June 1, 2023: Volume XCI, No. 11

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK | Tom Beer

your summer tbr list starts here

Among the many pleasures of summer is the opportunity to rededicate ourselves to reading more. If you’re a bibliophile like all of us at Kirkus, you start keeping a list of titles you plan to tackle over the next few months. For our annual Summer Reads Issue, we asked some favorite authors to share theirs.

Hernan Diaz, author of Trust: “There are two new novels I am particularly looking forward to reading this summer: Jenny Erpenbeck’s Karios, translated by Michael Hofmann, and I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore. I know nothing about these books, and I want to keep it that way—I love stepping into the unknown. Also, I will keep going with Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time—I am currently on Book 3.”

Celeste Ng, author of Our Missing Hearts: “I didn’t get to read much last fall while launching Our Missing Hearts, so at the top of my embarrassingly tall TBR is A Living Remedy by Nicole Chung. She’s one of the smartest writers out there, and I can’t wait to dive into this. And I have to add a few more to the stack for summer: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang looks fascinating, as does Tania James’ Loot and Ann Patchett’s newest, Tom Lake….Help.”

Imani Perry, author of South to America: “This summer, I’m looking forward to reading Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. I love when novelists explore contemporary social and political issues with provocative storylines. Likewise, I’m looking forward to Alejandro Varela’s short story collection, The People Who Report More Stress. Race, class, gentrification, incarceration, media, late capitalism, mental health—I know these brilliant writers will help me think about all of that. On the nonfiction front, I can’t wait to read Maryemma Graham’s comprehensive biography of Margaret Walker, The House Where My Soul Lives, one of the most important writers in the African American literary tradition. Graham has devoted years of her life to bringing Walker to her rightful place in the canon. I’m grateful.”

Lisa See, author of Lady Tan’s Circle of Women: “I’m very excited to read The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann. The subtitle says it all, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t like a book with those three elements? Grann always includes fantastic and interesting details in his writing—with all kinds of tidbits and stories to share over the dinner table with family and friends. I’m also looking forward to reading Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Everyone says it’s amazing.”

Co- Chairman HERBERT SIMON

Co- Chairman MARC WINKELMAN #

Publisher & CEO MEG LABORDE KUEHN mkuehn@kirkus.com

Editor - in- Chief TOM BEER tbeer@kirkus.com

Chief Marketing Officer SARAH KALINA skalina@kirkus.com

President of Kirkus Indie KAREN SCHECHNER kschechner@kirkus.com

Managing/Nonfiction Editor ERIC LIEBETRAU eliebetrau@kirkus.com

Fiction Editor LAURIE MUCHNICK lmuchnick@kirkus.com

Young Readers’ Editor LAURA SIMEON lsimeon@kirkus.com

Young Readers’ Editor MAHNAZ DAR mdar@kirkus.com

Editor at Large MEGAN LABRISE mlabrise@kirkus.com

Senior Indie Editor DAVID RAPP drapp@kirkus.com

Indie Editor ARTHUR SMITH asmith@kirkus.com

Editorial Assistant NINA PALATTELLA npalattella@kirkus.com

Editorial Assistant of Indie LEAH BLOCK lblock@kirkus.com

Editorial Assistant of Indie DAN NOLAN dnolan@kirkus.com

Mysteries Editor THOMAS LEITCH

Contributing Editor GREGORY McNAMEE

Copy Editor BETSY JUDKINS

Designer ALEX HEAD

Kirkus Editorial Senior Production Editor ROBIN O’DELL rodell@kirkus.com

Kirkus Editorial Senior Production Editor MARINNA CASTILLEJA mcastilleja@kirkus.com

Kirkus Editorial Production Editor ASHLEY LITTLE alittle@kirkus.com

Publishing Promotions Manager RACHEL WEASE rwease@kirkus.com

Indie Promotions Manager AMY BAIRD abaird@kirkus.com

Social Media & Partnership Manager SEYANNA BARRETT sbarrett@kirkus.com

Author Consultant RY PICKARD rpickard@kirkus.com

from lower left, from Silver Screen Collection/Getty, Anton Vierietin/Getty, Bettmann/Getty, Anton Vierietin/Getty, Bettmann/Getty, John Springer Collection/Getty, ClassicStock/Getty, Riskms/iStock.

Design by Kyla Novak

Graphic Designer KYLA NOVAK knovak@kirkus.com

Hernan Diaz

John Paraskevas

ON THE COVER: Photos, clockwise

Imani Perry

Pascal Perich

Imani Perry

contents summer reads issue

James McBride follows up his hit novel Deacon King Kong (2020) with another boisterous hymn to community, mercy, and karmic justice. Read the review on p. 26.

Don’t wait on the mail for reviews! You can read pre-publication reviews as they are released on kirkus.com even before they are published in the magazine. You can also access the current issue and back issues of Kirkus Reviews on our website by logging in as a subscriber. If you do not have a username or password, please contact customer care to set up your account by calling 1.800.316.9361 or emailing customers@kirkusreviews.com.

The Kirkus Star is awarded to books of remarkable merit, as determined by the impartial editors of Kirkus.

fiction

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

FAMILY LORE

Acevedo, Elizabeth Ecco/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $27.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780063207264

A sprawling novel about the regrets and desires of a family of women.

Acevedo’s widely anticipated new novel, her first for adults, begins with an oblique bit of magic: Flor, who for her whole life has been able to predict when and how people will die, announces that she will be holding a living wake for herself, and all her siblings are invited (and their children, too). Whether Flor has predicted her own death—or anyone else’s—doesn’t become clear to either the reader or Flor’s family until later. In the meantime, we’re introduced to Flor’s sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila; her daughter, Ona; and her niece Yadi, many of whom have magical powers of their own. Chapters alternate among points of view, but unfortunately, Acevedo hasn’t endowed any of these characters—aside from Ona—with a particularly distinctive voice, which means that it can take a bit of effort to remember who’s who. The novel’s pacing sags, too, and despite the anticipation of Flor’s upcoming wake, there isn’t much in the way of forward momentum. In places, Acevedo’s prose seems rushed or slightly tangled. At one point, she writes, “the alarm system that most folk have that trip one into fight or flight was muted in Flor”—an unnecessarily wordy sentence that relies on a mixed metaphor. Even the casual references to magic feel tired, as if Acevedo had borrowed the affectation from other writers but hadn’t imbued it with a flavor all her own. Elsewhere, though, the prose shines: “Maybe that is the original definition of nightmare? A dream that gallops through, dragging the dreamer from one haunting to the next.”

An uneven effort with somewhat flat characters and prose that fails to sing consistently.

EMERGENCY

Alcott, Kathleen Norton (192 pp.)

$27.95 | July 18, 2023

9781324051886

Beauty and youth, desire and privilege are the threads sewing together these seven stories.

Alcott’s protagonists are often beautiful, clever young women from economically impoverished backgrounds who wind up with men many years older and far richer. Estranged from their families of origin and never quite at home with their boyfriends and husbands, these women are ill at ease and even suicidal despite their intelligence and acquired grace, and they must struggle for self-acceptance and independence. In “Natural Light,” the narrator discovers a disturbing photo of her dead mother hanging in a museum, which her father refuses to explain. Separated from her husband, who can’t tolerate her darkness,

the woman wonders whether she too might be exempt from answering questions about “who I was or how I suffered.” In “Part of the Country,” the narrator leaves her husband because she believes he likes weak women and only returns to him after she has proved her strength by hurting him. The best stories here are the first and last. In “Emergency,” a group of women who collectively narrate the story excoriates their friend Helen, whose life spirals downward after her rich husband leaves her. “You can’t say whore,” they comment about her “conquests,” “and we would never say whore—well, once we said whore—but you could say without qualms there was trouble.” “Temporary Housing,” which plumbs the deep ties between two self-destructive young women, offers searing commentary on how vulnerable women can be. “Maybe we aren’t girls,” the narrator reflects after learning her childhood friend is dead of an overdose, “surely we were never children, but we might have the talents of animals, sensing everything that wants to kill us, and that we need to kill.” Alcott’s prose is cerebral and knotty, but patience yields exquisite insights about women’s agency and the corrosiveness of male privilege. Stories that are worth reading twice.

10 novels perfect for summer days

Whether you’re on the beach or in a hammock or at the park, there’s nothing like settling in with a great book on a beautiful summer day. Here are 10 suggestions for your reading pleasure.

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Pantheon, May 2): Adjei-Brenyah’s first novel— after his impressive story collection, Friday Black (2018)—is a brilliant satire in which convicted murderers take part in gladiatorial competitions, fighting to the death for a chance to get out of prison. Our starred review said, “Imagine The Hunger Games refashioned into a rowdy, profane, and indignant blues shout at full blast.”

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin (Ballantine, May 2): From the author of the Passage Trilogy, another long, engaging work of dystopian fiction, this one set on an island called Prospera that’s something of a paradise…except that of course it’s not. “It’s a hefty book that moves with astounding quickness— yet another excellent offering from an author with a boundless imagination and talent to spare,” according to our starred review.

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (Grove, May 2): Fourteen years after Verghese’s bestselling fiction debut, Cutting for Stone, our starred review of his new novel exults, “By God, he’s done it again”—this time following three generations of an Indian family beginning in 1900. The book provides “the exquisite, uniquely literary delight of all the pieces falling into place in a way one really did not see coming.”

Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum (Flatiron, May 23): If you want to read a beach book set at the beach, Rosenblum will take you to Fire Island, where the characters are “so readable and so terrible,” according to our starred review. “They think highly of themselves but consistently have the worst impulses, and, as the book wears on, it becomes delightfully clear that they are incapable of resisting.”

An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera (Canary Street Press, May 30): A Venezuelan lesbian in belle epoque Paris hopes to become “thoroughly debauched” before returning home to marry a rich man. Our starred review said, “Empowering and exhilarating.”

Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea (Little, Brown, May 30): Here Urrea has taken inspiration from his mother’s World War II experience working with the Red Cross’ Clubmobile Corps, a group of women who brought food and company to GIs in the European theater. “Top-shelf historical fiction delivered with wit and empathy,” according to our starred review.

The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand (Little, Brown, June 13): The Queen of Summer Reads invites you to a weekend house party on Nantucket (where else?) that doesn’t go as planned. “The people in her book may screw up, but Hilderbrand always gets it right,” says our starred review.

Mrs. S by K. Patrick (Europa, June 20): Our starred review says: “Dark academia meets forbidden love as an English boarding school matron falls in love with the headmaster’s wife.” Who needs to say more?

Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday, July 18): Whitehead introduced Ray Carney, a furniture salesman and sometime fence, in Harlem Shuffle (2021) and now picks his story up in the 1970s. Our starred review calls the book an “accomplished, streamlined, and darkly funny comedy of manners.…Not just crime fiction at its craftiest, but shrewdly rendered social history.”

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead, Aug. 8): After Deacon King Kong, my favorite summer book of 2020, McBride returns with what our starred review calls “another boisterous hymn to community, mercy, and karmic justice,” this time set among the Black and Jewish communities of Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

Laurie Muchnick is the fiction editor.

THE MAN IN THE MCINTOSH SUIT

Ayuyang, Rina

Drawn & Quarterly (212 pp.)

$24.95 paper | May 2, 2023

9781770466661

A migrant Filipino farmworker searches for his estranged wife in Depression-era San Francisco.

This graphic narrative is several things at once—a noirish mystery, a vibrant work of historical fiction, and a tale of immigrant dreams and adversity. The year is 1929, and although he was trained as a lawyer back in Manila, Bobot now picks fruit in the fields of Watsonville, California, living in a crowded shack with other homesick Filipinos and pining for the wife who hasn’t replied to his letters in months. But a tip from his cousin Benny brings him to San Francisco in search of Elysia, whom Benny says he has spotted there. To the background strains of popular songs like “Blue Skies” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ” (whose lyrics snake their way through the comic’s panels), Bobot prowls the diners, pool halls, and nightclubs of Manilatown. A special invitation—plus the well-tailored suit of the book’s title—gain him entree to the high-end Barangay Club, where he first lays eyes on La Estrella, a glamorous chanteuse…who just might be his wife? Ayuyang spins a captivating tale that is both an homage to starry-eyed Hollywood movies of the period and a corrective that highlights the anti-Asian racism faced by immigrants as well as the thriving communities they formed. The expressionistic artwork is washed in blue, green, red, or amber hues signaling a scene’s setting and mood. The narrative ends with a series of surprising plot twists and a coda that hints at a sequel to come.

A colorful and richly textured graphic novel.

CUTTING TEETH

Baker, Chandler Flatiron Books (320 pp.)

$27.99 | July 18, 2023

9781250839787

A tony preschool is plunged into chaos when a beloved teacher is murdered during—or because of?—a disturbing outbreak of bloodsucking among her otherwise adorable students.

What could be a more perfect and hilariously dark metaphor for privileged modern motherhood than Baker’s invention of “pediatric Renfield’s syndrome”? In Miss Erin Ollie’s class at the usually perfect Little Academy in Texas, many of the 4-year-olds have taken the age-appropriate problem of biting a step further: They bite for blood. Particularly, they crave the blood of their mothers, who decide collectively that this is a need like any other—although, admittedly, grosser and creepier—and that it will pass and, in the meantime, must be met. Attachment parenting at its finest! Any

parent who has imagined that their young children are draining the life out of them will both get the joke and feel the (piercing) pain. When Miss Ollie turns up dead in the school supply closet, everyone wonders: Was one of the newly vampiric children involved? Three different moms—Rhea, Mary Beth, and Darby—provide rotating perspectives. Each has secret information about the day of the murder, and all three make misguided decisions designed to protect their kids. In keeping with the ruthless satirical tone, though, what they want to protect their kids from most isn’t bodily harm—it’s a bad reputation. Red herrings abound and clues are dispensed tantalizingly. The building social tension is so good that the murder mystery can feel almost unnecessary. Will it come back to bite readers in the end? In the meantime, Baker limns the fascinating ways parents in a community can be simultaneously at odds with and bonded to each other and how the pressure of parenthood makes crisis hard to define.

Gruesome, funny, jam-packed, sharp as baby teeth.

BLUE SKIES

Boyle, T.C. Liveright/Norton (384 pp.)

$30.00 | May 16, 2023

9781324093022

A tragicomic novel of environmental apocalypse in which no matter how bad things get, there’s worse to come.

Cat is a recent transplant from California to southern Florida, exchanging the threats of drought and wildfire for hurricanes and flooding. Well past adolescence but too young for middle age, she’s attempting to get her life on track, hoping to become a viral influencer. A creature of impulse (this novel sees the creature inside every human), she wanders into a store selling snakes and finds herself smitten by a baby Burmese python. She knows it will eventually grow bigger, but right now it is the perfect fashion accessory to drape around her arm and neck. And Cat really isn’t the type to think things

through. Boyle knows what should happen when you put a woman and a snake in a place once considered Eden, and, soon enough, all hell breaks loose. Or maybe not quite soon enough, for there is some plodding and padding before the plot really takes off. Though, when it does, the breathless momentum matches the tonal command, which walks a tightrope between darkest humor and truly horrifying. Beyond snakes, droughts, floods, and fires, there are ticks, termites, heatstrokes, amputations, and a huge social media backlash as Cat learns that celebrity has its downside. She has become “Python Mom” (and her brother is “Bug Boy”). To reveal too much plot would spoil the suspense, but the rituals once celebrated and the routines taken for granted—dating and mating, weddings, dinner parties, going to work or for a drive, a swim, or a drink—are all potentially fraught with terror. Yet so much of this is so funny, in a twisted sort of way. At one point, a character describes the novel he’s reading as cli-fi, and this novel might fit that category as well. Yet it doesn’t so much imagine a climate future as awaken us to today’s.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

THE CROW VALLEY KARAOKE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Bryan, Ali Henry Holt (304 pp.)

$27.99 | July 25, 2023

9781250863430

A small-town karaoke championship is the backdrop for grief, forgiveness, glory, and a prison break.

Crow Valley is hosting its first karaoke championship since losing its star singer a year ago in a wildfire. Dale Jepson was more than just a karaoke celebrity—he was also a prison guard, a devoted husband, and one of the Canadian town’s most beloved residents. His widow, Roxanne, is so lost without him that she carries his ashes around in a thermos, wears a headlamp everywhere she goes, and communes with his spirit by eating Tic Tacs from a container he left behind. But Roxanne, one of the judges for the karaoke championship, isn’t the only Crow Valley resident who’s having a hard time. Dale’s best friend, Brett, wants to perform a suitable tribute to Dale while also winning back his wife’s love. Brett’s wife, Val, is a prison guard who’s struggling to remain sober and unable to forgive Brett for cheating on her. Molly wants to stun the crowd with a karaoke performance that shows she’s more than “just” a mother as she deals with resentment over the way her life turned out and guilt over her role in Dale’s death. And then there’s Marcel, a convicted murderer and arsonist who manages to escape from prison during one of the most chaotic and eventful days in the town’s history. With Crow Valley, Bryan creates a small town that’s both quirky and disturbingly realistic. While her characters have flaws (be they cheaters or murderers), Bryan shows sympathy and respect for all of them.

A surprising, darkly comic look at people dealing with tragedy and choosing to sing anyway.

BEFORE SHE FINDS ME

Chavez, Heather

Mulholland Books/Little, Brown

(336 pp.)

$28.00 | June 27, 2023

9780316531351

When the pop pop pop of shots sound off at college move-in day, Julia Bennett is the first to recognize the menace, intuitively dropping and rolling to protect her daughter, Cora. The aftermath brings: a grazed Cora; her murdered stepmother, Brie; long-suppressed memories of Julia’s own troubled past; and her increasing suspicion that what seems like just another random mass shooting in America is actually anything but.

Julia is a botany professor at Anderson Hughes, the San Diego college where Cora will be a freshman. Julia is also a connoisseur of carnivorous plants and is long divorced from Cora’s

dad, Eric, who has a shiny new life with Brie. While Julia reluctantly confirms her doubts about the shooting (“If the sniper attack was random, why did it end so quickly? And why weren’t more people dead?” she asks herself), she’s also forced to reckon with the violence that ended her own youth: the shooting deaths of her parents when she was 14. As Julia unpacks the shooting, up in Los Angeles, contract killer Ren Petrovic is realizing she’s got some mysteries of her own to solve. She’s learned about the Anderson Hughes killings on the news and recognizes the work of her husband and partner, Nolan. Ren is a second-generation assassin, raised to take on only “ethical kills,” meaning the target—not the victim, if you please—deserves their fate. But Nolan no longer seems as committed to the mission and has started bending their rules. When it comes out that Brie is the daughter of Oliver Baird, a Malibu billionaire who happens to be Nolan’s best client, the dovetailing of the two women’s stories becomes inevitable. This is author Chavez’s third suspense novel, and she writes well: Before the attack, the packed crowd of students and parents “undulated like a snake digesting”; afterward, Eric “wore the past two days as thick stubble along

“A surprising, darkly comic look at people dealing with tragedy and choosing to sing anyway.”

the crow valley karaoke championships

his jaw and bruise-like smudges beneath his eyes.” The two protagonists nicely mirror each other, sharing a chaotic upbringing, a cerebral reserve paired with extreme capability, a love of mordant plants (Ren’s specialty is poison, and she grows her own). Though the book doesn’t quite stick the landing—for all its tragedy, Julia’s backstory is uninteresting, and Ren’s naïveté is hard to fathom—it’s well paced, often gripping, and builds with expert tension.

Straightforward suspense served without guile or gimmick.

LUCKY RED Cravens,

Claudia

Dial Press (304 pp.)

$27.00 | June 20, 2023

9780593498248

Let’s reexamine the lives of women in the Wild West, shall we?

Bridget Shaughnessy—the extraordinary, soon-to-be-orphaned narrator of Cravens’ welcome remix of a Western novel—is 16, uneducated, and impoverished when her feckless father dies after a rattlesnake bite on the trail they’re taking together from Arkansas to Kansas (and a “fresh start”). Relying on intuition and one remaining mule, Bridget crosses the plains alone and winds up in Dodge City, where her story parts ways with most cowboy novels of the past. Bridget’s bright red hair attracts the attention of one of the proprietors of the Buffalo Queen Saloon, an establishment devoted to fulfilling the drinking, gambling, and carnal needs of cowboys and others living and passing through the frontier city. As Bridget embarks on a career as a “sporting woman” in the rough and tumble male world of the emerging West, she receives a belated education not just in the nature of sex work, but also in her own sexuality. When she’s drawn to a couple of the women she encounters at the Buffalo Queen, most notably the enigmatic gunslinger Spartan Lee, Bridget’s assertion of her own needs results in unforeseen consequences for herself and the rest of the saloon’s coterie. Cravens’ debut novel features a singular narrator in Bridget, whose matter-of-fact approach to sex work is shaken by her growing awareness of, and desire for, actual—not transactional—intimacy. The world of the Buffalo Queen and its employees is vividly drawn, and there’s a cinematic quality all the way through Bridget’s life, from the possum stew she cooks over a wood fire to the red of her hair and the scarlet dress that is her work uniform.

Cravens shakes the dust off tired tropes and delivers a shining example of what an old-fashioned page-turner can accomplish.

GOODBYE EARL A Revenge Novel

Cross-Smith, Leesa

Grand Central Publishing (400 pp.)

$29.00 | July 3, 2023

9781538707654

A group of friends have their bonds tested during two challenging summers 15 years apart.

In 2004, Rosemarie, Ada, Caroline, and Kasey (who affectionately refer to themselves as RACK) are graduating from high school in a small Southern town. Each is mired in concerns for the future, firsttime loves, and tumultuous family situations: Rosemarie and Kasey have plans to move away, while Ada and Caroline plan to

“A book by a first-rate writer and one to be savored.”

sun house

stay in Goldie and open businesses together. Fifteen years later, the four are reunited in Goldie for the first time since then, as Kasey has finally returned home from New York for a wedding, which forces her to confront the reasons she left abruptly after her mother’s death in 2004 as well as her unresolved feelings for her first love even though she’s engaged to a man in New York. But her friends are keeping secrets of their own: Rosemarie is dealing with cancer and balancing her emotions for her two lovers; Ada’s mother is addicted to painkillers even as Ada is trying to hold on to her perfect marriage; and Caroline is in an abusive marriage with the son of the town’s richest family. The four women must relearn how to be honest and revive their unwavering support for each other when one of their own is gravely injured. Cross-Smith has crafted a dense story of devoted friendship against the backdrop of an overwhelming number of minor characters. The rotating third-person perspective combined with the amount of exposition makes it difficult for a compelling central story to rise to the surface, and once it finally does, the tension is too easily resolved, without the seriousness of violent events ever being fully recognized.

An unbalanced novel restlessly forces a happy ending.

THE SWEETEST REVENGE

Dent, Lizzy Putnam (368 pp.)

$17.00 paper | July 25, 2023 9780593545478

A woman’s attempts to rebuild her life lead her down an unexpected path.

Amy Duffy has suffered a humiliation. Not your run-of-the-mill embarrassment but a full-blown catastrophe. After Chris Ellis, her boss/boyfriend, who’s head of development at the TV production company where they work, screws her out of a better job and abandons her moments before they were supposed to go to her cousin’s wedding, Amy gets drunk, blows off the wedding, pees on Chris’ car, and is caught on camera. Amy cannot face seeing her family, which she let down, or returning to work, where everyone has seen the video. Amy leaves New York City for a less prestigious job at a smaller studio in London, where she’s mostly in charge of directing promos for reality television shows. Growing more comfortable in her new life, Amy jumps on an opportunity to land her dream job: Her company is restructuring and they need a new development person. Enter Jake Jones, Amy’s handsome new neighbor, who just so happens to be a gifted writer and, like Amy, is trying to escape his own humiliation: Jake was on a reality dating show and tried to jump off a cliff to swim his way out after having second thoughts. Amy has a proposal for Jake: Will he help develop a TV show that she can pitch at work? Jake agrees, and as they work together on their London-based detective show pitch, sparks begin to fly in a slow-burn romance that readers will delight in. But a company restructuring means a new interim head of development, and, wouldn’t you know it, that interim head is none other than Chris. Anyone can see

where this plot is going from a mile away, but, thanks in large part to Dent’s humor, readers will still enjoy the ride.

As fun as it is formulaic.

SUN HOUSE

Duncan, David James Little, Brown (800 pp.)

$35.00 | Aug. 8, 2023

9780316129374

Jim Harrison meets Robert M. Pirsig, Timothy Leary, and the Dalai Lama in Duncan’s long-awaited follow-up to The River Why (1983) and The Brothers K (1992).

An inch-long steel bolt separates from an airplane and falls to Earth, where it “embed[s] itself in the skull of an eight-year-old girl hoeing weeds with her widower father in a Mexican cornfield, killing her almost instantly.” So improbable is this occurrence that it

young adult

has to be more than chance, an assassination on the part of some jealous or malicious god. So thinks a fallen Jesuit, one of several characters in Duncan’s vast novel who suffer a crisis of faith— and who fall into each other’s orbit in a breathtakingly beautiful Montana valley that’s full of heartbreaking possibilities. The first major player we meet is a footloose actor whose mother died on his fifth birthday, a source of psyche-snapping grief for the rest of his life. In time, he falls in with another wounded bird, a Sanskrit student who is impossibly learned courtesy of her similarly brilliant if emotionally unavailable father, who, for reasons that unfold over hundreds of pages, turns out to be the reason Montana figures in the story at all. Duncan’s characters suffer pain, loss, death, all the makings of Buddhist samsara that fuel our Sanskritist’s weary mistrust of the world. Though of Michener length, the story is talky and without much action; Duncan writes page after page to describe even the smallest incidents, as with his long and quite shattering disquisition on the death of a beloved dog. Yet that talk, arch and bookish (Gary Snyder makes a cameo appearance), will prove captivating to those who enjoy novels of ideas—in this case, one that

modernizes the Western by injecting it with ethnic diversity and doses of philosophy (and LSD, even).

For all its excesses, a book by a first-rate writer and one to be savored.

RIPE

Etter, Sarah Rose

Scribner (288 pp.)

$25.00 | July 11, 2023

9781668011638

Cassie is just like many other women in Silicon Valley: She works hard, lives alone, and has few relationships that matter.

Cassie is also, perhaps, nothing like other women, because an actual black hole hovers over her, growing and shrinking and shimmering, matching her anxieties and moods. Through these contradictions, Etter has created a surreal landscape gradually building in bleakness. The first-person narrative follows Cassie as she struggles to perform at her startup’s ruthless pace; she burns out regularly and does cocaine to keep up. Her precious hours outside work are spent in the company of friends who barely care about her or in pursuit of a man who, because of his existing girlfriend, refuses to be involved with Cassie beyond their intensely erotic dates. Set just as the Covid pandemic is beginning, the book evocatively depicts Cassie’s anxieties—about her precarious employment, rising rent, and a possible unplanned pregnancy. As in her Shirley Jackson Award–winning first novel, The Book of X (2019), Etter builds a lush and decaying landscape around a woman with an impossible affliction, but as the novel progresses it becomes clear that dead-end labor in a toxic workplace is even crueler to Cassie than the space-time collapse of a black hole following her around. Presenting a cross between the cruel relationships in Mona Awad’s Bunny, the painful work conditions in Raven Leilani’s Luster, and the unethical techindustry practices in Anna Wiener’s Uncanny Valley, this novel reveals seemingly ordinary terrors. Etter’s prose is spare: The story is told through short narrative sections interspersed with sections starting with a word and its definition (for instance, sex, work, and Salisbury steak) in which Cassie describes a memory through an idea or an object, as well as lists and notes. While the novel unfolds slowly, the violence and intensity of Etter’s style (as well as its calculated silences and pauses) produce a horror that lingers long after the story has ended. As Cassie says, “The truth of the world bares itself when the tide goes down: devoured, used, rotting.”

A lurid, tense, and compelling novel.

WORDS WITH… Julia Quinn

The author of the Bridgerton novels discusses her collaboration with Shonda Rhimes on a new prequel

BY COSTA B. PAPPAS

Julia Quinn returns to the Bridgerton franchise with the prequel, Queen Charlotte (Avon/HarperCollins, May 9), co-written with Shonda Rhimes, executive producer of the hit Netflix series. In this novel—with a companion series now available on the streaming service—the bestselling author and the television visionary explore the epic romance between fan favorites Queen Charlotte and King George III, chronicling Charlotte’s discovery of love and the skills needed to rule. We spoke with Quinn over Zoom about the co-writing process, grief, and her gratitude to Rhimes; our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What inspired you to focus on Queen Charlotte?

Actually, it was Netflix’s idea. They wanted to do a prequel series about Queen Charlotte, and then Shonda called me to say, “We’re going to do this,” and I thought it was amazing and said, “Why don’t I write a book?” So the idea came from the television side.

And what was it like working with Shonda Rhimes?

It was amazing, although I think a lot of people thought we were holed up in a room somewhere, but it wasn’t like that. We took turns and focused on our areas of expertise. She wrote six scripts that were turned into the six-episode series, and then the scripts came to me. I had to figure out how to turn them into a novel, which was just a fascinating experience and a completely different writing experience than I’d ever had before.

For one, the plot was written. Usually, I have a complete blank slate, or computer screen, or whatever you want to call it, and now I had this whole framework—but the framework was written as a television show, which means you have many short scenes. You never actually go into somebody’s head. You’re never really in one person’s point of view. I had to then break down the architecture of a screenplay and figure out how to write it as a novel, which was fascinating. I’m somebody who loves puzzles, and it was kind of a puzzle in many ways. Would you turn a script into a novel again?

Yeah! While I was waiting for the scripts to come in, I started trying to research “What makes a novelization?’” and there’s nothing out there with any information. Finally, I decided people could say I did it badly, but nobody could say I did it wrong because it doesn’t exist quite like this.

On the television show, Queen Charlotte is known for her wit, intelligence, and strength. How did you maintain these traits in the prequel story?

I really did take my cues from Shonda and what came through the scripts because Queen Charlotte as a character didn’t exist in the original book series. Of all the main characters on the Bridgerton television show, she’s really the only one who was

Roberto Filho

brought in new, so it’s actually kind of funny that she’s the one who got her spinoff. I think that’s in large part due to the amazing writing on the show but also Golda Rosheuvel’s incredible performance. Obviously, it’s not a history lesson. Things [in the novel] aren’t exactly the way it was [in real life], but I wanted to bring in—and Shonda also wanted to bring in—some of these historical events and how they affected Queen Charlotte. For example— this is history, and it’s in the show this way—she comes to England and meets the king and marries him within hours in a country she’s never been to before. She’s really a pawn and has no say about what’s happening to her. Then you look at this incredibly dynamic, forceful, and powerful woman that you’ve got in Bridgerton. Let’s try to imagine the type of person who could grow into that.

Were there any fears you had about writing about this character that you didn’t have experience with?

She is a woman of color; that was going to be something new for me, and that was something I feel very strongly that I wanted to be very respectful and make sure that I didn’t perpetuate some type of stereotype that I may not even know about. I don’t know that I would have taken it on without having Shonda as my co-author, because she brings knowledge and life experience that I simply don’t have, so I really was following her lead and her cue. Again, I had the script as a framework. While she wasn’t showing the things that are going on in these characters’ heads, I could look to what she had put on paper as guidance. What kind of tone are we going to use to deal with these serious issues? How deeply are we going to go into it? How big a part of the story is it going to be? I really let her guide that aspect of the story.

This is the first Bridgerton book you’ve written since the success of the Netflix series. What was it like revisiting this world?

It was interesting, because it was really kind of working within the world of the TV series, not the book series. There are some differences, obviously, and so it wasn’t kind of revisiting. It was really more doing something new but with little flashes of the past.

The biggest thing for me was that it had been a while since I’d done some writing. I had some per-

sonal tragedy in my life in 2021: Family members were killed by a drunk driver. I hadn’t really wanted to do any work. I’m not apologizing for it—it was hard. And so for me, the biggest thing wasn’t so much revisiting these characters as remembering why I like to write, and that was really nice. That’s something I said to Shonda at some point—how grateful I was for this project because it kind of got me back into writing again after a time when I just didn’t want to do it. It’ll always be special to me for that reason.

Do you have plans for any further spinoffs?

I’ve had lots of ideas, but I’m always hesitant to say anything, because then the readers are going to latch on to it and be like, She said she’s doing this, so I’m a little scared about that. I doubt that whatever my next book is, it will be an entirely new world. I think it will exist in the world we know, and there’ll be somebody we already know and love.

Costa B. Pappas is the editorial intern. Queen Charlotte is reviewed on Page 46 of this issue.

young adult

THE MONTEVIDEO BRIEF

Gelernter, J.H.

Norton (256 pp.)

$28.00 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781324020363

Gelernter returns with the third installment in his Thomas Grey series.

The year is 1804. Capt. Thomas Grey, former British Royal Marine and dutiful agent of His Majesty’s Secret Service, must complete an urgent mission: intercepting a Spanish armada full of gold and other valuable metals before it reaches Europe. Why? A secret treaty between France and Spain pledges that the two countries will unite in war against Britain as soon as the riches have arrived. This premise is established in the first quarter of the book, which also contains stretches describing the niche pursuits of the British aristocracy, literature, social convention, and the mechanics of sailing ships. Grey “had always assumed, with so many fewer yards and

much less rigging, the process would be essentially trivial, and indeed, none of his past sloop passages had impressed him particularly with the working of sails….” But once he embarks and bands together with a detachment of the recently independent American military, the turgid prose evolves into a swashbuckling tale of adventure, piracy, and international intrigue. The genteel language still occasionally gets tiresome, as does the fawning attitude toward the dignity and glory of the British Empire. Some dialogue may also prove too clever by half; one dueling repartee contains multiple allusions to Shakespeare. But the bulk of the story moves crisply and propulsively, with short serial-esque chapters providing clear, high-stakes action. The middle chunk, in which Grey is compelled to undertake a series of side quests en route to Montevideo, delivers particularly thrilling sequences. Although Thomas Grey is an invention, most other names, events, and details spring straight from the historical record; Gelernter’s work draws inspiration from Patrick O’Brian, whose Master and Commander series similarly takes place during the Napoleonic Wars.

A treat for spy novel junkies and devotees of British history alike.

THE LITTLE VILLAGE OF BOOK LOVERS

George, Nina

Trans. by Simon Pare Ballantine (272 pp.)

$28.00 | July 25, 2023

9780593157886

A young woman in a rural French village acts as a matchmaker, but she worries she will never find love of her own.

Marie-Jeanne has possessed a special gift since her earliest days: She is able to detect a certain light that shines from people who have been touched by love. As a child, Marie-Jeanne was surprised to discover that others were unable to see that same light. When her foster father, Francis, hatches the idea of starting a mobile book library, Marie-Jeanne is thrilled by the idea of encountering more people and increasing her understanding of the mysterious glow. Francis takes the necessary steps to launch his mobile lending library and begins bringing new reading material to different villagers throughout Nyons, France. The “bookabus,” as the traveling library becomes known, grows quickly in popularity, and Marie-Jeanne travels along, delivering books as Francis’ assistant. As she sees that unusual glow coming from so many of the people she meets, she realizes the light shines more brightly when a person’s true love is near. Using a combination of her gift and lessons from books featured throughout the story, she is able to unite one pair of lovers after another. Unfortunately, her own light fails to shine, and she becomes increasingly concerned that she will never find her own match. Told from the perspective of Love itself—similar to the way The Book Thief is narrated by Death— the novel is brimming with magic. Love is wise and enigmatic, frustrating Marie-Jeanne by refusing to reveal certain

information. Also making cameos are other metaphysical elements such as Logic and Fate. A loquacious olive tree serves as a mentor to Marie-Jeanne, doling out advice about the nature of love and meaning of life. Full of allegory and mysticism, the book often feels more like a poem than a novel. Though she mentions a few dates, author George limits the inclusion of modern inventions, creating a sense that the story takes place outside time. The plot moves slowly, with significantly more focus on concepts and emotions than action. What the story lacks in plot, however, it makes up in nuanced and enchanting introspection about love and books.

An elegantly crafted, unhurried examination of the enthralling and elusive nature of love.

THE CARNIVALE OF CURIOSITIES

Gibbs, Amiee

Grand Central Publishing (448 pp.)

$29.00 | July 11, 2023

9781538723937

A Faustian battle of wits and wills set in Victorian England.

London’s elite flock to the seedy borough of Southwark when Ashe & Pretorius’ Carnivale of Curiosities returns for a two-week engagement at the theater they call home—an elaborately renovated former debtors prison built on the Newington Crossroads. Conjoined child tumblers, an albino aerialist, and a hirsute violin virtuoso share the stage with a doll-sized ballerina, a disappearing juggler, and Lucien, a winged fire-conjurer called “the Lucifer.” Most attendees come for the spectacle, but some have heard whispers that the troupe’s leader, illusionist Aurelius Ashe, is capable of true magic and come seeking a miracle. Wealthy, influential banker Odilon Rose falls into the latter camp, medicine having failed to cure the leukemia of his 23-year-old ward and reluctant paramour, Charlotte Bainbridge. Ashe despises Rose from the start and has an acrimonious history with Rose’s henchmen. He endeavors to decline the man’s request, but Rose reveals he has information that could destroy Lucien, so Ashe agrees to help—for a price. Rose signs the strange contract Ashe proffers, certain he can find a way to break it. Debut author Gibbs dazzles with lush, evocative prose, delightfully diabolical plotting, and abundant heart. Individual characters may lack dimension, but the dynamics of the found family formed by the “curiosities” add more than enough nuance and emotional complexity to compensate. Subtle worldbuilding elevates the tale’s intrigue without distracting from the action. Darkly enchanting and grimly gratifying.

THE POSSIBILITIES

Goldstein-Love, Yael Random House (304 pp.)

$27.00 | July 25, 2023

9780593446485

A mother whose infant son goes missing must cross over into other versions of her life in an attempt to find her baby.

Hannah Bennett is a successful novelist with a proclivity for scary stories; her career has netted her a big house in the Berkeley Hills and a levelheaded husband, Adam. Since a traumatic experience eight months ago when her son, Jack, was born, unbreathing, via emergency C-section, Hannah can’t shake what she and her therapist called the “car-swerve” feeling: an overwhelming anxiety, as in a near miss while driving, that something that could have ended in tragedy was narrowly avoided. Indeed, this pervasive anxiety is so severe that Hannah can no longer conjure scary stories on the page—what greater

the beautiful risk

fear is there than being a new mother?—and overwhelmed Adam is ready to pull the plug on their marriage. But soon Hannah’s fears take on a terrifying, concrete reality: She begins experiencing moments when she seems to inhabit a version of her life where Jack died at birth. One evening, after a day full of these alternate-life visions, Hannah and Adam find Jack vanished from his crib. As she desperately searches for Jack, Hannah realizes that it is precisely these moments of crossing into a parallel reality—she calls it “riding the possibilities”—that may hold the key not only to finding Jack, but to making sense of her own dark past. This novel bears many tropes of quantummechanics narratives—collisions of multiple versions of the self, characters puzzling over subatomic particles and “the many worlds”—but the story’s inventiveness lies in the way it finds an SF narrative analog for the disorientation of postpartum psychology. The author, a psychotherapist herself, has orchestrated quite a mashup of genres, to page-turning effect.

Part thriller, part psychology, part quantum physics—all fun.

THE BEAUTIFUL RISK Hightower, Lynn

Severn House (256 pp.)

$31.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781448309931

Lost in grief, a widow has only herself to trust as she searches for her missing dog as a last connection to her husband while she seeks the truth about his death.

Junie Lagarde’s husband, Olivier, was an in-demand safety consultant. Ever since his Cessna 172 went down during an assessment of the tunnel system around Mont Blanc, in the French Alps, Junie has had a hard time engaging with the world around her without a link to her lost love. She knows a connection is out there because Junie and Olivier’s beloved dog, Leo, survived the crash and stayed by Olivier’s side until his death. Determined to find Leo, Junie repeatedly returns to Chamonix to search for him, and the small town’s residents become familiar with the American who’s

young adult

“Dark and swiftly moving, both a thriller and an examination of how deep a connection can be.”

looking for her vulpine dog. After nine long months of waiting, Junie gets a call from Capitaine Philippe Brevard, who’s leading the investigation into the crash. He lets her know there’s been a sighting of Leo—and that the dog is not alone. Brevard shares a video of a strange man walking Leo, a man clad in Olivier’s distinctive coat. When Junie finally meets this man, she’s confused, disgusted, alarmed, and afraid, but she has no doubt that this man’s pose as Olivier is dangerous and that there’s more to her husband’s death than she knew. Was Olivier’s death a murderous act of eco-terrorism, or did it stem from more personal motives?

Junie has Brevard’s support in seeking the truth and rescuing Leo from his captor. But the search for Leo and the details surrounding Olivier’s death lead her to question everyone around her, leaving her dependent on her own intuition to lead her to answers.

Dark and swiftly moving, both a thriller and an examination of how deep a connection can be.

THE TRAP

Howard, Catherine Ryan

Blackstone (320 pp.)

$26.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781982694715

An Irishwoman’s search for the man who took her sister and Lord knows how many other victims takes a series of whiplash turns.

When Nicki O’Sullivan, who hates having been christened Nicola, goes missing from her home in Dundrum, her sister, Lucy, goes into a panic. Although Nicki is not the first woman in the area to vanish and leave her cellphone behind, the Garda Síochána show little interest in finding her until beautiful teenager Jennifer Gold disappears as well, and her activist mother, Margaret, persuades Superintendent Colin Hall to launch Operation Tide to search for them all. Det. Denise Pope, the decorated Garda most active in the search, and Angela Fitzgerald, the civilian employee of the Missing Persons Unit Denise has commandeered into her investigation while Angela awaits her own certification in the Garda, are hopeful that Lena Paczkowski, who seems to have escaped from someplace she calls “the pink house” only to get run down by a tourist’s car, will be able to give them more specific evidence when she awakens from her coma. Learning that Lena actually died in the ambulance minutes after the accident moves the frustrated Lucy, who’s already started a dangerous investigation of her own, to accept an invitation to a television interview arranged by sketchy true-crime writer Jack Keane. That interview doesn’t resolve the case, but it blows it wide open, and everything from that point on feels like a nightmare within a nightmare. Playing freely with time frames and points of view, Howard provides enough monstrous shocks and surprises throughout this distantly fact-based yarn to make you forgive its resolution, which sheds limited light on the mystery but keeps the pot boiling till the end.

Think of a haunted house with lots of trap doors, including doors beneath doors.

STARVE ACRE

Hurley, Andrew Michael Penguin (224 pp.)

$17.00 paper | July 4, 2023

9780143137788

A couple’s son is dead. But something is lingering.

Richard and Juliette Willoughby are grieving the recent loss of their young son, Ewan. While Richard is on leave from the university where he teaches history, he has little to do on his inherited rural English homestead except explore the nearby fields. There, he excavates a hare skeleton and the roots of an oak once used as a gallows and tries to fend off neighbors who claim they can help him and Juliette communicate with Ewan from the grave. Richard is skeptical of such talk when he isn’t infuriated by it, but an inconsolable Juliette is willing to try. Cannily revealed details explain why: Regional lore is suffused with tales of possession and murder, and Ewan experienced stunning spasms of violence (deliberately slamming a classmate’s hand in a door, then worse) that made Richard and Juliette pariahs. Meanwhile, Richard is blinding himself to the evidence of eerie malevolence that’s emerging right before his eyes. Hurley originally published this book in the U.K. in 2019 under a pseudonym as part of a series of novels purporting to be neglected classics of 1970s horror; he’s ably captured the vibe of the era’s demon-spawn novels like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist. Hurley smartly tells the story mainly from the perspective of Richard, who (like the reader) is shut out from the darkest depths that killed his son and threaten his wife. The explanations are deliciously, terrifyingly vague (“I didn’t like the dark....It was talking to me,” a 5-yearold Ewan says) until the novel’s chilling, well-turned ending puts matters into clearer focus and Richard’s vision of the countryside as a bucolic retreat is undone forever.

Top-shelf gothic-folk horror.

THE BEST POSSIBLE EXPERIENCE

Injam, Nishanth

Pantheon (224 pp.)

$25.00 | July 11, 2023

9780593317693

Young Indians and Indian Americans try to find their footings in the world in this contemplative debut story collection.

In “The Bus,” the opening story, a man embarks on what proves to be a strange and unexpectedly perilous visit to his hometown. In “Summers of Waiting,” a woman living in the U.S. returns to India to visit the dying grandfather who raised her. For Aditya, in “The Immigrant,” his first semester as a graduate student in the U.S. is a struggle to survive. In “The Protocol,” another Indian immigrant seeking

to stay in the U.S. takes a chance by marrying an American woman for a visa. Most of Injam’s characters experience deep emotion but don’t know how to communicate their love and longing, perhaps constrained by societal expectations of their gender, sexuality, or religion in expressing how they feel. Many of the stories serve as eloquent meditations on grief, but “Lunch at Paddy’s,” which tries to be more lighthearted, falls flat. In it, a man named Padmanabham is bewildered by what to serve when his son invites a White school friend to lunch. While some of the humor lands (what kind of grocery store doesn’t stock Maggi?), the story’s attempt to showcase the multifaceted anxieties of recent immigrants doesn’t quite work; why doesn’t anyone, including the two kids plenty exposed to American culture, suggest ordering a pizza? But almost every other story offers readers at least one moment of pure literary satisfaction. Linked by theme and tone, the entries are different enough to merit the reader’s investment in the rich worlds the author creates for each of them. While the collection takes little risk, it offers an array of characters and circumstances that capture contemporary concerns with grace; the language, well-rendered

details, and strong story structures combine to deliver revelations. Injam’s title story, in particular, is a testament to his command of the short form.

Injam comes close to fulfilling the promise of his title with these meticulously crafted narratives.

LOOT

James, Tania

Knopf (304 pp.)

$28.00 | June 13, 2023

9780593535974

An expert Indian woodworker gets a front-row seat to 18th- and 19th-century imperialism.

Abbas, the hero of James’ lively and symbolically rich third novel, is a poor 17-year-old artisan in Mysore in 1794 when he’s recruited by Tipu Sultan, the local ruler, to apprentice

“An expert Indian woodworker gets a front-row seat to 18th- and 19th-century imperialism.”

loot

with Lucien Du Leze, a French clockmaker. Together they are charged with making an automaton of a tiger attacking a British soldier. The experience hones his carving skills, but just as importantly it introduces him to an intercontinental power play: Tipu, aka the Tiger of Mysore, is attempting to fend off an incursion by the British East India Company by appealing for French support by any means necessary, including the automaton. But with France roiled in the aftermath of its own revolution, Mysore falls in 1799, prompting Abbas to escape to France, where he connects with Lucien’s daughter, Jehanne. Together, they plot to recover the automaton, which is in the hands of Lady Selwyn, widow of a British soldier who served in India.

From Abbas’ first meeting with Lucien to his and Jehanne’s negotiations with Selwyn, James trains her descriptions on the ways Indians are displaced and diminished by imperialists and the ways they have to contort themselves to adjust to society.

(Selwyn’s high-mannered butler, an Indian man named Rum, exemplifies the psychic costs of force-feeding oneself another culture’s protocols.) But though the intensity of James’ critique is clear, her prose is fleet and rich in ironic humor. “I am here because you were there,” Rum thinks, encapsulating the perverse logic and cruelty of his circumstance. The automaton of the novel actually exists, James explains in a note; her novel, as the title hints, is an engaging reminder that today’s museum pieces are often functions of forgotten exploitation and theft.

A smart, sharp tale, as well crafted as the object at its center.

SUNRISE Radiant Stories

Kobayashi, Erika

Trans. by Brian Bergstrom

Astra House (240 pp.)

$16.00 paper | July 11, 2023

9781662601170

A collection of stories about nuclear power and its effects.

Japanese author Kobayashi’s second book to appear in English explores ground previously traversed in the novel Trinity, Trinity, Trinity (2022). This is not a complaint: Kobayashi, who is also known as a visual artist, doesn’t cannibalize her own work. Her interest in atomic energy and its insidiously long-reaching effects on Japanese society tends to be deep and wide-ranging rather than repetitive. Kobayashi’s stories emphasize the experiences of women and frequently veer into the speculative realm. In “Hello My Baby, Hello My Honey,” a woman goes into labor in the summer of 1945. But is she giving birth to a baby or to a bomb of her own? As often as Kobayashi roots her work in historical and scientific research (“The sun is 1,400,000 kilometers in diameter,” she informs us in “Sunrise”), she also does so in rich and evocative metaphors. In “Shedding,” which Kobayashi apparently wrote at the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown in Japan, a mysterious illness is spreading: The infected lose the ability to speak or to process language at all and are eventually encouraged to kill themselves. Even those who avoid suicide “lost their

words completely,” Kobayashi writes. “These poor souls were called empty shells. An empty shell—as a person loses words one by one, soon their most distinguishing feature becomes their lack. Their lack of words. Tantamount to a lack of life, of existence.” But as this passage also makes clear, Kobayashi has the unfortunate habit, every once in a while, of hitting her mark a little too squarely on the nose. It’s OK, you want to assure her; we get it; no need to spell it all out.

A remarkable collection marred only by occasional heavy-handedness.

AFTER DEATH

Koontz, Dean

Thomas & Mercer (382 pp.)

$28.99 | July 18, 2023

9781662500466

A self-described research wizard turns out to be a wizard in more ways than one.

To hear Michael Mace tell it, he’s just “a guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time when, in the midst of catastrophe, one thing went right.” The catastrophe was a government-sponsored microbial infection that swept through the headquarters of the Beautification Research Project, killing 55 people—no, make that 54, since Michael, the BRP security chief, somehow came back to life. And that’s not all, for now Michael’s acquired the power to tap into all sorts of chip-driven objects, from cellphones to supercomputers. He can read their data instantly and alter their records from far away. In short, he’s the perfect savior for accountant Nina Dozier. Michael’s best friend, genius immunologist Shelby Shrewsberry, had hired Nina away from her old job so she could work on BRP’s books, but before he could confess his love for her, he was killed in the outbreak. Now Nina’s menaced by Aleem Sutter, the gangbanger who abandoned her years ago after getting her pregnant but now wants back into her life so he can make sure that John, her 13-year-old, maintains his father’s reputation by joining a gang himself. As it happens, Aleem is no match for Michael, who faces an altogether more powerful adversary: Durand Calaphas, another genius who works for the Internal Security Agency, knows all about that microbial catastrophe, and still smarts from the episode years ago that branded his older brother, virologist Dr. Gifford Calaphas, a traitor. Koontz shines in providing downscale dialogue for Aleem and his peeps and brisk, memorable portraits of the many walk-on characters. The actual plot is another matter.

Heaven-storming piffle.

AN HONEST MAN

Koryta, Michael Mulholland Books/Little, Brown (384 pp.)

$29.00 | July 25, 2023

9780316535946

Two male victims of parental abuse and two female victims of sex trafficking converge on a small island off the coast of Maine following the killing of seven men on a yacht.

Israel Pike, having served 15 years in prison for killing his abusive father, becomes a prime suspect in the yacht murders after discovering the bodies, which include those of two candidates for U.S. Senate. Running off to hide from his own brutal father, 12-year-old Lyman Rankin discovers a frightened young woman lying low in a former neighbor’s abandoned house. She proves to have a crucial connection to the killings. The odds of anyone good coming out of this mess alive, or anyone bad getting punished for their deeds, are not high. The island, Salvation Point, is controlled by Israel’s uncle, Sterling, a corrupt deputy sheriff who owns half the town and, along with his late brother, was involved in running underage girls up and down the East Coast. One of their early victims was 14-year-old Jenn Salazar, now a state cop with a secret agenda. There’s a whole lot of abuse going on here—more than one novel can comfortably contain. The twin narratives can get pretty schematic. But having written two of his previous three novels under the pseudonym Scott Carson, Koryta seems recharged by the dark human themes, the stormy coastal setting (no crime writer makes more of the great outdoors), and the ugly politics. As in real life, the upcoming election here has great significance to the nation. Having created memorable outsize villains in such books as The Prophet (2012) and Those Who Wish Me Dead (2014), Koryta chills the air with smaller-than-life bad guys.

A strong effort by one of crime fiction’s go-to writers.

EVERYONE HERE IS LYING

Lapena, Shari

Pamela Dorman/Viking (336 pp.)

$29.00 | July 25, 2023

9780593489932

When a child goes missing, everyone—from the family to the neighbors— worries that their carefully kept secrets will be exposed during the investigation.

After being dumped by his lover, William Wooler comes home to find Avery, his precocious, difficult 9-year-old daughter, alone in the kitchen when she’s supposed to be at choir practice. A confrontation ensues, and William leaves. Several hours later, it appears that Avery is missing. The police are immediately on the case, interviewing the family and the neighbors for information, but instead of providing clarity, each conversation seems to complicate the investigation. Why

does it take William so many hours to admit that he came home and saw his daughter before she went missing? Why does someone leave an anonymous tip saying they saw Avery get into a local teen’s car? Why had Avery’s best friend’s brother supposedly spent time alone with her in a treehouse recently? Each revelation leads to new suspicions, and some people will do anything to conceal their darkest secrets. The suspense here is real; Lapena does a great job of exposing layers of domestic dishonesty and betrayal one conversation at a time. But this also means that none of these characters is particularly sympathetic. The twist is real, and at least somewhat surprising, but at that point, everyone seems to deserve a comeuppance. The truth, in this neighborhood, is bruising—and no one comes through unscathed.

Succeeds as a domestic thriller and procedural—but there’s little heart to the story.

PROM MOM

Lippman, Laura

Morrow/HarperCollins (320 pp.)

$28.99 | July 25, 2023

9780062998064

Prom Mom and Cad Dad reunite decades after the tabloid crime that blew up their lives.

Amber Glass was never Joe Simpson’s girlfriend; she was his tutor in high school, and though he was having sex with her, he would not have been going to the prom with her if his main squeeze hadn’t dumped him. She hid her pregnancy until prom night, when she gave birth in a hotel bathroom to a 28-week-old preemie, whom she served time in a juvenile facility for murdering. Decades later, she moves back to their shared hometown of Baltimore and opens an outsider art gallery with her notorious name on the marquee. When they reconnect, as was her intention, Joe is adding her to a full dance card: He’s married to his college girlfriend, the beautiful Meredith, now a successful plastic surgeon, and he’s sleeping with Jordan Altman, a younger real estate agent from his company. What a mess for poor Joe, who is also hit with major financial troubles when the pandemic spoils his plans to flip an unpromising suburban shopping center. Except, who cares about Joe? Lippman seems to have purposely given the reader no one to root for in this unusual psychological suspense novel in which no crimes are committed or revealed until the final pages. All the characters are described as physically attractive but are unappealing otherwise; the relationships of the three female characters to the soulless, creepy, narcissistic Joe are inexplicable. This gives the book a coldblooded quality, a refusal to sentimentalize victims or to make bad actors into romantic antiheroes. As usual, Lippman creates a convincing portrait of a particular sector of Baltimore, this time well-heeled professionals in the northern part of town, and adds New Orleans to the mix as well, with a king cake and a side order of red beans working as plot points. A character study of pedestrian evil in the Wegmans-andPeloton class, fascinating in its heartlessness.

“Prom Mom and Cad Dad reunite decades after the tabloid crime that blew up their lives.”

prom mom

TRINITY

Lockhart, Zelda

Amistad/HarperCollins (272 pp.)

$27.99 | July 4, 2023

9780063160958

From the time she’s 6 years old, Lottie Rebecca Lee, the namesake of both her grandmother and great-grandmother, is haunted by the spirits of seven generations of ancestors as she struggles to make sense of her family’s intergenerational trauma.

From a young age, Lottie Rebecca says, she knew that what she “was experiencing about living and what other people were experiencing were different dimensions of remembering.” Lottie Rebecca’s visions begin with her great-great-great grandmother’s capture by slave traders in the Congo and move on to the hot Mississippi tobacco fields where her grandfather Bennie grew up under the violent hand of his father, “Old Deddy,” and his desperate mother, Lottie, who danced at Mr. Genorette’s tavern as she tried to save enough money to escape their plight. Lottie Rebecca also observes the experiences of Bennie and his son, B.J., her father, during the Korean and Vietnam wars and the hidden battles with PTSD, violence, and addiction that follow them home. Tracing the family’s trauma through the decades and the path to healing through storytelling, the novel recalls Octavia Butler’s Kindred in its innovative approach to time and its rendering of history in ways that are immediate to the modern reader and Toni Morrison’s Beloved in its exploration of haunting, trauma, and family identity. The novel seems to embody the past more fully than it does the present, though, and as a result loses some of its narrative power as it arrives at its hopeful yet somewhat attenuated conclusion. While the novel does remain cohesive, more of the urgency that characterized its beginning would have propelled it from being very good to great.

A challenging yet inspiring portrait of the resilience of Black families.

BOYS WEEKEND

Lubchansky, Mattie

Pantheon (232 pp.)

$25.20 | June 6, 2023

9780593316719

Lubchansky uses science fiction, horror, and the comic book form to explore the terrors of coming out as transfemme in a world dominated by dudes.

Sometime in the not-too-distant future, Sammie Kavalski is packing for their best friend Adam’s bachelor party blowout. They’re not thrilled at the prospect of spending a weekend at El Campo, a floating resort in the South Pacific. And they’re even less excited about hanging out with old pals who still treat them like one of the guys. This ostensibly pleasant excursion will prove to be beyond Sammie’s worst

imaginings. During days of lawless partying on the high seas, Sammie will have to deal with toxic bro culture, a dangerous cabal, an eldritch horror from the deep, and people who consistently mock and misgender them. Although it’s set in an invented universe, Lubchansky’s graphic novel offers commentary on our own time and place. El Campo is built on a garbage island, and on their way there, Sammie is upcharged for having gained 3.3 pounds since they booked their “Super-Saver Plus Plus” ticket, and they have to pay a landing fee before they can exit the airport. When they check into their hotel, they have to offer a blood sample so they can participate in fun activities like hunting and killing their own clone. And the cabal—which calls itself a “vertically integrated marketing platform for a global network of entrepreneurs”—issues fleece vests not unlike those favored by fintech guys to its members. The fantastic elements of this graphic novel are intriguing, but the bulk of the book consists of repeated scenes of Sammie being abused by the bachelor-party cohort, retreating to deal with the emotions that stirs up, and then rejoining the group. These two parts of the story don’t work well together, though. Neither the relationships among characters nor the sea-monster cult is given enough space to develop. That said, Lubchansky gives Sammie a chance to reconcile with Adam and their past self in a way that is very satisfying.

An uneven but undeniably original adventure.

LUSH LIVES

Lyon, J. Vanessa

Roxane Gay Books/Grove (352 pp.)

$28.00 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780802161987

A tale of romance and intrigue in the New York art world by art history professor and debut novelist Lyon.

Queer, Black artist Glory Hopkins does not know why her great-aunt Lucille bequeathed her Harlem brownstone and all its possessions to her, but she willingly takes on the responsibility along with the new place to live and paint. When she brings a box of Lucille’s things to Cuthbert’s, a small but prestigious New York auction house, she meets tall, curvy redhead Parkie de Groot, who walks with a cane. Their attraction is instant and mutual, but they get off to a rocky start when Parkie doesn’t take Lucille’s items as seriously as Glory would like. This begins a pattern of Parkie not living up to Glory’s standards. The major example: Parkie is in charge of an auction for an estate with a history of nasty exploitation (think Sackler but older money). Then again, Glory fails to disclose that she is up for representation by a blue-chip gallery that Parkie knows, firsthand, to have less than perfect morals. Meanwhile, a British powerhouse of Indian descent named Manya Shah has arrived to take the city’s art scene by storm, represent Glory, and, if she has it her way, sleep with Glory, or Parkie, or both. And while all that is going on, a scrapbook of Lucille’s may contain a lost manuscript of a Harlem luminary, unlocking fascinating secrets

of Glory’s great-aunt and promising a windfall (if the increasingly evil Madeline Cuthbert doesn’t interfere). Lyon is clearly invested in illuminating the interior lives of her characters and showing how intersectionality is everywhere. Though the braided plotlines drive the characters’ individual transformations, the book seems to shuttle between quiet moments of reflection, inside-baseball art world workings, and melodramatic events without quite finding balance.

Like many of the not-quite sex scenes therein, this novel is both fun and frustrating.

THE CENTRE

Manazir Siddiqi, Ayesha

Gillian Flynn/Zando (288 pp.)

$28.00 | July 11, 2023

9781638930549

An aspiring literary translator attends a mysterious language school in the hopes of advancing her career only to discover the institution harbors a dark secret.

Londoner Anisa Ellahi was born and raised in Pakistan but moved to England for college. Nearly two decades on, she subtitles Bollywood films for a living but dreams of parlaying her linguistic skills into more stimulating, meaningful work. When she meets future boyfriend Adam at a translation studies conference, she is captivated by his savantlike ability to speak nearly a dozen languages, including Mandarin, Italian, Russian, and Japanese. They soon move in together, adopt a kitten, and begin considering marriage. Despite Anisa’s best attempts, however, Adam is strangely incapable of mastering even basic phrases in her mother tongue, Urdu. During a trip to Anisa’s home city of Karachi, a dispute forces Adam to come clean. He’s no wunderkind. He has taken courses at an elite, enigmatic school known as the Centre that promises total fluency in any language within 10 days, for a hefty fee, of course: $20,000. More than willing to cough up the money for a chance at realizing her ambitions, Anisa persuades Adam to recommend her for the program. When Anisa arrives at the Centre after an exhaustive application process, she finds a secluded retreat that follows a strict schedule and forbids almost all social contact in the service of achieving optimal results. Her efforts to find out more about the school eventually turn up disturbing truths about the Centre’s methodology and jeopardize her close relationship with a staff member. Filled with astute insights into life as a brown person in a predominantly White country and how differences of class, religion, and nationality can bring about rifts in solidarity between people who share a racial or ethnic background, the novel offers a mystery rife with social critique, though it could have done more to scrutinize Anisa’s own sources of privilege, particularly in relation to Adam.

A fast-paced thriller with its finger firmly on the pulse of contemporary social discourse.

THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE

McBride, James

Riverhead (400 pp.)

$28.00 | Aug. 8, 2023

9780593422946

McBride follows up his hit novel Deacon King Kong (2020) with another boisterous hymn to community, mercy, and karmic justice.

It’s June 1972, and the Pennsylvania State Police have some questions concerning a skeleton found at the bottom of an old well in the ramshackle Chicken Hill section of Pottstown that’s been marked for redevelopment. But Hurricane Agnes intervenes by washing away the skeleton and all other physical evidence of a series of extraordinary events that began more than 40 years earlier, when Jewish and African American citizens shared lives, hopes, and heartbreak in that same neighborhood. At the literal and figurative heart of these events is Chona Ludlow, the forbearing, compassionate Jewish proprietor of the novel’s eponymous grocery store, whose instinctive kindness and fairness toward the Black families of Chicken Hill exceed even that of her husband, Moshe, who, with Chona’s encouragement, desegregates his theater to allow his Black neighbors to fully enjoy acts like Chick Webb’s swing orchestra. Many local White Christians frown upon the easygoing relationship between Jews and Blacks, especially Doc Roberts, Pottstown’s leading physician, who marches every year in the local Ku Klux Klan parade. The ties binding the Ludlows to their Black neighbors become even stronger over the years, but that bond is tested most stringently and perilously when Chona helps Nate Timblin, a taciturn Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of his community, conceal and protect a young orphan named Dodo who lost his hearing in an explosion. He isn’t at all “feeble-minded,” but the government wants to put him in an institution promising little care and much abuse. The interlocking destinies of these and other characters make for tense, absorbing drama and, at times, warm, humane comedy. McBride’s well-established skill with narrative tactics may sometimes spill toward the melodramatic here. But as in McBride’s previous works, you barely notice such relatively minor contrivances because of the depth of characterizations and the pitch-perfect dialogue of his Black and Jewish characters. It’s possible to draw a clear, straight line from McBride’s breakthrough memoir, The Color of Water (1996), to the themes of this latest work.

If it’s possible for America to have a poet laureate, why can’t James McBride be its storyteller-in-chief?

TO CATCH A STORM

Mejia, Mindy Atlantic Monthly (352 pp.)

$27.00 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780802162007

The lives of three people—a professor, a private detective, and a cop—intertwine as a search to find a missing man unfolds in and around Iowa City.

Eve Roth is a professor studying atmospheric physics in an effort to understand weather phenomena because a tornado carried her father away when she was 9. She has a great life, a job she loves, and a family she holds close—a husband, Matthew Moore; a best friend, Natalia Flores; and a beloved father-in-law, Earl, who’s had a stroke and lives with her and Matthew. But then one day, while she’s flying her $3.2 million mobile air lab above a rainstorm at 20,000 feet, everything crumbles. Matthew, a chemistry professor, hasn’t been seen all day, and his Tesla is found burning, creating a black cloud that was visible from her position above the storm. “How does a car burn in the middle of a rainstorm? On purpose,” Eve thinks when she sees a video of the car. Soon, Jonah Kendrick, a psychic detective, shows up at Eve’s door saying he’d dreamed of Matthew being held in a barn, and he wants to help find him, especially since he’s already desperately searching for his own niece, Celina, and he thinks the cases might be related. Max Summerlin, an investigator for the Iowa City Police Department—Jonah’s college roommate and until very recently his best friend—had been searching for Celina with Jonah, but that came to an abrupt stop when he was shot by a man he wasn’t able to identify. Author Mejia has created a tangled web seen through the eyes of Eve, Jonah, and Max that extends far beyond two missing people. The story ricochets between the laws of physics and psychic dreams as Eve and Jonah work together, with Max circling around them. Love, lies, deceit, and violence unfold as Eve ruthlessly looks for her husband over the course of a few days.

An intense, adrenaline-fueled thriller.

THE APARTMENT

Menéndez, Ana

Counterpoint (240 pp.)

$27.01 | June 27, 2023

9781640095830

One apartment on Miami Beach becomes a microcosm of seven decades of ordinary, extraordinary lives.

Apartment 2B in an art deco building called the Helena on South Miami Beach serves as setting for all of the chapters of this moving, lyrical novel in short stories. New in 1942, it first houses a young military couple from Texas: Sophie and Jack Appleton. She’s giddy to find herself in such a glamorous town, but he’s preoccupied with the war, a war that will soon enough

come home to them. In 1963, an aging Cuban concert pianist named Eugenio Francisco Montes Behar grieves for a lost love and finds the man’s spirit in music. In 1972, the tenant is Sandman, a refugee in his own country, a divorced Vietnam vet with PTSD who’s badly undone by an anti-war march, then saved by hatchling sea turtles. In 1982, Isabel is a lovely 18-year-old Marielita disappointed in South Beach at the nadir of its decay but dazzled by the older painter who installs her in the apartment first as muse, then as lover. In 2002, married couple Maribel Rodriguez and Ignacio Salas live there with his girlfriend, Beatrice Dumonts—a complicated threesome created not by love or desire but by immigration law. In 2010, Pilar, a Cuban American journalist, is packing to leave 2B (now a condo) after she loses her job and faces the bitter reality of moving back in with her parents at age 40. Pilar rents her condo to a young man named Lenin García, another Cuban refugee, who soon dies. The last and longest section, set in 2012, weaves Lenin’s heartbreaking story together with that of Lana, another immigrant who’s not who she seems to be. She tries to isolate herself but becomes engulfed in all of the extraordinary stories that haunt the Helena, including those of the living. Vividly drawn characters and finely crafted prose enhance these interwoven tales.

In Apartment 2B, the walls do talk, and their tales reveal their tenants’ minds and hearts.

WEDNESDAYS AT ONE

Miller, Sandra A.

Zibby Books (312 pp.)

$26.99 | July 11, 2023

9798985282863

A narcissistic psychiatrist carries the burden of a deep, dark secret that is destroying his family. Can a mysterious woman help him become a better man?

Gregory Weber’s life seems to have stagnated—and that’s the best-case scenario. He and his wife, Liv, spend more time apart than they do together, and he’s mostly ignored by his teenage children, Carrie and Petey. As a psychiatrist, he can self-diagnose that repressed trauma is slowly driving him away from those who love him: He has unresolved issues with his father, who’s now living in a nursing home and suffering from dementia, and his sister, and he has been holding on to an explosive secret from his adolescence that led to a good friend’s suicide. When a mysterious client named Mira shows up at his office and seems to want to plumb the depths of his emotional pain, he finds himself drawn to her. He wants to be emotionally vulnerable with her and, at last, let down his guard with another human being—though she may be something more unusual than that. While Gregory has undoubtedly been carrying a great deal of pain around, it’s hard to have much sympathy for him as he judges, avoids, and otherwise takes out his suffering on those around him. His desperate longing for Mira, though we’re asked to believe it has more to do with his need to finally share his secret, reads like sexual attraction, and so his willingness to potentially blow up

“One apartment on Miami Beach becomes a microcosm of seven decades of ordinary, extraordinary lives.”

the apartment

his life in order to be with her doesn’t make him more relatable. Instead, this is ultimately a tale of men behaving badly—for Gregory is not the only one with a secret—trying to convince us that finally telling the truth is catharsis enough even when one has been concealing a crime.

A readable thriller, but it ultimately invites frustration instead of empathy.

THE STOLEN COAST

Murphy, Dwyer Viking (288 pp.)

$27.00 | July 18, 2023

9780593653678

A cache of diamonds is the MacGuffin of Murphy’s second novel, in which two former lovers plan a heist in the faded Massachusetts beach town of Onset.

Jack Betancourt, whose job is stashing all manner of fugitives in safe housing and moving them across state lines with new identities, is lured into a supposedly can’t-miss scheme by his ex-girlfriend Elena, a rising New York attorney whom he hasn’t seen in seven years. The plan is to break into the home safe of a colleague of Elena’s and substitute fake stones for gems that are worth millions. “You only have to conceive of a thing as yours,” says Elena, a born hustler. “That’s what a good theft is.” A low-key operator living in the shadow of his ex-spy father, who started the relocation business, Jack does his job according to the rules, however cruel they may be. Boasting a law degree himself—from Harvard—he is most in his element playing basketball. When he and Elena and the crew they put together for the heist run into a patch of bad luck, they respond with uncommon cool. “It has nothing to do with money,” says Elena. Jack says he believes her but only because “it was a nice night and I didn’t want to spoil anything.” A kind of flip noir, Murphy’s follow-up to An Honest Living (2022) has a subtle off-center quality that niftily evades crime-fiction formulas. Only when Jack knowingly transports an innocent teenage boy to a grisly end does the underlying darkness break through—and the once-monied Onset, “kind of a Big Rock Candy Mountain for lowlifes and runners,” reveals itself as a toxic setting for locals and temporary visitors alike.

A shrewd, offbeat original.

THE WONDER STATE

Murphy, Sara Flannery

MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux

(384 pp.)

$28.00 | July 18, 2023 9780374601775

Across two timelines, a band of friends explores the secrets of an Arkansas hot springs town.

In a town in the Ozarks, there are eight magic houses, each with its own abilities. One house forces visitors to tell the truth, another can slow down time for those inside it, and a third grants powerful luck. The friends spend their senior year of high school hunting for the houses; the eighth and most mysterious they call the Portal House, and they believe it can transport them to the alternate dimension that gives the houses their powers. But their quest ends in tragedy, and most of the group leaves town, presumably for good. Fifteen years later, in 2015, they’re drawn back when one of them—Brandi—disappears. While the rest of the friends found success elsewhere, Brandi stayed in Arkansas, cleaning houses and struggling with an addiction to prescription pills. The book focuses on Jay, a painter constricted by guilt over leaving Brandi, her one-time best friend, behind. There’s also Iggy, a popular quarterback who was once Jay’s lover; Charlie, bookish and wistful; and Max and Hilma, wealthy twins who are outsiders to the town. Finding Brandi is mandatory: The group is bound by an oath they took, given power by one of the houses. The influences of Stephen King, Donna Tartt, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are clear here. Aside from the fantastical houses, which are neither haunted nor quite benevolent, the world of the novel is conventional, and Jay is the only character with depth. At the end, the person who turns out to be the antagonist discusses their actions and motives and then asks: “Is this like at the end of some cheesy movie, where the villain just explains everything to you?” Jay isn’t sure if it’s just a joke, and neither is the reader.

A thriller that doesn’t elevate its fascinating core premise.

SPEECH TEAM

Murphy, Tim Viking (288 pp.)

$28.00 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780593653845

Bad news about a classmate occasions an unexpected road trip for four high school friends.

When a text from his old pal Natalie Farb-Miola alerts him to the suicide of their classmate Pete Stroman, Tip Murray is deluged with memories of the boy who was his first crush: “No Hollywood star, no Celtics or Patriots god, no muscled, Speedo-wearing deity of Provincetown or Fire Island, will ever compare, because your first flush of desire, amid the tender

zero-sum

years where there is no clear line between the treble notes of infatuation and the bass notes of brute lust, will always be the sharpest and the sweetest.” That kind of clarity is missing in his life now. He is five years sober, he owns a home with his boyfriend in Providence, Rhode Island, and he’s “fairly sure” he’s happy, but this news unsettles him in a way he can’t pinpoint. He reconnects with Nat, who was the hippie chick of their high school, and also tracks down Jennifer Douglas, one of the few Black students, a buttoned-up overachiever, and Anthony Malouf, the other gay kid, now a successful fashion designer. All four were on the Speech Team, as was Pete, all fearsome competitors in tournaments around the state, but there are unresolved problems in Tip’s friendship with each of them. In Pete’s suicide note, he recalled a cruel comment made to him by their coach, Gary Gold; it turns out they all nurse wounds dealt by their supposed mentor, who is now retired in Sarasota, Florida. Bankrolled by Anthony, the foursome decides to pay him a visit, but little goes as planned, and the half-mended cracks in Tip’s equilibrium spread disastrously. Murphy, a longtime journalist and author of the novels Christodora (2016) and Correspondents (2019), again brings his finely tuned ability to portray subtle group dynamics to bear in this semiautobiographical update of the Big Chill trope. If the persona and behavior of the coach character never quite add up, Murphy seems to be intentionally shrugging in that direction. Maybe cruelty is always somewhat inexplicable.

Misfit kids of the 1970s and ’80s—here’s the class reunion you were waiting for.

ZERO-SUM

Oates, Joyce Carol Knopf (272 pp.)

$29.00 | July 18, 2023

9780593535868

Twelve new stories from a prolific master of the short form. In Oates’ new collection, the zerosum game so often at work in relationships is explored with exhaustive care. These relationships take varied forms. Sometimes characters struggle with power dynamics. In “Lovesick,” E___ seeks out her former lover to tell him she is being threatened by an anonymous caller, a fact that seems to shock and gratify him in equal turns. In other stories, the relationships are well worn, long settled in their more-or-less predictable gender roles, which have become insufficient to clothe the hostilities that exist at their cores. The lengthy central story, “The Suicide,” stuns with the relentless misogyny of the main character, a brilliant writer consumed by suicidal ideation, who’s disgusted by the “bottomless tar pit of [his wife’s] compassion” even as he reveals that this slavish compassion is the only emotion he has allowed her to express. Indeed, in many of the stories, the power that is transferred between characters centers around a perversion of the expression of female nurture. In “The Cold,” a mother of young children who has suffered a

recent miscarriage is prevented from recovery by the presence of frigid breezes that creep up behind her like “an unwanted caress.” As bound as these characters are by their knotted relationships, they are even more bound by the taut, efficient sentences that throttle any hope a character might have of resolving their intractable dilemmas. Indeed, throughout the collection, Oates’ vicious incisiveness enacts a more brutal persecution than any of the cruelties the characters inflict upon each other— ultimately leaving little room for change in any direction other than the downward spiral. While this makes for a heady reading experience, it also creates a certain thinness to the collection as a whole that results in individual stories feeling like experiments with a theme rather than explorations of the unlikely, but still human, extremes to which the characters are forced.

Boldly cruel and consummately styled, these tales never fail to provoke if not always to satisfy.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID

Osborne, Cayce

Crooked Lane (272 pp.)

$28.99 | July 18, 2023

9781639103294

A bestselling crime novel’s dedication—“I know what you did, Petal Woznewski. Now everyone else will too”—comes to the attention of a reader named Petal Woznewski.

