attorney, examines the institution of policing, including its history and role in public safety and history, as well as paths for addressing issues to create a more just and effective public safety system. Protests in the summer of 2020 reignited the movement for accountability, and Tyner looks at how we got here by tracing the history of the police as an institution in the U.S. From colonial policing systems and their role in surveilling Indigenous communities and slave patrols that reinforced existing power structures to the transformation to a professional organization, police forces evolved in response to changes in social structures and the law. Chapter Two, “Race and Policing,” helps readers understand how structural racism is intertwined with police brutality. Subsequent chapters explore different models of policing in different U.S. cities as well as abroad. Readers learn about methods of reform and possible strategies for crime prevention and community building. Tyner closes by emphasizing the inextricable role and power of community in shaping public safety values and outlines how teens can get involved and lead change at various levels. Effective callout boxes and infographics define and expand upon terminology and concepts presented in the main text, including Peel’s

Principles, Miranda rights, and more. Informative and rousing. (glossary, source notes, selected bibliography, further information, index, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

unOrdinary

uru-chan | HarperAlley (336 pp.)

$19.99 paper | Nov. 7, 2023

9780358467809 | Series: unOrdinary, 1

A teen navigates the vicious hierarchy of his private high school, where social elites exert their magical powers.

New student John struggles with being “the school zero”; nevertheless, he’s courageous and doesn’t back down from defending others. His only friend, Seraphina, is revered, but the popular kids blame John for her change of attitude as she becomes less invested in being the best at everything. John has endured the bullying and violence, but when Seraphina gets suspended for a month for possession of a banned book by John’s father, one that spreads a message of peace, he starts to lose his grip. Things aren’t going much better for Seraphina, who’s been sent back to an abusive, controlling home. Without Seraphina’s protection at school, powerful classmates start digging into John’s mysterious past, uncovering dark secrets. Meanwhile, in a storyline that may be more fully integrated in a future episode, a gang called EMBER is targeting and killing vigilante superheroes. Built around an enduring friendship, this engaging read adapted from a popular, long-running WEBTOON series offers an accessible

Showcases the importance of finding strength in vulnerability.

SEVEN MINUTES IN CANDYLAND

exploration of fairness and justice that will resonate with readers who have struggled with social inequalities at school. The manga-style art is fresh and expressive, effectively conveying shifts in mood. Characters are lightskinned and have a range of hair colors from blond to mauve and light green.

Readers will eagerly await the next volume of this superhero adventure. (Graphic adventure. 14-18)

The Queer Girl Is Going To Be Okay

Walls, Dale | Levine Querido (288 pp.)

$19.99 | Nov. 21, 2023 | 9781646142705

Three queer best friends navigate love and relationships as they prepare to graduate high school.

Dawn Salcedo is spending her senior year completing her passion project, a documentary about queer love starring her best friends, Georgia and Edie, and other queer students at their school. When her entry makes it to the final round of the student category of the Austin Film Festival, Dawn has the chance to win a life-changing college scholarship that would allow her to pursue her dream of becoming a filmmaker, using her savings to pay for a caregiver for her sick father. Dawn, who is Latine and trans, also wants a relationship with a boy that is “normal and good and sweet.” Korean American Georgia adores her single mother, but their closeness is strained when her mom begins dating a man who has a disturbing side. Edie, who is Black, is trying to be the perfect daughter and hides from her religious parents the fact that she’s dating someone who’s nonbinary. The third-person narrative primarily focuses on Dawn, but Georgia’s and Edie’s stories unfold with complexity as well. Unfortunately, the novel feels too short for readers to fully get to know and become invested in the characters. This debut sincerely

explores feelings that will resonate with readers, but many of the serious themes threaded through it would have benefitted greatly from more extensive and deeper treatment.

Emotionally moving but underdeveloped. (Fiction. 13-18)

Seven Minutes in Candyland

Wasson, Brian | Quill Tree Books/ HarperCollins (336 pp.) | $19.99 Dec. 12, 2023 | 9780063264656

A business-savvy high school sophomore in suburban North Carolina tries to mend his parents’ broken marriage and woo his crush.

Sixteen-yearold Kalvin

Shmelton is in high demand, thanks to the candygram service he runs out of a school utility closet. Kalvin’s side hustle is booming, but the profits aren’t about self-gain. His parents, psychologists who host Right the ’Ship, a couples therapy podcast and YouTube channel, are (ironically) on the brink of divorce. But Kalvin has a plan—he’ll put his earnings toward a family vacation in Hawaii, where he hopes his parents will fall in love again. When Sterling Glistern, Kalvin’s longtime crush, tearfully takes refuge in his closet headquarters, she opens up to him about her anxiety and insecurities. After his heart-to-heart with Sterling, Kalvin becomes known as the school’s unofficial mental health counselor, and he turns the candy closet into a makeshift therapist’s office. As Kalvin’s client list grows and his feelings for Sterling deepen, he learns that to be human is to be imperfect. Wasson’s debut features an empathetic protagonist who advocates for the destigmatization of mental health care. Kalvin’s need to solve the problems of his family and classmates—even at the expense of his own emotional struggles—will resonate with many readers. Kalvin and Sterling, who are Black, attend a predominantly

white school and connect over their shared cultural identity.

An effervescent story of self-discovery that showcases the importance of finding strength in vulnerability. (Fiction. 13-18)

Stolen by Night

Watkins, Steve | Scholastic (304 pp.) $18.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781338306071

In Watkins’ latest, a French teen girl must resist and survive when France falls under siege during World War II. In Nazi-occupied Paris, 14-year-old Nicolette glides around the streets on a bicycle with her best friend, Jules, by her side. But bicycles shift from childhood entertainment and symbols of a national pastime to a vital means of transportation and a form of defiance as the pair start to distribute Resistance flyers and paint over Nazi propaganda. As the Nazis’ propensity for violence and brutality escalates, Jules recruits Nicolette on a grenade-throwing mission. Soon, the Nazis capture and torture Nicolette, before casting her off into the cruel realities of life in a concentration camp. There, Nicolette bears witness to the executions, torture, medical experimentations, and murders committed by the Nazis. Watkins uses Nicolette’s voice to shed light on numerous atrocities, almost as a form of remembrance. Though the author’s effort to represent the horrors of the Holocaust in all its historical accuracy is commendable, the novel shifts wholly toward depictions of pure brutality after Nicolette becomes a prisoner, providing a tight focus on violence with little respite. Empathy for the victims, however, never falters and is supported by the connections Nicolette forms during her sometimes-brief exchanges with other prisoners.

A brutal, harrowing portrayal of Nazi horrors. (historical note) (Historical fiction. 15-18)

6 Books for Teen Foodies

Indie

ON THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE

INDIELAND SEES MANY books on Jewish philosophy, cooking, history, and culture. These four starred books—three nonfiction and one fiction—explore different facets of Jewish life, including wanderlust and visiting the homeland, finding solace and wisdom in Jewish texts, the reticence of Holocaust survivors, and using superpowers to evade Nazis.

S. Yerucham chronicles his experiences with sex, drugs, mental illness, globe-trotting, and spirituality in True Stories of the Philosophical Theater (2023). He worked on a ranch in Wyoming, which led to a meth-addled tour of the West; studied at ashrams in India, where he meditated and met the Dalai Lama; visited Israel to reconnect with his Orthodox Jewish roots. Our reviewer says the

memoir “sometimes takes on a gonzo, hallucinatory quality worthy of Hunter S. Thompson (‘He gave his best performance as devil’s right-hand man with his odd attractive laugh, mad grin, and head with high bony cheeks mounted like an idol atop his skeletal body. Roasting in the heat, he looked as if he’d been hammered and bronzed in hell furnaces for centuries’). Going everywhere yet getting nowhere, Yerucham’s journey makes for a fascinating read.”

The Year of Mourning: A Jewish Journey (2023) guides mourners through their first year of loss. Editor Lisa D. Grant, the director of the New York rabbinical program of Hebrew Union College, cites materials from various sources, including songs and poems from lay

liturgist and poet Alden Solovy, Hebrew poems by Zelda and Rivka Miriam, and writings from Rumi and e.e. cummings. Our reviewer says, “The themes explored in each unit, from pain and brokenness to acceptance and gratitude, have the potential to engage other audiences” and notes the guide is a “welcome resource for making the journey through loss.”

The Jewish Hungarian parents of author Janet Horvath, a cellist, didn’t talk much about how they survived the Holocaust. In The Cello Still Sings: A Generational Story of the Holocaust and of the Transformative Power of Music (2023), Horvath writes about caring for her elderly parents and making an incredible, latein-life discovery. In 1948, her father, also a cellist, played in an orchestra of Holocaust survivors in Landsberg, Germany, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. “Horvath’s prose is lyrical (‘Consider a time when hell was on earth, when hands accustomed to a musician’s bow, a writer’s

pen, a doctor’s scalpel, a painter’s brush, a tailor’s needle, wielded shovelfuls of rocks, limestone, or human remains’) and brutally honest as she explores how trauma leads to complex dynamics,” says our reviewer. “In a world in which antisemitism is on the rise, Horvath’s story— equal parts disturbing and inspiring—is necessary and timely reading.”

David Michael Slater’s YA novel The Vanishing (2022) tells the story of young Sophie Siegel living in a small German town in 1940. Nazis break into her home and murder her family, but when they find her hiding spot, they can’t see her. While being invisible doesn’t make her invincible, it does allow her the freedom to move about and organize a resistance. Our review calls The Vanishing a “tense and spellbindingly gripping fantasy meditation on the horrors of the Holocaust.”

Illustration by Eric Scott Anderson

KAREN SCHECHNER

Karen Schechner is the president of Kirkus Indie.

EDITOR’S PICK

Koren Shadmi tells the story of the iconic underground band in this graphic novel.

The author (who is also the illustrator) has created an extraordinary nonfiction graphic novel about the Velvet Underground, the influential, Lou Reed–led rock band of the 1960s and 1970s. The book opens with the death and funeral of pop artist Andy Warhol, who became the band’s manager in 1966 and designed the famous banana-peel cover for the band’s first album. What follows is a thorough look at the band and its members, focusing on leaders Reed and John Cale. Both Reed, in Long Island, and Cale, in Wales, endured troubled childhoods, eventually bonding during a meeting at Pickwick Records. Soon

after, they formed the Velvet Underground, and the book follows the group’s many personal and professional highs and lows. Warhol is a key figure, as the Velvet Underground became the house band at his famous Factory. Shadmi takes a gritty look at a gritty band—Reed’s volatility is front and center (“Anything that scares off tourists is OK in our book”), as well as the sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll that anyone with a passing knowledge of the Velvet Underground knows pervaded its history. The graphic storytelling approach emerges as the perfect way to share the Velvet Underground story, a must-read for both comic book enthusiasts and music aficionados alike. Shadmi’s stunning drawings

All Tomorrow’s Parties: The Velvet Underground Story

Shadmi, Koren | Life Drawn | 180 pp. | $29.99

Aug. 22, 2023 | 9781643375632

and taut prose seamlessly interweave the band’s personal history and music into a compelling narrative. The drawings are effective when capturing huge public moments, such as Warhol’s funeral, and detailing smaller, personal ones (such as a disturbing sequence with Reed in a psychiatric institution) with great impact. Stylish, poignant and intriguing, the book recounts the creation of classic Velvet

Underground songs such as “I’ll Be Your Mirror,” “Sister Ray,” and “Sunday Morning.” Shadmi’s history offers an immersive and enlightening experience, one that fans will appreciate for its scope and honesty, and one that non-fans are also sure to enjoy, if only for its inventiveness.

