September 01, 2023: Volume XCI, No. 17

FEATURING 367 Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction, Children’s, and YA Books

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store reveals the unvarnished truths of small-town America

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

EXTREME MAKEOVER

HELLO, what’s this gorgeous new magazine you’re holding in your hands? It says “Kirkus Reviews” on the cover, but it certainly doesn’t look anything like the publication that’s reliably shown up in your mailbox twice a month for all these years.

That’s right—Kirkus Reviews has undergone a redesign, from top to bottom. Not many nonagenarians—yes, we turned 90 this year—have the opportunity for such a makeover. To help us develop our new look, we tapped art director and graphic designer Christine Bower-Wright. We first met with her back in February, and since then we’ve been quietly working behind the scenes to bring you the issue you see today—clean, elegant, economical, and refreshed.

I say “economical” because there’s a lot of editorial content in sometimes upward of 400 reviews in a single issue—and we wanted every one of them to be readable as well as pleasing to the eye. We wanted our starred reviews to announce themselves—and now they really do. (For those just joining us, the editors award a Kirkus star to books of special distinction, roughly 10% of all the titles we review.) We also wanted to bring into print some of the many stories we run daily on our website; sprinkled throughout the sections you’ll now find such short features as Seen & Heard, Book to Screen, and In the News, along with the author interviews we’ve always published. And we’ve imported one of the most popular web features—our editors’ carefully curated

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booklists—into these pages as well. There’s more to read in each issue of Kirkus Reviews than ever before.

One of the first—and most striking—changes you’ll notice is our cover. On this issue we feature novelist James McBride, author of The Color of Water, The Good Lord Bird, and Deacon King Kong; he’s been a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, winner of a National Book Award, and recipient of a National Humanities Medal. In a review of his latest novel, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (Riverhead, Aug. 8), our critic proposes McBride for the (as-yet-uncreated) position of America’s “storyteller-in-chief,” and you’ll get no argument from fiction editor Laurie Muchnick, who interviews the author on Page 12. For the cover, McBride has been depicted by illustrator Eric Scott Anderson, whose portrait

captures the writer’s likeness as well as his spirit. (That jaunty beret!) If you’re a James McBride fan—and who isn’t?—this is an issue you’ll want to keep. Future issues will feature work by a variety of contemporary artists.

We hope you’ll collect all the issues of Kirkus Reviews to come, whether you’re a librarian who relies on our critical assessments when ordering for your collections, a bookseller staying on top of forthcoming releases, or simply a passionate reader who needs to know about all the books. We redesigned the magazine for you, and we think you’ll enjoy it, whether you’ve been subscribing for decades or just discovering us for the first time. Happy reading! TOM