Not that anybody calls her Petal anymore. Gus Johnson, her friend with intermittent benefits, and everyone else goes along with her wish to be called Petta. But back when she was a teenager who’d just transferred to West High School after her parents’ suicides left her to be raised by her aunt Shelly, a retired physics professor at the University of Wisconsin, she was known as Petal to the few people who knew her at all. Their number included Megan Hollister, a 14-year-old from a well-to-do family, and Jenny Isaacs, her much less welloff best friend. Megan and Jenny took the newcomer under their wings, sharing their gossip and sneaking off late at night to hang out with beer, weed, and each other. All of that ended abruptly when Megan died in a freak accident that Jenny and Petal covered up their involvement in. Thirty years later, the pseudonymous ME Littleton has claimed in No One Suspected that Jenny, renamed Izzy Jacobs, watched in horror as Megan, renamed Miriam Rowley, was stabbed to death by Petal. Who is ME Littleton? Why are they hurling this false but painful accusation at Petal after all this time? And why is she the only character whose distinctive name hasn’t been changed, making her ridiculously easy to trace? Returning to her stomping grounds, she starts asking questions that quickly make things much more dangerous, even if the answers aren’t nearly as gripping.

A hook so irresistible that it hardly matters that the line and sinker don’t live up to it.

“Boldly cruel and consummately styled, these tales never fail to provoke.”

queen of exiles

THE MEN CAN’T BE SAVED

Purkert, Ben Overlook (304 pp.)

$26.00 | Aug. 1, 2023

978-1-4197-6713-5

A tragicomic bildungsroman for the young, career-driven city set.

Poet Purkert’s debut novel brings quite a few ideas to the table—toxic masculinity, the black hole at the center of capitalism, even the wisdom of the Talmud—but it’s the flash and sizzle of his wit that really deliver this bleak cautionary tale. Twenty-something Seth Taranoff is many things, and also not much. Narcissistic, unreliable, addicted to pills, a not-long-ago successful New York junior copywriter (perhaps, he once thought, a wunderkind?) now laid off and working in a coffee shop, he manages to fail in each and every department of his life, systematically, spectacularly, with remarkable self-delusion. After a terrible stretch of long, vacant months, outside the reach of romantic love from the two women in his life—cutthroat copywriter Josie and artistic fellow barista Ramya—stuck in an existential as well as a pharmaceutically induced brain fog, Seth winds up broke, homeless, and despondent in Allentown, Pennsylvania. And, as if that weren’t enough, he realizes that his former co-worker Robert “Moon” McCloone, a man-on-top with the heart of a frat boy, has become his terrible shadow, at times persecutor, for reasons he simply can’t fathom. Is Moon the symbol of what Seth could have been in advertising if only he had fully dispensed with his conscience? Could he mean more to Seth than Seth realizes, or less? Staring into his particular abyss, Seth finally understands why he loved studying deconstruction theory in college: It’s easier to pull things apart than to put them together, easier to be faithless and allow yourself to be carried by the tide, to waste your life instead of believing in it. Seth begins to walk a path of suffering that may in time lead him to the green pastures and still waters of self-acceptance. Or something like. For a man still so young, he’s so old.

Ironic, plangent, gritty, and, ultimately, spiritual.

QUEEN OF EXILES

Riley, Vanessa Morrow/HarperCollins (448 pp.)

$27.99 | July 11, 2023

9780063270992

Haiti’s only queen gets the royal treatment in this novel of race, revolution, and female resistance.

Like Netflix’s glittering take on the Bridgerton novels, this provocative story spotlights Black aristocrats navigating the class system and color lines during the Regency era. Riley, who also wrote about indomitable women and the Haitian Revolution in Sister Mother Warrior (2022), applies her talent for

creating compelling, history-inspired characters to the story of Marie-Louise Christophe, crowned queen of Haiti in 1810 following the Haitian Revolution. For 10 years, she and her husband, King Henry I, rule the Northern Hemisphere’s only free Black nation until their kingdom is overthrown and Henry commits suicide. Marie-Louise and her two daughters take the family jewels and flee to England, where they hope to live in comfort as royal refugees. Against the backdrop of Haiti’s tumultuous history and the growing global disgust with slavery, Riley unfurls Marie-Louise’s story in a languid and captivating style as the exiled queen reclaims her family’s vast fortune, tirelessly protects her daughters, and champions her husband’s legacy. In flashback chapters set in Haiti, Riley contrasts Henry’s obsession with power and wealth with Marie-Louise’s sensible focus on doing what’s best for the Haitian people. In exile in England and on the European continent, Riley’s engaging characters pull us into the world of privileged royals, their stately homes, breathtaking wealth, and, deliciously, their romances and illicit affairs. Acutely aware of the challenges facing a Black queen, Riley deftly builds a portrait of a proud woman who commits her life to showing the world “that it was possible to be royal, Black, and have a happily-ever-after life.”

Fans of Regency romances and stories of strong Black women will find Haiti’s Queen Marie-Louise irresistible.

HIGH TIME

Rothschild, Hannah Knopf (352 pp.)

$28.00 | July 11, 2023

9780593536582

The once-wealthy, forever-entitled British aristocrats who lost their ancestral mansion in the crash of 2008 in House of Trelawney (2020) face new challenges in 2016-2017.

The focus here is on Ayesha, the illegitimate daughter rejected by the rest of the Trelawney family. Disdain turned to hatred after her wealthy husband, sleazy stock manipulator Sir Thomlinson Sleet, bought 800-year-old Trelawney Castle for her as a wedding present. Ayesha didn’t marry for love, but she did think Sleet would bring her security, a belief that proves unfounded when he becomes infatuated with a sexy cryptocurrency con artist and casually decides to dump Ayesha and get custody of their 5-year-old daughter…just because. Insecure, status-seeking Sleet is a monster painted with such broad strokes he might as well have a mustache to twirl, and the rest of Rothschild’s characterizations are equally clichéd. Despite her first-class degree and a prestigious art history prize, Ayesha comes across for 90% of the novel as a helpless victim; her only family ally, the Honourable Anthony Scott, is a stereotypical elderly gay man (an interior decorator, no less), and secondary characters like “aging minor royal” Princess Amelia are given to credulity-straining remarks such as, “In the good old days, ‘help’ had nowhere else to go….Now they have such highfalutin ideas. I blame the Chinese.” To give Rothschild her due, she crafts

“Haiti’s only queen gets the royal treatment in this novel of race, revolution, and female resistance.”

an enjoyably complicated narrative that eventually enables Ayesha to stymie some of Sleet’s nefarious plans and convince her hostile relatives she’s not so bad after all. Brexit, Donald Trump’s election, multiple financial shenanigans, and a clever scam involving risqué paintings hidden away by Iran’s puritanical regime are among the plot elements that will keep readers turning pages to find out what happens next. The abundance of machinations by a horde of not especially memorable characters, however, makes it likely that little of it will be remembered once the last chapter is finished.

Moderately entertaining but very thin.

PETE AND ALICE IN MAINE

Shetterly, Caitlin HarperCollins (256 pp.)

$28.99 | July 4, 2023

9780063242661

A struggling couple flees New York with their two daughters in the spring of 2020.

Pete and Alice leave New York for their vacation home in Maine at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Pete is in finance, while Alice is a playwright whose creative work—much to her chagrin—has become eclipsed by her role as stay-at-home mom. They abscond to their summer home both to escape the chaos and death that surround them in the city and to get some distance from “the Her,” a thinly sketched woman with whom Pete has been having a yearslong affair. What Pete and Alice fail to consider is the disdain with which they will be received by the terrified Maine locals, who, protective of their community, threaten and harass the New Yorkers. The summer home that has been a respite in years past transforms into something bleak, unwelcoming, and foreign. The novel tracks nearly a year, with chapters told from various perspectives—Alice narrates most of the book, while occasional third-person chapters focus on Pete and tween daughters Iris and Sophie. Much of the book is concerned with the minutiae of pandemic life—for example, Pete’s search for reliable Wi-Fi and Alice’s rationing of toilet paper and food. Sprinkled throughout are flashbacks to earlier periods in Pete and Alice’s relationship that illuminate how the two met and fell in love as well as how their marriage began to strain under the weight of children, Alice’s frustrated creative ambitions, and Pete’s extramarital affair. In Maine, the two struggle to reconcile in the wake of Pete’s betrayal while also attempting to imagine a way forward as a family—whether in Maine or New York. Readers may struggle to connect with Alice, who lacks agency and seems more invested in the ennui of her upper-class existence than in the world around her or her supposed creative goals. Clichés abound, from buttoned-up WASPs to characters spontaneously throwing up when emotional.

An uneven portrait of a marriage that relives the early days of the Covid pandemic without offering fresh insight.

THE MAJORITY

Silver, Elizabeth L.

Riverhead (384 pp.)

$28.00 | July 11, 2023

9780593331088

In her second novel, Silver takes her protagonist—who resembles Ruth Bader Ginsburg—from a humble start in Brooklyn to the Supreme Court.

Justice Sylvia Olin Bernstein grew up in a working-class family, went to an elite law school at a time when few women were admitted, and built a career fighting for civil rights—especially rights for women— before ascending to the highest court in the land. In a memoir found after her death, our protagonist begins her story in 1949, when her father’s cousin comes to live with her family. Mariana survived Auschwitz, and her belief that the American system of laws—unlike Germany’s—could forestall genocide is one of the things that gets Sylvia thinking about justice. When the rabbi presiding over her mother’s funeral says that women don’t count to make a minyan, she begins to think about equality for women. When she’s at Harvard, her own pregnancy almost puts an abrupt end to her education. After this, fighting for women’s rights will become her life’s work. Although Silver has created a character of world-historical importance, she places her on a very small stage, surrounded by a very small cast. Almost everyone Sylvia interacts with will become a significant person in her life. This is a serious limitation that doesn’t work to the book’s benefit. And to be clear: Small doesn’t mean intimate. Even though this is a first-person recollection, Sylvia remains something of a cypher. Sylvia’s relationship with Mariana evolves over the course of the novel, but her husband, her best friend, and her daughter seem like useful accessories rather than real people. Most importantly, the author’s choice to eschew interactions with minor characters—her peers at Harvard, her colleagues at every stage of her career, judges at various levels of the judiciary—and elide years at a time make it seem like winning landmark victories for women and serving on the Supreme Court were not so hard at all for a Jewish woman born in the 1930s.

A novel that clocks in at almost 400 pages shouldn’t feel like a detailed outline, but this one often does.

HOW CAN I HELP YOU

Sims, Laura

Putnam (256 pp.)

$27.00 | July 18, 2023

9780593543702

A former nurse with a cruel streak and an aspiring novelist check each other out in this eerie thriller set in a library.

Jane leaves her nursing job after her friend Donna catches her coldly and quietly letting a patient die. To stay out

of prison, Jane changes her name to Margo and gets a job at a library. At first, Margo’s new co-worker Patricia reminds her of Donna, bringing up old fears of being judged. But when Margo lets a woman die in the library bathroom, Patricia catches her doing it, and unlike Donna, she says nothing. “It’s a beautiful thing, to be seen and understood. To be cared for,” Margo thinks. But Patricia is a frustrated writer who is working in the library only until she can sell a novel. And when she sees Margo’s vicious streak (“The whole scene stirs something in me: a powerful urge”), she has an idea for a story. Thus begins a wicked friendship between two women who only pretend to care. Though the book is told in the first person from the two women’s alternating points of view, their voices are similar enough to seem continuous. Margo is charming until she’s not, savoring her victims’ gruesome last moments, while Patricia is equally ruthless in pursuit of her story. Patricia occasionally stops to write down snippets for her novel, editing her impressions of Margo in real time: “Did I imagine that rage-darkened face? Did I invent the whole scene? Looking at M now, restored to her former self, I would have to say yes.” With the police investigating a suspicious number of deaths—at a library of all places—the pressures is on for Margo to keep up appearances and for Patricia to get enough material for her book before one or both of them are caught.

Watching these two women peer at each other as they terrorize the bookshelves is great fun.

NEVER BACK DOWN

Swann, Christopher Crooked Lane (288 pp.)

$29.99 | July 18, 2023

9781639103690

Susannah Faulkner, the Atlanta gangster’s niece who moved from a supporting to a starring role in Never Go Home (2022), lives up to every inch of Swann’s title as she battles her uncle’s playfully sadistic ex–comrade in arms.

Suzie’s good at finding and rescuing people, but she comes a cropper when Brooke Elton’s father hires her to pluck his daughter from the clutches of her wealthy, abusive lover, Dale Dickerson. By the time Suzie’s whirlwind plan to rescue Brooke from what was supposed to be her engagement party has played out, Brooke has been shot to death—not by her boyfriend, whose proposal she actually never accepted, but by Finn Finnegan, who, convinced that Suzie’s uncle Gavin Lester has cheated him out of the millions they looted from Iraq, is determined to visit havoc upon his family. Not content simply to kill Suzie or her brother, Ethan, Finn prefers to disrupt their every move and threaten them on an hour-by-hour basis if Suzie won’t follow the latest trail of breadcrumbs that he claims will lead to meetings with him or evidence against him. This game of cat and bigger cat unfolds against a background notable for geographical sweep (Suzie travels from Georgia to Arizona and Missouri), quirky complications (Finn manipulates the police

into arresting Gavin and Frankie Gutierrez, the boyfriend of Suzie’s buddy Caesar Jones, and scruffy Suzie impulsively asks FBI agent Alisha Rondeau for a date), and semi-guided tours introducing offbeat walk-ons and their colorful trades en route to a hostage showdown at the private school where Ethan teaches.

Red meat for thrill-seekers who can buy into the manic I-demand-that-you-catch-me-if-you-can premise.

ALL THE DEMONS ARE HERE

Tapper, Jake Little, Brown (336 pp.)

$29.00 | July 11, 2023 9780316424387

Tapper’s family saga—begun in The Devil May Dance (2021)—continues in 1977 with Sen. Charlie Marder’s son, Ike, hiding out with Evel Knievel in Montana, and daughter, Lucy, a budding reporter, tracking a serial killer in Virginia.

Ike, an AWOL Marine, has joined the bad-tempered Knievel’s pit crew as a way of eluding military authorities following a mysterious incident in Lebanon that left him with bullet wounds and a broken leg. Lucy, clinging to the notion that her job as a journalist “is to educate and enlighten,” has been lured to a new tabloid owned by a Murdoch-like family. With the death of Elvis Presley and the Son of Sam’s killings fouling the national mood, “everyone’s on edge,” one character says. Ultimately, the siblings’ paths intersect on a Georgia island where their father is attending a Republican retreat and members of a freaky religious cult are planning a violent demonstration. A devoted history buff, Tapper, the CNN host, litters his novels with period details, movie and book references, political commentary, and celebrity cameos (Lucy’s heroes Woodward and Bernstein make appearances). Ultimately, they serve the narrative less than the narrative serves them. Tapper feels compelled to explain his characters’ references to familiar things, rather oddly including footnotes in chapters narrated by Lucy (CindyLou Who, she tells us, was her favorite character in How the Grinch Stole Christmas). The serial killings stay on a back burner, Knievel is a concept more than a character, and Elvis gets an undue amount of attention. “It was hard to explain if you didn’t already worship at the altar of the King,” says Ike. More of an effort to do so would go a long way.

A quasi-mystery in search of authenticity.

MY HUSBAND

Ventura, Maud

Trans. by Emma Ramadan HarperVia (272 pp.)

$28.99 | July 11, 2023

9780063274822

Ventura’s first novel explores love’s darker alleyways through the eyes of a 40-year-old Frenchwoman who’s obsessed with her husband.

One Sunday, after becoming aware that her 15-year marriage may be about to implode, the unnamed narrator, a part-time teacher and English-French translator, relives the previous week. She defines each day by color and general mood; so Monday is blue, a day of beginnings, while quarrelsome Tuesday is black, and good luck Friday, green. But all revolve around the narrator’s excessive passion for her husband (referred to only as “my husband” as a declaration of possession). A modern Emma Bovary aiming her passionate energy toward her husband instead of a lover, she knows “I have to control myself” to avoid appearing “unseemly.” Insecure in her husband’s moneyed, bourgeois world, she relies on organization and rules. She teaches herself etiquette from a book. She fills notebooks with lists. Each day she notates both reasons she adores him—good looks, charisma, breeding, earning power— and a litany of his abuses: kissing her cheek instead of lips, holding her hand too briefly, choosing a clementine to describe her in a game with friends. She’s created rules her husband breaks without knowing they exist and doles out what she considers corresponding punishments that range from ignoring his calls to having meaningless sexual assignations. The reader sees the narrator’s husband only through her neurotic, nit-picking lens. Is he controlling and oblivious or devoted both to her and their two children (whom she finds distractions from the marriage)? Self-consciously erudite with her references to Phaedra and Duras, the narrator is also witty; a riff on how to translate “sweep me off my feet” into French is particularly charming. Beyond eccentric, she is easy to laugh at but also a discomforting object of condescending pity. And yes, there’s a somewhat contrived twist at the end that reading groups will love to discuss.

Writing about control as much as love, Ventura describes a marriage from hell that works, however oddly.

CROOKED PLOW

Vieira Junior, Itamar

Trans. by Johnny Lorenz

Verso (288 pp.)

$19.95 paper | June 27, 2023

9781839766404

The moving story of a family in rural Brazil.

This novel begins tightly focused on a family unit and gradually expands its scope to take on broader questions of race

and class. Each of its three parts has a different narrator, with sisters Bibiana and Belonísia handling the first two. Bibiana is older by a year, and when the two are 7 and 6, curiosity leads them to taste the blade of a knife—at which point Belonísia winds up losing most of her tongue. From then on, Bibiana describes the sisters as “sharing the same tongue to make the words that revealed what we needed to become.” Eventually, Bibiana gets pregnant and leaves home; not long after, her sister becomes the focus of the narrative. Belonísia’s husband, Tobias, has a penchant for drunken behavior, which ends badly for him. “My mother’s happy marriage, or my sister’s—these seemed the exceptions,” Belonísia notes. Gradually, the challenges faced by the sisters’ family as they work as farmers come more into focus, leaving them at the mercy of the elements: “The drought had just ended, now we’d suffer the ruin of the flood.” The novel’s third section is narrated by a kind of bodiless saint, Santa Rita the Fisherwoman—which in practice amounts to mostly omniscient narration with a few choice asides: “My horse has died, so I cannot go forth mounted as I should, the way an encantada should present herself to human beings, the way she should reveal herself in this world.” The plantation where the sisters work changes hands, and Bibiana ponders taking on a leadership role in the community much like her late husband. Among the laudable feats Vieira Junior accomplishes in this novel is the way it gradually moves from a highly specific story to one with implications for a region’s entire working class. In a book that often concerns itself with voices both singular and collective, it’s a stirring progression.

This is a stirring, lived-in novel of struggles both personal and societal.

SUBLUNAR

Voetmann, Harald

Trans. by Johanne Sorgenfri Ottosen

New Directions (128 pp.)

$15.95 paper | Aug. 1, 2023 9780811229784

This second volume in a trilogy— following Awake (2021)—is a strange assortment of impressions touching on astronomer Tycho Brahe.

The son of a Danish nobleman, Brahe gained royal funding to build an observatory on an island then known as Hven, where he also pursued alchemical projects and had a dwarf jester named Jeppe. Danish author Voetmann alludes to biographical details, but as in Awake—which concerned Pliny the Elder—the ostensible subject is often secondary. The short chapters alternate among excerpts from an assistant’s almanac of astronomical, meteorological, and personal observations; vignettes about two associates of Brahe’s— Erik Lange and Falk Gøye; letters written by the astronomer to his dead brother; and other diversions. Voetmann is a thoughtful writer whose prose at times becomes lyrical, and it’s nicely rendered by the translator. While the trilogy so far focuses on historical figures (the third book is said to deal with an obscure 11th-century German mystic), Voetmann suggests that these

“The moving story of a family in rural Brazil.”

crooked plow

distant lives are elusive in fact or fiction but may be illuminated by imagining what happens in the penumbra of their achievements. The narrative’s first words, “Dark and clear commixed,” establish a motif echoed when Brahe, renowned for the accuracy of his celestial measurements, writes of Hven that “no other place on Earth has such poor visibility.” Meanwhile, daily life persists with a clarity revealing much that is odd, trivial, or grotesque. A man frozen dead mid-defecation has “excrement only halfway expelled from his bowels.” The almanac’s narrator also mentions his affair with the man who shares his bed, including Jeppe’s urging them on. Children are beaten bloody on Good Friday to commemorate Christ’s suffering. And yet, Brahe “discerned the secrets of the universe from this soup tureen of a country during the brief and rare moments when the lid was raised and heaven could be espied.”

A disjointed narrative but also arresting and memorable.

KALA

Walsh, Colin Doubleday (416 pp.)

$28.00 | July 25, 2023

9780385549639

Irish author Walsh makes an assured debut with this gritty heartbreaker of a thriller.

On the west coast of Ireland sits the tourist town of Kinlough, where, in 2003, six teenage friends—Kala, Aoife, Helen, Aiden, Joe, and Mush—are enjoying the “summer of [their] lives,” daring each other to race their bikes down a hill across a busy main road, exploring first love, and building tight emotional bonds. When 15-year-old Kala, the gang’s charismatic but troubled leader, disappears in November, the friends’ relationships fracture: “There was no clear point where you made the decision to let your lives unbraid themselves from one another.” Fifteen years later, three of the friends meet up again. Hardedged Helen, now a freelance journalist living in Canada, has reluctantly returned home for her father’s wedding to Pauline Lyons, Mush’s aunt. Joe, a self-absorbed rock star with a drinking problem, is back to relaunch a local music venue with a summer residency, and the solitary Mush, self-conscious about his facial scars, has never gone anywhere, preferring to sit in his mother’s cafe drinking beer and watching the summer visitors. But the discovery of Kala’s bones at a building site and the disappearance of Mush’s 16-year-old twin cousins propel the trio to reconsider their past in a dangerous search for the truth. Skillfully blending the psychological complexity of a literary novel with the propulsive pace of a thriller, the author juggles three disparate points of view (including a second-person perspective) and two timelines with masterful flair. His striking prose (“hair pineappled into an elegant mess”) is flavored with colorful Irish slang (“beor,” “craic”) without becoming twee. The handy cast of characters clarifies the family relationships, but at times the convoluted plot is confusing as it builds to a haunting conclusion.

Part heartfelt coming-of-age tale, part brutal Irish noir, this is a spectacular read for Donna Tartt and Tana French fans.

A SHIMMER OF RED

Wesley, Valerie Wilson

Kensington (304 pp.)

$16.95 paper | July 25, 2023

9781496739650

A suburban New Jersey realtor gifted with second sight tangles with another killer.

No sooner has Tanya Risko introduced her two latest hires to the veteran staff at Risko Realty—clairvoyant sometime caterer Odessa Jones, father figure Vinton Laverne, Afghanistan vet Harley Wilde, and single parent Louella, who’s struggling to raise her daughter, Erika, as she recovers from her own mother’s death—than one of the newbies is flattened by a hit-and-run driver. Like her friend Bella Mondavi, the late Anna Lee had left hoity-toity Delbarton Estates to join Risko Realty, and the first mystery to present itself is why. Well-heeled CEO Emily Delbarton, who wants to hire Dessa and Louella to cater an event, won’t speak ill of the dead, but her brother, Edgar, who first met Anna when she was working at the strip club BUNS, feverishly demands what “Angel” left him—a likely tip-off even to readers who aren’t clairvoyant that he’ll be the next victim. Dessa, who’s still in the early stages of learning to control the mysterious visions that come to her, is distracted when she realizes that house stager Rosalie Davis’ dying father is Terrence Davis, the first love who skipped out on her without a word a week before their wedding. Instead of just tossing in this sort-of-romantic subplot, Wesley makes it pivotal to her story in ways that turn up the pressure on Dessa as lover, sleuth, and seer.

A meager ration of clues leads to a compelling payoff.

BURN THE NEGATIVE Winning, Josh

Putnam (368 pp.)

$28.00 | July 11, 2023

9780593544662

In this homage to classic horror, a reporter is forced to cover the remake of an infamous 1993 film she starred in as a child.

The last time Laura Warren was in Los Angeles, she was a young kid going by another name and reluctantly starring in a slasher flick called The Guesthouse. The intervening years saw eight of the movie’s cast and crew members come to terrible ends. Now living in London, she’s been strong-armed by her editor into flying west to write about a new miniseries based on the original film. Why is he so adamant about making her write a puff piece anyone

multigenerational saga about small-town Korean life under Japanese imperialism.”

the end of august

could do? Anyway, Laura is determined to stay in LA no longer than the 48 hours it will take to run through a few PR–sanctioned interviews. As if on cue, the body count starts to rise on set, and Laura becomes certain that somebody involved in the production knows who she is—knows and has been waiting for her. The question becomes: Is the show truly cursed, or is it Laura’s past doing the haunting? To figure it out, she teams up with her struggling-actress sister and the psychic hired by the young director in charge of the remake. The mystery is a compelling one, the details unsettling from the jump. Adding to the cult-classic ambiance are the documents interspersed throughout, ranging from social media posts to script pages. These add much-needed texture when the choices Laura and others make begin to feel oversimplified. If the characterizations aren’t always consistent, the nods to movie magic and monsters certainly are. And if the relationships seem to exist only to serve the plot, it’s because the heart of the story belongs to genre. After all, as a fellow child star reminds Laura, “Horror fans are for life.”

A pulpy exploration of the monsters we make and a love letter to cult-classic frights.

DAYS AT THE MORISAKI BOOKSHOP

Yagisawa, Satoshi

Trans. by Eric Ozawa Harper Perennial/HarperCollins

(160 pp.)

$16.99 paper | July 4, 2023

9780063278677

A young woman goes to work in a used bookstore in this comforting tale about growing old and settling down.

Even though her boyfriend broke her heart and, in despair, she lost her job, 25-year-old Takako doesn’t want to leave Tokyo. Her uncle Satoru, though, owns a cramped, musty bookstore in Jimbocho, Japan’s famous book town, and he offers her a room in exchange for her assistance. Surveying her temporary abode among the piles of books, Takako says, “If I got even the slightest bit careless, my Towers of Babel would collapse.” Yagisawa’s short and engaging novel is simply structured, following the ordinary events of Takako’s days at the bookstore. The first section is propelled by Takako’s increasing curiosity as she discovers the delights of literature and becomes part of a close-knit network of book lovers. Satoru helps her express her hurt and stand up for herself, and with her newfound strength and kindness, she is able not only to help others express their desires and vulnerabilities, but to navigate the world with assurance herself. Takako does it all: listening, building friendships, matchmaking, reading, and recommending books. Gabrielle Zevin’s A Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and Helene Hanff’s 84, Charing Cross Road come to mind, though this novel dwells more intimately on the relationships Takako develops than on the books she grows to love. The second section centers on Satoru’s heartache as his wife returns to the bookstore after many years away, armed

with a mysterious cheerfulness. As Takako attempts to unravel the currents of romantic love, both in her own life and those of her uncle and aunt, the novel delivers a gentle portrait of desire and grief. Ozawa’s translation preserves the drollness and buoyancy of Takako’s first-person narrative of small pleasures and mysteries.

A familiar romance about books and bookstores, told with heart and humor.

THE END OF AUGUST

Yu Miri

Trans. by Morgan Giles

Riverhead (720 pp.)

$30.00 | Aug. 1, 2023 9780593542668

A multigenerational saga about small-town Korean life under Japanese imperialism.

Yu’s novel, first published in Japan in 2004, likely appears in translation nearly two decades later for two reasons. First is the success of her novel Tokyo Ueno Station (2020), which won the National Book Award for Translated Literature; second is the success of Min Jin Lee’s novel Pachinko (2017), a similar epic about Korea under Japanese rule. Readers may find this novel less immediately engaging than those, opening as it does with an extended section of dense family history and religious rituals with invocations of ghosts. But in time three lead characters come into clear focus: Lee Woo-cheol and Lee Woo-gun, siblings in the town of Miryang who are both talented distance runners but who have their Olympic ambitions stymied thanks to World War II; and Eiko, a neighborhood girl who at 13 is abducted with a promise she’d work at a uniform factory but is instead sent to China to serve as a “comfort woman” to Japanese soldiers. Woocheol’s and Woo-gun’s stories reveal the Korean folkways that were suppressed and warped under Japanese rule—Yu explores birth, marriage, and funeral rituals in depth as well as efforts by resistance groups like the Heroic Corps to disrupt Japan. Meanwhile, Eiko’s brutal ordeal is a troubling portrait of extended sexual violence, including serial rape, forced hysterectomies, and murder. Translator Giles leaves many Korean terms relating to family and rituals untranslated, which creates an immersive effect and underscores the theme of an instinct to preserve one’s culture when another attempts to erase it. (Koreans were forced to change their names by the Japanese.) The book is overlong, but Yu’s passion for rescuing history from violence is palpable on every page.

A baggy but commanding study of oppression at the individual and national levels.

“A

mystery

BIRDER, SHE WROTE

Andrews, Donna Minotaur (304 pp.)

$28.00 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781250760241

Buzzer, She Wrote would be an even better title for Meg Langslow’s latest dalliance with murder if it didn’t depart from the avian puns that adorned her first 32 adventures.

Caerphilly, Virginia, is a pretty closeknit community, and once everyone realizes that nobody’s seen wildlife photographer Edgar Bortnick for a couple of days, his neighbors start to worry. Meg’s father, Dr. James Langslow, is especially concerned because Edgar, a veteran beekeeper, has mentored his own attempts at apiculture. When neighboring farmer Isaac Washington takes Meg; her grandmother; reporter Britni Colleton; deputy Horace Hollingsworth; and some cadaver dogs on a search for the Washington family’s lost graveyard, they find a brand-new corpse. But the victim, shot in the forehead, isn’t Edgar Bortnick; it’s Walter Inman, a retired D.C. businessman widely known as Wally the Weird because of his rabid NIMBY stances, which included rants against Edgar’s bees. Reassuring as it is when Edgar turns up alive, merely incapacitated by a rockslide, it’s disturbing to find evidence that someone’s exterminated most of the bees he loved. On the homefront, Meg wonders why the annoying Britni is so keen to interview her grandmother for a magazine profile, since Cordelia doesn’t remotely fit the pattern of the other NIMBY women Britni’s interviewed for Sweet Tea and Sassafras.The pattern that ultimately emerges will include blackmail, family skeletons, and, of course, plenty of lowdown about the birds and the bees. More crime and detection than usual in this amusing series, even if the criminal’s guilt is rarely in doubt.

MACARONS CAN BE MURDER

Betancourt, Rose

Crooked Lane (288 pp.)

$26.99 | July 11, 2023

9781643859767

The prolific Betancourt introduces a new series whose heroine loves all things French, especially pastry.

Marci Beaucoup, who’s never been to France, lives in Paris, Kentucky, where her delicious French pastries are rumored to act as love potions. When a handsome Frenchman walks through the door of her bakery, both her everyday life and her love life become more exciting, though not necessarily in a good way. Along with Antoine Dubois, the bakery gets

a visit from his former girlfriend Kellie Lowry, who wants him back and stages a scene just outside the door to help grease the wheels. When Marci finds Kellie dead the next morning in front of the bakery, she has any number of reasons to want Antoine to be innocent. Her landlord is planning on selling the bakery building, and if Antoine bought it, he would renew her lease, unlike the other potential buyer, who plans to tear down the building. Det. Maverick Malone, who has a long history with Marci, is in charge of the investigation. Marci’s aunt Barb, who runs the bakery and is plugged into all the town gossip, thinks Maverick is perfect for Marci, but Marci has never gotten over his accidentally standing her up for their senior prom. Deciding that she must solve the murder and prove Antoine innocent, Marci embarks on a long string of bad decisions. Her snooping does turn up some clues to who might have murdered Kellie, but it also provokes a series of notes warning that she may be the next to die.

Romance and mystery combine in a tale that makes one hope the heroine will gain wisdom in her future adventures.

DEATH AMONG THE RUINS

Calkins, Susanna

Severn House (240 pp.)

$31.99 | June 6, 2023

9781448306145

A 17th-century bookseller investigates the death of a maidservant.

Lucy Campion knows that she’s been extraordinarily lucky in life. After she was pressed into service as a housemaid at a young age, her kind employer, Master Adam Hargrave, recognized her intelligence, allowing her to learn to read and write alongside his own children, Adam and Sarah. Now apprenticed to Master Aubrey, a printer, Lucy is free to roam the streets of London with fellow apprentice Lach, hawking broadsides with fantastical tales of their own invention. While reading “The Strange Tale of a Two-Headed Pig” in the marketplace, Lucy overhears ragpicker Mercy Sykes peddling “fine clothes from a lady of qu-quality” to the assembled crowd. Then a woman appears, accusing Mercy of stealing the clothes from her dead mother’s grave—and proves it by finding her mother’s initials embroidered inside the sleeve. The next day Mercy is back, and this time the body she’s robbed is not buried in a churchyard but hidden in the ruined alleyways scorched by the Great Fire. A brisk inquiry among the local tailors and merchants helps Lucy trace the clothing on this second corpse to Charlotte Mobley, daughter of a wealthy family. But the unfortunate girl Mercy stripped them from was Charlotte’s maid, Effie Jones. Spurred on by the contrast between her own good fortune and Effie’s wretched end, Lucy vows to discover how Effie came to be murdered in the ruins, clothed in her mistress’s finery. Her efforts reveal a dark web of interlocking misdeeds and some hard truths about life in Shakespearean London. Grisly but witty and colorful.

steeped in malice

AN EVIL HEART

Castillo, Linda

Minotaur (320 pp.)

$28.00 | July 11, 2023

9781250781086

Evil abounds among the Ohio Amish. Painters Mills police chief Kate Burkholder is ready to wed her longtime love, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent John Tomasetti. No longer Amish, she’s both happy and nervous that her family wants to join in her wedding celebration. When a dead body is found in the middle of a quiet country road, it’s initially thought to be a hit-and-run, but a closer look reveals a grisly murder. The dead man is Aden Karn, a well-liked Amish youth of 21 on Rumspringa, the time young Amish people get a taste of living in the outside world. Aden was shot twice with bolts from a crossbow that were then removed. Emily Byler, who’d had a serious relationship with Aden, is devastated. Searching for enemies, Kate comes up with Amish-born Vernon Fisher, who instead of joining the church hangs out at a garage he bought with a rowdy group of friends. Fisher had purchased a truck that Aden and his roommate, Wayne Graber, had fixed up, but it stopped working and he wanted his money back. Fisher’s nasty temper and rude behavior make him an obvious suspect, but something feels off to Kate, who works with a police task force to dig up background information on Aden and anyone who knew him. Though the Amish resist talking to the police, Kate gradually learns that Aden wasn’t as nice as he seemed, spending time in bars and picking up women for casual sex. When a prostitute—beaten, sexually assaulted, and killed— is found wrapped in plastic and dumped in a creek, Kate is convinced there’s a connection. Several nasty secrets emerge, and Kate’s almost killed before the killer is caught.

Characters you care about and a cleareyed look at their unique culture make this series the best of the Amish bunch.

FATAL LEGACY

Davis, Lindsey

Minotaur (336 pp.)

$28.00 | July 18, 2023

9781250799906

The plot thickens with every baffling revelation in a singularly challenging investigation in Rome in 90 C.E.

Flavia Albia finds herself in an awkward spot when her aunt Junia presses her to track down the despicable duo who’ve just dined and dashed after enjoying a meal at the Stargazer, the “greasy spoon” (Flavia’s words) Junia manages. Such a paltry infraction seems more trouble than it’s worth, but Flavia feels compassion for Junia’s deaf son, Junillus, who failed to catch the miscreants as he worked at the Stargazer. Additional empathy comes from the fact that, like Junillus, Flavia was an

abandoned child rescued when she was adopted, in her case by the renowned sleuth Marcus Didius Falco. Family dynamics become an important theme in Flavia’s 11th case, whose tangled plot resembles a scavenger hunt, each new discovery leading to another minor puzzle to untangle. The first twist comes when, after considerable legwork, Flavia solves the original puzzle but accepts another, trickier one from the aunt of the miscreant Tranquilla Euhodia. Euhodia’s niece Sabatina plans to marry, but her father, Postuminus, is unable to document that he is a free man and not a slave. En route to a surprising resolution, Flavia uncovers family secrets, scandals, and lies that trigger ironic reflections on her own family and eventually a cameo appearance by Falco. Capital crimes lie at the roots of the mystery, but its sweet spots are the complexities of Roman society and the tragic crosscurrents of family dynamics.

Dark mystery encased in a rich portrait of ancient Rome.

STEEPED IN MALICE

Delany, Vicki

Kensington (288 pp.)

$27.00 | July 25, 2023

9781496737724

A missing will, a lot of money, and a dysfunctional family add up to murder.

Lily Roberts left her job as a highpowered Manhattan pastry chef to return to Cape Cod and open Tea by the Sea on the grounds of her grandmother’s high-end B&B. At an antiques fair she’s attending with her best friend, Bernie, and her grandmother Rose to replenish her supply of teacups, Lily also decides at the last minute to purchase a delightful children’s tea set in a wicker box. The next morning, a pushy woman shows up demanding to buy not the set but the box. Kimberly Smithfield, who claims it belonged to her family and was sold accidentally, gets so nasty that Lily has to be rescued by Simon, her handsome English gardener. The next morning Kim returns, throws money at Lily, cuts open the lining of the box, and departs with a plain envelope, leaving everything else behind. Soon Kim, who’s recently married celebrity chef Wesley Schumann, the ex-boyfriend who drove Lily out of New York with his ferocious temper, is followed by her half sister, Rachel Morrison, a restaurant designer Lily knows from her time in New York. Rachel also wants what was in the box, which turns out to be a handwritten will in which their mother determines whether her residual legatee will be Kim, Rachel, or their brother. Soon after Kim and Wes move into Rose’s B&B, Lily stumbles upon Kim’s dead body and is forced to investigate before her business is ruined.

Shoals of red herrings abound, but Lily and her delightful friends winnow out the big fish.

young adult

“A missing will, a lot of money, and a dysfunctional family add up to murder.”

A NEWLYWED’S GUIDE TO FORTUNE AND MURDER

Freeman, Dianne Kensington (304 pp.)

$27.00 | June 27, 2023

9781496731623

A favor for a friend leads to murder. Now that the feckless aristocrat she’s married has died, American heiress Frances Wynn is free to wed George Hazelton and move into his London home with her 8-year-old daughter, Rose. Now the elderly Lady Winstead, the wealthy second wife of the late explorer Lord Peter Ashley, has asked Frances to sponsor her niece, Katherine Stover, for her presentation to Queen Victoria because her husband’s family is still in mourning. George, who does occasional jobs for the Home Office, is on a hunt that turns out to be connected to Frances’ task. Frances is taken aback when Lady Esther, a friend of Lady Winstead’s, shows up at her house as she’s on her way to have tea with Lady Winstead and her family, saying she’d like to join them. Frances is already acquainted with the extended Ashley family, who were once her neighbors, and she dislikes them all. They live on the largesse of Lady Winstead because their family money was spent by their late father. When Frances and Lady Esther arrive for tea, Lady Winstead appears to be in ill health, and the family has hired Nurse Plum to help out, but only Katherine seems truly concerned. After both Frances and Lady Esther come to believe that someone is dosing Lady Winstead with laudanum to keep her muddled, Frances agrees to watch out for skulduggery while preparing Katherine for her entrance to society. George is searching for Lord Peter’s diary, which was left to the British Museum along with his collection of artifacts. On top of all this, Frances discovers that Katherine is an occasional actress, a position that would ruin her aunt’s plans for her debut. When Nurse Plum is murdered, there’s no doubt that something is rotten in the house of Ashley.

A pleasant combination of Victoriana and murder.

A CRYPTIC CLUE

Gilbert, Victoria Crooked Lane (320 pp.)

$26.99 | July 11, 2023

9781639102525

A librarian teams up with a wealthy young man to solve a murder.

Cameron Clewe has hired Jane Hunter to inventory and catalog his large collection of items relating to classic mysteries in order to make them available for study. Despite his apparently perfect life, Cam is socially awkward, perhaps because his wealth has never brought him love. Jane thinks that his assistant, Lauren Walker, has feelings for Cam, who’s recently broken up with wealthy, spoiled Ashley Allen. Cam often lets his beautiful estate be used for

fundraisers, and when Ashley is found dead at the latest one, he naturally becomes a suspect. But there are plenty of other suspects, including Cam’s chef, whom Ashley had promised to back in a new restaurant before she changed her mind. She did the same thing with a local artist and had an ex-boyfriend who was none too fond of her. Since both Jane and Cam love to solve puzzles and are steeped in mystery lore, they band together to solve the murder. Even Ashley’s relatives don’t appear very sad about her death, maybe because she’d been slated to inherit a large family estate they could use themselves. Scrutinizing Ashley’s past, Jane learns that she was involved in a scandal when a member of the sorority of which she was president was badly injured in a hazing accident. In addition, she discovers that Cam has plenty of secrets in his own life while researching the family who used to own his estate. It takes a lot of digging to uncover the person who really wanted Ashley dead.

An offbeat pairing of sleuths enlivens this new mystery series.

ALL IS NOT FORGIVEN

Kenda, Joe Blackstone (216 pp.)

$26.99 | July 25, 2023

9798200924356

“The story and its characters are made up, mostly,” indicates Kenda in a headnote to this distantly fact-based crime yarn set in 1975. Both the acknowledgment and its casual tone are entirely apt.

When Dallas heiress Kathryn Montgomery is shot dead with six soft wadcutter bullets in her plush Colorado Springs home, suspicion naturally falls on her husband. Fred Montgomery, who’s enjoyed limited success as an expert witness on engineering matters, ducks the initial questions of Det. Lee Wilson and his rookie partner, Det. Joe Kenda, shows up for a second attempt with a high-priced lawyer and presents an alibi—he was in Las Vegas causing such a ruckus that the security detail at the Whitehorse Casino kept a constant eye on him—that’s too good to be true. And Wilson and Kenda are quite correct: Montgomery hired pathologically sadistic freelance killer Bruno Kleiss, if that’s his real name, to rid himself of his inconvenient wife and reopen the tap she’d shut off to her money. So where’s the mystery? It partly concerns the figure of retired SAS Capt. Laurence Haywood, another hired killer, who’s been pulled out of his second retirement and sent to Colorado on an unspecified errand, and partly concerns the question of just how many anecdotes, digressions, and flips back and forth between Kenda’s first-person narrative and the third-person narrative that covers developments outside his ken the author will cram in. Readers inclined to skip over the padding will be left with a story that’s neither substantial nor mysterious but one that Kenda keeps moving right along.

Chatty, meandering, and intermittently gruesome. Now there’s a combination you rarely see.

THE KIELBASA KILLER

Krotow, Geri Severn House (208 pp.)

$31.99 | July 4, 2023

9781448311187

A granddaughter and grandmother sleuthing pair are confronted by a murder that puts their whole family in danger.

Lydia Wienewski has her hands full trying to save the family butcher shop while working to open her own place, Lydia’s Lakeside Cafe and Bakery, in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga. As her father recovers from a stroke, Lydia’s running the store with some help from her younger sister, Teri; Teri’s new boyfriend, Johnny Bello; and Aunt Vi, who does the books, which Lydia suspects she’s cooking. Determined to enroll in pastry school in Ottawa, Lydia had broken up with Stan Gorski, but she dropped out before completing the course, and Stan’s back in the picture. Her 65-year-old grandma Mary is a piece of work who wants to pitch in, too. Lydia’s been pushed to pay bills not yet due by the shop’s longtime meat supplier, Louie McDaniel. So when Lydia finds his dead body in the family’s backyard smokehouse, her relatives are all suspects. The first cop on the scene is her cousin, and the man in charge is Det. Nowicki, known as Harry to her grandmother, who went to school with him. Lydia and Mary, who often watch detective shows together, decide that they have to identify the killer in order to save the family business, which people are already avoiding. The comedy of errors that follows turns up a gaggle of clues attesting that local knowledge is of more importance than professional experience.

An amusing mystery with a pronounced Buffalo vibe.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE BULL

Kuhns, Eleanor Severn House (224 pp.)

$31.99 | July 4, 2023

9781448310869

In 1440 B.C.E., a young Cretan woman swears to the Goddess that she will find her sister’s killer.

Since 15-year-old Martis’ dream is to be a bull-leaper, she secretly takes acrobatic lessons. On the day of her sister Arge’s wedding to the foreigner Saurus, her bossy oldest sister, Opis, must search for her because she’s busy practicing. Martis is a free person, unlike her leatherworker father, Bais, who’s a slave, as is his unhappy daughter Nuia, Martis’ only full sister. Their mother, Nephele, is a handmaiden to the High Priestess who represents the Goddess. Arge’s sudden death at the wedding ceremony leaves Martis stricken because she’d prayed to stop the marriage and blames herself. Arge comes to Martis in a dream, telling her she was poisoned and setting Martis off on a dangerous hunt to avenge her. At first the High Priestess refuses

to listen, but her consort, Tinos, a famous bull-leaper, convinces her to grant the girl an audience, and she then allows Martis to hunt for the killer. Running wild on the streets, Martis learns some unsettling things about her squabbling family. Her suspects include an Egyptian prostitute and, of course, Saurus and his friend, who are soon arrested along with Nuia, who wanted Saurus herself. Although she wants to free her sister and hopes Saurus is guilty, Martis is fair-minded enough to doubt his guilt. This complex, character-driven mystery is loaded with fascinating historical details.

TEN-ACRE ROCK

Lackey, Kris

Blackstone (204 pp.)

$25.99 | July 11, 2023

9781982689308

Police officers from two different forces combine their talents to solve a series of crimes.

Bill Maytubby, a sergeant in the Chickasaw Lighthorse Police, is deeply connected to the land and people he loves. His friend and frequent partner in police work Hannah Bond is a deputy in Johnston County, Oklahoma, who’s 6-foot-2, tough as nails, and a survivor of childhood trauma. LeeRoy Sickles, a friend of Hannah’s, is out hunting when he finds the remains of a body burned in a charcoal kiln that may be on Native American land. Nearby is a shack occupied by White hippie squatters. Following up, Maytubby and Hannah find a skull along with bones and some unidentified blobs that might once have been a sneaker. When Sickles is run off the road by a black GMC, a complex investigation begins. Although the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation takes over the case, Maytubby and Hannah, no sticklers for rules, conduct separate investigations of their own, using their expertise and a network of friends who notice things. They’re each intensely interesting and believable characters whose inner strength helps move the investigation along. The body is tentatively identified as that of a young Chickasaw man who’d recently discovered that a series of arcane laws assigned the land beneath the shack and kiln to his family, which would lose it to the squatters if he did not claim it soon. Talking with the young man’s family, who knew nothing about the land they stand to regain, Maytubby hopes to find a connection between that and a series of other crimes plaguing the area.

The latest in this superb series is a unique police procedural with an authentic Oklahoma feel.

“This complex, character-driven mystery is loaded with fascinating historical details.”

in the shadow of the bull

THE SECOND MURDERER A Philip Marlowe Novel

Mina, Denise Mulholland Books/Little, Brown (272 pp.)

$28.00 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780316265645

The versatile Mina adds still another arrow to her quiver in this authorized pastiche in which Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled private eye searches for a woman who definitely doesn’t want to be found.

In fact, Marlowe’s strong impression is that wealthy LA patriarch Chadwick Montgomery III doesn’t really want to find Chrissie, his daughter and heir; he’s chosen Marlowe’s one-man agency, the narrator/hero decides, to look for her because he wants to keep the investigation under wraps and end in failure. Instead, Marlowe locates Chrissie, who was “easier to find than an optimist in a casino,” in less than a day and then has to decide what to do next. Chrissie would rather work as “Joan Baudelaire” at Peggy Zimmerman’s art gallery than return to the home of her intolerant, abusive father and his enigmatic secretary, Anneliese Lyle. The decision about her fate isn’t Marlowe’s alone, however, since the all-female detective agency headed by Anne Riordan, whom Marlowe met 83 years ago in Farewell, My Lovely, turns out to be on her trail as well. When Marlowe discovers Chrissie—who’s gone to the seedy Brody Hotel apparently to meet a nonexistent fellow named Peter West—standing over the corpse of a man who reportedly died months ago several thousand miles away, the case instantly becomes more urgent. But Mina’s pastiche, less literal than Robert B. Parker’s Poodle Springs (1989) and less glum than Benjamin Black’s The BlackEyed Blonde (2014), is more playful in its early stages, as Mina cheekily piles on Marlowe’s trademark similes, though it darkens considerably as it approaches its fade-out.

Female-forward in all sorts of ways—quite a change of pace for the legendary gumshoe.

THE LADY FROM BURMA

Montclair, Allison

Minotaur (336 pp.)

$28.00 | July 25, 2023

9781250854193

The proprietors of London’s Right Sort Marriage Bureau continue to fight crime and prejudice.

Iris Sparks was an intelligence officer during World War II when the husband of Gwendolyn Bainbridge, her partner in the matchmaking bureau, was killed. After a bout of depression that landed her in a sanatorium, Gwen is fighting to be declared mentally fit so she can regain custody of her son. She’s about to get a court hearing before the Master of Lunacy that could return her son and give her a seat on the board of Bainbridge,

Limited, her late husband’s family business, of which she owns 40%. Oliver Parson, the lawyer who controls her daily fate, dislikes her and has been mismanaging her money. Despite these problems, Iris and Gwen have had great success in matching people up for marriages and even more in solving murders. Their latest customer has a most unusual request. Mrs. Adela Remagen grew up in Burma and married Potiphar Remagen, a naturalist who was called upon to fight the war in the forest he knew so well. Now that Adela is dying, she wants the agency to find her shy husband a wife to care for him after she’s gone. Suspecting that Adela plans on suicide, something she’s attempted herself, Gwen extracts her promise to abstain. When Adela is found dead in Epping Forest, her death looks like suicide anyway, but a young constable who suspects murder enlists the help of the successful sleuths. In addition to trying to discover who killed Adela, both must deal with their complicated love lives, and Gwen must still convince the court she is sane.

Intriguing characters and two mysteries are intertwined with little-known regulations on mental health in postwar England.

GOLDEN AGE BIBLIOMYSTERIES

Ed. by Penzler, Otto

American Mystery Classics (480 pp.)

$27.95 | July 11, 2023

9781613164204

Dust off your specs and light your reading lamp. Veteran anthologist Penzler has collected 14 reprints from between 1920 and 1946 uniting two of his favorite subjects: books and murder.

Except for three items of mostly historical interest—“The Jorgenson Plates,” Frederick Irving Anderson’s dated tale of prolific thief Sophie Lang’s latest con; Carolyn Wells’ wellinformed but overplotted “The Shakespeare Title-Page Mystery”; and Frank Gruber’s “State Fair Murder,” which records the sleuthing adventures of Oliver Quade, the Human Encyclopedia, at the Minnesota State Fair—the rest of these entries range from Fine to Very Fine. The Fines include Vincent Starrett’s “A Volume of Poe,” in which a bookseller’s friend conceals from the police a visit from a young woman the night before the bookseller’s murder; “The Book That Squealed,” in which Cornell Woolrich embeds clues to a kidnapping in a library book; and “The Episode of the Codex Curse,” a locked-room theft in which C. Daly King introduces the curious Mr. Trevis Tarrant. The Very Fines include Starrett’s “The Unique Hamlet,” the closest anyone’s come to a definitive Sherlock Holmes pastiche; Lawrence G. Blochman’s clever, tightly plotted “The Aldine Folio Murders,” Anthony Boucher’s library murder “QL 696 .C9”; Lillian de la Torre’s “The Missing Shakespeare Manuscript,” solved by Dr. Samuel Johnson; Ellery Queen’s “The Adventure of the Three R’s,” which follows the disappearance of a local author in Missouri; and a pair of rapid-fire bonbons by James Gould Cozzens and the team of Lassiter Wren and

Randle McKay. The jewel in the crown is “Death Walks in Marble Halls,” another tale by Blochman, in which murder and menace stalk the stacks of the New York Public Library. A real treat for bibliophiles, assuming they’re not subject to nightmares.

HIDDEN BENEATH

Ross, Barbara

Kensington (288 pp.)

$8.99 paper | June 27, 2023

9781496735713

A childhood friendship turns treacherous for a family of Maine entrepreneurs.

Julia Snowden and her mother, Jacqueline, are used to their daily water commute from Busman’s Harbor to Morrow Island, where the Snowden Family Clambake treats boatloads of hungry patrons to authentic Maine clambakes every lunch and dinner during the tourist season. So it seems odd when Jacqueline asks Julia to head in the other direction, toward Chipmunk Island, where Jacqueline had spent most of her teen summers. She wants the two of them to attend a memorial service for Virginia Merrill, who left her Chipmunk Island house five years ago and never returned. Now that Ginny’s been officially declared dead, her fellow members of the Wednesday Club are finally able to say their goodbyes. Kitty, Laura, Amy, Dianne, and Marian had a much longer friendship with Ginny than Jacqueline, who joined their group as a teen and left after her marriage, never following the club members’ tradition of gathering weekly during the summer to give reports on a topic they’d researched all winter. So it surprises everyone to discover that Ginny made her the personal representative—Maine’s name for executor—of her will. For a while, it looks as if the biggest mystery Ross has on offer is why Ginny designated Jacqueline, rather than one of the active Wednesday Clubbers, to settle her estate. But eventually the bodies begin to appear, and it falls to Julia to discover what traumatic event on Chipmunk Island caused Ginny to turn her back on her beloved summer home and look to Morrow Island for rescue.

A chilling tale of a time and place that are idyllic yet terrifying.

HOW THE MURDER CRUMBLES

Sennefelder, Debra

Crooked Lane (304 pp.)

$28.99 | June 20, 2023

9781639102808

A recipe dispute spells big trouble for a Connecticut bakery owner.

Mallory Monroe is sure that her Aunt Glenna’s Almond Meltaway cookie recipe is an original, one of the many her

late relative left behind to help her baking enterprise succeed. So when bossy Beatrice Wright marches into The Cookie Shop accusing Mallory of stealing her secret Almond Meltaway recipe, Mallory gives her a piece of her mind. Unfortunately, later that evening, after Mallory’s thought better of her quick tongue, she goes over to apologize and finds Bea not dead certain but certainly dead. Her discovery of Bea’s body, together with their very public disagreement, puts Mallory on Det. Will Hannigan’s list of suspects. Not that there’s a dearth of alternatives, since Bea got on the wrong side of most of her neighbors. But Mallory feels that if she doesn’t probe the alternatives, she’ll end up the hunky cop’s first choice for a warrant and last choice for a date. Of course, adding sleuth to her other jobs of baker and cookie artist isn’t without its challenges. Pretty soon she’s adding pie contest judge, property disputes arbitrator, and best friend to Aspen Leigh, a needy corporate lawyer who glommed onto Mallory when they discovered they were dating the same guy. Mallory’s exploits are just this side of zany as she treads the well-worn path of small-business owners–turned-detectives with good humor and aplomb.

Solid entry in a crowded field.

science fiction & fantasy

THE ARCHIVE UNDYING

Candon, Emma Mieko

Tordotcom (496 pp.)

$28.99 | June 27, 2023

9781250821546

The secret survivor of an AI’s rampage must finally take an active role in the struggle for that AI’s legacy.

On an unnamed planet, artificial intelligences—who would physically interface with select humans trained as archivists—apparently used to have absolute rule over the city-states. But many of these AIs became corrupted, causing carnage and destruction. The human government of the Harbor has salvaged the spare parts of some of these dead AIs and rebuilt them as ENGINEs, mechs under human control. Sunai, a dissipated wanderer who works on salvage rigs, hides the fact that he was once an archivist to the AI Iterate Fractal and that the AI’s corruption while he was interfaced with it has made him seemingly unable to die or suffer permanent physical damage. A drunken encounter with Dr. Veyadi Lut, another former archivist, sets Sunai on a dangerous mission against the Maw, the ENGINE built from the remains of Iterate Fractal. Sunai is forced to confront his troubled past and

young adult

“The secret survivor of an AI’s rampage must finally take an active role in the struggle for that AI’s legacy.” the archive undying

his conflicted loyalties with old friends and lovers, navigate a complicated new relationship with Veyadi, and contend with the forces marshaled by the Harbor, the Maw, a crime syndicate, and a nameless AI that has become attached to Sunai’s mind. Readers may find themselves desperately searching for more explanatory backstory, which is only partially forthcoming. Interludes told in the second person by at least two different AIs, one of which is supposedly dead (except maybe not?), only add to the confusion. It’s not always possible to tell who is narrating or experiencing various moments of the story, as consciousnesses merge and only incompletely separate. There’s definitely some important point being made about the nature of sentience, but it’s not 100% clear what that point is. An author shouldn’t have to overexplain; getting flung into the deep end and figuring out the parameters of a new universe can be a fun genre challenge. But sometimes there is just no clear path out of the pool.

Intriguing but difficult to follow.

THE JASAD HEIR

Hashem, Sara Orbit (400 pp.)

$18.99 paper | July 18, 2023

9780316477864

Circumstances force a lost kingdom’s uncrowned queen into a gambit of court intrigue in this Egypt-inspired debut.

Ten years after Jasad fell, its people live in hiding within the four nations that conspired against their homeland. The Jasadis were the last people in the world to possess magical abilities; to be outed as Jasadi is to face summary execution. Essiya is the heir to the Jasadi throne. Now calling herself Sylvia, the 20-year-old hides her magic behind a pair of invisible bracelets that help stifle its power. When her cousin Felix of Omal throws a young girl under his horses’ hooves, Sylvia’s magic flares, sending a dagger into Felix’s leg...right in front of Arin, the Nizahl Heir, who has the power to sense magic via touch. Rather than apprehend her, Arin saves Sylvia’s life by naming her his Champion in the upcoming Alcalah, a tournament pitting fighters from the four remaining nations against each other for honor and glory. Keeping her identity a secret proves more difficult the longer Sylvia remains in the competition, however. Arin and Sylvia’s undeniable chemistry eventually pays off at the end of a very long, very slow burn, but Hashem never lets the story stray far from the heroine’s journey. The novel’s Egyptian inspiration maintains a strong presence throughout the narrative; a number of Arabic words, such as wilayah, khawagai, Qayida, and Awaleen, appear frequently. Sylvia is coded as a person of Middle Eastern descent, and Arin is White. Several secondary characters are Black-coded. Similarities between character and state names, most of which have only two syllables, have the potential to create confusion early on as Hashem introduces the major players and their world; readers may find themselves confusing Niphran, Niyar, and Nizahl, for example, or Mahair,

Malik, and Marek. Readers looking for a new fantasy series to latch onto will find much to love here.

A promising series starter that strikes a keen balance between court intrigue and romance.

THE DEEP SKY

Kitasei, Yume

Flatiron Books (416 pp.)

$29.99 | July 18, 2023

9781250875334

A ship that left Earth 10 years ago, a crew trained to complete a single mission, and one saboteur hidden among them.

Asuka Hoshino-Silva is one of 80 people bound for a far-off planet with the hope of starting a new civilization. After a rigorous training and selection process that began when the crew members were 12 years old, their spaceship finally launched, and they have spent the last 10 years in stasis. Upon awakening, they have found new troubles looming back home and old conflicts surfacing among themselves. For Asuka, this means she isn’t reading her mother’s letters from Earth and isn’t talking to her onetime best friend on the ship. Her problems get worse when Asuka finds herself at the center of an attack meant to sabotage the mission. With every crew member under suspicion, can Asuka uncover the truth, or will old alliances and rivalries tear the crew apart? The present narrative unfolds between flashbacks depicting Asuka’s early hardships due to climate change, tension with her Latine father and Japanese mother, and conflicted feelings about representing Japan on the mission, adding depth to the plot and creating a strong, character-driven, and accessible tale. There are no cis men among the crew members, all of whom are expected to be inseminated and produce offspring as part of the mission. They’ve been recruited from many nations, producing a refreshingly diverse cast that also realistically reflects real-world issues and conflicts. Can something new be built, or is the crew doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past?

Cerebral SF, tackling both humanitywide problems and the smaller but ever present conflicts closer to home.

GEORGE R. R. MARTIN PRESENTS WILD CARDS

Pairing Up: An Anthology

Ed. by Martin, George R.R. Bantam (448 pp.)

$28.00 | July 11, 2023

9780593357866

The latest anthology in Martin’s Wild Cards shared universe—inhabited by a multitude of humans irrevocably changed by an alien virus—features eight never-before-published stories revolving around superheroes and villains impacted by love.

Longtime fans will recognize that most of the authors— including Melinda M. Snodgrass, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Christopher Rowe, Marko Kloos, and Walton Simons—have been featured extensively in previous Wild Cards anthologies. While none of the stories presented here could be considered exceptional, most are satisfying, featuring deeply developed characters and well-constructed storylines. Kloos’ “In the Forests of the Night” is set in an exclusive ecotourist lodge deep in the jungles of Colombia and revolves around Khan, a half-tiger, half-human who is a joker-ace: both mutated and gifted with superhuman abilities. A bodyguard for a powerful crime lord, Khan’s job is to protect his boss during a potentially dangerous business meeting. But when he has a fortuitous sexual encounter with a beautiful stranger named Maryam, she turns out to be much more than she appears. Featuring two memorable and downright cool fight scenes, this story has a fitting conclusion that makes it noteworthy. Murphy’s “Trudy of the Apes” is set in 1957 and follows Trudy Pirandello, a thief whose superhuman ability is to teleport small objects into her hands. After befriending (i.e.: seducing) Jack Braun, a wild card who is the strongest man in the world and plays Tarzan on TV, she follows him to the set in rural Mexico, where she attempts to locate a mythical treasure. The theme of love—and its unforeseen consequences—is on full display in selections like Simons’ “The Long Goodbye,” a heart-rending story about two time-traveling lovers who part ways, and “What’s Your Sign?” by Gwenda Bond and Peter Newman, in which a date for charity between a real-life hero and a famous television fortuneteller becomes more than just a publicity stunt.

The lack of new voices notwithstanding, a solid addition to the Wild Cards universe.

EMERGENT PROPERTIES

Ogden, Aimee Tordotcom (128 pp.)

$16.99 paper | July 25, 2023

9781250866813

A mystery set in a world where corporations have replaced governments and AIs can be emancipated.

Scorn wakes up with 10 days missing from zir memory banks. Ze soon figures out that ze got run over by a tram on the Moon—and zir last backup is missing. Ze concludes that ze must have been chasing a big story, possibly related to autonomy for the Moon settlements. Meanwhile, zir two “mothers”—the high-profile women who built zir noveltyseeking artificial intelligence—are fighting again, and they’re both trying to convince Scorn not to go back to the Moon. Like any rebellious artificial child, zir parents’ objections only make Scorn more determined to return to the Moon and get to the bottom of the story ze’s been chasing. Scorn’s world is largely governed by corporations and populated both by humans and by artificial intelligences, many of which are essentially knockoffs of the innovative process that created Scorn. As an AI,

Scorn can back zirself up and download zirself into a different “chassis,” including human-shaped bodies as well as a small spiderbot. The story here is fast-paced and ultimately quite suspenseful. The world is complex, well conceived, and interesting, but there is a steep learning curve that may prevent some readers from getting right onboard with Scorn’s mission. Those who can handle being dumped into the middle of a strange new world will be rewarded with a taut and compelling mystery with a surprising yet satisfying conclusion.

SF fans will appreciate this intriguing, tightly plotted novella.

THIEF LIAR LADY

Soria, D.L.

Del Rey (416 pp.)

$27.00 | July 11, 2023

9780593358054

An unlikely princess is driven by a secret political mission in Soria’s take on “Cinderella.”

Lady Aislinn and Prince Everett’s whirlwind romance was an instantaneous legend. An unknown noblewoman forced into servitude by her wicked stepmother and stepsisters sneaks into the prince’s birthday ball, they fall in love, he finds her by using the shoe she left behind, and so on and so on. Everyone in the kingdom of Solis knows the story. But stories so rarely tell the whole truth. In Lady Aislinn’s case, the truth is that she and her stepfamily schemed up the whole fairy tale, missing shoe and all, in order to get Aislinn married to the prince. That same wicked stepmother, Seraphina, has been training her stepdaughter and two daughters all their lives to be expert con artists and also to be so skilled in illegal magic that Aislinn knows how to cast a little spell to manipulate Prince Everett into falling for her. Seraphina’s goal is to secure wealth and security, but Aislinn has plans Seraphina doesn’t know about. Her motivation to secure her place in the Solisti royal family has little to do with money and jewels and more to do with a notorious political prisoner and the welfare of a downtrodden neighboring nation that Aislinn—supposedly—has no reason to care about. Soria effectively spins several layers of conspiracy here, and once the twists start coming they only keep building. While there is a somewhat perfunctory romance, far more interesting are Aislinn’s relationships with the many finely drawn female characters, including Seraphina, her daughters, Aislinn’s palace maid, and Mariana, the queen of Solis. And unlike fairy tales, which have clean moral lessons, this book is unafraid of the deep complications and compromises people in positions of real power and influence sometimes have to make in order to do what’s right.

A standout fairy-tale retelling.

young adult

“A standout fairy-tale retelling.”

thief liar lady

MANY WORLDS Or, The Simulacra

Ed. by Turnbull, Cadwell & Josh Eure Radix Media (180 pp.)

$24.95 paper | June 13, 2023

9781737718437

Stories about the Simulacra and the humans who live there are told by multiverse travelers, scientists, and ordinary people.

This diverse and vibrant short story collection pivots around the Simulacrum—an entity of an unknown origin that copies the world over and over, making changes along the way. These copies are called the Simulacra. Readers are first introduced to this concept in the tone-setting “Notes on the Form of the Simulacra,” written by co-editor Turnbull and taking the form of posts on an online forum. The researcher collecting these posts believes there may be a way to travel between altered worlds, and the stories that follow allow readers to do just that. They vary from “The Phantom of the Marley Valley High Auditorium for the Performing Arts” by Theodore McCombs, a captivating paranormal mystery about students going missing every year around their school’s spring show, to co-editor Eure’s “To the Bottom,” an emotional and intriguing hard SF story about scientists diving to never-beforereached ocean depths. Darkly Lem’s “Blink,” the tale of a person forced to travel between worlds every fifth and seventh blink, and K.W. Onley’s “And So, What Do You Know?” in which two young Black girls are asked to change one thing about their world, are narrative triumphs with no words wasted, elegant and speculative in all the best ways. Psychiatrist Justin C. Key’s “On the Spectrum,” however, may turn off some readers even as it tries to be inclusive. Key seems hopeful that neurotypical readers will empathize with a neurodivergent experience by placing them in a world where they are the “neurodisadvantaged.” But the autism spectrum–coded “Typicals” here are unimaginative, cold, and inflexible, further “othering” them in our own world. Still, each story in this book asks readers to think not just about who they are and what they’d choose, but if they’d even want the choice—questions worth pondering long after the book is finished.

An intriguing, well-executed collection of SF and paranormal short stories, as varied as the multiverse they inhabit.

romance

DEALBREAKERS

Forsythe, Lauren Putnam (336 pp.)

$18.00 paper | Aug. 1, 2023

9780593422533

A London coder with a long list of relationship deal breakers finds out that true love might appear in the unlikeliest place when she’s paired up with her work nemesis.

Marina Spicer is behind schedule. All she wants is a safe, predictable relationship with the kind of man who wants to have kids, get a dog, and live happily-everafter. But when her high school sweetheart dumps her, saying they want different things, she realizes she’s 30 years old and her biological clock is ticking louder every day. Enter Dealbreakers, an app she designed to help other efficient women weed out the men who just won’t work. It pulls data from other dating apps, then allows users to leave notes explaining what their date was really like—thus allowing people like Marina to avoid wasting time on someone who doesn’t fit their criteria. But the app isn’t Marina’s only work—her day job is at a website called LetsGO that helps people book interesting activities, and she wants to take on more responsibility. And then copywriter Lucas Kennedy shows up. He has tattoos, he smokes, he curses—all serious deal breakers for Marina. He’s also seemingly hellbent on annoying her. Unfortunately for her, they get paired up on a project, competing for the promotion Marina so desperately wants. The two of them have to test out date ideas, and as they try dancing, ax throwing, and an escape room, Marina starts to wonder if there’s more to Lucas than she suspected. Marina and Lucas have undeniable chemistry, and their dates provide them with plenty of opportunities to showcase their bickering banter as they get closer, both physically and emotionally. While the walls Marina built around her heart make sense, it’s satisfying to watch her open up—both to the possibility of love and to the risk that things might not go according to plan.

A charming and sweet look at the importance of breaking your own rules and taking a chance on love.

MARRY ME

BY MIDNIGHT Grossman, Felicia Forever (400 pp.)

$8.99 paper | Aug. 8, 2023

9781538722541

A gender-swapped “Cinderella” about an heiress and a custodian in 1832 London. After her father’s untimely death, Isabella Lira must marry to secure her

love, theoretically

family’s business and standing. Her father sat on the London Commission of Delegates, an organization that works with the Crown for the safety and security of the entire Jewish community in England, while also co-owning a business with the powerful Berab brothers. The three brothers each offer to marry her, hoping to secure total control of the shared business. Isabella wants to preserve her own influence in the company, so she hatches a plan to find another suitor—one outside the sphere of the Berab family. She’s going to throw three festivals in three weeks, between the holidays of Passover and Lag b’Omer, and she enlists the help of Aaron Ellenberg, an unlikely ally. Aaron exists in a strange liminal space in the community: He’s a kindhearted and gentle man who has never successfully found a job or home of his own. The community supports him by providing work as a custodian in the synagogue. He has become expert at observing everyone and everything while remaining invisible in the background. Isabella asks him to spy on prospective suitors at her parties to help her find one who won’t try to control her—a man with a secret that Isabella could hold over him. In return, she offers Aaron 200 pounds, enough money for him to have a home and family, which had always seemed like an impossible dream. Isabella and Aaron should have nothing in common, but while working together they learn to respect and love each other despite their differences in status and the many obstacles in their way. It’s an engaging and sexy romance, almost old-school in its complexity, complete with genuine conflict, delicious tension, and dense, meaty subplots.

A masterful, original take on a beloved fairy tale is sure to please romance readers.

LOVE, THEORETICALLY

Hazelwood, Ali Berkley (400 pp.)

$17.00 paper | June 13, 2023

9780593336861

Two physicists get off on the wrong foot, but they learn to give each other second chances—in both work and love. Elsie Hannaway is a people-pleaser. When she meets anyone, her first instinct is to give them the answer she knows they want to hear so as not to make waves. This trait has allowed her to model herself into the perfect fake girlfriend, working a part-time gig for an app where she gets paid to accompany single guys to excruciating family events. It’s easy money, and Elsie has managed to separate her fake dating world from her stressful (and badly paid) life as an adjunct professor of theoretical physics at three Boston universities...until now. When she comes face to face with Jack Smith, her current fake boyfriend’s older brother, she realizes that he’s also her professional nemesis, the experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and turned theoretical physics into the laughingstock of the science community. Naturally, he’s also standing in the way of what could very well be her dream job at MIT, since he’s on the hiring committee. Elsie’s first instinct is to battle

Jack for the spot she wants, no matter the cost. What she’s less prepared for are the lingering looks he gives her or the way he always sees right through the facades she slips on to make herself appear more likable. Fighting in increasingly close quarters, however, only helps Elsie see all of Jack’s hidden angles. Letting Jack, her enemy, get to know her might be the biggest test of Elsie’s willingness to let down her walls, too. Hazelwood’s latest STEM-set novel may be her best yet, addressing not only discrimination among different realms of physics, but the unconscious bias Elsie has to continually fight as a woman in her field. Elsie and Jack’s banter is electric and hilarious from the start, and Jack earns the mantle of a swoonworthy hero who keenly discerns the heart of his love interest even when Elsie doesn’t always represent herself genuinely. Their happily-ever-after is a standout, too—these two are content to take things at their own pace, a refreshing narrative choice that doesn’t conform to every assumption of the genre.

A dynamic rivals-to-lovers romance.

NOT THAT DUKE

James, Eloisa

Avon/HarperCollins (416 pp.)

$9.99 paper | July 25, 2023

978-0-06-313962-6

An affable, eligible duke thought he knew whom he wanted to marry until he finds himself unexpectedly falling for a bespectacled and bookish lady instead.

The dowager duchess may think Lady Stella Corsham would make a good match for her son, Silvester Parnell, Duke of Huntington, but he’s not interested in marrying an opinionated, eccentric woman like his mother. For her part, Stella can’t help her attraction to Silvester, but she knows he’d never consider her for a spouse—he’s more interested in slender, charming women like Lady Yasmin Régnier. Stella wants someone who would appreciate her intellect, like Giles Renwick, the Earl of Lilford. Still, Stella and Silvester become friends, and Silvester starts to appreciate Stella’s appeal. When Yasmin and Giles marry each other, Silvester realizes he wants to marry Stella, but she doesn’t want to feel like the second choice. A note at the beginning of the book explains that Part I overlaps with the time frame of The Reluctant Countess (2022), which focused on Yasmin and Giles. It stands on its own, although it might be more appreciated by those already familiar with the characters. Interpersonal relationships are the core of this low-stakes story; drama derives from miscommunications and incorrect assumptions as the characters socialize and attend balls and parties. The characters, particularly Stella and her kitten, are the highlight, but they’re let down by a narrative that feels disjointed. Pacing can be sluggish, as some scenes feel overly drawn out or superfluous.

A delightful heroine in a tedious story.

young adult

“Two physicists get off on the wrong foot, but they learn to give each other second chances.”

WOLFSONG

Klune, TJ Tor (528 pp.)

$29.99 | July 4, 2023

9781250890313

A lonely man gets a second chance with his shape-shifting boyhood love in this emotional paranormal romance.

Oxnard Matheson is only 12 when his abusive father abandons him and his mother, leaving the boy to quickly step into the role of provider. For a multitude of reasons, Ox lives a solitary life though he’s desperate for connection. His dad’s cruelty dented his self-esteem. He’s bullied at school because of his slow speech, and working a full-time job before becoming a teenager doesn’t leave much room for a social life. A bright spot comes in the way of new neighbors—the Bennett family— who show up when Ox is 16. He’s instantly accepted by them, finding a close friend in the youngest Bennett, Joe, who’s 10. They’re an odd group, but they take a liking to Ox and soon feel close enough to reveal their secret: They’re actually a pack of wolf shifters. Ox hopes they’ll become a permanent fixture in the Green Creek community, and they stay for several years. But nothing good lasts forever in Ox’s world, and a devastating murder drives the Bennett family away. It’s only years later, when Joe reappears, that Ox can start to address the trauma he’s experienced over his frequent abandonment. The vignettes telling the story of Ox’s early life feel clunky compared to Klune’s more lyrical fantasy offerings. For a large part of the story, Ox is a teenager in desperate need of guidance, falling in love with someone six years his junior. While experiencing Ox’s formative years and constant yearning for connection is undoubtedly important to the story, his adulthood makes for a more compelling (and comfortable) read.

A bloated backstory makes this a “to-read” for die-hard fans only.

SAY YES TO THE PRINCESS

Michaels, Charis

Avon/HarperCollins (384 pp.)

$9.99 paper | July 11, 2023

9780063280069

In 1803 London, a Royal Fixer is tasked with seducing an exiled princess.

Princess Elise d’Orleans has been living with the British royal family since she fled France 10 years ago during the French Revolution. When she spies a man she believes to be her brother, she feels reinvigorated and determines to find her two siblings who are also in exile. This new interest causes problems for the British royals, who need her to stay quiet, so they assign Killian Crewes to distract her with seduction. He may be the son of an earl, but his mother was a dancer, so Killian paved his own path by making a living

fixing problems for the royal family and leveraging that connection to buy old properties. He quickly realizes headstrong Elise is a force to be reckoned with and finds himself falling for her. As their connection grows, they have to decide what they’re willing to risk for love. With the enticing hook of exiled royalty, this start to a new series is fresh and fun. Court intrigue adds drama and strengthens the setting; the leads’ banter and their pining as they try to resist their desires are delectable; and secondary characters shine just as brightly as the couple. The ending feels rushed, with a lot of plot—some of it contrived—but it doesn’t detract from the satisfying happily-ever-after. Readers are sure to anticipate the next books in the series to find out what befell Elise’s brother and sister.

Frothy romance with a fascinating historical setting.

QUEEN CHARLOTTE

Quinn, Julia & Shonda Rhimes

Avon/HarperCollins (352 pp.)

$30.00 | May 9, 2023

9780063305083

A novelization of a written-for-television story in the Bridgerton universe.