Lush drawings and a captivating narrative combine for a wonderful telling of the Velvet Underground story.

By Victoria Lancelotta

Shelly Sanders

Henna Pryor

Tracey

By Michelle Olsen

Koren Shadmi

Dancing Into the Light: An Arab American Girlhood in the Middle East

Abdul-Baki, Kathryn K. |

She

Writes Press (336 pp.) | $17.95 paper | Sept. 5, 2023 9781647425371

The daughter of an American mother and an Arab father recalls her years growing up in the Middle East.

In 1951, Abdul-Baki’s parents met in a grocery store in Washington, D.C., where East Jerusalem–born Khalil Mohammad Karjawally was working one of two jobs to supplement his income while he completed his master’s degree in economics from George Washington University. At the time, Jean Ashburn Pedigo, the lively, red-haired daughter of a prominent Southern family, was in the city as an adventure. They were married in 1951 when Jean was 19 and Khalil was 22, and one year later, the author was born. Khalil, who Americanized his name to Kal, went on to work for the U.S. government, and in 1956, the family moved to Tehran, where Kal was sent to establish an English language program for Iranian military officers. For two years, they lived in luxurious accommodations, enjoying the perks of the foreign elite. When Kal’s contract ended two years later, he secured a job with the American Independent Oil Company, and the family moved to an expatriate desert compound in Kuwait on the Persian Gulf. The author’s mother was committed to her daughter learning to speak Arabic, so the girl was enrolled in a Kuwaiti girls’ school outside the compound in the village of Shuaiba. Abdul-Baki vividly recollects her early feelings of loneliness and the struggle to find her place as a 6-year-old outsider: “I was the only red-haired and half-American girl in the school, and I was not a part of the village life of my friends.” This eloquently composed remembrance has a musical

lilt and emotionality, and it effectively relates the joys, fears, and tragedies the author experienced during a youth spent learning to navigate two cultures. In abundant personal vignettes, the memoir also lovingly portrays Kal’s family in Jerusalem and their welcoming embrace of the author and her mother. The narrative is filled with detailed descriptions of Arab food and dress, and of the warmth and closeness of family connections, while offering an intriguing view of expatriate life. A well-composed, poignant reflection on an international childhood.

Third Wheel

Becker, Richard R. | Copywrite, Ink (324 pp.) $29.95 | $16.99 paper Aug. 21, 2023 | 9798985381153 9798985381160 paper

In Becker’s debut novel, a drug-dealing teen makes a series of bad decisions in 1980s Las Vegas. As the story begins, 14-yearold Brady Wilks expects to spend his upcoming summer partying and playing Dungeons & Dragons with his next-door neighbor Mick. He also plans to engage in low-level drug dealing at the behest of Mick’s friend Alex, who supplies their neighborhood in suburban Las Vegas. Along the way, he also plans to avoid his own mother, with whom he has a difficult relationship. His summer takes a few unexpected turns, though: For one thing, he meets Cheryl, a recent high school graduate; for another, Alex decides to branch out into heroin, which had previously been part of the boys’ world only when they mourned comedian John Belushi’s recent death. Brady soon becomes infatuated with Cheryl, who thinks he’s several years older than he is, and he has little patience for Alex, whom he doesn’t trust. However, he agrees to provide backup firepower for Alex—wielding guns illicitly borrowed from a shop

owned by another friend’s father—at a meetup with cartel members in the Nevada desert. Things don’t go as planned, but Brady doesn’t make a complete break from Mick’s entourage until he’s confronted with a problem that involves someone he truly cares about. He ends the summer with a new awareness of himself, his family, and the difficulty of making the right choices.

This bleak but not entirely hopeless coming-of-age novel offers plenty of elements that will keep readers engaged. The book’s 1980s setting is well developed but handled subtly, without focusing on the references to consumer culture that drive many other period pieces; the only “Tab” in the book, for instance, is Brady’s younger sister. The story exists in a fictional universe that recalls Risky Business and John Hughes movies but draws from a much darker and more nihilistic perspective: “Visible scars mean you’ve been in a fight. The invisible ones keep you in it,” Brady muses after evaluating injuries acquired during one of his many violent confrontations. Brady is a challenging protagonist, and Becker balances his flaws and his vulnerabilities well, keeping readers from giving up on him entirely, even as they watch him make one bad call after another. The narrative also offers him a redemption arc that doesn’t neatly tie up all the novel’s loose ends. Although the frequent scenes of teen drug use may be off-putting to some, they generally feel more documentary than prurient—a manifestation of how Brady and his friends try to assert their independence from adults, who are merely background characters. The prose is solid throughout, with a close first-person narrative that shows events from Brady’s perspective, and it has a straightforward tone that keeps the more dramatic scenes from turning into melodrama. Brady’s tendency to draw life lessons from D&D is endearing without feeling overdone, and it allows the book to take an introspective turn without betraying its 14-year-old perspective. A dark and skillful teenage crime novel with plenty of heart.

An engaging and delightful creaturefeature gem.

NATURE CALLS

Nature Calls

Bills, E.R. | Starkweather Imprints (84 pp.) | $11.51 paper | May 10, 2023

9798218199333

A colossal multilegged insect terrorizes the Lone Star State in Bills’ horror novella. When West Texas lawmen find they can’t explain a humanarm-sized “stubby tentacle” clutched in a dead man’s hand, they know it’s time to bring in an expert. It certainly looks familiar to assistant university professor Annette Carden, who has a degree in entomology and a specialty in centipedes and millipedes. The strange body part likely came from a Devil Head centipede, except one this length would mean the Devil Head is around 40 feet long. As these centipedes are fast, aggressive, and venomous, other Texans are likely in trouble—and soon, another few mutilated bodies confirm the danger. Sheriff Axil Rafferty orders those under his command to gather reliable people and arm them to the teeth, so they can “try to corner this thing and kill it.” They’re not sure how many bullets it will take, or even if such firepower will be effective, but Rafferty and the others will do whatever it takes to protect West Texas. Bills’ compact tale hits the ground running with a prompt introduction to the creature. Much of the narrative, however, consists of prolonged but surprisingly absorbing discussions of the Devil Head centipede. Carden, for example, provides expertly derived specs on the creepy-crawlies, and

someone else suggests a local nuclear waste dump as the potential reason for this insect’s staggering dimensions. Accordingly, the novella isn’t so much scary as it is compelling. There are humorous bits, as well, as when Rafferty refers to the scientific name Chilopod as “chilidog.” The book’s only downside is that it’s all over too soon, as the appealing cast easily could have carried a longer work. The denouement, nonetheless, is a knockout, and Bills includes a “b-side” in the short, graphic, and profane bonus story, “The Opening Day.” In it, a horrifying near-future America has legalized killing protesters, and a young, bigoted right-wing extremist’s murderous agenda takes an unexpected turn. An engaging and delightful creature-feature gem.

Bee Conspiracy

Boito, David | Ideafeast Books (312 pp.) | $17.99 paper | Aug. 18, 2023 9798215437209

In Boito’s novel, a scientist and a cop team up to investigate an unusual bee-related death that turns out to be connected to a much larger scheme.

Special Agent Kelso Bagley is an entomologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who’s recently been disciplined for his unorthodox arrest of an Arizona butterfly thief. Det. John Alan “Duke” Wayne is a middle-aged Los Angeles police detective on administrative leave after stepping

out of a bar and pursuing a criminal in a high-speed chase. Kelso’s fastidious and naïve, and Duke’s flighty and worldly. They get called to a scene where Howard Skulberry, a UCLA entomologist, died after honeybees stung him hundreds of times. Duke’s just happy to be out in the field again, even if this death is obviously accidental. Kelso, however, suspects foul play, and he’s right: It’s connected to villainous Sage Chemical CEO Gordon Lund’s diabolical plan. A missing piece of technology holds the key to his scheme, and as Lund’s henchman Albert Fossil tries to track it down, he leaves bodies in his wake. Meanwhile, more angry bees are loosed upon the city. In cinematic fashion, Boito adds helicopter battles, a pit of squirming deadly insects, and many, many more agitated bees, which throw the city into panic. When the going gets rough, will Kelso and Duke have learned enough from each other to save the day? This thriller’s narrative is not especially deep, but neither is a bee sting, and both are certainly efficient and effective. Boito’s writing is quick and agile throughout, and Kelso’s object lessons in using nature to solve nature’s problems creates moments that are both comical and moving, as when he uses his expertise to solve a problem that Duke’s 31-year-old daughter, Beryl, is having with her rose bushes: “Kelso, just because I’m interested in what you do doesn’t mean I share your enthusiasm for flies,” Beryl says, before grinning broadly at his solution. The author conjures up a fine supporting cast, as well, including bee venom cosmetologist Alora Maxwell, an indecisive mayor, and a police detective who’s grateful that Kelso stopped him from eating even more bug-infested cereal.

A seriously fun ecoterrorism thriller.

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Kirkus Star

The Way of Humanity: According to Chasidic Teaching

Buber, Martin | Trans. by Bernard H. Mehlman & Gabriel E. Padawer | Reform Judaism Publishing (CCAR Press)

(88 pp.) | $11.95 paper | July 10, 2023

9780881236378

Mehlman and Padawer present a new translation of Buber’s classic work of philosophy. Martin Buber was one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century, probably best known for I and Thou (1923), in which he argues that humanity reaches its fullest expression in relationships with God and with other people. In this collection of talks he gave in 1947, the author presents legends and parables that exemplify his understanding of Chasidic Judaism, adding his own thoughts on these stories. The God who emerges from these tales is a paradox: infinite and ineffable, but also ever present. This is a God who meets people where they are. The rabbis we encounter here are similarly puzzling: They are renowned for their wisdom, but when followers come to them for guidance, these holy men invariably instruct their questioners to look inside themselves for answers. Their philosophy is perhaps best summarized by Rabbi Eliezer when he says, “Forget yourself and have the whole world in mind!” Buber, however, is a warm and generous guide. Taken as a whole, his meditations on these tales articulate an openhearted philosophy of living centered on service, and Mehlman and Padawer have followed his lead in crafting this very inviting translation. The syntax they use is elegantly simple, and contemporary readers will appreciate their use of gender-neutral language. Scholarly supplemental material makes up a considerable portion of this slender volume, and its presence is a valuable addition. While it’s true

that the translators’ comments on the text would have been easier to process as footnotes than as endnotes, their observations are immensely helpful. Two forewords, a translators’ introduction, and a substantive and fascinating epilogue offer valuable guidance and context—even to the reader who may already be familiar with this work. Timeless wisdom made fresh and accessible.

Mustangs on the Run!

Collins, Lee W. | Self (277 pp.) $10.49 paper | May 22, 2023 9798388406934

A plucky tween heroine must protect her loved ones and exotic wild creatures in Collins’ youngadult thriller.