Illustration by Eric Scott Anderson

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Contributors

Alana Abbott, Reina Luz Alegre, Autumn Allen, Jenny Arch, Kent Armstrong, Ryan Asmussen, Mark Athitakis, Nada Bakri, Colette Bancroft, Sally Battle, Robert Beauregard, Kazia Berkley-Cramer, Elizabeth Bird, Ariel Birdoff, Sarah Blackman, Elissa Bongiorno, Jessica Hoptay Brown, Jeffrey Burke, Abby Bussen, Catherine Cardno, Darren Carlaw, Tobias Carroll, Charles Cassady, Ann Childs, K.W. Colyard, Emma Corngold, Jeannie Coutant, Kim Dare, Miah Daughtery, Maya Davis, Michael Deagler, Dave DeChristopher, Elise DeGuiseppi, Amanda Diehl, Melanie Dragger, Jacob Edwards, Gina Elbert, Lisa Elliott, Gillian Esquivia-Cohen, Jennifer Evans, Joshua Farrington, Brooke Faulkner, Katie Flanagan, Mia Franz, Jenna Friebel, Robbin Friedman, Roberto Friedman, Jean Gazis, Carol Goldman, Amy Goldschlager, Michael Griffith, Ana Grilo, Mary Ann Gwinn, Tobi Haberstroh, Geoff Hamilton, Alec Harvey, Lynne Heffley, Bridey Heing, Zoe Holland, Katrina Niidas Holm, Natalia Holtzman, Julie Hubble, Kathleen T. Isaacs, Darlene Ivy, Matt Jakubowski, Jessica Jernigan, Danielle Jones, Betsy Judkins, Ivan Kenneally, Colleen King, Lyneea Kmail, Megan Dowd Lambert, Carly Lane, Tom Lavoie, Hanna Lee, Judith Leitch, Maya Lekach, Angela Leroux-Lindsey, Elsbeth Lindner, Coeur de Lion, Corrie Locke-Hardy, Barbara London, Patricia Lothrop, Georgia Lowe, Kyle Lukoff, Michael Magras, Joan Malewitz, Thomas Maluck, Collin Marchiando, Gabriela Martins, J. Alejandro Mazariegos, Sierra McKenzie, Zoe McLaughlin, Kathie Meizner, Carol Memmott, Susan Messina, Tara Mokhtari, Clayton Moore, Karen Montgomery Moore, Lisa Moore, Molly Muldoon, Ari Mulgay, Jennifer Nabers, Mike Newirth, Therese Purcell Nielsen, Dan Nolan, Katrina Nye, Tori Ann Ogawa, Connie Ogle, Mike Oppenheim, Derek Parker, Sarah Parker-Lee, Hal Patnott, Deb Paulson, Elizabeth Paulson, Mackenzi Pergolotti, John Edward Peters, Jim Piechota, Vicki Pietrus, Katherine Pushkar, Margaret Quamme, Carolyn Quimby, Judy Quinn, Kristy Raffensberger, Matt Rauscher, Stephanie Reents, Jennifer Reese, Amy B. Reyes, Nancy Thalia Reynolds, Alyssa Rivera, Erica Rivera, Lauren Roberts, Amy Robinson, Bella Rodrigues, Roberto Rodriguez, Gia Ruiz, Lloyd Sachs, Hadeal Salamah, Bob Sanchez, Meredith Schorr, E.F. Schraeder, Hal Schrieve, Jeff Schwaner, Sadaf Siddique, Maia Siegel, Karyn N. Silverman, Linda Simon, Jennifer Smith, Wendy Smith, Kirby Sokolow, Margot E. Spangenberg, Mo Springer, Allie Stevens, Jenn Strattman, Mathangi Subramanian, Rachel Sugar, Jennifer Sweeney, Desiree Thomas, Bill Thompson, Renee Ting, Amanda Toth, Valeria Tsygankov, Bijal Vachharajani, Katie Vermilyea, Elliott Walcroft, Erica Weidner, Audrey Weinbrecht, Lydia Weintraub, Amelia Weiss, Angela Wiley, Grace L. Williams, Vanessa Willoughby, Kerry Winfrey, Marion Winik, Bean Yogi, Jean-Louise Zancanella, Jenny Zbrizher

BIG BOOKS FROM SMALL PRESSES

WITH THE FALL season gearing up, there’s a lot of exciting fiction coming from small presses around the country. Torrey House, based in Salt Lake City, specializes in books about environmentalism and the Western states. The Missing Morningstar by Navajo writer Stacie Shannon Denetsosie (Sept. 12) is a debut collection of stories that “look closely at connections between self and community,” according to our starred review, which calls it “propulsive and complex… gorgeously written.”

Minneapolis-based Coffee House Press will be publishing The Devil

of the Provinces by Colombian writer Juan Cárdenas (translated by Lizzie Davis; Sept. 12), which our starred review calls “a metaphysical crime novel” about a biologist who returns to his hometown after many years abroad and reconsiders the murder of his brother. “Briskly paced, thoughtful, and truly weird.”

Canadian press Biblioasis, based in Windsor, Ontario, also runs a bookstore and is well known in the publishing industry for its bookseller trading cards. This season, they’ll be publishing The Future by Catherine Leroux (translated by Susan Ouriou;

Sept. 5), a novel set in an alternate Detroit that’s still controlled by the French. There’s a bereaved woman, her missing granddaughters, and a park that’s inhabited by bands of feral children. “This atmospheric novel elevates disparate voices, drawing a complex picture of community-focused life beyond the family unit,” says our starred review.

Hub City Press of Spartanburg, South Carolina, focuses on books from the American South. Their fall fiction title, Halle Hill’s Good Women (Sept. 12), is a debut collection of stories that “illuminate the lives of Black women in the contemporary Deep South and Appalachia,” according to our starred review. “A stunning slow burn brimming with observation, emotion, and incident.”

Another debut collection, Ghassan Zeineddine’s Dearborn (Sept. 5), is set in the titular Michigan city but it’s published by Portland, Oregon–based Tin House. Focusing on Dearborn’s Arab American community, the stories are “full of humor and warmth,” according to our starred review. “What Zeineddine can do with a simple storyline and a few pages is a thing of wonder. A fantastic collection.”

Christian Kiefer’s The Heart of It All (Sept. 12),

published by Brooklyn-based Melville House, traces the economic decline of an Ohio town through the lives of characters of many races, including a white couple whose 6-month-old son has died. Our starred review calls it “a thoughtful look at those just getting by from a writer who deserves to be known.”