Opening with a coy reminder that the novel is “fiction inspired by fact,” the story is about the first year of marriage between Charlotte MecklenburgStrelitz, a German princess of Moorish ancestry, and George III, king of Great Britain and Ireland. There are four narrators: George, Charlotte, the queen’s servant Bartholomew Brimsley, and the newly minted Lady Agatha Danbury. On the day of the royal wedding, a group of wealthy Black families are also awarded titles, a move designed to quell possible dissension from White aristocrats about Charlotte’s race. George, with the help of the entire royal household, has been hiding his mental illness from Charlotte. Determined to find a cure, George subjects himself to a quack doctor who tortures him physically and mentally. Lady Danbury is trying to secure the futures of the new aristocratic families by any means necessary, including trading information about the royal marriage to George’s mother in exchange for favors. Brimsley’s lover, Reynolds, is the king’s primary manservant, and the two try to protect their royal charges from the machinations and back-stabbing of the royal court. The book’s pacing is choppy, presumably following the script of the TV show, quickly cutting between scenes without much tying them together. Melodramatic and soapy, the story suggests that racism can be cured during a ball and mental illness can be cured with love, nice but ultimately empty sentiments that might play better on TV than they do in the pages of a book. Lady Danbury’s origin story is the most enjoyable subplot; she befriends the queen and helps the new class of Black aristocrats keep their titles, all while managing the challenges of being a young widow.

Might appeal to die-hard fans of the show but offers little to the general reading audience.

sexy, page-turning romance made for the silver screen.”

SOMEONE JUST LIKE YOU

Schorr, Meredith

Forever (352 pp.)

$10.99 paper | July 25, 2023

9781538754801

A lawyer must stop litigating the past to find love in the present.

The Blum and Stark families have been thickly intertwined for years, since they moved in across the street from each other in Hoboken, New Jersey, when their kids were small. Now, Molly Blum and Jude Stark’s older siblings have decided to join forces to throw a joint wedding anniversary party for their parents. Although Jude and Molly once got along as well as the rest of their families, their friendship dissolved abruptly when they were children. Molly became locked into a war of nasty pranks with Jude until a life-altering incident precipitated an uneasy truce between the warring parties. But meeting a decade after the détente, and especially being forced to tour prospective party venues together, reignites their old animosity. Molly and Jude are on the brink of descending into a familiar rivalry when they consciously decide to put a halt to their antics. Forced to look at Jude from a new perspective, Molly realizes that not only has she consistently been dating men who remind her of her childhood friend-turned-enemy, but also that she has long been nursing a sexual attraction for Jude. Molly decides to act on her growing feelings, but their shared history might just block her way to a future with the man she has always desired. Since the story is told entirely from Molly’s point of view, the rivalry at its center seems half-baked, and the shift in the protagonists’ attitudes toward each other, ill-explained and abrupt. The resolution of Molly’s familial and romantic troubles strikes a flat note, but her professional struggles ring with authenticity. Schorr builds an entertaining world with interesting secondary characters but is unable to convincingly map the trajectory of the protagonists’ evolving relationship.

An enemies-to-lovers romance that engages neither with complexities of animosity nor the simplicity of love.

WILL THEY OR WON’T THEY

Wilder, Ava

Dell (384 pp.)

$17.00 paper | June 27, 2023

9780593358979

Two actors, who also happen to be former lovers, must put aside their differences and film one final season of their hit TV show.

Lilah Hunter and Shane McCarthy never meant to mix business with pleasure, but then again, their entire careers were based on years of slow-burning sexual tension. The pair star as Kate and Harrison, the main characters

in the supernatural drama Intangible, and after eight seasons of fans wondering if they will or they won’t, their characters are finally going to declare their undying love for one another. Unbeknownst to #Karrison shippers worldwide, however, the actors behind their beloved show absolutely and utterly despise each other. During a brief yet passionate secret affair during the first season of filming, Lilah and Shane were practically inseparable, sneaking into each other’s trailers for quick hookups and stealing kisses in coat closets at industry events. Their whirlwind romance ended as abruptly as it began, though, leaving the two emerging stars forced to feign civility on camera for years until Lilah left to pursue a career in movies. But now, three years later, she’s returned to Intangible for one last season, and she and Shane will need to, quite literally, kiss and make up. As the duo embark on a press tour and grueling filming schedule, their close proximity begins to shed light on the fact that hatred may not be the only strong feeling they have toward each other. Wilder returns to the limelight in her second rom-com, following How To Fake It in Hollywood (2022), and her new cast brings even more star power and sexiness to the page. Lilah and Shane’s relationship is overflowing with frustration and longing, brought to a higher boiling point by their warring feelings of hatred and attraction: “[She was] his Botticelli wet dream come to life, sent from hell to drive him crazy.” Wilder’s novel is movie material, and Lilah and Shane’s simmering romance will leave you breathless and eager for a sequel.

A sexy, page-turning romance made for the silver screen.

“A

will they or won’t they

nonfiction

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

THE BOMB The Weapon That Changed the World

Alcante, Didier & Laurent-Frédéric Bollée

Illus. by Denis Rodier

Trans. by Ivanka Hahnenberger

Abrams ComicArts (464 pp.)

$29.99 | July 11, 2023

9781419752094

A graphic history of the original weapon of mass destruction.

A team of French writers and artists frames this history of the atomic bomb by means of an unexpected narrator: uranium, present as Earth solidified billions of years ago but possessed of “an inkling that a great destiny awaited me.” The narrative leaps forward to the age of the Curies, who divined hidden powers in the element, which then declares, “The world’s greatest scientists are interested in me and my attributes. My day is dawning.” Many of those scientists worked for the Axis powers, which used their military might to secure uranium around the world. As one Japanese military leader remarks to a scientist named Dr. Nishina, “Lieutenant Colonel Suzuki has assured me that Japan has plenty of uranium thanks to our actions in Korea.” Via a European mine owner in Africa, though, a large quantity of uranium was shipped to, of all places, Staten Island, and Allied scientists began to work on it even as Norwegian commandos set to work blowing up German water facilities. The illustrations are deep-dark black-and-white, in keeping with the funereal consequences of the subject matter, with grimly detailed attention to the appearances of the victims of Hiroshima, including the iconic shadow left on a stone step by a vaporized victim. The storyline is well rendered, with the principal actors developed thoroughly and with all their foibles: Enrico Fermi’s arrogance, Robert Oppenheimer’s philandering, Gen. Leslie Groves’ hunger for fame and power. The authors and illustrator leave open numerous unresolved historical questions, appropriately, such as the matter of whether Werner Heisenberg deliberately delayed the development of the Third Reich’s version of the bomb. The story ends with uranium crowing about the prospects for the future—and they’re appallingly good.

The

are chilling, the narrative certainly so, all perfectly fitting the subject.

BEIJING RULES How China Weaponized Its Economy To Confront the World

Allen, Bethany

Harper/HarperCollins (336 pp.)

$32.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780063057418

A penetrating study of Beijing’s strategy to become the dominant global power. There was a time when Western leaders thought that engagement with China would eventually lead to that country becoming more liberal, open, and even democratic. Looking back, that view seems hopelessly naïve. Allen, the China reporter for Axios, has been observing and writing about the country for a long time, and her book is a deep dive into how China is constantly maneuvering to expand its global influence, with an ever growing list of “core interests.” The central weapon is the government’s control of access to China’s enormous market, which it can lock down through punitive tariffs, bureaucratic delays, or outright bans. Nearly every country in the world has felt China’s heavy hand. Any Western company wanting to do business in China has to accept Beijing’s censorship and avoid controversial statements. At the same time, Chinese companies are effectively under government control, propagating the official line. In an incisive analysis, Allen examines China’s covert penetration of the American political system and international agencies such as the World Health Organization. She believes that Beijing has overplayed its hand and is widely seen as an arrogant bully, which gives the West the opportunity to respond at many levels. She makes a series of useful proposals, but a crucial requirement is a change in attitude in the U.S. The left and the right have a surprising amount in common on this issue and should work together instead of making narrow-minded attacks on each other. Allen has shown remarkable courage in writing this book, as the tentacles of the Beijing government are long, powerful, and patient. Hopefully, her work will find its way to policymakers in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.

A disturbing, insightful book about China’s hidden, multitiered war—and how the West can fight back.

POLITICAL RUMORS Why We Accept Misinformation and How To Fight It

Berinsky, Adam J. Princeton Univ. (248 pp.)

$29.95 | Aug. 15, 2023

9780691158389

A quantitative assessment of political rumors in the U.S. and proposals to manage them.

Berinsky, founding director of the MIT Political Experiments Research Lab, delves into the transmission of and widespread belief in political claims that are both unsupported and tinged with “a conspiratorial edge.” QAnon conspiracies, Trump’s mantra of a stolen presidential election, and the claim that Obama’s health policy includes “death panels” are only the most pernicious. For centuries, political discourse has entailed bending, breaking, and suppressing the truth in order to shape

“A disturbing, insightful book about China’s hidden, multitiered war and how the West can fight back.”

beijing rules

make this a nonfiction summer

Round out your summer reading lists with these 10 noteworthy titles.

In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey in Italy by Jeff Biggers (Melville House, May 16): This is no straightforward travel guide. Biggers creates a rich narrative tapestry that brings Sardinia into clearer focus, resulting in a “fascinating journey” that is “neither holiday postcard nor dry ancient history,” our reviewer said.

Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas by Jesse Cole with Don Yaeger (Dutton, May 16): Few things feel more like summer than baseball. In this entertaining book, Cole regales us with tales from his wacky semiprofessional team, the Savannah Bananas. The author wanted “a squad that would do for baseball what the Harlem Globetrotters did for basketball,” and he made it happen.

Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny (Norton, May 23): Millions of people visit the Grand Canyon every year, but few know the story of the women botanists who cataloged its flora. Sevigny enlightens us with this dual biography, which also serves as a lesson in how “women in science still face challenges, stereotypes, and barriers,” according to our review.

Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop: A Memoir by Alba Donati, trans. by Elena Pala (Scribner, May 30): What bibliophile hasn’t dreamed of opening an independent bookstore? In 2019, Donati did just that, and this book is a delightful chronicle of the many ups and downs of the business. As our critic wrote, “Readers beware: will cause the irresistible desire to open a small bookstore.”

The Last Action Heroes: The Triumphs, Flops, and Feuds of Hollywood’s Kings of Carnage by Nick de Semlyen (Crown, June 6): Summer is the season for blockbusters, and de Semlyen offers a warm homage to action movies and the people who make them, creating what our critic calls “a joyful romp featuring larger-than-life characters, iconic movies, and plenty of behind-the-scenes info.”

American Journey: On the Road With Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and John Burroughs by Wes Davis (Norton, June 6): In a unique take on the classic road trip adventure tale, says our critic, “Davis…portrays the touching friendships that sprang up among automobile tycoon Henry Ford, naturalist John Burroughs, [and] inventor Thomas Edison…as they explor[ed] parts of rural America that had been largely inaccessible.”

What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman (Penguin Press, June 13): Ackerman is a fine guide to all things ornithological, and in this follow-up to The Bird Way, she turns her skillful eye to the mysterious lives of owls, creating a book “to please any lover of immersive treks into the lives of birds,” our reviewer says.

100 Places To See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife by Ken Jennings (Scribner, June 13): The ultimate Jeopardy! champion is back with another fun, quirky book packed with interesting facts and stories. Our critic calls this one “an entertaining, amusing collection of a wide variety of visions of the afterlife.”

Beastly: The 40,000-Year Story of Animals and Us by Keggie Carew (Abrams, July 18): In what our critic describes as “a compelling mixture of memoir, history of human dealings with animals, and accounts of human-animal relations today,” British nature writer Carew investigates centuries of interactions between humans and other animals.

The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey (Doubleday, Aug. 1): Few areas on Earth are as unexplored as the bottoms of the oceans. Casey takes us down on a captivating journey, and I’m confident in our critic’s assessment that “readers will be thrilled by the author’s descriptions of truly bizarre sights and creatures as well as dazzling archaeological treasures.”

Eric Liebetrau is the nonfiction and managing editor.

Leah Overstreet

perceptions and attract constituents. Indeed, political rumors are “nothing new in the American experience.” Drawing on public opinion surveys, Berinsky finds that rumors are “the toxic marriage of political beliefs and conspiratorial orientation.” They thrive on repetition and ripple outward from creators to believers to the uncertain and to disbelievers. Though both Republicans and Democrats trade in rumors, “more rumors are in circulation on the right than there are on the left,” and Republicans are less assertive in their denials. Although people who are more politically engaged and informed are “more likely to reject rumors of all partisan stripes,” the effects of fact-checking, a widely adopted prescription, are limited and temporary. “Lies, false narratives, and ‘alternative facts’ can... taint faith in the political system,” Berinsky warns, and he proposes a medley of responses, of mixed quality. At the top of his list is mobilizing “the power of unlikely sources”—i.e., individuals who might be damaged by speaking against the rumor. He also suggests regulating the information ecosystem (particularly online media), pressuring political elites who fail to denounce rumors, and inoculating the public through education in critical thinking skills. His conclusion: “It may be easier to make a rumor stronger than it is to make [it] go away.”

A carefully considered, largely pessimistic dive into the academic research on toxic political misinformation.

THE MALE GAZED On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me About (Desiring) Men

Betancourt, Manuel Catapult (208 pp.)

$26.00 | May 30, 2023

9781646221462

A queer journalist ponders how pop culture has informed his views of masculinity. In this absorbing fusion of memoir and cultural analysis, media critic Betancourt examines his boyhood in Colombia. He was obsessed with Disney films like Sleeping Beauty and Hercules, identifying with the female roles while staring desirously at the “bulging pecs and towering torsos” of the male heroes. These movies, he writes, offered “glimmers of possibility about what kind of man I wanted. And what kind of man I wanted to be.” Since Betancourt’s mother ran an animation studio in Bogotá, his access to animated media became an integral part of his youth, informing how he thought about himself then and now as a 30-something gay man. The ways men were portrayed in film and TV were integral to his teenage years, when Betancourt “daydreamed about the way men’s bodies on screens made me feel.” The feelings continued in college as he relished books by John Rechy and James Baldwin. Enrolled in a private school known for its bilingual educational program, Betancourt learned about American high school customs by watching childhood favorites like Saved by the Bell. As a teenager of divorced parents, he became enthralled with telenovelas and the “decidedly modern provocation” of Hombres. The author

recognized early on that homosexuality and masculinity were intertwined and greatly scrutinized, as the “visibility of one came at the expense of the other.” Writing throughout with an affable, conversational tone, Betancourt explores the power of the cape, as evidenced in a fond profile of flamboyant Puerto Rican astrologer Walter Mercado, and discusses the smoldering allure of Ricky Martin. Male physical fetishization in visual media further pushed the boundaries of his sexual identity, and the author candidly reveals a coming-of-age period in which he finally embraced the power of his own voice.

A witty, educated, and entertaining analysis of the development of a writer’s queer desire.

young adult

NARCAS

The Secret Rise of Women in Latin America’s Cartels

Bonello, Deborah Beacon Press (224 pp.)

$27.95 | July 25, 2023

9780807007044

An evenhanded look at notorious women drug runners in Latin American cartels.

As a feminist journalist, Bonello, Mexico City–based senior editor for Latin America at VICE World News, is acutely aware of gender stereotypes held by both the drug cartels as well as the mostly male journalists who cover the narcos and don’t question those stereotypes. “The patriarchy of the cartels seems very real,” she writes, “but to assume women don’t have a capacity for violence or a thirst for power and status is just another narrow gender stereotype that grossly misunderstands and underestimates women and their role in the social

order.” Bonello finds that the women she profiles (mostly now in prison) largely come from poor backgrounds with few job opportunities. Most got involved in drug cartels because of male family members, and they found that they enjoyed the thrill of the work. In brief chapters, the author describes the lives of a variety of fascinating characters, including Honduran Digna Valle, the matriarch in the Valle family cocaine cartel, which moves drugs from Guatemala to the U.S. Arrested in 2018, she evidently informed on her family members and got a relatively light sentence. “Women have been movers and shakers in the narco business since the drug war began,” writes the author, and she looks into new research into María Dolores Estévez Zuleta, aka Lola “La Chata,” an early Mexican cartel leader; women involved in the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs; and Emma Coronel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s wife. “She must have known from the day in 2007,” writes Bonello, “when she first met El Chapo on a dusty ranch dance floor in the tiny town of Canelas, when she was a seventeen-year-old aspiring beauty queen, that she might one day be the most famous woman in Sinaloa.” Throughout this intriguing text, the author busts the myth that these narcas are mere victims.

An eye-opening work of journalism that largely avoids glamorizing its subjects’ criminal activity.

TOO HOT Kool & the Gang & Me

Brown, George Chicago Review Press (256 pp.)

$28.99 | July 11, 2023

9781641609180

A founding member of Kool & the Gang shares the story of the group’s rise from the streets of Jersey City to international acclaim.

As drummer and a songwriter for the veteran funk/soul band, Brown (b. 1949) hasn’t been as much in the spotlight as some of the singers and other instrumentalists. However, he is the only member other than Robert “Kool” Bell who was there at the beginning and is still there. Brown calls his book “a cautionary tale, a fantastical narrative of fortune and fame, but one that came at a price,” and he shows how the quest for success can lead to marital problems, band tensions, management issues, substance abuse, and all sorts of touring hijinks. He discusses the period in the 1980s when the other members thought he had attitude problems as well as more recent times, when he has been off the road for health concerns (including a recent cancer scare). Yet he leaves no doubt that he loves what he feels he was born to do, and the rewards have well outweighed the risks. His story seems more inspirational than cautionary, showing how some musically inclined friends and family came together and stayed together. They started as more of a jazz group and sharpened those chops but then broadened their appeal via R&B, funk, disco, and singalong anthems such as “Celebration.” Along the way, Brown has met and toured with a host of luminaries—Marvin Gaye, Elton John, Van Halen—and he drops their names throughout

spellbinding memoir.”

the narrative without offering much in the way of illumination. Similarly, we learn of band troubles without specifics about their causes—except for the departure of lead singer James “J.T.” Taylor. “Though it might have looked perfect from the outside,” he writes, “navigating the inner workings of a musical juggernaut like Kool & the Gang demanded a herculean amount of compromise and concessions.”

A sanitized version of the familiar sex, drugs, and stardom tale.

EVERYTHING/ NOTHING/SOMEONE A Memoir

Carrière, Alice Spiegel & Grau (288 pp.)

$27.00 | Aug. 29, 2023

9781954118294

A memoir of mental illness from the daughter of actor Mathieu Carrière and artist Jennifer Bartlett.

Alice Carrière’s childhood was underscored by the wealth, power, and notoriety of her parents along with the idiosyncrasies and aloofness that these markers often confer. In her literary debut, she establishes the push and pull of her mother, father, and beloved Nanny, “the British governess paid to raise me,” a motherly figure “who could be fired and disappear at any moment.” Each struggled with their own backgrounds of trauma, from indoctrination in perverse cultural movements to up-close encounters with suicide. The

inheritance of these scars—and the attendant distance and inappropriateness—contributed to the author’s mental illness, which included self-harm, first inflicted at age 7. “With a tiny, shiny blade I learned I could unlock a doorway that led to a place that was entirely my own, even if I could only stay there for a moment within those seconds of pain,” she recalls. Throughout this visceral text, the author propels readers forward with the gut-wrenching descriptions of her struggles and how they were exacerbated by the lack of a recognizable support system. Meanwhile, she artfully establishes an equally disturbing undercurrent: the sucker punch of egregious malpractice to which she was subjected by a series of doctors who overprescribed a number of powerful drugs and mismanaged therapy sessions. It can be difficult to ignore the advantages of Carrière’s privilege— e.g., lengthy stays at expensive inpatient facilities, the ability to drop in and out of elite universities—but her artistic prowess and determination to unearth and interpret the true narrative arc of her life and healing shine through. “Things only became real when they were turned into language,” she writes, and “that language was often the only thing left when that reality fell

apart.” This book is the exemplification of that ideal, rendering real and poignant her experience—both material and interior— in stunning prose.

A spellbinding memoir.

EXPLAINING LIFE THROUGH EVOLUTION

Chakrabarty, Prosanta

MIT Press (280 pp.)

$22.95 paper | Aug. 8, 2023

9780262546256

A fine short overview of evolution. Chakrabarty, a professor of evolutionary biology and curator of fishes at LSU, urges readers to approach his argument in favor of evolution with an open mind and, if they disagree, to seek good evidence from a trustworthy source. Like many popular science writers, he seems unaware that that is not how most humans reason. Confronted with facts, people with a deeply held false belief rarely change their minds, so few evolution disbelievers are likely to take him up on it. After the traditional earnest introduction, Chakrabarty gives a well-informed account that should refresh the knowledge of curious readers and convince those with open minds. The beginning emphasizes that Darwin was not the first to propose that life evolved, and his explanation of its mechanism was full of gaps that were not filled in for another century. What his earthshaking book On the Origin of Species contained was overwhelming evidence that evolution was actually happening. Chakrabarty moves on to fill in the gaps with discussions of Mendel’s basic genetics, the discovery of mutation and recombination after 1900, how species form, and the discovery and operation of DNA by midcentury. The author also investigates the so-called scientific evidence supporting racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination. These “misguided” ideas, he writes, have “led some people to argue that white men are at the top of the evolutionary ladder, a convenient argument to enslave people of ‘lesser’ races or to keep the womenfolk at home barefoot and pregnant.” The author concludes with a fictional dialogue with a creationist. Despite repeated defeats in the courts and legendary humiliation in the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, American anti-evolutionists are thriving. Local school boards feel their pressure, so this book is a superb gift for a teenager fascinated by science but frustrated at the careful, abbreviated approach to evolution they are likely to encounter in high school biology class.

Good music unlikely to be appreciated beyond the choir.

I MUST BE DREAMING

Chast, Roz

Bloomsbury (128 pp.)

$28.00 | Oct. 24, 2023

9781620403228

The renowned cartoonist taps into Freud, Jung, and Kabbalah to discuss what happens when the head hits the pillow.

Chast, famed New Yorker cartoonist and winner of the inaugural Kirkus Prize for Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? makes it clear that while your own dreams may be inherently interesting, listening to other’ dreams is markedly not. Thankfully, the author’s thumbnail depictions of dreams that span a cross section of her bedside dream journal bring just enough humor and wit for readers to be charmed instantly. “This book is dedicated to the Dream District of our brains,” writes the author, “that weird and uncolonized area where anything can happen, from the sublime to the mundane to the ridiculous to the off-the-charts bats.”

Familiar classics—“alone at a party,” “teeth falling out”—sit alongside the bizarre and hilarious—e.g., “too many birds not enough cages.” Even actor Wallace Shawn, son of former New Yorker editor William Shawn, makes an appearance: “He and I were walking down Main Street in a town in Connecticut and I needed to point something out to him: ‘Look, It’s a Broccoli Patch!’ ” From “Recurring Dreams” to “Nightmares” to “Dream Fragments or Ones That Got Away,” Chast explores beyond the first blush of the strange and personal in dreams. She writes, “here’s what’s interesting: dreams come out of my brain…as I sleep, I am creating them…so why, as they unfold, am I always so surprised?!??” The author reaches for answers beyond Freud and Jung to a wider range of insights from Kabbalah, Aristotle, neuroscientists, molecular biologists, and more. Illustrations and visual storytelling weave together a broad range of content on dreams that offers insight while never feeling burdensome or overly analytical. Easy on the eyes and witty, this book will have readers reaching for their own dream journals. A sharp compendium of dreamy visions that could only have come from the iconic cartoonist’s sleeping mind.

“A sharp compendium of dreamy visions that could only have come from the iconic cartoonist’s sleeping mind.”

i must be dreaming

Santi Elijah Holley

A journalist revisits the heyday of the Black liberation movement—and its aftermath—in An Amerikan Family

BY TOM BEER

While rapper Tupac Shakur, who was killed in 1996 at the age of 25, is an iconic figure still widely remembered today, his family background and heritage are lesser known. Yet at one time, the Shakur family was at the center of the Black liberation movement of the 1960s and ’70s, and Assata Shakur—Tupac’s stepaunt—became legendary as a fugitive from justice who sought asylum in Cuba and wrote a deeply political autobiography. Journalist Santi Elijah Holley aims to expand our knowledge of this radical clan with his new book, An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created (Mariner, May 23). In a starred review, our critic wrote, “Well written and richly detailed, this book is a strong contribution to the literature of Black militancy.” Holley, 41, has written for the Guardian, the Atlantic, the New Republic, and the Economist; he spoke with us over Zoom from his home in Los Angeles. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

To start with, who were the Shakurs?

The Shakur family was not a family in the traditional sense, the way that we think about a biological family where every-

body’s related. They’re more of a collective, a group of individuals who have all adopted this name for themselves. Some are part of the original family, but others either married in or just wanted to align themselves. They were serious, they were intelligent; they were also very loving and kind and welcoming. They were like the royalty of Black liberation in the U.S., and they worked in various parts of the movement, whether the Black Panthers or the Republic of New Afrika or the Black Liberation Army. By taking the Shakur name they were asserting their commitment to the cause.

What drew you to their story?

It’s the same thing that will draw a lot of people: Tupac Shakur. I’ve been a longtime Tupac fan. But in recent years, as a journalist reporting on social justice issues, I’ve learned about other Shakur family members: Mutulu Shakur, his stepfather; Afeni, his mother; Assata. And that made me come back to Tupac’s lyrics and realize how much he thought about issues of police brutality, social injustice, and poverty. He didn’t just come out of nowhere. I really wanted to show the family that he was raised in, the community that helped to raise him.

Afeni and Assata are figures who really stand out in the book, especially in a very male-dominated movement. I didn’t actually know much about Afeni going in, and I was surprised by how much she became the hero of the story. She had a rough background, and when she discovered the Black Panther Party, it was a place for her, she would say, to channel all of her rage, and she did it constructively, helping people. There’s a lot of complaints, even at the time, of the Black Panther Party being chauvinist. This was Assata’s complaint, too; it was why she left, because there were a lot of clashing male egos—these powerful, megalomaniacal figures like Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver. Afeni and Assata, I think, were celebrated because they weren’t that. They proved to be great leaders. They were just in it for the work; they saw what needed to be done, and they wanted to do it.

Vikesh Kapoor

Afeni even acted as her own attorney during the Panther 21 trial in 1970-71, when members of the Black Panther Party were charged with a series of planned attacks. She had no previous legal experience, but it worked out pretty well: She was acquitted.

All the people I talked to say the same thing: that Afeni was brilliant and forceful, but she was also very stubborn, and she didn’t accept anybody else doing things for her. She didn’t like who was representing her interests at trial? She was like, I’m gonna do it myself. Why not? She just had to just figure it out on the fly.

So much of the Shakur story is told through police records and legal proceedings—they faced a lot of serious charges, including the murder of policemen. At the same time, we know they were targeted by misinformation and infiltration campaigns like the FBI’s COINTELPRO. Was it difficult, as a researcher and reporter, to piece together what happened?

You know, I never tried to be a historian, where I’m stating things as facts. I’m stating the records of what [the Shakurs] were accused of, why the authorities pursued them. Those things are undebatable. Whether or not they did these things, whether or not they’re guilty of certain things they’re accused of, for the most part I tried to stand back from that. I didn’t want to accuse; I also didn’t want to justify anybody’s behavior. I’m presenting the stories that are there—what they were fighting for and what they were up against—and making a narrative from it, more of a documenter rather than a historian.

You dedicate a chapter to the detox program at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, where Mutulu Shakur helped establish a regimen to treat drug addicts with acupuncture. Why was that important?

We think about these activists and organizers as advocating for self-defense in the community or maybe the free breakfasts for schoolchildren, but they were committed to community health care. This was one of those quieter things that they did. They saw a need, and any way they could address that need, without formal training and without permission, they would just teach themselves how to do these things, including how to use acupuncture to help people detox from heroin and methadone.

It was important to have that in the center of the book, because the family came together in this beautiful moment and then influenced something that we still feel today. There are thousands of people across the world who use acupuncture to quit drugs and [treat] withdrawal symptoms. I wanted to show that this came from a radical lit-

tle collective in the South Bronx, spearheaded by Mutulu Shakur, Tupac’s stepfather. It’s such an under-the-radar, uncelebrated thing that we still benefit from but don’t really know where it came from, you know?

By contrast, a lot has been written about Tupac’s brief life. Is there anything you learned about him in researching the book that surprised you?

I didn’t know that he was chairman of the New African Panthers, which was a youth organization that wanted to carry on the work of the Black Panther Party. Tupac was very, very close to leaving music behind—he wasn’t getting anywhere with it. He was going to leave it all behind and be a New African Panther leader. And at the last minute, he got a deal from [the Oakland-based rap group] Digital Underground to be a dancer and a roadie. So he took that, just to get his foot in the door, and then took off from there. But if things didn’t work out for him, he was going to go in a whole different direction.

But even to say it’s a different direction isn’t really accurate, because he got into music thinking that it would be a vehicle for him to get this message out to more people. He was still going to be an activist, but through his music. But then as his career progressed and he got sucked into the music industry, he started to have two minds—social justice, but I need money to feed my family and I like the fame and the riches. Through his whole life, he was toggling between the two, just a very contradictory and conflicted individual.

An Amerikan Family received a starred review in the April 1, 2023, issue.

SURVIVOR INJUSTICE State-Sanctioned Abuse, Domestic Violence, and the Fight for Bodily Autonomy

Cheung, Kylie North Atlantic (352 pp.)

$19.95 paper | Aug. 15, 2023

9781623179083

A comprehensive analysis of how American systems deny survivors of gender-based violence justice, comfort, and power.

According to Jezebel staff writer Cheung, a survivor of sexual assault, domestic violence has long been considered a “private” and “apolitical” matter created and perpetuated by violent individuals. However, the author argues convincingly that the opposite is true. In reality, every aspect of America’s political system—from the Senate, which grants disproportionate power to states with the highest rates of domestic abuse, to

direct and indirect suppression of survivors’ attempts to vote and the rampant criminalization and subsequent incarceration of survivors—imbues abusers with power and denies survivors the ability to participate in the most basic aspects of democracy. The silencing of these critical voices has serious consequences for the safety of all survivors. Cheung documents how survivors are forced to co-parent with their rapists or lose custody of their children to their abuser, enforced in the courts of judges often appointed by presidents with their own histories as abusers. She also discusses how economic insecurity often keeps survivors in abusive relationships, a pattern reinforced by gendered wage gaps that particularly affect women of color. “Domestic violence, in fact, is not just political,” writes the author, “but quite literally a feature and consequence of greater systems of state violence: State and interpersonal violence are inseparable from each other, feeding each other in an endless cycle. Capitalist policies allow domestic abuse to thrive. Denied living wages and universal health care, many women are entrapped in abusive relationships because their abuser provides them health insurance, shelter, or money in general, and the state does not.” Cheung’s potent analysis, deep research, and compulsively readable prose coalesce into a refreshingly new, significant approach to ending domestic abuse. She is incredibly adept at blending anecdotal and statistical evidence into a clear global picture of a shockingly disturbing reality.

An astonishingly original, powerfully honest vision for true survivor justice.

SUMMER OF HAMN Hollowpointlessness Aiding Mass Nihilism

Chuck D

Enemy Books/Akashic (240 pp.)

$19.95 paper | Oct. 3, 2023

9781636141527

With his latest work of graphic nonfiction, Chuck D uses his art and hip-hop rhymes to show how the U.S. has been held hostage by gun violence and a growing sense of hopelessness.

Unlike the sprawling yet powerful collection Stewdio, which tried to make sense of the chaos of the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic, the author’s latest has a tight focus and engaging structure. The Public Enemy frontman draws impressionistic portraits of news events and then crafts a rhyme to explain it. “At every turn this summer, so much visible hate… Salman Rushdie…is bum rushed and stabbed on stage in Western New York State,” he writes to accompany a poignant sketch of the incident, including the looks of horror from the audience. The bulk of the events Chuck D chronicles are shootings—at a convenience store in California and a shopping mall in Ohio, or the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe—and the continuing disastrous effects of climate change, including flooding in Las Vegas and Texas. This is heavy material, but just as Flavor Flav provided enough levity to balance

“An astonishingly original, powerfully honest vision for true survivor justice.”

survivor injustice

the hard-hitting subject matter of Public Enemy’s albums, Chuck D’s outside interests—basketball, space exploration, and, of course, hip-hop—lighten the mood enough to keep readers moving through this compelling narrative. Few recaps of the summer of 2022 would include drought’s effect on Lake Mead, a critique of Ye’s fashion designs for The Gap, and the importance of the trade of the Utah Jazz’s Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers. But that’s how Chuck D’s fascinating mind works, and this chronicle of his interests is both brilliant and relatable. He closes with a poignant plea: “Indian summer awaits to cool down the heat and the hate…Protect your fam this fall…The end of hamn.”

A focused, fresh, urgent text filled with pictures worth 1,000 words and rhymes worth thousands more.

NOT JUST FOR THE BOYS Why We Need More Women in Science

Donald, Athene Oxford Univ. (304 pp.)

$22.99 | May 11, 2023

9780192893406

An insider’s portrayal of the many reasons why women are underrepresented in science.

Early in the book, Donald, emeritus professor of experimental physics and former Gender Equality Champion at the University of Cambridge, poses a wonderfully pointed question: “Can you think of a female scientist?” Many people can name only one: Marie Curie. This collective ignorance illustrates the numerous factors that discourage girls from pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Biosciences aside, women are “typically well below 50%” in the STEM disciplines.

the injustice of place

Even when they earn doctorates, they are less likely than men to continue or rise to senior positions in labs or at universities. “It isn’t ability that’s stopping them,” dampening their aspirations, and wasting their talents. Donald acknowledges some progress while noting the persistence of cultural attitudes that assume math is too difficult for girls, exclude stories of accomplished women scientists in textbooks and the mass media, and deny girls the toys that encourage scientific curiosity. In their careers, women encounter workplace harassment and find their ideas coopted by men. Support for having a family while staying sufficiently engaged in the field, moreover, is still inadequate. As the author points out, “domesticity remains widely seen as the woman’s preserve more than the man’s.” Donald dreams of a field that offers “opportunity for everybody to make career choices that are best for them, not what other people’s expectations force upon them.” Providing affordable child care, ensuring that women (and other minorities) are represented on hiring committees, and making career ladders more manageable will benefit women and enable a much-needed diversity of perspectives. Being a scientist also involves personal traits such as curiosity, confidence, and persistence. However, these traits are often defeated by institutional biases that thwart even the most dedicated girls and women.

A sharp indictment of male privilege and an urgent appeal for a more inclusive practice of science.

MOM RAGE The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood

Dubin, Minna

Seal Press (256 pp.)

$29.00 | Sept. 19, 2023

9781541601307

A systemic analysis of why femaleidentified parents often feel “mom rage.” Dubin begins by recalling how the publication of her essay on parenting-related anger in the New York Times changed her life. Her choice to “say the unsayable” spurred an unexpected barrage of responses from mothers who had also experienced exactly what she described. As a result of these messages, she writes, “I felt my own shame unhook. I began to move into a place of questioning.” Dubin then began conducting extensive research, which uncovered the many reasons why mothers—a term that applies to “my fellow queers and my nonbinary and trans readers”—have every right to their mom rage, “an anger so hot it is blinding.” Dubin begins with the American cultural idea that “motherhood is the best job a woman can have,” and she points out that mothers must often sacrifice their health and identities to properly raise their children. She continues by critiquing a host of failures in American policy, including the lack of mandatory paternity leave, affordable child care, and preschool as well as the wage system that raises fathers’ salaries while lowering those of mothers. She ends with a series of ways loved ones can support overworked, emotionally taxed mothers and recommendations for systemic

change. At its best, this book is a cleareyed analysis of the intricate web of cultural and political challenges that make femaleidentified parenting nearly impossible. Occasionally, Dubin loses sight of this argument, focusing instead on individual responses that locate the problem in the parents rather than the systems that oppress them. Overall, though, the author writes with humor, vulnerability, and a level of expertise that shape her narrative into a nuanced and convincing argument for justice.

A trenchant analysis of the ways in which society renders modern motherhood emotionally impossible.

THE INJUSTICE OF PLACE Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America

Edin, Kathryn J., H. Luke Shaefer & Timothy J. Nelson

Mariner Books (352 pp.)

$29.99 | Aug. 8, 2023

9780063239494

Disturbing analysis of the persistent, surprising connection between poverty and place.

Edin, Shaefer, and Nelson developed this ambitious, revealing project in a roundabout way, following a prior collaboration examining family-centered poverty (Edin and Shaefer’s $2.00 a Day): “We wondered: Why were so few of our colleagues studying whole communities? Why weren’t we?” In 2019, they started embedding researchers to conduct immersive interviews in “Appalachia, South Texas, and the vast southern Cotton Belt running across seven states.” The isolation of the pandemic also turned the authors toward historical research, and a post-pandemic, 14-state “road trip” to see these places underscored the complexity encoded in unraveling narratives of “place-based disadvantage.” The problem persists, they argue, because of long-term, secretive webs of corporate control, rooted in sudden innovations in resource extraction that immediately require exploitation of mass human labor. “In place after place,” they write, “we discovered astonishing stories about the industries that fueled the rise of our nation, the workers who sustained them, and the histories of human suffering they wrought.” Unsurprisingly, “while some of these were majority-white, many, indeed most, were rural communities of color.” The authors vividly establish narrative and place by organizing the discussion into key subtopics, including the persistence of violence and political corruption. Despite this bleak focus on the human consequences in lived environments, they muster some optimism, talking to activist residents and offering suggestions, including an end to separate but unequal schooling and a recommitment to addressing violence and isolation via social mobility and restoration of public spaces. The collaborative writing is polished and clear, blending dynamic narrative detail and well-organized argument along with the plaintive voices of interviewees. “Great wealth was extracted from these regions in the form of raw materials that fueled not

“A powerful, alarming portrayal of how poverty remains entrenched in unfairly forgotten places across America.”

only national but global markets,” write the authors. “Yet from the start, these were also the places in the nation with the most inequality, severe poverty, ill health, and limited mobility.”

A powerful, alarming portrayal of how poverty remains entrenched in unfairly forgotten places across America.

AND DON’T F&%K IT UP!

An Oral History of RuPaul’s Drag Race (The First Ten Years)

Fernandez, Maria Elena

Grand Central Publishing (496 pp.)

$30.00 | June 6, 2023

9781538717660

A retrospective of the first decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race, from the voices of those who made it a standout success. While working for the Los Angeles Times, Fernandez was the

first mainstream journalist allowed on set for the show’s first season, and her entertaining report encompasses a decade of insider details from the award-winning series. The origin story intertwines with contestant gossip, competitive tension, and over-the-top melodrama, all of which demonstrate the evolution of the show from its initial “classic counterculture” aesthetic to a cultural juggernaut. Delving into gay history, the author describes drag’s important Wigstock era, which proved formative to drag queens nationwide, including RuPaul, whose then-persona morphed from “Black hooker Soul Train dancer” to “supermodel.” The heart of the text lies in the candid, witty commentary of show producers, queens, judges, and RuPaul himself, as each shares memorable moments from the first 10 seasons. Several Drag Race alumni spotlight iconic moments fans will recognize— e.g., Vanessa Vanjie Mateo’s Season 10 runway elimination walk, Jinkx Monsoon’s Little Edie Snatch Game impersonation, Willam’s “juicy moment” disqualification, and Valentina’s masked lipsync challenge, all of which went on to become viral sensations. Other contestants offer more meditative perspectives. Season 9 winner Sasha Velour reflects on her emotional connection to

“Briggs led an eventful and fascinating life – he discovered a world of art and culture studying at the University of Heidelberg after he left the Army and became a very successful businessman after returning to the United States.”

A renaissance man – Top gun in his tank battalion, White House Fellowship, managing a campaign with Paul Newman, sending John Denver to the USSR, Wall Street rainmaker, blue-ribbon shag dancer, friendship with Sting, Proust aficionado, National Park Service “Volunteer of the Year” for 16-year care of the Lincoln Memorial.

- KIRKUS REVIEWS, 2023

“ This is a touching memoir, personally candid and philosophically re ective. ”

into the bright sunshine

drag; Season 3 contestant Raja remains nostalgic for the spontaneous, exploratory, “no receipt” rawness of what drag used to be; and Season 1’s Rebecca Glasscock admits that drag gave them the courage to resist suicidal urges. Though the contributors embody diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and outward appearances (both in and out of drag), their symbiotic relationships are vividly captured as they evolved on screen. As the art of drag has recently become a major part of a particularly difficult political moment, retrospectives like this one reiterate its critical, long-standing role in the LGBTQ+ community.

A commemorative celebration and a must-have for fans.

INTO THE BRIGHT SUNSHINE

Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights Freedman, Samuel G. Oxford Univ. (504 pp.)

$34.95 | July 14, 2023

9780197535196

A vigorous history of Hubert Humphrey’s many contributions to liberal politics, especially with respect to civil rights.

As Columbia journalism professor Freedman notes, Humphrey’s star has long been descending, and few remember him today. Humphrey himself remarked that the cause was simple: “I think the misjudgment of Vietnam.” Despite misgivings, Humphrey supported Lyndon Johnson’s conduct of the war, and he threw his lot in with Johnson’s efforts to secure civil rights—and especially voting rights—for Black Americans and other minority members. In this welcome rehabilitation, the author clearly shows how Humphrey had long been a strong advocate of civil rights, and as a graduate student in Louisiana, the Minnesotan had ample opportunity to study the corrosive effects of racism firsthand. As mayor of Minneapolis, he pushed through reforms to end anti-Black and anti-Jewish covenants and other mechanisms of discrimination. At the 1948 Democratic convention, he argued for a civil rights platform in the face of a party dominated by Southern Democrats. Moreover, though he fought that faction, Humphrey observed that no part of the country was immune to racism, and unlike many others, “he recognized the Northern brand of Jim Crow.” Humphrey delivered a smashing victory to Harry Truman that, by securing more than 75% of the Black vote, meant that the Democrats could win nationally without the Southern electorate. The Dixiecrats repaid the favor by stalling bills that Humphrey, a freshman in the Senate, had introduced to outlaw lynching and create a Civil Rights Commission. He made good on his own views by hiring the first Black American to serve on a senatorial staff. Still, even after decades in politics, when Humphrey returned to the Senate following his time as vice president, his full employment bill “had been rattling around Congress for three years already and was still stuck in committee,” precisely because Humphrey was so weakened politically.

A strong step in rehabilitating Humphrey’s image as a practical politician and civil rights activist.

TRUMAN AND THE BOMB The Untold Story

Giangreco, D.M.

Potomac Books (272 pp.)

$34.95 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781640120730

A document-grounded argument that Harry Truman made the right decision by dropping the atomic bomb.

Military historian Giangreco rejects the claim, by “revisionist historians,” that “none of the options explored by President Truman and his contemporaries—atom bomb, invasion, or both—was warranted.” The underlying premise of that idea was that Japan was preparing to surrender, which Giangreco further rejects. He argues that Japan was prepared to resist to the last with a still-powerful army, as well as that American losses in the event of an invasion could exceed the estimate of 1,000,000 that has often been cited. The planks of Giangreco’s case are repetitive but painstakingly laid out, and the author pursues several topics around which historical and popular controversy have formed. One, following Truman’s own memoirs, concerns his supposed ignorance of the Manhattan Project and its implications. Although he needed to be brought up to speed, a memorandum from Secretary of War Henry Stimson indicates that he was fully briefed on the matters. A second topic is the involvement of the Soviet Union, which declared war on Japan late in 1945—and which, thanks to a little-reported lend-lease program, was preparing to use American amphibious craft to invade northern Japan “before their embattled comrades in the Maritime Provinces and the port of Vladivostok finally ran out of bullets, borscht, and men.” The most important documents involve those casualty figures, and by Giangreco’s account, they support his often stated contention that the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima saved millions of lives—not just Americans, who were suffering losses in conventional warfare of some 65,000 “killed, wounded, and missing each and every month during the ‘casualty surge’ of June 1944 to June 1945,” but also as many as 20 million Japanese.

An arguable but handy reference for students of world history and the war in the Pacific.

“A strong step in rehabilitating Humphrey’s image as a practical politician and civil rights activist.”

breaking through depression

TANGLED VINES Power, Privilege, and the Murdaugh Family Murders

Glatt, John St. Martin’s (320 pp.)

$30.00 | Aug. 8, 2023

9781250283481

A comprehensive entry into the mountain of media surrounding a prominent recent murder trial.

In his latest true-crime book, veteran writer Glatt turns his attention to Richard Alexander Murdaugh, the scion of a powerful South Carolina legal family. The author traces the storied dynasty back to Murdaugh’s great-great-great-grandfather, who was born in Islandton, South Carolina, in 1793. It was that ancestor’s son who became the first lawyer in the family, opening a one-man law practice in Hampton County in 1910. Glatt ably brings us through the next century, during which the Murdaugh name became synonymous with the local judicial system. He explains how “three generations of Murdaughs had served as [the region’s] solicitors (called district attorneys in all other states), turning it into a family business,” while simultaneously operating their own highly lucrative private law firm. By the time Murdaugh graduated from law school in 1994, new state laws made it illegal for solicitors to also practice civil law. Consequently, he joined the family law firm, then called PMPED, which specialized in “personal injury cases for the little man.” Murdaugh enjoyed great success and social standing until 2019, when his teenage son, Paul, drunkenly drove a boat into a bridge, killing Mallory Beach, his 19-year-old friend. In June 2021, Murdaugh found his wife and Paul shot to death at his massive hunting estate, the double murder for which he would later be convicted (though that trial is beyond the scope of this book). Later that year, Murdaugh was fired from PMPED for stealing millions of dollars of funds from his own clients. The so-called “Murdaugh Murders” have spawned a virtual cottage industry of content, from podcasts to a Netflix docuseries, and it’s hard to see what Glatt, though he capably catalogs all the relevant events, offers that’s unique. Ultimately, the narrative feels like a book-length Wikipedia article.

An exhaustive, uninspired work of true crime.

BREAKING THROUGH DEPRESSION A Guide to the Next Generation of Promising Research and Revolutionary New Treatments

Gold, Philip William

Twelve (272 pp.)

$30.00 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781538724613

A leader in the field explains how the nightmare of depression is slowly being overcome.

Gold, who has worked at the National Institutes of Health since the mid-1970s, is an acclaimed expert in the treatment of depressive disorders. In this book, he looks ahead to an emerging generation of remedies. The author estimates that 15%-20% of the population suffer from depression in some form. For decades, depression was seen as an illness to be treated by psychiatric methods, but the past 20 years have seen the emphasis shift to biology. Health professionals now view depression as a neurodegenerative disease associated with the loss of tissue in key parts of the brain, resulting in chemical imbalances and synaptic failures. In particular, Gold believes that depression represents a stress response that has gone awry. Working from this premise, scientists have designed new drugs to help the brain rebuild pathways and repair damaged tissue. There is the possibility of treatments customized to the needs of different patients, and early research is promising. The author tracks the history of antidepressants, drawing on cases and clinical studies, including ones in which he was personally involved. Drugs like psilocybin and ketamine are now being used, and they have the advantage of taking effect quickly. Another area of research is targeted electrical stimulation of the brain, including repeated magnetic pulses. Researchers are also investigating the genetic aspects of depression, which might open the way for gene therapy and drugs to build resilience. Gold emphasizes that he is not against psychiatric treatment. In fact, he sees psychotherapy and biochemical therapy in combination as the most effective way to treat depression. The book could easily have become bogged down in technical jargon, but the author writes accessibly, making the book an informative, enjoyable read.

A fascinating look at a debilitating malady and the new wave of thinking and treatments.

A

POCKETFUL OF HAPPINESS

Grant, Richard E.

Simon & Schuster (352 pp.)

$28.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781668030691

A memorial to a cherished wife.

After emigrating from Swaziland to London in 1982, actor Grant met dialect coach Joan Washington and fell in love; in 1986, they married. A diary-keeper

“A fascinating look at a debilitating malady and the new wave of thinking and treatments.”

since childhood, the author draws on his candid entries to weave together an absorbing, moving chronicle of his deeply happy and long marriage; the miscarriages and premature birth of a daughter, who died the same day, and their joy when at last a successful pregnancy resulted in the birth of their beloved Olivia; the many highs of his acting career, including a Golden Globe Award and Oscar nomination; and the grueling 10 months between Joan’s learning that she had stage 4 lung cancer and her death in September 2021. “If this illness has begun to teach us anything,” Grant observed soon after the diagnosis, “it’s that living in the moment, for the moment, is the most positive way forward.” But that resolve was sorely tested as Joan’s condition worsened and he and Olivia needed to attend to Joan’s every need. An experimental drug gave them hope—until it failed. By August, he writes, “our night and day and night has tilted into a canyon of unease, doubt, and acute anxiety.” Friends helped: Nigella Lawson sent delectable food; Camilla Bowles and Prince Charles each sent a note early on, and later Charles stopped by for an unexpected visit. Since both Grant and his wife had long careers in theater and movies, they were close to many members of the acting elite: Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson brought ice cream and sorbet; Ralph Fiennes sent a long, affectionate letter; Emma Thompson came for tea with her adopted son, Tindy; Gabriel Byrne sat at Joan’s bedside, “plate-spinning philosophicals, anecdotage, and ruminations.” In an appendix, Grant compiles tributes to Joan from a roster of notables, including Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Fiona Shaw, and Emily Mortimer.

Ebullience and grief mark a touching memoir.

THE PERENNIALS The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society

Guillén, Mauro F. St. Martin’s (272 pp.)

$30.00 | Aug. 22, 2023

9781250281340

An acclaimed thought leader proposes a new way of looking at shifting demographic patterns.

Guillén is a professor of management at the Wharton School, and his book 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything demonstrated his ability to tackle big-picture issues. Here, the author expands on themes he has touched on previously, looking at the interaction of increased longevity and accelerating technological trends. He argues that the idea of a linear life of compartmentalized stages is no longer appropriate and that concepts like retirement are now doing more harm than good. He proposes an alternative: a postgenerational workforce of “perennials,” where older people are encouraged to work well into their 70s alongside their younger colleagues. The author rejects the idea that older people are too set in their ways to adapt, and he points to evidence showing that, when given the opportunity, they can use their experience and maturity

to add value to any business wise enough to hold on to them. At the same time, older people who remain in the workforce offer huge marketing opportunities for companies looking to expand their product lines in everything from cosmetics to cars. Educational institutions should also be willing to embrace older students, since there is necessity for continual reskilling to accommodate new technologies and trends. The author acknowledges that all this will require a new mindset. Younger people must be willing to accept older people in the workplace even while they themselves grapple with the idea of lifelong learning. Equally, older people need to accept that change, both technological and social, will be a constant in their lives. This is not easy, but the upside is that many more people have the opportunity to lead lives that are personally rewarding and socially fulfilling.

In a wide-ranging study, Guillén provides a wealth of insights about how we can get the best from social change.

THE POWER OF ONE How I Found the Strength To Tell the Truth and Why I Blew the Whistle on Facebook

Haugen, Frances Little, Brown (352 pp.)

$30.00 | June 13, 2023

9780316475228

The Facebook whistleblower extends arguments made in testimony before Congress in 2021.

Data engineer and scientist Haugen makes it abundantly clear that Facebook is not our friend. Its closed-software platform is a deliberate screen against transparency, and its “vast tangle of algorithms” serve as tools able to “exact a crushing, incalculable cost, such as unfairly influencing national elections, toppling governments, fomenting genocide, or causing a teenage girl’s self-esteem to plummet, leading to another death by suicide.” Regarding that software, she makes the salient point that “software is different from physical products because the user can see its results only on a screen.” When she started, the author joined a team whose aim was to ferret out how bad elements were able to spread misinformation and disinformation throughout the social media stream without encountering significant resistance. One clue: By her reckoning, there are at most 50,000 fact-checks generated monthly by Facebook’s journalist partners “for the entire world of three billion…users.” Facebook’s stated intention of being a platform for free expression may be admirable in theory, but in practice, it seeks to create an ever larger audience; being exposed to poisonous ideas is merely collateral damage—or so one would conclude from Haugen’s clearly stated objections. A less attractive matter that emerges from the narrative, unfortunately, is a portrait of an employee who was never quite satisfied with any of the many tech companies in which she worked, including Google, Yelp, and Pinterest, and Haugen’s personal grievances sometimes threaten to bludgeon issues of larger interest. Still, the author delivers on her promise “to tease apart how society and Facebook

“In a wide-ranging study, Guillén provides a wealth of insights about how we can get the best from social change.”

the perennials

became entangled in our dystopian dance.” The narrative is overlong, but Haugen’s point that “the vast majority of people do not understand how to use data” is well taken and worth reiterating. A solid argument for steering well clear of the social media behemoths.

THE BRONX NOBODY KNOWS An Urban Walking Guide

Helmreich, William B. Princeton Univ. (472 pp.) $27.95 paper | Aug. 8, 2023

9780691166957

Inveterate city walker Helmreich continues his on-foot exploration of New York’s five boroughs.

In his latest journey, Helmreich takes on the Bronx, perhaps Gotham’s most underestimated (in terms of both reputation and real estate prices) area. “The tenements are slowly diminishing in number,” he writes, “and affordable housing, while not luxurious, is newer and far more attractive.” The author insists that the Bronx has much natural beauty to recommend it, even if you might not know it along some of his routes, with grand hotels and art deco structures of yore gone to seed and parks full of addicts. Head down Arthur Avenue, though, and you’re in what used to be a handsome Little Italy that rivaled the one in downtown Manhattan—though, as Helmreich notes, many of its pizzerias, like those of nearby Belmont Avenue, are now owned by Albanians. That’s a constant story. “In the not-so-distant future,” Helmreich writes, “they will be the dominant group, if they aren’t already.” The same is true in other parts of the borough, with enclaves of immigrants from all over the world. Sometimes there’s tension: One young Dominican woman he talked to strongly dislikes the Haitians who shared her island homeland, and one elderly White man grouses about the “5,000 killings a year on average” (the correct number, Helmreich notes, is 300). Thankfully, the author discovered more harmony than discord from block to block and refreshing diversity everywhere. Naturally, not everywhere is Eden: In Seton Falls Park, for instance, he observed garbage strewn everywhere, with sullen maintenance workers picking up “perhaps 10 percent of the total.” Refuse and occasional ill tempers notwithstanding, readers will be inspired to don sturdy shoes and head out to see some of the sights for themselves, especially little-known places such as Billie Holiday’s grave and tiny City Island, with “all the trappings of a New England coastal town.”

An opinionated, entertaining tour of a “gritty, tough, nononsense” place well worth visiting.

THE WORLD BEHIND THE WORLD Consciousness, Free Will, and the Limits of Science

Hoel, Erik Avid Reader Press (304 pp.)

$30.00 | July 25, 2023

9781982159382

Investigating the mystery of the mind. Neuroscientist and fiction writer Hoel draws on history, philosophy, mathematics, and neuroscience to examine ways that consciousness has been imagined and investigated. Beginning with an overview of what ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans believed about “the subtleties of the mind,” he considers the distinction between intrinsic phenomena, which came to be associated with religious experience and literature, and extrinsic phenomena, which fell under the purview of science. Neuroscience should be exceptional in being “where the intrinsic and extrinsic meet,” but Hoel offers a sharp critique of the field, which he finds too heavily focused on neuroimaging and mapping—on the quantitative rather than the qualitative. He points out that scientific conclusions often are based on very small samples. “It takes thousands of individuals to achieve reproducible brainwide associations,” he writes. “This is not a bar most neuroimaging studies pass.” Instead, he has discovered “that findings don’t replicate, that every lab uses a different methodology, that small changes in methodology lead to big changes in outcomes,” and that researchers tend to make up hypotheses to fit their own data. Even research in institutes founded by Nobel laureates in biology Francis Crick and Gerald Edelman falls short, in Hoel’s estimation, because they each focus on correlating brain function to conscious experience. Readers may feel daunted by the author’s explanation of the complexities of integrated information theory, which he helped to develop as a graduate student but now finds inadequate as “an explanation for subjectivity.” More fruitful, for Hoel, is the theory of causal emergence, which posits that “macroscales have more causal influence than their underlying microscales over the exact same events.” Emergence theory, he argues, accounts for “the brain’s entire evolved purpose, it’s very raison d’être—maintaining a stream of consciousness” as well as offering a “scientific justification for free will.”

A dense inquiry that will challenge readers without a scientific background.

DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON Anna May Wong’s Rendezvous With American History

Huang, Yunte

Liveright/Norton (384 pp.)

$30.00 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781631495809

An attentive biography of an underrated Hollywood icon.

Following his first two books on significant Chinese American figures, Charlie Chan and Inseparable, Huang turns his attention to Anna May Wong (1905-1961). The author capably tracks Wong’s life and career, creating a tender, fair portrait of an important performer. Huang elegantly depicts the Wong family and their laundry business, diving into the historical significance of Chinese laundries, and he presents a concise yet rich history of Asian American culture and politics at the turn of the century—specifically, how Asian Americans were treated in America and how it affected the community and Wong’s career. At the time, the “exoticism” of China and the East had White Hollywood enraptured, and many producers and directors used Chinatown in Los Angeles as a primary set to shoot films. Wong used this to her advantage, sneaking on to sets and watching film crews as a young girl. Huang illustrates details about Wong with passion and fervor, clearly delineating her struggles and achievements. When Wong succeeds, readers will rejoice, and when her circumstances limit her, readers will feel her sorrow. Though Wong was a controversial figure for her contribution to the negative “Dragon Lady” stereotype for Asian women via her titular role in Daughter of the Dragon, Huang paints his subject in a compassionate light. During this time period, Hollywood was rife with anti-Asian racism, which had a profound effect on the young actor trying to fulfill her dreams. Huang neither forgives nor condemns her actions. Rather, he offers an in-depth exploration of her character, bringing forth her inner thoughts and feelings, many of which were expressed in her diaries and interviews. Wong had an incredible yet short life, and the author documents it in an evenhanded, bittersweet manner.

An intimate Hollywood profile perfect for students of film and pop culture.

THE GOOD VIRUS The Amazing Story and Forgotten Promise of the Phage

Ireland, Tom

Norton (304 pp.)

$30.00 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781324050834

An enthusiastic account of organisms that silently rule the Earth.

Viruses are “smaller than the wavelength of light,” and they replicate by invading a cell, multiplying, and then leaving, often killing the cell. A minuscule fraction cause human disease—polio, measles, flu, Covid-19, some cancers—but most are benign and often an essential part of life. Human viruses receive plenty of attention, but science journalist Ireland hits pay dirt by focusing on those that attack bacteria. Called bacteriophages or “phages,” they often attack deadly human infections. In 1917, scientists discovered that certain liquids, filtered to remove bacteria, destroyed bacterial cultures. They theorized that the fluid contained viruses that were “too small to see with a light microscope.” Researchers took up the idea of using these liquids to treat human infections. “For a few decades in the early twentieth century,” writes the author, “the world went mad for phages, and phage therapy was everywhere.” But phages are tricky. Some are weakly infectious; others are “hyper-specific, targeting only particular strains.” At the time, technology was primitive, and governments were lax about preclinical testing. By the 1930s, antibiotics appeared, miraculous drugs that made infections vanish. Sadly, by the 1990s, their vast overuse in medicine and agriculture was producing a deadly epidemic of increasingly resistant and even entirely impervious bacteria. Inevitably, this revived interest in phages. Both optimistic and realistic, Ireland writes that designing a phage for a specific bacterial strain is more complex than developing an antibiotic, and clinical trials have proven frustrating and expensive. He describes dramatic cures but no breakthroughs so far. At the halfway point of the book, the author rewinds the clock to the 1930s, describing genetic and DNA–related phage research that has led to numerous Nobel Prizes and an ongoing scientific revolution that has extended from the discovery of the double helix to genetic engineering, cloning, and insights into the nature of life itself.

A capably guided tour of a scientific wave of the future.

“An intimate Hollywood profile perfect for students of film and pop culture.”

daughter of the dragon

THE TRIAL OF THE CENTURY

Jarrett, Gregg with Don Yaeger

Threshold Editions/Simon & Schuster

(304 pp.)

$29.99 | May 30, 2023

9781982198572

Fox News commentator Jarrett’s account of the iconic 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial turns out to be a satisfying traditional history that celebrates the good guys.

Although widely derided, the flurry of post–World War I state laws forbidding public schools from teaching evolution enjoyed a great deal of popular support. Concerned about the effect on academic freedom, the American Civil Liberties Union ran a news release seeking a volunteer to test the newly enacted Tennessee law. The trial took place in the small town of Dayton only because local boosters believed it “would put [the town] on the map.” They persuaded high school teacher John Scopes to offer himself as defendant. News of the case made headlines, and a mass of journalists descended on the city along with celebrities, including William Jennings Bryan and legendary lawyer Clarence Darrow. With a churchgoing jury and biased judge who began the proceedings by declaiming the first chapter of Genesis, the outcome was never in doubt, but Jarrett remains firmly for the defense, praising Darrow’s and colleagues’ arguments in favor of First Amendment freedoms and opposing religious bigotry and government interference in education. To Darrow’s frustration, the judge ruled that the trial was solely to determine whether Scopes broke the law, so he refused to allow the defense to call scientists and theologians to inform the jury that evolution was not equivalent to atheism. After several frustrating days, Darrow grew discouraged, and many reporters left before he hit the jackpot cross-examining Bryan, who had volunteered to prove the literal truth of everything in the Bible and did a terrible job. Despite an upbeat conclusion, Jarrett admits that there is less in Darrow’s triumph than meets the eye. Disbelief in evolution remains common, so school boards (and publishers anxious to sell them science textbooks) treat the subject with kid gloves.

An instructive history with a disturbing coda: If you want to learn about evolution, go to college.

SPARKS China’s Underground

Historians and Their Battle for the Future

Johnson, Ian Oxford Univ. (304 pp.)

$27.95 | Sept. 26, 2023

9780197575505

In an authoritarian state, writing about history is a dangerous but necessary undertaking.

Milan Kundera once wrote, “the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” This is the idea that informs Johnson, a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist with a deep and personal connection to China, who chronicles his discussions with a range of writers and filmmakers working to tell the true story of the country’s past and present. This is known as minjian lishi, which roughly translates to “grassroots history” or “counter-history.” It can be a dangerous undertaking, as successive Chinese administrations have made concerted efforts to propagate an “official” version of events, a narrative that describes the Communist Party as the pinnacle of a historical process. In particular, Xi Jinping has made the control of history a priority as a means to legitimize his authoritarian approach. Historians that do not follow the party line can face imprisonment or might simply disappear. Thankfully, there are many that accept the risks, and Johnson gives them the space to explain why and how they do it. Some have produced documentary films based on interviews with people who were persecuted over political offenses, while others have written books and articles criticizing the government over corruption or its handling of the pandemic. They have told poignant stories dealing with the repression of Tibetans and other ethnic minorities. In other cases, writers have used fiction to examine historical injustices. The internet has provided new avenues to tell stories, and dissidents have been ingenious in finding ways around the government firewalls. There is a continuing demand for their output, but several historians acknowledge the difficulty of challenging the state and see themselves more as providing a record for future generations. This represents the author’s fundamental message: Speak the truth before it is forgotten.

A brave book about inspiring people, underlining the value of freedom, independence, and courage.

THE GREAT WHITE BARD How To Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race

Karim-Cooper, Farah Viking (336 pp.)

$30.00 | Aug. 15, 2023

9780593489376

A scholar of Shakespeare comes not to praise him nor to bury him, but instead to complicate him.

At a time when the reverence historically shown to dead White men is being questioned, is the Bard of Avon still relevant? Yes, answers Karim-Cooper, who should know: She teaches Shakespeare at King’s College London and serves as director of education at the Globe Theatre. She’s also a Pakistani American woman who fell for Shakespeare in high school, recognizing in Romeo and Juliet “the archetypal South Asian teenage experience.” Arguing that if “instead of worshipping his words, we contend with them,” she assures modern-day readers and theatergoers that they will find much of relevance to today’s world

in Shakespeare. Karim-Cooper begins with a fascinating survey of how Shakespeare has become a “cult figure and secular god,” in large part due to an Enlightenment campaign to cultivate “a unique brand of English white superiority.” The author devotes the bulk of her text to exegeses of what she terms his “race plays”: Titus Andronicus, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, The Merchant of Venice, and The Tempest. In these passages, she discusses how Elizabethans might have understood race in words such as barbarous and fair and ruminates on how productions through history have been cast and staged. Karim-Cooper frequently brings modern critical theory to bear, leaning on misogynoir, for instance, to explore the racial construction of Cleopatra in Shakespeare’s time and text—a construction not acknowledged in the casting of British productions until the 1990s. She is careful to remind readers that Shakespeare’s England was not an all-White one, bolstering her assertion that Shakespeare “explores different modes of racial formation” even in plays not commonly associated with race. The author is most convincing when she insists that readers consider “how students…or actors of colour…can get to grips with the excessively valued and quite sublime poetry that just happens to, at times, diminish their own bodies.”

Illuminating both words and performance—an essential addition to Shakespeare studies.

WRITING FOR THEIR LIVES America’s Pioneering Female Science Journalists

LaFollette, Marcel Chotkowski

MIT Press (280 pp.)

$26.95 paper | Aug. 22, 2023

9780262048163

A research associate at the Smithsonian Institute Archives examines how female science journalists overcame gender discrimination to produce distinguished bodies of work.

In 1921, Science Service was the first American news organization that dedicated itself exclusively to scientific topics. At the time it began operations, few newspapers paid journalists to cover science full-time, and those that did employed no women writers. In this historical excavation, LaFollette, author of Science on American Television, explores how Science Service became home to a cadre of determined women writers who pushed back against sexist norms to create meaningful careers for themselves. Chemist Edwin Slosson, who served as the organization’s first director, played a critical role in creating a workplace that “emphasized skills and job performance not gender.” At the beginning of his tenure, he actively encouraged female intellectuals— e.g., psychology professor June Etta Downey—to produce timely, readable manuscripts he could place with large news syndicates. Later, he also worked with female-centered organizations like the Women’s News Service to increase the visibility of women scientists through published interviews. By the end of the 1920s, Slosson had hired a small group of dynamic women to work for Science Service. Two in particular—archaeologist and

anthropologist Emma Reh and medical researcher Jane Stafford—built exceptionally distinguished careers for themselves. Reh left Washington for a life as an independent science journalist in Mexico, while Stafford was eventually elected president of the National Association of Science Writers. LaFollette’s effort to discuss so many of the women who struggled against misogyny and discrimination is admirable, but the text sometimes falters under the weight of the minutiae she offers about the lives and accomplishments of her worthy subjects. However, certain elements of her meticulous research will be valuable to historians of women in journalism and science writers.

Occasionally dry but enlightening portraits of pathbreaking journalists.

THE DEADLINE Essays

Lepore, Jill

Liveright/Norton (624 pp.)

$45.00 | Aug. 29, 2023 9781631496127

Shrewd perspectives on a tumultuous decade.

In intellectually rigorous essays lightened with “domestic metaphors” and “maternal asides,” historian Lepore brings her vibrant curiosity and wide-ranging erudition to a host of topics, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Barbie and Bratz dolls, bicycles, VW buses, and Moby-Dick. While most essays appeared over the past 10 years in the New Yorker, where Lepore is a staff writer, two have never been published: “The Everyman Library,” which pays homage to her father and grandfather; and “The Return of the Pervert,” from 2018, in which Lepore critiques the narrowness of the #MeToo movement. Many essays reverberate far beyond the events that inspired them. For example, “Battleground America,” from 2012, begins with a school shooting in Ohio and expands to consider the history of the Second Amendment, the murder of Trayvon Martin, the National Rifle Association’s rise and vociferous interpretation of the meaning of an armed militia, and the organization’s moneyed lobbying of politicians, which has repeatedly thwarted gun safety legislation. “When carrying a concealed weapon for self-defense is understood not as a failure of civil society, to be mourned, but as an act of citizenship, to be vaunted, there is little civilian life left,” writes the author. Sprightly essays on technology are informed by firsthand reporting and deep research: Lepore chronicles her visit to the Internet Archive in San Francisco while putting the trend for disruption (“everyone is either disrupting or being disrupted”) in historical context and tamping down the fear of a robot invasion. “Panic is not evidence of danger,” she calmly notes; “it’s evidence of panic.” The moving title essay is an elegy to a dear friend whose life, and untimely death from leukemia, led to Lepore’s becoming a writer. “All historians are coroners,” she remarks, explaining her deft dissection of past lives, but not all bring to their writing Lepore’s grace, precision, and deep humanity.

A noteworthy collection from an indispensable writer and thinker.

“A noteworthy collection from an indispensable writer and thinker.”

the deadline

NO TRADE IS FREE Changing Course, Taking on China, and Helping America’s Workers

Lighthizer, Robert Broadside Books/HarperCollins

(384 pp.)

$29.99 | June 27, 2023

9780063282131

An attorney and Trump adviser lays into those who espouse a “radical free trade agenda.”

In his first book, Lighthizer, who advised both Trump and Reagan on international trade policy, advances a host of familiar populist and nationalist themes—e.g., that in the matter of the suffering manufacturing and blue-collar heartland, “most people in DC didn’t worry very much, because it was all happening someplace far away to people they didn’t know.” Free trade, of course, has implications that stretch far beyond mere commerce and economics. For example, it’s a useful way of keeping wars from breaking out among trade rivals, which is in keeping with the author’s insistence that “the Chinese government is a lethal adversary” best contained by lowering taxes on corporations so they will stop offshoring jobs that should be American. Econ 101 may tell us that the specialized division of labor and comparative advantage are useful things, but they have little place in a vision of a world where everything is made at home by contented workers with lots of theoretical bargaining power—until they actually try to use it. Lighthizer takes a page from his erstwhile boss by assailing anyone, albeit with a richer vocabulary, who disagrees with him on his China-as-enemy stance as “a liar, a fool, a knave, an irredeemable globalist, or some combination thereof.” In his calmer moments, the author makes some good points, such as the fact that Ireland has become a haven for hiding billions of dollars in American corporate profits that more properly need to be taxed at home—but, as ever, underlying that charge is the demand that taxes be lowered. Arguable, too, is the author’s conviction that trade agreements should be term-limited and frequently renegotiated, a destabilizing strategy guaranteed to consume large amounts of diplomatic oxygen.

Red meat for the isolationist set.

AMERICAN WHITELASH A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress

Lowery, Wesley Mariner Books (272 pp.)

$29.99 | June 27, 2023

9780358393269

The author of They Can’t Kill Us All returns with a timely investigation into the historic roots of violent White resistance to non-White Americans.

“OBAMA: RACIAL BARRIER FALLS IN DECISIVE VICTORY.” That was the headline in the New York Times the morning after the 2008 presidential election. Within a matter of weeks, news outlets across the country would be offering headlines like this: “Obama Election Spurs Race Crimes Around Country” (AP); “Obama Win Sparks Rise in Hate Crimes, Violence” (NPR); “Hatemongers Poised to Exploit Obama Election, Tough Economic Times” (Southern Poverty Law Center). It seems easy to find a throughline from the election of the first Black president of the U.S. to the xenophobia and racial animus that were hallmarks of the Trump years. To help us understand how we got here, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Lowery provides a potent consideration of the past 15 years within the context of American history. He shows how White supremacists have evolved from positioning themselves as defenders of the status quo to radicalism. “Today’s white supremacist movement is revolutionary—its explicit aim being to overthrow our maturing multiracial democracy,” he writes. As he tracks the historical threads of this movement, he offers compassionate and often heartbreaking profiles of the lives of contemporary individuals who have been irreparably harmed by the latest rise in White supremacist violence. Lowery has written extensively about the aftermath of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri—he was even arrested while covering the protests—and some of the stories he covers will be familiar to readers. The murder of Charlottesville protestor Heather Heyer and the mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Illinois, commanded significant media coverage. But Lowery provides urgent, necessary perspective on these events while also shining a light on deaths that fail to capture national attention because such deaths, sadly, feel quotidian.

A masterful blend of narrative history and empathetic reporting.

book of queens

LOOK How To Pay Attention in a Distracted World

Madsbjerg, Christian Riverhead (256 pp.)

$29.00 | July 18, 2023

9780593542217

The author of Sensemaking explores what it really means to pay attention.

The premise of this book is that contemporary people have lost the capacity for mindful observation of the world around them. As an entrepreneur, corporate consultant, and instructor at the New School, Madsbjerg teaches people how to take note of phenomena that we often fail to recognize as important—if we even see them at all. Using Wittgenstein as his guide, the author argues that it’s only through paying attention to what happens in the background that we fully understand what’s happening in the foreground. “Most people don’t even take the time to acknowledge that the background is there,” he writes, promising to provide “brief thought pieces accompanied by prompts, provocations, and inspirations designed to guide you in your practice.”

While Madsbjerg does offer numerous illustrations of what he calls “hyper-reflection” drawn from the realms of science, art, and business, readers who really want to learn how to put hyperreflection into practice may come away feeling a bit unsatisfied. This book began as a college course (developed with his colleague Simon Critchley) called Human Observation, and it shows. Much of the content makes more sense as a weekly reading assignment for students than as a self-help book. All of the figures considered here—from Paul Cézanne to Margaret Mead—are fascinating, but Madsbjerg discusses each of them at considerable length and in great detail for no clear purpose. Philosophy majors might need to know that the phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty calls the human body a “perceptual apparatus,” but this factoid won’t help many other readers. One gets the sense that Madsbjerg keeps trying to sell readers on his idea long past the point they’ve either bought in or dropped out. Lots of anecdotes, many of them really cool, but not enough practical guidance.

BOOK OF QUEENS The True Story of the Middle Eastern Horsewomen Who Fought the War on Terror

Mahdavi, Pardis

Hachette (288 pp.)

$29.00 | Aug. 22, 2023

9780306832130

An Iranian American anthropologist weaves a narrative of many threads, involving horses, revolution, and an army of fearless warriors.

A specialist in human rights and migration, Mahdavi opens

by conjuring an American woman long resident in Iran. Louise Firouz, an aristocratic Virginian and equestrienne, moved to Iran in the 1960s, married a member of a royal lineage, and, fascinated by a rare breed of horse, became one of the world’s leading breeders of what came to be called Caspians. “Louise had been riding her entire life, but she had never felt the smooth suppleness of a gait like the horse she had been given,” writes Mahdavi, herself an equestrienne, of Firouz’s first encounter. Others were riding these horses, too, and Firouz and an Iranian woman named Maryam came to discover the world of women cavalry warriors across the border in Afghanistan who had been fighting invaders for generations, including, most recently, the Taliban. Many of the women Maryam helped recruit were, like her, the victims of spousal abuse and determined to die fighting rather than return to their homes. A story worthy of Graham Greene follows, but with twists that sometimes threaten to become a Gordian knot. When American forces arrived in Afghanistan and encountered the women fighters, one of the women said, “We know the Taliban. But did the Americans want to hear from us? No. They wanted our horses, and then they wanted to find men in the area who would help them fight.” Undervaluing those women was but one misstep that would characterize the American war. Mahdavi—a participant in some of these events—closes by probing a mystery involving the fate of Firouz’s documentary record of the ancestry of the Caspian horses now living and breeding well beyond the borders of Iran. Horse lovers will be fascinated, but with her focus on geopolitics and women’s rights, Mahdavi reaches many audiences.

THE SERPENT’S TOOTH A Memoir

Marston, Nancy Post Hill Press (256 pp.)

$18.00 paper | Aug. 15, 2023

9781637589762

A family disintegrates in the face of addiction, a money feud, and spirit-killing lawsuits.

Marston’s daughter, a child actor and model, showed great promise at an early age, securing a role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s sprawling ensemble film Magnolia, among other assignments. As the author writes of her daughter and other child actors, “the kids are articulate, funny, responsible, and very, very bright, or they simply don’t make it in the business.” In young adulthood, the roles were harder for her to secure. Meanwhile, she fell in with an abusive man who helped himself to whatever was hers. What became hers, to all appearances, was a fortune her father won by way of a lucky lottery ticket. A former fire captain, he was an alcoholic and drug addict, and though he’d straightened up, the thought of going on TV to convert his ticket into a bigger purse paralyzed him. Who better to send than his daughter, skilled before the camera? Big check, meet big spenders—and in no time, the daughter was refusing to pay her father his share, arguing that she’d won the money and it was hers. Marston’s

“Horse lovers will be fascinated, but with her focus on geopolitics and women’s rights, Mahdavi reaches many audiences.”

narrative becomes a litany in which no one, from her “burnt-out meth addict” of a husband to her scheming daughter and her shiftless but cunning partner, to say nothing of a host of lawyers, turns up as a hero. Said one judge, perceptively, “I’ve seen a lot of sad cases come through this court…but this is the first case in my time on the bench that I’ve seen the death of a family.” While the story will hold some interest with its catalog of appalling behavior and asides on the psychology of addiction, it never really comes alive.