Etta isn’t your average tween girl: Like her grandparents, Etta can communicate telepathically with animals (“She could direct messages to an animal using just thought, what she called her ‘inside voice.’ The animal would reply, and Etta could ‘hear’ the animal’s voice inside her head”). Not surprisingly, that talent comes in handy in this second volume of author Collins’ Etta the Brave series. In this outing, Etta and her extended family travel to a desert town in Nevada to the wedding of Joy Morrison and Albert Gomez, who rescued Etta’s grandfather in the series’ first book. At the wedding, Etta makes a new friend: Albert’s niece, E. J. The next day, E. J. and her older brother, Cole, lead Etta, her mother, her younger cousin, Jules, and her

aunt, Anne, on a horseback ride to Noah Gorge, where the wild mustangs roam. That’s also where their troubles begin; the party witnesses a helicopter herding horses and comes under fire. Etta and Jules are separated from the rest, who are captured by three ATV-riding armed rustlers. Etta and Jules, who, Etta discovers, also can talk to animals, must evade capture while making their way back for help, and gain some much-needed animal allies along the way. Etta’s adventure proves to be more than a little predictable—a writer doesn’t give a character a superpower if they don’t plan to employ it. But it’s how Etta gets to that point that makes this book so enjoyable. What’s intriguing about the cousins’ power is their inability to control the animals; they can only suggest that the creatures do something. Collins introduces more and more characters as the story approaches its denouement, skillfully keeping them from tripping over each other. The characters’ collective shrug after the climax strains credulity, yet that can be forgiven when set against the colorful backdrop of Etta’s engrossing journey.

This enthralling exploit is built on humanity, not magic.

Destination Jane

Cooke, Alex | Self (198 pp.) | June 16, 2023

Two traders get more than they bargained for on a trip into the wasteland in Cooke’s dystopian SF novel.

Jane lives in the city of Chiru on a planet orbiting

Cooke’s vivid prose renders the novel’s otherworldly landscapes in glittering detail.

DESTINATION JANE

two suns—one real and dying, the other artificial and on the fritz. Like everyone else in Chiru, her body is regulated by her chonin, the government-provided AI microchip embedded in her wrist that’s supposed to make life easier (though really, like the artificial sun, it is prone to malfunction). Chonins are Jane’s business at the moment: She and her partner, Parker West, have been hired to transport a load of them to the remote Outer Territories—a dangerous but potentially lucrative job. “Jane’s considerable debt had grown over the years and this was one of the few ways to earn some additional credits during the long and nasty recessionary period,” the narrator states matterof-factly. “Parker would follow Jane anywhere but he was growing worried about the whole venture.” With a robot named TennTenn, the couple sets out onto the rugged terrain hoping for a big score. Deep in the wastes they meet Arum Bell, an inventor with a complicated past, and Jane begins to learn things about her world—and herself—that she never could have imagined. Cooke’s vivid prose renders the novel’s otherworldly landscapes in glittering detail: “The surface of the true sun cast a projection of highly energized particles outward. The sand around them darkened. Electrifying blues, greens and violets dressed up the naked sky in a different type of light seldom seen within the decontaminated area.” The characters are all fairly stock, but the author manages to make the world of Chiru and the Outer Territories feel fresh. The book’s greatest pleasure is the way the SF flourishes blend with its western plot to form a wonderfully melancholic bit of climate fiction. This is one apocalypse the reader won’t want to see end. A visionary SF novel that captures the emotional toll of our imperfect, tech-reliant world.

From the Mouse’s House To the Penthouse: What I Learned From Making Deals, Building Brands, and Running Businesses in Asia

Crawford, Michael | Lioncrest Publishing (216 pp.) | $29.99 | $16.99 paper

April 26, 2023 | 9781544541846

9781544541839 paper

Crawford takes a retrospective look at executing business deals in East Asia.

In this debut business book, the author shares lessons learned from two decades of working in China and Japan for Disney and Four Seasons, arranging major development deals and bridging cultural gaps. Crawford recounts the yearslong process of establishing the Shanghai Disney Resort, the company’s first theme park in China, and details his subsequent role overseeing the development of Four Seasons’ hotel business in the region. The book is organized thematically (rather than following single deals from start to finish) as Crawford offers readers his recommendations for conducting business effectively across cultures and geographic barriers. He explains how to assess the needs of the local market, communicate clearly with company executives, and negotiate effectively. Many of the book’s lessons can be broadly applied to international business in any location, but the author also specifically addresses the nuances of working in the different Asian countries he has had direct experience with. Crawford is passionate about the companies he has worked for—Disney in particular, where he spent more than 20 years, advancing from hourly park employee to corporate executive— and he’s an engaging storyteller, which makes the book an easy and enjoyable read. He does particularly well with narrowly focused stories about small but meaningful achievements, like outlining the decision to partner with

Pepsi for the park’s refreshments, or describing how he managed expectations and provided guidance to both his staff and Disney CEO Bob Iger. At times, the author seems too committed to a corporate mindset (“The biggest brands can give credibility to a whole nation”), and readers who are less interested in 16-hour workdays and frequent after-work socializing may find it difficult to embrace some of his advice for building a coherent workplace team. But even readers who disagree with some of Crawford’s attitudes are likely to find his story both fascinating and informative. A compelling story of business accomplishments in an international context.

For the Love of Maggie O’Die

Curbo, Clé | Illus. by Tamara Kacevas Self (273 pp.) | $19.99 | June 11, 2023 9798395822581

Curbo’s SF thriller finds a young man waking from a coma only to be thrown into the middle of a missing-persons mystery.

In an unspecified future San Francisco, Simon Silibus, a “caretaker of friends,” has christened a comatose associate with a new name: Ryger Deacon. A fugitive from the law, Simon must keep his friend safe as he undergoes “the change”—a method of life extension that returns a person’s DNA to a younger state. Waking up with coma-induced amnesia, Ryger struggles to remember his past even as he’s informed that he is a private investigator and given a new task by Maggie O’Die, the wealthy, elderly owner of All-Bio, the company responsible for life extension technology. Ryger is directed to find Maggie’s missing husband, Sam, and her granddaughter, Cara, who is next in line to inherit Maggie’s fortune. As Ryger attempts to piece together his past, he must navigate company politics and

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the constant threat of “Trackers,” a cryptic and deadly group that targets anyone pursuing unregulated life extension. When Maggie herself goes missing, and a mysterious girl shows up who may or may not be the real Cara, Ryger must use all the futuristic tools at his disposal—including a memory-stimulating pearl—to crack the case. In this ambitiously intricate novel, the author manages to mostly hang onto the various plot threads. At times, particularly when discussing the Trackers, “mystery” strays into “vagueness,” but the open-endedness of the novel’s conclusion indicates this may be intentional. Clean writing and brisk action keep things moving forward as Curbo shares thoughtful insights into the nature of humanity in the face of its future and its past: “We exist in a world of connections to other people. As we grow old, our connections stretch and thin. We look for familiar faces in every new place we go. We see these new people in the light of people we once knew.”

A twisty SF mystery that weaves together intriguing futuristic concepts with a classic crime-noir feel.

Kirkus Star

Falling Off Horses: A Memoir

Donley-Hayes, Karen | Milspeak Books (248 pp.) | $18.95 paper | March 1, 2023

9798985794144

Donley-Hayes reflects on her late friend and their lifelong relationship forged by their mutual love of horses.

“For Lash’s thirty-sixth, and final, birthday, I gave her a bullet-point list chronicling our lives together.” So begins the author’s memoir, a love letter to two of the dearest things in her life: Leslie (who changed her name to Ashley, then shortened it to Lash), whom the author calls “my best friend, confidant,

sister I never had and true soul mate,” and horses. Physically, the two friends were opposites—Donley-Hayes describes herself as “obese,” while Lash was tall and lanky. Their relationship “evolved from summertime playmates to genuine friends, spending our summers riding or dreaming about horses, ogling boys, or weekends at Geauga Lake…” Their time together, tragically cut short by Lash’s death from breast cancer, was emotionally fraught, culminating in the author’s nightmares about preparing her dearest friend’s body for her casket. The constant in their lives was horses, which offer tailor-made life lessons that Donley-Hayes does not belabor. She and Lash shared the mantra “If you’re going to ride, you’re going to fall.” She continues, “We rode, and we fell. Always, we would get back on. We were there for each other in the days and weeks after those falls, when we first stuck foot in stirrup and climbed aboard again, small victories over the quivering infinite undercurrent of fear.” Donley-Hayes’ grappling with profound feelings of love, friendship, and loss will certainly resonate with those who share similar bonds in their lives. Those who love horses will easily identify with the author’s passion: “Woven throughout my entire life with Lash,” Donley-Hayes evocatively writes, “are horses, soft and strong and constant, different horses striding in and striding out through the years, a shimmering, sentient carousel, breathing, pulsing, rhythmic.”

A moving, horse-loving memoir that will speak even to non-riders.

What Meets the Eye

Dow, Riesa | Dorrance Publishing (292 pp.) | $9.31 paper | Dec. 23, 2022 9798886043792

A secret agent’s surveillance of a rogue killer gets personal in Dow’s suspense thriller. This novel, the first in a planned trilogy, opens in Valencia, Spain, where Interpol

agent Daniel Leder has finally located an elusive international assassin named Nester, a subject he’s been surveilling for the past year. Things quickly fall apart in a chaotic shipping port shoot-out as Nester viciously kills Daniel’s partner and close friend, Agent Simon Klein. Daniel’s mission to apprehend Nester becomes personal with the added motivation of revenge. The son of a United States Marine, Daniel’s resolve remains solid as he turns his attention to the man believed to be Nester’s next intended target: renowned Canadian professor, diplomat, and environmental conservative Matthew Guillaume, whose daughter is slated to participate in an equestrian show jumping event. When the assassin outsmarts everyone and sabotages the girl’s horse. Daniel, working undercover, is too late to intervene, but Tess Knight, an author and cyber security expert, swoops in to save the day. Though mutual trust is difficult to come by, Daniel feels an instant attraction to Tess, which sets the couple up for interpersonal entanglements that only mildly distract them from the more serious matters at hand (“He stood and met her feisty gaze before she headed for the door. Was it his imagination, or was the air between them a bit warmer?”). When they finally begin working (somewhat) in tandem, Nester has already stealthily infiltrated Daniel’s investigation in a major way. As an added point of intrigue, the author also threads Nester’s perspective into the narrative, bringing readers closer to the lethally clever, techsavvy villain. Daniel is a powerful, intuitive protagonist who leaves no detail uncovered; his personality nicely complements Tess’s fearless demeanor even as they both face deadly threats. Dow has crafted an impressive, briskly paced thrill ride right up to the concluding cliffhanger, which leaves room for future installments.

Anchored by two tough yet likable sleuths, this is a rousing character-based mystery with potential.

LUCY JINX: BOOK ONE

Lucy Jinx: Book One

D’Stair, Pablo | Late Marriage Press (474 pp.) | May 19, 2023

A novel charts a young female writer’s struggles with life and language.

In the opening of this first installment of a trilogy, Lucy Jinx works at Hernando’s Highlights, a magazine produced by the fictional store chain Hernando’s Grocery. Her office is in a trailer and her co-worker Ariel, who has a more “standard life” than Lucy, is also significantly more diligent. Lucy is partial to wandering into work after 11 a.m. and is candid about plagiarizing in her pieces. While Lucy writes film reviews and manages the “Open Submissions to Poetry Corner mailbox,” her true passion is writing poems herself. The novel has very little plot— Lucy quarrels with Ariel, gets asked to babysit for her landlord, ponders the idea of moving in with an admirer called Katrin, and procrastinates about opening an important letter. On other occasions, Lucy is preoccupied with everyday decisions, such as which panties to wear. As the story progresses, Lucy’s life seems to slip by in a blur of unremarkable events and awkward social interactions. But written steadfastly from Lucy’s point of view, D’Stair’s book allows readers to gain an intimate understanding of the hero’s poetic gaze, which sees beyond the seemingly banal surface behavior of others with artistic intentions. As Lucy moves through her world, the author notes, her mind is “already upstairs scribbling.” This is a tale about a poet’s inner life and, perhaps

more accurately, her magpie mind constantly procuring imagery from the outside world to embellish her writing.

Lucy moves through what many would dismiss as an uninspiringly humdrum environment. But her unique rereading of her surroundings is what makes this novel so delightful, as when she visits Katrin’s apartment: “Lucy remarks to herself how sprawlingly long and thin Katrin’s place is, like a sideways-tipped cereal box the size of a house—and is at least twice as large.” Lucy’s endearing observations are marked by an almost childlike curiosity and sense of wonder. D’Stair’s use of language is consistently striking, lyrical, and imbued with a similarly playful energy: “This place. This place where Lucy Jinx is. This whole area. It’s untenable. It’s cumbersomed up, gone bulbous-labyrinthine. Regardless of trying to choose a hidey-hole, the place’ll get its fat fingers ’round yer throat and throttle you, girl!” At moments like these, readers will feel as if they are inside Lucy’s mind, listening to her dictate the narrative of her own life as it happens. There are also intriguing moments when Lucy attempts a poetic description but then revises it: “The car is like the sour in the gut from too much wine with a head cold. Try again: The car is like the sour in the gut from too much apple juice and cigarettes.” This is a clever take on the creative process and a poet’s obsessive necessity to shape and reshape words to best capture a subject. This makes for a densely reflexive, intentionally staccato narrative, which will not appeal to everyone and is best enjoyed in short sittings. The fact that very little happens in the book will deter some, but those who persevere will enjoy a cleverly conceived, smartly observant story that delves intriguingly

into how a poet thinks. A bold, largely plotless, and beautifully insightful tale about a poet.

The Incredible Tale of the Mouse and the Whale

Ferruzzi, Donald | Illus. by Stu Suchit | Bella Bambina Books (80 pp.) | $14.95 paper Oct. 22, 2022 | 9780978796839

An oceangoing mouse returns the favor after being rescued from stormy seas in Ferruzzi’s picture book.

Malcolm the city mouse is going to realize his dream of traveling to a tropical island. He has a grand time as a stowaway on an ocean liner until the waves get choppy and he tumbles overboard. All seems lost as Malcolm struggles to stay afloat, until a friendly whale recognizes his plight and invites him to safety inside his “cavernous mouth.” Once there, Malcolm discovers a plastic jug wedged inside the whale’s throat. (Luckily, Malcolm enlists the help of a passing dolphin and dislodges the jug.) The next challenge is getting Malcolm to his island paradise. This lively tale is told in smoothly rhyming text (Malcolm: “Please! The Whale’s life is in danger! / Would you Swim with this line / And help out a stranger?”) and complemented by Suchit’s impressive full-page illustrations: a deft mix of collage, photographic images, and cartoons. Malcolm’s adventures comprise the book’s first half, and then Ferruzzi introduces the second with a “let’s find a solution for ocean pollution” theme. The well-considered “Kids and Parents Activities Section” that follows is full of useful educational information about mammal life (predominantly mice and whales, of course). There’s also a vocabulary list, a link to a learning exercise about ocean pollution, links to educational websites, several health-conscious recipes, and more. The book also strikes just the right age-appropriate tone throughout.

A densely reflexive, intentionally staccato narrative.

Nicely illustrated and entertaining picture book with some thoughtful ecological messages.

Foxbook: Medieval & Contemporary Fables From Armenia

Gosh, Mkhitar & Vardan Aygektsi

Dudukhouse (312 pp.) | $39.99

$25.99 paper | June 18, 2023

9781738835249 | 9798394905155 paper

Fables of both medieval and contemporary Armenia come together in Kamler’s collection of stories.

The history of fables and storytelling in Armenia stretches even further back than the creation of the language’s alphabet in the fifth century. This is a collection of morality tales, some of which transcend time. “The Lion and the Fox” is about the dangers of hubris, while others seem far removed from modern sensibilities, such as “The Mule,” where patriarchal attitudes seep in to declare “rule and everything else should be according to the father’s lineage and not the mother’s.” Kamler explores all of these themes through the translation of 205 medieval Armenian folktales and 11 stories written by the editor that pay homage to the originals and are set in medieval times. Often they contain animal characters, princes, or warriors, and virtually all of them are less than a page long. Despite this brevity both the translated medieval tales and the contemporary stories feature some instructive messages. Kamler’s physical arrangement of the volume encourages the reader to think deeply about the fables as literature as much as enjoying them for their historical detail. Space is left every so often throughout the book for the reader to record their own feelings in response to the fables, which are often commentaries on personal character and grounded in religious thought. This could make for a jarring experience at

first but becomes a pleasant surprise that encourages pause and reflection. In particular, the contrast between the collection of medieval folktales and modern offers the most material for contemplation: Here Kamler emphasizes the contemporary resonance of fables by using similar language and characters as the medieval stories. For example, his “The Squirrel and the Woodpecker” uses animals to teach about the bounds of human understanding, like Vardan Aygektsi’s “The Monkey and the Fisherman.” The collection as a whole, by exploring fable conventions and the medieval storytelling of writers such as Mkhitar Gosh and Aygetski, offers some unique insights into the history of thought in Armenian culture. A whimsical, interactive foray into the history of storytelling and morality in medieval Armenia.

The Taste of Home

Jalloh, Aminata | Illus. by Pervin Özcan Readers Inspired (36 pp.) | $15.99 paper June 17, 2023 | 9798988009009

A child rethinks her definition of home in Jalloh’s second picture book.

Elementary-schooler Mariama loves living in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where she can get banana akara ice cream and play football at the beach with her friends. When her parents announce that the family will be taking a trip back to her father’s home village of Kabala, Mariama can’t hide her disappointment. “But I don’t want another home,” she says to herself, “my home is here in Freetown with all my friends.” In Kabala, she is welcomed warmly by her extended family, but she doesn’t start to feel comfortable until her uncle takes her to meet his neighbor Pa Bah who lets her try thiakry, a dessert made from couscous. Mariama enjoys this experience but still misses home. It isn’t until Mariama celebrates the Kabala Festival

and Pa Bah creates a thiakry dish with a twist that she learns to love both of her homes equally. Jalloh’s follow-up to The Biggest Little Brother (2017) is a thoughtful and visually dynamic exploration of the different ways we experience “home.” The author highlights a rarely studied country in American children’s literature and doesn’t shy from confronting the complexity of Mariama’s homesickness.

Özcan’s illustrations of the cities and countryside of Sierra Leone are vivid; they bring the nation’s culture to life with well-placed embellishments, such as the stars around Mariama’s spoon as she declares her love for banana thiakry.

A unique, well-conceived take on using food to discover the essence of home.

Kirkus Star Friendship Games

James, Mark | Defiance Press & Publishing (292 pp.) | $18.95 paper | Feb. 20, 2023 9781959677215

James’ military thriller follows the ominous chain of events triggered when an American aircraft carrier is presumably attacked in the Persian Gulf.

When the USS George W. Bush, a United States Navy aircraft carrier, is apparently attacked and sunk by Iranian terrorists off the coast of Bahrain—killing thousands of crewmembers—the quickly escalating cascade of consequences entangles numerous nations that have financial and military interests with the countries involved, pushing the superpowers to the brink of a potentially civilization-ending third world war. Centuries-old governmental relationships are put to the test as the United States aggressively appeals to allies to join in their war against Iran and terrorist organizations plotting to bring down “the Great Satan.” The nonstop action and complex political

drama unfold through many varying perspectives, including those of Seaman Apprentice Thew Bryson, U.S. President Cynthia Belle, jihadist Jamal Al-Dosari, and Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Hashemi Ghavam. The structure of the novel is a bit unconventional—the story focuses on not just one or two protagonists but multiple characters with a more muted emphasis—making for a much more comprehensive and thematically powerful narrative. Additionally, the equally unorthodox conclusion works well, compelling readers to consider the ultimate consequences of the extreme events at the novel’s end. Fans of hard military fiction will be more than satisfied with the author’s impressive knowledge and meticulous descriptions of weaponry and warfare: “When the bomb bay doors opened on the twenty-five FC-31 Gyrfalcons of Samii’s squadron, the automated Phalanx Close-In Weapons Systems (CIWS, or ‘sea whiz’) radar aboard the four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers… immediately detected the aircraft and then the missiles.” Equal parts geopolitical thriller, mystery, and military fiction, James’ novel paints a dire portrait of humanity’s precarious position in the throes of international conflict. A profound and thought-provoking thriller examining humankind’s selfdestructive tendencies.

The Journey’s the Thing: Pandemic Essays

Jardine, Dee | Quentin Imprints (247 pp.) | $16.00 paper | March 4, 2023

9798987646007

Jardine presents a collection of essays she wrote during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In late spring 2020, after months of isolation in her small Upper West Side apartment in Manhattan, the author decided to “pursue a repetitive creative

activity.” She would write 50 essays— one per week—as a celebration of the final year before she turned 50 years of age. Raised in Toronto, Jardine had moved to New York six years ago. In an early piece, she describes her decision to remain in the place she now called home as other people fled the city. Despite the eerie quiet that embraced New York—except for the sounds of occasional ambulances and helicopters—there had been “shattering moments of beauty and community,” including evening choruses of pots and pans announcing residents’ determination to survive. Each essay focuses on an aspect of Jardine’s mental or physical routines, or an event or object, past or present, that had personal significance to her. She expands upon each essay’s initial concept, weaving in intriguing autobiographical tidbits. The diverse works include musings over the spontaneous shattering of a treasured French-press coffee pot, and an examination of an unexpected week of exhaustion: “an epic weariness that suppresses clarity of thought and purpose.” Jardine is a lawyer and a university guest lecturer, and her prose reflects the skillful language of these fields, although on occasion, she gives in to verbosity. She twists each philosophical puzzle this way and that—examining the difference between joy and happiness, or the nature of excitement and fear surrounding inevitable change—much like a professor following tangents and leading a class to a pithy conclusion. An inveterate list-maker with a restless psyche, Jardine ably brings readers along on her week-by-week journey as she seeks greater self-knowledge and inner calm during a time of chaos. Along the way, she imparts some valuable advice: set priorities, as not everything is critical,

and pay close attention to the here and now.

A thoughtful set of works with moments of wisdom.

Save Me Plz and Other Stories

Kirtley, David Barr | Geek’s Guide Press (362 pp.) | $85.00 | $16.99 paper May 15, 2023 | 9798985749625 9798985749618 paper

Characters grapple with dragons, futuristic tech, and the undead in Kirtley’s debut collection of short stories.