Certainly cathartic for the author but of narrow appeal to all but the most die-hard Hollywood gossip buffs.

THE MASTER BUILDER How the New Science of the Cell Is Rewriting the Story of Life

Martinez Arias, Alfonso

Basic Books (352 pp.)

$30.00 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781541603271

A fascinating argument that what makes a human is “not a unique set of DNA but instead a unique organization of cells and their activities.”

Books that glorify DNA as the key to life are abundant, but they miss the point, according to this ingenious argument by Martinez Arias, a professor of systems bioengineering. The author emphasizes that every cell in our body contains identical DNA that forms our genes (about 25,000 in humans), which deliver instructions for the amino acids that make up the proteins that form our bodies. As Martinez Arias demonstrates, “DNA cannot send orders to cells to move right or left within your body or to place the heart and the liver on opposite sides of your thorax; nor can it measure the length of your arms or instruct the placement of your eyes symmetrically across the midline of your face.” Cells do that. From the perspective of a cell, DNA is a catalog with a vast array of building materials, from which the cell picks and chooses. The end result is a miracle called life, an entity that has no relation to any of its components. Just as a flock of birds or a city can’t be predicted from the list of its individual parts, a cell appears when the right combination of DNA does its work in a phenomenon called emergence. No scientist knows for sure, but most theorize on what happened after the first crude cells (“archaea”) appeared 4 billion years ago: Feasting on a mixture of nitrogen, hydrogen, sulfur, and carbon, and creating oxygen as a waste product, they swallowed up but did not digest aerobic bacteria. Over several billion years, they learned to turn sunlight into energy, survive in the open, oxygen-filled air, and—in the trillions—work together in the forms of plants and animals. Describing his own and others’ research, Martinez Arias makes a convincing case that cells, with assistance from DNA, gave rise to our species and all the others.

A rich, detailed exploration of the vitality of cells.

OVERREACH

The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine

Matthews, Owen

Mudlark (432 pp.)

$29.99 | April 25, 2023

9780008562748

A respected journalist draws on deep knowledge to explain the thinking behind Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. In 1939, Churchill called Russia “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” These words seem truer than ever in the context of the invasion of Ukraine, but Matthews does a solid job of unraveling the story. He is a good person for the task, with several decades of experience covering events in Moscow. He has extensive personal and professional connections in Russia and chronicles his illuminating interviews with numerous Kremlin insiders and senior commentators (in many cases, he does not disclose their names or specific positions). The author focuses on Putin’s decision, aided by his inner circle, to launch the offensive and then, when the planned blitzkrieg failed, to double down for a protracted conflict. In particular, Matthews examines a lengthy 2021 essay in which Putin asserted that Ukraine was historically part of Russia. In Putin’s eyes, he was forced into the invasion by Ukraine’s Westward drift, and NATO’s aid for Ukraine cemented his view. With near-complete control of the media, he has been able to depict Ukrainian defiance and Western support as attacks on Russia’s sovereignty. This is ludicrous, writes Matthews, but Putin believes it, and much of the population apparently agrees with him. This means that Putin cannot afford to lose, and his threat of using nuclear weapons should be taken seriously. Unfortunately, if Putin should fall, his replacements are likely to be even worse, so the West should tread carefully. Matthews believes that, eventually, there will be some sort of settlement—although even the prospect of talks is a long way off, with both sides currently maneuvering for battlefield advantage. Russia’s invasion might be a geopolitical turning point, but it is undeniably a painful one.

Writing with authority and clarity, Matthews weaves disparate events into a bloody tapestry of invasion and resistance.

1964

Eyes of the Storm

McCartney, Paul Liveright/Norton (336 pp.)

$75.00 | June 13, 2023

9781324093060

A luminous photographic record of the dawn of Beatlemania.

Now 80, McCartney has been working at a breakneck clip to get the record straight, as witness the Peter Jackson–restored and revisionist documentary Get Back. Against that careful campaign, this collection is something of

an accident, McCartney writes, representing the discovery of 1,000 photos he had taken in 1964. “I’m not trying to claim to be a master,” he writes, “only an enthusiastic photographer who happened to be in the right place at the right time.” Humility aside, Sir Paul proves a fine documentarian of the chaotic scene around him. Some of the countless highlights include a color image of George Harrison, finally at rest in Miami after the hectic tour that introduced them to America via the Ed Sullivan Show, against the backdrop of an anonymous (and headless) swimsuit-clad woman and looking far too young to be holding the cigarette and drink in hand; “a rare picture of John in his glasses,” as McCartney writes, with Lennon looking more like a college quiz kid than a rock star, a weary-looking Ringo next to him; photos of fans of many ethnicities (as is now well known, the Beatles would not play a segregated room) and ages awaiting the arrival of the band, whose spirit-lifting tour occurred soon after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, leading McCartney to comment in a charged aside, “To this day, I am very happy that Britain doesn’t have the gun culture that exists in the U.S.” The ancillary texts are scene-setting but less interesting than McCartney’s own writing, including the introduction by noted historian Jill Lepore, who does a solid if dutiful job of placing the Beatles’ 1964 experiences in the larger context of the world around them. The book includes a timeline and notes about each photo.

Sir Paul knows his way around just about every artistic medium, and these photographs are a must for Beatles fans.

BATTLEFIELD CYBER How China and Russia Are Undermining Our Democracy and National Security

country’s communications systems and infrastructure, which were remarkably effective. China is more interested in colonizing American systems to insert malware, steal intellectual property, and gather personal data. Both countries have penetrated social media platforms and have established a covert presence in cloud systems. McLaughlin and Holstein propose moves to improve digital security in the U.S., looking to Taiwan as a model for cooperation between government and the private sector. A Department of Digital Services could provide coordination and support as well as pushing tech companies to move their operations out of China. Corporations have to be willing to share information and protective technology, and there must be a concerted effort to remove embedded malware from systems in companies, government agencies, and the military. McLaughlin and Holstein present a convincing case in clear language, and the result is a book that is likely to keep you awake at night.

A disturbing, well-rendered study that reveals the extent of the digital struggle and charts a way forward for the U.S.

BELL HOOKS The Last Interview and Other Conversations

Melville House

Melville House (144 pp.)

$17.99 paper | July 18, 2023

9781685890797

A controversial public intellectual speaks her mind.

McLaughlin,

Michael G. & William J. Holstein

Prometheus Books (304 pp.)

$28.95 | Aug. 11, 2023

9781633889019

Pertinent exploration of how cyberspace combat has become a dangerous reality.

“Make no mistake, America’s adversaries are fully engaged in a cyber war,” write the authors, “and it is raging all around us.” This initially sounds like hyperbole, but as the narrative unfolds, it begins to seem like an understatement. McLaughlin is a former senior adviser for U.S. Cyber Command, where he was responsible for the coordination of Department of Defense counterintelligence operations in cyberspace, and Holstein is a journalist who specializes in technology and China. The authors make a strong argument that Russia and China are winning an insidious digital war against the U.S. They explain how hacks, malware, and system penetrations work, dissecting some of the major incidents. Russia is mainly concerned with disruption, and its government has coopted hackers specializing in ransomware attacks into their operations. The Russian invasion of Ukraine was preceded by cyberattacks on the

This collection of seven interviews with prominent Black feminist, activist, and theorist bell hooks (1952-2021), introduced by diversity consultant and essayist Mikki Kendall, reveals the evolution of hooks’ thought from 1989 to 2017 as she reflected on important social and political issues of her time. In 1978, hooks, a college professor of English, changed her name from Gloria Jean Watkins as a way of affirming her identity—and honoring a feisty ancestor. “Gloria Jean, given to me—really reflects how much my parents wanted me to be a very feminine, Southern belle type girl,” hooks told an interviewer, “and I think that in order to find my voice and use it, I had to use the name of my greatgrandmother on a maternal side—bell hooks—in order to bring a self into being that my parents and my home were not nurturing.” That self comes across as caring, passionate, and defiant; in more than 30 books and public presentations, hooks has been likely to “hit raw nerves, delving into the possibilities of culture as a place of resistance to white supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy.” Hooks contextualizes many of her books, including Where We Stand: Class Matters, Feminism Is for Everybody, and even her children’s book Happy To Be Nappy. She discusses her eagerness to reach audiences outside of academia, which once led her to appear on the Ricki Lake talk show, where, she admitted, she was “treated like shit.” The interviews range over many topics, including hip-hop, Buddhism, sex, love, gender, lesbianism, the environment, the meaning of intersectionality, and capitalism.

“A disturbing, well-rendered study that reveals the extent of the digital struggle and charts a way forward for the U.S.”

battlefield cyber

“Any system that encourages us to think about interdependency, and to be able to use the world’s resources in a wiser way, for the good of the whole,” hooks asserts, “would be better for the world than capitalism.”

A candid self-portrait of an important 20th-century thinker.

ORPHAN BACHELORS A Memoir

Ng, Fae Myenne Grove (256 pp.)

$27.00 | May 9, 2023

9780802162212

The noted fiction writer turns to memoir in this decade-spanning account of Chinese immigrant experiences in America.

“In our childhood, my sister and I heard no fairy tales, no love stories. We only heard tales of woe.” So writes San Francisco–born Ng, whose parents—“a seamstress who could sew up copies of dresses from sight alone, a sailor who could endure the silence and solace of the seas”—came from China with memories of pain and hunger. Years after arriving in America, her mother would calculate the cost of every meal, including externalities like the gas expended in cooking it, while her father recalled that on the ship that brought him across the ocean, he could mark time by the single hard-boiled egg given to each passenger every Sunday. More, Ng’s father had to memorize a “Book of Lies,” answers to damning questions that sneaky immigration authorities would raise in quizzing new arrivals to weed out the Chinese, who were barely tolerated after decades of exclusion. Father and daughter forged a bond over languages. In one affecting passage, the author writes of her father’s insisting that any discarded paper with writing on it be placed in a special receptacle to be taken to a temple that burned it as sacred material. In another, she recounts the hilarious transcriptions her mother used to pronounce English words—e.g., “Gum bao sui pei (gold precious water fart) was ‘Campbell’s Soup.’ ” A luminous West Coast bookend to Ava Chin’s Mott Street, Ng’s book is not just a family portrait, but also a powerful remembrance of the “orphan bachelors” of San Francisco, single men who arrived from China and, segregated by race and class, never found spouses and grew old in one another’s company, never quite at home in a strange land.

An exemplary study of the past brought into the present, spanning years and continents.

ALIEN WORLDS How Insects Conquered the Earth, & Why Their Fate Will Determine Our Future

Nicholls, Steve Princeton Univ. (496 pp.)

$39.95 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780691253589

A sharp, pertinent exploration of the bugs that rule the Earth.

There are 150 million insects, or 300 pounds, for every human being. By numbers of species—around 1 million “so far described” and “perhaps another 5 million out there”—they are the most successful animals ever. One of every 4 animals on Earth is a beetle. Nicholls, an award-winning documentary producer, entomologist, and author of Flowers of the Field and Paradise Found, explains that all insects have three distinct body sections: head (eyes, mouthparts, and antennae), thorax (the engine room with muscles to power the legs and wings) and abdomen (with all other organs essential for life, including digestion and the reproductive system). Attached to the thorax are three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings, although both may be reduced in some species. Birds and mammals converted their front legs to wings, but insects evolved theirs from scratch— another conundrum biologists continue to puzzle over. Nicholls joins other writers on unpopular creatures (bugs, germs, rodents) by emphasizing how useful they are. Insects pollinate crops, delight our senses with beauty and lights, eat damaging pests—often via grisly, inside-out parasitism—and serve as nutritious food. “Insects are by far the most ecologically sound way of producing animal protein,” writes the author. In short, we couldn’t live without them. Nicholls also pays attention to their diminishing numbers. The massive deployment of insecticides and monoculture farms are eliminating insects no less than mammals and birds. In parts of the world, farmers handpollinate crops, “an unbelievably tedious and time-consuming process.” Bees are still on the job in the U.S., but their numbers are also decreasing. Among countless other interesting facts, readers will soak up vivid details of carnivorous plants and learn about insects’ ability to jump great distances or walk on water. They will also enjoy the generous selection of beautiful, occasionally gruesome photographs spread throughout the text.

Exemplary popular science.

NOBODY NEEDS TO KNOW A Memoir

Pagonis, Pidgeon

Topple/Little A (236 pp.)

$28.99 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781542029469

A prominent intersex activist reflects on how they overcame the lies, secrets, and silences that have surrounded their identity.

As a child, Chicago native Pagonis never felt at ease with the name their parents had given them—Jennifer—or with the trappings of girlhood. The author had always felt different because of the many surgeries they underwent to eliminate what their mother said was infantile ovarian cancer. Pagonis’ anxieties about femininity only worsened as they grew older and especially after they began having problems with urination, which led to more surgeries, including the enlargement of a small vagina. Doctors then prescribed the estrogen hormone Premarin, but by high school, Pagonis was still a “mostly flat-chested, frizzy-haired, mustachioed girl” with no hips who believed no boy would ever be attracted to them. Eventually, the author met a handsome but troubled boy, but he showed them the painful limits of their surgically altered body and taught them to hate sex. Learning about Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome in a college women’s studies class dramatically “ruptured” their sense of self. With shattering clarity, Pagonis suddenly understood that everyone—from their family to their doctors—had covered up the complex truth of their intersexuality and forced them to assume a “simpler” identity as female. “A neural meteor shower lit up the valleys of my brain as I processed all the things I had, until that moment, avoided realizing,” she writes. When medical records confirmed an AIS diagnosis, the author began the slow and difficult but ultimately successful work of not only reclaiming their unique, nonbinary identity, but also creating heightened visibility for intersex people and ending intersex surgeries at the hospital where they and other intersex children had been treated. The insights this courageous book offers into the struggles of a too often overlooked group will primarily appeal to readers seeking to broaden their understanding of queerness and nonbinary identities. A sharp-eyed, candid reading experience.

TOY FIGHTS A Boyhood

Paterson, Don Liveright/Norton (384 pp.)

$27.95 | July 11, 2023

9781324093626

The acclaimed Scottish poet chronicles the misadventures of his youth.

In this witty memoir, Paterson (b. 1963), the only two-time winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, revisits his origins in

the working-class community of Dundee. Though the author is a celebrated poet, this book contains few references to the writing process. Music is the guiding thread (Paterson is also a jazz musician), and he explores how it pulled him out of his small town, where “for every family on the street, debt was a constant low drone.” As he charts a path through the 1970s and ’80s, he deftly avoids the twin pitfalls of romanticism and nostalgia, instead describing the poverty, violence, and customs of his youth with evenhanded observation and often humor. The titular “toy fight” refers to a childhood game that “was basically twenty minutes of extreme violence without pretext,” violence being as typical to his boyhood as sugar, which included both special treats and “staple forms of sugar, the ones you’d obviously die without.” Childhood led into adolescence through a series of painful school years and obsessive hobbies ranging from origami to guitar. Eventually, Paterson suffered an “acute adolescent schizophrenic episode,” about which he writes candidly. While recovering, his love of music allowed him to chart a future while providing stability and joy. This part of the memoir is the most listlike, deviating into a who’s who of the Scottish music scene, though what the book lacks in narrative connective tissue it compensates for in the plentiful obscenities and vivid descriptions that provide ample entertainment. Punctuating the primary text with frequent and often volatile footnotes, Paterson interrupts his story with rages against a variety of issues, including the “sentimental, fake-aspirational, povertycelebrating muddle that results when middle-class white folks write black songs.” This memoir is gritty, direct, and alternately doggedly sincere and uproariously hilarious.

A uniquely compelling, expressive memoir packed with explosive asides and raucous insight.

THE SLIP The New York City Street That Changed American Art

Forever

Peiffer, Prudence

HarperCollins (448 pp.)

$35.00 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780063097209

A fond portrait of a thriving community dedicated to nurturing art.

Art historian Peiffer, managing editor of the creative team at the Museum of Modern Art, makes her book debut with an appreciative group biography of a community of artists who lived and worked in cheap lofts and studios on Coenties Slip, at the lower tip of Manhattan, from 1956 to 1967. Ranging in age from 24 to 50, the artists were at the beginnings of their careers, eager to find their place in an art world dominated by abstract expressionism. Some—Ellsworth Kelly and Jack Youngerman—had studied in Paris, where they met major artists, including Jean Arp, Brancusi, Giacometti, Braque, and Calder. While they felt they were learning a lot, they were frustrated that their own art was hardly being seen. Others came to the Slip from all over the country. In 1957, Agnes Martin arrived

“A uniquely compelling, expressive memoir packed with explosive asides and raucous insight.”

toy fights

by bus from New Mexico and soon became “the mercurial den mother of the Slip.” Lenore Tawney, a wealthy 50-year-old widow, came from Chicago the same year. Slip residents included Robert Indiana (he changed his surname to honor his home state); James Rosenquist; and Youngerman’s wife, actor Delphine Seyrig. Peiffer chronicles each artist’s career, tracing webs of influence as well as the gallery owners and art critics who promoted their work. Besides illuminating the creative work, the author captures the spirit of the “unique microcosm” of the “modest, almost forgotten” Slip, “an alley dead-ending in shipworm- and gribblesinfested piers” that once was a site of New York’s bustling harbor trade. By the 1950s, though, its streets were dilapidated, and abandoned lofts had fallen into disrepair. Still, the area seemed like a refuge from the commercialism of uptown Manhattan. “The Slip,” Peiffer writes, “offered a release from societal expectations but also community; its siting as a sociopolitical refuge is a part of how we can think about collective solitude. Its isolation allowed for that community to be self-selecting.”

A warm evocation of a unique place and time.

KINGS OF THEIR OWN OCEAN

that has come from scientists working with the fish. “After spending years of my own life chasing bluefin around the world,” she writes near the end, “I’ve ultimately come to believe that as a global community, we are collectively only ever a few terrible choices away from wiping out any ocean species.”

An engaging and fascinating tale of a natural struggle that will help determine the future of the oceans.

ZOO WORLD Essays

Quade, Mary Mad Creek/Ohio State Univ. Press (208 pp.)

$21.95 paper | Sept. 19, 2023 9780814258774

An intimate think piece on the world of man vs. nature.

Tuna,

Obsession, and the Future of Our Seas

Pinchin, Karen Dutton (320 pp.)

$30.00 | July 18, 2023

9780593471470

An investigative journalist looks at the world’s obsession with bluefin tuna.

In 2018, a bluefin tuna was caught by a commercial fishing company off the coast of Portugal and shipped to Madrid. Amelia, as she was named, was like no other. In 2004, Amelia was tagged by a fisherman from Rhode Island. Three years later, she was tagged by a group working with marine scientist Molly Lutcavage off the coast of Cape Cod. This period marked one of the “longest tag recovery records of any pelagic fish.” Named after Amelia Earhart, this fish had also crossed the Atlantic Ocean, defying conventional wisdom. Throughout the book, Pinchin beautifully traces Amelia’s incredible journey and the lives that intersected with hers, interweaving the history of the bluefin tuna industry and its staggering increase in production since the 1970s. Among other topics, the author describes the intriguing history of sushi in Japan; advances in technologies following World War II that have created the need for fisheries management; the illegal bluefin tuna market, estimated to be worth approximately 12.5 million euros annually; and “how one of the world’s most ancient bluefin fisheries had grappled with modernity.” As the author points out, “while the bluefin’s precise vision and powerful speed were the culmination of millions of years of evolution, they were no match for the increasingly industrial capabilities of global fishing fleets.” The demand continues to increase, and Pinchin shares her opinions about the problems that have come with “humanity’s right to control the ocean” as well as the hope

Quade, a poet and creative writing instructor, presents a mixture of travel memoir, philosophical meditation, and environmental ethics class, pondering the many ways she and all of us walk through the world. Her captivating first essay packs a familiar punch, as the author discusses catastrophic oil spills, but the real meat of the chapter is the personal saga of how Quade tried to rescue her own ducklings on her farm. Throughout the book, the author creates similar narrative patterns, relating the larger natural world with her smaller inner one. Birds, snakes, monkeys, monarch butterflies, and numerous other animals move within the text, each reflecting some facet of the relationship between humans and animals. Quade also chronicles her travels around the world, with a focus on Mexico and Vietnam and how their politics relate to her own story. She writes to alert readers about certain issues related to nature (“a fluttery term”) or current affairs but also to connect with them. At times, the switch between bucolic settings and international politics can be jarring, but Quade maintains a quick tempo that keeps the pages turning. Some of the essays read like elongated thoughts and scribblings, but they always end with a conclusion that allows readers to think deeply about the subject matter. Quade acts like a teacher, leaving some of the work to her audience. Recalling a milk carton label that said, “Produced in harmony with nature,” she writes, “I’m not terribly musical, but it seems to me if we’re on the same note—nature—we can’t really be in harmony, we can only be in unison. But if we think of nature as something ‘other,’ something we can be in or out of harmony with, then what does being in harmony with it entail?”

A pocket adventure for environmentalists and those who enjoy meditative writing.

JEWS IN THE GARDEN A Holocaust Survivor, the Fate of His Family, and the Secret History of Poland in World War II

Rakowsky, Judy

Sourcebooks (384 pp.)

$17.99 paper | July 11, 2023

9781728254623

One Holocaust survivor’s search for answers in his homeland.

Former investigative journalist Rakowsky documents the efforts of her cousin Sam to discover the fates of his relatives in Poland after the Holocaust. Sam had been among the workers who survived the era through the now-famous Oskar Schindler factory. After the fall of communism, he made his way back to Poland for what was to be the first of several visits in an attempt to trace the lives of various family members. The author accompanied him on several of these trips and provides detailed firsthand accounts of what transpired. Over the years, Rakowsky also used her journalistic skills to contribute to the search for answers via friends, public records, and local officials. Much of the book focuses on the rural county of Kazimierza, near Kraków, where Sam grew up. Upon returning, his first hope was to find cousin Hena, who was rumored to have survived the slaughter of her family after being discovered in hiding. This first search, however, led to a different discovery: the burial place of another family of relatives, the Dulas. Also routed out of hiding and murdered, the Dulas were buried in a small grave together on the property where they hid. For decades after, locals taunted the family living there about the “Jews in the garden” on their property. Both the Dulas and Hena’s family, the Rożeńeks, were murdered not by Germans but by fellow Poles near the end of the war. An important part of the author’s investigation involved the reality of bands of Polish resistance soldiers who systematically searched for and killed Jews in hiding just prior to Soviet occupation. In the process of discovery, both the author and her cousin came to find that memory of the war in Poland is a sensitive, selective, and politicized topic.

An intriguing look into a little-understood and largely unrecognized part of Holocaust history.

WHEN CRACK WAS KING

Ramsey, Donovan X.

One World/Random House (448 pp.)

$30.00 | July 11, 2023

9780525511809

A definitive report on how crack cocaine decimated the Black community throughout the 1980s and ’90s.

Journalist Ramsey chronicles two devastating decades when crack use was rampant and many entities turned a blind eye to the nationwide catastrophe. The author vividly recalls his adolescence in Columbus, Ohio, with “kids who grew up like me—poor and Black in the midst of the crack epidemic.” When the epidemic finally subsided, Ramsey and many other survivors were left with “speculation and innuendo.” In 2015, he began deeply researching “the facts of crack—what it was, where it came from, and how it spread.” The author compassionately profiles four individuals whose lives were affected by crack: Elgin Swift, a White man who became an ambitious, selfmade success story despite being raised by a neglectful addict father; Lennie Woodley, a former crack addict and Los Angeles sex worker who became a substance abuse counselor; Kurt Schmoke, the first Black mayor of Baltimore, who was both praised and criticized for his early plans to defuse the drug war with decriminalization; and Shawn McCray, a former Newark drug trafficker–turned–upstanding community leader. Interwoven with these intimately depicted, gritty stories is the history of Black America from the 1960s to the end of the 20th century. Ramsey shows how crack infiltrated and nearly snuffed out entire marginalized communities while an indifferent government stood by and legitimized its demonization. Though he acknowledges that survivors of the epidemic (particularly Black and brown people) rarely discuss it, the author dutifully shines much-needed light on this searingly traumatic ordeal. Each profile ends with the possibilities of hope and change, and Ramsey also dispenses provocative, convincing commentary on criminal legal system reform, social justice, the failures of drug policy, and the complicated relationship between disenfranchised communities and drug abuse in America.

Passionate, important reportage on a tragic era in American history from an author who lived through it.

DOOM GUY Life in First Person

Romero, John Abrams (384 pp.)

$30.00 | July 18, 2023

9781419758119

The video game–creating legend recounts a life in the programming trenches.

“Rip enemies’ heads off and take them to a sacrificial altar to power yourself up.” Thus a feature dangled as an enticement for potential buyers of the iconic first-person-shooter game Quake, introduced in 1996. Born into a chaotic, dysfunctional family, Romero found refuge in games such as Dungeons & Dragons and then fell in love with computers and coding and put his deep intelligence to work mastering things like Assembly language and CP/M. In the workaday world of game writing, the chaos continued; projects were canceled in midstream, office politics proved ruinous, and technology frequently outpaced the programs he was writing. Still, with like-minded friends and later outside hires, “amped

“Passionate, important reportage on a tragic era in American history from an author who lived through it.”

when crack was king

on cans of Coke and fueled by pizza,” Romero built up his chops and founded id Software, maker of blood-and-mayhem classics such as Wolfenstein, Spear of Destiny, and the Doom series. Alas, though the money rolled in and Ferraris followed, compromises of vision and clashes of personality did, too, and Romero left at just about the time Quake appeared. The author is candid in his discussion of the Columbine shooters, who were addicts of his blood-soaked scenarios, rejecting the commonplace accusation that violent games lead to violence in real life. Confessing failures as well as triumphs, Romero counsels, “Don’t hype what you don’t have,” and “never insult your fans, even in jest.” The author has plenty of advice to dispense—too much, at times: Near the beginning of his memoir, Romero announces, “I have hyperthymesia,” or total recall, and if his book has an overarching fault, it’s that it’s overstuffed. As the author allows, “In writing this book, I put everything I could think of into it.” Were the book as streamlined as the storied graphic engine in Doom, it would have been a little less unwieldy.

Students of game-making and business alike will find useful, sometimes rueful lessons.

SCHOENBERG Why He Matters

Sachs, Harvey Liveright/Norton (256 pp.)

$29.95 | July 25, 2023

9781631497575

A new consideration of the life and work of the modernist composer endeavors to explain why his innovations in classical music are still relevant today.

In the prologue, Sachs, a music writer, Toscanini biographer, and educator at the Curtis Institute of Music, states explicitly that he aims to offer a “succinct interpretative study” of Arnold Schoenberg’s life and work, not a full-scale biography or complete theoretical analysis. He includes basic biographical material such as Schoenberg’s birth (1874, in Vienna), escape from Nazi Europe to America in 1933, and death in Los Angeles in 1951. Although Sachs presents a basic chronology of the composer’s personal and professional life, the emphasis is on the work, specifically his invention of the 12-tone technique and resulting “serialist” music. The author makes clear that Schoenberg’s renunciation of a clearcut tonality or key does not mean the same thing as atonality or dissonance. In his cogent explanation of serialism, Sachs shows how the 12 tones of the chromatic scale offer the “emancipation from a hierarchy” of the single note as a key center. On the whole, readers don’t need extensive training in music theory to understand this significant development in the history of Western music. Even Schoenberg himself considered his compositional breakthrough to be an evolution, not a revolution, in music. The problem is that most listeners, even skilled musicians, perceive the sound of post-tonal music as emotionally monochromatic, and the result is that this oeuvre is rarely performed by major orchestras today. Schoenberg’s path forward

split the music world into pro and con factions in the mid-20th century, but Sachs makes a strong argument that composers today may choose from many musical idioms, serialist music being just one of them. Moreover, he shows, Schoenberg’s adventures past classic tonality were inventive takes on traditional forms, not complete breaks with the past. Though rarely encountered, his music still matters today.

A convincing, laymen-friendly reappraisal of a great musical theorist, teacher, and composer.

FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE The Astonishing New Science of the Senses

Seaberg, Maureen St. Martin’s (272 pp.)

$30.00 | Aug. 8, 2023

9781250272416

A microscopic look into the power of the human sensorium.

Seaberg takes readers on a satisfying journey within, evaluating human senses. The author describes the five common senses we learn as children—sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste—and also examines lesser-known ones such as depth perception and balance. One of the most compelling aspects of the book is the recurring theme that human sensory abilities are more powerful than most know. Seaberg emphasizes that the reason many people don’t realize the extent of their innate abilities to perceive is because, especially in Western culture, we are in a state of constant sensory overload, which desensitizes us. The author shows us how our sensory capabilities function on an atomic and even quantum level. Especially fascinating is Seaberg’s personal discussion of synesthesia. “I am a polysynesthete,” she writes, “meaning that I have many bonus senses, including seeing colors associated with numbers, letters, music, days of the week (Tuesday is golden), months, and other stimuli. These impressions do not mean I don’t also experience the primary expected sense. I just get a layer on top of it.” Seaberg illustrates her points with a variety of research experiments and case studies, and she weaves in other people’s personal accounts of their sensory abilities. In addition to her own captivating story, one of the most engaging case studies is a woman who can smell the secretion of oils on the skin that reside in an individual with Parkinson’s disease. Thanks to her, writes the author, “doctors may now have a tenyear lead on Parkinson’s worst phases and can provide better early care.” Seaberg rounds out the book with suggestions for better engaging with your senses, including meditation, getting out in nature, and trying to “avoid the constant bombardment of stimuli modern society throws at you.”

An intriguing story about the power of perception.

ON BEING UNREASONABLE Breaking the Rules and Making Things Better

Sedgman, Kirsty Faber & Faber (352 pp.)

$24.95 | Aug. 8, 2023

9780571366835

A study of reasonableness and arguments for when it’s acceptable to be unreasonable.

Cultural studies scholar Sedgman begins her third book with an anecdote about breastfeeding in public, which leads to a broad introduction. “Just like society,” she writes, “this is a book in two halves.” In the first half, “Being Reasonable,” the author examines the roots and effects of societal and behavioral norms across the world. In the second, “Being Unreasonable,” she makes a case for bucking them. Humans, writes Sedgman, are “the only animal whose very survival depends on a complex system of mutual dependence between people who aren’t our families, 99.9999999999 per cent of whom we don’t know, and whom we’ll probably never meet.” Therefore, she notes, healthy society is only possible with effective “rules of engagement.” The author explores internalized behavioral patterns of which people are not consciously aware, such as kissing on both cheeks as a sign of greeting in certain countries. “Our interactions are shaped by all those supra-conscious mechanisms…but crucially, we aren’t beholden to them. We can learn to recognise our harmful urges and instincts, and to alter our response. We get to decide how we live together.”

Sedgman’s voice is engaging, buoyed by incisive humor and the sweep of her details. She delineates, for instance, the racist roots of the terms highbrow and lowbrow and how theaters, in 19th-century Europe, became places of “silent reverie.” The crux of her case is that “we are trying to be together in a world that’s designed to pull us apart.” While addressing, exhaustively, the question of what it means to be together, she concludes, “In the face of injustice, sometimes being naughty is the only moral choice.” The author is sometimes repetitive, but her points are generally thoughtful.

At least 100 pages too long, this cultural-studies book is nonetheless entertaining and timely.

THIN SKIN Essays

Shapland, Jenn Pantheon (288 pp.)

$24.00 | Aug. 15, 2023

9780593317457

A distinguished essayist explores the permeability of human bodies—including her own—to the modern world and its vagaries.

In her second book, following the acclaimed My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, 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. The author has suffered from migraines and chronic pain, and she was also diagnosed with skin that lacks “ceramides, which keeps the bad stuff out and holds the moisture in.” These and other conditions forced her into hyperawareness of how thin her protection was against the pandemic as well as radioactive contaminants present in her adopted home of Santa Fe. In “Strangers on a Train,” Shapland considers gender vulnerability, discussing the meaning of moving through misogynist society as a (White) female. Because she fears capture by hostile elements, she becomes “a hostage to my own safety” as well as “an agent of the larger mission of the state,” which weaponizes women’s perceived vulnerability against marginalized communities. The author expands her exploration of gender in “The Meaning of Life,” in which she examines childbearing in post-Roe America. The choice to have children is “always political, always overshadowed by a set of power structures” that determine “what choice is even possible.” By remaining childless—as Shapland and her queer partner have chosen to be—women become heretics against the capitalist system. A chastened slave to consumerism, Shapland observes that under capitalism, “people die by my hand every day.” Endlessly desiring and buying goods puts her on the receiving end of merchandise created by people living in misery, making her an unwilling accomplice to capitalistic violence. 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.

CHASING SHADOWS My Life Tracking the Great White Shark

Skomal, Greg with Ret Talbot

Morrow/HarperCollins (368 pp.)

$29.99 | July 11, 2023

9780063090835

An exploration of the resurgence of white sharks along the coast of New England.

In this highly accessible work of narrative nonfiction, marine biologist and white shark expert Skomal, a regular on the Discovery Channel’s megahit Shark Week, describes the lives of white sharks and chronicles his career tracking them over three decades. The author details his professional and educational career, including encounters he has had with this magnificent animal. From an early age, Skomal was interested in studying sharks. He recalls the effect watching the first episode of The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau had on his career choice as well as his desire to become the real-life Matt Hooper from Jaws. He also points to professionals in the field that had a profound influence on his career path. Alongside his personal story, the author provides a history of white shark

“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.”

thin skin

research and management in the New England area, including the first successful tagging program in the U.S. As he notes, due to difficulties in studying white sharks, we still do not know much about them, and what we do know, we’ve only learned relatively recently. Over the last decade, due to the increased number of white sharks in the New England area, shark encounters are on the rise. While their return is a conservation success story, it is also creating debate about public safety. Following a fatal shark attack in the area in 2018, the first in more than 80 years, Skomal shared these words of caution: “We all revere these animals, but on a rare occasion they remind us that they are powerful predators that make mistakes.” Skomal’s enthusiasm for sharks and his desire to help others better understand their behavior are consistently apparent. “My professional goal has always been to be not only a good shark biologist,” he writes, “but also a public ambassador for white sharks.”

A thrilling and compassionate account for shark enthusiasts.

NERVOUS Essays on Heritage and Healing

Soriano, Jen

Amistad/HarperCollins (320 pp.)

$29.99 | Aug. 22, 2023

9780063230132

A nonbinary Filipina makes sense of a series of diagnoses related to her mental health and chronic pain.

“This is a story I’m not supposed to tell.” So begins Soriano’s formally inventive memoir in essays about her decadeslong relationship with chronic pain, a topic she felt unable to explore because she was socialized to believe that, as an immigrant, she was supposed to “continue a silent lineage—be wordless in pain, resilient and productive, a walking American dream.” The author argues that her physical pain cannot be separated from her personal and ancestral mental health history, including a “deep attachment wound” inflicted by her parents’ emotional neglect and epigenetic trauma derived from her grandparents’ experience of the brutalities of colonization and war. Soriano traces her journey toward a semblance of health, during which she has enacted community-building “modern-day rituals,” like engaging in activism and investing in psychotherapy, and served as a songwriter and singer for Diskarte Namin, a Filipino band dedicated to politically healing music. The author also consciously builds a relationship with the Philippines, where she finds a measure of relief from fear and anxiety. The book comes full circle when she brings her son to the Philippines and they take a ferry ride on the Pasig River, which, after years of being considered “dead,” was, thanks to community efforts, slowly finding new life. Soriano’s elegant prose and imaginative approaches to form propel the text smoothly between disparate topics. At times, the author leaves core issues unresolved. In the chapter about the death of her friend, for example, Soriano spends little time analyzing what must have been a complex grieving process. She also never fully explains any conclusions she might

have drawn from the revelation that she probably experienced birth trauma or what it meant to accept that she might never know the truth about her past. Nonetheless, this is clearly a deeply felt narrative.

A cerebral Asian American memoir about the complexity of inherited pain.

THE 272 The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold To Build the American Catholic Church

Swarns, Rachel L.

Random House (352 pp.)

$28.00 | Aug. 22, 2023

9780399590863

A probing examination of the causes and aftermath of the sale of 272 people enslaved by Catholic priests in 1838.

Swarns, a New York Times contributor and NYU journalism professor, expands on a story she published in the Times in 2016 in which she explored the sale of people enslaved by the Jesuit order in Maryland to plantation owners in Louisiana. The proceeds—approximately $4.5 million in today’s dollars—were used to fund Georgetown University (then College) as well as Holy Cross in Massachusetts and Loyola College in Baltimore. The author smoothly weaves together the stories of the priests who, beginning in the 18th century, supervised plantations in Maryland, collectively becoming “one of the largest enslavers in Maryland,” and the families they enslaved, whose stories were passed down to their descendants. She carefully analyzes the economic rationales for both owning and ultimately selling the enslaved people, contrasting the monetary data with the devastating personal impacts of the sales, relocation, and enslavement of the people involved. Her careful look at the Jesuit hierarchy reveals both villains—e.g., the Georgetown president who squandered money and paid little attention to the lives of those sold to raise funds for the college— and more sympathetic figures, such as the priest who fought to allow families to remain together on one of the Maryland plantations and to raise and sell their own crops. Swarns also traces the family lines of the Mahoney family, beginning in the 17th century with a matriarch who was unjustly enslaved after being assured she could live as an indentured servant, leading up to sisters Anna and Louisa, one of whom was sold to a Louisiana plantation in 1838 while the other remained in Maryland, and then on to their present-day descendants. Both lively and scrupulously documented, the book brings to light a previously unknown piece of the history of slavery in the U.S.

A balanced, comprehensively researched account of a grim period.

young adult

COSMIC SCHOLAR

The Life and Times of Harry Smith

Szwed, John Farrar, Straus and Giroux (416 pp.)

$30.00 | Aug. 22, 2023

9780374282240

An overdue, comprehensive biography of a strange, singular man. Harry Smith (1923-1991) was a polymath who “effaced, erased, or trashed most of the facts of his life, as he did his art.” Nonetheless, Szwed, piece by obscure piece, masterfully puts his puzzle of a life together. Smith was born in Portland, Oregon, and raised in Washington in an unusual family and isolated childhood, and Szwed, biographer of Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and Alan Lomax, admits Smith’s past is rather murky. He was frail, precocious, and fascinated by the local Indigenous population, and he began photographing, filming, and making recordings of them. At 18, he began an ambitious dictionary of Samish and Swinomish languages and began his lifelong obsession with string figures and, much later, paper planes. He was painting, drawing, reading widely, watching movies, and collecting many records, especially folk and blues. Smith spent the mid-1940s in the Bay Area soaking up its rich cultural and artistic milieu—and drugs. By 27, he discovered nonobjective hand-drawn animated film and visual music, his surrealistic “record paintings.” A job at the San Francisco Museum of Art’s cinema program enabled him to hone his prodigious skills. In the late ’40s, invariably broke, he taught a course on Afro-American music and started friendships with poet Jack Spicer and musicians like Gillespie, Monk, and Mingus. Smith’s experiments with light shows earned him much-needed financial support from the Guggenheim Foundation. After he moved to New York City in 1951, his mythic reputation grew. Szwed ably describes the substantial impact that Smith’s momentous Anthology of American Folk Music had on folk singers, and he offers telling looks at many of the people Smith came to know, like Allen Ginsberg, whom itinerant Smith stayed with. The author is clearly impressed with Smith’s accomplishments, especially his experimental animated film work, which filmmaker Jonas Mekas called “magic.” Smith was more sage than scholar, and his peaks-and-valleys life was one of a kind.

A revelatory portrait of a unique pop-culture figure.

BLOWBACK A Warning To Save Democracy From the Next Trump

Taylor, Miles

Atria (336 pp.)

$30.00 | July 18, 2023

9781668015988

An urgent alarm about the nation’s future.

In a New York Times op-ed piece in 2018 and again in his book A Warning, both published anonymously, Taylor exposed the lies, corruption, and craziness within the Trump administration—of which he was a member—and argued vehemently against his reelection in 2020. Now facing the 2024 contest, Taylor reiterates his dire predictions. “The MAGA movement—or Trumpism, which I use interchangeably—remains the fastest-growing political coalition in America,” he contends. Even if Trump himself is not the Republican Party’s standard bearer, “the rule of a savvier successor” will promote the same policies, authoritarian postures, vindictiveness, and hatred. Taylor had an inside view of the administration, serving as a national security adviser under John Kelly at the Department of Homeland Security; when Kelly became Trump’s chief of staff, Taylor stayed on at the DHS. He witnessed a president who was impulsive, raging, and out of control, focused on building a wall on the southern border, to the exclusion of most else. Trump demanded protestations of loyalty, and he was quick to fire anyone who dared to cross him. Taylor predicts that “appointees in the next GOP White House will be heavily vetted for obedience,” and career civil servants will be ousted in favor of lackeys. There will be “what might be called the Two Houses of MAGA (the White House and a right-leaning House of Representatives)” that would “do each other’s bidding.” The culture wars—“guns, gays, and girls”—a GOP operative told Taylor, “will be the primary legislative agenda,” and the “Next Trump…will exacerbate political violence and push the nation to the brink of a Second Civil War.” The author urges citizens to speak out against extremism. “Social fear,” he writes, “is creating a mass bystander effect in our politics,” but “the final guardrail of our collective democracy,” he declares, is truth.

Another rousing plea to all Americans to stand against authoritarianism.

“A revelatory portrait of a unique pop-culture figure.”

cosmic scholar

ROAD TO SURRENDER Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II

Thomas, Evan Random House (336 pp.)

$28.00 | May 16, 2023

9780399589256

An exploration of the moral quandaries that surrounded the atomic bombing of Japan.

Japan had barely surrendered, recounts Thomas, when Americans of goodwill began to question whether the nuclear destructions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been necessary. At the end of his life, former Secretary of War Henry Stimson, one of Thomas’ subjects, spoke of “the wrongness and folly of using nuclear weapons.” Gen. Carl Spaatz, another of those subjects, reckoned that the campaign of firebombing Japanese targets would be better mounted with precision bombing of rail lines to prevent foods from reaching the heavily populated Kanto Plain, reducing Japan by famine and what was sure to be a resulting civil war. Yet, Thomas writes, despite the quiet workings of Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo to maneuver his nation toward surrender, key Japanese military leaders had no intention of doing so. This leads Thomas to revisit, throughout his narrative, the old question of whether the atomic bomb was necessary, which, with a nuanced argument that’s still likely to stir up controversy, he answers in the affirmative. Apart from averting a projected 1 million American casualties in an invasion of the homeland, he argues, “the atomic bombs not only saved many thousands and possibly millions of Japanese lives, they saved the lives of even more Asians beyond Japan.” Even after the atomic bombings, hawkish military and government factions threatened a coup against the emperor in order to continue the war. The author’s argument is well taken even though it does nothing to lessen the moral anguish that his principals—to say nothing of Einstein, Oppenheimer, and even Truman as well as generations after them—felt over the decision to unleash nuclear terror on their enemy. In addition, notes Thomas, there was another bomb waiting in the event of continued war, this one destined for Tokyo.

A thoughtful study of nuclear war, its early discontents, and alternate scenarios that might have been worse.

CONGRATULATIONS, THE BEST IS OVER!

Essays

Thomas, R. Eric Ballantine (240 pp.)

$27.00 | Aug. 8, 2023

9780593496268

The bestselling author of Here for It pens another hilarious and thoughtful essay collection.

In 2017, after 12 years away, writer and comedian Thomas returned to his hometown of Baltimore with his husband, David, a Presbyterian minister. The author clearly has a rocky relationship with the city, but he navigates it with characteristic humor and warmth. As he told his therapist soon after making the move, “Nothing is wrong, but I can’t really get started here, and I feel like I’ve lost the bead on my life. Also, I’m in a toxic relationship with the city of Baltimore, and so I guess I’m seeking couples counseling.” In these amusing and often wise essays, Thomas ranges widely, discussing celebrity eyebrows, mental health crises at the mall, and the terror of moving to the suburbs—especially challenging when faced with “dozens of loudass homosexual frogs”—all while reestablishing his relationship with Baltimore. The author wrestles with the challenges of returning home in the phase of life that is “between the best days of life and the worst days of life, between what you thought your life would be and what it is”—a phase he simply calls “the middle.” Throughout, Thomas displays his talent for self-deprecating humor, but he doesn’t shy away from heavier topics. He writes candidly about the experience of being Black in America, his battle with depression, and the loss of his father-in-law. Thomas is skilled at demonstrating that humor and gravitas can go hand in hand, penning many essays that include multiple aspects of both—e.g., an account of a depression-driven visit to his grandparents’ graves that resulted in the discovery of bright balloons bearing the unexpected message, “You Rock,” tied to the headstones with party ribbons: “Here, in the all-encompassing quietude of the cemetery: an exclamation point. The shock of life.” Readers who enjoyed his previous book will love this one.

A funny, poignant, astute collection.

THE DEEPEST MAP The High-Stakes Race To Chart the World’s Oceans

Trethewey, Laura

Harper Wave (320 pp.)

$32.00 | July 11, 2023

9780063099951

An engrossing look at deep-sea exploration.

Mapping the ocean floor requires complex technology, politics, and patience, but it attracts brilliant scientists, entrepreneurs, and as many adventurous billionaires as space travel. Fortunately, it has also attracted journalist Trethewey, author of Imperiled Ocean. As she writes, the sentence, “We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean…appears in almost every article you read about the deep sea nowadays.” Yet life exists at the deepest points throughout the world: “blown-out, flattened volcanoes known as guyots, mud volcanos spewing methane, underwater lakes known as brine pools that are so salty they are lethal to almost every life-form except a few microorganisms that might be analogues to the aliens we seek on distant planets.” One of the author’s main characters is Texas financier

beyond the shores

Victor Vescovo. Already featured in Susan Casey’s fine recent book, The Underworld, Vescovo has outfitted a research ship, commissioned a cutting-edge submersible, and proceeded to dive to the deepest points in all five oceans. Since no one knew precisely where those points were, a good deal of mapping occurred along with pioneering scientific experiments and hair-raising adventures, all of which Trethewey vividly recounts. Researchers yearn for an alternative to survey ships, which cost upward of $50,000 per day. Unmanned drones work fairly well, but they have not caught on. Crowdsourcing accounts recruit fishing vessels, luxury yachts, cruise ships, and commercial shippers that routinely use sonar depth finders to contribute to the effort, and experts are digging through industrial archives for soundings filed and forgotten. Mapping the seafloor will bring benefits, but Trethewey reminds readers that intrepid explorers who mapped the continents were followed by colonists who proceeded to “consume, exhaust, and extinguish” the resources and human cultures they found. The deep sea is a treasure of pure metals. Commercial deep-sea mining is about to begin, and the process is horrendously destructive.

Essential reading for environmentalists, armchair adventure divers, and those who care about the world’s oceans.

BEYOND THE SHORES A History of African Americans Abroad

Walker, Tamara J. Crown (352 pp.)

$28.00 | June 20, 2023

9780593139059

An intimate history of African Americans who have opted to live abroad rather than endure racial oppression in the U.S.

As a supposed “beacon of democracy” in the early 1900s, America wanted to show its best face to the world while masking the bigotry that was rampant in the Deep South, mired in racist laws and customs. Moving between historical figures and her own family’s story of migration from the South, Walker, a professor of Africana studies at Barnard College, generally eschews the famous stories of James Baldwin and Josephine Baker and explores some lesser-known personalities during and after World War I. These men and women, who found the liberty abroad they could not enjoy at home, included Florence Mills, a dancer, singer, and comedian; Herman de Bose, an early Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya; and Philippa Schuyler, a journalist and author who died in Vietnam in 1967. Touring across the European continent in the mid-1920s, Mills was as wildly popular as Baker in Europe, though she died tragically young. The author also shares the incredible stories of Joseph Roane, an agronomy student from Virginia, and Oliver Golden, a Mississippi-born veteran and graduate of the Tuskegee Institute, who seized the chance to study at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow and later took job opportunities in Uzbekistan when they were denied career choices

in their own country. Walker offers a particularly telling quote from one source: “There are places in this world where our presence isn’t viewed as a menace, as a problem, or even as an inconvenience. There are places where we are welcomed, listened to, appreciated, and even loved.” The author’s own alternating family stories of migration and travel, in the military and for jobs, underscore the emotional tug of living and traveling aboard.

Nuanced, poignant tales that beautifully flesh out a littleknown aspect of the African American experience.

TORRENTS AS YET UNKNOWN Daring Whitewater Ventures Into the World’s Great River Gorges

Walker, Wickliffe W.

Steerforth (224 pp.)

$27.00 | Sept. 12, 2023

9781586423728

A renowned kayaking expert provides a collection of riveting stories about the world’s most dangerous and mysterious whitewater rivers.

There is something primal about rushing, roaring water. People who ride the rapids in kayaks know the risks and choose to face them, testing themselves and perhaps finding a deeper connection with the world. Walker is one of those people, although in the course of his life, he has also held senior military positions and written several books about kayaking. In his latest, he chronicles 10 expeditions on unconquered rapids, ranging from the Zambezi in Africa to Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Yangtze. Walker paddled the Yarlung Tsangpo River at the eastern end of the Himalayas, described in the final chapter of the book; he draws the other accounts from interviews with and memoirs by the other participants. In several cases, documentary films were made, providing a crucial record. Simply getting to the starting point could be an epic journey involving not just the kayaking team, but their support crew and supplies. The rapids were not the only danger; in some places, there were also piranhas, bandits, crocodiles, and bureaucrats to contend with. The unchartered rivers could be a battlefield, and sometimes the rivers won. Several expeditions lost team members or were, after bruising accidents and wrecked boats, forced to acknowledge defeat (including Walker’s expedition). Clearly, this is not a sport for the faint of heart, and Walker captures it all: the adventure and the danger of the rapids, the terror and the thrill of the unknown, the camaraderie and the occasional humor. The author is a solid storyteller, and though the book is not for everyone, it will appeal to readers with an interest in challenging sports, untraveled paths, and the process of confronting fear and overcoming it.

Page-turning adventure tales from an experienced, knowledgeable guide.

“Nuanced, poignant tales that beautifully flesh out a little-known aspect of the African American experience.”

PLEASURE OF THINKING

Wang Xiaobo

Trans. by Yan Yan

Astra House (224 pp.)

$26.00 | July 25, 2023

9781662601255

First English translation of a collection by the prominent Chinese intellectual.

These essays, which Wang Xiaobo (1952-1997) wrote during the 1990s, cover a range of topics, from literature to sexuality to food. What binds them is a concern for the value of an examined life and a wry awareness of the diverse ways in which humans fail to reap the rewards of thinking deeply. “Stupidity is the worst sort of misery, diminishing the intellectual capacity of mankind is the worst sort of atrocity,” writes the author. “To teach ignorance is the worst crime committed by otherwise good people.” Wang is consistently insightful and often charming in his commentary, particularly in his consideration of the logic of censorship, the consequences of intellectual confinement, and the importance of individual resistance to tyranny. Most vivid are the descriptions of Chinese social relations at home and in expatriate communities in America. An essay on village culture memorably describes how information flows are managed by “aunties and grannies [who] are the deities of the earth, an omniscient network.” Another documents the popularity of inane health practices such as arm-shaking and transfusions of chicken blood. The author also conveys in searing detail the soul-crushing demands of the Chinese American restaurant industry, which the author came to know firsthand. Alongside philosophical reflections, the author provides numerous sketches of quirky characters. One highlight is the extended description of an aged, lonesome American farmer, nicknamed Old Lady Wolf, who attempts to teach Wang conversational English by having him recite Milton’s poetry. Less successful are the essays devoted to feminism and homosexuality, which can seem both platitudinous and antiquated in their approaches. Nevertheless, Wang offers an illuminating window on life in China—and Western life seen through the eyes of a Chinese traveler—at the end of the 20th century.

A wide-ranging, humorous, often sharp collection.

THE RYE BREAD MARRIAGE How I Found Happiness With a Partner I’ll Never Understand

Weissman, Michaele

Algonquin (288 pp.)

$27.00 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781643752693

A culinary history of a marriage.

In 1982, freelance journalist Weissman, “a fast-talking Jewish person from New York City,” married John Melngailis, a Latvian immigrant

deeply connected to his country’s past and especially to the dense sourdough rye bread that, for him, represented Latvian history and culture. Weissman naïvely assumed that her husband’s obsession with all things Latvian would wane; instead, she found herself mired in a “decades-long battle,” which she reveals in this engaging memoir, an “exploration of bread and marriage, of history, identity, and all that the heart holds dear.” Early in their marriage, they decided that their children “would be Latvian-speaking Jews. John would ‘get’ ethnicity and language and I would ‘get’ religion and that was that. But, of course, that was not that. You cannot divvy up what is not divisible.” As the author learned about his family’s traumatic hardships, their flights from one country to another, she came to understand John’s attachment to relics, his apparent stoicism, and the confusing trajectory of their own European journeys. “From the cauldron that was his childhood,” she writes, “John’s restless need to move was reinforced, as was his insistence that he be in control of the mode of travel and his abiding nostalgia for where he has been, and where he is no more.” She understood that John and his brother “learned to suppress their emotions and their personal desires.” They protected themselves and their parents by not asking “for what their parents could not provide.” Weissman also reflects on her own family’s roots, her connection to Judaism, her vocation as a writer, and she explores themes of love, mortality, and morality. “I discovered what I believe,” she writes: “Other people are real. That is my morality.” The author came to love Latvian rye bread “slathered with peanut butter, or smashed avocado,” melted cheese, or smoked salmon. The bread, she admits, “civilized me.”

A charming, insightful meditation on the intersection of love, family, and food.

LEXINGTON

The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America’s Legendary Racehorse

Wickens, Kim

Ballantine (384 pp.)

$28.99 | July 11, 2023

9780593496701

Spirited biography of a famed thoroughbred.

Wickens, a former attorney and current trainer, explores the life of the steed at the center of Geraldine Brooks’ superb novel Horse. Wickens capably covers a considerable amount of historical ground. To start, she sets a context that may not be well known to readers: the 19th-century American mania for horse racing and its “tests of courage, strength, and stamina.” The stamina part is key; as the author notes, the longest race today, the Belmont Stakes, is less than half the length of the longest courses of the past. Against this picture stands Lexington, who was born in 1850 and came into the orbit of a wheeler-dealer whose racing syndicate made a sizable fortune—Wickens reckons it as being the equivalent of $1,724,000 today—in just seven races. Lexington was then

landlines

put out to stud, and there his accomplishments were even more profound. “By 1872,” writes the author, “he had been listed as America’s leading sire for eleven consecutive years,” and many of his hundreds of offspring went on to become champion racers themselves. By the author’s reckoning, of the 13 thoroughbreds that have won the Triple Crown, most recently Justify in 2018, 12 of them had Lexington as an ancestor; Man o’ War, Seattle Slew, Secretariat, and Seabiscuit were all in his bloodline. Other of Lexington’s offspring figured differently in history. George Armstrong Custer rode one into battle at the Little Bighorn, and the Confederate guerrilla leader William Quantrill and his gang stole several from a breeder’s barn in Kentucky, where Quantrill met his end. As to Lexington’s end, his skeleton wound up in the Smithsonian, where for many years it was hidden in an unvisited attic until finally being restored to public view, then later transferred to the International Museum of the Horse in Lexington, Kentucky.

Fans of horse racing and American history alike will enjoy this lively story.

THE SUMMER OF 1876 Outlaws, Lawmen, and Legend in the Season That Defined the American West

Wimmer, Chris

St. Martin’s (320 pp.)

$30.00 | May 30, 2023

9781250280893

How an extraordinarily eventful few months shaped American history and mythography.

In his first book, Wimmer, the host of the Legends of the Old West podcast, explores a series of dramatic moments during a key transition period in frontier colonialism. The author includes intersecting commentary on the context for “three major events…the Battle of Little Bighorn, the murder of Wild Bill Hickock, and the Northfield Raid.” Along the way, Wimmer teaches us about the roles of a number of well-known figures, including Sitting Bull, Wyatt Earp, and Jesse James. As the author explains, this work is not intended as a rigorous examination of a particular historical period but rather as “an entertaining journey through the pivotal events of the summer of 1876…intentionally lean and fast-paced.” Wimmer does deliver a brisk and exciting narrative along with a good deal of intriguing—if not especially original—analysis of various “legendary” tales. Especially vivid is the author’s account of the JamesYounger Gang’s last bank robbery and its miserable aftermath. On the whole, Wimmer doesn’t render Indigenous perspectives with as much insight or sensitivity as those of Anglo-Americans, though the book begins with a chapter on Red Cloud’s military strategizing and thus reminds readers, to some extent, how the biases and enormous blind spots of traditional frontier mythology have been exposed over the last several decades. The author’s practice of continually shifting narrative attention between different historical events unfolding at the same

time—for example, bringing to readers’ attention that the rise of a professional baseball league took place contemporaneously with the climax of several “Indian wars”—can sometimes seem a little strained, though the multifocal approach here is often rewarding and consistently engaging. The book includes a handful of relevant maps.

A lively survey of a watershed historical period and some of its defining figures.

LANDLINES The Remarkable Story of a Thousand-Mile Journey Across Britain

Winn, Raynor

Pegasus (320 pp.)

$27.95 | Sept. 5, 2023

9781639364930

Over mountain and moor, nourished and restored by wilderness.

Eight years after Moth Winn was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disorder, he and his wife, Raynor, set out on a valedictory walk of epic length: a fourmonth, 1,000-mile trek from the Scottish Highlands back to their home in southwest England. Though they embarked during the height of the pandemic, they were encouraged by the possibility that intense physical exertion could work its magic and forestall the worsening of his condition. This affecting chronicle continues the narrative of Raynor’s previous two books, The Salt Path and The Wild Silence, with the customary observations on environmental degradation and human shortsightedness. The text is also an engaging travelogue and a powerful evocation of place and personality, rugged landscapes and distinctive cultures. It may be a cliché to say this book is inspiring, yet it is, and it’s every bit as much about the Winns’ inner lives as their adventure. The narrative is so vividly drawn and emotionally resonant that most readers will come to feel like one of the family, sharing their pain and uncertainty and eventual triumph. Above all, there is the strength and durability of their marriage, which has weathered homelessness as well as illness. If, occasionally, her otherwise admirable ecological awareness skirts the precipice of sermonizing, it can be forgiven, so fundamental is her devotion to the wild and belief in its healing powers. One’s admiration for the Winns runs so deep it seems churlish to say her account may strain credulity here and there, but readers will give her the benefit of the doubt. This is an unforgettable story about fragility girded by resolve and the courage to keep going, even if it’s just that one more step, and to hold fast to hope.

Winn exudes the soul of a poet and the grit of a survivor.

“This is an unforgettable story about fragility girded by resolve and the courage to keep going even if it’s just that one more step, and to hold fast to hope.”

children’s

These titles earned the

$17.99 | Aug. 22, 2023

9781662509582

Series: The Moonwind Mysteries, 1

BARB AND THE BATTLE FOR BAILIWICK

Abdo, Dan & Jason Patterson

Simon & Schuster (272 pp.)

$13.99 | Aug. 22, 2023

9781665914451

Series: Barb the Last Berzerker, 3

As if leering bad guy Witch Head and his huge Shadow Army aren’t daunting enough, Barb faces a tougher challenge— her mom.

With Barb Witch Head’s captive and the Shadow Blade back in his clutches to compel his army’s obedience (see Barb and the Ghost Blade, 2022), it looks like nothing can stop him from laying waste to the hapless hamlet of Bailiwick. Nothing? Enter Barb’s mother, Raven, leaping out of the Shadow Realm to the rescue with a mighty scream, an even mightier ax…and an infuriating determination to keep her daughter out of the action and safe from danger. Cue the mother-daughter clash! Barb, of course, can’t be held back for long and makes it to the climactic battle just in time to pull off a rescue of her own with an army of yetis on speed sleds (“YETIS! LET’S ROCK AND ROLL!”), not to mention a mystical Ghost Blade powerful enough to disarm Witch Head and persuade him to give up his evil ways. Now cue the massive dance party: “WE WON!” Despite plenty of explosive cartoon action and a colorful cast that includes toothy monsters of several sorts led by a spiky villain, Barb and Raven consistently steal the show—the latter topped by a magnificent purple mohawk and both sporting Wonder Woman tiaras and world-class glares.

A proper, rousing entry with plenty of juice left in the tank for future exploits. (Graphic adventure. 8-12)

BREAKING TO THE BEAT!

Acevedo, Linda J.

Illus. by Frank Morrison

Lee & Low Books (32 pp.)

$19.95 | May 30, 2023

9781643796390

A timid Puerto Rican child picks up the beats and gets down on the streets in the 1970s.

Young Manolo takes in everything in his Bronx neighborhood: Latin boogaloo singalongs, “hip-swaying rumba parties,” bass-heavy thrums, and the “zigga, zigga scratch” of DJs on turntables. A refrain appears throughout: “ROCK, ROCK,

ten sizzling summer reads

Summer is the perfect time to dive into a good book—or 10. These novels, among them mysteries, fantasies, and historical fiction, are sure to please.

Lei and the Fire Goddess by Malia Maunakea (Penguin Workshop, June 6): Spending another summer in Hawai‘i with her grandmother, 12-year-old Anna attempts to reconnect with her Native heritage. When she inadvertently angers the goddess Pele, she must put things right. Maunakea balances thrills with more contemplative moments as Anna finds herself.

Camp Sylvania by Julie Murphy (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, June 6): It’s bad enough that Maggie’s attending fat camp, but things get worse when she suspects Camp Sylvania is run by a vampire. Murphy’s wonderfully spooky tale contains everything readers have come to expect from her novels: humor, a pitch-perfect voice, and fat characters who wholeheartedly embrace themselves and their bodies. (Read an interview with Murphy on Page 92.)

Control Freaks by J.E. Thomas (Levine Querido, June 13): Frederick Douglass Zezzmer, a Black seventh grader, is determined to win an upcoming school competition, but his hopes are dashed when he realizes he’ll have to work on a team… with “sportsters” and “art peeps.” Thomas has crafted an absorbing, witty read about a kid learning that letting others in just might be more rewarding than winning.

Ginny Off the Map by Caroline Hickey, illustrated by Kelly Murphy (Christy Ottaviano Books, June 20): Ginny’s summer plans are upended (goodbye, geography camp!) when her father is deployed to Afghanistan sooner than expected. Before he leaves, her father tells her she must be the glue that holds the family together, and though Ginny initially flails, she eventually comes into her own in this quirky, heart-rending tale.

How To Catch a Polar Bear by Stacy Dekeyser (McElderry, June 27): A companion to A Rhino in Right Field (2018), this novel set in 1948 Wisconsin sees 12-year-old Nick, who’s selling frozen treats at the zoo over the summer, solving the mystery of who freed a polar bear from its cage. Hilarious hijinks and a charming cast of characters make for an enticing read.

The Boy With Wings by Lenny Henry, illustrated by Keenon Ferrell and Mark Buckingham (Andrews

McMeel Publishing, June 27): Tunde, a 12-year-old Black British boy, wonders if his adoptive parents are hiding something—and his suspicions are confirmed when he sprouts wings at a soccer game. Bursting with intergalactic drama, comedian Henry’s novel is action-packed, hilarious, and heartwarming.

Where the Water Takes Us written and illustrated by Alan Barillaro (Candlewick, July 4): Spending the summer with her grandparents, Ava is too busy fretting about her mother, whose pregnancy has become complicated, to enjoy the beauty of the Canadian wilderness around her. But, as this lush, meditative novel demonstrates, a connection with nature can be affirming.

Hope in the Valley by Mitali Perkins (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, July 11): Indian American Pandu attends summer drama camp and joins the Historical Preservation Society’s efforts to protect the orchard she and her late mother loved—a decision that brings her into conflict with her sister but spurs her to learn more about U.S. and Indian history. Set in 1980s Silicon Valley, this is both a poignant tale of loss and a thoughtprovoking exploration of how history informs the present.

The International House of Dereliction by Jacqueline Davies, illustrated by Julia Castaño (Clarion/HarperCollins, July 18): Alice, 10, takes on a task that would daunt most adults: fixing up an abandoned house and helping its ghostly inhabitants resolve unfinished business. Davies’ novel brims with humor and whimsy, and her cast of characters, living and dead, is enchanting.

Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera (Kokila, Aug. 29): When Natalia, a fat Latina 12-year-old, joins a synchronized swimming team, she knows she’s up against obstacles—from her parents, who don’t want her involved in a sport that holds up thin White women as the ideal, as well as from strangers who make assumptions about her based on her body. But her self-love and persistence make her a winning protagonist for whom readers will eagerly root.

Mahnaz Dar is a young readers’ editor.

Y’ALL, AND YA DON’T QUIT!” It’s the rise of “HIP-HOP!” and break dancing. The B-boys and B-girls and their dance crews make it look way smooth—in dance-offs where spectators cheer and jeer with bravado—but Manolo slinks away, discouraged. Does he have what it takes? As the Bronx succumbs to the rubble and exodus caused by “corrupt politicians and greedy landlords,” Manolo perfects his top rock and six step, gaining a dance crew and a new moniker: Kid Flex. Soon enough, Kid Flex and the Borinquén Breakers make their mark, taking the pulsing beat of the Boogie Down Bronx to new neighborhoods. In this beatific tale, Acevedo serves up a fictional tale rooted in history that pays tribute to young Black and brown breakers. With text full of punchy words and phrases, the author invokes the indelible zest of hip-hop in a way that inspires. Morrison’s hazy, graffiti-flavored artwork is spellbinding, with bodies etched in movement that leap off the pages. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An irresistible beat to get readers on their feet. (afterword, photos, glossary, author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)

THE BIG BOOK OF MYSTERIES

Adams, Tom Illus. by Yas Imamura

Nosy Crow (96 pp.)

$19.99 | July 4, 2023

9798887770048

Summary reports on more than 100 unexplained appearances, disappearances, natural phenomena, historical puzzles, and mass delusions.

Loose organization, not to mention the sheer number of entries, makes this heavy reading taken cover to cover but also guarantees there will be something to pique any sort of interest. Leading off with a warning to readers to be skeptical of claims from iffy sources like social media but then loading the unlikelier reaches of what follows with plenty of what-ifs and maybeso’s, Adams pours out reports of sightings or close encounters with UFOs, sea monsters, rains of blood or fish, and ghosts to go with tallies of vanished or never-were places (Atlantis, HyBrasil, Veneta), strange artifacts from Nazca Lines to the Voynich manuscript, and more. Cryptids are covered, too— along with Mothman and the Jersey Devil, the author discusses a “Vegetable Man” (“It looked just like a human stick of celery!”) in West Virginia. Still, chucking in obvious (in retrospect) hoaxes like Piltdown man, he perceptively observes that the willingness to believe can trump objective reality (one of his more telling cases in point being the way placebo medications sometimes actually work). Imamura mixes diverse human figures into painted representations of creatures fictive or otherwise, atmospheric oddities, and archaeological or geological wonders.

Better for dips than dives but rich fare for fans of the odd and uncanny. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)

GALLOWGATE

Alexander, K.R.

Scholastic (352 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781338806489

When Sebastian’s ability to see ghosts turns from a secret curse he lives with to a deadly danger, he is thrust into a world where he must learn to hunt what haunts him.

Twelve-year-old Sebastian hoped to start over in middle school. Fitting in has always been difficult, especially since he has white hair and can see the spirits of the dead. Sebastian’s lone source of comfort and normalcy is his eccentric aunt Dahlia, with whom he has lived since his parents were murdered. Sebastian’s hauntings turn violent with the appearance of the terrifying specter he calls the shadowman, but his world is truly upended when Aunt Dahlia reveals his lineage as being one charged with protecting the living world from

“Offers humorous honesty and heartfelt relationships.”

the year my life went down the toilet

the departed. No longer safe, Sebastian is sent to Gallowgate Academy for Ætheric Arts to learn the skills he needs to banish the dead and defend himself. There he makes friends and develops a sweet, reciprocated crush on another boy. Sebastian not only learns that his path is different than most, but that the ripple effects of his parents’ long-kept secret will put many lives in mortal danger, starting with his own. This is an overall entertaining read with a gothic aesthetic and some loose ends that readers will hope may be resolved in a sequel. Sebastian is implied White; there is some diversity in race and nationality at the academy, and a couple of students use wheelchairs.

A dark, fantastical adventure. (Horror. 10-13)

LOOK UP HIGH! THINGS THAT FLY

Allenby, Victoria

Pajama Press (24 pp.)

$17.95 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781772782905

Series: Big, Little Concepts, 6

An invitation to fledgling readers to admire various types of flying craft (while practicing their prepositions).

A jet plane “soars across the sky,” a glider “glides behind a plane,” and other flyers from a toy airplane to the International Space Station go above, below, between, and around in big, bright stock photographs as Allenby repeatedly urges readers to “Look up high!” Following a picture of two young Black groundlings running “beside” one another while holding a toy plane (an image that abandons the book’s premise, but so what) and a final view of an adult hoisting a smiling toddler (both are Black) overhead (“How would YOU zoom across the sky?”), a section for caregivers, in smaller type, takes over, with suggestions for simple activities that further explore or embody positional relationships (pretend to be an air traffic control officer and an aircraft, take part in “a preposition version of I Spy”). It’s a quick read but well designed to put wind beneath the wings of children working to get their minds around language and parts of speech. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A short flight, soon past—but with plenty of lift. (Informational picture book. 4-6)

GIVE Arena, Jen Illus. by Rahele Jomepour Bell Knopf (40 pp.)

$18.99 | $21.99 PLB | Aug. 22, 2023

9781524714994

9781524714482 PLB

Small kindnesses make a big difference in this pay-itforward story.

Two children walk to school on a blustery day, one holding a tall yellow box tied with pink ribbon. Oh no! The other’s

blue hair ribbon is blown away—“Sometimes bad things happen.” And the pink ribbon is handed over. “Give what you have.” Using this simple construction, each subsequent spread tells a microstory, depicting a person who encounters a problem (“Sometimes something breaks”) on the verso and the previous recipient of help providing a kind solution (“Give something new”) on the recto. The minimal text has a lovely, spare feeling; the problems are simple, ranging from spilled milk to being lonely, though some feel more poetic than others. Spread over the course of a single day in a community that includes a school and a park, they emphasize noticing, understanding, and making connections. Oil paintings in earthy colors create texture and whimsy, suggesting a simpler time when kids walked to school and flew kites in the park without adult supervision. The children are diverse in terms of skin tone and hair texture. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An appealing addition to the growing number of books on kindness and community. (Picture book. 3-7)

THE YEAR MY LIFE WENT DOWN THE TOILET

Arlow, Jake Maia

Dial Books (292 pp.)

$17.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780593112960

All Al wants is to be a brain without a body.

Then she wouldn’t have to deal with her freshly diagnosed Crohn’s disease or her secret attraction to girls. Not to mention her very best friend and next-door neighbor Leo’s suddenly ditching her for the drama club. And the little matter of her own mom’s starting to date Leo’s mom. When all hope seems lost, into Al’s life comes The Bathroom Club, a truly nurturing inflammatory bowel disease support group made up of kids who are also queer. With new friends, a new crush, and Leo drifting further away from her, keeping her symptoms and struggles bottled up is becoming an insurmountable challenge for Al. Arlow dives into Al’s physical concerns, painting a picture both of the nitty-gritty of illness and the overwhelming embarrassments and anxieties of her particular experience of middle school. Al feels all things deeply and gets in her own way, traversing the highest highs and lowest lows on her journey to developing pride in all that she is. Her sweet romance with fellow club member Mina and deep friendship with Leo are strengths, and the highlight of Al’s story is the camaraderie among a group of chronically ill queer kids providing each other with dignity and nonjudgmental support. The supporting cast is racially diverse; Al, Leo (whose dad is Filipino), Mina, and some other characters are Jewish.

Offers humorous honesty and heartfelt relationships. (Fiction. 8-12)

LIKE LAVA IN MY VEINS

Barnes, Derrick Illus. by Shawn Martinbrough with Adriano Lucas

Nancy Paulsen Books (40 pp.)

$18.99 | July 4, 2023

9780525518747

A Black youngster attends a school designed to help him control his superpowers.

Bobby Beacon can wield light and fire with impressive—and at times terrifying—results, but sometimes his talent seems to have a mind of its own. At the Academy of Kids With Awesome Abilities, he meets other superheroes-in-training. Not all the teachers are understanding, however; Ms. Flores either scolds or ignores Bobby—until frustration sets in, lava seems to fill his veins, and he accidentally melts his chair. Miss Brooklyn, a different teacher, is more understanding, and her techniques and willingness to listen set Bobby on the path to success. However,

the Institute for Supervillains and its leader, Headmaster Chaos, do not intend to let a talent like Bobby’s elude their clutches. But Bobby and his classmates are ready to fight back. With this lively and clever picture book, award-winning author Barnes tells an engaging story while skillfully conveying the idea that young people can flourish with guidance from empathetic educators. In particular, the narrative speaks to the experiences of Black students, who are disproportionately disciplined for misbehavior far more often than their White counterparts. Comic-book elements such as speech bubbles and panels work perfectly with the text; Martinbrough and Lucas’ dramatic art oozes action. Miss Brooklyn and Ms. Flores are Black, while Headmaster Chaos is White. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A thrilling story with a sound takeaway: Compassionate teachers are the real superheroes. (Picture book. 5-8)

WORDS WITH… Julie Murphy

A tween at fat camp experiences fresh horrors—and real friendship—in Murphy’s new middle-grade novel

BY ILANA BENSUSSEN EPSTEIN

A theme that comes up in this book is the censorship of bodies—the kids at the camp are forbidden from using the word fat.

I’m a former librarian, so censorship has always been a big part of the conversation for me. When I came up with this idea that the kids wouldn’t be allowed to use “the F-word,” it was because I wasn’t allowed to use that word growing up. It’s how I identified myself, it’s how I viewed my body, and yet because I wasn’t allowed to use the word, it became a negative thing for me. When you censor things, you weaponize them, and you make them feel dangerous.

It also points to the idea of fat camps as spaces where children are responsible for making themselves acceptable in the eyes of adults.

It’s funny, because as a kid, I dreamed of going to a fat camp. When I was growing up in the ’90s and early aughts, fat camps were at the height of their popularity. It felt like such an exciting opportunity, that I would come back as a whole new person and have that magical post-summer makeover moment. Now, looking back and seeing how that was my fantasy because that was what the adults in my life fantasized for me— that’s pretty broken.

Julie Murphy’s latest middle-grade foray, Camp Sylvania (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, June 6), brings fresh blood to the genre of summer camp horror stories. With fifth grade behind her, Maggie Hagen is ready for a life-changing summer of performance arts with her best friend. Her parents, determined to rid her of her “baby fat,” have other plans. When the fat camp where she finds herself turns out to be even more sinister than one might anticipate, it’s up to Maggie and her friends to rescue their peers and salvage some joy to boot. Our review calls it a “fun and spooky celebration of fat kids and friendship.” Murphy spoke with us over Zoom from her Texas home; the conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

We get to see Maggie model for us how a child can speak to their caregiver and say “Hey, you hurt me.” The adults in this book are, by and large, imperfect humans.

I do think every author has four or five themes that they are constantly circling, and one of those things that I’m really obsessed with is the moment [as an adolescent] when you realize the adults in your life don’t know everything. They’re just as human and clueless as you are. [Adults] may be able to mentally metabolize things in more nuanced ways, but we still don’t have all the answers. We still don’t know the secret of transforming yourself so that you feel more comfortable in the world. Because the answer, of course, is that it’s not a physical transformation: You have to recatalog the world around you and your role in that world.

Danielle Nicole Portraits

How does your background as a librarian shape how you think about writing, particularly in the face of censorship?

Early in my career, when I was still beginning my transition from libraries to writing full time, that was at the forefront of my mind. I was writing against something, writing in protest of something. I think I’m still doing that, but I’ve settled more into my own, and I’ve found that I’m no longer writing so much in opposition as I am now in authenticity.

Speaking of authenticity: You have some real, intense friendships going on in this book. The relationships I remember rocking my world when I was in middle school and high school—those weren’t romantic relationships. The romances were happening in my head with famous people who didn’t know me or random people on AOL chat I had no business talking to. They weren’t relationships. The connections that helped me navigate my everyday life and changed my mood and impacted how I went toe to toe with the big scaries in my life: Those were my friendships. Those were the relationships that had the power to save me or devastate me.

Jealousy was a big emotion of my middle school years, and it was important for me to learn to harness it. I needed to let my jealousy help me decide what I wanted with my life and not let it become a weapon in my friendships.