In “They Go Bump,” soldiers on a war-torn Earth test new camouflage that renders them invisible—but if they can’t even see their comrades on the battlefield, how will they know if or when enemies infiltrate their group? “Beauty,” a selection from the fantasy genre, offers a diverting play on “Beauty and the Beast”: Nicole, the titular beauty, runs into the beast in a bar. She quickly falls in love with him, “gremlin ears” and all, but will that change if he turns into a conventionally handsome man? In “Power Armor: A Love Story,” genius inventor Anthony Blair goes nowhere without his seemingly impenetrable suit of armor. He becomes smitten with would-be assassin Mira, who searches for Blair’s weak points, whatever her reasons may be. Kirtley draws inspiration from numerous books, movies, and TV shows, and employs sharp, concise prose that complements his puckish sense of humor: The quirky

Kirtley employs sharp, concise prose that complements his puckish sense of humor.

SAVE ME PLZ AND OTHER STORIES

“Seeds-for-Brains,” for example, is “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” from the headless horseman’s perspective, while “Red Road,” a revenge tale with anthropomorphized mice noblemen, recalls Brian Jacques’ Redwall series. On occasion, the author barely strays from the source text; “Transformations” follows a transforming robot potentially discovering emotions much in the way the original animated Transformers TV series often showcased human traits. Several of these stories were written for themed anthologies—this collection includes many of the stories’ original illustrations from earlier publications, or from Kirtley’s website. The author’s passionate voice breathes life into this wonderful array of tales.

Kirkus Star

Darkness Calls: An Inspector Cecilie Mars Thriller

Krefeld, Michael Katz | Trans. by Ian Giles Podium Publishing (300 pp.) | $16.99 paper

May 1, 2023 | 9781039424975

A Danish detective is blackmailed into exacting vigilante justice in Krefeld’s thriller. Inspector Cecilie Mars is a Copenhagen police detective with impressive sleuthing instincts, a barren personal life, an intermittent drug habit, and nightmares of past trauma. One night, as she’s tailing a rape suspect, she sees his car crash, struggles with him after he attacks her, and improperly flees the scene; after he turns up dead, Cecilie receives a video of the encounter edited to appear that she killed him. “Lazarus,” the anonymous maker of the video, threatens to publicize it unless she agrees to carry out his agenda to kill rapists and murderers who got off with light sentences courtesy of Denmark’s lax justice system (and who are presumably plotting new crimes). Her involvement

grows deeper and bloodier with each assignment until Lazarus tasks her with killing her own rapist, a man who assaulted her when she was 17 and has now kidnapped a new victim. This tortuous situation ties Cecilie up in moral knots: The monsters Lazarus has her hunting must be stopped, yet she’s also committing serious offenses—and probably being set up by Lazarus to be framed for murder. In Giles’ deft English translation, Krefeld’s tale is an intricate police procedural, taut with intrigue that explodes into terrifying violence, and a gritty depiction of a far-from-quaint Copenhagen characterized by cynical legal bureaucrats, grim concrete high-rises, and menacing street gangs. The prose is energetic and colorful, even Wagnerian at times— “You shall be my thrall in Valhalla!” thunders one psycho as he prepares to sacrifice a woman to Odin—but equally adept at evoking the queasy, claustrophobic feeling of victimization (revisiting her attack, Cecilie bleakly recalls “[t]he smell of urine emanating from him, mixing with the stench of the dumpsters. His limpness. The many slaps to her face that he delivered, slowly making him hard and ready”). The result is an engrossing page-turner as Cecilie snakes her way through a seemingly inescapable maze. Choice Nordic noir featuring a pressure-cooker scenario, gripping action, and nerve-wracking psychological tension.

Kirkus Star Ways to Disappear

Lancelotta, Victoria | Fiction Collective 2 (262 pp.) | $18.95 paper | Aug. 1, 2023 9781573662017

Lancelotta chronicles life’s dissatisfactions in this short fiction collection.

A pregnant teen and her boyfriend hit the road with a bag of stolen cash to

build a life for themselves and their imminent child, unaware of how migratory and lonely that life will be for all three of them. A married mother with a teenage daughter gets caught up in the memories of her own youth, particularly of her brother’s terminal disease and the peculiar pressures it put on her and her friends. A woman caring for her rapidly declining husband can’t help but resent her parents, wealthy octogenarians in perfect health. A baker reflects on her relationship with a much older man who remains devastated by the maiming of his piano-playing son. In these 15 stories, the author explores the many ways that life can go off course, whether from small miscalculations made long ago or small acts of cruelty committed in the present. “Those birthdays,” rues one narrator, caught up in the cycling years of her life; “by the thirty-fifth the slide had started, merrily relentless; the march and tick of indifference even though my hair was still shiny my legs still long my mouth still warm and wet” (“A Little Mercy”). Lancelotta’s sentences read like poetry, as here in the opener about the pregnant teenage couple: “The traffic light at the intersection flashes yellow and the spindly pines stab black at the resting sky and where they are is the beating heart of everything waiting for them. They believe this. They are too young not to” (“You Are Here”). These stories masterfully evoke life’s inevitable slippage, the way a personal history is composed of moments that either burn brightly in one’s memory or disappear entirely. Standout pieces include “The Anniversary Trip” and “Ambivalence,” but every story here deserves to be read slowly and carefully, with time allotted to recover in between.

A dazzling collection of stories covering rough emotional terrain.

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The Bargain Shopper

Latour, W.C. | Bridlegoose Books (204 pp.)

$17.76 paper | Jan. 1, 2023 | 9781736534700

In Latour’s satire, a tech-hating man in the modern world reflects on his past transgressions.

Charles Rochambeau feels he was “born into the wrong century.” He abhors social media and smartphones and is steadfastly apolitical. He’s perfectly suited to his job as a majordomo for wealthy Madame Beatrice Wolcott’s estate in New York state. More specifically, he’s the Bargain Shopper—a “Certified Professional Shopper” who scores massive savings for Beatrice at physical stores, never making purchases online. Charles’ narration also contains his “confessions.” Although he’s the descendent of a celebrated French military figure, his privileged youth ultimately hit a few snags. His father’s bad investments, for starters, forced him to drop out of the Taft School in Connecticut. As a “teenager with nowhere to go,” Charles found himself entangled with a mobster type who roped him into making regular cocaine drop-offs. What the young man aimed for, however, was realizing the American dream, and he believed that his next inevitable step was pursuing higher education. Since he was a high school dropout, Charles finagled his way into college without having to officially register. Of course, as Charles later learned between bouts of tracking down deals in stores, Beatrice and her family members have their share of alarming secrets as well. And just because he has steady employment and a trustworthy boss doesn’t mean his life has gotten any easier. As a self-appointed “Soldier of Truth,” the confessions in these pages are meant to be some form of redemption, but digging into the past may instead drive Charles to a truth he won’t willingly accept.

Latour’s story, at times, comes across as a random series of

misadventures without a cohesive plot to connect them. In addition, some major developments hardly affect Charles—most notably Covid-19 restrictions cutting off access to his in-store bargain shopping; Beatrice simply asks him if he wants to be laid off, which he declines. However, Charles’ intellectual storytelling brims with quotes from such figures as Oscar Wilde and W.B. Yeats, coupled with hearty cynicism and unabashedly lowbrow humor. Intriguingly, Charles avoids leaning one particular way on most issues; for example, he takes an “agnostic stance” on religion and also commends aspects of Christianity, and he scoffs at Covid-19 restrictions as well as people who don’t take the pandemic seriously. Although Charles is definitely not a very likable guy, he will sometimes earn readers’ sympathy, especially regarding his relationship with Beatrice; he unquestionably cares for her well-being and is therefore wary of her closeness to a married friend. The story delivers comical asides throughout, from a store canceling Charles’ credit card after deeming him an “unprofitable customer” to his business ideas, such as a grilled-cheese–themed restaurant franchise and an unorthodox Covid-19 test. The final act takes a surprising and genuinely intriguing turn as revelations come to light. It’s the type of ending that may lead readers to reexamine what they’ve just read and better accept the book’s occasional disjointedness.

An outlandish tale of self-identity that ably ridicules modern life and its conventions.

All Our Lies Are True

Manterfield, Lisa | Steel Rose Press

(270 pp.) | $17.99 paper | Sept. 12, 2023 9781737304838

After the body of her missing twin sister is found, a young woman investigates new questions about her initial disappearance in Manterfield’s mystery.

Abby Kirkpatrick’s fraternal twin sibling, Cassie, mysteriously vanished when they were both 6 years old, placing the family under the whitehot lights of public scrutiny. With an aim to start afresh, the English family moved to a town in Great Britain in the middle of nowhere—a “place people drove by on the way to somewhere else.” Now 22, homeschooled Cassie wants to break free from her sheltered life and study child psychology at a university. Then police suddenly show up at the family’s door with shocking news: Cassie’s body has been found in a nearby lake bed, and the physical evidence unambiguously points to murder. Once again, the Kirkpatricks bear the weight of public suspicion, and Manterfield powerfully captures their ordeal in these pages: “It was starting again. The life we had rebuilt, the quiet, secluded life we’d hidden behind, was about to be shaken upside down. We’d be The Killer Kirkpatricks again.” Abby’s father, Robert, is quickly singled out as the prime suspect, and Abby begins to have her own suspicions that he might be responsible in some way—and even that her mother, Theresa, is covering for him; throughout, these nagging worries are rendered artfully, and with a great deal of suspense. Indeed, Manterfield

A compelling tale, as thoughtful as it is haunting.

ALL OUR LIES ARE TRUE

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exercises an impressive display of authorial restraint, disclosing just enough information to keep the reader riveted, and never so much that the reins are loosened. Overall, this novel shows itself to be more ambitious than many other crime dramas, raising philosophically searching questions about the nature of trauma and memory, as well as the moral dimensions of familial loyalty. It’s a compelling tale, as thoughtful as it is haunting. A harrowing and unpredictable yet psychologically subtle story.

Live Through This

McGuiness, Kristen | Rise Books (304 pp.)

$25.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781959524007

In McGuiness’ debut novel, a woman struggles with the demons of her past and the violence of her present.

Jane Ambrose is a disillusioned, middle-aged woman who finds herself at a crossroads. It’s 2016 in the Los Angeles suburb of Montrose, California, where she and her husband, Theo, a former pitcher for the LA Dodgers, are stuck in a strained marriage. As they raise their 1-year-old daughter, Zoe, they bicker frequently about Theo’s difficulty holding a job and reflect on their pasts as young drug addicts. Jane longs for the days when she was a fierce television producer for powerhouse broadcaster Blake Edwards, her former lover. Back then, she thinks, she was “bold and determined, oozing sex and ambition”; now, she thinks, she’s been “tamed beyond recognition.” A violent tragedy at a desert bar one night instantly transforms Jane’s life, causing memories of her earlier years with Theo to come rushing back. McGuiness provides readers with generous flashbacks that fill in details of their life together and sketch out Jane’s reckless, adventurous work in the entertainment industry. The past comes roaring into Jane’s present

when she’s contacted by Blake’s production crew in Manhattan. As she rediscovers her enduring love for big city life and comes to terms with her sexuality, she also faces conflicts that test the strength of her sobriety. McGuiness’ novel is set amid one of the most contentious election seasons in modern history; against this backdrop, it presents a compelling statement on the need for stricter gun control laws and better political accountability, and provides a testament to the horrific damage that gun violence exacts on society. McGuiness’ novel shows off her skills as a terrific storyteller; the work sends her resilient protagonist through the highs and lows of life as a single mom who joins a complicated fight to safeguard the public and finds new purpose. An engrossing, epiphanic story of second chances, anchored by a relevant message.

Blobs

Moscato, Johnny | Self (312 pp.) | $20.53

June 12, 2023 | 9798397104685

In Moscato’s SF novel, when mysterious “blobs” arrive on Earth, humanity’s way of living may be over…forever.

It’s the year 2022 and Marty Harperbaron is out walking his dog when a silent, floating, “blank, metallic blob shaped like a hundred-pound Mentos” starts following him. After failing to shake it off, Marty seeks help at the police station. Authorities assume that it’s some sort of international spying device and soon discover that, when attacked, the blob produces a flash of light that instantly melts the attacker’s face off. It’s not long before more blobs appear all over the world, each one following a different person. If not attacked, the blobs appear to remain peaceful and even protect their “host” humans from harm. As scientists desperately study the new arrivals to find out where they

came from, they discover the blobs’ ability to alter their hosts’ brain chemistry by increasing feelings of love and attachment toward the blobs. Marty, meanwhile, finds himself in increasing danger as some begin to believe that eliminating the original host will end the blob invasion. Marty begins to wonder if the blobs have come to destroy everyone—or if they’re actually here to save humanity from itself. The author takes aim at everything from microplastics to mainstream media in an over-the-top SF yarn that is as likely to make readers laugh out loud as it is to provoke them to question the state of the world. The dialogue is naturalistic (or as close as it can get when discussing people getting their faces melted off), while the snappy pacing makes for a quick read. Narration jumps from the third person to various hosts—including the traumatized Sheriff Walter Gamble and Yuri Lysenko, a Ukrainian soldier—which helps keep the perspective fresh, although the most poignant moments occur within Marty’s chapters. A timely satire that challenges the status quo through a delicate balance of absurd humor and compassion.

Race to the Great Invention

Newcott, Bronwen Butter | Foxhall Press (283 pp.) | $9.99 paper | May 4, 2023 9798218205997

A group of kids stumbles on a magical secret in this middle-grade fantasy.

Sixth grade is winding down in Washington, D.C., and Tessa Hardy’s looking forward to long days with her best friend and neighbor, Gus Tucker—not to mention an escape from mean girl Samantha Shaw. Though Tessa’s mother died, she feels supported by her father, her strict aunt Loochie, and Gus’ family, especially his artist mother, Mika. Sure, Tessa will miss her friend Rink Trolly, who’s heading

off to summer camp, but there’s always something to do with Gus, whether that’s rigging up a phone from a garden hose or spying on an eccentric neighbor, Professor Argus Henchworth. Tessa asks Gus: “Do you think he’s crazy, like certifiably insane?” When the kindly Henchworth invites the duo for tea—and his front door is floating above the ground—Tessa and Gus are in for multiple surprises. Among the professor’s collection of inventions—all with copper eyepieces that show emotions, locations, and memories specific to the individual viewer—is a vider, a small telescope-like object that allows Tessa and Gus to sense the feelings of the person they are observing. Soon, the professor sends Tessa, Gus, and Gus’ younger brother, Hodges, on a mission. They must save the mysterious “Great Invention” from its captors, the evil Shellstalkers, who seek to prevent humans from understanding one another, before the end of an era called the “Age of Heart-Sight”—just four days away. Newcott’s modern-day coming-of-age story centers on kids in a realistic manner while showing adults as both good and evil. Tessa’s and Gus’ parents have a history with Henchworth and his inventions and want to pass the empathic gifts to the next generation. Meanwhile, Tessa becomes somewhat entangled in the persuasive skills of Henchworth’s former CIA colleague Bronken, who bribes her with breakfast burritos and encourages her to question the professor and his motives, but who may not be the kind father figure he seems. The problem-solving skills that the characters display as well as the strong fantastical elements throughout

make the book an excellent fit for its intended audience of middle-grade readers.

A compelling adventure about the power of empathy.

Kirkus Star

Sam’s New Sister

Olson, Michelle | Bellie Button Books (42 pp.) | $24.95 | Nov. 16, 2023

9798986047225

A button learns that being a big brother is a big deal in Olson’s picture book. Sam is used to being the littlest button in the craft box. Sometimes that’s a pain, but it also means Sam gets a lot of attention for being the smallest. When a new, smaller button—Maggie—is adopted, Sam is frustrated: Maggie copies him, tries to do things that are too advanced for her, and steals his favorite toy. Sam has no choice—he has to run away. But when Maggie follows him and almost gets swallowed up by the vacuum cleaner, Sam swings to the rescue (“Sam realized his sister needed a responsible button to look after her”). New mission established, Sam learns that there are benefits to no longer being the smallest button in the box. Olson’s clever combination of photographed elements and digital drawings and focus on younger characters will strongly appeal to her readers. She never packs too many words into the page, and her sentences are simple, letting her

art do the heavy lifting of telling the story (Sam’s epic rescue, depicted on a wordless two-page spread, feels both heroic and giggle-worthy). Sam’s emotions about being a big sibling are familiar ones, and his journey from jealous grouch to role model resonates. Maggie is never villainized; she’s just young, giving Sam the chance to grow up gracefully. A cleverly told tale on a familiar theme.

Kirkus Star

The Art of the Sales Meeting: Performance Techniques for Confidence and Results

Prangley, Chris | Lioncrest Publishing (244 pp.) | $29.99 | $19.99 paper May 18, 2023 | 9781544538303 9781544538280 paper

Prangley provides a blueprint for improving all aspects of the standard sales meeting in this business guide. This book focuses on the surprising shortcomings of the traditional efforts most professionals put into their sales meetings (“Tone, timing, clarity, active listening, rapport, preparation, inflection, and eye contact—all the keys to communication—have fallen by the wayside”); for the author, a former professional actor, the key word is “performance.” When Prangley witnessed typical sales pitches in his new career in tech sales, he began compiling a very acting-oriented list of problems: too much anxiety, too much tension, too many swallowed or mumbled words, too little eye contact or control of body movements. Everywhere he looked, he saw boring meetings, and he considered this a crucial flaw; the author asserts that, once a sales professional has squared away the basics of the trade, the biggest factor in success is the ability to run a sales meeting well. In these

An appealingly fresh and energetic look at rethinking the sales meeting.

THE ART OF THE SALES MEETING

pages, Prangley seeks to demonstrate to readers how they can use some of the same techniques that enhance acting performances to improve their meeting performances—everything from maintaining correct posture to vocal delivery to wardrobe. The author contends that pairing these skills with industry-specific traditional practices, like market research and customer profiling, will take sales meetings to a new level. Prangley is such a winning personality on the page that even readers who might be impatient with tired cliches like “Trust your gut” will be won over by his optimistic encouragement. He stresses that achieving mastery over running sales meetings is more about hard work and perseverance than talent or luck, which will come as a relief to any of his readers who lack movie star charisma. This combination of an actor’s-eye-view and a seasoned professional’s advice is irresistible; professionals at any level will find invaluable pointers here. An appealingly fresh and energetic look at rethinking the sales meeting.

Kirkus Star Good Awkward: How to Embrace the Embarrassing and Celebrate the Cringe to Become the Bravest You

Pryor, Henna | Ideapress Publishing (200 pp.) | $27.95 | Sept. 26, 2023

9781646871452

Pryor outlines a strategy to make awkwardness work to your advantage in this self-help book.

In her nonfiction debut, the author, a workplace performance expert, speaker, and executive coach, explores the nature of feeling awkward, questioning where it comes from and observing how people typically react to it. Pryor likens the sensation to a balancing act, with risk tolerance on one side and confidence, experience, and,

especially, conformity on the other. The fulcrum is a quality the author refers to as “EEE”: Easily Empathetically Embarrassed. Consulting a wide array of works, from self-help books to psychological and anthropological studies, Pryor outlines the ubiquitous nature of awkwardness in modern society (“Even if you’ve lived a pretty charmed life with relatively few uncertainties,” she writes, referring to the Covid-19 pandemic, “the beginning of 2020 blew up that track record for every damn one of us”). She notes the high social costs associated with awkwardness (“we avoid it like the plague and work hard to eliminate it at all costs”), but she insists that embracing awkwardness is perfectly natural, even on an evolutionary level—she asserts that if somebody feels awkward in a social interaction they should give their brain “a little nod of gratitude” because registering wary awkwardness in such circumstances is exactly what the brain’s designed to do.

In the course of fluidly readable chapters full of insets and numbered points, the author lays out dozens of approaches to dealing with the “mental blocks” that people tend to put up in their own minds regarding awkward moments or situations. Throughout the text, Pryor takes an easy-going, approachable stance, regularly assuring her readers that she herself has a long history with awkwardness, asserting that if she can work through some of the most self-defeating aspects of it, so can they. At every point, she stresses that awkwardness is a natural reaction to uncertain situations; she contrasts this with overconfidence, which the author identifies as a weakness. “Feeling awkward means you’re taking chances,” she writes in a typically encouraging line, “and I love that look on you.” She reassures her readers that the judgment of others is seldom as bad as people think it is, owing to a psychological phenomenon known as “the illusion of transparency”—in reality, others can’t read our insecurities as well as we assume they can. Pryor is wonderfully convincing when pointing out how much of a difference that knowledge should make to how

self-critical we are—as she spicily puts it, “Most people don’t give a rat’s arse about how you look or what you’re doing.” Pryor notes that due to social media’s amplifying effect, we now live in an era of “cringe,” when it seems like the slightest awkward moment will be broadcast around the world. The author also argues that “bravery requires being off balance,” and that real growth can be achieved only by occasionally feeling the awkwardness of not knowing what you’re doing. For many readers accustomed to the relentless cool-scrutiny of our online world, Pryor’s warm, intelligent reassurances will be much appreciated. A well-researched and well-designed call to embrace awkwardness.

Cold Peace: Part 1: Bridge to Tomorrow

Schrader, Helena P. | Cross Seas Press (516 pp.) | $23.95 paper | June 15, 2023 9798987177006

American author Schrader’s historical series-starter charts the events preceding the Berlin airlift from a European perspective.

The author’s Bridge to Tomorrow trilogy examines how the Berlin airlift, a colossal operation to counter the Soviet blockade of the German capital, was a pivotal moment between the post–World War II and Cold War eras. This first installment covers the period between late 1947 and June 1948, when the international crisis first began. Royal Air Force Wing Commander Robert Priestman is a British flying ace with a past reputation for “irresponsible aerobatics” and a playboy image. Priestman accepts the new role of station commander at RAF Gatow, Berlin, which will become the world’s busiest airport. He relocates to Germany with his wife, Emily Priestman, who’s also a pilot; she contributed to the war effort by delivering service aircraft. Among other characters

headed for Berlin is David Goldman, who, after receiving a sizeable inheritance, is intent on operating an air ambulance business from the city, and RAF Flight Sergeant Kathleen Hart, a war widow and single parent who’s also been assigned to Berlin; she leaves England in the hope of finding love. The characters find the crime-ridden postwar city in ruins, and the threat from the Soviet Sector of Berlin is clear. Priestman must deal with Soviet fighter planes repeatedly harassing RAF aircraft; a tragedy results in an international crisis, and it seems as if another world war could be on the horizon.