I hate how we vilify the emotion of jealousy. Jealousy has inspired me to do some of the biggest, most exciting things in my life. I wouldn’t be an author if I hadn’t been jealous of what other people had. I wouldn’t have pursued working in libraries. I do think it can turn into an awful thing, but I don’t think it’s necessarily bad to experience.

This makes me think of desire and how desire and appetite are vilified.

Absolutely. Appetite is an important signal, and so is joy. Wanting to eat food that interests you, whether that’s because of the memories tied to it or the way it tastes: When did that become a bad thing?

I think of Maggie’s simultaneous desire to perform on a stage and the ways she dreads the experience. I was talking to a friend recently about flying and how we hate standing up in the middle of the flight, because suddenly we’re being perceived, and Don’t perceive me. I don’t want to be looked at, I don’t want to be perceived, and yet I have this career based on writing books. I have to have a certain amount of ego to write a book and believe it’s good enough for you to read it, but I’ll still feel uncomfortable standing up on an airplane in front of everyone.

Alongside the friendships, you also have the budding romance between Maggie and Logan.

A middle school romance really forces you to break down the process of developing a crush into the smallest, bite-sized pieces. When I was that age, I wasn’t having crazy moments where I ran away to meet a boy. We were having sweet moments in passing or in group settings. Those moments were little crumbs that my imagination feasted on for weeks. Writing about that was fun, and so was seeing two fat kids have these flirtation moments. In the setting of the camp, being fat is base line. Suddenly, the inhibitions around fatness and romance are gone. Kids can figure out what they want without the same constraints of shame.

The summer-camp setting is a good one in terms of giving young protagonists a lot of space without adults, figuring things out on their own. What I loved about camp growing up was that you could really be an entirely new person. People don’t know that you’re not popular back home, people don’t know about that embarrassing thing you did. It was this opportunity to be whomever you wanted for two weeks. It was also a safe space to figure out how to exist without your usual constraints or supports. As a librarian, that was always the one argument that people trying to ban books couldn’t get through. Books are a safe space to experience scary things. How are you going to tell me that that’s a bad thing?

Ilana Bensussen Epstein is a writer and filmmaker in Boston. Camp Sylvania was reviewed in the May 1, 2023, issue.

young adult

THE GHOST OF GROTTESKEW

Bass, Guy Illus. by Pete Williamson Tiger Tales (192 pp.)

$6.99 paper | Aug. 22, 2023

9781664340688

Series: Stitch Head, 3

Stitch Head, a being cooked up in a laboratory by a mad scientist, continues his journey out of the shadows of Castle Grotteskew.

While reluctantly rehearsing with the castle’s drama society under the direction of the Creature (another of Mad Professor Erasmus’ creations), Stitch Head is startled by a disembodied voice only he can hear, calling his name. While searching for the voice’s source, Stitch Head is startled when a human face appears from the shadows, demanding Stitch Head give an unknown thing back. Hearing the description of the ghost, the usually brave Arabella (a human girl) tells Stitch Head he must leave the castle to escape the horrifying ghost of Mawley Crackbone. Upon speaking Mawley’s name, Stitch Head is pulled through the walls into unknown depths of the castle. Mawley reveals that he is the source of Stitch Head’s heart. The protagonist’s fragile sense of self is shaken when he questions if the heart of a wicked man means he is wicked. A quick pace is set from the prologue, where readers learn that Mawley was murdered to end his evil reign over the village of Grubbers Nubbin, and doesn’t let up until the end. Stitch Head’s emotional growth continues as he confronts strong feelings, helped by his friends. These more poignant scenes are balanced with moments of humor and whimsy: the Creature’s melodramatic speech patterns, the play the castle residents are staging, and detailed black-and-white illustrations of Grotteskew’s strange inhabitants. Human characters are generally pale-skinned.

Silly thrills about the power of self and friendship. (Fiction. 7-10)

A DANGEROUS FRIENDSHIP Brandis,

Katja

Illus. by Claudia Carls

Trans. by Rachel Ward

Arctis Books (176 pp.)

$15.99 | June 20, 2023

9781646900213

Series: Woodwalkers, 2

In this sequel to Carag’s Transformation (2023), our hero is convinced that his former mentor, Andrew Milling, is plotting something nefarious.

Although Carag likes his friends and enjoys learning how to be human at Clearwater High, a special boarding school for woodwalkers (those who can change shape), he misses his family—whom Milling had promised to help him find—and is haunted by the threats Milling made when Carag rejected his

offered alliance. Most adults brush off Carag’s concerns about his former mentor and urge Carag to apologize for offending the rich and powerful fellow puma shape-shifter. Soon the kids start getting field assignments in teams of three. When Carag must work with Tikaani, one of the wolves, he learns she’s not what he expected. But he’s disappointed that she’s unwilling to remain friendly when with her bully pack. This is the most effective and best-paced storyline—contrasting with a cringeinducing crush subplot—especially compared to the late-coming action and reveals that turn out to be letdowns. Though some storylines cohere well, others feel far-fetched. Heroes and bullies alike use language that could be read as homophobic (“limp-pawed whimperer”), ableist (“Lame Paw”), or fat-shaming. Aside from arctic wolf woodwalker Tikaani, an Inuit, most described characters read White.

Poorly paced and badly plotted. (Fantasy. 8-13)

THE WILD GUIDE TO STARTING SCHOOL

Bunting, Laura

Illus. by Philip Bunting

Kane Miller (32 pp.)

$15.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781684646081

Australian Outback animals help kids figure out what to expect on the first day of school.

Step by numbered step this handbook shows what to do— and some wild don’ts—for school newbies. Eat “a healthy, filling breakfast appropriate to your species.” Some of the don’ts may inadvertently give kids ideas (like using sticky tape to “turn… your teacher into a sticky, grumpy mummy”). Who, exactly, is the target audience for this book? A child starting kindergarten—much less preschool—will likely be stymied by a diagram of a teacher’s brain (labels include “prefrontal patience cortex,” “colossal kindness cortex,” and “wisdom ventricle”). Nor will a homesick child be able to decipher the doughnuts that use color-coding to convey various animals’ mixed feelings on the first day or the Venn diagrams depicting the qualities of teachers. Anyone familiar with graphs and diagrams doesn’t need techniques to avoid drop-off sadness or to be reminded not to poop on the blocks or on the teacher, cut their hair with scissors, or eat the crayons. Adult-reader entertainment can be a good add-on, but here it gets in the way of the main event. The pale, soft-edge pastels, in the style of the artwork in the Buntings’ Another Book About Bears (2020), are static but beautifully laid out, especially on the endpapers. The animals are anthropomorphized, though not one of these dazed-looking creatures ever smiles. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Nifty design and good intentions but a likely misfire with intended readers. (Picture book. 4-7)

every night at midnight

NOT REALLY BUDDIES

Carr, Jan Illus. by

Kris Mukai Peachtree

(80 pp.)

$14.99 | July 11, 2023

9781682635346

Series: Buddy and Bea, 1

Buddy’s first day of second grade is filled with unwanted surprises.

Buddy Finn-Lee had thought that his teacher would be bird-watcher Jabari, but the new teacher, Ms. Maple, is someone no one yet knows. During roll call, nobody responds when Ms. Maple asks if Bea is present. Buddy’s pal Joey’s joke from first grade, saving a seat all year for a classmate who never appeared, seems worth repeating, so Buddy is slightly miffed when Bea turns up, late, full voiced, clad nearly all in pink, and ready to explain the blood on her shoe. (An injury from an encounter with a table: “Don’t worry. I’ve had stitches before. A lot of times!”) Bea, impulsive where Buddy is cautious, focuses on Buddy’s cowlick, trying to plaster it down with spit and later with mayonnaise. She is bold and resourceful, finding the custodian when Buddy gets stuck trying to hide between two urinals. Will Buddy ever adjust to his new class?

Nicely pitched to the audience, this chapter book is full of the singular, buzzy energy and earnestness of second graders along with appealingly broad but not chaotic humor. Ms. Maple’s telling the students about the name her Filipino immigrant parents gave her makes for a poignant moment. Buddy presents Asian, like one of his two dads, in the lively cartoon artwork, while Bea is light-skinned, and the class is diverse.

Cheerfully fun and lighthearted, with a relatable protagonist. (Chapter book. 6-9)

EVERY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT

Cheong, Peter Atheneum (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 8, 2023

9781665917384

A lone wolf finds comfort in a new friendship.

“Every night at midnight I turn into a wolf,” the young, brown-skinned narrator reveals. The affliction is mostly welcome. With nimble paws and a magnificent tail, this werewolf runs by moonlight, independent and speedy. Still, secretly turning into a wolf every night makes it difficult to maintain friendships and attend sleepovers. “There is no one else like me,” the child reports, at once reveling in the transformation and acknowledging how it has resulted in loneliness. Then a new girl arrives at school. With a long mane of white hair and a wolf pendant around her neck, the tan-skinned girl seems to make friends easily. In the class’s weekly race, she even beats the narrator, who usually wins. That night, the protagonist is joined by a white wolf wearing a familiar pendant. Together, they fly across the rooftops, smiles on their adorable wolf faces…

until a misstep leaves the white wolf tumbling to the ground with an injured paw and eventually leads to the protagonist feeling less alone. Cheong’s approachable prose and charming illustrations deliver a heartfelt story about the comfort of community. Human characters are diverse in skin tone and body type. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Warm and dreamy, this sweet story captures the joy of finding your pack. (Picture book. 4-8)

A SUPER SCARY NARWHALLOWEEN

Clanton, Ben Tundra Books (76 pp.)

$12.99 | July 4, 2023

9780735266742

Series: Narwhal and Jelly, 8

The power of friendship helps Jelly manage Halloween anxiety.

“Warm and dreamy, this sweet story captures the joy of finding your pack.”

we still belong

In this eighth volume of the radiantly upbeat buddy series, Narwhal is excited about Halloween and happily ponders what costume to choose. Best friend Jelly is more apprehensive, telling Narwhal, “I don’t like all the scary stuff.” Despite Jelly’s plainly vocalized fears, Narwhal charges ahead, eager to find the perfect look. Having had enough, Jelly decides to lie low until Halloween is over. When Turtle and Shelly swim up frantically, announcing that a hungry monster is close, Jelly worries about Narwhal’s safety and rallies a group for a search. With friends close, Jelly channels Narwhal’s positive energy and can-do optimism in hopes of saving the day. Clanton’s latest is abundantly fun and sweet, reminding readers that Halloween scares may not suit everyone but that everyone has the capacity for bravery. Those who may not embrace all the spooktacular scares of Halloween will appreciate Jelly’s worries and subsequent coping strategies. Like earlier series titles, which contained facts and stories between chapters, this offering features tidbits about real-life creepy undersea life and a further installment of Super Waffle and Strawberry Sidekick. Clanton’s energetic, childlike art is delightful as always. Narwhal and Jelly’s adventure is an easy crowd pleaser that will keep pages turning to a satisfying conclusion.

A gloriously funny and feel-good take on Halloween from a wildly popular series. (Graphic fiction. 6-10)

BROKEN CRAYONS STILL COLOR

Collier, Toni & Whitney Bak

Illus. by Natalie Vasilica

Tommy Nelson (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 29, 2023

9781400242900

Collier, founder of the international women’s ministry Broken Crayons Still Color, and co-author Bak help kids tackle first-day-of-school jitters.

There’s nothing like a new box of crayons, especially when the first day of school is right around the corner. Avery tries to enjoy coloring, but she feels “flippy, fizzy, and fluttery inside.” When Avery doesn’t want to eat dinner, her father realizes she’s nervous and encourages her to pray. Avery replies that she’s too scared; her father tells her, “You can do hard things.” Later, Avery draws with her crayons, but her depictions of her first day reflect her anxieties—attempting to draw the school playground, she scrawls an image of her being hit by a ball while another child laughs. Suddenly, Avery’s crayons break. Realizing she’s made a mess, she begins to sob: “I’m a mess, just like these crayons.” But one of the crayons Avery broke begins talking to her, telling her not to put herself down. The very polite crayons reassure Avery, telling her it’s OK to feel bad, offering her strategies for calming herself, and telling her that “no mess is ever too big for God.” Vasilica’s sprightly illustration are charming and inviting, while the message is a soothing one—though one more likely to appeal to religious, especially Christian, readers. Avery and her family present Black. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Religious-themed affirmation to help steel little ones fretting about school. (feelings color wheel) (Picture book. 4-8)

GRAVE MISTAKES

Curran, Kitty

Melissa de la Cruz Studio (288 pp.)

$16.99 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781368083478

Series: Dade Family, 1

A middle schooler discovers that her unusual family is the least of her problems.

Readers will have no problem understanding why Molly Dade is stressed— being as her spacey mom is dead but still present as a disembodied voice; Marty, her likewise dead twin brother, is hanging around as a prank-loving poltergeist; and Dyandra, her adopted little sister, is a zombie who craves brains. Keeping these facts from becoming general knowledge has turned both school and her lifelong friendship with classmate Grace into nightmares. Oh, and Molly has actual nightmares, too, along with other symptoms suggesting that she’s been cursed by a witch. Emerging hints that the explosion that (more or less) killed her mother and brother a year ago wasn’t accidental steer the plotline to a melodramatic climax, but overall, debut author Curran keeps the tone light by, for instance, replacing Molly’s supposed grief with irritation at the cloying sympathy she has to endure in public to keep up pretenses. Curran also surrounds her with a secondary cast that, to Molly’s amazement and relief, takes her family’s differences calmly in stride once they’re revealed. By the end, some villains remain at large for future rematches, but everyone else, even exnemesis classmate Cara, is on Molly’s side—and Molly herself is not quite as “normal” as she had supposed. Most characters seem to be White; one of Molly’s grandmothers was Chinese. Addams Family lite for readers seeking spooky fun grounded in relationships. (Fantasy. 9-13)

WE STILL BELONG

Day, Christine

Heartdrum (256 pp.)

$17.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780063064560

A coming-of-age story bringing awareness to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, “a holiday no one in this school seems to care about.”

Seventh grader Wesley Wilder, an Upper Skagit Indian Tribe descendant living just north of Seattle, proudly awaits the publication of her celebratory work, “We Still Belong: An Indigenous Peoples’ Day Poem!” But when her English teacher doesn’t mention her poem, despite always giving extra credit and class discussion time to students who are published in the school paper, she feels hurt and confused. Later, Wesley’s plans to ask the boy she’s crushing on to the school dance are derailed, adding to her emotional roller coaster. Day (Upper Skagit) crafts believable, complex characters: Wesley lives in a multigenerational Native family, is an outstanding student, a musician, and a gamer. She

“A rich, captivating story that will resonate with readers.”

is kind and helps others in need. Her grandfather’s words—“the things that scare us the most in this world are usually the most worthwhile things in our lives”—help ease her vulnerability and self-doubt. This story, which weaves diversity into the supporting cast, incorporates layers of Native identity throughout, as Wesley connects with a new friend who is a young Native activist, learning more about Christopher Columbus. The triumphant ending shows Wesley raised up by family, friends, and community.

A rich, captivating story that will resonate with readers. (author’s note, note from Cynthia Leitich Smith of Heartdrum, We Need Diverse Books statement) (Fiction. 9-12)

IF THE RIVERS RUN FREE

Debbink, Andrea

Illus. by Nicole Wong

Sleeping Bear Press (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 14, 2023

9781534112780

A rhymed appeal to free the many rivers and streams buried beneath city streets.

Paired with Debbink’s earnest verse (“They captured the currents, / and green turned to gray / as the rivers’ bright habitats faded away”), Wong’s carefully detailed scenes depict unspoiled waterways that attract and are in time dominated, polluted, and finally covered by growing cities. However, in the names of flood control and habitat renewal, these bodies of water have come at last to be “daylighted” once again. Rather than name specific rivers that have been covered or restored, the author opts for an emotional plea to consider the beauty and benefits open rivers bring to urban ecosystems in general: “So think about this when you walk down the street: / There could be a river right under your feet. / Then imagine the wonders, the world that could be; / you will see it yourself, if the rivers run free.” Two light-skinned children running obliviously down a sidewalk over a covered culvert on the first page are left at the end looking thoughtful and visualizing an idyllic riverine greenway running through their neighborhood. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A gentle reminder that we haven’t been good to our natural home, but it’s not too late to make amends. (afterword) (Picture book. 6-8)

DRAW THIS!

Art Activities To Unlock the Imagination

Deuchars, Marion

Laurence King (64 pp.)

$12.99 paper | Aug. 15, 2023

9781510230200

Deuchars challenges young artists with more than 20 drawing activities and prompts.

This playful book bursts with color from the start. Fuzzy little monsters and abstract doodles encourage kids to draw whatever they want—right on the pages! This book belongs to readers. Various drawing prompts and pre-drawn details or backgrounds will get the creative juices flowing. No fancy supplies needed—pens, colored pencils, or paint will do. Some prompts, like drawing on a sky, are easy, while others may be challenging for kids still developing fine-motor skills, such as following step-by-step instructions to draw animals using simple shapes and more detailed lines. Adults can join the fun by explaining prompts or helping kids come up with responses, like creating creatures to match various tongues or drawing their conceptions of life on Mars. Delightful illustrations mix watercolor-esque styles and black ink, often looking like kids’ own art but with a bit more polish and detail. Each activity relies on primarily one main color, making it easy for artists to add their own touches. Some kids might rush through the book, but others will want to spend a lot of time illustrating each page and making up stories to go with their creations.

Hours of imaginative art play in one smart, charming, and wacky book. (Activity book. 6-8)

THE BRILLIANT MS. BANGLE

Devins,

Cara Illus. by K-Fai Steele

Feiwel & Friends (32 pp.)

$18.99 | June 20, 2023

9781250247704

Change can be challenging but good. Summer’s over, and the Belford Elementary students are thrilled to return to school. But when they learn that Ms. Stack, their librarian, has moved away, they hatch a plan to refuse to read with the new librarian, Ms. Bangle, until Ms. Stack returns. A brown-skinned, large, vivacious woman, Ms. Bangle wears a huge puffball on the top of her head and clothing with lots of colors and patterns. Instead of resisting the students’ rejection of her, she thanks them for giving her the day off and puts them to work on (boring) library chores, including taking empty boxes to the basement, where they’re all afraid to go. Steele’s thick-lined illustrations, featuring racially diverse characters with large, bulging eyes, capture the kids’ excitement about being back in school and their solidarity in their plan to get Ms. Stack to come back. The illustrations also convey Ms. Bangle’s liveliness: She enters the library with a stack of notebooks on her shoulder and moves so fast that colored papers fly out behind her. The colorful posters on the walls, stuffed animals atop the shelves, and the sewing machine on which Ms. Bangle hems her pants while the kids suffer through chores hint at the delights the students are missing. But this Black librarian is both fun-loving and clever, which leads to a satisfying ending. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A charming portrayal of a whimsical trickster librarian who knows how to get kids reading. (Picture book. 4-7)

LLAMA LLAMA’S LITTLE LIE

Dewdney, Anna & Reed Duncan

Illus. by JT Morrow

Viking (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 15, 2023

9780593352489

Will Llama Llama come clean after breaking one of Mama’s prized possessions?

While Mama Llama gardens outdoors, Llama Llama and a friend who appears to be a young goat play inside. Their boisterous activities include pillow fighting, running up the stairs and sliding down the bannister, swinging from lamps, and jumping on the sofa—fun that is possible “Only when Mama is not there.” They move on to playing catch: Llama Llama throws vigorously, and the ball shatters Mama’s favorite picture frame. Uh-oh. What to do? The pair consider running to Kalamazoo. When Mama returns, Llama Llama first blames the wind, then a dinosaur, then a meteorite. Mama doubts these possibilities, and Llama Llama cries but admits to the lie. Mama praises his courage, and the three of them repair the frame. Later, throwing a pass outside, Mama breaks a window herself! With humor

and sympathy, this tale brings to life a very common experience that will resonate with preschoolers. Mama reacts with model parenting, and Llama Llama quickly accepts the blame and the necessity of truth-telling. Morrow’s illustrations add both drama and a reassuring note. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A spot-on series installment that imparts a valuable lesson on the importance of honesty. (Picture book. 3-5)

THE BADDIES

Donaldson, Julia

Illus. by Axel Scheffler

Scholastic (32 pp.)

$17.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781339009063

Three malefactors get their comeuppance. Said baddies—a troll, a ghost, and a witch—are beyond redemption and proud of it. They’re boastful besides, each proclaiming that their dastardly powers outdo the others’. When a young girl moves into the neighborhood, they set their nefarious sights on her: The ghost itches to haunt her; the troll relishes eating her; the witch brags she’ll turn her to stone. A heated power struggle ensues, and a nearby white mouse issues a challenge: Whoever’s the worst should easily be able to steal the girl’s blue-spotted hanky. Troll goes first with an under-the-bridge ploy, expecting to terrorize the girl with a roar when she strolls across; his stratagem results only in the ghost and witch laughing at him (he lands in the water) while the girl walks off, hanky in hand. Is it giving away too much to reveal that the remaining baddies’ plans for hanky-pilfering also fail? In the end, the girl decides the hanky’s fate, much to the benefit of that white mouse and its children. This humorous British import, told in bouncy verses that scan well, will keep kids giggling. Its message is that kindness—and smarts, too (the girl soundly outwits her would-be enemies)—overcomes evil intentions. The colorful, lively illustrations are filled with witty details, and the baddies are more comically blustery than scary. The girl is brown-skinned, the witch is light-skinned, and the troll is light-skinned and covered in bluegreen fur. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A fun, rollicking “baddie” story that’s welcome anytime. (Picture book. 4-8)

SPARROW BEING SPARROW

Donovan, Gail

Illus. by Elysia Case Atheneum (192 pp.)

$17.99 | July 25, 2023

9781665916691

A rambunctious 9-year-old comes into her own when she and her family move to Maine.

“High spirited” is how Sparrow’s mom describes her to her teacher. And when

“A beautifully conceived invitation: to look, see, wonder.”

Mrs. LaRose, who owns their two-family house and who babysits Sparrow, breaks her hip while the two are dancing in the yard, her father calls it “Sparrow being Sparrow.” Sparrow starts caring for Mrs. LaRose’s seven cats while the older woman is in the hospital. Things take a turn when Sparrow finds out Mrs. LaRose will be moving to an assisted living facility that allows her to keep only one cat. Sparrow must find homes for the others—and the soon-to-be-born kittens; one of the cats, Mrs. Moon, is pregnant. Complicating matters, Sparrow’s mother is pregnant, too, and Sparrow feels left out. Sparrow’s adjustment is full of ups and downs: She tells her classmates that Mrs. LaRose’s cats are hers, and her peers—especially her new friend Paloma—feel betrayed when she confesses the truth. But seeking homes for the cats helps smooth things over and brings her closer to the community, especially the church that she and her family join. Kids who enjoy realistic school, family, and pet stories will find that this book, with its cozy, retro atmosphere and grayscale illustrations, purrs along. Sparrow, her family, and Mrs. LaRose present White; Paloma is Dominican.

A warm and welcoming tale of a girl finding her way home. (Fiction. 7-10)

SORCELINE BOOK 2

Douyé, Sylvia

Trans. by Tanya Gold

Illus. by Paola Antista & Maria Duclos

Colors by Lowenael & Maria Duclos

Andrews McMeel Publishing (112 pp.)

$12.99 paper | Aug. 22, 2023

9781524882310

A group of teenagers unravel intertwined mysteries on a magical island. Sorceline begins the second installment of her titular series in an incapacitated dream state, while eccentric Professor Balzar recounts the strange particulars of her parentage to his attentive adolescent apprentices. There are vampires involved and dark and stormy nights. But that story is superseded by current crises as an unseen villain plots to gain complete control of the Isle of Vorn and its many mystical creatures. The book heads down many narrative paths, mixing fantasy, mystery, and horror with family drama and teenage angst. To pack

so much action into a brief graphic novel, however, entails more telling than showing, and characters frequently impart backstory and worldbuilding details in unintegrated expository text boxes. Though the tale feels overstuffed at times, the visual world of Vorn is stuffed with otherworldly delights. Gnomes, dragons, gargoyles, and chimera inhabit fantastical landscapes and imposing buildings; cryptid creatures buzz through the air and congregate beneath floorboards. A blend of jewel tones and autumnal hues evokes a comfortable mood that tempts readers to linger in the island’s secret spots even if there might be danger lurking around the corner. With thoughtfulness and teamwork, Sorceline and her peers face their foe in a manner that sets them up quite transparently for future quests. Sorceline has dark hair and pale skin in subtly vampiric style, while Professor Balzar presents White and the apprentices are diverse.

A dynamic series installment sparkling with visual invention. (profiles of featured mythical creatures) (Graphic fantasy. 9-14)

HEART BERRY BLING

Dupuis, Jenny Kay

Illus. by Eva Campbell HighWater Press (48 pp.)

$24.95 | May 9, 2023

9781774920558

A young Anishinaabe girl learns about traditional beading and First Nations history.

When Maggie visits Granny in the city, the two decide to create a pair of beaded strawberry earrings together. Patiently, Granny shepherds Maggie through the intricate process: waxing the threads, threading the needles, laying beads, and stitching them on stiff fabric. Her guidance doesn’t end there: When Maggie pricks her finger and loses confidence, Granny encourages her to persevere and practice. As their strawberries come to life with glittering beads, Granny describes the lessons that strawberries, or heart berries, have to offer: the idea of interconnection and the importance of caring for self and others even in adversity. With the same care with which Maggie and Granny bead their earrings, Dupuis (Nipissing First Nation) deftly weaves important elements of Indigenous history into this gentle story—specifically, how the Indian Act, passed in Canada in 1876, stripped women of their First Nations status if they married non-Indigenous men. By emphasizing the struggles of First Nations women to regain their status (a fight still being waged today for some), Dupuis contextualizes the tradition of Native beadworking as both a cultural pillar and an act of political resilience. With warmth and affection, Campbell’s painterly images highlight Maggie and Granny’s tender bond. A moving author’s note details Dupuis’ own family’s experience under the Indian Act. (This book was reviewed digitally.) This story sparkles as powerfully as the Anishinaabe beadworking tradition it pays tribute to. (Picture book. 5-11)

TINY BARBARIAN CONQUERS THE KRAKEN!

Dyckman, Ame

Illus. by Ashley Spires

Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.)

$19.99 | Aug. 22, 2023

9780062881663

It’s swimming time!

Tiny Barbarian is a diminutive but mighty brown-skinned child, ready to don his Viking helmet (a colander with horns) and cape (it “only looks like the toilet rug”), wave his club (a cardboard paper towel roll), and “CONQUER EVERYTHING!” just like his hero, the film character Bob the Barbarian. Tiny wants to swim across an ocean and conquer the kraken, like Bob. Parenthetically, the narrator admits that Tiny doesn’t know what a kraken is. But, more importantly, Tiny must first conquer swimming lessons at the community pool. He soon learns the basics: putting his face in the water, blowing bubbles, floating, and dog paddling. But when Tiny spies a terrifying (inflatable) kraken heading straight toward his parents, he swims across the pool and defeats the creature with a blow from his kickboard shield. “Tiny’s realm? Defended. His family? Protected.” Colorful cartoon illustrations pop against a white background, and Tiny’s eyes act as a clear window to his emotions. The contrast between real life and Tiny’s vivid imagination will provoke giggles from kids; little ones nervous about swimming will emerge confident and excited. A diverse group of swimmers, parents, and instructors share the pool area. Tiny’s father is light-skinned and has a red beard and hair; his mother is brown-skinned and has brown hair. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A humorous and empowering introduction to swimming basics for those ready to test the waters. (Picture book. 3-7)

EVERYBODY HAS A BODY

Ehlert, Molli Jackson

Illus. by Lorian Tu

Feiwel & Friends (32 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781250854445

Ehlert and Tu offer a primer on body neutrality.

In simple, straightforward text, readers are reminded that “Your body is your body. It doesn’t look like anyone else’s. It doesn’t feel like anyone else’s.” Depicting characters who are diverse in terms of race, age, size, ability, and preference, different pages focus on the myriad ways bodies can exist in the world. “Some move in different ways, / some see in different ways,” among them an older dark-skinned person with a cane and a guide dog, a younger Asian-appearing person stimming with headphones on, and another younger dark-skinned person using a fidget toy. The text “Some just got here, / some have been here a long time” is accompanied by a touching image of an elder cradling an infant, both brown-skinned. The illustrations include enough kinds of people, all shown as friendly,

“Sparkles as powerfully as the Anishinaabe beadworking tradition it pays tribute to.”

heart berry bling

rounded, and smiling, that nearly all readers will be able to point at someone and say, “That’s like me!” The plain language belies the profound message that some will be able to pull out; an afterword more fully defines body neutrality, or the idea that readers need not love their bodies but that we should all respect and accept them. “Allow yourself to just feel meh” and “Think of your body as a house” are especially important messages to instill in people just learning how to conceptualize their physical selves. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Honest, loving, and powerful. (Picture book. 4-7)

THE PROBABILITY OF EVERYTHING

Everett, Sarah

Clarion/HarperCollins (336 pp.)

$18.99 | June 27, 2023

9780063256552

An 11-year-old girl processes the end of her world and prepares for a new beginning.

What happens after the world ends?

Kemi Carter contemplates this as she counts down the last four days before a possible apocalypse brought about by the looming presence of Amplus-68. The asteroid has an 84.7% chance of colliding with Earth. Keen scientist Kemi knows that the likelihood of survival is slim. She looks up facts about asteroids and investigates what the end of the world would be like, but she realizes that her family members are handling this differently than she is. Kemi decides to start a time capsule preserving something each of them loves

so “the next earthlings could find it and know about us.” As Kemi, who has an African American dad and a Nigerian mom, gathers mementos, she reflects on what life has been like since they moved to their new, prosperous, primarily White neighborhood—a change that has brought complications. These memories lead up to a shocking plot twist that will have readers questioning her reality. Everett skillfully uses Kemi’s love of facts and statistics to process her feelings; as the story slowly reaches its climax, this element helps tie its many themes together. Individual family members are fleshed out as they share stories of their cherished possessions and demonstrate their support of Kemi in various ways. This realistically drawn, gut-wrenching novel will stick with readers long after they’ve finished reading.

A powerful exploration of grief. (author’s note, resources) (Fiction. 8-12)

THE BOO CREW NEEDS YOU! A Spooky Interactive Story

Fang, Vicky Illus. by Saoirse Lou Amulet/Abrams (144 pp.)

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (40 pp.)

$12.99 | August 1, 2023

9781728264561

Readers are invited to help the Boo Crew save the Monster Ball on Halloween.

Luna, Bones, and Fang—respectively, a wispy, gray-tinged ghost; a skeleton in a top hat and scarf; and a brown-skinned vampire—are the Boo Crew, working to fix disasters, from a witch’s malfunctioning broom to some smashed pumpkins, in time for the Monster Ball. Each page asks readers to assist: There are switches to push, candles to blow out, and claps of encouragement to give. After readers lend a hand, helping all the spooky creatures and getting materials fixed and ready, the Monster Ball goes on as planned. The rhyming text and interactive requests make this a worthy lapsit read-aloud. The Boo Crew are darling and kid-friendly, as are all of the illustrations. There are lots of charming details—the witch’s ride is a hightech gadget labeled the Vroom Broom 5000; Frankenstein’s monster is the proprietor of a boutique called Frank’s Frocks. The big-eyed, sweet-faced creatures are adorable, not scary; a teeny-tiny frog tucked into an eye socket makes even a skull look cute. Like Hervé Tullet’s Press Here (2010), this one encourages readers to turn the book, press buttons, and applaud. These inclusions are popular for a reason: Kids love them. This title will be no exception. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Appealing and interactive, kid-friendly spooky fun. (Picture book. 3-5)

MARYA KHAN AND THE FABULOUS JASMINE GARDEN

Faruqi, Saadia

Illus. by Ani Bushry

Amulet/Abrams (144 pp.)

$14.99 | March 28, 2023

9781419761188

Series: Marya Khan, 2

Jealousy takes root when Marya Khan’s third grade class creates a community garden.

Marya loves big words, math, and being in charge—the latter of which brings her into conflict with her classmate and neighbor Alexa R. (“the most annoying person on the planet”). Both girls want to be the garden leader, and they try to one-up each other as they jockey for the role. Marya may be the youngest in her family, but she’s determined to show her teacher she has what it takes as she launches Operation Be a Leader. When Marya and Alexa are both appointed garden leader, they’re forced to work together, but being in charge turns out to be a lot more work than Marya anticipated—and she bristles when Alexa seems to have better leadership skills than her. Faruqi is keenly aware of the little jealousies and big hurts that often seem larger than life to children, and she weaves these and other themes, such as friendship and family drama, into her charming, lighthearted narrative. References to the Khan family’s Pakistani heritage are effectively incorporated; the family is Muslim, and Marya’s mother wears hijab. Alexa presents White. There’s plenty of humor here, and, as in the first series installment, every chapter starts with an excerpt from Marya’s Word of the Day diary sure to delight word lovers. Final illustrations not seen.

Another enjoyable outing with a protagonist sure to win readers over. (Chapter book. 6-9)

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON

Flake,

Sharon G. Knopf (336 pp.)

$17.99 | $20.99 PLB | July 11, 2023

9780593480984

9780593480991 PLB

After Ma nearly drowns one fateful night, a North Carolina boy doesn’t go outside.

Everything 11-year-old James Henry needs to do, including taking imaginary trips into the night skies with twin sister Hattie, he can do at home. He endures the stares and gossip of folks as they pass his house. Nobody but he knows what happened that night, but as long as he has the safety of home, as long as nobody touches him, and as long as he can avoid his own guilt, he’s fine. But Hattie is done with James Henry’s being “just fine.” A rare blue moon is coming, and she thinks that it’s time for him to go out and meet it. Everyone knows that things can change and worlds can shift

“Another enjoyable outing with a protagonist sure to win readers over.”

marya khan and the fabulous jasmine garden

picture book from legendary star

— Kirkus Reviews

Photo © Sebastian Smith. Art by MacKenzie Haley. Art © 2023 by Penguin Random House LLC.

“Music takes center stage and bullies get properly pun-ished in this hearty and wholesome howl.”

under the blue moon. Using short poems, the tale takes readers on a soul-twisting journey once James Henry, a Black boy living during Jim Crow, leaves home with his sister and her friend Lottie Jean. Together they face off against racists and bullies. Readers also get joyous representations of Black children thriving in the outdoors: swimming, eating well, and using knowledge passed down to them to move forward. This is when these characters start to take full form, but it’s interrupted by the mystery of what really happened to James Henry’s Ma, something that haunts the storyline in confusing and distracting ways.

The theme of recovery after deep trauma shines brightly. (author’s note) (Verse historical fiction. 8-12)

HOW TO SPOOK A GHOST

Fliess, Sue

Illus. by Simona Sanfilippo

Sky Pony Press (32 pp.)

$19.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781510774087

Series: Magical Creatures and Crafts, 8

Having covered Thanksgiving, Christmas, unicorns, and more, Fliess now turns to Halloween for the latest in her crafty how-to series.

A group of diverse children prepares for the holiday and then starts trick-or-treating against background tones of orange, black, pale green, and purple. Upbeat text in verse encourages readers to pick a costume such as a mermaid, princess, knight, monster, cat, or bat. When the children hear a noise coming from upstairs, they decide to investigate. What if they encounter something scary? One child dresses up as a ghost; accompanying instructions tell readers how to create their own ghost costume. Everyone is taken aback to meet a real ghost, but the ghost turns out to be “CUTE and KIND” and begs to join in, claiming, “I’m a lot like you!” Agreeing (“we wouldn’t want to leave someone behind”), the kids set off, and there’s enough candy and fun for all. The trick-or-treating takes place in flat, unspecific settings; doors (and pages) are enthusiastically decorated with stars, skulls, headstones, spiderwebs, and jack-o’lanterns. The last three double-page spreads detail the history of the holiday, its introduction to the U.S. by Irish immigrants, the traditions of trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving, and instructions for making a ghost costume or puppet out of a tattered sheet—much better than the dubious directions given earlier (trace a circle where?). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A lively celebration of a popular holiday with some craft ideas and history. (Picture book. 4-6)

SLIME SHOP

Garcia, Karina & Kevin Panetta

Illus. by Niki Smith

Versify/HarperCollins (208 pp.)

$24.99 | $16.00 paper | Aug. 8, 2023

9780358446453

9780358446446 paper

A trio of intrepid slime molds must stop a bad guy blob from taking over their crew.

This goofy graphic novel explores the imagined lives of homemade slime molds created by three kids—brown-skinned siblings Bailey and Sophia and their friend Jayden, who is Black—who run a small business concocting, marketing, and selling slime by mail. When they leave their labors, the slimes come to life. Realizing that any one of them could be the next one sold, disgruntled slime Boris takes drastic measures to gain control. His efforts turn tyrannical, and he terrorizes unsuspecting peers, biting some of the other slimes and turning them into zombies. In a melodramatic flourish, he attempts to create an army to destroy the shop. Sparkly pink, supersweet Polly catches on quickly. To counter his cruelty, Polly enlists a few friends to undertake a quest across the neighborhood in hopes of gaining the wisdom of the oldest “Original” slime before facing Boris head-on in a dramatic finale. The slime shop concept, as conceived by Youtube “Slime Queen” Garcia, may seem esoteric for those who don’t follow the hobby, but a peppy, character-driven plot and jewel-toned illustrations of the slime squad’s starring cast quickly mold the popular creative pursuit into a relatable adventure. The story of the young entrepreneurs trying to find their small-business foothold is a loosely conceived but satisfying framing device.

A hilarious, action-packed romp with appeal far exceeding its amorphous appearance. (slime recipes, character sketches) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)

HOPSCOTCH

Gay, Marie-Louise

Groundwood (40 pp.)

$19.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781773068435

Life moves forward, sometimes back. Ophelia, narrating in first-person present tense, loves Jackson, a neighbor’s dog who, attached to a clothesline, runs back and forth each day. When he disappears, heartbroken Ophelia draws a “magic hopscotch” grid on the ground, hopping on it forward and backward and wishing for his return. Ophelia and family, who “move all the time,” leave because Dad needs to look for a new job. Outside their dilapidated new cabin, imaginative Ophelia spies giant rabbits and “crow-witches.” On the first day of school, Ophelia encounters an “ogre” (the crossing guard) and a brown-skinned “fairy princess” (the teacher) who speak French, which Ophelia doesn’t understand. Ever mindful

stand as tall as the trees

Ophelia draws Jackson’s portrait and creates a hopscotch grid on which everyone plays. That night, while dreaming, Ophelia is able, at last, to bid Jackson “au revoir.” After another move, far from the scary creatures, Ophelia’s language skills blossom, and the child soars, confident that “I will learn to fly!” This poignant story is about taking tentative first steps toward independence. The hopscotch drawings are artful but vague metaphors for life’s shifting fortunes; they suggest one moves both forward and backward along life’s path. This lofty notion, also conveyed through Jackson’s movements and the family’s frequent address changes, may go over kids’ heads, though the cheery, stylized illustrations are lively, delicate, and airy. The protagonist has light skin; classmates are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Gentle encouragement to embrace life’s inevitable changes. (Picture book. 4-7)

SUPERGRAN!

Greene, Rhonda Gowler

Illus. by Lee Cosgrove

Sleeping Bear Press (32 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781534111776

With chaos looming, a cheerful, capable grandmother steps into the breach! Sturdy of build, lilac-silver of hair, wielding a plunger with aplomb, Supergran is here to save the day. And the day is disastrous: Mom is late for work, Dad’s down with flu, sister and brother are each plagued by problems, the house is a major mess. But Gran quickly pops off her pearls and glasses, transforming into the superhero she is, and takes to the air. Teaming up with her grandkids, who are also kitted out with capes and uniforms, she “zaps a problem with a plan,” flying nimbly to conquer an overflowing toilet, dirty laundry, and loose pets big (Saint Bernard) and small (hamsters) until everyone is clean and fed. At last Mom is home and Dad is up, the kids are ready for bed, and every item on the to-do list is checked off. Gran lifts off into the sunset, unruffled and smiling. Cartoonish illustrations make the most of the superhero-comic style, with bright, flat colors and lots of foreground action. Spotting the hiding hamsters gives eagle-eyed readers a mild challenge on several pages. Everything, from the bouncy rhymes to the ebullient pictures, is energetically positive, concluding with solid suggestions for deepening connections with one’s gran or gran stand-in. Supergran and Dad are light-skinned, while Mom and the kids are brown-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A celebration of family resilience and the alliance of grands and kids. (Picture book. 5-8)

STAND AS TALL AS THE TREES How an Amazonian Community Protected the Rain Forest

Gualinga, Patricia & Laura Resau

Illus. by Vanessa Jaramillo

Charlesbridge (40 pp.)

$17.99 | July 18, 2023

9781623542368

Co-author Gualinga describes how she and other members of the Kichwa community fought back after the Ecuadorian government sold part of the Amazon to an oil company.

As a young girl, Gualinga—referred to as Paty here—lived in Sarayaku within the rainforest of Ecuador. Her mother told her that her life and those of her people were deeply connected to the forest surrounding them. As an adult she studied in the nearby city but returned to fight for her home after men who wanted to drill and mine for oil in the forest began to use dynamite to destroy it. Together, Paty and her community took a stand against the intruders. Readers learn how Paty and several others traveled to Costa Rica to make their case before the Court of Human Rights. The story ends on an uplifting note, with the court ruling in their favor. Told in melodic, flowing verse, this inspiring tale offers a poignant example of how Indigenous peoples are exploited and speaks to the strength it took for Paty and her community to stand up for their land and beliefs. The watercolor illustrations are powerful, and many stand out on stark white or plainly colored backgrounds. The copious backmatter speaks to the authors’ meticulous research. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A moving account of those who spoke truth to power and triumphed. (about the Kichwa people, examples of Indigenous movements around the world, glossary, selected sources) (Informational picture book. 7-10)

JAYSON GOES FOR IT!

Harrington, Brayden with David Ritz

Harper/HarperCollins (224 pp.)

$19.99 | Aug. 29, 2023

9780063098930

Stutter notwithstanding, eighth grader Jayson Linden runs for class president against the coolest kid in middle school.

Teen author Harrington (who shared his own story in the 2021 picture book Brayden Speaks Up) stirs strategies and grievances alike into his debut novel, co-authored with Ritz. Jayson, who, like Harrington, speaks with a stutter, is pitted not only against rival candidate Mack—basketball star, local mayor’s son, and all-around A-lister—but also insensitive teachers, a hostile principal, and a wrongheaded speech therapist. Initially motivated to run by indignation at seeing Mack insist that champion arguer Gloria Lopez be barred from debate club

“A moving account of those who spoke truth to power and triumphed.”

once upon a family

speaking due to her stutter and best friend Chuck Neville arbitrarily rejected at basketball tryouts for clashing with Mack, Jayson goes on to run an inclusive students’ rights–based campaign against his opponent’s smooth promotions of school spirit and a refurbished gym. Fortunately, he has peer allies as well as a new therapist more attuned to his needs than the old one to help him get past his profound lack of confidence, a disastrous public speaking performance, and the interference of his plainly partisan principal on the way to a triumphant, feel-good close. If the story overall seems predictable, there is at least one unexpected twist in a significant character’s arc. Except for Chuck, who is Black, and Gloria, whose name cues her as Latine, the cast reads White.

Weighted by heavy messaging but buoyant enough to stay afloat. (letter from Brayden) (Fiction. 10-13)

INDIANA BONES AND THE INVISIBLE CITY

Heape, Harry Illus. by Rebecca Bagley

Faber & Faber (272 pp.)

$9.95 paper | Aug. 8, 2023

9780571353545

Series: Indiana Bones, 3

Hidden pirate gold isn’t the only treasure canine adventurer Indiana Bones and his two-legged cohorts find as their quest reaches its end.

Though the villainous Sir Henry Lupton, self-styled “the Serpent,” and his oily associate, Philip Castle, seem always a step ahead, the plucky pooch and allies, including young “kickass archaeologist” Aisha Ghatak—dubbed the “Good Team” lest readers somehow confuse the sides (not likely)—travel from the catacombs of Paris to an underwater cave near Marseille. But it’s on the remote Orkney Isle of Skara Brae where the adventure comes to an end amid just deserts, family reunions, and, as promised, piles of golden loot that Aisha and her father, Satnam, being ethical sorts, immediately set about repatriating. All of this is related in waggish prose as the author fills in background about previous series entries for his readers while shepherding them from one predicament to the next until, his book having “officially run out of chapters,” he closes this story by leaving Aisha and Indiana in a museum back home in Oxford and offers advice to readers: “keep reading, keep reading, keep reading, for books are the real treasure and have magic in their pages.” Bagley’s often whimsical monochrome illustrations punctuate the narrative.

A tidy conclusion tailor-made for reading aloud in twinkly tones. (Adventure. 8-10)

GRANDMOTHERS GALORE!

Henderson, Judith & Ellen Yeomans

Illus. by Rashin Kheiriyeh

Abrams (32 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 8, 2023

9781419764288

A house full of grandmothers work together to solve a mystery.

A yellow envelope arrives at Hollyhock House addressed to “the greatest grandmother in the world.” This sends its residents into a tizzy. While the house is full of grandmothers, none use that particular name. Abuela, Bibi, Nana, and the other grandmothers resort to trickery in order to claim the letter as their own. After the others catch Grammy trying to make off with the letter in the night, the grandmothers decide it is time to find the sender once and for all. They host a big birthday party for their families (in honor of “anyone who has a birthday this year”), and the house fills with music, food, and hugs. All the while, the yellow envelope sits on a table, waiting to be claimed. With their silly antics and fondness for cake, these grandmothers will make readers laugh and think of their own Bubbie or Nai Nai. Kheiriyeh’s delightfully vibrant block-print and collage illustrations capture the chaotic joy of a house full of grandmothers, all resplendent in memorable outfits, from neon pink or lime green get-ups to feathered scarves. Grandmothers and their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are diverse in skin tone, body shape, and physical ability; some grandmothers use canes, walkers, and wheelchairs. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A colorful, zany, and loving celebration of grandmothers. (Picture book. 4-8)

ONCE UPON A FAMILY

Hill, Amanda Rawson

Astra Young Readers (272 pp.)

$17.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781635923179

Winnie and her mom’s “two girls against the world” life changes when Mom decides to marry Jeff, giving Winnie a stepdad and a younger brother she doesn’t want.

Eleven-year-old Winnie sees the world through a fairy-tale lens thanks to her mom’s job as a literature professor. Writing in her notebook, Winnie casts herself as a princess and her mother as a queen; she does not want an evil stepfather. But Winnie’s anxiety—which she’s named Eustace Clarence Scrubb—causes her to see monsters where there are none, and her fear often turns to anger and causes her to lash out at Jeff’s son and even new friends like her neighbor and schoolmate Abigail. But when Winnie discovers magic in their neighborhood, she shares the secret with Abigail, who tries to help her craft the perfect wish to fix her situation. Hill enables readers to see deeply into Winnie, including her past,

“A modern blended family story with a sprinkling of magic.”

fears, anger, wishes, and the way she perceives her own story. Though the book is told in the first person, other characters’ true natures are clear through their words and actions, and secondary characters, such as grouchy older neighbor Tom Bailey, have their own stories. Hill’s writing is full of poetic references readers will recognize, as when Winnie feels “like the oldest sibling in a fairy tale where only third children ever win.” The few physical descriptions present point to a White cast.

A modern blended family story with a sprinkling of magic. (Fiction. 9-12)

WHEN MOON BECAME THE MOON

Hodgson, Rob Rise x Penguin Workshop (64 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 29, 2023

9780593523629

Hodgson follows up When Cloud Became a Cloud (2021) with this depiction of Earth’s moon.

Once again, objects are personified and the science is highly simplified but sound. In short, straightforward chapters, the author/illustrator introduces Sun and Earth, describes Moon’s formation, and goes on to cover her orbit, craters, light, and phases as well as how Moon affects Earth’s tides and Moon’s role in solar eclipses. The text alternates between statements and speech-bubble commentary from the three main characters. It’s set on the (usually) black background of cheery, collagelike illustrations that depict, among other things, Earth and Moon changing color as they cool down and Moon’s phases (also shown on the endpapers). Moon has googly eyes and a smiling face with various expressions; she’s friendly and helpful. And Earth is appreciative. The final two chapters discuss moon exploration so far—by rovers and humans—and hint at further visits. To conclude, Moon waves to a brown-skinned young earthling and issues an invitation: “Come visit me someday!” Where human characters appear, they’re diverse. The book covers much the same material as Stacy McAnulty’s similarly simple Moon! Earth’s Best Friend (2019) with much the same level of personification but slightly more challenging text and depth, though it’s still appropriate for preschoolers or very early readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A lighthearted introduction to our lunar companion. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

BEARS ARE BEST! The Scoop About How We Sniff, Sneak, Snack, and Snooze!

Holub, Joan

Illus. by Laurie Keller

Crown (48 pp.)

$18.99 | $21.99 PLB | Aug. 15, 2023

9780525645337

9780525645344 PLB

Bears strut their stuff in this species overview. This tongue-in-cheek introduction to the bear family follows the pattern of the creators’ I Am the Shark (2021). Each bear believes it is unique but discovers other ursine species. In order, readers meet a brown bear, a polar bear, an American black bear, a sloth bear, a spectacled bear, a sun bear, a giant panda, and an Asiatic black bear. Readers learn about their distinguishing physical features, habits and habitats, and favorite foods. Finally, a bear-masked octopus tries to join the group, which leads to them discussing bears’ many similarities, including general shape, four five-clawed paws, fur, speed, curiosity, good sense of smell, big appetite, and shared membership in the mammal family. The author concludes with a summary of the eight species and reminders that bears can be dangerous but are also threatened around the world. Lighthearted collage illustrations feature cartoon animals with large eyes and clear facial expressions as well as body language. Readers and lapsitters will be particularly amused by the extra details—such as other animals—but the illustrations are large enough to show to a group as well. The design makes good use of the suspense of page turns to keep the narrative flowing. This should appeal to the same audience that enjoys Maxwell Eaton’s The Truth About Bears (2018), which boasts a similar mix of fact and fantasy. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Informative and bear-y funny. (further reading, websites) (Informational picture book. 5-9)

THE DEMON SWORD ASPERIDES

Horwitz, Sarah Jean

Algonquin (352 pp.)

$16.99 | July 11, 2023

9781643752785

A motley crew must stop an undead villain from opening a portal to the underworld.

Asperides is a 2,000-year-old semiretired demon sword whose power is sourced from the imprisoned souls of his previous masters. Despite lacking a mouth or hands, he enjoys spending his days in a dark corner of the Wet Fang, an underworld pub, nursing a warm drink. One day, Asperides feels the trapped soul of his last master, Amyral Venir, go missing. Unbeknownst to him, 18-yearold dark sorcerer Cleoline has attempted to fully resurrect

Amyral but finds her spell did not go exactly as planned. Meanwhile, across the kingdom, Nack Furnival has been banished from his knightly family. He is determined to complete a quest, receive an angel blade, and return to their good graces. Nack meets Asperides, who hides his true demonic nature, impersonating an angel blade to win his trust and claim his soul. The duo encounter Sister Dawn Therin, a 12-year-old Seer who shares a significant prophecy that will bring them all together. Horwitz’s middle-grade fantasy is quirky and fun but also nuanced and complex. Chapters shift in point of view as the narrative threads are woven together with masterful dexterity. Readers are clued in before the characters, and the journeys to their various places of self-discovery are wholly enjoyable. Asperides is delightful, imbued with hilarious snark and a gray moral compass. The main cast reads White; there are some queer secondary characters.

An exciting and well-wrought romp. (Fantasy. 8-12)

HOPEFULLY THE SCARECROW

Houts, Michelle

Illus.

by Sara Palacios

Flamingo Books (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 8, 2023

9780593206904

Friendship can withstand time and distance thanks to hope.

A smiling scarecrow, “carefully crafted” and “wonderfully made,” in plaid flannel and a straw hat, watches over a lush and vibrant garden. A brown-skinned, dark-haired girl places him in the garden each spring and reads him adventurefilled stories each day, making the scarecrow feel brave. When winter comes, the stories keep him company during long months alone in a dark tool shed. The girl’s remark—“Hopefully, the scarecrow will keep the birds away”—gives the scarecrow his name and purpose. Excited about the next spring, which he is sure will be filled with stories from his friend, Hopefully is first perplexed, then lonely when someone else places him in the garden and months go by without any sign of his friend. One day, the girl reappears, having since grown up, and moves Hopefully to a new place—one filled with stories and which offers her intrepid friend a new purpose in life. Ideal for read-alouds, Houts’ precise, evocative text employs rich vocabulary and will appeal to imaginative youngsters. Palacios’ enchanting illustrations combine a vivid palette of reds, oranges, greens, and blues with an irresistible retro style that lends a timelessness to images of dragons, castles, sailing ships, and tiny scarecrow heroes that accompany scenes of the girl reading aloud. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A quiet, beautifully crafted friendship tale that’s just right for storytime. (Picture book. 3-6)

THE SHATTERED HORN

Hunter, Erin

Harper/HarperCollins (352 pp.)

$19.99 | May 2, 2023

9780062966964

Series: Bravelands: Thunder on the Plains, 1

A new story arc in the Bravelands series introduces three young animals cast from their clans: a cheetah, a buffalo, and a hyena.

Three plotlines only begin weaving together by the opener’s end: Cheetah Stride finds himself on his own after a starcrossed relationship with a beautiful prospective mate ends in tragedy; as the buffalo begin their annual migration under a new leader who gains his position through treachery, young Whisper loyally stays behind with the dying former leader; expelled from her hyena family for weakness in the midst of a turf war with a pride of lions, Tailgrabber heroically kills a lion and then meets a mysterious white vulture. Meanwhile other creatures, notably an enigmatic honey badger named Stonehide, trot into view, and ominous visions portend impending disaster for the Bravelands that even the wise elephant Great Mother Starlight may be powerless to prevent. For all that the cast is composed of named, talking animals, there’s nothing cute or fuzzy about life on the grassy plains, where predators ruthlessly stalk prey and death comes suddenly or with agonizing slowness to cubs and adults alike. Still, along with feral values and behaviors, displays of sibling attachment, courage and cowardice, and deeper thoughts and feelings run through events in ways that young human audiences will easily recognize and understand.

Only a start, but a strong one. (map) (Animal fantasy. 11-13)

MY NAME

Kelkar, Supriya

Illus. by Sandhya Prabhat

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780374314637

An Indian American boy’s excitement for his first day of school is tempered when his classmates can’t pronounce his name.

Their “wrinkled foreheads” and the giggles that follow make the young boy shrink into himself. He worries that his name conjures “far-off smells,” “the hot sun,” and “sweaty crowds,” and he feels lost in their “frosty stares.” With downcast eyes, he turns to his parents for an embrace. His parents turn each of his hurt feelings into a vision of joy and healing. They gently remind him how his arrival meant “wrinkled faces / Creased into smiles.” They teach him that his name signifies his culture and his roots and encourage him to celebrate his differences. The vibrant illustrations mirror the unnamed boy’s moods with cool greens and blues moving into reds and oranges as he grasps his

unique identity. Though the boy’s heritage is richly conveyed through warm brown skin tones and traditional Indian clothing and food, the story lacks the depth of other recent books celebrating names and cultural identities. The text leans heavily on the parents’ perspective, with little engagement to encourage the child’s own realization of his uniqueness. In the author’s and illustrator’s notes, Kelkar and Prabhat share that they’ve had similar experiences and discuss learning to embrace the beauty and power of their names. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Winning illustrations level up an uneven story. (Picture book. 4-8)

ONLY ONLY MARISOL RAINEY

Kelly, Erin Entrada

Greenwillow Books (160 pp.)

$18.99 | May 2, 2023

9780062970480

In her latest series outing, Marisol Rainey faces her fear of a large dog on the loose.

Marisol loves riding her bike, especially with her best friend, Jada. On weekends they ride around their neighborhood, pausing only when they come to the house where the terrifying beast lives, whom they call Daggers. They’ve never interacted with the dog, so Marisol doesn’t know if Daggers is his real name or if he is even dangerous at all. One day Marisol sees a lost dog flyer for Daggers (actually, turns out his name is Gregory). Her nervousness grows, making it difficult to ride her bike alone. She and Jade seek help from their friend Felix, who claims he can talk to animals. Felix doesn’t know how to ride a bike, so the girls make a deal: They’ll give him lessons if he finds a way to communicate with—and recapture—Gregory. But teaching someone takes patience, and Jada is being rude to Felix. Marisol, who’s often plagued by the what-ifs, confronts her fears and discovers she’s not the only one who worries about things. Short and sweet, this installment is full of humor and relatability. Characters deal with friendship ups and downs and learn not to make snap judgments about people. Kelly’s charming black-and-white illustrations add fun facts about animal communication and bike safety. Marisol is biracial (her mother is Filipina, while her father is White), Jada is Black, and Felix presents White.

A fun read that brings only delight. (Fiction. 6-9)

REBEL BICYCLE CLUB

Kent, Gabrielle

Illus. by Rex Crowle & Luke Newell

Sourcebooks Young Readers (256 pp.)

$8.99 paper | Aug. 2, 2023

9781728272566

Series: Knights and Bikes, 2

In a second exploit following 2021’s Knights and Bikes, the rebel bikers of the Cornish isle of Penfurzy earn their knighthoods by returning the magical Pendragon Cup to its rightful ghostly owner.

First, though, Nessa and Demelza—with Demelza’s goose, Captain Honkers, and the ancient severed head of Penfurzy knight Sir Calenick, met in the previous episode, in tow—must fetch the cup from the reclusive Lady of the Lake, escape a mob of shocked villagers after new kid Nessa slathers the jam on her scone after rather than before the cream (an unpardonable breach in Cornwall), break into a barrow hidden beneath a closed and creepy theme park, rout a trio of pesky boys, and like challenges. They demonstrate the value of teamwork and pull off rad bike tricks as they go. Variety in the fonts used adds to the book’s visual interest. The blocky figures in the frequent illustrations recall the look of those in the video game that inspired this spinoff, break up the text’s short chapters and enhance the story’s accessibility, and add to the humor of the hijinks. Illustrations show the locale’s ethnic diversity; Demelza reads White, and Nessa was previously identified as South Asian.

A free-wheeling romp with a distinctly British flavour. (map, video game sketches, excerpt from Volume 1) (Adventure. 7-10)

A BOOK ABOUT BUPKES

Kimmelman, Leslie

Illus. by Roxana de Rond

Kar-Ben (24 pp.)

$19.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781728460222

Can nothing ever be something? Can something come from nothing?

Bupkes is a Yiddish word defined on the first pages of this book as “nothing,” “zero,” and “zilch.” Accompanying artwork drives home the point as a young girl named Zoe gestures at the air; in another image, her dog sniffs at…well, nothing. On another page, a magician directs Zoe into a curtained box, then, on the next page, opens the curtain to reveal that the box is empty: “Bupkes!” Then the narration takes on a philosophical tone, because “bupkes…can be tricky.” Zoe and her mom fill their baskets with vegetables from a lush garden until there is nothing left. Is this bupkes? The garden is empty, but the elderly neighbor to whom they’ve given the bounty of veggies is happy. A series of vignettes follow. Zoe picks up trash in the park, leaving nothing but a clean park with smiling kids, and she and

“Thoughtful, tender, and charming. Definitely not bupkes.”

a book about bupkes

her dad enjoy themselves while emptying the kitchen of dirty dishes, leaving it sparkling. Joyful, bright, loose-lined illustrations will help young readers understand that the idea of nothing can “feel like everything.” It’s a difficult concept to grasp, but it’s effectively conveyed here, and the message is comforting. Zoe and her parents are light-skinned; their community is a diverse one. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Thoughtful, tender, and charming. Definitely not bupkes. (Picture book. 4-9)

READY, SET, RUN! The Amazing New York City Marathon

Kimmelman, Leslie

Illus. by Jessie Hartland

Random House Studio (40 pp.)

$18.99 | $21.99 PLB | Aug. 8, 2023

9780593433652

9780593433669 PLB

A celebration of the world’s largest annual race.

“It’s a BIG DEAL to run in the New York City Marathon,” Kimmelman burbles—going on to describe how runners from more than 100 countries stretch, add tunes to their playlists, put on their lucky socks, or otherwise prepare and then gather in the thousands at the Staten Island starting area to, at the blast of a cannon, “poundpoundpoundpoundpound…” their way over the 26.2 mile course to its finish in Central Park. Tongue firmly in cheek, Hartland portrays massed clumps and drawn-out strings of participants diverse of age, race, and body type, some using wheelchairs, some in costumes, streaming over bridges or up and down city streets past both the occasional inset fact box and spectators cheering them on with signs (“Keep Going!”; “Go César!”; “You are NOT almost there”; “This is a lot of work for a free banana”) and snacks. At the finish line, it’s leafy crowns for the winners but “medals for everyone!” and a slow, weary wind down. “What a city! What a day! What an amazing race!” It all goes by too fast for readers to feel as if they’ve actually run the course…but could well leave them ready to try, one day. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A fresh, buoyant high stepper. (afterword, selected sources) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

COOKIE QUEEN How One Girl Started Tate’s Bake Shop®

King, Kathleen & Lowey Bundy Sichol

Illus. by Ramona Kaulitzki

Random House (40 pp.)

$18.99 | $21.99 PLB | July 25, 2023

9780593485668

9780593485675 PLB

King, who in 2000 founded Tate’s Bake Shop, offers halcyon reminiscences about her earliest entrepreneurial days.

Kathleen may only be 11, but she’s responsible for much of the family’s cooking and baking. She strikes up a deal with her dad, Tate: In exchange for baking and selling cookies at the family’s farm stand this summer, she can use the money on new clothes. So Kathleen sets out to create the best chocolate chip cookies, using trial and error not only to tweak her recipes, but also to find a way to outsell the competition. A note at the end explains how early experience led to her company (named after her dad); also included is a recipe, not for chocolate chip cookies but molasses ones. This story doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it a guide to finding gaps in the market and innovating or a memoir of self-discovery? Stilted dialogue feels straight out of a business book for kids. “How are Kathleen’s cookies today?” “Great…. But how do I make them so they’re the only cookies people want to buy?” Confusion extends to the illustrations, where 11-year-old Kathleen is depicted as particularly young and where perspective is at times askew. Kathleen and Tate both present White in the artwork. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Had this tale been subjected to as much testing as the titular cookies, how much tastier it could have been. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

THE DO MORE CLUB

Kramaroff, Dana

Rocky Pond Books/Penguin (256 pp.)

$17.99 | Aug. 29, 2023

9780593532874

An exploration of antisemitism and racism in a small-town middle school grappling with an incident of graffitied swastikas.

Debut author Kramaroff presents an appealing protagonist in sixth grader Josh, the only Jewish kid in his school, who is coming to terms with claiming his identity in the face of heavy-handed antisemitic slurs and actions, like tossing coins at his feet and calling him “a dirty jew.” The accessible verse, written almost entirely in lowercase, follows Josh’s awakening to the cause of justice as his almost entirely White and Christian school responds to the transgressions. Regrettably, Josh and his school community conflate justice with kindness, resulting in adulation when Josh founds the Do More Club, which combats hate through affirming sticky notes and kindness rocks. Underdeveloped side characters serve to teach Josh about his privilege and portray him as a mensch. When seventh grader Marcus, the only Black kid in school, experiences a similar racial attack, Josh discovers that anti-Blackness is more pervasive than he’d realized, but Kramaroff does not afford Marcus the agency to react outside of Josh’s framework. In addition to his caring Do More crew, Josh receives support from a rabbi who explains tikkun olam— the Jewish concept of repairing the world—as well as from the school’s lone Black teacher. Unfortunately, neither pushes Josh—or readers—to consider a more robust, systemic understanding of justice and equity.

Well-intentioned but simplistic. (Verse fiction. 9-12)

“A fresh, buoyant high stepper.”

ready, set, run!

IT’S FALL!

Kurilla, Renée Little, Brown (32 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 22, 2023

9780316363990

Series: Celebrate the Seasons, 1

A group of children celebrate autumn with activities, holidays, and more.

“Colors bursting, shadows tall. / There’s lots to celebrate— it’s fall!” When a teacher asks a class of diverse students what they love about autumn, they outline their favorite things in an easily recited rhyme: cozy clothes, piles of leaves, scarecrows, corn mazes, apple picking, and, of course, Halloween— “Ringing doorbells… / Trick or treat! / Marching down a spooky street.” What else do the kids enjoy? The sounds of leaf blowers and lawn mowers and traditional Thanksgiving foods like turkey and mashed potatoes. “Fall has treasures to be found / in colors, textures, smells, and sounds. / It’s so much fun—we love it all.” Black-outlined drawings in orange, rust, and yellow hues depict a bustling neighborhood with all the aspects described in the cheerful text. Endpapers provide additional fare in a gallery of childlike crayon-style drawings, ostensibly created by the characters in the book. The activities mentioned within will be familiar to most youngsters. The book ends with a question—“What things do you love about fall?”—that will encourage enthusiastic participation from listeners. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Uplifting seasonal verse focusing on well-known customs and conventions. (Picture book. 3-6)

GHOST BOOK

Lai, Remy Henry Holt (320 pp.)

$14.99 paper | Aug. 15, 2023

9781250810434

A girl helps the wandering soul of a boy escape death.

“Twelve years ago, the girl lived. The boy lived. One should have died.” July Chen might as well be invisible, as she’s usually forgotten by everyone around her. Using her ability to see ghosts, July tries to summon one in hopes of making friends. In addition to calling a hungry ghost, July meets the wandering soul of William Xiao, a boy whose physical body lies in a coma. William has experienced multiple near-death incidents, and he collects information on the underworld in the notebook he calls his Ghost Book. Using the Ghost Book, July helps William evade hungry ghosts and underworld underlings who are trying to claim his soul. While trying to find a way to get to the underworld and back to save William, the friends discover an unfortunate secret truth about their intertwined lives. This full-color graphic novel skillfully balances dark, humorous, and heartwarming elements. Themes of friendship, kindness, sacrifice, and being remembered, both

in life and in death, are prominent throughout. July and William’s adventure exquisitely captures Chinese mythology, traditions, and beliefs surrounding the afterlife, like burning joss paper offerings during Hungry Ghost Month. The clean and expressive illustrations complement the story, being a bit eerie and scary but leavened with humor and lightness.

A delightful balance of spooky, sweet, and funny. (Graphic fantasy. 8-12)

OUT OF THE FIRES

A Journal of Resilience and Recovery After Disaster

Lara, Carrie Illus. by Colleen Larmour Magination/American Psychological Association (64 pp.)

$19.99 | July 4, 2023

9781433840692

The aftermath of a natural disaster becomes an educational narrative.

Narrated by a boy coming back to school following a wildfire that canceled classes for two weeks, this book is intended to help young people grappling with similar events. The first section deals with the return to school in paragraphs broken up by related, colored pencil–esque images. The boy learns strategies for dealing with trauma (writing, drawing, taking deep breaths). It’s not until the second section that readers discover exactly what happened, though the author’s introduction details the 2017 California wildfires that inspired the book. This section describes the fire and the boy and his family’s evacuation, giving readers a child’s-eye view that, amid the chaos, grounds itself in people’s kindness. The narrator’s reaction to the fire evolves over time; sometimes he feels angry, other times sad and lost. Moments of frustration are conveyed, too: “My emotions exploded,” he says, alongside an image of a mushroom cloud. However, seeing his friends again makes him feel happy; the child’s emotional journey will reassure both young people and adults. Interspersed news clippings describe what is happening in the community at large, though the narrator mostly focuses on his personal journey. At the end, however, he discusses worldwide disasters, and he and his classmates send encouraging messages to kids in Australia, where wildfires also raged.

An important guide to finding strength after trauma for children and guardians alike. (resiliency and coping worksheet, additional resources) (Fiction. 8-12)

THE SECRET OF THE DRAGON GEMS

LaRocca, Rajani & Chris Baron

Illus. by Sam Dawson Yellow Jacket (352 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 29, 2023

9781499814637

A suspenseful epistolary novel about two new friends who find some extraordinary rocks.

On the last day of their miserable stay at Camp Dilloway, two young campers escape Campfire Night and connect after they find two unusual glowing rocks. Tripti Kapoor, an 11-year-old Indian American girl from Massachusetts, and Sam Cohen, a sixth grade Jewish boy from California, take the rocks home, and their long-distance friendship begins. They call the rocks Opal and Jasper, names taken from their favorite book series, Dragon Gems. Soon, Tripti and Sam notice unusual things about their rocks—they move around, become warm, and even leave coded messages. Communication between the two kids occurs through handwritten letters, emails, video chats, and instant messages. Mixed in are excerpts from the Dragon Gems books, MeTube video transcripts, and journal entries by Sanford P. Dilloway III, an eccentric scientist and the camp’s owner. The multiple channels of communication feel current and effectively propel the action, and the scientific information about comets and geology is engaging. As the rocks become more sentient, things become more urgent and dangerous. Themes of estrangement and forgiveness quietly run alongside the excitement of the mystery surrounding Opal and Jasper. Tripti and Sam’s friendship authentically traverses the tough and tender waters of middle school, and their friendship proves to be powerful.

A strong, suspenseful read about navigating friendship that includes a touch of the extraterrestrial. (Fiction. 8-12)

PRINCE SACHA’S FIERCE, FABULOUS, FANCY DAY

Lau, Jon

Orchard/Scholastic (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781338324747

In this retelling of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” Prince Sacha holds a contest to find a fabulous gown.

Prince Sacha has the best of everything: the most ornate palace, the best food, and the “fiercest clothes.” As the Parade of Princely Prancing approaches, however, the regal bear finds that he has nothing to wear to the annual event celebrating his impeccable style. He declares an emergency contest, inviting fashion designers from across the kingdom to design a gown worthy of the big event. Nothing pleases Prince Sacha. Then a rabbit named Panini presents a truly singular gown, made of fabric so special, “only the most fabulous animals can see it.” Readers will delight in Prince Sacha’s dramatic outfits and

towering heels and have fun identifying his eclectic subjects; in this kingdom, emperor penguins, zebras, and star-nosed moles all attend court together. While the story preserves the same narrative beats as the original fairy tale, the ultimate message is unclear. Though Prince Sacha is shown to be demanding and fickle, served by a group of unhappy, beleaguered cats and surrounded by piles of fine clothing, his excess is celebrated rather than censured. Indeed, the animals of his court seem content to revel in unexamined fabulousness rather than question how their prince was so easily deceived. Though no human characters appear, architecture and a reference to boba imply a Chinese setting. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Silly fun with a confusing takeaway. (Picture book. 4-8)

BUTT OR FACE?

Lavelle, Kari

Sourcebooks eXplore (40 pp.)

July 11, 2023

$14.99 | July 11, 2023

9781728271170

Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.

In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt.

“Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

MONSTER BAKER

Lavoie, Laura

Illus. by Vanessa Morales

Roaring Brook Press (32 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 29, 2023

9781250828323

The famous chef Pierre du Monstère and Grandmonster say, “A baker always rises to the occasion,” but will granddaughter Tillie?

the truth about dragons

Grandmonster makes the best desserts, like Key Slime Pie, Screech Cobbler, and Double-Sludge Brownies, and is teaching Tillie to bake. So when Dad announces that tomorrow is Grandmonster’s 247th birthday, Tillie decides to bake a Squirmin’ Chocolate Cake. “Two cups of frankenflour, one stick of booter, thirteen squirmy worms, a teaspoon of shaking powder.” The result is “magnifique!”—until Uncle Harry, unaware that the cake is for Grandmonster’s birthday, gobbles it up. In a hurry to whip up a second cake, Tillie makes a mess and plenty of mistakes. Her next cake squirms out of the kitchen, “through Slimes Square, past the Museum of Monster Art, and all the way to the edge of Tentacle Park.” Tillie is discouraged, but Dad offers some reassuring words. Tillie finds a way to save the day, incorporating her past culinary mistakes with some kitchen leftovers. The results may not be perfect, but, as Tillie and readers realize, that’s more than OK. Creative food names contain plenty of giggle-inducing puns, and the bright illustrations add to the fun. With her oversized head and tiny limbs and tail, Tillie is more endearing than grotesque, and the concoctions are disgustingly hilarious. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A little patience and plenty of creativity result in a recipe for a yummy success! (recipe for Chocolate Cherry Scaries) (Picture book. 3-7)

LET’S READ ANIMAL WORDS

Lee, Ji

Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.)

$19.99 | July 18, 2023

9780063244993

Letters become animal art in this fact-filled picture book.

A lowercase letter h forms the shape of a horse’s body; an uppercase O, R, and S form the mane, with the tail made up of an upper-case E. Each animal is designed in this style, the letters twisted or flipped. For each animal, Lee includes a concise fact. While a few of these tidbits are refreshingly new (“Sea lions can get lost without their whiskers”), many will be familiar to even young readers (“Ostriches are the largest bird in the world, but they can’t fly”). A few questions are sprinkled throughout, which make for nice pauses in the text: “Flamingos are pink because of the food they eat. If you ate lots of broccoli, would you become green?” Most of the letter-formed animals appear against an allwhite background, with a few exceptions. The letter R is cleverly turned upside down forming a rabbit’s ears, but as a part of the rhino, it’s flipped on its side as the horn. The stretched and rotated letters might confuse pre-readers familiar with the alphabet, so adult readers beware: This is by no means a book to help little ones learn their ABCs. But the alphabet as art is compelling, and it functions more like a game than actual reading, especially for little readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An inspired and visually creative take on the ABCs. (Picture book. 4-6)

SECRETS OF THE VAMPIRE

Légère, Julie & Elsa Whyte

Illus. by Laura Pérez

Wide Eyed Editions (80 pp.)

$22.99 | Aug. 8, 2023

9780711285071

Series: Supernatural Sourcebook, 2

The team behind Secrets of the Witch (2020) takes on another legendary being. Cautiously skirting the creature’s sexual overtones, most of this conversational book provides a history of vampire lore narrated by a pale-skinned vampire who promises to do readers no harm. Following a gallery of seven vampires (and zombie or witch hybrids) from African, Mexican, Caribbean, and Asian Pacific folklore, the concise text moves from antiquity to the present. The inclusion of the obscure first vampires reflects the writers’ research: They frame demonic goddesses such as Mesopotamia’s Lamashtu and Sekhmet and the Greeks’ Lamia and Empusa as the first vampires. Roman and Hindu revenants, Lilith of Jewish lore, and the Dacian strigoi give way to medieval European reanimated corpses and to the Renaissance undead, devils incarnated in werewolves. Along the way, the definition of vampire is stretched to accommodate the fantastical figures here. Only halfway through the book do we meet Vlad Tepes, the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but every forerunner is fascinating. Post-Enlightenment, after reason puts a stake through the predator’s heart, literature gives fresh lifeblood to vampires. As in the previous book, the copious dramatic art is a big attraction. Pérez’s romantic style (one drawing channels Henry Fuseli), using dark/light contrast and touches of color to chilling effect, perfectly fits its subject. Seven pages of symbols and emblems (garlic, stake, coffin, etc.) and a glossary close out the work.

An attractive, entertaining, and insightful introduction to the bloodsucking undead. (Nonfiction. 9-14)

THE TRUTH ABOUT DRAGONS

Leung, Julie

Illus. by Hanna Cha

Henry Holt (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781250820587

A parent spins a bedtime story that takes a biracial child on a cross-cultural journey.

Donning a cloak and sturdy boots, the protagonist enters a lush autumn forest, venturing past “mischievous hobgoblins” and “glowing will-o’-the-wisps.” The pages are richly detailed, framed with decorative borders in a palette that is reminiscent of European fairy-tale illustrations with a touch of art nouveau. In a small thatched-roof cottage, the child encounters a Whitepresenting wise woman who describes dragons as “fearsome and fiery creatures” that hoard treasure and defeat knights. After learning this, the young adventurer slips into another forest, one with sumptuous, flowing ink illustrations in the style

“A parent spins a bedtime story that takes a biracial child on a cross-cultural journey.”

of traditional Chinese landscape paintings. Guided by the footprints of nine-tailed foxes and the advice of a white rabbit who lives on the moon, the child reaches the palace of a Chinesepresenting wise woman. In this realm, dragons are described as “majestic creatures of air and fire” who “rule in the skies and rivers” and control the rain. The Chinese-presenting parent ends the tale by noting that both worlds, though distinctly different, exist within the child and are open to be explored—and that “two wise grandmothers await / to share with you / their truth about dragons.” The book feels a little message-heavy, but it’s nevertheless a much-needed celebration of intergenerational storytelling and biracial identity. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A beautiful adventure about embracing both sides of one’s heritage. (Picture book. 5-8)

LAST SUMMER IN OUTER SPACE

Levy, Joshua S.