Schrader is a sharply descriptive writer who captures the atmosphere and minute details of life in postwar Berlin with photographic precision: “Behind façades shorn of plaster, people existed more than lived. They cooked a little food over a wood-burning stove, crowded around a radio, perhaps, or read by the light of a bulb dangling from the ceiling.” The author’s research is impressive; in her historical notes, for example, she highlights her quest to pin down an accurate date for the construction of Gatow’s concrete runway. The novel ambitiously juggles several major characters, and the author ably handles the tricky task of making each well rounded and psychologically believable. She provides in-depth background information that reveals not only the various players’ pasts, but also their understanding of one another. In a description of the relationship between Priestman and his spouse, for instance, Schrader writes that “he had never been able to talk to her about being a prisoner, about how it made him feel naked, worthless and helpless. He’d certainly never told her about the brutality he’d experienced

on recapture.” One minor criticism is that the author spends much of the first half of the novel simply introducing people, which becomes somewhat programmatic. Although this process could have been more smoothly integrated, one can make a case for its necessity, given the trilogy’s vast scope. Overall, this is a smart and compelling read, punctuated by gripping aerial sequences, political tension, and a dash of romance. It will likely have military fiction fans clamoring for the next installment.

Sharp research meets vivid storytelling in an absorbing novel of the postwar period.

Confetti Realms

Shammas, Nadia | Illus. by Karnessa Maverick (196 pp.) | $14.99 paper Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781952303333

A sentient puppet transports four teenagers to another dimension and tasks them with a grim mission in Shammas’ YA graphic novel.

On Halloween night, Marissa, Ty, and Garrett are in a diner making plans to go to a cemetery and answer age-old questions: Do ghosts exist, and can they get drunk? Marissa’s former friend Radwa shows up after a concert, and the four proceed together to the graveyard. While there, they end up in a mausoleum that houses a giant puppet, described as a “horrifying dimension-hopping mechanical spider.”

On a candle the spider holds is a sign that reads, “To all the dreamers who seek what is lost: make a wish.” Radwa

suggests that they do what the sign says, and after they each pretend to blow out the candle, the artificial arachnid, named Tom, comes to life and whisks them away to a place he calls Confetti Realms. Tom tells them it’s the night of “the transfiguration” and he’s short four teeth to pay for his entry into the ball. To return home (“More or less,” Tom says cryptically), the teens must collect those teeth for him. When the group finds out the truth about transfiguration, the idea of staying there and leaving behind their real-world problems becomes increasingly compelling. Karnessa’s full-color illustrations employ brightness and warm tones to create a vivid fantasy world with a layer of creepiness underneath it. The teens appear diverse—each of the main four has a different skin tone, and Ty, who uses they/them pronouns, is implied to be nonbinary. The many characters they encounter during their quest are fun and creatively imagined, from gambling frogs and dancing bears to fantastical talking birds with the power of mimicry.

A well-illustrated comedic and sometimes eerie tale of friendship, identity, love, grief, and confronting one’s fears.

The Daedalus Protocol

Sheckter, Jeff | Wolf Willow Publishing (457 pp.) | $18.99 paper | May 11, 2023 9781738936106

In Sheckter’s thriller, an inventor gathers together a large ensemble for a very important mission.

In 417 BCE in Greece, the legendary warrior Odysseus and his marksman and servant Hector are on a quest to secure an important “golden vessel.” After Odysseus loses his lover, Princess Ianthina—who’d been a key part of the mission—he’s attacked and killed, but Hector gives him some of the “mystical” liquid they’ve secured, which brings him back to life. In the present,

A well-illustrated comedic and sometimes eerie tale of friendship.

CONFETTI REALMS

readers are introduced to a man named Marcus, who’s killed at a prison after being tortured and beaten; although he told his questioners what they want to know, he’s healed back to health to be tortured all over again. Several other characters populate the narrative, including intellectual Navy SEAL and CIA agent Gryphon Oake; a hacker named Dallas with anger issues; Aliya Tzion, a brilliant mathematician and hostage negotiator with a passion for learning, and many others. They all have one thing in common: A person known only as Daedalus is interested in each of them and their useful skills. Soon, he becomes their new boss, and they have a shared mission to save the world from a deadly pathogen. Although readers must keep track of a great many characters, the plot is complex enough to keep them engaged, and for those looking for gruesome realism, the fights and torture scenes are vividly described: “They spared his tongue so he could speak clearly when they finally broke him.” As the ensemble becomes better acquainted, their banter becomes fun to follow. Although the shadowy figure of Daedelus isn’t as compelling as those working under him, readers will still be interested in his history—and in learning more about those hoping to destroy him and his life’s work. This action-packed thriller is likely to remind readers of high-octane movie blockbusters with large casts from the early 2000s. At more than 425 pages in length, the story is a bit longer than necessary, but it ends on a satisfying note.

An intricate and compelling adventure tale.

Murder Baby: A Knights of Sadira Novel

Stoutimore, GJ | Amazon Digital Services (630 pp.) | $24.99 paper | Dec. 27, 2022

9798368063089

In Stoutimore’s fantasy debut, swords and magic clash in an ongoing conflict entangling angels, demons, and humans.

In a futuristic world not too distant from our own, the human Knights of Sadira once fought evil armed with the magic of angels. But it’s been six years since their home and training ground burned, and now Knight Raffi Okamoto treks across a dystopian Japan as a ronin, or masterless warrior. She reluctantly agrees to help an old friend, Quincey Henri, a New Orleans–based mage who co-founded a group of powerful “Craft” (magic) practitioners; he needs all of his magical comrades to aid in combatting sinister witches who have unleashed a daunting soul-eater demon. He enlists Raffi, armed with her katana and her staggering agility, to track down his fellow co-founder, Insaf, a former Knight who’s now missing. A concurrent plot, which takes place decades earlier, focuses on an orphaned girl who’s lost her family and most of her memories. After saving her from vicious masked men pursuing the girl in Neo Tokyo, Asahi, a Yakuza boss, all but adopts her, naming her Aiko and taking her into his clan where she trains to become an assassin. Aiko endures the harsh and often cruel training, driven by her obsession to mete out vengeance against the Yakuza who, she believes, slaughtered her parents. The time discrepancy between these dual plotlines gradually diminishes until they converge in a violent collision between good and evil.

Stoutimore’s novel, the first in a new series, unfolds in an indelible cyberpunk world in which many people’s bodies are augmented in some capacity by “mech.” The story rarely views such technological advancements favorably, as air-car

traffic clutters the skies and flashing holographic billboards are a nuisance. The presence of angels and demons functions mainly as a backdrop for Raffi’s and Aiko’s fascinating stories. Raffi comes with a mysterious background; readers know little about where she’s from, and a demonic voice in her head incessantly taunts her. Aiko seems like Raffi’s antithesis, but her past is equally murky. Their connection to one another isn’t terribly difficult to work out, as the author starts dropping huge clues well before the halfway point. Stoutimore includes copious action scenes that hit hard and fast, reminiscent of the lethal face-offs in samurai films, complete with severed limbs, spurting blood, and viscera smacking the ground (“Raffi whipped her weapon in a tight spin and closed her eyes. ‘It’s been a while since I’ve gone unrestrained. I thank you in advance for the chance’ ”). This opening installment, despite its length, leaves much to explore: The other five Knights of Sadira make relatively few appearances, and the novel provides few details surrounding the “eternal wars” between the angels and demons. The smashing conclusion of this opening salvo is sure to have readers on the lookout for a sequel.

This epic tale introduces a cast as unforgettable as the future world they live in.

Not So Fast, Tom Thumb: The Story of the Horse Who Raced an American Steam Locomotive

Tabler, Judith | Illus. by Agnes Antonello

DartFrog Books (26 pp.) | $22.57

$13.99 paper | May 22, 2023

9781956019940 | 9781956019933 paper

A horse-drawn train faces off against a steam locomotive in Tabler’s book for young readers.

Lucius Stockton is having a lovely opening day on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. It’s Monday,

Stoutimore includes copious action scenes that hit hard and fast.

MURDER BABY

September 20, 1830, and he is running the horse-powered train that delights riders experiencing the new track for the first time. However, he is brought back down to Earth by the appearance of Peter Cooper’s steam locomotive. An onlooker guffaws, “As if a horse could catch a steam locomotive!” Stockton takes this comment as a challenge and arranges for his horse-drawn train to sit alongside the locomotive, called Tom Thumb because of its small size, at an opportune moment. Following a luncheon honoring horse-drawn railroad supporter (and Declaration of Independence signer) Charles Carroll’s 93rd birthday, a crowd of party guests rushes outside to view the locomotive. It isn’t long before someone suggests a race, as Stockton likely intends. The two modes of transportation take off for an exciting contest that leaves readers on the edges of their seats. Stockton knows that steam is the future, but he isn’t ready to give up—and neither is his horse. Will he be able to pull ahead, right when the locomotive is in hot pursuit? As in her previous book, Rats in the White House (2020), the author sheds light on a true but lesser-known historical event through a dynamic story. The stakes are low, as the narrative itself acknowledges, but the race remains exciting in the short term. Tabler’s use of sensory details, like the sound of Mitzie the horse’s pounding hooves and Tom Thumb’s whistle “screaming,” brings the race alive. Antonello’s full-color illustrations are less exciting but serviceable, though the color scheme on one page that renders the horse blue and red is a strange choice.

An engaging story for young fans of history that may be useful in a classroom.

The Corroding

Tracey, Ty | Self (614 pp.) | $13.99 paper Nov. 18, 2022 | 9798364364210

Miners unearth an evil entity in Tracey’s horror novel.

An Ohio mining operation blasts out a basketball-size, glowing, red crystal orb from one of the salt rock faces thousands of feet beneath Lake Erie. The object begins leaking a black, skin-melting substance and emitting irradiated, laser-like flashes of “phantom energy” that incinerate everyone at the site. From the ashes of that horrific event emerges an ancient, inhuman creature bent on planetary destruction. Inexplicable events, including mysterious explosions, vanishing towns, mutilated corpses, societal unease and panic, and fires across the skies, become commonplace across the globe. Crime scene investigator Lori Cruz appears on the scene to solve a series of bloodless, surgically precise killings devoid of a motive or a murder suspect. Lori is aided by stoner collegiate cohorts and genius-grade scientific AI geeks Dimitri and Andy, and by expert mathematician Keenan, who’s developed a device to measure the saturation of paranormal energy. Together, they work to solve the riddle of this population decimation and stop it before civilization is completely ravaged by the evil entity (elegantly named Allister Smoke). Tracey expertly builds layer upon layer of dread,

haunting suspense, and malevolence in the form of a shadowy, fedora-wearing specter with midnight-black eyes. While the exciting story never seems to slow down, some readers may feel that the novel is a tad overstuffed with details and superfluous exposition. Nevertheless, the pages fly by as the menacing apparition goes about systematically extinguishing all of the world’s minds and bodies. The story is marvelously character-driven with pitch perfect dialogue; the insidious supernatural elements are finely developed and sharpened with brutal precision. An expansive, devilishly creative, genre-bending work incorporating horror, fantasy, and science fiction elements, this 600-page doorstopper requires a healthy attention span and a true appreciation for all things sinister.