Carolrhoda (232 pp.)

$19.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781728486192

Series: Adventures of the PSS 118, 3

Three intrepid middle schoolers and a hamster who, unfortunately, talks set out on a last, desperate mission to save humanity.

It seems that the seven civilizations, including ours, have been suddenly emptied of their sentient races by the ruthless Elvidian dictator dubbed the Minister, and only Public School Spaceship 118, piloted by hotshot 13-year-olds Ari, Becka, and Jack, has a chance of eluding the teeming Elvidian war fleets to secretly plant in each system the high-tech devices that can restore the missing populations. Luckily (as it turns out), the trio gets some unexpected help after Doctor Shrew, Ari’s beloved hamster, passes through a mysterious beam and emerges able to make outrageous—but who (or, more properly, Who) knows, maybe justified—demands to be recognized as a “Scion of the Old Ones” and an “immortal time-traveling hamster god.” Levy artfully folds serious personal and parental issues into his lessthan-serious round of chases, narrow squeaks, team building, and (poorly choreographed, but aren’t they all?) space battles on the way to a happy resolution and a delayed but properly heartwarming eighth grade graduation ceremony. Along with a temperamental, pun-loving AI, the cast includes a nonbinary student and other cues of diversity; dark-skinned Ari has two dads and is Jewish.

Typical middle-school-in-space experiences with a bit of worlds-saving and maybe the odd Time Lord thrown in. (Science fiction. 9-13)

THE BRIDGE

Lindström, Eva

Trans. by Annie Prime

Astra Young Readers (32 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781662620485

A busy pig searches for a bridge. In this Swedish import from author/ illustrator Lindström, an anthropomorphized pink pig—wearing a green onesie, carrying a briefcase, and driving a car—is stopped by a large gray wolf, who says that the bridge two miles up the road is closed and invites the pig to wait at the house the wolf shares with a roommate (another wolf). There, the pig politely admires their well-kept home and enjoys coffee and cakes. A painting of a bridge hangs on the wall, but the wolves did not paint it, nor does it depict the bridge up the road. After an indeterminate amount of time, the pig returns to the car and drives along the road only to be informed by a large bird of prey that “there is no bridge here,” bringing the tale to an abrupt conclusion. The story is told only in dialogue, with odd twists, stiff prose, and a cryptic ending. Lindström’s naïve gouache illustrations carry readers through a strange, mostly empty world seemingly fraught with danger. While a skilled narrator could probably breathe life into the text, there’s little to engage a solo reader. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Enigmatic. (Picture book. 4-7)

FRESH JUICE

Liu-Trujillo, Robert Lee & Low Books (32 pp.)

$19.95 | July 25, 2023

9781643791135

Fruits, vegetables, and community help to cure a cold.

Art, a Black boy, wants to play in the park, but Daddy is still in bed with a cold. Art suggests that they make some “sick-fighting juice” with ginger to heal Daddy. When Daddy finds no juice-making ingredients in the fridge, they take the train to the Saturday farmers market downtown. As they visit the market’s vendors, no one has ginger, but everyone sells Daddy a fruit or vegetable that will help fight his cold. He buys carrots from Abbas, collards from Mrs. Johnson, Mexican cayenne from Maribel, apples from the co-op, and oranges from Mr. Abiodun, who just sold his last piece of ginger. When Daddy and Art find the train station closed, Art’s stepfather, Dhillon, rides by on his bicycle and offers them the ginger he bought from Mr. Abiodun and a car ride back to the house where Dhillon and Art’s Mama live and where several folks from the market have dropped by. Art makes juice in a juicer that Dhillon’s bike powers, and they all enjoy some. The backmatter includes a recipe for Art’s cold-clobbering juice. Liu-Trujillo’s watercolor-esque illustrations add verve and specificity to each character and convey the closeness both of this extended family and the vibrant, predominantly Black

“A wonderful story of a community that takes care of its own.”

fresh juice

and brown neighborhood in which they live. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A wonderful story of a community that takes care of its own. (Picture book. 4-7)

ALL SYSTEMS WHOA

Loney, Andrea J.

Illus. by Fuuji Takashi

Whitman (96 pp.)

$12.99 | Aug. 3, 2023

9780807500958

Series: Abby in Orbit, 3

The brilliant Baxter clan returns in another intergalactic outing aboard the Oasis International Space Station.

Abby’s Mami and Papi are renowned scientists on the Oasis, and now that it’s Career Day, Abby feels the pressure to live up to their example. “I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. I don’t even know what I’m good at,” Abby laments to friends Gracie Chen (who presents Asian) and Dmitry Petrov (depicted as light-skinned and cued as Eastern European), who seem to have their own futures all planned out. As Abby shadows various adults on the space station, learning about what they do, she makes what turn out to be some big mistakes, misplacing a bag of vegetables from the Green Pod and accidentally pressing some buttons in one of the pods. Luckily all ends well, with Abby getting a better sense of what she might like to do as an adult and realizing she doesn’t have to follow in her parents’ footsteps. Loney’s simple but heartfelt story will engage youngsters building their comprehension skills. Takashi’s grayscale artwork brings to life the Oasis, populated by diverse children and adults, and captures a sweetness in relationships between characters, particularly among the Baxters. The book ends with a list of vocabulary words and some information on the International Space Station. Abby and her family are cued as Black and Latine.

Space-themed fun with encouragement for readers wondering about what the future holds. (Chapter book. 6-9)

FODO DODO GOES

Manceau, Édouard

Trans. by Daniel Hahn

Gecko Press (28 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781776575039

FISHING

and invite their friend Dimple to the meal. But the underguppy, er, underpants, look suspiciously familiar to Dimple! Dimple is not amused and demands to have them back. Luckily, Fodo Dodo and Noodle are undeterred. They climb back in their boat for yet another adventure. Translated from French, the simple, cheery text matches the bright, uncluttered art. Fodo Dodo and Noodle stand out against a stark white backdrop, heavily outlined in black and full of silly, cross-eyed emotion. Youngsters who dive headfirst into imaginative play will find kinship with these two venturesome pals. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A small bit of fun that just may inspire a bathtub boat of one’s own. (Picture book. 2-5)

THE WORRY BALLOON

Mancillas, Mónica

Illus. by Betty C. Tang

Roaring Brook Press (40 pp.)

$18.99 | July 11, 2023

9781250852939

Childhood anxieties are tamed with the help of a loving adult and coping methods.

Isla remembers a time when her biggest problems would melt away with a snuggle from Mami. Now, as she faces her first day of school, her mind is swirling with nonstop worries and what-ifs. Isla shares her fears with Mami, who talks her through a visualization exercise involving putting her worries in an imaginary balloon and letting it float away. As Isla and Mami walk to school, Isla focuses on her breathing and the familiar sights, sounds, and smells of her neighborhood. When they reach school and Isla’s anxiety surges, Mami reminds Isla to “try picturing what you want to see happen” and to “try making it something happy,” which helps her transition into the school day. While Isla’s worries haven’t disappeared for good, they have quieted thanks to positive self-talk and other strategies she’s practiced with Mami. Inviting illustrations include powerful visual representations of what it feels like to be frozen in fear—tree roots extending from Isla’s feet as she feels literally anchored to the ground; her legs stuck in quicksand—in addition to cheerful, reassuring scenes. Anxious readers will recognize themselves in Isla’s struggle and perhaps learn a new way of approaching their fears. Isla and her mom are Latine, with brown skin and wavy brown hair. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Sure to help kids conquer first-day-of-school fears. (tips for “building your worry tool bag,” author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)

Two animal playmates embark on an imaginary fishing expedition.

Fodo Dodo and Noodle are wearing their raincoats, hats, and boots. They are ready to go fishing, and the bathtub is the perfect boat. On the first cast of their toy fishing rod, Fodo Dodo and Noodle snag a striped pair of underwear from the laundry—it’s the elusive “underguppy”! The two sailors fry up the underguppy for dinner (by mixing it really well in a bowl)

TOTALLY PSYCHIC Martin, Brigid Inkyard

Press (304 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781335453747

Ghosts aren’t all that haunt a young seer when her family abruptly relocates to Rancho Cucamonga.

Unfazed by ectoplasmic encounters since “we always had more ghosts than pastelitos in our house,” 12-year-old Cuban American Paloma Ferrer yearns to join her celebrity psychic abuela, former star of Miami Mystic, on her annual tour of Latin America. Alas, those hopes come crashing down when her parents transport her and pesky little sister Magdelena from Miami to California. Paloma is disappointed by the “boring beige rectangle” of her new home—“no beach in sight!” Her mom warns her to save her “enthusiasm for making new friends with real living people,” so Paloma decides to make a good impression on her new schoolmates by conducting readings that inadvertently release hordes of specters to roam the halls and classrooms. Worse yet, a new friendship is shattered when, at the behest of an insistent ghost, she reveals to classmate Willow private, painful information. Martin casts the ghosts as largely harmless or even friendly and even summons spectral chickens and a cat to add to the fun. The pervasive rosy glow continues through to the happy ending, with most of the ghosts sent back to the spirit world and fences mended with Willow. A surprise Christmas reunion of the whole psychically gifted family, living and otherwise, sends the tale out on a buoyant rush of good feelings.

A feel-good paranormal romp teeming with ghosts and happy outcomes. (Fantasy. 9-13)

THE STORY OF A BOOK

McCullough, Joy Illus. by

Devon Holzwarth

Atheneum (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 29, 2023

9781665903851

A book makes its way to different readers.

In a paean to literature, reading, and choice, a purple book with a yellow star ends up in the hands of different readers. The first person who picks it up in a library when it’s still “fresh ink on crisp pages” “is not the reader for this book,” but the story—depicted with stars and bright squiggles and butterflies flying out from between the covers—finds its way into more appreciative hands. “More powerful when you choose the book yourself,” for some reason, the untitled book ends up in a hospital bed, a treehouse, and a baby’s arms. Very little happens throughout—a few lines per page follow the book and the readers through endlessly supportive atmospheres, and when the book comes full circle, battered and worn in a

library book sale, it finds new life as a kite flying high in the sky. This feels like a poem for adults who are starry-eyed about the power of reading, but actual children who enjoy stories may feel like something is lacking in this book about books. Colorful, detailed illustrations show a diverse cast engaging with the book in school, at home, and around nature. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An idea self-conscious about its own importance. (Picture book. 4-7)

KIND A Call To Care for Every Creature

McGeachin, Jess

Kane Miller (32 pp.)

$14.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781684645565

A sweet invitation to link the two meanings of the titular word.

“In this book you’ll find / Many kinds of things,” McGeachin writes. “But kind is more than type / Kind is how to care / For creatures that you meet / And places that we share.” The following verses urge readers to regard wildlife with respect. Accompanying the text are galleries of beautifully rendered butterflies (“those who flutter”), spiders (“those who weave”), and other types of related wildlife, from fish to antelopes. Though including orangutans and gibbons among “those with tails” (an accompanying spread displays 19 species of primate) requires some poetic license, every animal on display throughout is both easily recognizable and accurately labeled. Following an invitation to treat our entire planet with kindness, the author closes with a reminder: “We’re part of nature too / Be kind to other people… / And keep some kind for you.” Picture books about kindness abound, but as they tend to focus exclusively on being kind to other people, the even more inclusive slant here offers a salutary broadening of perspective. In the illustrations, a reflective-looking, tan-skinned child in a woodsy setting stands in for young observers of nature’s small wonders. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Lovely in both message and pictures. (Picture book. 5-7)

DON’T CALL ME GRUMPYCORN

McIntyre, Sarah

Scholastic (32 pp.)

$6.99 paper | Aug. 1, 2023

9781338828719

Four friends go to space.

Unicorn wants to visit “the most fabulous planet in the universe.” His friends Mermaid (who’s tanskinned), Narwhal, and Jellyfish tag along, and though Unicorn acts grumpy to see them, he’s secretly pleased—he had been “nervous about going into space all by himself.” They pass a

planet full of merfolk, another with narwhals, and another with jellyfish, but Unicorn points out that going into space was his idea, and he gets to choose the planet. They find one populated entirely with other unicorns identical to the protagonist (it’s hinted that he is the only one of his kind on Earth), but the alien unicorns are annoyed by Jellyfish’s nervous hiccups and, stating that only “fabulous unicorns” are welcome here, force Mermaid, Narwhal, and Jellyfish back into their rocket. Unicorn goes with them, preaching, “They were not very fabulous because they were not very kind to you.” This brightly illustrated picture book relies on the inherent ridiculousness of creatures in space but never coheres into a story. There are too many questions raised about the different planets, why Unicorn wants to leave Earth in the first place, and whether a didactic sentence about kindness is worth hinging a narrative climax on. The shallow cruelty of the rainbow-maned, limp-hoofed unicorns shown working out or having their hair styled in salons could be read as caricatures of gay men, but it will likely go over children’s heads.

(This book was reviewed digitally.)

A squandered opportunity for intergalactic hijinks. (Picture book. 4-7)

THE SCARIEST KITTEN IN THE WORLD

Messner, Kate Illus. by

MacKenzie Haley

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 29, 2023

9780374390051

A terrifying tome guaranteed to scare the stuffin’ outta ya (not really).

After a warning and a suggestion that readers find friendlier reading material about rainbows and such, the tale opens on a dismal, decrepit house (on a dark and stormy night, of course). Down a dim hallway sits a “ragged old door.”

“And SOMETHING WAS THUMPING BEHIND THAT DOOR.” The door creaks open. A flash of lightning throws a menacing shadow across the floor—“Are you sure you want to turn the page?” The narrator notes that readers might rather read about ice cream sandwiches or crayons…for on the next page, the narrator is revealed to be…a tiny, white kitten with one wee fang (horrifying, huh?) The kitten’s not pleased that readers are laughing. The feline calls on a bevy of fiendish friends, among them adorable puppies (not menacing) and a plump yellow chick yelling “BOO!” (totally not bloodcurdling). The kitten’s sure the whole group can be made over to chill hearts. Nope. But wait… what’s that at the door? Messner goes full-on goofy with this tale of a feline determined to frighten. Haley’s not-so-dark cartoon illustrations of pudgy, sweet animals perfectly contradict the kitty’s narration. The cover featuring the cutie-patootie, jewel-eyed kitty spoils the central joke a bit, but hammed-up to the correct degree, this is sure to have ’em howling (with laughter, not fear) in the aisles. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Diverting feline fun for Halloween (or any time of year).

(Picture book. 2-7)

A Poem About Wonder and Possibility

Miller, Kei

Illus. by Diana Ejaita

Cameron Kids (32 pp.)

$16.99 | Aug. 22, 2023

9781951836450

Silhouettes and bold colors swirl in illustrations paired to a short meditation on the first word spoken in the Book of Genesis.

“Suppose,” writes poet Miller, “there was a book full only of the word, let,” giving existence to all things “fir and firmament.” Might we not find a “Let” just for each of us, that we could say and repeat “until even silent dreams had been allowed”? Younger or less reflective audiences may find the author’s trains of thought about speaking “in auto-rhyme” and “stumbl[ing] through the streets with open books / eyes crossed from too much reading” hard to unpack. But Ejaita offers accompanying scenes that will have an immediate impact on every viewer, as human and animal silhouettes join tree and other plant shapes, flowing lines of water, and sprays of stars in a dazzling and increasingly crowded dance culminating in a flurry of birds freed to fly, like the creative impulse, anywhere in our minds or world. It’s a liberating invitation, though children may respond more strongly to similar but less abstract calls in the likes of Juan Felipe Hererra’s Imagine (2018), illustrated by Lauren Castillo, Raúl Colón’s Imagine! (2018), or Tom Burlison’s Imagine That! (2020), illustrated by Sara Sanchez. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Vivid visuals for a strong, if gnomically put, proposition. (Picture book. 8-10)

FORGET-ME-NOT BLUE

Moranville, Sharelle Byars

Holiday House (272 pp.)

$17.99 | Aug. 8, 2023

9780823453597

A 10-year-old navigates the uncertainty of life with an unreliable parent while holding on to hope.

Sofie has lived in difficult circumstances for a long time. Her mom has struggled with drug use and abusive relationships for much of Sofie’s life. They live in poverty in Des Moines, Iowa, making frequent visits to the community center for free lunches and to borrow books, which Sofie takes comfort in. Although Sofie aches for her mother’s elusive support, it becomes clear that she has love and support from Con, her 13-year-old brother; her recently sober great-grandfather; and family friend Tommy, her mom’s boss at the restaurant. But her mother’s erratic nature causes Sofie to harbor a persistent sense of unease and fear of abandonment. When her mother disappears for weeks and is subsequently sent to prison for crimes committed with her boyfriend, the question arises of

“A poignant, pointed portrayal of the heavy burden parental instability places on a family.”

forget-me-not blue

don’t want to be your monster

determining an appropriate guardian. Life from Sofie’s perspective is painfully but realistically conveyed, and the portrayal will resonate especially with readers with experience of poverty, addiction, or family trauma. Amid fears and crises, there are still small comforts to be found, capturing feelings of inherent value in her family. As the search for a caregiver finds a happy, albeit unlikely, resolution, the complex mood evoked by Moranville for much of the book is set aside for a softer landing. Most characters appear to be White.

A poignant, pointed portrayal of the heavy burden parental instability places on a family. (Fiction. 9-13)

DON’T WANT TO BE YOUR MONSTER

Moulton, Deke

Tundra Books (256 pp.)

$17.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781774880494

A 10-year-old vampire courageously agrees to help two mortal children track down a serial killer.

Readers fond of nocturnal whodunits festooned with sly twists and tweaks from opening page to terrifying climax are in for a treat—but Moulton has much to offer here besides gore and glory. Found as a baby in the ruins of a synagogue following a hate crime and bitten to save his life, Adam has been raised by his vampiric foster moms in strict isolation from dangerous mortals. But so appalled is he to learn of a series of gruesome murders around his hometown of Lacey, Washington, that he nerves himself to hide his fangs with a scarf, control his yearning for blood (something Victor, his toxically adolescent foster bro, is disinclined to do), and join two chance-met amateur investigators: Luis and Shoshana. The killer’s identity makes things complicated and scary—but if, by the end, the threat hasn’t been permanently dealt with, it’s at least resolved for the moment, and Adam has strengthened bonds with not only his mortal friends, but family too, specifically Victor and Sung, his nonbinary, college-aged, Korean foster sibling. Shoshana helps Adam understand how, as an “obligate hemovore,” he can still be Jewish, and this story, which features an ethnically diverse cast, thoughtfully pushes back against significant antisemitic elements in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and vampire lore in general.

Members of persecuted minorities unite to fight crime: icky, impish, and thematically rich. (author’s note) (Light horror. 10-14)

BANANA DREAM

Namir, Hasan Illus. by Daby Zainab Faidhi

Neal Porter/Holiday House (32 pp.)

$18.99 | July 11, 2023

9780823451005

An Iraqi boy growing up during the Gulf War comes to terms with his name.

Mooz dislikes his name, which means banana in Arabic. His classmates mock him because he’s named after a fruit considered strange. Bananas can’t grow in Iraq’s desert climate, and they become impossible to find during the war, when international sanctions reduce most families’ groceries to carefully rationed basics like tea, flour, rice, and beans. But everything changes when Mooz asks his mother how she chose his name and she tells him the story of his birth. After years of being unable to get pregnant, she dreamed that she was feeding a baby a banana. After she told Mooz’s father about the dream, he drove for hours to find her a banana, and soon after, Mooz was born. After hearing this story, Mooz becomes proud of his name and defends it from his teasing classmates. When the Gulf War ends, bananas are plentiful in Iraq, and Mooz at last tries his first banana. This vibrantly illustrated picture book introduces children to the toll of war through a relatable experience: learning the meaning of one’s name. Mooz emerges as a fully formed, layered character, while the Iraq setting is richly drawn. The stylized artwork has an appropriately dreamy feel in places. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

What’s in a name? Plenty, as this clever and poignant tale makes clear. (Picture book. 4-8)

FIX AND STITCH

Nass, Barbara

Illus. by Liza Woodruff

Sleeping Bear Press (32 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781534111707

Woodland animals convey a lesson about self-care.

Squirrel neglects to prepare for winter. But unlike Aesop’s lazy grasshopper, he is motivated by benevolence or perhaps by the need to be needed. Though Squirrel, an expert tailor, has a plan to build his winter home, he is willingly deterred when his many friends successively need help. Fox has a torn coat; Porcupine would like to cover her spines to make hugs possible; a floral coverall could mask Skunk’s stench; Rabbit has no way to corral her kits. Squirrel, conscious of the shortening days, eventually resists but again gives in to Rabbit’s tearful pleas. After all, each friend promises to bring materials for Squirrel’s winter abode. Snow is falling, and it’s almost too late when they do show up, but they come through in the end. The messages—spelled out in a diplomatic afterword addressed to small readers—are to secure one’s own oxygen mask before helping others and that it’s OK to say no to a friend. Nass’ nimble text includes vocabulary words such as flared, whiffed, trembled, and

“Members of persecuted minorities unite to fight crime: icky, impish, and thematically rich.”

wheezed. Woodruff’s finely drawn and subtly colorful vignettes and double-page spreads have a classic air; they suggest that these anthropomorphized animals are cousins of Beatrix Potter’s beloved creatures. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

The appealing story of a heroic helper whose good-natured generosity is almost his undoing. (Picture book. 5-8)

CAPTAIN CLEMENTINE Secret of the Star

O’Donnell, Ginny Graham

Illus. by Laura Brenlla Cottage Door Press (40 pp.)

$16.99 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781646388288

A young seafarer receives underwater help.

Clementine, a princess-turned-captain with years of training at the Royal Barnacle Academy under her belt, sets sail aboard her magical ship, the Star of the Sea; her crew comprises various animals. Clementine wears a necklace, a “starstone” that represents stars’ importance in her career and as navigational aids. She’s distraught when a gull steals it. When the bird later drops it, it sinks to the ocean’s bottom, where it’s found by three mer-kids; their wise GrandMer explains its significance to the ship—now sitting listlessly in the waves above—and to the rightful owner. Flo, the eldest mer-sister, invents an ingenious device to return the bauble. Meanwhile, the hapless vessel has magically provided Clementine with a secret map to guide her to her treasure. Together, these forces bring about a happy ending. Unhappily, this isn’t a credible, well-plotted, or well-written story. Its amateurish prose includes trite, cloying expressions such as “my stars” and “Oh my dearie-dear.” Additionally, it’s sometimes unclear from the illustrations who’s being referenced when some crew members are named in the text; a final page identifying Clementine’s “worthy crew” helps. Commendably, this tale is female-centric; even the ship is female and sentient. The colorful, cartoonish illustrations are lively. Clementine, with brown, wavy hair, brown skin, and large, green eyes, seems to be a child; Flo is light-skinned. Human and mermaid characters are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

No secret here: This ship doesn’t sail. (captain’s log, “are mermaids real?”) (Picture book. 5-8)

CHALLAH DAY!

Offsay, Charlotte

Illus. by Jason Kirschner

Holiday House (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780823454112

It’s time to make the challah, and this loving Jewish family is ready for a day of fun.

It will be a long process, but Mom, Dad, Baby, and the young protagonist have the recipe and all the necessary ingredients

and utensils—and they plan to work together. The child narrator invites readers to join them (“Come and bake with us today!”) and describes all the action in rhyming couplets as the family makes the traditional braided egg bread. Even the dog is involved, grabbing the challah in its mouth to help braid it and helping to set the table, which might elicit an “Eww, gross” from readers. Grandparents arrive with hugs, the candles are lit, and the challah is perfect and wonderfully delicious. As the events unfold, the family’s reactions are evident in their body language and facial expressions, with the strongest emotions being the sheer love and joy in being together. Delightful cartoon illustrations—both single- and double-page spreads and vignettes— enhance the slight tale. In the endpapers and in a central double-page spread, the young protagonist is seen as a tiny sprite leaping and dancing among the ingredients. Backmatter explains that challah is customarily eaten on many Jewish holidays, including Shabbat. The brown-haired, light-skinned characters all have large brown eyes, with Dad and the narrator sporting oversized eyeglasses. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A timeless Shabbat tradition sweetly told. (author’s note, recipe) (Picture book. 4-9)

SECRETS OF ATLANTIS

O’Hearn, Kate

Aladdin (448 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 22, 2023

9781534456976

Series: Atlantis, 3

Riley rescues her fellow islanders, human and otherwise, from fairies and their curses in this series closeout.

To finish off, O’Hearn adds two new strife-ridden realms to the hidden isle of Atlantis—one an undersea cavern where dwell two camps of spell-singing merfolk and the other a quarter of the hidden island belonging to the fairy folk. She sends her peace-loving protagonist to both for two brief but savage climactic battles. What’s really at war here is the author’s chosen plotline juxtaposed against her strenuous efforts to downplay its implicit violence. Despite apparently seeking to distract readers by adding flower-strewing pixies and polka-dot hippos with fairy heads to the crook-horned unicorn colt, adorable talking koala, and other plushy members of the teeming cast, she trots in evil fairies who can only be deprived of their powers by having their wings ripped off, for instance. And then, when the ripping is done, why not gather for a joyous feast? Moreover, doubtless to the disappointment of readers who like to see the fighting as it happens rather than just be told about it later, she forces the finale of the second battle and the death of a vicious predator to occur entirely offstage. Still, by the end, not only have all the magical, mythical, and hybrid human-animal Atlanteans come together in harmony, but a broken contraceptive spell allows the nearly extinct gargoyles to have baby gargoyles again. Baby gargoyles!

Muddles through to a properly happy ending. (map) (Fantasy. 9-12)

EMBER AND THE ISLAND OF LOST CREATURES

Pamment, Jason HarperAlley (288 pp.)

$15.99 | June 27, 2023

9780063065208

Ember feels like an outsider at his new school for the orphaned and solitary.

Ember is a tiny humanoid with lightbrown skin and a mop of black hair who doesn’t remember anything from before he lived in an attic in a city where everything was giant-sized. He longed for friendship, but when he ventured out to try to make a connection, he was accidentally swept into a storm drain and out to a beach. There, sea turtle Lua found and adopted him. Lua brings Ember to the far-off island where she once went to school. The other young creatures Ember meets there include Ana, a salamander, and Viggo, a pugnacious, blue-tongued lizard. Ember keeps a journal with observations and drawings and is both devastated and humiliated when some classmates read it and mock him. Ember’s sweetness seems to attract other creatures—a luminous tentacle, sea urchins reminiscent of the soot sprites in My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, and a smiling rock Ember dubs Boulder. Lessons at school involve intriguing discussions of camouflage and mimicry and introductions to the unique denizens of the island and surrounding sea. Clear, lovely graphics, rich colors, and intriguing perspectives provide detailed, cinematic depictions of the island world and the young ones’ adventures. Ember’s fierce determination to connect and his empathetic inclination to regard other creatures as benign afford him an impressive kind of courage when he and his classmates encounter the sea monster of his nightmares. An enchanting, absorbing adventure. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)

PERIL AT PRICE MANOR

Parnum, Laura

Harper/HarperCollins (304 pp.)

$19.99 | Aug. 8, 2023

9780063249530

A trio of preteens find friendship while combating comically grotesque tentacled blob monsters.

Halle Thompson, a scary movie devotee, is excited to deliver flowers from her mother’s shop to imposing, isolated Price Manor, home of famous fright film director Maximus Price. His children, Paisley and Argyle, are preparing for an ordinary day, flanked by a coterie of servants in their grandiose abode. But the house seems eerily quiet. When the twins finally locate their staff, they discover that all the adults are possessed by squidlike creatures who affix themselves to people’s faces and effectively zombify them. Halle, approaching through a thick mist, finds a similar scene on the mansion’s lawn. The three kids meet and swiftly join forces to combat the

mysterious foes in a series of outlandish situations. Halle’s vast knowledge of horror tropes combines with the idiosyncratic skill sets of the long-cloistered Price offspring, and between a roller-skating disco, sousaphone practice, and a horrifying foray into a stinky cheese cellar, they tackle the tickly nemeses and prove themselves resourceful and brave in the process. Playing lightly on the tropes of classic B-movie horror, Parnum’s imaginative and satisfying debut is packed with high-spirited hijinks. Characters are implied White.

Playful energy propels a laugh-out-loud scary story that doesn’t tread too far into truly terrifying territory. (Light horror. 8-12)

JUSTICE KETANJI The Story of US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

Patrick, Denise Lewis

Illus. by Kim Holt

Orchard/Scholastic (32 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781338885293

A celebration of the U.S. Supreme Court’s newest associate justice and first ever Black woman.

As befitting a tribute to a potential role model who has only recently become a national figure (though Ketanji Brown Jackson’s legal career began in 1996), the focus here is less on her specific achievements and decisions than early influences—particularly her father (“ ‘You can do anything. You can be anything,’ he told his bright-eyed brown daughter”)—and insights into her character as she went from high school class president to U.S. district judge on the way to taking a seat on our highest court. With reasonable fidelity, Holt’s stiffly composed group scenes compress major personal events in her life and depict her facing a jury and then later senatorial grilling with equal calmness, once with knitting in her lap and again with her family and supportive “sister-friends” sitting behind her, before closing with a final, formal close-up of a confident Jackson smiling widely. If the relatively massive dump of online news stories listed in the bibliography at the end won’t be much use to younger readers, it should serve older ones curious about the details of her background and legal record. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A glowing portrait of a groundbreaking jurist, or at least her public persona. (Picture-book biography. 7-9)

NEXT STOP, SUPERSTARDOM!

Peirce, Lincoln Andrews McMeel Publishing (224 pp.)

$12.99 paper | May 30, 2023

9781524879310

Series: Big Nate TV Series Graphic Novel, 3

A third gathering of stories and stills from the animated TV series.

Awkwardly forced into graphic novel format, the episodes contained here consist of stills from the animated show inspired by Peirce’s Big Nate series (Peirce contributes blackand-white comic strips between each story). In “The Ghostly Coven of Man Witches,” Nate breaks into school at night to teach the faculty how to cook. After being forced to sign up for figure skating, he disregards his friend Chad’s warnings in “The Curse of the Applewhites.” And in “ ’Til Death Do We Rock,” Nate reluctantly surrenders the role of lead singer in his band, Fear the Mollusk, to Artur, an immigrant classmate whose fictional, quasi–Central European home country’s culture is played for laughs. (All three stories include subplots that allow Nate’s single dad to stand in for inept, unemployable fathers everywhere.) The musical tracks that play significant parts in the animated versions in two of the stories appear as lyrics associated with random floating notes. The selected stills that are used for illustrations fail to capture the action’s continuity even with the help of added directional lines—leaving out most of the comic timing and reducing sequences like the middle episode’s icy whirls and twirls to disconnected tableaux. Some of the rubbery, 3-D figures in the art present as people of color. A poorly executed attempt at a crossover. (Graphic adaptation. 7-11)

S.O.S.

Phillips, Tom

Pixel+Ink (352 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781645951087

Series: The Curious League of Detectives and Thieves, 2

A giant flying passenger liner bound for Brazil provides plenty of opportunities for apprentice sleuth John Boarhog, ward of legendary detective Toadius McGee, to show his talents.

In a second romp characterized by the frame narrator as true (“I have once again changed only the facts I didn’t like”) if deliciously over-the-top, the 12-year-old gumshoe-in-training finds himself struggling not only to counter the latest scheme of renowned thief Polly “Pickles” Cronopolis, but to prove himself both to a delegation from the Society of Sleuths and to his infuriatingly secretive guardian, Toadius. Both tasks are complicated by the presence aboard the palatial and, as swashbuckling Capt. Amelia Cloudhopper ominously puts it, “uncrashable,”

H.M.R.A.S. Boutielle of renowned criminal mastermind ShimSham, a monkey recently escaped from imprisonment in New York’s maximum security Central Park Zoo. Not to mention, following a string of riotous melees and misadventures, an attack by sky pirates capped by a collision with an iceberg. Along with adding a racially diverse assortment of new adult characters to the array of magicians and circus performers introduced in the opener, Phillips gives his brown-skinned protagonist several new young friends and allies, including fabulously wealthy White-presenting Aussie fanboy Wembley Quokkas (and his loving mums) and Kana Rai, a circus performer of Japanese descent. Stay tuned for further feats of deduction and encounters with more fiendishly clever crooks.

Soaring, silly, and stocked with detectives and criminal masterminds…some of whom turn out to be both. (Detective fiction. 10-13)

DANCING HANDS A Story of Friendship in Filipino Sign Language

Que, Joanna & Charina Marquez

Illus. by Frances Alvarez

Trans. by Karen Llagas

Chronicle Books (40 pp.)

$17.99 | July 18, 2023

978-1-79721-332-3

A child is introduced to a whole new language in this Filipino import.

This gentle, spare narrative opens on Sam observing the new neighbors using Filipino Sign Language. Seeing “their hands move as if to music,” Sam is curious. The neighbors’ young daughter, Mai, walks to school with Sam, at first by happenstance, though later they intentionally seek each other out. The two become fast friends, letting loose and giggling as they carry their school books on their heads. A communication lapse occurs when Sam runs up the hill only for Mai to be left behind (“Mai thought that we were hiding behind a tree”). After the mix-up Mai decides to teach Sam some FSL, allowing Sam’s “hands to dance.” This opens the door to deeper confidence, and the children start sharing their hopes and dreams: “Mai wants to be a teacher. I want to protect our earth.” Alvarez’s deft use of space and color brings vibrancy and movement to the story and characters. The black lines representing Mai’s flowing hair are paired with textured colors and objects invoking a dreamy tone. The duo cement their bond with the sign for friend. A detailed note on the history of Filipino Sign Language and sign language around the world follows. A visual glossary of FSL signs (with words listed in English and Filipino) is included, though curiously it does not indicate the movements of the signs. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A gentle and charming introduction to Filipino Sign Language. (Picture book. 5-8)

“Soaring, silly, and stocked with detectives and criminal masterminds…some of whom turn out to be both.”

S.O.S.

night owl night

MOLLY, OLIVE, AND DEXTER PLAY HIDE-AND-SEEK

Rayner, Catherine Candlewick (32 pp.)

$17.99 | July 4, 2023

978-1-5362-2841-0

A game leads to misunderstanding for a woodland trio.

Molly the hare’s favorite game is hide-and-seek. She lives by an oak tree at the edge of a meadow with her friends Olive the owl and Dexter the fox. One day she initiates a game without first telling the others the rules, and mishaps ensue—first the pair “hide” by covering their eyes. After Molly clarifies that they need to conceal themselves from her, Olive and Dexter go to the other side of the tree. Molly finds them right away, and she complains that they need to do a better job hiding. Eventually, Olive and Dexter hide too well to be found. Distressed at the loss of her friends, Molly searches high and low to no avail, bemoaning her loneliness. When the pals are at last reunited, Olive and Dexter reassure Molly that they’ll never really leave her, and they all settle in for a nap. Rayner’s prose is illustrated with lightly abstracted mixed-media illustrations in a soft spring palette, and the animals are stylized but not anthropomorphized. The disagreements among friends are all gentle and easily sorted out, and this sleepily paced tale soon comes to a comforting close. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A lighthearted look at conflict resolution. (Picture book. 3-5)

ALL GOOD IN THE HOOD

Reed, Dwayne

Illus. by Gladys Jose Little, Brown (40 pp.)

$18.99 | May 23, 2023

9780316461986

On Juneteenth, with the encouragement of his big brother, a young Black boy explores his ’hood. Mom, Dad, and Big Bro are ready to walk to the center of town for the big celebration, but the narrator, Lil’ Bro, feels more comfortable and safe at home. Reluctantly, he joins the family and slowly begins to come out of his shell. He wants to play basketball, and with Big Bro’s encouragement, the other kids let him play. When the ball flies into the street, Big Bro pulls Lil’ Bro out of the path of a truck just in time. At the park, the celebration is noisy and overwhelming, but Big Bro helps him have a good day. Other scares on the way to and from the festivities are diminished with the help of Big Bro. By day’s end, Lil’ Bro adopts Big Bro’s refrain of “Don’t worry…it’s all good in the hood!” In rhyming couplets that read like upbeat rap lyrics, educator Reed presents a relatable, worried character and his wonderfully supportive family. The story artfully weaves in a beautiful community celebrating the Juneteenth holiday as a comforting backdrop to the narrator’s fears. Jose’s expressive art depicts a neighborhood full of large, colorful single-family homes with gated yards

and children playing outdoors on generous sidewalks. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A loving portrayal of brotherhood. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-8)

LOW POWER

Rex, Michael Viking (272 pp.)

$22.99 | $13.99 paper | Aug. 15, 2023

9780593206355

9780593206386 paper

Series: Your Pal Fred, 2

Robot Fred continues to wage peace across a devastated dystopia.

Having emerged from the ruins of a toy store in the opener (Your Pal Fred, 2022) into a desolate distant future, Fred has gone on to defuse many a burgeoning conflict among the scattered survivors—but can even his superb peacemongering skills suffice to settle dustups between large rival armies of navel innies and outies? Or, trickier still, handle a group of methane-blowing trash monsters and a town under the thumb of mercenary con artist Big Dawg and his masked Mutt-Men? As a further complication, even the most sophisticated solar-powered AI needs to recharge occasionally, but the only way to get above the clouds of pollution that permanently block the sun would be, say, to use a big balloon full of…gas. What to do? Looking mild and inoffensive with his big goggles and stylish blue quiff, pale, moon-faced Fred cuts an odd figure amid the ragged and barbarous-looking lot in Rex’s Mad Max–style settings, but so fearlessly does he mediate between sides while spreading his message about the value of listening and respecting differences, that readers can’t help but come to admire him and maybe even adopt some of his clever strategies.

Floats further inspiration for nonviolent conflict resolution. (Graphic science fiction. 7-10)

NIGHT OWL NIGHT

Richmond, Susan Edwards

Illus. by Maribel Lechuga

Charlesbridge (32 pp.)

$17.99 | Aug. 8, 2023

9781623542511

Come along on this 21st-century version of Jane Yolen and John Schoenherr’s Owl Moon (1987).

Every October, Mama, an ornithologist, ventures out at night to band migrating saw-whet owls captured in mist nets. Each October, young Sova asks to accompany Mama, wailing, pleading, and hooting like an owl. Every time, Mama uses the name of an owl species as an endearment: “Not yet, Sova, my little screech owl.” Mama is consistently patient, reminding her, and readers, “Sometimes a scientist must wait.” Finally, Mama allows Sova to come along. This charming introduction

“Child-friendly, gently informative, and wonder-full.”

to a scientist’s work is child-centered, focused on Sova’s eager anticipation, difficulty staying awake on the long-awaited night, and engagement with the owls’ world. In Lechuga’s textured illustrations, the light from the pairs’ headlamps pops beautifully against the darkness of the night. The youngster’s fascination with owls is demonstrated early through an owl drawing, a stuffed owl toy, and an owl costume. All the tools and equipment used in the capture and banding are shown in the artwork and explained in the text. The final spread, as Sova gradually follows and imagines becoming an owl, is particularly effective. The narrative concludes with short descriptions of the owls mentioned, including QR codes to listen to their calls as well as an author’s note about data collection. Mama and Sova are brown-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Child-friendly, gently informative, and wonder-full. (further reading, websites) (Informational picture book. 4-8)

TRAINS, BOATS, AND PLANES

Robinson, Michelle

Illus. by Jez Tuya

Andersen Press USA (32 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9798765608302

Various pups travel by land, water, and air to get to a special event.

In this British import, anthropomorphic doggos rush to catch a train, boat, and plane. An old-fashioned steam train seems oddly out of place as it pulls into the city next to its modern counterparts, but the pups pile on eagerly. As the train powers through a tunnel, Tuya gives readers a cross-section perspective that shows the passengers chatting, their luggage stored overhead. (The cross section of the mountain also reveals some sneaky dinosaur bones.) The canines who choose to sail the seas have a tougher voyage—a thunderstorm comes rolling in. But with paws in the air, it seems like they are enjoying the ride. A cross-section view of the plane shows pups listening to the flight attendant, with the pilots at the front. Given how many other transportation- (and dog-) themed titles there are, this one, while charming enough, doesn’t quite rise to the top. The rhyming text adds bounce but falters under the weight of description at times: “Up above the clouds / higher than the rain, / ‘We’ll just run through / the features of this / awesome airplane.’ ” Gleeful exclamations scattered throughout (“Woohoo!” “Yippee!”) attempt to add more excitement. However, vehicle-loving kids won’t need any extra trimmings—the title says it all. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Not a standout but does have a ready-made audience. (Picture book. 3-6)

GRANDPA IS HERE!

Rosie, Tanya

Illus. by Chuck Groenink

Candlewick (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 29, 2023

9781536231267

A grandfather’s visit from overseas sparks wonder, sadness, and joy.

Upon first seeing Grandpa at the airport, the unnamed young protagonist is overcome with timidity. But back at home, the child is delighted by the treats Grandpa has brought back from his homeland, including walnuts from his very own trees. Although the protagonist doesn’t speak Farsi and Grandpa doesn’t seem to speak English, the two set off on an adventure through the main character’s world. The child shows Grandpa “the darkest path in the world,” a horse named Santiago, a frog named Malou, and a hill called Rabbit-View. The protagonist wishes Grandpa could see even more, like the coming of spring and falling snow. Realizing Grandpa can’t stay forever, the child becomes emotional. But after the tears dry and a raucous family dinner, the protagonist is thrilled when, in the middle of the night, it begins to snow—one wish granted. “I reach out a hand…and hope that these days go slowly.” This tender tale in verse is a touching portrayal of the complex reality of having family members who live far away. While the author leaves out some details, like what country the grandfather comes from, the gorgeously lit illustrations and lyrical, rhyming text make for a gentle, fulfilling read. The child, Mum, and Grandpa are tan-skinned; Dad is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A sweet, contemplative ode to long-distance familial relationships. (Picture book. 2-6)

MR. FIORELLO’S HEAD

Ruiz, Cecilia

Enchanted Lion Books (64 pp.)

$19.95 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781592703791

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

Mr. Fiorello once had lush, curly hair on which he lavished loving attention. Alas, over time, his locks and scalp parted ways, leaving only three long strands atop his pate. (He still retains a ponytail.) One might think Mr. Fiorello would be pleased to still possess some hairs, but while he admires their tenacity, he wants them gone. He tries various methods to lose the stragglers; nothing works. One strategy finally succeeds: When he ignores and accepts the hairs and lets go of what’s beyond his control, voila! the hairs disappear. Mr. Fiorello cries, though whether from happiness or grief, he’s unsure. A glance out his window assures him it’s time for new things to grow, so, applying the painstaking effort he once devoted to his former crowning glory, Mr. Fiorello creates something wondrous in his yard, revealed via an eye-popping gatefold for appreciative neighbors and readers to savor. This is

a sweet, simple, quirky story. Children may not have regarded hair growth as analogous to other things’ growth, an idea worth exploring. Lofty ideas—i.e., acceptance of things that can’t be changed and learning to let them go—may fly over kids’ heads. Adults might frown at promulgating the notion that ignoring worries makes them vanish. Still, the lively illustrations are appealing and imaginative; rotund, mustachioed Mr. Fiorello is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

It’s not what’s on your head that’s important. It’s what’s inside—and in your heart—that counts. (Picture book. 4-7)

THE NIGHT RAVEN

Rundberg, Johan

Trans. by A.A. Prime Amazon Crossing Kids (192 pp.)

$17.99 | Aug. 22, 2023

9781662509582

Series: The Moonwind Mysteries, 1

In this Swedish import, 12-year-old orphan Mika gets wrapped up in a murder investigation.

Set in 1880 Stockholm, this story opens with Mika receiving a new admit at the Public Children’s Home, a mysterious baby handed to her by a boy who then vanishes into the night. But that’s not the only odd happening of the night—there is also a murder. Detective Valdemar Hoff, who’s looking into the murder, interviews Mika and is struck by how observant she is. A vulnerable orphan treated as disposable, Mika eventually explains that her survival depends on paying close attention to her surroundings. As the two investigate together, they realize that the murder resembles the work of the Night Raven, a serial killer who once terrorized Stockholm—and who was executed last year. Mika is clever, scrappy, determined, and moral, all of which makes her a compelling hero. Rundberg’s sharp writing gives readers a window into the underside of a desperate city grappling with a devastating winter, police corruption, and the cruel indifference of many of its residents. Valdemar makes a good partner for Mika, roughlooking and no-nonsense, oblivious that others have much less privilege than him, yet governed by a strict sense of right and wrong. This gripping, fast-paced mystery comes together well, with Mika’s deductions based firmly in logic and connections based in her own clear observations. The climax requires Mika to be as bold as she is clever, and the resolution promises more mysteries. Characters are cued as White.

A thrilling and thoughtful period murder mystery. (Historical thriller. 9-14)

BRINDLEFOX

Sandford, John

WorthyKids/Ideals (32 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 22, 2023

9781546003724

How to make a friend?

Hardhearted BrindleFox doesn’t like anyone. The anthropomorphic fox’s house is dirty and overgrown with plants. And one day a tree starts to grow from his back. Branches, leaves, and berries sprout; creatures build homes in it. A heron swings from its branches, and BrindleFox fumes, chasing her away; returning the next day, she gathers brambleberries. Soon, BrindleFox discovers a brambleberry pie on his windowsill and eats it. He asks Heron incredulously why she made a pie for him. Another pie follows—but, more importantly, so does a remarkable change in personality as BrindleFox cleans himself and his house, removes the tree from his back and saws it into planks, and begins to build furniture, a project Heron enthusiastically and skillfully helps with. Heron continues baking, and in the ensuing years, she and BrindleFox consume pastries while sitting on expertly wrought wooden chairs, enjoying long talks and deep friendship. The moral of the story?

“To have a friend, one must be a friend.” Children will appreciate this warm fable’s satisfying conclusion. What shines through in the sweet, simple telling is its message about kindness and the idea that cold hearts can thaw through patience and understanding. The oil-paint illustrations are standouts, their lush colors enlivening precise, folkloric details and enhancing settings. BrindleFox and Heron—actual enemies in nature—are expressive, fully realized protagonists. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Young readers will eagerly befriend these characters. (Picture book. 4-8)

HANDS-ON SCIENCE Matter

Schaefer, Lola M.

Illus. by Druscilla Santiago

Charlesbridge (40 pp.)

$16.99 | July 11, 2023

9781623542436

Series: Hands-On Science

An imaginary lab and a real experiment introduce matter. An experienced writer of science books for young readers invites her audience to explore matter in a chemistry lab. She focuses on two concepts: mass and three of the states of matter—solid, liquid, and gas. These are intriguingly presented in a manner reminiscent of Hervé Tullet’s Press Here (2011). Readers are invited to tilt, jiggle, and tap on the book to see how matter can change shape or form without changing mass. Using first a blob of clay and then a bunch of cherries for her imagined experiments, Schaefer concludes with directions for a real demonstration of making gas with baking soda (a solid) and lemon juice (a liquid) to create bubbles of carbon dioxide (a gas). (She

reminds readers to do their experiments with a grown-up.) She draws connections between these concepts and readers themselves as she points out that we all have solids, liquids, and gases in our bodies. The science is solid and the teaching appropriate for the age. Clean illustrations set on plentiful white space aid understanding. Rereaders will notice that all the materials and equipment depicted throughout, even the white coats, can be found on the first spread. Human characters are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A simple and clear interactive scientific exploration. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

FIRST NIGHT OF HOWLERGARTEN

by Shum, Benson Penguin Workshop (32

$18.99 | August 8, 2023

9780593521274

pp.)

A young lycanthrope frets about the first night of school.

It’s time for Sophie to head off to howlergarten for her first full moon—but what if she fails to transform into a werewolf like her parents? She worries about being away from her parents, too, but she meets new friends, participates in werewolf training (which entails tracking scents, moving like a wolf, and listening “to the whispers of the wind”), and survives her first full moon. Warm and empathetic Sophie even offers reassurance to a classmate who doesn’t transform. Shum’s story is a sweetly encouraging and appealing take on the perennial topic of firstday-of-school jitters. Though the book features werewolves, Sophie is relatable, her concerns—separation anxiety, fears that she won’t fit in or do well at school—likely to resonate with many youngsters. The illustrations alternate between full- and half-page spreads and vignettes; the use of panels on one page gives the book the feel of comics. Though the main characters are werewolves, they’re nevertheless an endearing bunch, sweet and furry, with oversized round heads and sturdy bodies. One adorable scene shows Sophie and the other children at howlergarten snoozing, curled up like pups rather than kids. Sophie’s mom has dark brown skin, while Sophie and her father are tanskinned. The howlergarten students are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A playful, funny, and heartfelt tale to soothe the back-toschool blues. (Picture book. 4-6)

REVENGE OF THE NINJA

Skovron, Kelley

Amulet/Abrams (272 pp.)

$14.99 | July 11, 2023

9781419754425

Series: G.I. Joe Classified, 2

Danger lurks around every corner for a team of teenage freedom fighters.

Major tech corporation DeCobray both provides a cover for the terrorist organization called Cobra and sponsors high-tech Springfield Academy, which explains why, as the book opens, student Shana “Scarlett” O’Hara is hiding inside a bass drum in the faculty lounge. The unexpected arrival of a couple of teachers has interrupted Scarlett’s bug-planting mission and forced her into this embarrassing tight spot. After they leave, Scarlett completes her task and heads to the Arashikage Dojo for pizza and a rendezvous with the Average Joes: Scarlett and classmates Ichi No Zoro-me, aka Snake Eyes; Stan Magda, aka Clash; and Julien Marsh, aka Glitch are determined to foil Cobra’s nefarious plans. Close calls and daring exploits abound in Skovron’s second G.I. Joe Classified adventure. Written with sass, a strong pace, and episodes of comic relief, the story picks up where the series opener left off, shifting the narrative focus from Stan to Scarlett. For her, the danger lands too close to home. She learns to trust no one, not even the elderly ninjas of the Arashikage clan, even if they are Snake Eyes’ adopted family. The twisty adventure features robots, secret tunnels, and Machiavellian villain Baroness Anastasia, whose plans involve destroying both Cobra and the Average Joes. As before, the book features a multiracial, multicultural cast.

Crackerjack science fiction action with a martial arts chaser. (Adventure. 10-13)

A PRACTICAL PRESENT FOR PHILIPPA PHEASANT

Smith, Briony May

Candlewick (32 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 22, 2023

978-1-5362-2848-9

A bird protects her community.

Philippa Pheasant, a nut-brown little bird who lives near a bustling village, regularly crosses the road running through her forest home to eat blackberries on the other side. After she and her friends have one too many close calls with speeding cars, she notices a crossing guard in town and decides to take on that role for herself, crafting a little outfit and ushering wildlife across the thoroughfare. The mayor feels upstaged by the attention the bird’s curious practice receives from the townsfolk, but when his fluffy cat, Darling Treasure, goes for a wander, gets lost, and benefits from Philippa’s expertise, he gives the pheasant his official support and commissions a black-andwhite painted crosswalk. Lengthy and rambling, this would be

“A playful, funny, and heartfelt tale to soothe the back-to-school blues.”

first night of howlergarten

a somewhat tiring read-aloud, though the subtle effect of slant rhymes throughout adds some sparkle to the text. Old-fashioned illustrations showing a quaint town with diverse inhabitants (the mayor is light-skinned) and appealing little animals duly provide a visual component to the text. This will strike a chord with audiences that want the feeling of a quaint English fairy tale. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Traditional storytelling taken off the beaten path. (Picture book. 5-7)

STICKLER LOVES THE WORLD

Smith, Lane Random House Studio (40 pp.)

$18.99 | $21.99 PLB | Aug. 22, 2023

9780593649831

9780593649848 PLB

Smith eschews twee for twigs in this tribute to our world. No joke, Stickler truly does love the wild, wonderful world in which we live. Resembling nothing so much as a toothy stickball with outsized ears, eyes (eight of them!), and pointy little teeth, Stickler runs about the natural world naming objects with all the enthusiasm of a Richard Scarry page (“Mushy moss! Sticky honey!”). The only thing better would be to see it all for the first time. Enter a bird with a can on his head. Stickler promptly decides the bird must be a space alien and, delighted, sets about showing the creature everything it loves about our planet. Happily, when the bird’s true identity is revealed, Stickler’s tour of world wonders has not gone unappreciated. While this tale may take its visual cues from such Smith classics as The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip (2000), written by George Saunders (Stickler exudes some serious gapper energy), it’s the hero’s spiky strangeness that proves the perfect accompaniment to a text that could otherwise dissolve into treacle. Here Smith has joined the oddball goofiness of his earlier books with the heart and soul of his more recent stories, and the result is a book as physically beautiful as it is moving. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

“Friendship! Happiness! World peace! Maple syrup!” A buoyant, bristly ode to joy. (Picture book. 4-7)

I WILL READ TO YOU

Sterer, Gideon

Illus. by Charles Santoso

Little, Brown (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780316592611

A child shares bedtime stories with supernatural creatures.

Dressed in a green cape, the young narrator channels Sendak’s Max, climbing a doorway in a cozy living room littered with pillows and a jack-o’-lantern while a scolding but clearly loving mother declares it’s time for bed. With the child tucked in, Mother reads a story about monsters—the little one’s

favorite—but the protagonist wonders who will read to the creatures of the night. The child’s compassion is contagious, and soon the mother follows the young narrator into the rural surroundings to call vampires, dragons, mummies, goblins, ghouls, and trolls to a storytime on a small hill. As the child reads to them, the monsters begin to settle down; the pile of snoozing creatures will elicit smiles from children and adults alike. Wellcomposed illustrations are rich in texture, dominated by blues, black, and the warm yellow glows of flashlights and the moon. This tale will extend well beyond the Halloween season even though trademarks of the holiday are present throughout— this is ultimately a story about caring for the unseen and the power of books to unite and soothe. Mother and child are lightskinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Will have young readers eagerly wondering about what goes bump in the night. (Picture book. 4-7)

BIG TRUCK SUPER WASH

Swinburne, Stephen R.

Illus. by James Rey Sanchez

Holiday House (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 29, 2023

9780823445882

Dirt-covered trucks head for the Big Truck SUPER Wash for a scrub.

This picture book features big-rig kid favorites like the excavator, the tractor, and the 18-wheeler, complete with the grossest of messes. These trucks have it all, from stuck-on bugs to manure. After a trip through the Big Truck SUPER Wash, they come out sparkling clean and ready for rest. The rhyming text works well for reading aloud to little listeners. The transportation-related vocabulary provides exposure to words like chrome and gleaming Each truck explains its messy job in the first person. Detailed, colorful, and appealing illustrations show the trucks in action, earning their dirt, the front engines and grills turned into faces. A tan-skinned, mustachioed, broad-shouldered SUPER Wash worker appears throughout the book, seen on billboard ads and interacting with the trucks. Addressing the vehicles directly, the character functions as a narrator (“Here’s a rig we don’t see a lot: / Big Farm Tractor, what’s with the spots?”). All of the elements of this book come together well, and while it doesn’t stand out on overcrowded shelves of similar titles, it is sure to be enjoyed by the children who find it. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Though this tale takes readers down a road well traveled, it’s still a fun ride. (Picture book. 4-6)

“A buoyant, bristly ode to joy.”

stickler loves the world

FOX HAS A PROBLEM

Tabor, Corey R. Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (32 pp.)

$17.99 | August 1, 2023

9780063277915

Series: I Can Read!

Problem-solving is complicated.

Fox’s problem: A kite has gotten tangled in a tree. Fox’s big idea? Hauling over a huge fan whose enormous wind power loosens not only that kite, but also other kites as well as leaves on nearby trees. Someone else now has a problem—those items have filled Bear’s den. Fox’s next big idea involves using a powerful vacuum cleaner to suck up the den’s detritus. It also engulfs Bear, who hilariously fills the overstuffed vacuum bag. A new problem arises for Rabbit, whose burrow’s entrance is blocked by the gigantic bag. So, brandishing a sharp pin, Fox pricks the bag, and it pops, unblocking the burrow but strewing its contents everywhere. One might believe everything’s now OK…but all the animals have a problem—with Fox—plus, every kite’s tangled in the trees again. Fox’s fed-up neighbors ask Fox to leave. But Elephant’s terrific big idea puts everything right. This comical early reader, expressed in understated sentences and simple vocabulary on nearly every page, will charm youngsters; they’ll giggle at Fox’s outlandish “big ideas” and the havoc they wreak. Onomatopoeic sound words heighten the fun. Caldecott Honoree Tabor’s wry illustrations, rendered in pencil, colored pencil, and watercolor and assembled digitally, are muted, set against uncluttered backgrounds, allowing kids to focus on the characters and the humorous proceedings. Children will have no problem enjoying this delightfully witty book. (Early reader. 3-6)

JIMMY’S SHOES

The Story of Jimmy Choo, Shoemaker to a Princess Tanumihardja, Patricia

Illus. by Derek Desierto Abrams (40 pp.)

$19.99 | Aug. 8, 2023

9781419755286

An immigrant cobbler’s neatly stitched poverty-to-prominence rise.

Young fans of fashion footwear will likely be more dazzled by the arrays of haute couture pumps strewn through the later pages of Desierto’s illustrations than by Tanumihardja’s wooden account of how Jimmy Choo, a shoemaker’s son of Chinese descent from the Malaysian island of Penang, moved to London, leveraged a “strong work ethic” to learn and refine his shoe design and manufacturing skills, and slowly built a distinctive brand. Her description of his career-altering breakthrough meeting with Diana, Princess of Wales, is typically low-key: “He worried what to wear, what to say, and what to do. His mother

gave him this advice: Be as presentable as possible.” Thanks, Mom. Again, it’s the illustrations coming to the rescue—portraying Choo enthusiastically posing with racially diverse groups of fellow students, customers, and fashion models on the way to that climactic royal fitting (the first of many to come) and, finally, proudly, with two typically extravagant examples of his wares. An afterword goes over his career (again) in somewhat more specific but still sketchy detail. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A superficial tribute, memorable chiefly for those remarkable shoes. (source list) (Picture-book biography. 6-8)

GRANDPA AND THE KINGFISHER

Wilson, Anna

Illus. by Sarah Massini Nosy Crow (32 pp.)

$17.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9798887770178

A grandfather teaches his grandchild about kingfishers, nature, and the cycle of life.

Massini’s lovely watercolor illustrations make the bond between the two plain to see as they row a boat on the river (the child wearing a life preserver), fish, dangle their feet from the dock, and walk along the shore, the grandfather pointing out the kingfishers and explaining what they are doing: fishing, finding a mate, digging a nest hole in the riverbank, laying and incubating the eggs, feeding the chicks. But it’s Wilson’s words that bring the lesson home as she lyrically describes the markers of each season that passes. The child’s questions lead the grandfather to point out that nothing lives forever: “Only nature goes on forever.” And when winter comes and the child asks where the kingfisher parents are, grown-ups will steel themselves for what is to come: The birds have died after passing the torch on to the next generation, and one page turn later, the child sits on the dock alone, Grandpa’s signature hat and binoculars nearby. And while sad, the child is comforted by the natural world that Grandpa so loved. What little remains of Grandpa’s hair is white along with his mustache, while the child’s is short and brown. Both are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A lovely intergenerational appreciation of nature and life. (Picture book. 4-8)

JUST ONE LITTLE LIGHT

Yeh, Kat

Illus. by Isabelle Arsenault

Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (32 pp.)

$19.99 | June 6, 2023

9780063094963

Where there’s even a little light, there can still be a lot of hope.

“One little light / cannot light the whole sky… / but it is enough / to begin.” This mantra, or variations of it, is repeated often in this calm, economically worded,

softly empowering picture book that offers reassurance to youngsters when they find themselves in darkness or overwhelmed by fear. Darkness, of course, can mean several things— literal darkness, as when children find themselves alone at bedtime after lights are turned out, or darkness of spirit, as when little ones feel downcast, lonely, hopeless, or unsafe. No matter what kind of darkness children are confronting, the book suggests there’s always a glimmer of hope to hold on to if readers remember they have a small spark of light within themselves—sufficient to light the way toward self-confidence and a brighter outlook. This is an uplifting idea, but perhaps it will ring truer and more meaningfully for adults than youngsters. The book might best be shared one-on-one as a laptime read between children and trusted grown-ups, with adults encouraging rich follow-up conversations and explorations of feelings or personal experiences. The delicate, lovely illustrations, rendered in gouache, charcoal, and pastel, feature spirited, racially diverse children. As the text proceeds, more light and colors pervade the pages. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A sweet, upbeat guide to cultivating optimism in young children. (Picture book. 4-7)

THERE’S NO CREAM IN CREAM SODA Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks

Zachman, Kim

Illus.

by

Peter Donnelly

Running Press Kids (144 pp.)

$16.99 | July 18, 2023

9780762481323

A lively history of popular alternatives to plain tap water. Pouring out a companion to There’s No Ham in Hamburgers (2021), Zachman chronicles how the “thirst for new beverages” has “influenced science, medicine, history, and culture, and vice versa.” So, though leaving wines, spirits, and beer out of the mix (aside from brief mentions) rather limits her purview, she still manages to dip into a broad range of fields in describing the spread of tea, coffee, and numerous nostrums and soft drinks like Coca-Cola with (at least initially) psychoactive ingredients, considering the supposed health benefits of mineral waters and the real hazards of unclean fresh water and lead plumbing, offering highlights in the quest for ways of preserving animal milk, and delving into the research behind sports drinks like Gatorade and Red Bull…not to mention inventions from tea bags to juice pouches and innovators like Jacob Schweppe (“Father of the Soft Drink Industry”). The author also slips in nutritional notes and DIY experiments or demonstrations, including a 19th-century recipe for root beer that requires, tellingly, 5 pounds of sugar. Donnelly illustrates Zachman’s flow of colorful (occasionally revolting) historical anecdotes with fanciful cartoon images featuring merchants, scientists, and drinkers of diverse era and race.

A sugary spill of facts, fads, and popular fancies. (source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 10-13)

WINNIE ZENG VANQUISHES A KING

Zhao, Katie

Random House (288 pp.)

$17.99 | April 25, 2023

9780593426616

Series: Winnie Zeng, 2

A young hero strives to level up her skills only to face a singular demonic foe. This entry picks up after the events of Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend (2022), in which Winnie discovered that she comes from a family of shamans. Now she must capture wayward spirits from Chinese folklore and send them back to their stories before they wreak havoc in her Groton, Michigan, hometown. Winnie and David Zuo, her classmate and archnemesis, are officially sworn in by the Shaman Task Force and warned of increased spirit activity with the approach of Halloween. Meanwhile, Winnie is challenged by a mental block that stops her from combining her power with her overspirit grandmother, Lao Lao. A portal that appears during a school field trip to a museum marks the beginning of a slew of odd occurrences throughout the city and within her family. When the Department of Supernatural Record-Keeping is ransacked, the Spirit Council sends in another shaman, new Groton Middle School student Kelly Miao, who is perfect at everything and condescending to boot. The three young shamans are thrown for a loop when the Bull Demon King gives his spirit minions deceptive powers. Observant readers will understand the meaning of some clues well before Winnie does. Ultimately, the trio work together to take on their formidable opponent. The ending of this full but wellbalanced story hints at more adventures to come.

Brisk, entertaining, and fun-filled. (recipes) (Fantasy. 9-12)

young adult

These titles earned the Kirkus Star: CARDBOARD

$12.95

9781990598104

ELON MUSK Man of Vision and Controversy

Allen, John ReferencePoint Press (64 pp.)

$32.95 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781678205669

A profile of a neglected South African immigrant who grew up to become one of the world’s richest and most driven men.

In the interests of, apparently, maintaining a positive tone, Allen highlights his subject’s “intense curiosity about the world,” cites comparisons to Marvel billionaire superhero Tony Stark, and writes about his “magic”—while downplaying Musk’s welldocumented homophobic outbursts and unkept projections and promises. The strain proves particularly telling when a comment about his supposed ability to inspire “tremendous loyalty in his staff members” is immediately followed by an account of his mass firings at Twitter and later references to his abrasive style and further employee exoduses. Not to mention his as yet unfulfilled promise from December 2022 to step down as Twitter’s CEO, which is where this biography ends. He is, though, as billed, a maverick with wide-ranging interests who really seems to be focused on making genuinely life-altering products, such as electric cars and Mars rockets. His private life goes nearly unexamined here, but readers, after a concise record of his rise and business achievements, will find both the narrative and the substantial source lists at the end useful. The book is illustrated with a sparse set of stock photos.

A capable, if not very probing, update most suitable for background research. (source notes, timeline, further research, index, picture credits) (Biography. 12-18)

WRITING IN COLOR

Fourteen Writers on the Lessons We’ve Learned

Ed. by Azad, Nafiza & Melody Simpson McElderry (256 pp.)

$19.99 | Aug. 22, 2023

9781665925648

A guide to the craft, business, and life of writing by popular and successful YA authors who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color based in the U.S. and around the world.

ten page-turning summer reads for teens

School is out and pleasure reading beckons! This summer vacation, teens can enjoy a variety of books offering effortlessly engaging, wellcrafted stories. The subjects and genres may vary, but these pitchperfect young adult reads will find eager audiences.

Rubi Ramos’s Recipe for Success by Jessica Parra (Wednesday Books, May 16): In this debut, Rubi’s Cuban immigrant, bakery-owner parents push her toward becoming a lawyer. But her passion for the kitchen earned her a slot in a high-profile baking contest, and her first-choice college wait-listed her. Can she negotiate her dreams and her parents’ wishes?

A Starlet’s Secret to a Sensational Afterlife by Kendall Kulper (Holiday House, May 23): Behind 1930s Hollywood glamour lies the desperation of young women longing for stardom. Midwestern teen Henny sees the ghosts of vulnerable missing girls and gets caught up in a romance with prickly co-star Declan in this stand-alone companion to 2022’s much-admired Murder for the Modern Girl. Her Good Side by Rebekah Weatherspoon (Razorbill/ Penguin, May 30): In a popular romance author’s YA debut, Bethany, a fat, confident Black girl, and Jacob, a Korean American aspiring filmmaker, think they’re learning the ins and outs of dating in a low-stakes practice relationship, but the Los Angeles teens instead fall into something very real.

The Grimoire of Grave Fates edited by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen (Delacorte, June 6): Students at the magical Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary face sadly all-too-familiar real-world biases. In this fantasy mystery anthology featuring contributions by a diverse variety of popular YA authors, an ensemble cast of 18 students experience the fallout of a bigoted teacher’s murder.

The Eternal Return of Clara Hart by Louise Finch (Little Island, June 13): This debut time-loop story taps into the universal longing for do-overs. When their classmate Clara dies as a result of predatory, privileged Anthony’s actions, his friend Spence is jolted into new

awareness as he relives the day of the tragedy and attempts to change things.

An Echo in the City by K.X. Song (Little, Brown, June 20): Set against the backdrop of the protests that shook Hong Kong in 2019, this debut explores broadly relatable personal and political themes by bringing together Phoenix Lam and Kai Zhang, two teens from very different backgrounds. Together they grow and face hard truths.

A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui (Henry Holt, July 18): A spring break road trip turns into a terrifying ordeal in this horror debut enhanced with black-and-white photographs. Midwestern best friends Mira Hamdi and Layla Saleh face danger after booking into a motel room that was the site of a string of deaths.

One of Us Is Back by Karen M. McManus (Delacorte, July 25): The bestselling phenomenon that launched with 2017’s One of Us Is Lying draws to an end in this trilogy closer as the Bayview Crew unite over summer vacation two years after Simon’s death to confront a new threat as more secrets are revealed.

I Am Not Alone by Francisco X. Stork (Scholastic, July 18): In acclaimed author Stork’s latest, two Brooklyn teens on complicated personal journeys of growth feel a spark of attraction. Undocumented Alberto from Mexico struggles with auditory hallucinations and a bad living situation, while Grace has boyfriend problems and was deeply hurt when her father filed for divorce.

Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers

Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Aug. 22): From the author of the award-winning The 57 Bus (2017) comes another narrative nonfiction title tackling timely social themes. This one tells the story of small-town California teens who grappled with the impact of one boy’s Instagram account that spread racist, sexist memes.

clementine and danny save the world (and each other)

New releases include more diversity than ever, yet writers from marginalized groups, telling stories that matter to them, continue to be underrepresented. The community of voices gathered in this volume reaffirms the importance of these stories and guides aspiring authors as they navigate a writing life, with a particular emphasis on writing YA. The book is divided into two parts. The first compiles essays about craft: Among other entries, Joan He discusses what agency might look like for a character from a collectivist society, Chloe Gong addresses when and how to break Western-defined writing rules, and Laura Pohl describes the experience of writing in English when it is not your first language. The second part focuses on the business of publishing and presents a mix of instructive personal histories—for example, from Adiba Jaigirdar and Darcie Little Badger—and how-to guides for authors once their manuscripts are completed. Julian Winters addresses coping with imposter syndrome, and Julie C. Dao describes holding onto the joy of writing post-publication. The authors, whose names will be a draw for fans of YA literature, present different approaches to creating literature that negotiate the space between White Western culture, perspectives, and expectations and their own.

The honest, useful craft book that all fledgling writers need. (Nonfiction. 14-adult)

UNEXPECTING

Bailey, Jen Wednesday Books (304 pp.)

$20.00 | Aug. 22, 2023

9781250780942

Sixteen-year-old Ben Morrison is definitely gay. He is also an expectant father.

When Ben and Maxie, his good friend and robotics teammate, conduct an experiment to confirm Ben’s sexuality and prove Maxie’s hypothesis that virginity is a patriarchal social construct, they are faced with the growing consequences. Despite their use of the scientific method—and a condom— Maxie is pregnant. Maxie’s strict parents are determined to put the baby up for adoption as quickly as possible, and their standards for adoptive parents differ from Ben’s. Maxie seems to willingly go along with her parents’ wishes. Ben, however, is not so sure. Because of his own experiences—he knows nothing about his own deceased father and has had relationships with three different stepdads—Ben wants to keep the baby. Despite serious misgivings about his readiness to be a father, Ben’s mother and her current husband agree to help Ben fight for custody of the baby. But with Ben’s looming SATs, upcoming robotics competitions, and college applications to prepare for, he has a lot to juggle, all while working toward proving he’ll be a responsible teenage father. While the characters and themes would have benefitted from deeper exploration, this poignant family-centric story with two White leads and a racially diverse supporting cast will resonate with readers as

they root for Ben and Maxie to make one of the hardest decisions of their lives.

An original teen pregnancy story with a charming queer subplot. (Fiction. 14-18)

CLEMENTINE AND DANNY SAVE THE WORLD (AND EACH OTHER)

Blackburne, Livia

Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins (336 pp.)

$18.99 | July 18, 2023

9780063229891

Two internet enemies team up to try to save their Chinatown community. Under the username Hibiscus, 18-yearold Clementine Chan runs Babble Tea, a blog with a loyal following in which she reviews local tea spots. Danny Mok, aka Bobaboy888, is not a fan, however. What Clementine intends to be helpful suggestions to modernize and remain competitive in a changing world, Danny reads as Whitewashing to suit the tastes of influencers and gentrifiers. Then, shocking news hits that a megacorporation is angling to take over the Chinatown strip mall where Fragrant Leaves, Danny’s family’s teahouse, is situated, and editor-in-chief of the school paper Clementine connects with activist nonprofit Chinatown Cares. Usually one to avoid conflict, Danny decides to join this community organizing initiative against the property purchase. As the classmates get closer in real life, they continue to trade barbs online. What will happen to their burgeoning romance when they discover the truth behind their online personas? Through her protagonists, Blackburne explores idealism versus pragmatism—and the need for a little of both. Both teens have their judgments and preconceptions, but they ultimately have productive, eyeopening conversations. Through canvassing, tabling, helping plan a rally, and spending time together, the pair learn to use their voices in new ways. Gentrification is explored as Clementine considers her family’s residence in a new, upscale Chinatown apartment building. Ruminations on online spaces, including the ease of fostering misunderstanding and volatility, make this a resonant read.

A charming rom-com with community at its heart. (Romance. 13-18)

“A charming rom-com.”

MODERN RUSSIA From Revolution to the Invasion of Ukraine

Blohm, Craig E.

ReferencePoint Press (64 pp.)

$32.95 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781678205805

A dim view of Russian political history from Lenin to Putin. After overly simplistically defining communism as a brand of socialism that requires “violent revolution” and referring to its “inherent weaknesses,” Blohm goes on to chronicle a history of, as he puts it, “failed expectations, starving peasants, brutal terror against political rivals, and nuclear posturing.” More or less ignoring Russian arts and culture, science, nonmilitary technology, daily life, and regional or ethnic differences, he lays out major events from uprisings in Czar Nicholas II’s reign to the November 2022 stalemate in Ukraine, pausing only to note widespread famines or slaughters or to make critical asides (“Funds that could have been used to improve Soviet agriculture and other industries were diverted to the bomb program”) on the way to a bland but, in context, skeptical speculation about whether the country might one day be willing to “integrate into the twentyfirst century as a strong and peaceful member of the global community.” The accompanying set of stock photos and images is scanty but does put faces on leaders and, once, a pair of Afghan mujahedeen; the backmatter offers a rich array of sources and resources.

Distinctly slanted but possibly useful in conjunction with more judicious older sources for background reading and research. (photo credits, timeline, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

RHYTHM & MUSE Brown, India Hill

Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins (256 pp.)

$19.99 | May 30, 2023

9780063217553

Self-doubt has stopped talented high school junior Darren from singing publicly.

Darren’s guidance counselor asks him why he’s no longer in the church choir and school chorus. Despite his excuses, “there’s a singing-sized hole in the middle of the room,” and she can see that. Meanwhile, best friend Justin urges Darren to ask out Delia, his crush who has a popular podcast, or move on. When Darren learns that Delia is holding a contest for a theme song for her podcast, he writes and performs a song declaring his fondness for her. It impresses his friends—and one of them, in hopes of playing matchmaker, submits the recording anonymously without Darren’s permission. When the song goes viral, everyone,

and Delia in particular, wants to know who the mystery singer is. Darren’s reasons for avoiding singing are revealed gradually, keeping readers invested. Featuring caring friends and loving family, this story centering Black characters and narrated by Darren is one of normalcy, introspection, growth, and love. It shows a more tender, vulnerable side of Black American teen males that is not portrayed enough in YA literature. Darren ultimately finds his way back to doing what he loves and for all the right reasons. Absorbing, humorous, and honest, the novel ends on a satisfyingly high note.

An engaging story of friendship, music, and romance. (Fiction. 13-17)

STUCK WITH YOU

Burgoine, ‘Nathan James Lorimer (176 pp.)

$27.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781459417274

Series: Lorimer Real Love

A sweet queer love story unfolds on a train.

This accessible novel for reluctant readers features two charming leads readers can’t help but root for. Ben Ross loves his comfort zone, and he avoids making waves. Caleb Khoury is the cool guy from school Ben barely knows, although he’s upset with him: Last week Caleb accidentally broke Ben’s phone when the basketball he threw hit Ben by mistake, leaving him unable to text anyone or listen to music for nine days. As usual, Ben spent his March break visiting his dad in Toronto even though they don’t particularly get along. Now, all he really wants is to get back to Ottawa, but his seatmate for the train ride home is none other than Caleb. Most of the story takes place during the five hours they share on the train as the boys learn they have more in common than they knew. Ben discovers that Caleb is also queer—not gay like him but bisexual. And what brings that up is an attractive guy on the train who’s definitely into Caleb, something that makes Ben feel…strange. Not that he has any right to feel jealous; after all, it’s not like he’s developing a crush on Caleb, is he? The cute banter between the boys will keep readers engaged as the sparks fly and they look past first impressions. Caleb is cued as having Middle Eastern heritage; Ben reads White.

An adorable romance with strong coming-of-age elements. (Romance. 13-18)

“Absorbing, humorous, and honest.”

rhythm & muse

THE WITCH’S THRONE

Volume 2

Caballes, Cedric

Andrews McMeel Publishing (272 pp.)

$15.99 paper | June 13, 2023

9781524881276

Series: Witch’s Throne, 2

An action-packed tournament arc starts with a bang.