A complex, cinematic, engrossing horror novel with thrills and chills galore.

The Loneliest Places

Vaughn, Keith Edward | Amazon Digital Services (290 pp.) | $16.99 paper Aug. 18, 2023 | 9798986531908

A disheartened private eye does a favor that puts him on wrong side of a dangerous criminal organization in Vaughn’s crime novel.

In 2017 middle-aged Los Angeles private investigator Ellis Dunaway hasn’t had a decent case in ages. His secretary, Reshma, is likely to quit soon, and his once-promising career as a TV writer is so far in the past, it feels like it never happened. He can’t help but keep tabs on Kent Moran, a writer friend who seems to accrue accolades by the day, while Ellis just accrues debt and regret. When a nightclub-owning acquaintance, Terry Montero, asks him for a favor, Ellis quickly agrees; aside from snorting cocaine and listening to pop songs on the radio of an old Porsche his dead father left him, he doesn’t have very

An expansive, devilishly creative, genre-bending work.

THE CORRODING

Kirkus Star

much to do. Terry wants Ellis to check on a rental property where he allowed a colleague, Douglas Stefanidis, to crash. Terry hasn’t heard from the guy in weeks and would like to resume renting out the house if it’s empty. The search for Stefanidis becomes a wide-ranging investigation involving porn stars and local criminals who may be involved with the Black Fist—a cartel involved in money laundering, drug trafficking, and more. Vaughn’s jaded protagonist has just enough ruefulness and ambition to make this LA noir click. The pacing is brisk, and the characters are mostly entertainingly seedy. However, when Ellis shows a spark of humanity—he truly cares about his secretary’s son, for instance—the writing truly shines. Vaughn efficiently renders the California settings, although listing every song playing on the radio is almost comically overdone: “ ‘Breakout’ by Swing Out Sister. After that, ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It for You’ by Bryan Adams came on. The song was released on two albums simultaneously in 1991….” Some chapters start with quotes from Ellis’ father, a bestselling author and private investigator. Like other aspects of the story, the father’s words ring true and evoke an era of reminiscent of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch books.

A gritty, assured mystery debut, right up to its satisfying final notes.

Kirkus Star

Rearranged: An Opera Singer’s Facial Cancer and Life Transposed

Watt, Kathleen | Heliotrope Books (469 pp.)

Oct. 10, 2023

The course of an opera singer’s life is altered after being diagnosed with a rare cancer in Watt’s memoir.

In the winter of 1997, the author was on a ski holiday with her partner, Evie, when she decided to share a secret with her. Playfully placing

Evie’s finger on her gumline, she guided her to a bump at the back of her upper jaw. Thinking little of it, other than to schedule a dentist appointment, the two returned to New York. By day, Watt worked as a magazine assistant art director, but by night shared the stage with the likes of Dame Gwyneth Jones as a Metropolitan Opera extra chorister. After undergoing tests, the author received a fraught call from her oral surgeon telling her that she needed to get to a head and neck surgeon immediately. Watt was later diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma. The memoir details the singer’s protracted treatment and recovery from the “savagely aggressive” cancer that involved months of chemotherapy and surgeries that damaged her facial features during tumor extraction. Her opera career prematurely ended, Watt mourned the loss of the “all-absorbing, bodily immersion of singing.” The author describes a “never-ending” facial reconstruction process, reckoning with society’s standards for physical beauty, and “coming back to life after routing the Big C.” Watt is a sharply descriptive writer who is unafraid to address the horror of her treatment: “he worked as much as possible below or behind my sight line, saving me the trauma of watching incoming sharp instruments and suction hoses and bloody junk.” Unapologetically frank, the author also has a wry, sometimes self-effacing sense of humor that brings levity to a distressing subject. On wearing an eyepatch in public, Watt notes: “Even when I was teased by a pack of teenagers, I preferred hearing them laugh at each other’s best pirate impression to being invisible. Arrrrrr! and Avast me hearties! and Ahoy Matie!” The result is a finely textured and courageous literary memoir that is inspirational and, at times, darkly amusing. A heart-rending journey recalled with lucidity and poise. For more Indie content, visit Kirkus online.

The Timebound Twins

Whitemarsh-Hoffmann, Savannah

Ten 16 Press (188 pp.) | $23.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 9781645385226

9781645385219 paper

WhitemarshHoffmann’s middle-grade debut sees a young magic student travel back in time to find the twin whom she was never supposed to meet.

Eleven-year-old Iris resides in the Nearwoods, a realm that’s separate from but connected to Earth. She is the Novice of Light, one of six Novices— the others being of Winter, Summer, Spring, Autumn, and Time—charged with mastering the magic needed to manipulate matter and control the natural elements. (Gratifyingly, this involves a fusion of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics.) The novices are instructed, both collectively and individually, by the Bearers of each element, who, in turn, answer to their own former mentors (the Sages). Iris’ bearer and sage are, respectively, Hesper and Bettima; her mother has virtually disowned her and is preoccupied with summoning Iris’ “timebound twin”—a sibling who was consigned at birth to leave the Nearwoods and live sometime in Earth’s history. Searching for such twins is strictly forbidden, but when the fabled dark sorceress Morith makes an appearance, possessing Iris’ mother and threatening the magic that holds the world together, Iris has no choice but to travel to 1985 Milwaukee to find her timebound twin. Whitemarsh-Hoffmann tells the story through a smooth blend of narrative prose, upbeat dialogue, and poetic descriptions, such as “The River Trillium moved in torrents tonight, teeming with silver-backed trout cresting the water to gobble up the stoneflies.” The worldbuilding fizzes with wonder, and the magic-school setting will naturally evoke Harry Potter comparisons; however, Whitemarsh-Hoffmann is less heavyhanded than J. K. Rowling was in

characterizing the novices. Iris’ relationship with her mother, for instance, explores the absence of parental love far more effectively than if she’d been orphaned; her relationships with Hesper and Bettima are also richer, compared to the caricatured Dursleys. White-haired, sneering Verena, Novice of Summer, is a relatively toned-down and believable villain. One criticism, though, is that moments of great import are paced similarly as ordinary events. Nonetheless, the action picks up when Iris travels back in time, which will likely engage young readers. A vivid fantasy that’s packed with magic and imagination.

The Girl From Number 7, Windsor Avenue

Worthington, Vivienne Grilliot

iUniverse (298 pp.) | $31.99

$20.99 paper | Jan. 12, 2023

9781663248787 | 9781663248763 paper

A woman recalls growing up on various Air Force bases as the daughter of a staff sergeant in this debut memoir.

Worthington was born in post–World War II northern England in a small town called Flixton, near Manchester. As an infant, she was raised by her grandparents and “sometimes Mummy,” and believed the house on Windsor Avenue to be “the best place in the whole world to live.” As a 6-year-old, she flew unaccompanied to New York City in 1954, and on to Muncie, Indiana, to join her American military father and English mother at Patrick Air Force Base. The

author began an itinerant childhood, which saw her family uprooted to live on bases in Aurora, Colorado; Alsace-Lorraine, France; Biloxi, Mississippi; and Chelveston, England. The book addresses her young reactions to her new homes and the burden of assimilating as a girl with an English accent who had to practice looking and sounding like an American. Worthington also discusses the death of her younger brother, Johnny, as a result of aplastic anemia. The story follows the author into her late teens, spent in England, and ends with an unexpected revelation. Worthington displays an affable writing style that captures the innocence of childhood. Discussing the phenomenon of American iceboxes, she remarks about a young peer: “His dad said of everyone in the entire world, only Americans want their drinks to be cold enough to freeze balls.” In a laugh-out-loud moment, the author recalls her childhood puzzlement at the “thought of anyone wanting to freeze a rubber ball.” She also presents powerfully vivid recollections, describing life events in meticulous detail, such as being saved by her “guardian angel” after stepping in front of a bus: “My thighs were two thick black rubber marks where the bus’s bumper had raked my legs.” The memoir opens with a prologue that describes the death of Worthington’s brother and later returns to the subject. The author intends to emphasize the impact the loss had on her young life, but the repetition disrupts a generally linear timeline, creating mild confusion. Still, this minor flaw does not detract from a charismatic and endearing book that openly shares the happiness and heartache of being an “Air Force brat.”

A smoothly descriptive, heartfelt, and at times hilarious childhood account.

I’m Not Getting in Your Brew!

Wulff, Carol A. | Illus. by Stephen Stone

Self (36 pp.) | $22.99 | $13.99 paper

May 31, 2023 | 979988039303 9798988039310 paper

In this picture book, a kindly witch forges an improbable friendship with a warty ingredient for her Halloween brew.

Little Greenie

Curlytoe isn’t like the other witches in the forest. Every fall, when the coven practices magic, the greenskinned witch heads to the pumpkin patches to find gourds to decorate her shack. But she still wishes to lead the others in their midnight flight on Halloween, an award reserved for the maker of the best witch’s brew. As the others seek out herbs and spices, Greenie hunts the one ingredient sure to win her the prize—Harlow, “the ugliest and fattest toad around.” But the brown toad with “juicy warts” is as fast as he is fat and excellent at hiding. As they shout taunting rhymes at each other, an unexpected kinship develops. Wulff’s tale of an unlikely friendship mixes simple prose with lyrical verses between Greenie and Harlow, their catchy, sing-song exchanges made to be read aloud. Stone’s illustrations make the pimply, pointy-eared witches and warty toad an adorable version of gross. Fly tacos are joined by slumbering bats in nightcaps and Greenie’s charming, pumpkin-adorned dress, all in soft yet vibrant fall colors. Though never scary or spooky, these touches ensure this volume will join others on bedsides for the Halloween season. During Harlow’s game of hide-and-seek with Greenie, the book encourages readers to find the pages that show the toad, adding another level of engagement with Stone’s autumnal artwork.

Witches, pumpkins, and amphibian amusement make for a captivating Halloween tale.

A smoothly descriptive, heartfelt, and at times hilarious childhood account.

THE GIRL FROM NUMBER 7, WINDSOR AVENUE

10.Owner: Herber t Simon Revocable Trust Herbert Simon Trustee 225 W Washington St - 14th Floor Indianapolis, IN 46204

11. There are no bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities.

12. Tax Status: The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes have not changed during preceding 12 months

★ “[A] soaring poem about change...Robinson’s neighborhood scenes, portraying a community of varying abilities, ages, and skin tones, model collaboration as a means for metamorphosis.”

— PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred review

model collaboration a Also available in Spanish!

★ “Gorman immerses readers in the experience, assuring them that they are not alone in their longings for a better world.”

KIRKUS REVIEWS , starred review

“Invites the audience to feel as if they’re a part of the story and empowered to change something within their community.”

— SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL , starred review

The Stunning New Picture Book by Bestselling and Acclaimed Poet

and Award-Winning Illustrator Christian Robinson Amanda Gorman

Art © by Christian Robinson; Amanda Gorman photo by Danny Williams; Christian Robinson photo © John Kwiatowski