Agni and friends are closing in on the tournament in the Citadel thanks to Valdis and her giant of a father. Characters’ motives and backstories are further revealed, from those who may be nearly forgotten, like last volume’s defeated bandits, to the great wizard Alexander and his friend Alva. Plenty of colorful personalities, both new and returning, collide—to the point that Reksha complains, “There’s not a single normal person in the Citadel.” Meeting a necromancer with an abnormally flexible and stretchy spine can have that effect. Anyone here for the

action is served a feast of attacks in magical and melee forms. Dramatic deaths weigh on the core cast to different degrees, further distinguishing everyone’s worldview. True to the series’ battle shōnen roots, characters comment on fights from the sidelines to add context. This series impresses with its ability to continue evolving the visually unique powers depicted while also balancing a quickly expanding cast. Readers will want to start with Book 1 to see how the protagonists teamed up in the first place as well as clock those who make cameos here. Blond, blue-eyed Agni is joined by a supporting cast with varying skin colors. Several buxom, highly sexualized characters with barely covered breasts appear throughout.

More of the lively characters, creative attacks, and hearton-sleeve moments that returning readers will love. (Graphic fantasy. 14-17)

INFESTED

Colón, Angel Luis

MTV Books/Simon & Schuster (304 pp.)

$19.99 | July 25, 2023

9781665928410

Series: Fear, 1

Colón weaves a frightening tale of possession in his young adult debut. No one wants to move across the country to an unfamiliar neighborhood in an unfamiliar city the summer before their senior year, and Manny is especially cross when he learns that his mom and stepdad are moving the family from San Antonio to the Bronx. Though it’s where his Puerto Rican mom grew up and where they still have family, the Bronx is not home, and living in a nearly empty apartment building to help get it ready for new tenants is not how Manny wants to spend his summer. He begins to develop an unlikely friendship with Sasha, an Afro-Latina neighbor protesting the new building, but things

are falling apart at home. For starters, Manny begins to sense a looming presence. Then there are the inescapable cockroaches and outbursts of anger that feel completely out of character for him. The novel works on several levels: The new apartment complex represents a potential wave of gentrification as the cockroaches infest the building, even terrorizing Manny, and as a malevolent force seems to take control of Manny’s emotions and behavior. Though regular readers in the genre will likely see the twist coming early on, those who appreciate body horror will find plenty to make their skin crawl.

Creepy-crawly body horror with a dash of social commentary. (Horror. 14-18)

SOMEONE YOU LOVED

Constantine, Robin Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (352 pp.)

$19.99 | June 27, 2023

9780062438867

Still recovering from the tragic death of her boyfriend, a teen girl finds solace in a growing friendship with his best friend.

It was a horrific accident. Alex fell 30 feet from a cliff, and his best friend, Jake, was there when he died. His loss loomed large over everyone that summer after the accident, especially Alex’s younger sister, Ash, and her friend Sarah, Alex’s girlfriend. Now, over the course of her junior year, Sarah starts a comfortable friendship with Jake that begins to lead to something more. Both teens are plagued with guilt over what Alex would think about this—and how Ash will feel when she learns of their changing relationship. The slow build of Sarah and Jake’s romance is authentic and genuine, involving late-night phone calls, meaningful conversations, and deep trust. Jake is open about the help he’s receiving from his therapist, a welcome addition to the plotline. Sarah and Jake muddle their ways through other relationships that aren’t quite right while readers pine for them to be together, and those who have been there will understand the realism of their journeys. Meandering through the seasons of the school year, the story drags at times, but it’s worth sticking with it for the very real tensions and triumphs between the leads. The minimal physical descriptions included point to a White main cast.

Offers textured relationships and honest heartaches. (Romance. 14-18)

ONE SUMMER IN VANCOUVER

Correia, Tony

James Lorimer (280 pp.)

$27.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781459417236

A 17-year-old impulsively sets out on an adventure of self-discovery.

Tom doesn’t know if he’s gay, but he’s questioning his sexuality, and that’s enough for him to leave Mississauga, Ontario, and fly to Vancouver without telling anyone, including his parents. After all, it’s 1990, and the Gay Games are taking place there. Tom is sure he can stay with his Uncle Fred. Soon after arriving, Tom meets Dwayne, who takes him to his uncle’s house—and, having developed a quick crush on Tom, gives him his number. Dwayne’s volunteering at the games, and Uncle Fred tells Tom that if he wants to stay with him, he has to help out there as well. So, the boys, who both seem to be White, end up spending more time together. Populated with too many side characters to easily track, the book continues the countdown to the international sporting event with religious fanatics protesting and the boys’ feelings developing rapidly. Unfortunately, the many characters’ individual personalities fail to shine through, making the shifting points of view confusing; even protagonist Tom lacks charm and interesting traits. The book attempts to evoke nostalgia through period details, but the stiff dialogue does little to engage readers’ interest.

An interesting premise that doesn’t deliver. (map) (Fiction. 14-18)

THE GRAVITY OF LIES

Deene, Dorothy Sword and Silk Books (270 pp.)

$17.99 | June 13, 2023

9798986599861

Despite setbacks, a plucky protagonist doesn’t stop believing in a better future in this relatable teen read.

Sixteen-year-old Skye is accustomed to food insecurity and needing to parent her own mother, Mary, who spends her days sitting on the sofa, smoking and drinking. Skye regularly auditions for television and movie roles—she mostly plays extras—in order to help pay the family’s expenses and tries to evade her mother’s wrath. One highlight in her life is the possibility of running into her new crush, Sebastian. Skye dreams of someday meeting her father despite her mother’s silence on the matter; she squirrels away funds when she can in hopes of hiring a private investigator. When an opportunity to appear on a reality show arises, Skye and Mary join four other pairs of actors and parents who will spend a week living together while cameras follow them and viewers vote for the ones who will make it to a new show. The possibility of finding Skye’s father

intrigues the show’s producers, who offer to help her search for him. Skye ultimately learns that experiences both good and bad can offer us direction; Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” plays on repeat in the cassette player in Mary’s car, amplifying this message. Skye’s arc as she navigates economic struggles and an abusive parent is believable and heart-wrenching, leading readers to feel invested in her life. Main characters are assumed White.

Compelling and gritty. (Fiction. 13-18)

“Believable and heart-wrenching.”

WORDS WITH... Angeline Boulley

A justice-seeking Native girl plans a heist in the new novel by the author of Firekeeper’s Daughter

BY LAURA SIMEON

Following her hit debut, Firekeeper’s Daughter, which is being adapted for Netflix, Angeline Boulley returns with Warrior Girl Unearthed (Henry Holt, May 2). The first book centered Daunis, who has a White mother and is part of the Anishinaabe Firekeeper family on her father’s side. In this stand-alone companion novel, Perry and Pauline Firekeeper-Birch, Daunis’ twin cousins who are Black and Anishinaabe, are interning with their (fictional) Sugar Island Ojibwe Tribe’s summer program. Through this experience, gutsy Perry learns shocking truths about institutional thefts of Indigenous human remains and cultural artifacts—and gets her community involved in a daring repatriation scheme. The tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women is also addressed. Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, spoke with us over Zoom from her home in southwest Michigan; the conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

I loved returning to the world of Firekeeper’s Daughter

I always envisioned it as a four-book series: Each could be a stand-alone but interconnected, with a different narrator and a mystery that gets wrapped up at the end. I had the idea while I was editing the first book, so I was able to put some easter eggs in there knowing that they weren’t going to pay off until Book 4.

Perry is less conventionally driven than classic overachiever Pauline—Perry wants to enjoy life, not be stuck inside doing an internship. I’m a person who has always thrown myself into every job—come early, stay late. It’s taken me a long time to realize that children and teens need balance. Perry’s journey is, yes, she cares passionately, but what did our ancestors sacrifice for? What were their greatest hopes for us? That we then sacrifice ourselves? Or [that] we live full lives, love our families, and bring up children in homes that are safe, stable, and filled with our culture, language, and teachings?

But then, through interning in the tribal museum with Cooper Turtle, Perry is outraged to learn about violations of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act—and she wants immediate results and is frustrated by Cooper’s methodical approach. When we look at activism and how to be effective, the race isn’t to the swift. It’s to those that are in it for the long haul. Perry doesn’t want to wait, and I appreciate that, [but] when we’re looking at our ancestors in museums, I think that following the processes holds people accountable. Making sure that we’re following those steps, we can clearly show the foot-dragging and delaying is on the part of museums and institutions tasked with following the law and returning ancestors at the request of tribes.

If you’re the more vulnerable party, you have to be beyond reproach—you know you’re going to be scrutinized.

Daniel Rogers

Yes, that’s it exactly. When I worked in schools as an employee of the tribe as an advocate and liaison for Native students, I would see groups of kids goofing off in the hallway, but somehow it was always the Native students that would get pulled aside for disciplinary action. So that’s another reason why Cooper has this methodical approach and wants Perry to see the value of conducting yourself in a way that invites no criticism. For Perry, the allure is [the attitude of] her other supervisor, Web: If you could get away with anything, how far would you go? That does appeal to people fed up with bureaucratic delays. I wanted to show Perry being torn between these two approaches. I think there is some merit to some things that Web does. Waiting 30 years for museums and institutions to follow the law and the fact that there are more ancestors not repatriated than have been repatriated? What is it going to take?

What is your working style?

[This time] I had to become a different writer than I was for Firekeeper’s Daughter. With that book, I could fly by the seat of my pants, but my agent would say, young adult readers aren’t going to wait 10 years for your next book. So I did make a concerted effort to have more intention but still leaving room for that magic of this great idea that just pops into your head. I think that our ancestors are keeping an eye on us. So, if the story is coming through me, I’m happy to be receptive. But I just had one year to write Warrior Girl Unearthed, and I did need to plot more. I ended up giving my editor a 20-page Excel spreadsheet that had the whole story laid out.

I appreciate your expansive, inclusive portrayal of the various ways there are to be Ojibwe.

I recognize that even people who are Ojibwe and from my community still experience colorism and enrollment issues. I just wanted young adult readers to know that they’re not alone and hopefully to find a way to claim their identity and their place. So many members of my tribe don’t live on the reservation, and I think about them as this audience that I want to speak to. I don’t presume that every Ojibwe reader knows their language or has gotten these cultural teachings and been as fortunate as I have been. And then so many non-Native people have never been taught about Native history and, more importantly, modern Native life. So I’m happy to write with that mindset of not assuming the reader knows anything about a tribal community.

There’s still lots of room for improvement in how Native content is handled in school curricula.

I hope people look at the resources included in the back. Teachers: If the only time you’re talking about Native Americans is during history class in November, you’re missing out, you’re shortchanging students. I think

many teachers are so afraid of doing the wrong thing that they opt not to do anything—but that omission is just as harmful. There are great resources out there that help educators. I think highly of the work Dr. Debbie Reese has done with the American Indians in Children’s Literature blog; she has explained her process and the questions that she asks when she’s critiquing a book.

What reader reactions have meant the most?

My favorite thing to hear is when a student who has been reluctant to read any assigned book raced through mine and couldn’t stop talking about it. I just had a speaking engagement at a local community college. An older man came up and said, I haven’t read a book since high school, and I wanted to let you know that I read your book Firekeeper’s Daughter came out a year into the pandemic. I did a couple of book signings, and [everyone] would be masked. More than once a Native woman would come up to me and want to tell me that she liked the book, but she would get choked up. I could see it in her eyes— and then I would get choked up, because all I wanted to know was, did I get it right, our story of coming-of-age as Ojibwe women? That exchange was so much more powerful because sometimes it happened without words, just with our eyes. That’s something I will always have with me, that connection with readers. I always recommend Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves next. It made me feel every single emotion a human could feel.

Warrior Girl Unearthed received a starred review in the April 1, 2023, issue.

inclusive, optimistic message deepens this charming romance.”

BUT I’M NOT A HERO

Demarest, Eric

5310 Publishing (267 pp.)

$26.99 | June 27, 2023

9781998839049

Crossman Industries may own the town, but it doesn’t own Matthew Pine.

Sixteen-year-old Matt isn’t a superhero, but he does have an Ability: telekinesis. For years Matt has kept this power hidden, but after he witnesses a fatal car accident that sets off a chain of shady events, he’s compelled to use it for good. Seth Crossman’s auto parts factory employs the majority of the town’s residents, and he’s hiding something. Matt is determined to bring the truth to light with the help of his friends: Phillip, who “has his stealth ninja mode”; Tess, who is a master hacker; and Rob, who, unlike the rest of the “band of misfit superheroes,” is an ordinary teenager. Matt’s quest for the truth brings him and his friends face to face with Mr. Crossman and his henchman, Deckert. Flashbacks provide context for how Matt’s Ability developed and why he suppressed it for so many years. Meetings at the lunch table, scenes of sneaky suspense, and action-packed sequences drive the plot to its climax. Limited worldbuilding is one weakness, and a side plot involving Matt’s infatuation with former friend Emily feels distracting. However, the narrative is tense and fast-paced, engaging readers from the initial car accident to the final standoff. Most characters are cued White; Rob has brown skin. Tess is autistic and nonverbal; she uses her phone’s speech function to communicate with her friends. A page-turning superhero story. (Fantasy thriller. 12-16)

TILLY IN TECHNICOLOR

Eddings, Mazey

Wednesday Books (320 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 15, 2023

9781250847065

A life-changing summer in Europe brings two neurodivergent teens together. Tilly, 18, has ADHD and a psyche dented by parental expectations she’s unable or unwilling to meet. Her parents have long held up Mona, her Yale alumna sister, as Tilly’s exemplar. Mona has relocated to London to start Ruhe, an environmentally friendly nail polish business, with Amina, her business partner and romantic prospect. Hired as their summer intern, Tilly’s thrilled to escape disempowering parental oversight that veers from infantilizing (“Are you being good for Mona?”) to rigid insistence on academic achievement. While flying to London, Tilly’s English seatmate, Oliver, also 18, witnesses Tilly’s ADHD symptoms firsthand (call it a meet-awkward). Handsome but distant, he’s Ruhe’s other intern, his considerable skills mediated by the

impact of navigating the world as an autistic person. Traveling across Europe to market Ruhe, they share diagnoses and discoveries—each one struggles with hyperfocus—offering support as needed. Oliver adores colors, especially understanding and applying the science behind them. Writing is Tilly’s passion; with growing confidence, she finds an outlet for her spontaneous creative spirit, something Ruhe needs. Acting on their mutual attraction forces the teens to move out of their self-limiting comfort zones and take emotional risks. Eddings, who shares both characters’ diagnoses, brings clarity, humor, insight, and empathy to their challenges. An adjunct assortment of bright, variously divergent teens manifest kindness, affection, and acceptance. Most major characters appear White; Londoner Amina has “amber skin.”

An inclusive, optimistic message deepens this charming romance. (Romance. 14-18)

FRIDA KAHLO & DIEGO RIVERA

Ferretti de Blonay, Francesca

Illus. by Tania Garcia

Trans. by Laura McGloughlin

Orange Mosquito (44 pp.)

$16.95 | Aug. 22, 2023

9781914519833

Series: Team Up

The lives of artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are condensed and stylized into a pictorial biography in this translated title from Spain.

The historical context in which Kahlo and Rivera worked, redolent of new freedoms in post-dictatorship Mexico, is glossed over, and for readers to be denied more than a teasing glimpse at this rich cultural shift is somewhat frustrating. Rather more attention is paid to tracing the lives, careers, and thematic signatures of both artists as individuals. Kahlo’s desire to escape the confines of her earthly self through art is gently juxtaposed with Rivera’s expansive, revolutionary ideals, but these underlying complexities, too, are given short shrift, as are the nuances of their eventual partnership. The text hints at explosive passion, mutual respect and admiration, and a balance of independence and artistic symbiosis that cannot be contained within this format, which comes across almost as the elevator pitch to a much more developed story. Some of their contemporaries are introduced along with notable events and figures of the time. Where this book excels is in its illustrations, which imbue the figures depicted with all of the vibrant, eccentric verve that their real-life counterparts carried. Several pages include quotes from each artist, but no sources are provided for them or for any of the facts presented.

A lackluster attempt at introducing readers to two extraordinary partners. (glossary, timeline) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

“An

MY WEEK WITH HIM

Goffney, Joya HarperTeen (400 pp.)

$19.99 | July 11, 2023

9780063254749

An 18-year-old Black girl is caught between dreams of future stardom and complications at home.

Nikki Williams’ music has caught the attention of a record label executive who invites her to audition for his new girl group. Her mother believes she’ll be spending the weekend with a friend, not going to California. But before Nikki can sneak away from Cactus, Texas, she finds Vae, her younger sister, drunk and making out with a misogynistic creep in their driveway. Their mother comes home unexpectedly, and during the subsequent argument, Vae blurts out Nikki’s secret to deflect their mother’s anger. Nikki is kicked out of the house. Even though things have been strained between them since he started dating someone new, Nikki’s best friend, Malachai, comes through for her as he has many times before, asking her to spend spring break with him before going to the second round of auditions the following weekend. But then Vae goes missing. Nikki’s conflicts with her unstable mother intensify while she and Mal look for Vae. Socioeconomic disparities and difficult family dynamics feature prominently in this narrative, as Mal’s stable home life and wealth are juxtaposed against Nikki’s circumstances. This engaging novel centering Black teens includes romantic elements that take a back seat to the focus on Nikki’s relationship with her mother. Mal’s unfolding story arc sheds light on the insights he has into family struggles. A realistic portrayal of the impact on young people of troubled family relationships. (Fiction. 13-18)

BRING ME YOUR MIDNIGHT

Griffin, Rachel Sourcebooks Fire (416 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781728256153

“The most beautiful things are wild.” For Tana, magic comes as naturally as breathing. It soothes her mind and heart as only the sea surrounding the island of the Witchery can. The weights of destiny and duty sit heavily on her: She is to be engaged to Landon, the mainland governor’s son who is “decent and kind,” to secure legitimacy and protection for her coven. When Tana meets Wolfe, a mysterious boy who turns everything she thought she knew about her world and her magic upside down, she finds herself torn for the first time between what is expected of her and what she truly wants. Griffin crafts a richly detailed world that leaves vivid sensory impressions. Tana is an honest, open narrator who easily draws readers in to empathize with her struggles with her world and

herself. Supporting characters, by contrast, feel almost nebulous at times—more representatives of ideas or ideals than fully realized individuals, though they intrigue nonetheless. The love triangle refreshingly feels almost ancillary to the protagonist’s journey of self-discovery and empowerment. Although genresavvy readers might find the plot predictable at times, it never loses momentum and will keep pages turning right to the end. Blue-eyed, chestnut-haired Tana reads White; there is diversity in skin tone in the supporting cast.

A subtly magical and romantic story of personal growth. (Fantasy. 14-18)

THIS TOWN IS ON FIRE

Harris, Pamela N.

Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins

(448 pp.)

$18.99 | June 20, 2023

9780063212626

A bomb goes off—literally—in the midst of a friendship that’s falling apart over the complexities of race, and a small Southern town is ground zero.

Awkward Black 17-year-old Naomi and White, borderline mean girl Kylie have long been inseparable. Naomi’s mom nannied for Kylie and her twin brother, Connor (whom Naomi crushes on), and the kids grew up together. Now seniors, the girls are trying out to be flyers on the Windsor Woods High varsity cheerleading team. But it’s Naomi’s secret interest in dance that reveals how much she’s struggling with who she is in ways that often oblivious Kylie, Connor, and the rest of their markedly racist Virginia town may not be equipped to support. A viral video of Kylie making wild accusations and threatening to call the police on two Black boys pushes Naomi into a spiral of self-reflection, too distracted to be what Kylie—dubbed “Parking Lot Becky”—needs. Their subsequent falling-out is both straightforward and complicated by how interwoven their families have been as well as by Naomi’s struggle to navigate her Blackness. Joining the school’s all-Black dance team and kissing Connor lead to more complications. These interpersonal tensions mirror townwide issues as Kylie’s father’s business becomes mired in a scandal over racism. The book attempts to take a critical approach to coming-of-age into Black adolescence, but ultimately, too many elements, both plot points and relationships, feel contrived and unconvincing for it to succeed.

Explosive but lacking cohesion. (Fiction. 14-18)

HENSHIN!

Blazing Phoenix

Idle, Bon

Rockport Publishers (224 pp.)

$13.99 paper | July 4, 2023

9780760382349

Series: Henshin!, 1

After an explosion took out the electricity and caused panic in Hollowstone nine years ago, a tech billionaire stepped in to save the day.

Alton Grieves provided massive infrastructure and investment, becoming a revered hero in the process. But journalism student Alex Nolan doesn’t like how Grieves has his hand in everything people use, from social media and cars to medicine, and he plans to expose him for profiting from the city’s suffering. Alex is on a train, musing about how to go about this, when a power cut causes an emergency stop. Alex struggles to help others—and a superhero comes out of nowhere to give him a

hand. Suddenly a kaiju, or monster from another dimension, appears and badly injures the superhero, who passes his power to Alex. Alex in turn becomes a henshin, or hero, defeating the kaiju. But things are complicated. His friend and fellow student Rosalia Ortega points out a conspiracy to cover up news of the superhero’s monster fighting. And Jeon Jae-hyun, a boy Alex briefly dated, is interning at the same newspaper as him. The characters in this thrilling, fast-paced, manga-style action narrative feel real, and the story and execution combine the pleasure of nostalgic tropes and evergreen themes with a contemporary freshness. Alex reads White; there is ethnic diversity and queer representation in the cast, and characters are introduced along with their pronouns.

A riveting superhero story that feels familiar and original at the same time. (Graphic fantasy. 13-18)

SECRET ME

Jendrick, Angel

James Lorimer (176 pp.)

$27.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781459417250

Series: Lorimer Real Love

A Prince Edward Island teen chooses between popularity and coming out of the closet.

Tage doesn’t like her popular lifestyle or her friends. She doesn’t like her boyfriend, Ben, much either. If she fails to perform as expected, however, she risks letting deeply queerphobic Hayley, leader of their clique, discover that Tage herself is queer. So, Tage is complicit in publicly bullying her secret crush Wren and her fellow cheerleader Rain for being nonbinary. When the pressure gets too much, Tage has an explosive breakup with Ben. A snowstorm leads to her unexpectedly spending the night with Wren— and revealing her feelings to them. A secret relationship ensues between the two, but the cruel actions Tage is forced to commit to fit in socially threaten to drive them apart. The theme of a closeted queer character engaging in oppressive behavior to hide their sexuality has been explored before, and it is not well executed here. Tage engages in bullying her fellow students both on Hayley’s orders and her own initiative; while she does experience a vast amount of guilt, her wishy-washy attitude to owning up to her mistakes and committing to change means her final attempt to do better—which comes very late in the story— may only lead to readers wondering if she will backslide once more. Main characters are cued White.

An unremarkable novel for reluctant readers. (Fiction. 14-18)

“Sidesplitting comic writing and an appealingly messy protagonist.”

unnecessary drama

CARDBOARD CITY

Jovanovic, Katarina Tradewind Books (128 pp.)

$12.95 paper | June 15, 2023

9781990598104

Gifts can be complicated things. Nikola and older sister Saida are both teens, although they do not know their exact ages. Raised by their grandmother, they have grown up in Cardboard City, an informal settlement formed by their Romani community in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. Life there is difficult; winters pass hungrily, with egg cartons used to insulate the flimsy huts and discrimination from those outside their community feeling as biting as the cold. When Nikola’s talent for playing trumpet wins him the attention of a musician and an invitation to a famous festival, a path to a new life opens up. The young protagonists are faced with the impossible choice between a loving but impoverished community and a more comfortable future. It’s not a choice that is treated lightly by Jovanovic: Even as the hardships of life in Cardboard City are enumerated, the bounteous spirit of the people and the impossible grief of leave-taking are honored. The book, which is based on the plight of Romani people in many Central and Eastern European countries, sketches a journey that blurs together past and present, reality and dreams. The experiences of the characters are stated simply and evocatively, without overtones of judgment or lamentation. Each character is allowed their own voice and story, the third-person perspective shifting effortlessly between individuals and driving home the dignity of each one.

A cleareyed and artful view into the lives and dreams of two Romani teens. (recipes, historical note) (Fiction. 12-18)

A CROOKED MARK

Kao, Linda Razorbill/Penguin (368 pp.)

$18.99 | June 20, 2023

9780593527573

A life of demon-hunting doesn’t leave much time to examine personal demons. Matthew Watts has grown up on the road with his father, following assignments from the Second Sweep, a secret organization whose mission is to hunt the Marked, people whose souls have been claimed by Lucifer. On his 17th birthday, Matt is gifted with his first solo mission. It’s up to him to determine if Rae Winter, the only survivor of a tragic accident that claimed her father’s life, may have been possessed in the moments between life and death. After settling into Mills Creek near San Francisco, Matt infiltrates Rae’s life, trying to identify signs that will prove she is Marked. What he doesn’t expect is to find himself wondering what might have been if he’d had a typical teen experience—or developing an

interest in Rae that goes beyond his assignment. The diversity of ways grief can be expressed is smartly woven into the narrative through Matt’s observations of the Winter family; his own mother died when he was a toddler. Matt’s questions about the mutability of identity and values as his worldview expands outside the bubble of the Second Sweep will resonate with readers as he comes to terms with the bad he has done and determines how to make things right. Matt’s late mother was Chinese, and his father is implied White; Rae reads White.

This thoughtful debut offers both supernatural thrills and careful character development. (Paranormal. 12-18)

UNNECESSARY DRAMA

Kenwood, Nina

Flatiron Books (304 pp.)

$23.99 | Aug. 8, 2023

9781250894427

A young Australian woman leaves her small town for university in Melbourne— only to have to face her past in a romantic comedy that brings the rom and tons of the com.

Harper, whose grandparents own the house Brooke has moved into, has set three rules: “no pets; no romance between housemates; and no unnecessary drama.” The two young women meet for the first time when Brooke moves in, but when the third housemate arrives, it’s someone Brooke knows: Jesse. The same Jesse who jilted and publicly humiliated her when they were 14, after she experienced her first kiss with him. He became her secretly sworn enemy through the rest of their school days. Rule-follower Brooke does her best to avoid Jesse in order to prevent Harper’s sensing any drama, but the two slowly get pulled into spending time together. Brooke is determined to hold on to her grudge, but Jesse proves himself worthy of redemption, rekindling feelings that have lain dormant for the past five years. Following numerous comedic missteps and beloved rom-com tropes, including “enemies to lovers” and “boy next door,” the story culminates in a satisfyingly romantic ending. The hilarious scenes are cinematically portrayed, and the first-person narrative is heightened by Brooke’s funny, anxious, distinctive inner monologue. All main characters present White.

Sidesplitting comic writing and an appealingly messy protagonist to root for. (Fiction. 13-18)

ALL THAT’S LEFT TO SAY Lord, Emery

Bloomsbury (400 pp.)

$19.99 | July 18, 2023

9781681199412

A young woman struggles to accept the death of her cousin.

Smart, ambitious Hannah is blindsided when Sophie, the person she was closest to in the world, dies of an opioid overdose in a bathroom at a party at the beginning of her junior year in their Maryland town. Hannah had no idea Sophie was using and is lost in a haze of disbelief and sorrow. Narrated in the first person by Hannah, this poignant novel moves back and forth in time between the events of her junior and senior years, detailing a plan she and Gabi, Sophie’s best school friend, hatch to discover who sold Sophie the drugs. It details what unfolds when Hannah, previously scornful of prestigious private school Ingleside Country Day, which her wealthier cousin attended, decides to transfer there. The result is a mystery storyline that blends for the most part smoothly with an effective and achingly real exploration of the ripple effects of the grief felt by all who loved Sophie. This eventually leads to Hannah’s greater understanding of herself and the futility people often face in looking for individual villains when it comes to substance use disorder. The book also touches on how this epidemic affects different communities. An appealing romantic subplot between Hannah and her debate rival will pull readers in. Hannah and Sophie are cued White; there is ethnic diversity among secondary characters.

An engrossing, thoughtful depiction of a tragedy. (Fiction. 14-18)

THE NARROW

Marshall, Kate Alice Viking (384 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780593405147

Ghosts, secrets, lies, and loyalty. Seventeen-year-old Eden has secrets. As she returns to boarding school for senior year, she’s keeping the biggest secret of all: the reason behind her bruises and injured arm. When the dean informs her that her parents (who are vacationing in Bali) haven’t paid her tuition, Eden again feels the thud of their casual neglect. The dean offers her a choice: stay in climatecontrolled Abigail House with mysteriously ill Delphine, whose family will cover tuition for someone willing to live there as her companion, or leave the school. Eden chooses Abigail House— with trepidation. Six years earlier, making the traditional (and potentially deadly) beginning-of-term leap across the Narrow, a river chasm, Eden and best friend Veronica turned to see Delphine fall in. Horrified, they watched her disappear beneath the

water. But amazingly, they found Delphine back at the dorm when they returned. The next day, Delphine developed a deadly allergy to water unless it’s distilled. Now, Eden hears rumors of the Drowning Girl ghost—and the cryptic Abigail House protocol includes never leaving the door at the bottom of the stairs unlocked at night. As Eden becomes romantically attracted to Delphine, she pursues the mystery of the ghost, convinced it holds the key to Delphine’s illness. Love and loyalty intertwine with undercurrents of controlling abuse, giving this story the depth and richness of a darker reality. Main characters are White; there is diversity in sexuality and ethnicity in the supporting cast.

Haunting. (Paranormal. 14-18)

OUR VENGEFUL SOULS

McManus, Kristi

CamCat Books (304 pp.)

$19.99 | June 6, 2023

9780744308914

Magic, Greek mythology, and revenge intertwine in this retelling of a classic.

Sereia is a mermaid and the daughter of sea god Poseidon, but despite her superior use of magic and powerful fighting skills, she is overlooked by her father, who instead names Triton, her older brother, heir to the throne. When their younger sister gets into unexpected trouble and Sereia saves the day, a jealous Triton curses Sereia, who loses her tail and her magic and is banished to the human world. If she ever returns to her beloved sea, she will become a monster. Sereia ends up in wondrous Atlantis, where she joins their army and eventually finds love, a warrior’s purpose, and the truth behind her father’s legendary trident. But her new life is threatened by her deep thirst for revenge against her brother and the humans’ tales of “vicious, vengeful” mermaids. This reimagined origin story for the sea witch from Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” offers a humanizing portrayal of its protagonist as she finds her way through a world in which the odds are stacked against her. While humans’ antagonism toward magic feels shoehorned in, this is an empowering story that does its main character justice. It explores love, heartbreak, and ancient histories while also tackling the misogyny present in Greek mythology. Main characters read White.

An enjoyable take on a villain’s origin story. (map) (Fantasy. 13-18)

“Haunting.” the narrow

DANGER AND OTHER UNKNOWN RISKS

North, Ryan & Erica Henderson

Penguin Workshop (208 pp.)

$16.99 | April 4, 2023

9780593224823

The creators of the original Squirrel Girl comic series pitch an intrepid young adventurer and her talking dog into a fragmented multiverse.

Trusting readers to go with the flow, North and Henderson leave much of their scenario unexplained or hanging in this setup episode. Raised on tales of how electricity stopped at the turn of the millennium and magic started to work—but with different, reality-shattering results in different places—Marguerite de Pruitt has spent years being trained by her Uncle Bernard to fetch three totems that will, he claims, allow him to cast a spell that will vanquish the “bad magic” that is gradually destroying the Earth. The authors drop a hint at the outset that all this is not as it seems and add climactic revelations that prove it, but they kick-start the action on the first page and don’t let up until a close that leaves Marguerite; her shaggy and voluble chow chow sidekick, Daisy; and Jacin, a new friend from this era, kicked up in a time loop, ready for further thrilling adventures. The human cast is small and racially diverse and effortlessly includes queer characters. Brown-skinned Marguerite, who wears her long black hair in a single braid, develops a crush on a boy from a multiracial family with two moms; pale, blond Jacin presents as a butch girl.

A fine romp setting up for further worldbuilding in future entries. (Graphic fantasy. 12-14)

A QUANTUM LIFE (ADAPTED FOR YOUNG ADULTS)

My Unlikely Journey From the Street to the Stars

Oluseyi, Hakeem & Joshua Horwitz

Delacorte (352 pp.)

$18.99 | $21.99 PLB | Aug. 15, 2023

9781984849632

9781984849649 PLB

Adapted for young adults, this edition of a well-received memoir from 2021 chronicles the personal and educational paths of a Black astrophysicist.

By the fourth grade, Oluseyi knew he was different from his peers. The future scholar and scientist read quickly through textbooks unprompted and would “feel restless” waiting for everyone else to catch up. Though from New Orleans, he moved around quite often as a child. During a year and a half of instability, he rotated among nine homes and five schools. But it was in Mississippi, where Oluseyi settled, that he became, by high school, a “committed man of science.” This adaptation keeps the story intact, slightly condensing chapters to highlight

material of greatest relevance to the book’s intended audience. The underlying theme of discipline, something Oluseyi learned about while participating in his high school marching band, permeates the second half of the book. Readers learn about his struggles at Tougaloo, a historically Black college near Jackson, with selling and using drugs and his later recovery in rehab. Later, at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Physics, his mentor, the department’s only professor of color, affirms his experiences and pursuits. Readers will delight in the cinematic storytelling and clear, fearless writing, and many will identify with Oluseyi’s unwavering dedication to his educational goals despite setbacks and detours, while others may find inspiration for their own personal and academic journeys.

Unflinchingly honest; a memoir in which young readers can find useful lessons. (photo credits) (Nonfiction. 13-18)

BRAVEY (ADAPTED FOR YOUNG READERS) Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas

Pappas, Alexi

Delacorte (240 pp.)

$18.99 | $21.99 PLB | Aug. 22, 2023

9780593562741

9780593562758 PLB

A pared-down version of the writer, filmmaker, and Olympic athlete’s journeys through childhood, adolescence, and adult depression.

“Run like a bravey / sleep like a baby / dream like a crazy / replace can’t with maybe.” With inspirational poems slipped between and occasionally within chapters, Greek American Pappas’ inwardly focused memoir takes her from her mother’s suicide when she was 4 through recovery from the clinical depression and anxiety that descended in the wake of her recordbreaking 10,000-meter race in the 2016 Olympic Games. Most of the graphic language and descriptions in the 2021 adult original have been edited out, and there are some new or thoroughly reworked passages along with the addition of a new foreword by actor Maya Hawke and summary insights at each chapter’s end. These changes have the effect of purposely refocusing the work on themes of particular relevance for adolescent readers, such as navigating childhood with a supportive but laissez-faire single parent, choosing role models, setting goals (specifically, but not exclusively, athletic ones), and working toward them without burning out or incurring permanent injury. The author barely mentions her films, her Olympics experiences, or any other specific biographical events unless they bear directly on some point she’s making. She writes clearly and forcefully about what helped her, and could help young readers, carry on in the face of trauma, sexism, and other challenges.

Incisive, personal, and usefully reworked. (Memoir. 12-18)

BONESMITH

Pau Preto, Nicki

McElderry (464 pp.)

$21.99 | July 25, 2023

9781665910590

Series: The House of the Dead Duology, 1

Take a dash of The Walking Dead, a soupçon of Game of Thrones, and mix in a ’90s goth.

In the Dominions, smithing makes and breaks nations. Long extinct ghostsmiths raised the dead, recently eradicated ironsmiths mined too deeply and rediscovered those undead revenants, and in the wake of that cataclysm, the bonesmiths, who utilize dead bone to fight the dead, rose. Impetuous Wren, an heir to the House of Bone, makes bad decisions in hopes of holding her father’s attention. As a result, she’s exiled to the Border Wall that holds back the dead—only to make another bad decision and take off without support to rescue a kidnapped prince. Ending up reluctantly allied with (not-so-extinct) ironsmith Julian, Wren becomes wiser and more moderate through the adventure and the tentative slow-growth friendship they share. Julian is also a teen with deep-seated family issues. Their journey uncovers new plots and players in the power dynamics of the Dominions, mostly revealed late in the game and making this feel almost like an extended prologue for the next volume. An overabundance of exposition alongside a lack of nuance in Wren’s characterization don’t do the story any favors, but eventually the original elements pull ahead. This, combined with the lack of resolution, means readers who make it past the slow start will be left with questions that can only be answered by the subsequent volume. Characters are diverse in appearance; race seems immaterial in this world. Neither spectacular nor unbearable. (map) (Fantasy. 13-18)

THE HOOP AND THE HARM

Pedican, Jawara

James Lorimer (272 pp.)

$27.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781459417229

A young man unpacks his emotions surrounding his difficult relationship with his favorite sport.

Udoka Clendon is a Black Canadian freshman attending university on a basketball scholarship. After losing the final game of his first season, he believes that he has no place on his team and feels no drive to even play the game anymore. Even though he’s initially reluctant, after being encouraged by his girlfriend, Udoka agrees to try speaking with someone about what he’s going through. He meets with psychologist Dr. Feldbrook, the varsity athlete adviser, and begins to have sessions in which he’s able to unpack childhood memories and focus on understanding how events and experiences in his life have led him to where he is now, shaping his understanding of the world

and himself. The accessible text alternates between the past and the present, in clearly labeled sections narrated by Udoka, and is occasionally interwoven with sections called “Feldbrook’s Lesson.” The therapy sessions counter the negativity Udoka feels about himself and speak to the importance of believing in and being your authentic self. The novel does a wonderful job of normalizing opening up and using counseling services, especially for boys and young men who often feel that they have to bottle up their emotions.

A sincere, inspiring look at dealing with and overcoming self-doubt, ideal for reluctant readers. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)

GARDEN OF THE CURSED

Pool, Katy Rose

Henry Holt (352 pp.)

$19.99 | June 20, 2023

9781250846662

Series: Garden of the Cursed, 1

A resourceful cursebreaker sets out to investigate a curse placed on an old friend and encounters clues to her mother’s disappearance.

In the city of Caraza, the Five Families hold the power and the spellcrafting knowledge that turns the wheels of their gilded society. Seventeen-year-old Marlow Briggs used to be in the midst of it all in the exclusive Evergarden neighborhood, but since her mother’s mysterious disappearance the year before, she has turned her skills in cursebreaking into a job in order to survive. When Adrius, an old estranged friend and the heir and scion of the Falcrest family, seeks Marlow’s help to break the curse he is under—a Compulsion curse from a spell book that was supposedly destroyed centuries ago—she finds herself back in high society, pretending to be in a romantic relationship with Adrius in order to carry out her investigation from within. Marlow eventually learns that her mother’s disappearance, Adrius’ curse, and the very foundation of magic in their world are connected—with unexpected consequences. This first entry in a duology sees its main character navigate the deadly confluence of magic and power. The story blends creative worldbuilding elements, such as its magic system based on spellcards, with beloved tropes, like the charming fake dating between Adrius and Marlow, within a dystopian world of haves and have-nots. A range of interesting secondary characters are a bonus. Main characters are assumed White.

Delightfully intriguing. (Fantasy mystery. 14-18)

THE BEWITCHING HOUR

Poston, Ashley

Disney-Hyperion (352 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781368075459

Series: A Buffy Prequel Novel

A teen witch gets caught up in the mysterious deaths claiming her new classmates.

After her mother, who was also a witch, died, Tara Maclay’s father started believing witches were evil, forbade Tara from exploring that part of herself, and moved their family to Hellborne, Vermont, a town proud of its witch-burning past. Fellow high school senior Baz, a himbo jock, takes Tara under his wing, but not everyone welcomes her with open arms. Tara learns that two students recently died, and she and fellow new student Daphne have been slotted into their classes. When Tara witnesses a third death, she knows these aren’t the accidents they appear; something paranormal is at play. She befriends Daphne, who is a witch hunter, and the pair set out to stop the evil before more deaths occur. Tara, a kind witch who stutters, was a lesbian icon on TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and this new tale taking place before she joined the cast fills in her backstory. There are nods to the show and its characters, but this fun and chilling mystery stands completely on its own. Tara’s strict dad adds just as much tension to the story as the murders do, and her awkward newstudent feelings plus a growing crush on Daphne ground the story with relatable emotions. Tara and Baz are White; Daphne is Black.

A beloved Buffyverse character gets to be the hero and find happiness in this enjoyable, witchy tale. (Paranormal. 13-18)

MANSLAUGHTER PARK

Price, Tirzah

HarperTeen (416 pp.)

$19.99 | June 27, 2023

9780062889867

Series: Jane Austen Murder Mysteries, 3

“Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery,” Jane Austen advised readers of Mansfield Park; in this third and final series entry, Price takes Austen at her word.

Fanny’s sense of duty and romantic hopes for Edmund (who is her cousin through marriage, not blood) have kept her at Mansfield Park, where she’s mistreated, serving as the family gofer to her bullying, selfish Bertram relatives. Painting is Fanny’s passion: She’s thrilled when Sir Thomas Bertram, her guardian, praises her work—then horrified when he tumbles down a staircase to his death shortly thereafter. Discovering evidence of a hidden tripwire that caused the fall, Fanny investigates, aided by a less-than-enthused Edmund, who is also a ward of the Bertrams. Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy provide sleuthing

expertise as more shocks follow. Sir Thomas was being blackmailed, and his estate’s deeply indebted. Funds held in trust for Edmund and Fanny are also gone. When the Bertrams seek help restoring their fortunes by selling off their art, advised by their new acquaintance Henry Crawford, Fanny is as skeptical of his intentions as she’s overwhelmed by her feelings for his beautiful sister. Explaining complicated art-fraud conspiracies occupies too much narrative real estate. However, choosing a less-popular Austen novel frees Price to take narrative risks and detours that enliven the proceedings. Major characters are White.

A high-concept mashup; series fans won’t be disappointed. (author’s note) (Mystery. 12-18)

THE BOY YOU ALWAYS WANTED

Quach, Michelle

Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (336 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9780063038424

When 17-year-old Francine Zhang overhears her dying grandfather expressing regret at not having any direct male descendants, she comes up with The Plan: find a boy to be A Gūng’s (fake) honorary heir.

Classmate Ollie Tran is the perfect candidate: Like Francine, he’s Chinese Vietnamese American; he speaks enough Cantonese to chat with A Gūng; and their families have known each other since before they came to the U.S. It makes sense that he’d follow the old custom of assuming the role of male heir for a family that needs one to look after their ancestors. Ollie has no desire to get involved, however. He knows how devoted Francine is to her family but has kept his distance ever since an awkward incident in middle school. Ollie also has his own problem: His strategy of exerting the least amount of effort at school to produce decent results means he has little to show for extracurricular activities. With Francine’s help, Ollie joins the Multicultural Club, where he’s asked to host a booth at their annual fundraising event and showcase his family history, about which he knows little. Alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, this story highlights the interweaving of family and tradition and how this impacts ways love is demonstrated. Francine and Ollie are appealing and three-dimensional characters with opposite personalities that turn out to be unexpectedly complementary when they team up to figure out solutions to each of their challenges.

Insightful and emotionally resonant. (Fiction. 13-18)

“Alternately hilarious and heartbreaking.” the boy you always wanted

A LITTLE LIKE WAKING

Rex, Adam Roaring Brook Press (400 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 1, 2023

9781250621917

Realizing she’s stuck in a dream, a girl journeys with a boy and a cat to discover what’s real.

Zelda lives in an idyllic town where everyone knows her name, but her world is upended when she comes across a cute boy she hasn’t seen before. This leads to the realization that she’s inhabiting a dream world; she doesn’t know if her memories are real or just more dreams. Zelda learns the boy’s name is Langston, and together they set off toward the edge of the dream on an adventure, accompanied by Patches, her erudite talking cat. Zelda believes she must be the dreamer and must find a way to wake up for real, but when she starts falling for the oft-apprehensive Langston, she feels less inclined to leave. This surreal tale mixes a hero’s journey with romance, folds in the absurdities and chaos of dreams, and is peppered with vibrant, memorable side characters including a wizard, witches, a giant duck, and a laundromat clown. There’s a lot of silliness in the story, which is mostly entertaining but can sometimes grow tiresome. It’s thoughtfully balanced, though, with relatable internal struggles and emotions about crushes and confidence, loss and love. The unpredictable nature of the story will keep readers on their toes and the pages flying. Captivating full-page grayscale illustrations are interspersed. Zelda appears White; Langston is Black.

A wonderfully inventive story bursting with humor and heart. (Surrealist fiction. 12-18)

ROOK

Ritter, William Algonquin (368 pp.)

$18.99 | Aug. 22, 2023

9781643752402

Following the (impermanent) death of her eccentric employer, R.F. Jackaby, Abigail Rook, much to her dismay, inherited his ability to see energy and emotional auras.

In this stand-alone set in the Jackaby series world, Abigail must now take the lead in their supernatural detective work. Most unusually, the New England city of New Fiddleham includes a rift to the supernatural world. Many paranormals—goblins, trolls, elves, fairies, and their like—have moved in, necessitating a Paranormal Division of police, for which Jackaby and Abigail consult. But while Abigail was cloistered for months, training as the new Seer, supernatural crime and human-paranormal tensions soared. Though feeling decidedly unready, Abigail must use her gift to trace a series of kidnappings and murders. Things grow especially bleak when her

prospective sister-in-law, who can shape shift into dog form, is implicated in a murder and Abigail’s fiance, Charlie Barker, is kidnapped. Like Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co. series, this book expertly blends witty banter, sympathetic, struggling characters, descriptive worldbuilding, and sometimes-gory supernatural crimes with all-too-believable motives. Quickmoving action and creative supernatural elements will hold readers’ attention, though characters’ memory-loss incidents might lead to some plot confusion, and the denouement feels rushed. Human-presenting characters read White; Charlie has a “faint Slavic accent.”

Lively supernatural investigations with humor and heart. (Fantasy. 12-16)

PLUS ONE

Rodkey, Kelsey

HarperTeen (336 pp.)

$19.99 | June 27, 2023

9780063243729

An ardent fan of meet-cutes and romcoms, Lahey, 17, loves matchmaking but has never dated.

When her cousin Summer references this fact to explain why she’s omitted the plus-one from Lahey’s invitation to her Sweet 16 birthday bash, Lahey impulsively lies, saying she has lots of guys to choose from. And now she’s stuck, needing to find a date in the six days before the party. Having brought Summer and her boyfriend together, Lahey is annoyed that her sisters and best friend Poppy aren’t onboard. Laser-focused on payback, Lahey bails on Poppy at a critical moment to focus on her plus-one prospects. However, she initially overlooks Adler, the cute neighbor boy who was irritated by her previous unsolicited matchmaking efforts. Lahey feigns interest and skill in activities her prospects favor, pressing on cheerfully after each failure. Lahey’s smart, self-centered, adept at escaping snafus of her own devising—and on a journey to balancing her outgoing, upbeat, body-positive identity with her acute awareness of the world’s judgment of fat girls like herself. In her quest to best the cousin who’s hurt her, she loses her way for a time. Poppy’s already a working artist, and Lahey’s potential dates have independent goals and interests; Lahey is on a journey toward developing true self-esteem. When she does find love, it’s by recognizing what she needs and deserves. Poppy is Vietnamese American; other major characters read White.

A romantic journey of self-growth. (Romance. 12-17)

A LONG TIME COMING A Lyrical Biography of Race in America From Ona Judge to Barack Obama

Shepard, Ray Anthony Illus. by R.

Gregory

Christie Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers (336 pp.)

$19.99 | Aug. 8, 2023

9781662680663

A cycle of free verse poems carries readers from 1773 to “tomorrow,” focusing on the lives of six Black Americans whose experiences represent centuries of ferocious resistance to extraordinary oppression.

These figures are Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama. A prefatory note explains to readers that this is “a work of creative nonfiction told in…story-poems—flash lines of verse, prose, and quotes—anchored in historical facts.” The author previously demonstrated his straight nonfiction chops with Now or Never! (2017), his splendid account of Black journalists in the Civil War; here he proves equally adept at the more emotive form of poetry. Rooting the events presented in documented history, Shepard distills them into concentrated bursts of truth. In the section on Wells and her decadeslong campaign against lynching, he writes: “More than two hundred Black / children, women, and men were dead / in a two-day attack by Whites / from three states. / History called it a race riot not a massacre / as if the sharecroppers / had burned their own bodies.” Christie’s section-heading black-and-white scenes are as starkly powerful as the poems. The information presented is kaleidoscopic rather than comprehensive; readers will come away with clear senses of who these individuals were and what motivated them, while formidable backmatter, including a lengthy timeline, further reading, bibliography, and source notes, provides avenues for them to fill in the gaps.

Electrifying. (index) (Verse nonfiction. 12-16)

I AM NOT ALONE

Stork, Francisco X.

Scholastic (320 pp.)

$19.99 | July 18, 2023

9781338736267

A kind, loving, undocumented teen in New York struggling with mental illness is accused of a terrible crime and isn’t sure if he’s innocent.

Eighteen-year-old Alberto works hard— earning money as a painter that he sends back to family in Mexico, studying for his high school equivalency certificate, and helping the older sister he lives with care for her baby—all while pursuing his passion for pottery. But he worries about his deteriorating mental health: An aggressive, insulting voice in his head has begun urging him to engage in

uncharacteristic violence. Jewish high school senior Grace is at the top of her class. Although she’s planning to attend Princeton and become a doctor, Grace has been questioning everything since her parents’ divorce. She’s drawn to Alberto from the day they meet, and when tragedy strikes and Alberto is accused of killing an elderly client and goes on the run, the pair struggle to figure out what really happened. Alberto’s suspected schizophrenia makes him heartbreakingly susceptible to both the best and worst of humanity; he encounters those who cruelly take advantage of his mental state but experiences extraordinary kindness from Grace’s formerly estranged family members and their rabbi. Told in the teens’ alternating perspectives, the narrative poignantly conveys how compassion and a willingness to overcome the perceived stigma of severe mental illness, together with the appropriate medical attention, can make all the difference.

An illuminatingly powerful story about mental illness, young love, faith, and hope. (author’s note, resources) (Fiction. 14-18)

SIXTEEN SOULS

Talbot, Rosie Scholastic (368 pp.)

$12.99 paper | Aug. 1, 2023

9781339018218

A living boy, once badly harmed by phantoms, is the unlikely savior of ghosts in York, England.

Charlie’s been able to see ghosts ever since a childhood bout of meningitis. Seeing ghosts isn’t the problem, though; his only friends are spectral. No, the problem is that he can touch ghosts—which means they can touch him. Charlie lost his only human friends two years ago, when Mitch and Leonie witnessed him be violently attacked by invisible forces. At least it was the near-fatal ghost attack that drove a wedge between Charlie and Mitch and not the kiss they’d shared. Now the phantoms of York are disappearing, and Charlie’s ghostly friends are in as much danger as the many, many ghosts who terrify him. Sam, who also sees ghosts, wants to work together to chase down the villain. While Charlie is scared of spectral sleuthing, he finds Sam to be convincing, helpful, and kissable. Sam is trans and gay, and Charlie, who is also gay, has prosthetic lower legs; refreshingly, these traits are woven naturally into the main plot. Though the novel is in need of much tightening— there are infodumps and worldbuilding details that don’t lead anywhere peppered throughout—this only slightly detracts from the romantic, scary, often violent mystery and Charlie’s believable growth. Most characters read White; several characters, both living and dead, are queer.

A frightened-but-determined sleuth satisfyingly bests a villain who scares wraiths. (Paranormal fantasy. 12-16)

NORTHRANGER

Terciero, Rey

Illus. by Bre

Indigo HarperAlley

(240 pp.)

$18.99 paper | June 6, 2023

9780063007383

Stranded on a ranch for the summer, a teen gets swept up in an unexpected romance with a boy from a family haunted by rumors.

With bills piling up, 16-year-old Mexican American Cade Muñoz has no choice but to spend his summer shoveling horse poop with stepfather Dale at Dale’s old Army buddy’s ranch. Far away from his favorite escape—the movie theater in Abilene—Cade feels more alone than ever until he meets handsome, charming ranch owner’s son Henry Tyler, a White boy who shares Cade’s passion for horror movies. Although Henry seems perfect at first, he’s so secretive that Cade can’t ignore the disturbing rumors that death follows in his shadow and that his father killed Henry’s mother for her family’s money. As he digs for the truth, Cade starts to worry that his own life may end like a horror film. This queer comingof-age graphic novel reimagines Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey in contemporary rural Texas. A sepia color palette and black gutters during nighttime scenes heighten the moody, horrorinspired ambience. Both Cade and Henry grapple with family relationships, coming out, and accepting their identities. Grief, trauma, fear, and loneliness create tension within their romance. Despite the homophobia and racism around them, they find support from friends and family. Exchanges in Spanish among Cade, his mom, and Abuela are seamlessly woven into the story. Cade’s stepfather and stepsister are Black.

An emotional coming-of-age romance that is darkly and dramatically imagined. (author’s note) (Graphic fiction. 13-18)

THE THIRD DAUGHTER

Tooley, Adrienne

Christy Ottaviano Books (320 pp.)

$18.99 | July 18, 2023

9780316465694

Expectations weigh heavily—even on those who are passed over.

Princess Elodie will not inherit her mother’s throne even though she’s the eldest. She has trained to be Queen’s Regent to her youngest sister, Brianne, who is the third daughter of a third daughter and supposedly the second coming of the church’s revered New Maiden. But now the Chaplain, who’s also the girls’ father, has usurped even that role from her. Skeptical of the church’s motives, Elodie seeks a potion to put 13-year-old Brianne to sleep until she comes of age at 17. That would mean Elodie could meanwhile rule in her stead. Apothecary Sabine sells her family’s potions, which are given more potency from a special ingredient: Sabine’s tears,

which are the manifestation of her magic, a darkness that literally coats her veins in blackness. Sabine accidentally gives Elodie a bottle of her tears, and there’s no telling what the result might be or if Sabine can reverse its effect. The two 17-year-old girls are thrown together in a web of power-grabbing intrigue, diluted prophecies, familial expectations, slow-burn Sapphic romance, and building magic. This fantasy world comes with a layered faux religious backstory, but it includes a few layers too many. Characters fulfill their assigned roles but remain flat on the page, and more is explained than witnessed, so even betrayals feel deflated. The prospect of a sequel set up at the end is likewise lackluster. With one minor exception, most characters are described as pale.

Offers muted charms. (Fantasy. 14-18)

indie

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

ALICE B, Stevie Self (200 pp.)

$10.98 paper | $5.99 e-book | May 13, 2022

9798824008821

A woman finds herself stuck in a bizarre version of her normal life in this contemporary play on Lewis Carroll’s celebrated works.

As the story opens, Alice, a 26-yearold waitress at the Madd Hatter Bar & Restaurant in (fictional) Hobohemia, New Jersey, is going home for the night. On her way to her Brooklyn apartment, she hits a pothole and drives her electric scooter right into sheets of glass and mirrors. When she comes to, she’s back at the bar, only things have become rather curious. Her friend and co-worker Naida, for one, is now an anthropomorphized cat named Dinah. Other characters pop up that readers may also find familiar, from a hookah-smoking caterpillar in the cellar to a regular patron with furry white paws and long, floppy rabbit ears. Alice can’t explain any of what’s happening, although everyone else in the bar seems unfazed. Confounding things further is her apparent memory loss, as she can’t recall how she got to work or where her scooter is. She can only hope that someone in this motley bunch has answers. B, the author of The Freaky Fungal Family Tree (2021), keeps things lighthearted in this tale, which offers such sights as a knight in full armor randomly kicking patrons’ backsides. Characters are more peculiar than frightening, even as “the Redd Queen” screams threats. Despite all this, Alice has a grounded, relatable backstory; she’s a Croatian immigrant who’s racked up debt because of the Covid-19 lockdown’s closing many restaurants. This novel, despite its brevity, sometimes feels stagnant, as it unfolds almost entirely in the crowded bar. It all leads to an illuminating denouement that most readers will see coming thanks to B’s dropping periodic clues throughout. Krakow’s simple artwork comprises sparsely detailed black-and-white sketches save for one of Alice on a scooter and an ethereal, starry night sky.

A modest but absurdly funny retelling of a classic tale.

GRENADINE AND OTHER LOVE AFFAIRS Poems

Grace, Carolyn

Shadelandhouse Modern Press (168 pp.)

$20.00 paper | May 2, 2023

9781945049354

INDIE | David Rapp tykes on bikes

Bike riding is a rite of passage for many kids. After all, nearly everyone remembers the first time they were able to balance themselves on a bicycle without any assistance. It’s no wonder, then, that two-wheeled adventures feature in a great many works for young readers. Here are three such books, all recommended by Kirkus Indie.

Douglas L. Hoover’s The Dirt Bike Detective: The Beast in the Shadows (2023) continues a middle-grade series about tween amateur detective Oliver Teller and his crew of bike-riding sleuths who specialize in mysteries with possibly paranormal aspects. Oliver, on his “baby-blue ten-speed,” and his cohort ride all over town during investigations into a missing pizza and a badly injured man discovered by local hikers. Our reviewer calls this Kirkus-starred novel a “crafty, energetic sequel.”

In the picture book Ellery’s Magic Bicycle (2022), written by Maria Monte and illustrated by Zoe Saunders, a girl finds an abandoned purple bike that comes to life, teaches the girl how to ride it, and becomes her good friend. Ellery and the bicycle have many adventures during the girl’s childhood and teen years, and the bike’s own story continues happily after Ellery is all grown up. Kirkus’ review highlights the work’s “tenderness” and “gentle message about loyal friendship.”

At the beginning of Heather S. Lonczak’s Fletcher and the Fledgling (2020), a picture book with images by Dusica Dimitrovska, a young boy is supported by his family as he’s about to take his first bike ride without training wheels. A motorcycle roars by, startling nearby crows, but before long, a young bird is gliding next to Fletcher as he pedals down the street, making the youngster feel like they’re both in flight. It’s “an uplifting tale of triumph,” our reviewer notes, “likely to encourage struggling young bicyclists to take off soaring.”

David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.

DO NOT IGNORE YOUR MORTALITY

Practical Advice From a Funeral & Financial Insider

Barnsdale, Greg FriesenPress (120 pp.)

$29.99 | $14.99 paper | $9.99 e-book

Jan. 18, 2023

9781525584916

9781525584909 paper

Barnsdale offers a brief but useful discussion about planning for death in this nonfiction work. With his combined expertise as a licensed funeral director and a certified financial planner, the author is uniquely qualified to discuss both the temporal and financial aspects of dying. Five short but informative chapters cover communicating end-of-life wishes, creating a will, funeral planning, estate planning, and powers of attorney and health care directives. Recognizing the difficulty of the subject for many people, he offers a helpful list of five “icebreakers,” questions designed to prompt further discussion, such as, “I’ve been thinking more about my life and how I want to be remembered. How will you remember me?” The book goes on to present basic information about preparing a will, including a discussion of the executor’s role and using a lawyer versus a doit-yourself service. A section that specifically addresses “funeral, cremation & burial planning” may be the most unsettling for some readers; in a sensitive yet objective manner, the author covers such issues as whether or not the body of the deceased should be viewed, what happens if a death occurs away from home, the increasing popularity of cremation, the “death awareness movement,” organ donation, and natural, “green” burials. The author offers a brief overview of estate planning with the caveat that he is a financial planner but not an estate attorney. The final chapter addresses the creation of legal “incapacity documents”; Barnsdale advises, “Thinking about our potential incapacity is not uplifting, but considering the risks of doing nothing, it is important.” This book is more of an introduction to the process of death planning than a substantive discussion. Still, it can act as a valuable conversation starter for a difficult subject.

An authoritative, useful overview of making final arrangements.

WHISTLING IN THE DARK Personal Essays

Bloch, Lucienne S.

Bold Story Press (250 pp.)

$17.99 paper | $9.99 e-book | April 7, 2023 9781954805446

Bloch muses on growing up as an immigrant in New York City in this collection of essays.

In this self-described “refugee’s tale of internalized outsiderhood,” the celebrated author offers readers an eclectic collection of 19 essays that blend memoir with broader

observations on topics that span from isolation to typewriters. Many of the pieces focus on her childhood as a Belgian immigrant whose family fled Nazi Europe during World War II and settled in New York City. The introductory entry, “An Island Education,” recounts Bloch’s childhood quest to not only learn English, but to perfect its “peppy affable voice,” which she contrasts with the “hissy dignity” of her native French. She believed that the language had “magical powers” and that after mastering it, she “would be transformed, an American.” Yet, despite a successful career writing in English, she notes that it has yet “to make me a real American.” Adolescent longings to belong are at the center of “Sounding the Territory,” which touches on Bloch’s love of periodicals; Life Magazine gave the Europeanborn Manhattanite a glimpse into the “real whole big thing” of America, from evangelical revivals in the South to Midwestern bake-offs. Even the “Anglophile-Ivy-Establishment” New Yorker introduced her to a world “that was as foreign to my experience as hot rodding on a highway in Texas.” Other essays explore topics ranging from her brief babysitting career working for novelist Howard Fast, who had recently been targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee for his affiliation with the Communist Party, to her father’s career in the diamond trade. The recipient of multiple poetry awards, author of two novels, and columnist for the New York Times, Bloch is a talented writer whose prose effectively balances an erudite writing style with accessibility. Though its stories are based on the author’s unique experiences, the book eloquently captures global feelings of adolescent optimism, postmodern ennui, and the ubiquity of alienation among immigrants. Fans of Bloch may be left wanting more recollections pertaining to her writing career and work inside New York’s publishing industry.

A moving collection that uses memoir to explore universal human experiences.

HELLO, MY NAME IS BUNNY!

Paris

Bloom, Matt

Illus. by Pippa Mayell

Hello Bunny (74 pp.)

$13.99 paper | $5.99 e-book | Sept. 30, 2022

9780997642551

The third installment in Bloom’s children’s book series brings the curious cat to the sophisticated streets of Paris.

Bunny Simmons-Bloom, the kindhearted black-and-white cat who traversed New York and London in her previous two books, receives some impressively high praise from the French prime minister for her heroic acts: “When all is said and done, this little kitty will undoubtedly be considered one of the most significant figures in French history.” Bunny then backtracks to explain how her accolades came to be earned: During one of her nightly explorations of Paris, Bunny meets a host of new friends when she sneaks into the Louvre, including Renoir the rat; his sister, Renata; Spidey the spider; and a blue-feathered swallow named Sam. Bunny is caught by the night watchman,

Jean-Claude, who agrees to let her continue visiting as long as she makes sure the other critters stay away from the art. Bunny, after expressing her displeasure toward her 10-year-old neighbor, Gaspard Laurent, about his mistreatment of his dog, Violette, invites the mistreated mutt along on her next Louvre visit. There, they discover two armed men stealing the Mona Lisa, and Bunny and the other animals pursue the criminals. While just as charming as previous installments in the series, this Bunny book deals with markedly heavier themes, as when Gaspard explains his mistreatment of Violette by confessing that his father treats him the same way. The appearance of rifles and pistols when the robbers and police come on the scene also takes this entry beyond innocuous fun, as do discussions among the characters about bullying (via references to The Hunchback of Notre Dame) that help to reiterate Bunny’s resolve to “always treat others the way I’d like to be treated.” The author also manages to work in some factual Paris history, such as the building of the Notre Dame cathedral, while staying focused on the book’s positive message.

Bunny’s newest adventure continues to inspire readers to treat others with kindness and respect.

BIG TROUBLE ON SULLIVAN’S ISLAND

Boyer, Susan M.

Stella Maris Books (318 pp.)

$31.95 | $16.99 paper | $7.99 e-book

April 11, 2023

9781959023159

9781959023142 paper

A seasoned detective finds herself in the middle of a local murder case in Boyer’s mystery.

Boyer, the author of the Liz Talbot mysteries, launches a new stand-alone series with this novel featuring likable Southern private investigator Hadley Cooper. The story starts out warmly as she reunites with lifelong friends Gavin Kinloch, a local cop; Joe Vincent, a retired investigator; and Gavin’s military macaw to celebrate her 40th birthday early in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, with a vegan meal in her honor. On Hadley’s actual birthday, she bikes over to the shore of Sullivan’s Island to watch the sunrise and admire her “fantasy” oceanfront home; she ends up rescuing the runaway bichon frisé of nearby resident and heiress Eugenia Ladson. The two women become fast friends, and soon Hadley is attending the chatty happy hour gatherings of Eugenia and her pals. Eugenia suspects that her husband, Everette, is unfaithful, and she craves “incontrovertible evidence” to use against him in a divorce proceeding. Then Eugenia is found stabbed to death, and Everette is the prime suspect. However, Hadley knows that he was out of town at the time of the murder. Meanwhile, she housesits for the lavish beach house while attempting to free local restaurant hostess Kateryna from a murder rap. Also investigating is her ex-boyfriend—Charleston police detective Cash Reynolds— and there’s plenty of unfinished romantic business between the

“A wholesome, entertaining mystery anchored by a PI with plenty of personality.”

big trouble on sullivan’s island

a view from the middle

two. Over the course of this book, Lowcountry-based readers will revel in the author’s vivid descriptions of the local cuisine (“fried chicken, country ham biscuits, chicken bog, shrimp and grits, macaroni salad, potato salad, corn salad, pimento cheese, and on and on”), the friendly populace, and the sun-drenched atmosphere of Charleston and Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina. She also effectively establishes Hadley as a good person and keen investigator with a complex backstory. Boyer’s fans and new readers will find much to enjoy as Hadley and her eclectic group of boisterous new friends sleuth their way to this mystery’s conclusion.

A wholesome, entertaining mystery anchored by a PI with plenty of personality.

KEPT An American Househusband in Paris

Buford, Gregory E. Moontower Press (240 pp.)

$11.99 paper | $8.99 e-book | Dec. 12, 2022 9780999302842

Buford recalls his adventures as an American expatriate stay-at-home dad in Paris in this memoir.

The author writes that when he met fellow undergraduate student Dana Williams at Texas A&M University, their connection was immediate and undeniable. They married 14 months later and moved to Oita, Japan, where they taught English for three years. Seeking a change of pace, both took the Foreign Service Officer test; Dana passed it on the first try, the author writes, and she began a career with the U.S. Diplomatic Corps in India. In the next five years, as the family grew to include three kids, Dana prepared for a new assignment in Paris while Buford contemplated pursuing his own diplomatic career. Ultimately unwilling to risk a family separation, Buford followed Dana to Paris, as he did to India, and became a stay-at-home dad to kids Cole, Nina, and Sam. He wanted the family to “fully experience French culture,” so he and his wife opted for an apartment on Paris’ Rue de Monceau instead of a residence on the American compound in the suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. When Buford and his family weren’t exploring local restaurants and historical sites, they hosted family members and friends who were eager to have their own Paris experiences. Buford offers an entertaining and swiftly paced memoir that deftly balances humor with thoughtful observations on raising a family overseas. In one of its most poignant moments, a disastrous sightseeing trip in northern France with Buford’s disagreeable aunt leads to a moment of apology and reconciliation with her admission: “It’s hard for an old dog to learn new tricks, ya know.” Although the opening chapters move very quickly from Buford and Dana’s courtship to their lives with three young children, backstory in each chapter provides a seamless transition between their college years and their decision to move to France. Buford is an engaging storyteller with a knack for

catchy chapter titles that reference popular culture (“Spy vs Spy”) or employ clever wordplay (“A School’s Errand”).

A lively and deeply personal tale of one family’s overseas sojourn.

A VIEW FROM THE MIDDLE How an Unknown Actor Managed To Stay That Way

Campbell, Larkin

Self (316 pp.)

$8.99 paper | $8.99 e-book | June 8, 2021 9798512956595

Campbell struggles to make it in Hollywood in this humorous memoir.

The author begins his memoir in 2011, with Clint Eastwood directing “the man-with-no-name day player, me” on the set of “the least-seen Leonardo DiCaprio movie of the last twenty years, J. Edgar.” This gently sarcastic yet enthusiastic opener (“If it sounds like I’m gushing, it’s because I am”) sets the tone for the rest of this book, which covers how Campbell came to Los Angeles 20 years earlier with “a head chock-full of all the amazing things that were about to happen to me in the land of undiscovered actors” and hustled to get gigs. After earning a degree in broadcast journalism with a minor in drama from Washington State University, the author worked at Entertainment Tonight, which gave him “a ringside view of the business of show business” and included celebrity encounters such as shooting baskets with Woody Harrelson on the Paramount lot. He then transitioned to work as a production assistant, stand-in, and extra, eventually landing some speaking parts, including one on The Office. Along the way, Campbell also wrote “four screenplays that haven’t sold and fifteen short films that hundreds of people saw and a few published articles about life as an actor who’s been relegated to staying home with kids.” The book concludes with the author’s decision to step out of the auditioning circuit, noting he is now a stay-at-home dad and an actor (a “STACKTOR”), writer, and producer of “little films.”

This memoir is both hugely entertaining—there are celebrity anecdotes and name-drops galore—and an eye-opening account of the dizzying effort involved in trying to survive as a working actor in Hollywood. In his wry style, Campbell notes that “I’ve fought through getting turned down in over five hundred auditions….Five hundred times, somebody told me I wasn’t what they were looking for and to take a hike.” Yet the narrative is not completely discouraging, also emphasizing “But there were also the forty-four times that I was told I was the man and ‘Welcome to the club, bro.’ ” Through his fine detailing of his own journey, the author provides aspiring actors (or indeed anyone interested in the movie business) some interesting specifics on ways to get work on sets. For example, Campbell had a motion-capture gig on Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf, asserting “I have never been on set for three weeks straight in my life as any kind of performer. I loved it.” Perhaps most importantly, Campbell also presents a real-life portrait of a performer

“A hilarious and instructive account of the joys, rigor, and heartbreak involved in trying to succeed in the movie business.”

balancing work and a personal life. In the author’s case, his wife, Maria, a successful, often traveling, assistant director, serves as the primary breadwinner while Campbell relishes the joys and endures the challenges of being the main caregiver. While the author concludes this memoir with the exhortation “good luck out there my fellow thespians, trudge on,” he also reminds performers of a larger perspective: “I’m glad most of my good fortune wasn’t wasted on acting jobs I thought would be the career changer for me.”

A hilarious and instructive account of the joys, rigor, and heartbreak involved in trying to succeed in the movie business.

THE BATTLE FOR SICILY’S SOUL

The Rise of the Mafia and the Fight To Free Sicily From Its Evil Tyranny

Cassar, Claudine

Alert Publishing (288 pp.)

$23.99 paper | $9.99 e-book | Oct. 5, 2022 9789918615001

Cassar presents an in-depth exploration of the Mafia’s rise to power and the fight to weaken its grip on Sicilian society in this nonfiction work.

Stories and stereotypes about the Sicilian Mafia are indisputably popular, but most are based more on legend than reality. The author exposes the organization’s vicious nature in this ambitious, copiously referenced, and highly readable examination of its historical roots in Sicilian society, the tactics that held every aspect of life on the island in an iron grip for more than a century, and the bravery of those who dared to stand up against violence and corruption. Cassar details how one foreign power after another exploited Sicily’s rich natural resources and oppressed its people from the ancient era through the 1900s, explaining how the Mafia distorted ingrained cultural attitudes and repurposed religious symbolism to frame corruption of the rich and exploitation of the poor as matters of loyalty, tradition, and honor. The author movingly describes the incredible courage of those who risked their lives to fight organized crime—including judges, prosecutors, parish priests, and ordinary villagers. “The residents of the mafia capital were expressing their rage through handmade signs painted on bedsheets,” Cassar writes. “Every person who was hanging the sheet outside their home was making a clear declaration of intent, telling both the authorities and the Mafia— you know who we are and you know where we live, but we are no longer willing to be silent.” The author’s clear prose is easy to follow, the insights into Sicilian culture and the inner workings of the Mafia are fascinating, and the stories of individuals and organizations who put everything on the line to fight back are truly inspiring. The end of each section includes a helpful timeline of the events it covers as well as occasional footnotes, a five-page bibliography, and more than 200 endnotes and references.

A gripping narrative of the roots, rise, and fall of a notorious criminal organization.

THE CONCRETE PALACE Charag, J.N. Self (362

pp.)

$9.99 paper | $3.49 e-book | Feb. 11, 2022 9789655999068

In Charag’s debut dystopian novel, a man discovers there may be something sinister at work in the protective world in which he lives.

Remi Jones has lived all of his 43 years surrounded by concrete walls and ceilings in a structure filled with labyrinthine corridors and tramways that the mysterious Titans built long ago. Its greatest purpose, it seems, is safeguarding humanity from the “allconsuming” darkness outside the walls. Meanwhile, life goes on inside, and Remi heads to his regular job each day at the Work District, Unit 5—more specifically, the Suicide Division. His latest case is 17-year-old Milly Sanders, who intentionally electrocuted herself. He quickly attributes this death to the Outrebs, or the Outside Rebellion, a radical group that reputedly ensnares “impressionable youngsters” and somehow convinces them to commit suicide as part of their cause. The Outrebs’ goal is finding a way into the Concrete Palace, a command center that will give them access to the outside. Remi’s investigation into Milly’s death leads to run-ins with the group, which soon has him questioning things, such as the chip inserted behind everyone’s left ears and the gray-blob food that tastes like whatever flavor they assign it (courtesy of those head chips). His bosses aren’t happy about his inquisitive nature, but that doesn’t mean they want him to stop looking into the Outrebs. Many people are convinced the group has something planned, and a surprise explosion is only the beginning. Whether Remi sympathizes with them or thwarts their plan, things are sure to turn violent.

Charag’s story relies on keeping Remi and readers in the dark. This strange world, however, isn’t entirely unfamiliar. Remi, for example, lives in the San Francisco District in the America Zone, while the other Zones include Brazil, China, Africa, and Europe. Moreover, the author builds a recognizable place with meticulous details of Remi’s tiny but cozy apartment and scenes of his initially humdrum workdays, including prolonged tram rides. Questions arise throughout the novel, and any character with an inkling of the truth is evasive; Milly’s friend, when asked why the teen committed suicide, tells Remi, “You wouldn’t understand.” But Charag doesn’t make readers wait for every answer, as it’s clear early on who, essentially, the Titans were, and Remi unwraps another mystery well before the end. While this protagonist is often literally clueless, he’s burdened by ill will from Outrebs and superiors at the Work District, and not only at the Suicide Division. Even his councilwoman mother and his physician father treat him with indifference, and his fiancee, Porcia, doesn’t appear enough to offset all this negativity. At the same time, Remi digs into Milly’s case without much urgency, giving the narrative a somewhat low-key pace. This considerably benefits the mystery side of the story, making it easier to settle into the lengthy exposition that accompanies illuminating moments.

young adult

32 Great Indie Books Worth Discovering

THE MEDICINE MAGE

by Xuemei Zhong

“A former immunologist lays the holistic groundwork for what she perceives as imperative changes needed in modern medicine.”

A timely, profound, multidimensional guide on alternative methods of medical care delivery.

THE SCEPTRE

by B.E. Boucher

“This first installment of a YA fantasy trilogy revolves around a 16-year-old boy who, with the help of some good friends, embarks on a quest to a magical realm to find his mother, who has been missing since he was a toddler.”

A bracing adventure—fun, fast, and with themes like love, friendship, and the power of family.

UNTIL IT SHIMMERS

by Alec Scott

“A Canadian man wrestles with his family heritage and his adult life as a gay man in this debut novel.”

A potent, vigorous coming-of-age tale featuring themes of identity, sexual liberation, and introspection.

KANSAS KALEIDOSCOPE

by Mark Wentling

“A young boy’s life in mid-20thcentury America persistently and unpredictably veers off course in this novel.”

An absorbing coming-of-age tale set against a realistic American backdrop.

SOLDIER ON

by Bracha Horovitz

“Horovitz recalls her upbringing in Israel and how the example of her Holocaust survivor father helped her weather troubled times.”

An emotionally affecting, historically edifying memoir brimming with cultural insight and wisdom.

I DON’T CELEBRATE ANYTHING!

by Donna Neumann illus. by Alexandra Rusu

“In this picture book, it’s hard to be a little porcupine who doesn’t celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa.”

This engaging animal tale affirms that meaningful experiences exist outside holiday festivities.

DEATH IN THE AEGEAN

by M.A. Monnin

“A young woman vacations in the Greek isles, hoping for rest and relaxation; she finds mystery and murder instead.”

A captivating mystery that oozes charm, danger, and romance.

UNCHAINED MEMORY

by Donna S. Frelick

“A woman and her therapist try to decode her strange visions of interstellar captivity in Frelick’s romantic SF thriller.”

A suspenseful and steamy otherworldly tale.

CONNECTION

by R.L. Merrill

“This second installment of Merrill’s Gifted saga—which blends elements of contemporary fantasies, suspense novels, and paranormal romances—continues a story about the staff and students of a school for gifted kids whose lives have been impacted by tragedy.”

A fast-paced and fun fusion of supernatural romance and mainstream thriller.

DAY OF DAYS

by Frank Napolitano

“A novel focuses on 9/11 and a group of fictional firefighters.”

An engrossing tale that serves as a poignant reminder of the lives lost on 9/11.

STAR BRIGHT

by A.F. Carcirieri Jr.

“Debut author Carcirieri presents a collection of stories, all loosely connected to the planet Venus.” A verbose but often powerful set of tales that span the ages.

PEOPLE OF THE SUN

by Jan Kelly

“A weary ranch hand fights to win full custody of his son in Kelly’s fifth spirituality-tinged Western in a series.”

A meditative contemporary tale about moving on and letting go.

32 Great Indie Books Worth Discovering

[Sponsored]

STANDING AT WATER’S EDGE

by Janice Post-White

“A nurse specializing in cancer treatment shares her experiences after her son was diagnosed with leukemia in this debut memoir.”

A multifaceted, thought-provoking, and learned exploration of a painful subject.

RIO LOS ANGELES

by Diego Kent

“In this debut novel, a world traveler visits an island off the U.S. coast and mingles in good—as well as dangerous—company.”

A measured but engrossing tale of a tightknit community’s strength.

THE SILVER STRANGER

by Daniel Sherrier

“In this SF sequel, a young woman’s belief that superheroes do more harm than good takes a dark turn.”

A relatable protagonist, a believable journey of self-discovery, and a wild SF world.

THE CRABTREE MONSTERS

by Chris Wieland

“In Wieland’s middle-grade series launch, the teenage daughter and granddaughter of police officers gets the investigation bug herself after a rash of bank robberies.”

A funny, adventurous tale of a girl who turns small-town sleuth.

ALONE WITH ME

by Elizabeth Williams

“A teenage crush gets interrupted by a horrible murder in this debut YA novel.”

An immersive, bracing mystery with a big heart.

TALES OF A SPIRITUAL SUN

by Paul Kiritsis

“A short story collection that offers numerous twists on ancient tales from Greek mythology.”

An offbeat and thought-provoking set of mythic narratives.

GLAMORELLA’S DAUGHTER

by Charles J. Martin

illus. by Jerry Bennett

“A brilliant, misunderstood girl with autism uses her impressive intelligence to protect her home from interdimensional intruders in Bennett and Martin’s debut YA comic collection.”

An exciting and thought-provoking compilation.

ENFANT TERRIBLE: HEADLINER

by Gwydhar Gebien

“A novel focuses on the journey of a washed-up rock star who becomes an unlikely father figure.”

A gritty music story/romance with an endearing narrator.

WARRIOR’S PRIZE

by Elena Douglas

“A minor character in the Trojan War becomes the hero of this historical novel.”

A carefully crafted tale that offers a fresh, woman-centered reevaluation of an ancient story.

RABBIT: A GOLF FABLE

by Erich Anderson

In Anderson’s novel, a young golfer on the autism spectrum does time for murder.”

A deeply realized, if overlong, novel of neurodivergence and golf.

MYSTIFIED

by Julia Ash

“An American teenager is dead set on solving a murder—her own— in Ash’s paranormal mystery.”

An engrossing detective story with a diverting spectral spin.

GRAVITY HILL

by Susanne Davis

“In this dramatic mystery, a teenager stuck in her small New England town takes a closer look at her brother’s fatal car accident.”  A remarkable protagonist leads a robust cast in this absorbing tale of self-discovery.

32 Great Indie Books Worth Discovering

DESERT PROPHETS

by Lucky Ringwood

“Ringwood’s debut historical novel follows a family through years of unpredictable marriages, seedy business ventures, and two major wars.”

An absorbing, profound look at tumultuous American lives.

SINS OF THE FATHERS

by Herbert J. Stern & Alan A. Winter

“In this novel, a military aide close to Hitler conspires to thwart his obsessive quest for war in Europe.”  An impressive blend of literary drama and historical commentary.

GRIT AND GRACE: GORDON PARKS

by Ann Parr

“A biography in verse of one of the 20th century’s most versatile artists.”

An often transporting, if uneven, elegy for a man who eluded easy categorization.

EMPATHY WORKS

by A. Sophie Wade

“A guide offers advice on fostering empathy in the modern workplace.”

An insightful and practical must-read for leaders focused on the future.

THE TURTLE WITH AN AFRO

by Carlotta Penn illus. by Audy Popoola

“In Penn’s second picture-book series installment, an anthropomorphic young turtle works hard on a song to perform at school only to be hit with stage fright.”

A lovely reminder that sharing what makes one unique is the greatest gift of all.

THE FAITHFUL DOG

by Terry Lee Caruthers

“Inspired by a Civil War newspaper article, this middle-grade historical novel tells the story of a devoted dog who accompanies his owner to the battlefield.”

An engaging, touching, and heartbreaking adventure.

WINNER-TAKES-ALL

by James Moyer

“A debut political book explores the undemocratic nature of the Electoral College.”

A concise and persuasive indictment of the Electoral College.

THE ROSE AND THE CRANE

by Clint Dohmen

“An Englishman on the run from assassins befriends a famed Japanese samurai in Dohmen’s historical tale set in the late 15th century.”

An intelligent and enjoyable cross-cultural adventure.

The tension effectively surges in the final act, and although bits of the ending are predictable, it offers a stellar payoff. A dark, diverting futuristic tale with an appealing hero and a dense mystery.

LOVING LEOPOLD Amour Toujours

Coia Ramsay, Diane ArchwayPublishing (294 pp.)

$37.95 | $18.99 paper | $3.99 e-book

May 11, 2022

9781665722711

9781665722728 paper

In Coia-Ramsay’s trilogy-ending historical romance novel, Amalie Blakeley and her husband, Leopold, spend a dramafilled summer with their friends and family at Blakefield Castle.

As this novel opens, the Blakeleys abscond to their family’s castle in the English countryside for the summer of 1904. Most of the important characters from the first two books in the Loving Leopold trilogy accompany them, continually endeavoring to smooth over the Blakeleys’ endless quarrels. Most of the castle’s staff are unnamed caretakers of the home and the Blakeley children, Cosette and Leon; however, chauffeur/mechanic McBride and nanny Bridgette, perhaps the most competent people in the Blakeley orbit, often come to the rescue of their employers after some scheme fails. Amalie’s aunt and uncle (and adoptive parents), Henrietta and Edward March, their daughter Annabelle, and her American husband, Harvey Havemeyer, join the family, as well. Henrietta and Annabelle regularly find themselves caught up in the Blakeleys’ conflicts, while Harvey marvels at the excitement, and Edward remains Leopold’s clueless sole confidant. Blanche, Leopold’s sister, and her lover, Cordelia, are also in residence. This same-sex romance is the healthiest relationship portrayed in the novel, and (apart from the staff) they remain the most coolheaded throughout the summer’s dramatic events. The cast of characters is extensive and delightful: Readers also meet Amalie’s artist and feminist friend, Imogen Armstrong, employed by Leopold to paint a nude portrait of Amalie; Lady Agatha Pengallon, a wealthy local widow; Malcolm McFadden, an American ex of Amalie’s who still pines for her; and his new wife Dolores. As if the packed house and the Blakeleys’ explosive personal relationships were not enough dramatic grist, unexpected visitors from the Blakeleys’ past arrive to cause further strife. With many winks to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Coia-Ramsay’s romance retreads some of the same ground as Sharon Lathan’s Loving Mr. Darcy series. Still, the updated setting and amusing characters make for a cozy page-turner with a satisfying conclusion.

This Jane Austen–style story set in the early 20th century delivers traditional, satisfying romance full of sugar and spice.

THE SUNSHINE ROCK A Story About Empathy

Cooper, Tahiya

Illus. by Patricia Grannum

Self (28 pp.)

$12.99 paper | Feb. 18, 2023

9798985116427

A brave little girl learns about empathy when she attends a new school in Cooper’s picture book.

Third grader Alexis, a young Black girl, has just moved to Annapolis, Maryland. It’s an exciting change, and she is surrounded by her loving family: her mother, her brother, Sean, and her guinea pig, Reese’s. But as she goes to bed that night, she worries about starting at a brand-new school. Will her teacher be nice? Will she make friends? Sean gives his nervous sister a rock with an image of the sun painted on it for comfort. When she meets her teacher and her classmates the next day, she spills her lunch in front of everyone. This is the perfect opportunity for the school counselor, Mrs. Johnson, to talk about kindness and empathy (“Instead of feeling sorry for Alexis, let’s try to put ourselves in her shoes”). The author writes with the purehearted, graspable wisdom of a teacher of young children; her words helpfully teach both children and adults how to approach a situation like the one Alexis faces. The characters, both adults and children, are lovable and relatable for readers of various ages. Grannum’s bold and beautiful illustrations are rendered in colors that draw the eye and hold attention.

A sweet, striking picture book about kindness and understanding, fit for any classroom or home.

DETECTIVE DEATH

Ebrahimi, D.Y.

Mythical Bandit Books (356 pp.)

$11.99 paper | $2.99 e-book

May 2, 2023

9798986480138

A god of death joins a mortal gumshoe investigating myth-related murders in Ebrahimi’s mystery/urban fantasy novel.

Zarik is a Persian god, or “daeva,” usually depicted as female but able to change forms; in this narrative, Zarik takes on a male persona. At the mercy of “the Pull” (the term for what happens when someone summons him), he is called to kill a man named Izak Cayne. Zarik doesn’t remember what led to him causing this mortal’s death and has a few questions, starting with the cryptic note and accompanying map Izak was carrying. These clues ultimately lead him to Scarlett Wolfe, a private eye of sorts, in a modern-day city that the daeva remembers as a village from millennia ago and now finds bafflingly mazelike. Scarlett tackles mysteries with “intuition and possibilities beyond the mundane.” She and Zarik investigate unorthodox murders and mingle with other gods,

speculative fiction at its very best.”

including one Zarik harbors ill feelings toward. The greatest mystery is Zarik himself; evidently, mortals’ beliefs create mythical beings, but can Zarik evolve beyond his purview to be more than a mere god of death and make his own choices?

If so, what’s he going to do with this thing called free will?

The author’s tale is a wonderful fusion of mythologies, from Persian and Greek pantheons to the Japanese y ō kai. Scarlett makes for a whip-smart sleuth while Zarik puts his shapeshifting skills to good use, taking different forms of humans and animals, including a cat he once knew. While Ebrahimi constructs a solid mystery, the novel’s biggest draw is its cast—the dual protagonists in particular are exceedingly and delightfully complicated, burdened by guilt over certain deaths (whether or not they’re culpable) and prone to bouts of distrust. The author’s lyrical prose animates the narrative, even when relaying the weather: “sunny with the occasional wisp drifting in the blue spaces between buildings.”

Indelible heroes electrify this sublimely bizarre detective story.

THE BABEL APOCALYPSE

Evans, Vyvyan

Nephilim Publishing (388 pp.)

$13.99 paper | $5.99 e-book | May 2, 2023

9781739996222

The first installment of Evans’ Songs of the Sage SF series explores a near future in which language is a streamed commodity controlled by corporations. In the early 22nd century, learned language is largely obsolete. The majority of the world’s populace is “chipped” at birth with a neural implant that streams “Unilanguage” technology, which is controlled by powerful mega-corporations. The language-streaming business is a highly lucrative and rapidly evolving industry—but when a catastrophic global language outage inexplicably sweeps much of the world, humankind quickly devolves into chaos. Emyr Morgan, head of the Europol Cybercrime Division, is tasked with investigating the outage. The grand-scale conspiracy that he uncovers is ingeniously intricate and involves the most powerful people on the planet. He soon finds himself on the run, with only one person in his corner: the enigmatic Ebba Black, a linguistics professor, heiress, hacker extraordinaire, and the world’s last natural speaker of multiple dead or proscribed languages. She also may head a terrorist organization; Morgan muses, “I had never in my whole life met anyone quite like her” in a moment of comic understatement. The novel is powered by a multitude of narrative elements: deeply considered and meticulously described worldbuilding, an impressively complex storyline with numerous bombshell plot twists, emotionally compelling characters, and weighty themes concerning the power of language and the danger of humankind’s becoming overly dependent on technology. The pace is breakneck and the action nonstop, leading up to a stand-up-and-applaud

conclusion that not only satisfies, but sets the stage for the next installment.

A perfect fusion of SF, thriller, and mystery—smart speculative fiction at its very best.

THE BLACK HOLE PASTRAMI And Other Stories

Feingold, Jeffrey M.

MFT Press (102 pp.)

July 1, 2023

9798388289186

Feingold’s collection of short stories approaches themes of childhood, illness, death, and remorse.

Sixteen tales are offered here, many of which examine family relations and Ukrainian Jewish heritage. The collection opens with the title story, which describes a vegetarian son venturing to a deli to buy his dying father a black pastrami on rye with extra mustard. The errand leads the man to reflect on his own life, marked by a stultifying sense of helplessness. “Here’s Looking at You, Syd,” one of the longer stories, is about a husband and wife who journey to Moscow to adopt a child but are confronted by a wall of Russian bureaucracy. Other stories examine coming-of-age; in “The Buzz Bomb,” a young boy takes playing war games too far and is met with disastrous consequences. Similarly in “The Wrong Napkin,” childish naïveté leads to an embarrassing misjudgment and a chat about the differences between men and women. In “Goth Girl,” a young aspiring writer falls for a darkly aloof poet. Stories such as “Avalanche” and “My Left Foot” celebrate familial relationships with pet dogs, whereas “America’s Test Chicken” is a tongue-in-cheek tale of the launch of “one of the hottest cooking shows on cable TV.” Things take a weirdly humorous twist in “Seventh Sense” when a dentist offers “tissue harvested from the departed” to address a patient’s gum complaint. The collection closes with “The Sugar Thief,” about an embarrassing auntie who steals sugar sachets from the diner.

Feingold’s stories are written in the first person and emotionally have the feel of autobiography. The release captured at the close of “The Black Hole Pastrami” is profoundly moving: “The black hole cracked open; light streamed out. For the first time, I forgave myself. For not saving them. For failing at the impossible.” The author is also expert at describing shifting personal perspectives; one regards the aunt who embarrasses her teenage nephew by stealing sugar differently when it’s explained that she lived through rationing during the Depression and World War II. Although Feingold’s stories can be darkly poignant, they can also make readers laugh out loud, as when the patient with the tissue graft in “Seventh Sense” announces: “I taste dead people.” The collected tales are also intriguing due to the echoes that link them. Further references to The Sixth Sense star Bruce Willis crop up in other stories, as do mentions of the black pastrami, making for delightful moments. Feingold has a pleasantly unconventional descriptive style, unusually capturing events such as sitting in the dentist’s chair: “my mouth as wide open as an angry

“Smart

hippopotamus, as he poked with cold pointy instruments….” However, descriptions of Russia in “Here’s Looking at You, Syd” rely on boring stereotypes, from a prosecutor that resembles Bond-movie spy Rosa Klebb to a “Beautiful Russian Doctor” suitable for “a scene in Doctor Zhivago.” Feingold clearly employs such characters for comic effect, but it results in an oversimplified portrait of Russian life. Still, this minor flaw detracts little from a textured, imaginative debut collection.

Inventive and emotionally observant writing.

NOTHING LEFT BUT DUST

Geissinger, Melissa

Arken Press (294 pp.)

$17.99 paper | April 5, 2023

9781960440013

The 1906 earthquake and subsequent fires that destroyed much of San Francisco provide the backdrop for Geissinger’s YA coming-of-age novel.

Josephine “Jo” Moreci, not yet 16 years old, lives with her uncle and aunt in San Francisco. Not long after her father died from an accidental gunshot wound three years earlier, her distraught mother moved across town with Jo’s younger brother, leaving the stillgrieving teenager to pay off her father’s debts by working for (and sadly residing with) her cruel uncle. Fortunately, Jo finds solace in her mentor, Mrs. Tucci, who runs her late husband’s map-printing shop. Jo stands on the threshold of becoming Mrs. Tucci’s official, full-time apprentice. Meanwhile, across town, a young man named Otto Frei struggles under the pressure of his father’s desire for him to join the family’s successful business and plans his escape. August Frei is a builder of fine billiards and pool tables, and his products are desired by the most exclusive establishments; Otto is an aspiring artist. The evening he secretly leaves home, as he is wandering by the waterfront searching for a room in which to await the departure of the morning ferry, he is drugged, abducted, and locked in a basement. Early the next morning, on April 18, 1906, the earth begins shaking, and buildings start trembling then tumble to the ground. The author, a descendant of survivors of the earthquake, describes the increasing devastation, block by block, in riveting detail—broken gas and water lines and fires erupting everywhere with no way of fighting the flames. As Otto and Jo fight their way through the chaos, their paths serendipitously cross. The author has crafted a multilayered narrative about loss, first love, family secrets, and hopeful new beginnings rising from the ashes. Historically engrossing, especially in the descriptions of saving Telegraph Hill from the devastation (“The fire began to climb in elevation above the base of the hill, eating its way through North Beach. Jo watched in horror as the flames consumed Saints Peter and Paul Church”), Geissinger’s tale ably escorts readers on a vivid, albeit smoky, tour of San Francisco’s streets, landmarks, and underground water cisterns.

A strong young female lead fuels this engaging, actionpacked read.

GRENADINE AND OTHER LOVE AFFAIRS Poems

Grace, Carolyn Shadelandhouse Modern Press (168 pp.)

$20.00 paper | May 2, 2023

9781945049354

Grace’s debut poetry collection ponders language and meaning.

“I wrote this book because I am interested in how meaning is created,” writes the author in her preface to this new collection. For this emerging poet, meaning is found in the mechanics of human language—specifically word choice and placement—and in the quest to make sense of oneself and the world. The collection is divided into nine sections bearing intriguing, unusual titles, including “Esemplastic,” “Limn,” and “Invariance.” Each section contains a series of poems without titles, numbered in roman numerals. Grace employs a range of poetic forms, from common meter to haiku and pantoums. Some poems contemplate how our relationships with others impact our own identity: “If you are the center of my map—where / am I?” Others consider the act of writing itself: “These marks are a compendium of miscellany / a narrative—translucent, pre-existing and replete.” At the close of some sections, the author includes a “Lyric Glossary” in which she poetically reexamines and reframes specific terms she has used. Grace’s poetry is laden with sensuous imagery: “Ignominious fruit of that garden / my carmine lips, your garnet desire.” The most compelling aspect of this ingenious body of verse is the poet’s determination to excavate ever deeper layers of meaning; Grace returns to the word carmine in her Lyric Glossary, recalling, “a rich red to crimson pigment…I bought a dress that made my skin look like cream and my hair look like amber. / I bought it so that your hands on my waist would look like intent—and they did.” The poet moves beyond cold definitions, not only adding personal significance to the term, but pinning it to one intimate moment. She poignantly captures how meaning shifts with time: “a vivid red…I still own that dress. It is packed in a box with other things that don’t fit me anymore.” The poet also demonstrates notable technical prowess, as when priming a villanelle to deliver the powerfully philosophical, double-barreled refrain: “What arterial conspiracy was this, aromatic and dusty, rife with pulse and power? / The victor builds the world around himself, calls the edges nothing, the center a flower.” This is the work of an alarming talent.

An intricate gem of a poetic debut.

“An intricate gem of a poetic debut.”

grenadine and other love affairs

THE MAGIC OF SEA GLASS

Hale, Jenny Harpeth Road Press (276 pp.)

$12.99 paper | $3.99 e-book | May 9, 2023 9798987711514

A grieving wedding planner finds a new life and new love by the beach in Hale’s romance novel.

Lauren Sutton, a professional woman in her 30s, is half of Sugar and Lace, New York City’s top event-planning firm and the subject of a successful reality TV show. What’s more, Lauren genuinely loves orchestrating the happiest day of so many people’s lives—or at least she did before her fiance, Mason Bridges, was killed in a car accident. A year after Mason’s death, Lauren can’t get through a wedding without breaking down, and she decides to realize Mason’s dream of a simpler life. Selling her half of the business, Lauren relocates to Rodanthe, North Carolina, to assist elderly innkeeper Mary Everett for the summer. Soon, Lauren finds herself making much-needed improvements that will bring The Tide and Swallow Inn the attention—and revenue—it deserves as well as planning a quickie wedding for Stephanie, a local Sugar and Lace fan, and falling hard for Stephanie’s handsome friend Brody. All the while, Lauren keeps stumbling upon sea glass. When she finds that her new sea-glass bracelet has a story that encompasses generations and includes Lauren’s own family, Lauren wonders if a new chapter of her life is opening. Each character is richly drawn and compelling, from the protagonist to minor players like Joe, an older veteran of the docks with a secret. The Outer Banks setting is both charming and intimate, with locals who are friendly and welcoming. The romance is a slow burn in which incremental advances are built up with delicious anticipation—watching Lauren pen some calligraphy, Brody “leaned over her shoulder. ‘You’re so talented.’ His breath was at her cheek, his woodsy scent making it difficult to breathe.” The author expertly weaves together themes of work, family, and romance to convey the message that only time can heal the deepest of wounds.

A lovely and comforting second-chance romance.

BREAKAGE

Harding, David-Michael Black Rose Writing (316 pp.)

$27.95 | $22.95 paper | $6.99 e-book

Aug. 10, 2023

9781685132927

9781685132484 paper

A man allows his job as a bookie to affect the lives of his daughter and granddaughter in Harding’s novel.

Donnie “The Book” Chariot is a genius with numbers. His affinity for calculating probability has made him a legendary bookie covering the action on horse-race betting. Unfortunately, Donnie has early-onset Alzheimer’s,

and he cannot determine the likelihood of a given outcome as easily as he once could. When his clients start complaining that they are losing money as a result of his bad picks, Donnie tries to enlist his daughter, Donna—who shares a similar gift for mathematics—to help him in his work. Initially, due to their strained relationship, Donna refuses, only capitulating after her own daughter, Alexis, is kidnapped. Later, another pair of goons home in on Alexis’ kidnapping—this escalates the situation, leading to Donna’s inadvertently teaming up with her father’s henchmen, Frank and Nicky, in a race to get her daughter back. Though the numbers and the degree of detail pertaining to gambling on horses may be a bit niche for some readers, the author’s tale has no shortage of thrills and drama to balance the more obscure material out. The strongest sections of the narrative are the rawer moments between characters, including Donna’s attempts to discuss her horrific childhood memories with her father (“You should have let all this lunacy go a long time ago. Tried being a husband or, I don’t know, maybe something real exotic, like a dad”). Similarly, Nicky’s feelings for Donna add depth to his character, elevating him above the level of some anonymous gangster underling. Harding’s prose is accessible and fast-paced though not particularly descriptive. There are a few too many characters, many of whom have very similar names, which can be confusing and make the story feel a bit cluttered at times. Aside from this minor flaw, the narrative is a well-crafted offering for lovers of crime thrillers and is a unique take on the typical gangster tale.

An action-packed tale of organized crime and familial ties.

GHOST OF THE RIO GRANDE

Holbrook, Don A. & Gilberto Garcia

Self (354 pp.)

$19.99 | $14.99 paper | $2.99 e-book

June 7, 2022

9798361883189

9798363086144 paper

A Mexican ranch hand becomes a legend when he gets drawn into a battle with corrupt American landowners, Texas Rangers, and German spies in this historical novel set in the early 20th century.

In 1915, Fabriciano Garcia works on a South Texas ranch on the Rio Grande owned by Victoriano Gonzales and managed by his father-in-law, Casimiro Munoz. When four Texas Rangers approach on horseback, Fabriciano braces for trouble—they are known for their unpredictable violence, especially during a time when tensions between American and Mexican landowners are on the rise. The leader of the pack, Capt. Benjamin Johnson, announces his intention to commandeer the ranch, and when Victoriano protests, they gun him down. Fabriciano intervenes and shoots two of the Rangers dead. He has no choice but to flee across the Rio Grande for safety, leaving behind his wife, Manuela, and his two children, for now he is a fugitive and will surely be hunted down by vengeful Rangers. He seeks solace at the hotel of François LaBorde, a Frenchman and the employer

of his brother, Carlos. Fabriciano and François become close friends—they both detest the American robber barons as well as the Mexican president, Venustiano Carranza, who opportunistically plays both sides. Fabriciano not only opposes the Americans and their collaborators by stealing their herds, but he also joins forces with François against German secret agents. The spies are encouraging Mexico to invade the United States, thus keeping America out of World War I, a neglected aspect of modern history astutely explored by Holbrook and Garcia. Fabriciano becomes a near mythical figure known as the Ghost, an indomitable warrior who survives and even financially prospers despite extraordinary odds against him.

With scrupulous care and impressive lucidity, the authors portray the complex political situation in Texas, a tinderbox only made more volatile by the intervention of the Germans. Nonetheless, this is not principally a political novel despite its political elements as well as the inclusion of historical figures like President Woodrow Wilson. Rather, this is closer to a picaresque adventure, one in which Fabriciano transforms from an ordinary man into a legend, especially after his attempt to intercept a payment of gold sent from the Germans to Carranza. Fabriciano’s exploits are as daring as they are implausible—he manages to weather the assaults of German U-boats and torpedoes as well as eluding American fighter planes dropping bombs and a troop of Texas Rangers pursuing him. Of course, this all becomes more than a touch unbelievable, even absurd, and the authors immoderately carry out his apotheosis. As François puts it, “The Ghost is going to disappear into thin air without being caught by the authorities. And Fabriciano Garcia shall be spoken of frequently as the man that became invisible and dissipated like fog in the morning sun, never killed or captured and having stolen a treasure of immense wealth.” But whether or not the authors intended it, the combination of rigorously documented history and flights of imaginative fancy makes for a compelling read, the former a genuine source of edification and the latter, of lighthearted entertainment. In the final analysis, Fabriciano’s unlikely journey remains an enjoyable one for readers.

An enchanting blend of history and fantasy.

SWING BRIDGE Stories

Hughes, Bronwyn

Illus. by Kat Sharp

Port Haywood Press (164 pp.)

$14.95 paper | April 22, 2023

9798218172534 paper

The character of a small Tidewater locale in Virginia gradually emerges though the voices of its female residents in Hughes’ short story collection.

The little town of Mobjack sits on the edge of the continent in the Tidewater region of Virginia—the former home of Pocahontas and the current home of a stray Confederate monument, an unlikely prehistoric find, and at least one serial sexual

harasser. The people that readers meet in these 10 marvelous stories seem to exist at the edges of their own lives, struggling to get back to more solid ground. The main characters, who are mostly women, tell their tales in first- and third-person narratives. In “Fig-Girl,” a young woman answers a widow’s advertisement for a boarder and shows up in the clothes of the widow’s dead husband. In “Diablo,” named after a foulmouthed parrot, a woman makes a major life decision after removing graffiti from the storefront of a gay couple’s hair salon; meanwhile, the aforementioned Confederate statue is removed from the village green. One is hesitant to offer too much summary of “The Kittiwake,” but here’s a sentence, in which a woman looks around a boat on which her partner has recently died, that simply illustrates how sudden absence changes one’s perceptions: “Jackie’s belongings—her captain’s log, her waders hanging on a hook, her bird-watching binoculars, her Christmas cactus—all seemed flat, like brushstrokes on canvas.” Some American short stories have a quality in which it seems that nearly any sentence would make a great first line as so it is with these. The pacing is quick but supple, with enough undertow in the details that by the time readers are a few paragraphs deep, they’ll already feel dynamics that roil the waters and pull them in further.

Thoughtful tales that draw readers gently into a more accepting world, leaving a wake of wonder.

WORDS ARE MAGIC

Jackson, Megan Illus. by RIPE Publishing House

RIPE Publishing House (40 pp.)

$16.99 | April 20, 2023

9798987911402

A young child goes on a magical adventure to find his self-confidence.

Elliot is ready to end the day and go to bed, but his adventures are just beginning. As he falls asleep, the young Black boy finds himself transported to a dark, lonely wood. He is so scared that he begins to cry, only stopping when he hears a mysterious voice whisper his name through the trees. It isn’t until a moment later that the voice, which sounds like his mother, tells him, “Say what you have, you’ll have what you say. You have just what you need to find your way.” At first, Elliot doesn’t understand this message; he feels as lost as ever. Slowly, a mantra of his mother’s comes to mind (“Words are magic!”), and he realizes that he has the power to conjure light, a compass, and more to help guide him back to his parents’ loving arms. The lessons Elliot learns are that he must believe in himself and that the answers to his problems have been within him all along. However, because Elliot’s self-doubt wasn’t adequately established in the beginning of the story, the impact of this triumph is somewhat diminished. Still, his realization is powerful, and his actions are well supported by the illustrations (credited to RIPE Publishing House) that exquisitely depict the sylvan night and the family’s radiant love. The play between light and dark brings out Elliot’s own luminosity as he learns to believe in

engaging novel about the life of a fascinating historical legend.”

himself, while small marks indicating movement bring energy to the page. This is Jackson’s first literary work for children and would best be shared with preschool and kindergarten fans of books like I Am Every Good Thing (2020).

An inspiring, beautifully illustrated, if occasionally uneven, portrayal of inner strength.

SAILING WITH THE WIND OF FREEDOM

Lascarina Bouboulis and the War for Greek Independence

Kaye, Katherine

Illus. by Dmitri Andreyev Damianos Publishing (160 pp.)

$14.95 paper | Feb. 22, 2023 9781941573396

Kaye offers a fictionalized biography of a leader of the Greek independence movement in this historical novel.

The narrative is based on the life of Lascarina Bouboulis, born in Constantinople in 1771, who learned to sail as a child, took over her husband’s shipping empire after he was killed, and led naval operations in the Greek fight for independence from the Ottoman Empire. The book opens during Lascarina’s adolescence on the Greek island of Spetses, where she is supported by some and ridiculed by others for learning to sail. She enters her boat in the island’s annual race, drawing the attention of Dimitri Bouboulis, a merchant captain. Although his business keeps him away from Spetses for several years, the two ultimately marry. When Dimitri is killed by pirates, Lascarina travels to Constantinople to defend the business against seizure by the Ottoman Empire. She connects with fellow independence-minded Greeks and joins them in organizing a revolution that commences in 1821. Lascarina, also known as Bouboulina, engages in naval battles (and is named admiral by the other Spetsiote captains), then finds herself in trouble when the independence movement splinters into factions. In the book’s backmatter, Kaye provides facts about the historical Bouboulina and identifies where the novel makes minor departures from them, though the book generally adheres to what is known about her. Lascarina is a compelling protagonist, challenging the status quo without coming across as implausibly modern and advancing a commitment to a political cause without turning the story into a polemic. The plot has solid pacing, lingering over the details of a sailing race or a meeting with the sultan’s mother while condensing the less dramatic periods of Lascarina’s life. The characters are well developed, both emotionally authentic and historically grounded, and they bring the world of 19th-century Greece to life. Andreyev’s grayscale illustrations elegantly complement the text’s imagery.

An engaging novel about the life of a fascinating historical legend.

NAKED MONEY MEETINGS Ending Money Fights With Your Partner Forever

Kelly, Erin Skye

Post Hill Press (208 pp.)

$19.99 paper | Sept. 5, 2023

9781637587799

A no-nonsense and comprehensive guide to achieving financial harmony.

The latest from podcaster, debt adviser, and professional speaker Kelly, the author of Get the Hell Out of Debt (2021), revolves around a central conceit that one should have “a complete willingness to be vulnerable…when it comes to your money…whether you are solo, shacked up, or signed-on-the-dotted-lined.” She presents readers with a barrage of tests they may take in order to assess not only their financial state, but also their financial frame of mind, which she assigns to a particular “block”: the Lack Block (“I tend to react to financial stress instead of anticipating or dissipating it”), the Worthiness Block (“I lack confidence when it comes to money and other areas of my life”), the Stress Block (“I constantly think about money or the lack thereof”), which is probably the most heavily populated block, and a few others. In Kelly’s view, it’s the misalignment between blocks—romantic partners “living” in different financial neighborhoods, as it were—that gives rise to the sort of financial stress she describes in these pages, and she carefully lays out how to bring these neighborhoods together. Her tone throughout is funny and slangy, with pop-culture references and humorous asides, as when she recalls an embarrassing moment involving the 1997 horror film Anaconda while making a point about giving one’s partner space to grow and change. She’s keenly aware that the subject of money is inherently worrying, so she wisely keeps her tone correspondingly light. Nonetheless, there’s a refreshingly hard-edged clarity to much of her advice, and a great deal of it will be useful even to people who aren’t in committed relationships. As she points out, her book isn’t meant to defend or attack such commitment but to help readers find a sense of financial peace.

A kindly and crystal-clear program of advice for managing money.

ROADMAP TO EXPORT SUCCESS Take Your Company From Local to Global Kogon,

Maurice Self (336 pp.)

$24.99 paper | $4.99 e-book | April 6, 2021 9780578851860

Kogon delivers a comprehensive guide to building an export business.

The author, the founder of Kogon Trade Consulting (with nearly 60 years of experience in the

“An

international business field), opens his nonfiction debut with a straightforward question: “Why is it that so many US manufacturers sell solely to the US market, with less than 5% of the world’s population, when they potentially could make much more money by also exporting to the nearly 200 countries outside the US, with 95% of the world’s population?” In laying out and demystifying the world of exporting for new-to-export (NTE) companies and entrepreneurs, Kogon breaks down the steps (and risks and prospective payoffs), beginning with some of the main misconceptions about the practice. These include “I’m too small, can’t afford it, can’t compete”; “fear—of the unknown, of regulations, of not getting paid”; and “ignorance— of their export potential, of the benefits, of the steps and procedures.” The author proceeds to itemize the various components of the enterprise for NTE readers, spending time on human elements like differences in religion between businesses and their potential foreign markets, as well as variations in negotiating styles, business customs, languages, and so on. He offers readers a multiple-question diagnostic test designed to assess any business’s export potential based on a series of bullet-pointed qualities like experience, capability, and motivation, among other factors.

Kogon is a direct and forceful advocate, and it’s likely that many NTE readers will catch a bit of his enthusiasm. Many of those readers will also probably feel some of the initial intimidation he describes, wondering if their goods or services really are suitable for an international market. These readers are the book’s obvious main audience, and for them Kogon carefully enumerates not only the various agencies and regulatory bodies they’ll need to know in order to take their first steps, but also several of the starting attributes they’ll need to have. Is your top management willing to give exporting a try? Do you have adequate finances for at least a modest export budget? Do you have the workforce to handle the extra business? Kogon also offers no-nonsense advice designed to increase the odds in favor of his NTE readers, including seemingly self-evident items like “Don’t use sales literature that unwittingly offends” or “Don’t appoint incompetent overseas representatives that can’t be terminated.” He’s remarkably thorough; the book offers details on everything from international relations to the nuances of cargo insurance. All of this is explained in the light of the author’s central contention: Thanks to world-straddling companies like Google and YouTube, potential export markets are easier to reach than ever. By providing ready-to-use templates for things like distribution search letters (“We are seeking representation for our products in your country and would welcome your potential interest…”), Kogon succeeds in removing the intimidation factor from a potentially valuable step the vast majority of U.S. companies never even contemplate.

An invaluable, fact-oriented overview for businesses considering expanding to exports.

CITY OF ANGLES

Leaf, Jonathan Bombardier Books (288 pp.)

$30.00 | $14.99 e-book | March 7, 2023 9781637587881

In Leaf’s comedic murder mystery, a struggling actress finds a dreadful surprise in the trunk of her car.

Vincenza Morgan moves from a small town in Minnesota, hoping to start a grander life in Los Angeles, a “city of searchers” portrayed with lacerating wit by the author. The aspiring actress struggles, barely making ends meet working the cash register at a marijuana dispensary. She lands a big audition for a movie starring famous actress Reese Witherspoon, but just before she gets her chance to show what she can do, she discovers a corpse in the trunk of her car. The man has clearly been killed, and the murder weapon, a revolver, lies beside him. She recognizes the victim: Tom Selva, a fellow actor and a man with whom she was sometimes romantically involved. After her audition—it’s just too important to miss, even to report a murder—she wrestles with her predicament, as the evidence clearly implicates her in the crime. Vincenza comes to believes that she’s being followed by members of her cultlike church, the Church of Life, which promises its members access to “esoteric truths” and the establishment of a “new Eden.” She begins to suspect the church’s head, James Armstrong (who calls himself the “Supreme Pilot”), might have had something to do with Selva’s death, and she fears her own life is in danger—a state of affairs as chilling as it is morbidly funny, the signature style of the author. Leaf’s portrayal of show business in Los Angeles isn’t original at all—this is all well-covered ground—but the story is delightfully humorous, and the murder mystery is engrossing. The book is filled with hilarious insights, as in a description of incarceration: “In some ways jail was alike to a cruise ship. You tried to make friends. You were sickened by the food. You couldn’t jump out the windows.” This is lighthearted literary entertainment at its best—easily companionable, intelligent, and brimming with artful humor.

A genuinely funny sendup of a much-lampooned industry.

REMEMBERED AS A BLESSING Visitation Stones in Jewish Cemeteries

Leo, Vince & Daniel Mendelsohn & Morris J. Allen

Photos by Vince Leo

MW Publications (80 pp.)

$65.00 | April 4, 2023

9781735762982

In this nonfiction work, Leo, Mendelsohn, and Allen explore traditions of Jewish remembrance in photographs and prose.

You would be forgiven if, looking at Leo’s photographs in this volume, you mistook them for an abstract exercise in

geometric form. Printed in black and white with rich contrast, the stones that are their subject have a tendency to morph: The smooth, mottled white of one rock emerges from darkness like an egg; another pebble, reflected in the granite on which it is sitting, smudges and blurs as if seen through water. With a close, insistent gaze trained upon knobbed surfaces, the camera turns crevices and bits of grit into mysterious landscapes, small rocks opening into expansive worlds. The framing essays remind us that these stones are elements in a human narrative. Placed on gravestones, the rocks participate in a longstanding Jewish tradition, marking an act of remembrance and serving as a point of connection to the memories of deceased loved ones. Offering biblical context and philosophical ruminations, the closing essay by Allen suggests that these stones are symbols of permanence, operating as “a material response to that which is no longer a tangible relationship, imprinting the memory of a loved one within us.” But, as Mendelsohn’s opening essay points out, stones can decay as well: “Our desire that the memory of who we once were should endure beyond the natural span of our lives,” the author writes, “is made more poignant by the fact that stone, as hard as it is, can stop ‘signifying’ in the way we had intended.” In this sense, the photographs are themselves an act of commemoration, not only of the human relationships that they represent, but also of these bits of matter at a single moment, not yet changed by wind and rain and time itself.

This compact volume offers an aesthetically robust and spiritually poignant reflection on Jewish visitation stones.

SLEEPY DINOSAUR AND THE BAD CASE OF THE BEDTIME ROARS!

LoBue, Lee Illus. by Mathew Schelsky Self (24 pp.)

Oct. 4, 2021

9781737154419

A dinosaur child is her own worst enemy at bedtime in LoBue’s picture book.

Sleepy Dinosaur has had a big day: She’s been to the park, seen a movie, and been chased by dogs, and now she’s tired and ready to sleep. The only problem is that every time she yawns, she lets out an uncontrollable roar that wakes all the humans in her urban neighborhood. In their annoyance, they all let out such a large chorus of shushing that the staticlike noise lulls Sleepy Dinosaur to sleep. Schelsky’s full-color illustrations render Sleepy Dinosaur as a comical but still potentially dangerous T-rex, wearing a T-shirt and no pants, with an oversize head, toothy smile, and alligator belly. Human characters have diverse skin tones and, like Sleepy Dinosaur, wear sleeping caps. The protagonist seems to have no feral or malicious instincts—her roaring is involuntary, which prevents her own sleep and which she wants to get under control. The story resolves neatly and quickly, making this a brisk bedtime read. It’s unclear what human behavior roaring might be analogous for here, though

caregivers may recognize in Sleepy Dinosaur a child who badly needs to slumber and needs help to quiet their mind.

A short, funny dinosaur-themed story for just before lights out.

THE GREAT CLIVETTE Renaissance Man, Artist, Magician, Acrobat, Shadowgraphist, Mindreader, and So Much More

MacBride, Michael David

Salty Books Publishing (170 pp.)

$39.95 | $19.95 paper | $9.95 e-book

June 8, 2023

9798987939314

9798987939307 paper

The life of a real-life forgotten entertainer and artist is recovered in MacBride’s biographical novel.

Merton Clive Cook (1868-1931), known in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as The Great Clivette, was a true Renaissance man who traveled around the world. He narrates this faux memoir, in which he describes himself as the companion of Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, Buffalo Bill, and Mark Twain; indeed, he may have been the basis of “the Mysterious Stranger” in an unpublished Twain novel of the same name. Clivette worked at various intervals as a magician, tightrope walker, juggler, mime, lecturer, and painter. MacBride, a scholar of the late 1800s and early 1900s, found that Clivette was “strangely connected to everything in the entertainment world” around the turn of the century. Drawing on his collaboration with the Clivette family estate—which possesses a treasure trove of records, notes, clippings, and letters pertaining to its illustrious ancestor—MacBride offers the first book-length exploration of the artist’s life. As the author of more than a dozen books, from scholarly monographs and essays to SF novels and children’s books, MacBride has a history of experimenting with genres. This fictionalized work may alienate readers looking for a more traditional biography, and many may take exception with the narrator’s usage of problematic terms such as Indian. However, it effectively allows MacBride to bring Clivette’s larger-than-life persona, in all its self-aggrandizing hyperbole, to the fore. It’s also well balanced by a final chapter (“Fact from Fiction”) that parses out the accuracy of Clivette’s more “outlandish claims”; for example, Clivette’s meeting Twain is unconfirmed, but MacBride makes the case that their interaction was “likely.” Although the work lacks citations, the book does include a 12-page bibliography, and MacBride (who has a doctorate in 19th-century American literature) is careful to highlight gaps in the historical record. The book’s emphasis on engaging readers, in the impassioned, compelling spirit of Clivette himself, is reflected in its inclusion of more than 50 images, including posters and other ephemera, photos, and a gallery of Clivette’s art.

An absorbing story with a risky, genre-defying approach.

young adult

“An absorbing story with a risky, genre-defying approach.”

the great clivette

enjoyable revision of an endearing story.”

FAMOUS SEAWEED SOUP

Martin, Antoinette Truglio

Illus. by Penny

Weber

Purple Butterfly Press (32 pp.)

$18.99 | $10.95 paper | $4.99 e-book

May 9, 2023

9781955119399

9781955119405 paper

A little girl gathers materials for make-believe soup in this updated picture-book reissue.

Sara and her family are spending a day at the beach. As Mommy and Daddy unpack and get baby Hallie settled, Sara announces it’s time to make her Famous Seaweed Soup. The story is a riff on “The Little Red Hen”: “Sara asked, ‘Who will help me stir in the sand for my Famous Seaweed Soup?’ ‘Not I,’ replied Daddy. ‘I’m teaching Hallie how to swim.’ ‘Not I,’ replied Mommy. ‘I‘m reading my book.’ ” Sara collects seawater, two kinds of seaweed, sand, shells, feathers, and even snails (promising to return them). When the soup is completed, the fable’s moral is delightfully subverted—everyone who didn’t help must pretend to eat it. Weber’s full-color illustrations are new, but the text is mostly the same as the 1990s version (notably, the term “radio station” has been changed to playlist). Previously, Sara and her family all appeared White in the original illustrations; in this new version, Sara’s dad is White, her mom is Black with natural hair, and the kids have brown skin and brown curly hair. The images offer a nice update to the tale, beautifully rendered in a realistic watercolor style that perfectly captures a day at the beach in a story that’s as sweet as ever. An enjoyable revision of an endearing story.

THE ART OF HER LIFE

Martin, Cynthia Newberry Fomite (320 pp.)

$18.95 paper | $4.99 e-book | June 6, 2023

9781953236975

An artist and mother deals with a cancer scare and the absence of her archaeologist boyfriend in Martin’s novel.

Emily Hall works as a registrar at an art museum in Charleston, South Carolina, that is planning a spectacular show: The participants will name their favorite paintings, which the museum will then try to secure on loan to be displayed in a special exhibit. A would-be curator, Emily submits her own selection, naming Matisse’s The Breakfast as her favorite. In the painting, Matisse’s model seems lost in thought in a hotel room, but Emily sees more: “What it told me then was that there was more to life than the everyday.” Emily is divorced and dating Mark, an archaeologist, but there’s a glitch—Mark has accepted a job in Turkey that requires a four-year commitment. He proposes to Emily, who, though she is torn, declines. A more alarming problem surfaces when a blood test comes back with an irregular result, a possible sign of ovarian cancer. From Turkey, Mark asks

her not to write, but as Emily’s blood tests begin to look worse, she hesitantly begins to contact him. The author’s literary novel is replete with references to beautiful artwork, and she writes wonderfully about the mysteries behind the splashes of color on the canvas. Most impressive is the way Martin integrates Emily’s career and love of Matisse with the everyday challenges she faces at home and with Mark. Mark’s dispatches from abroad provide an alluring international aspect to the story, while anticipation and dread combine in the narratives of the approaching art show and Emily’s medical drama. While a happy ending is not guaranteed, the search for beauty and meaning in the world around us mitigates the somber third act.

An unsentimental, luminous story about art, illness, and complicated relationships.

READY...SET...FROG!

Mitropoulos, Katharine

Illus. by Laura Watson

Set Sail Press (42 pp.)

$18.99 | $5.99 e-book | March 14, 2023

9798987462607

In Mitropoulos’ picture book, a young frog tries to balance helping friends with having time for himself.

Frogathan “Frog” Spots learns there will be an obstacle course at his town’s fair. He makes a small rock mountain in his backyard and prepares to jump it, saying, “Ready...set....” Then his friend Mole interrupts by yelling, “FROG!” Startled, Frog knocks the rock pile down. Mole wants him to help get an apple from the top of a tree. Later, Giraffe interrupts to ask for help putting on a hat. After that, he’s called to assist his friend Kitten. Later, Frog doesn’t want to compete in the obstacle course because he hasn’t trained enough. His mother wisely points out that he practiced when he jumped and climbed while helping his pals; she also notes that it’s “ok to say no sometimes” to others’ requests. Over the course of this picture book, Mitropoulos creates a charming story that promotes friendship and recommends being kind to others as well as oneself. In addition, Mitropoulos offers a portrayal of the outcome of the obstacle course event that provides another valuable lesson. Throughout, Watson’s cartoon illustrations are bright and detailed, and their vivid color enhances the overall story.

A delightful work with a wise message about self-care.

“An

famous seaweed soup

COMPLICATED CHOICES

Nyman, Risa

Immortal Works (268 pp.)

July 25, 2023

9781953491589

A teenager finds untapped strength to keep her family together in Nyman’s YA novel.

As 17-year-old Claire Jackson pushes a baby stroller through the park, the reader initially gets the impression that she is an unwed mother. But the infant, Harry, is her half brother, the issue of her divorced mother Melanie’s one-night stand. This misadventure has rendered Melanie a basket case who spends her days at home in T-shirts and sweatpants and who cannot begin to take care of Harry—so it all falls to big sister Claire. She resents the responsibility; on the other hand, she becomes fiercely protective of the little guy. The villain of the piece is Claire’s uncle, Pat (Melanie’s brother), who has always been a jerk and a bully. Pat sees Harry as an embarrassment that should be rectified—he believes Harry should somehow be disappeared—and he plays upon Melanie’s vulnerability in pursuit of this goal. For Claire, he has nothing but disdain. But Claire does have allies, chiefly her best friend, Madison “Mads” Sunday, a boy-crazy ditz who’s unfailingly loyal, and the new boy at school, Chad Williams. Not only is Chad incredibly attractive, he’s wise beyond his years and has a passion for justice and for protecting the underdog. Could a romance be in the cards for Claire and Chad? The novel is narrated by Claire, a plucky, smart-mouthed adolescent. She is a wonderful creation, a resolute fighter not only for Harry, but also for her mother, whom she has good reason to hate. She is more mature than many of the supposed grown-ups she encounters while dealing with the insecurities and anger that are part of adolescence. The author is a distinctive writer with a knack for the arresting phrase, as when Claire recounts, “My words race out like they’re passengers on a burning train,” and concludes, “Once a secret is told, it floats in zero gravity: weightless and without power.”

A wise and well-plotted novel of embattled adolescence graced with a memorable hero.

THE VILLAGERS

Owens, Derek Illus. by Caroline Golden Animal Heart Press (148 pp.)

$40.48 | April 15, 2022

9781736516768

A writer conjures tales in response to an artist’s surreal images in this collaboration by Golden and Owens.

A girl who was born midflight—not on a plane, but to a winged mother—can never sit still but instead feels compelled to swim constantly through the air in the story “The Itinerant.” In “The Mariner,”

a shipwrecked cabin boy is swallowed by a whale only to have a strange sense of déjà vu. A princess, in “The Sister,” demands her servants make her a doll replica of the twin she absorbed in the womb, while her old brother communicates with the ghost of the subsumed twin to plot revenge. In these fabulist microfictions, Owens introduces readers to such otherworldly characters as the Town Crier, the Mischief Maker, the Lunar King, and the Handmaiden. Each is inspired by the accompanying portrait made by artist Golden, whose surreal visages evoke rich personalities and vast worlds. The Scout, for example, has a spotted, river-stone–shaped head of midnight blue, wearing a crown reminiscent of fingerling potatoes, held up by a neck that might have been made for an ornate porcelain vase. “The Scout floats suspended at the center of The Constant Sphere,” begins Owens’ accompanying story, “gazing into a seamless 360 degree spinning cyclorama of the heavens crafted by winged innocents.” Golden’s images are arresting: The textures suggest analog sensibilities of an earlier era, and while there’s rarely a traditional face to be found, there’s always the suggestion of a thoroughly human countenance. They’re complemented by Owens’ dark, dreamy fairy tales in the tradition of Russell Edson, Donald Barthelme, and Lydia Davis. Just as Golden’s collages bring together disparate materials, Owens’ stories take a number of different forms and voices, each one resetting readers’ expectations for what a story might be. The final character, the Storyteller, reveals that he works in a “story bank, ever echoing with tens of thousands of nearly subaudible voices constantly murmuring….” These murmurings effectively follow readers through the book—and may do so for quite a while afterward.

A brilliantly imagined and transportive collection of surreal bedtime stories.

SOMETIMES WHEN I’M WORRIED

Serani, Deborah

Illus. by Kyra Teis

Free Spirit Publishing (40 pp.)

$15.99 | June 27, 2023

9781631987373

A child is guided by a loving family through ways to cope with worry in Serani’s picture book, part of the Sometimes When series.

The narrator, a child with wavy red hair and pink cheeks, notices that when they worry, sometimes they feel scared and can’t calm down. Daddy makes a suggestion: “He says I might feel calmer if I find something I can control.” Daddy offers a choice: belly breathing or counting to 10. The choice and the practice both make the child feel better. On each page, as the child expresses their worry, the family offers acceptance, choices, and encouragement, validating the narrator’s experiences and guiding them through it. The author, a psychologist and professor at Adelphi University, offers spare but fluid text that reflects a child’s perspective. The narrator’s family offers a supportive community at every turn, making the book reassuring for young readers. Lengthy text at the back

guides caregivers on how to best support their worriers—and how to care for their own worries as part of that process. Teis’ highly-textured full-color paintings allow readers to sink into the scene; the pacing and presence of happy thoughts to contrast the worry make each page feel safe and comforting. The soft tone of both the text and illustrations gives the book the ambiance of a warm hug.

An empowering, soothing aid for children combatting worry.

THE RAVEN’S CRY

Shapiro, Kim Herdman

Level Best Books (266 pp.)

$16.95 paper | $5.99 e-book

March 14, 2023

9781685123031

In Shapiro’s series-starting whodunit, a new resident on a remote island must solve her ex-boyfriend’s murder.

Once a successful news producer in Boston, 32-year-old Kate Zoë Thomas has relocated to Wynter Island, a remote location off the

This Issue’s Contributors #

ADULT

Colleen Abel • Paul Allen • Ryan Asmussen • Mark Athitakis • Colette Bancroft • Robert Beauregard

Tom Beer • Ty Billman • Sarah Blackman • Amy Boaz • Kate Brody • Jeffrey Burke • Catherine Cardno

Tobias Carroll • K.W. Colyard • Emma Corngold • Devon Crowe • Sara Davis • Dave DeChristopher

Coeur de Lion • Shinjini Dey • Amanda Diehl • Melanie Dragger • Lisa Elliott • Lily Emerick

Chelsea Ennen • Katie Flanagan • Mia Franz • Jenna Friebel • Jackie Friedland • Roberto Friedman

Glenn Gamboa • Amy Goldschlager • Geoff Hamilton • Katrina Niidas Holm • Natalia Holtzman

Jessica Jernigan • Mikayla Kaber • Damini Kulkarni • Carly Lane • Tom Lavoie • Judith Leitch

Georgia Lowe • Zoe McLaughlin • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee • Carol Memmott • Carrigan

Miller • Karen Montgomery Moore

• Sarah Morgan • Jennifer Nabers • Liza Nelson • Mike Newirth

Therese Purcell Nielsen • Sarah Norris • Mike Oppenheim

Piechota • William E. Pike • Katherine Pushkar

• Derek Parker • Sarah Parker-Lee • Jim

• Margaret Quamme • Stephanie Reents • Bella

Rodrigues • Lloyd Sachs • Alexis Sattler • Gene Seymour • Leah Silvieus

• Linda Simon

• Wendy Smith

Leena Soman • Margot E. Spangenberg • Mathangi Subramanian • Bill Thompson • Caroline Tien

Francesca Vultaggio • Wilda Williams • Kerry Winfrey • Marion Winik • Adam Winograd

CHILDREN’S & TEEN

Autumn Allen • Jenny Arch • Elizabeth Bird • Ariel Birdoff • Jessica Brown • Timothy Capehart • Ann

Childs • Amanda Chuong • Tamar Cimenian • Adeisa Cooper • Jeannie Coutant • Dave

DeChristopher • Elise DeGuiseppi • Ilana Bensussen Epstein • Gillian Esquivia-Cohen • Heidi

Estrada • Brooke Faulkner • Ayn Reyes Frazee

Maura Gaven • Carol Goldman

• Jenna Friebel

• Robbin Friedman

• Reina Luz Alegre

• Melinda Greenblatt • Valerye Griffin • Ana Grilo • Abigail Hsu Julie

Hubble • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Darlene Ivy

Kaplan • Lyneea Kmail

Malewitz • Thomas Maluck

• Wesley Jacques

• Silvia Lin Hanick

• Emmett Marshall

Mazariegos • Breanna McDaniel

Rebecca Moore

Sarah Parker-Lee

• Danielle Jones

• Patricia Lothrop

western coast of her native Canada, to launch the island’s very first TV station. Kate’s running from her past, including a stint in Afghanistan that resulted in a terrifying abduction by the Taliban and a major betrayal by her journalist ex, Daniel Apollinar. The people of Wynter Island are friendly and welcoming, for the most part, but only a few days into Kate’s stay, she makes a terrifying discovery: Daniel’s dead body, apparently drowned. Just like that, Kate goes from new girl in town to possible murder suspect despite having no idea why her ex—whom she’d largely cut out of her life—would be on Wynter Island in the first place or why he’s now deceased. After it’s clear that he was actually a victim of foul play, Kate begins to investigate. Along the way, she holds “Fish Bingo” events for island residents on a YouTube livestream; harbors a crush on her married lawyer landlord Michael Rossino; and adopts a stray dog named Jupiter. Shapiro, a former print and broadcast journalist in Canada, creates a vivid world on Wynter Island, and it’s one that’s full of quirky characters—from bitter hotel manager Bob Corker, who’s certain that his daughter should have gotten Kate’s job, to kind Shea Porter, an animal rescuer and librarian, and elderly Vera Schmidt, whose reputation for the best eggs on the island starts events in motion that put Kate’s life in danger. Although the novel can’t accurately be called a cozy mystery—certain details are simply too graphic and frightening for that subgenre—the small-town environment is inherently comforting, with enough genuine goodwill that readers will be able to see Kate’s future as a happy one—provided she gets through the next few weeks alive.

A suspenseful blend of cozy and thrilling mystery elements.

THOLLY

Sharma, Kuldeep Self (100 pp.)

$12.99 | $4.99 paper | $0.99 e-book

March 3, 2022

9798424673245

9789380710914 paper

A trip to a government hospital shows a young Indian boy the price of poverty in Sharma’s historical novel.

• Katrina Nye

• Hal Patnott

Reffner • Amy B. Reyes

Karyn N. Silverman

Desiree Thomas

Alana Abbott

• Betsy Judkins Deborah

• Kyle Lukoff

• Michelle H Martin

• Sierra McKenzie

• Tori Ann Ogawa

• Deb Paulson

• Nancy Thalia Reynolds

• Rita Soltan

• Renee Ting

• Paul Allen

Michael Deagler

Gomez

Moran

• Leanne Ly Joan

• Gabriela Martins • J. Alejandro

• Kathie Meizner

• Mary Oluonye

• J. Elizabeth Mills

• Emilia Packard

• John Edward Peters

• Alyssa Rivera

• Mathangi Subramanian

• Bijal Vachharajani

S.D. Winston

• Kent Armstrong

• Steve Donoghue

• Dakota Hall

• Jim Piechota

Schrieve

• Andrea Page

• Kristy Raffensberger

• Meredith Schorr

• Jennifer Sweeney

• Christina Vortia

• Bean Yogi

INDIE

• Emma Benavides

• Gina Elbert

• Ivan Kenneally

• Judy Quinn

• Jeff Schwaner

• Julia

• Sadaf Siddique

• Deborah D. Taylor

• Erica Weidner

• Angela Wiley

• Darren Carlaw

• Joshua Farrington

• Alexis Lacman

• Jean Gazis

• Barbara London

• Kristen Bonardi Rapp

• Jerome Shea

• Barry Silverstein

• Emma Cohen

• Carla Michelle

• Mandy Malone

• Matt Rauscher

• Sharon Strock

• Andrea

• Sarah Rettger

• Hal

• Lauren Emily Whalen

In a small Indian town in the 1980s, 14-year-old Tholly is a dutiful Hindu son with a fearless, tenacious spirit. When a neighborhood doctor can’t help his father’s persistent cough, Tholly insists on taking him to the closest state-run hospital—a long journey made even longer because the teen must take his father on his bike. Tholly’s father isn’t the only patient in need of care; the medical wards and hallways are packed with the infirm, yet the medical staff are either missing, on the phone making personal calls, or huddled in groups discussing the latest cricket match. As days go by and Tholly and his family await a doctor for his dad, they witness the staff’s callous, corrupt behavior affecting other patrons, including a Muslim woman they befriend named Fatima, whose young son is in critical condition following a hit-and-run. A glossary and footnotes define Hindi and

“A suspenseful blend of cozy and thrilling mystery elements.”

the raven’s cry

other terms—such as abbu, which means father—which may be unfamiliar to some young readers. The storylines that follow Fatima; kindly, professional Dr. Manoj; and pregnant woman Kaveri counterbalance the sense of hopelessness; Fatima, for example, champions faith over religious intolerance; and Dr. Manoj’s unwavering virtuousness implies that corruption won’t always prevail. The alternating stories are riveting and will make readers root for the underdogs. The realities of sexual and religious violence are explicitly detailed to the point of being jarring but are effectively shown as parts of the characters’ realities. A sense of humor still manages to hold steady, though, as when Tholly realizes that he “had accomplished a rare feat—paying bribe on credit.”

An illuminating novel in which familial love, compassion, and kindness shine in a setting of greed, discourtesy, and exploitation.

LIVING RIVER

The Promise of the Mighty Colorado

Showalter, Dave Braided River (192 pp.)

$39.95 | April 15, 2023

9781680516326

Showalter, a Colorado-based conservation photographer, makes a plea to conserve the most important water resource in the American West.

Often called “the lifeblood of the American West,” the Colorado River system, spread across seven states in the United States and two in Mexico, supplies the water for more than 40 million people and the farms that grow nearly all of the nation’s winter produce. The rights to use that water are dictated by a century-old agreement that, the author asserts, was seriously flawed even when written: The 1922 Colorado River Compact not only excludes Mexico and the dozens of Indigenous peoples in the region, it sets fixed rather than proportional shares—and those shares are based on a larger amount of water than ever actually existed in the watershed. With climate change driving the worst drought in 1,200 years and population growth exacerbating an unsustainable demand for its water, the Colorado is shrinking fast, and the reservoirs behind its dams are at historic lows. If the river and its tributaries dry up, the consequences for the people and wildlife that rely on the watershed will be catastrophic. Moving from the headwaters in Wyoming through the mountains of Colorado and the canyonlands of Utah and Arizona to the now-dry delta on the Gulf of Mexico, he highlights seven distinct ecosystems and the dedicated people working to conserve them, discussing the regions’ intrinsic and economic value, the challenges they face, and potential solutions. Showalter combines lyrical descriptions (“This meadow is a place to daydream, to whisper to the cow moose munching willow, to have a chat with chattering magpies…”), personal experiences, and the stories of key experts—some in their own words—to vividly portray the beauty and diversity of the lands along the river’s 1,450-mile journey. The book’s crisp, elegant design

showcases more than 160 of the author’s photos, from songbird portraits to aerial views, as well as several colorful maps. Detailed captions, often excerpts from the text, accompany each image.

An informative examination and celebration of the beautiful and endangered Colorado River and its importance for people and wildlife.

IMMORTAL NORTH

Stewart, Tom

Lucky Dollar Media (364 pp.)

$14.99 paper | $5.99 e-book | Feb. 4, 2022 9781777221126

A man and his son live a quiet life hunting and trapping until interlopers bring trouble to their woods in Stewart’s novel.

In an unspecified location in the bitter northern wilderness, an unnamed trapper lives with his son in the secluded woods. The nearest town, reachable only by walking or water plane, is many miles away through the wilds. No one there knows the trapper, but they know of him, remembering how he towed his sick wife to town on a dog sled with his son strapped to his back years ago. She died in the hospital, leaving the trapper to raise their son on his own. In flashbacks, the reader learns that the trapper’s grandfather built the hunting lodge and cabins in the area, which were later lost in a card game by the trapper’s father, leaving only a small parcel of land with a single cabin for the trapper and his son. The book reads like a streamof-consciousness version of Jack London’s fiction, part White Fang and part “To Build a Fire.” Much of the book follows the trapper teaching his son, also unnamed in the narrative, how to survive off the land, schooling him in hunting, ethics, and mortality. Their secluded paradise, and the slow, plot-light narrative, is interrupted by the new owners of the hunting lodge, arriving to ready the site for their business venture. The dramatic shift in the plot and pacing is effective, but the author’s mastery is in metaphors, which are woven throughout the story seamlessly (“The mute alarm of absent sirens is loud if you’re listening and the tension in the woods can feel like the skin of a snare drum”). Layered over the detailed descriptions of the wilderness, the novel’s contrasting depictions of masculinity—the trapper who lives in harmony with nature versus the city men who mean to tame it—make for a complex take on the survival novel.

This contemplative tale of survival is a unique and poetic excursion.

young adult

I SEE LINCOLN’S UNDERPANTS

The Surprising Times

Underwear (and the People Wearing Them) Made History

Sullivan, Mick Illus. by Suki Anderson

Heart Ally Books (260 pp.)

$18.95 paper | $8.99 e-book | Dec. 1, 2022 9781631070471

Rarely seen items of human clothing take center stage in Sullivan’s illustrated history book.

In this offbeat nonfiction work, the author notes that Marie Antoinette caused a scandal by attending official court functions wearing only a white shift—a cotton underdress that at the time was only worn beneath additional layers of clothing. During Al Capone’s trial for tax evasion, Sullivan notes, it was discovered that the famous Prohibition-era gangster wore “glove silk” underwear that cost $12 a pair—which, at the time, was equivalent to a week’s wages for the average American. The author reveals that Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, the second man on the moon, wore special, NASA-designed long underwear during his first lunar walk, which came equipped with tubes to collect his urine in a removable bag; unfortunately for him, he tore the underwear while climbing out of the lunar capsule, meaning that when he finally had to go, the urine floated around in the leg of his spacesuit. These are just some of the little-known, real-life underwear tales that Sullivan has unearthed, from the 5,000-year-old undies of a mummified man to the underthings of silent-film actor Buster Keaton, revealed after his pants caught on fire and burned away. In addition to famous figures, Sullivan covers lesser-known underwear-wearers, including George Washington’s “frenemy” and fellow Revolutionary War general Charles Lee; pioneer celebrity swimmer Annette Kellerman; bra inventor Mary Phelps Jacob; and suffragist Amelia

Bloomer. The author also shines a spotlight on great innovations in the history of such clothing, including the “verminproof” underwear of World War I. Along the way, he explores the underdiscussed relationship that Western society has with its so-called unmentionables.

Sullivan’s prose is sly and well crafted, as if the author means for it to be read aloud: “In an effort to help their armies, sneaky Civil War women secretly stashed things such as weapons, boots, clothing, money, coded messages, and more underneath gigantic skirts. Many were successful in delivering their clandestine contraband, but not every undisclosed underclothes undertaking was a success.” He finds fun, unexpected corners of history to mine for content; one chapter, for instance, deals with the Mona Lisa, which was famously stored in a trunk beneath the undergarments of a thief who briefly stole it from the Louvre. (Sullivan goes further by pointing out that the painting once hung in Napoleon’s bedroom: “If the real Lisa could have somehow seen through the painted eyes of her portrait, she would have undoubtedly seen one of history’s most famous and powerful men in his underwear.”) As the book leaps between industries, countries, and centuries, it quickly becomes apparent that the history of underwear is the history of human society; the reader learns as much about past figures’ privacy, shame, humor, and ingenuity as they do about cotton and silk. The text is accompanied by joyful and amusing black-and-white illustrations by Anderson that contribute to the book’s lighthearted ethos. Although the work seems geared toward younger readers, history buffs of all ages will find much to enjoy; who knew, for instance, that Meriwether Lewis gave William Clark underclothing for Christmas?

An irreverent and entertaining historical survey.

THE FIRST TWO Real Life Writing

Szabo, Marta

Tinker Street Press (162 pp.)

$14.99 paper | $8.99 e-book | Dec. 1, 2022 9780996412216

Szabo recalls two foundational relationships in this personal memoir.

From a young age, the author was truly her father’s daughter. “My father claimed me right away,” she writes. “I was his. My little sister was my mother’s.” A Hungarian gentleman with Old-World charm, Szabo’s father instructed her on how to present herself to the world, from eating soup properly to correctly hanging her jacket in the theater. He warned her not to become a “bubblegum person”—a classless, mindless consumer of junk—as he felt most Americans do. Such a father proved impossible to please, and, as Szabo grew older, his demands placed an increasing strain on their relationship. After high school, while taking a writing class in New York, Szabo met a wealthy young man who soon loomed nearly as large as her father in her life. This boyfriend knew the city, the latest records, and how to be effortlessly cool, and he introduced

healing visions

Szabo to a whole new way of existing in the world. She soon moved with him to Los Angeles, where he would pursue a career in film. In short vignettes, Szabo traces her relationships with both of these men, the “first two” who helped to shape her relationships with all others. Szabo’s prose is stark and effortless. She paints in quiet images that nevertheless seem to vibrate with emotional intensity, as when she laments her fights with her boyfriend: “If I take him out of my life there is not much left. I don’t know why that is. He stays busy whether I am there or not. He still makes Rice Krispy chicken for dinner, he still lights up a joint, he still goes out for ice cream.” Though no strong narrative thread weaves the vignettes together, a theme emerges about the ways in which parents and lovers exert a profound gravitational pull on us, particularly in our formative years. Fans of literary memoirs will enjoy this fragmentary examination of two nearly universal relationships: the larger-than-life parent and the first significant love.

An intimate dual portrait that brings the author’s life into vibrant focus.

HEALING VISIONS

An Anthology of Micro Prose and Fine Art Photography

Various

Photos by Meg Boscov Matter Press (224 pp.)

$30.00 PLB | Feb. 1, 2023

9780999252901

Images of nature inspire poetic effusions in Boscov’s collection of pics, accompanied by pensées written by various authors

The photographer presents 52 of her images, each paired with a short literary vignette by a writer responding to Boscov’s picture. Her primary subject is flowers, rendered in vivid color in lush pond settings, where a blossom may emerge from or stretch out over water on its slender stalk, connected to its reflection by a single pristine droplet. She also works in black and white and artfully processed mixes (the mystical title photograph shows a bright pink-and-white blossom hovering in an inky void over a woman’s face conjured from gray mist). Other favored themes include brightly colored seascapes and grandly austere images of saguaro cacti in the Sonoran Desert lifting their arms in harsh sunlight against a black sky. There’s a feeling of serenity and classical poise in her compositions, sometimes chilly but usually warmed by glowing colors; sometimes she unsettles her pictures by blurring the images at the edges or depicting sweeps of foliage overlain by scratches and sparkles to suggest anxious unrest. The writers respond to these beautifully open-ended images with impressionistic prose poems. Pietra Dunmore likens a snowy white hellebore to a woman putting on makeup (“The look is like music, jazz—a red lip, a winged line on the eye”). A neon-blue aquilegia blossom prompts Tama Janowitz’s whimsically surreal vision of flowers falling on a deranged city neighborhood (“Leaning out the windows, no one could stop themselves from grabbing handfuls, biting yellow tennis ball fluff. ‘What’s

going on?’ occurred to everyone around the same time, suddenly munching more slowly”). An abstract picture of gnarled, black tree limbs enmeshed in shimmering scrub provokes Bonnie Jo Campbell’s bleak observation on the cycle of life (“kindness in youth can be simple, sweet; later, kindness is often the kindness of the sharp knife”). The result is a feast for the eyes and a set of beguiling ruminations on its rich variety.

Sublime botanical visuals elicit haunting meditations on the evanescence of beauty.

THE CYCLE OF EDEN

Book 1: The Young Revolution

Varona, Daniel

Atmosphere Press (596 pp.)

$22.99 paper | $8.99 e-book | Dec. 9, 2022 9781639887361

A young warrior battles sinister forces in a world besieged by darkness in Varona’s fantasy debut and series launch.

Lady Eve was once a queen in her utopian world of Eden. But evil has corrupted the Age of Light, and Eve now leads the Reclaimers in fighting to bring that Light back. A prophetic dream shows her that her youngest son, Seth, is the Chosen One who will ultimately triumph over the darkness. Eve trains him for combat, but a sudden attack at the Reclaimers’ base leaves most of them dead, and the boy is left alone. Six years later, Seth wanders the landscape with his trusty dog, Chase. He resolves to avenge his mother and all who’ve suffered, starting with taking out a diabolical group called the Hand of Sin. This pits him against the likes of Gomorrah, the Gluttonous King of Sodom, along with any number of deadly creatures and lethal mechanical beings. Luckily, he gathers allies along the way, including the skilled warrior Valentina and Ryder, who leads a band of “messengers” on their “speedy vehicles,” which resemble motorcycles. The author delivers an epic series opener reminiscent of the video games that served as his inspiration: Seth drinks a rejuvenating elixir; embarks on a side quest (winning a race to get a ride to the kingdom of Babylonia); and goes head-to-head with boss-level baddies like Gomorrah. The heroes engage in copious exhilarating action scenes as they battle ghouls, monsters sporting large “bone-like spikes,” and seriously depraved villains. Despite all of these evils, the story often feels lighthearted. Chase regularly converses with Seth; the text translates his barks (which Seth understands). The prose includes contemporary-sounding dialogue, breezy similes (a tremor shakes barracks “like a plucked guitar string”), and one-liners. The explosive final act ends on a stellar cliffhanger that will leave readers craving a sequel.

A rollicking, otherworldly tale that’s only just getting started.

young adult

“A feast for the eyes and a set of beguiling ruminations on its rich variety.”

Seen & Heard

dispatches from the book world

BY MICHAEL SCHAUB

NOVEL BY CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER COMING THIS SUMMER

Cedric the Entertainer will make his fiction debut later this year, the Associated Press reports.

Amistad will publish the comedian and actor’s Flipping Boxcars, cowritten with Alan Eisenstock, this summer. The HarperCollins imprint calls the book “a charming, fast-paced novel that pays homage to his beloved grandfather and a generation past, anchored by rich, multi-dimensional characters and oozing with irresistible charm.”

The novel follows Babe, a charming gambler who is in danger of losing his family’s land. He decides to embark on a scheme involving trains, hoping to make it rich while dodging federal investigators. The book’s cover features the comedian’s real name, Cedric Kyles, with “Cedric ‘The Entertainer’ ” in a smaller font.

Cedric is known for his roles in the series The Steve Harvey Show and films including Barbershop and First Reformed. He appeared in the 2000 documentary The Original Kings of Comedy alongside fellow performers Harvey, D.L. Hughley, and Bernie Mac.

He is the author of a previous book, Grown­A$$ Man, published in 2002 by Ballantine.

Cedric announced the novel on Instagram, saying, “It pays homage to my grandfather and generations past. It’s a fastpaced crime caper, and the tale of the daily life of a man they call Babe….We’re going hard with this one, y’all!”

Flipping Boxcars is scheduled for publication on Sept. 12.

AUTHOR KATE SAUNDERS DIES AT 62

Kate Saunders, the English author of novels for children and adults, has died at 62, the Guardian reports.

Saunders, a London native, began her career as an actor, appearing in shows such as Angels, A Family Affair, and Only Fools and Horses. She was a columnist for newspapers and magazines, making her literary debut in 1986 with the novel The Prodigal Father, winner of the Society of Authors’ Betty Trask Award.

Several other novels for adults followed, including Night Shall Overtake Us, The Marrying Game, and Bachelor Boys. She pivoted to children’s literature in 1999 with A Spell of Witches; her other books for younger readers included Magicalamity, The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop, and Five Children on the Western Front

Her most recent book, The Mystery of the Sorrowful Maiden, was published in 2021.

Admirers of Saunders paid tribute to her on social media. On Twitter, children’s book author and illustrator Clara Vulliamy wrote, “So sorry to read that Kate Saunders has died. I remember her as formidably intelligent and tremendous fun.”

And Saunders’ sister, journalist Louisa Saunders, tweeted, “The warmest, bravest, most generous and most brilliant woman I will ever know. Heaven knows how we will live without her.”

Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.

Jason Mendez/Getty Images

Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images

Cedric the Entertainer

Kate Saunders

Michael Lewis’ Moneyball at 20

Long ago, when the Chicago Cubs played spring-training games in the desert city where I live, a friend and I would head to the park to watch the action. My friend was a savant of baseball numbers: He knew the results of every major-league veteran’s every at-bat and every rookie’s high school stats. He couldn’t predict the outcome of every play, but, his head stuffed with data, he could often call the final score well before the seventh-inning stretch.

In baseball, everything is measured. Everything. Measurement means money, and the players who rack up the big bucks are typically the high-number home-run kings and hurlers of mighty heat, not the quietly steady performers.

In Moneyball, published 20 years ago and a classic of both sports and finance writing, Michael Lewis argues that pro scouts usually measure the wrong things. Relying on gut instinct, they’ve favored big guys who hit with power and pitchers with a talent for loading the bases and leaving the runners standing there at the end of the inning—never mind their performance otherwise.

Enter Billy Beane, manager of the cash-strapped Oakland Athletics from 1997 to 2015 (and still a consultant for the team), who’d hired a young Harvard-trained math whiz named Paul DePodesta to scour the numbers and work the so-called “sabermetrics” with him. They discerned patterns that others overlooked while discounting “sight-based scouting prejudices”—“the scouting dislike of short right-handed pitchers, for instance, or the scouting distrust of skinny little guys who get on base.” DePodesta and Beane looked instead at things like “plate discipline,” the ability of a batter not to swing at everything the opposing pitcher throws, a strangely undervalued skill.

“There are smarter ways to play the game,” Lewis writes in Moneyball, and the A’s landed on one that relied not on gut feelings but on cold, hard data. Armed with numbers, the A’s hired players that scouts for other teams overlooked, getting a roster for bargain prices—one that outplayed most other teams with fatter budgets and, in 2002, won the American League West pennant in a 103-59 season.

Still in print, Moneyball was an instant hit. Among its closest readers were front office people in ballparks around the country, some of whom tried Beane’s methods even as MLB scouts huddled to figure out how to dismiss Lewis’ narrative and save their jobs. They didn’t have to worry, because most managers soon reverted to their old ways, not realizing, as Lewis writes, that “the statistics used to evaluate baseball players were probably far more accurate than anything used to measure the value of people who didn’t play baseball for a living.”

Twenty years later, front offices are trying to figure out how to get audiences in the stands, pro baseball having lost much of its popularity because of high ticket prices (driven, in part, by high player salaries). The A’s are on the way to Las Vegas, lacking the money to build a new stadium in the overpriced Bay Area. Their players are still paid less than most other clubs, but early in the 2023 season they were vastly outperforming superrich teams like the New York Mets—and doing it with skinny little guys who get on base.

Gregory McNamee is a contributing editor.

Tabitha Soren

Michael Lewis