New York–based New Directions is known for publishing books from around the world. My Work by Danish author Olga Ravn (translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell; Sept. 4) follows Danish author Anna as she experiences pregnancy and new motherhood in a fractured time frame. Our starred review calls it “a stunning book that speaks aloud thoughts the reader believed had been theirs alone in long nursery hours of the night.”

English author Susie Boyt is better known in the U.K. than here, but New York Review Press is trying to change that with the publication of Loved and Missed (Sept. 19), another novel about motherhood. Our starred review says, “Readers who are averse to crying in public be warned: You’ll want to sit with this astounding story at home.”

LAURIE MUCHNICK

Laurie Muchnick is the fiction editor.

Illustration by Eric Scott Anderson

EDITOR’S PICK

A secret history of Korea from the 20th century to the present, suffused with postmodern weirdness.

Park’s beguiling, deliberately knotty second novel—following Personal Days (2008)—is built on three intersecting narratives. The first is told by Soon Sheen, author of an ill-selling shortstory collection and now an employee of GLOAT, a Meta-like tech company. At a gathering of college friends and former publishing colleagues, he’s introduced to Echo, author of what Soon is told is a brilliant novel titled Same Bed, Different Dreams. (Evoking David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, Soon is told by the book’s English translator that “some Koreans had gone mad after just a taste” of it.) The second narrative is the text of that

novel, presented as a history of a secret Korean Provisional Government whose members include South Korean leader Syngman Rhee and a host of assassins, revolutionaries, and politicians. The third narrative concerns Parker Jotter, a Black Korean War veteran who’s written a series of science fiction novels that, à la Philip K. Dick, question the nature of everyday reality. Park pushes each of these stories to the edge of coherence, willfully digressing and filling the tales with commentaries on the Buffalo Sabres, Kim Jong Il’s obsession with the Friday the 13th movies, U.S. president William McKinley’s assassination, and more. Yet there’s no question that Park is in control of the story, and he reconciles it all brilliantly.

It’s an encyclopedic yarn about Korea’s tragic and difficult 20th century, but also a compassionate study of how much we inherit culturally from the past, and how we’re connected to it more deeply than we’re inclined to think. And for all its Pynchonian gamesmanship, it’s

simply fun, rife with detours on parenthood, literature, hockey, and spycraft. Even in moments when it’s not entirely clear where the story’s going, Park is a savvy and entertaining guide. A brash, rangy, sui generis feat of speculative fiction.

Everything Is Not Enough

Åkerström, Lolá Ákínmádé | Morrow/ HarperCollins (400 pp.) | $30.00

Oct. 24, 2023 | 9780063316973

Three Black women navigate racism, classism, and marriage in Sweden.

This is the sequel to In Every Mirror She’s Black (2021), in which three women of color linked in different ways to the same wealthy man navigate the treacherous ground of entitlement, race, and class in one of the most progressive countries in the world. Sweden is often held up as a paragon of inclusive virtue, but for the women in this novel, racism doesn’t stay hidden beneath the surface. Kemi Adeyemi, a powerhouse marketing executive at the firm owned by CEO Johan “Jonny” von Lundin, finds her career in jeopardy when she embarks on a tumultuous affair with a married white colleague. Jonny’s wife, Brittany-Rae, exists in a world of wealth and privilege but finds herself stifled by her husband’s obsessive behavior and believes she’s only a fetish to him. Muna Saheed, a Somali refugee who played a role in the first novel, remains in a coma for most of this book, but her storyline continues through the eyes of her friend Yasmiin Çelik, an immigrant from Mogadishu who must confront the painful secrets of her past—and her husband’s secrets, too. Åkerström paints a harsh portrait of the insidious bigotry in Swedish society, exploring the pressures on Black women to constantly remain strong and unassailable, because making a mistake will never be forgiven. The author also tackles necessary questions about tokenism and economic advantages in an insular society, but the writing doesn’t match the thematic depth of the material. A possible murder plot feels like a sensational distraction, and characters often register as one-dimensional. In the sex scenes, there are so many heaving chests and men “claiming” women that the book

feels like an old-fashioned bodice-ripper instead of the important novel it could be.

Important questions are raised, but inexpert writing and one-dimensional characters detract from the story.

Kirkus Star The Future

Alderman, Naomi | Simon & Schuster (416 pp.) | $28.99 | Nov. 7, 2023

9781668025680

Another vision of the not-too-distant future from the author of The Power (2017).

“On the day the world ended, Lenk Sketlish— CEO and founder of the Fantail social network—sat at dawn beneath the redwoods in a designated location of natural beauty and attempted to inhale from his navel.” Readers who appreciate everything that’s going on in the opening sentence of this novel are likely to enjoy the whole thing. This is a story about the wealthiest people in the world and how they live. Other readers might like to know that this story is set in the very near future in a world that is divided between tech billionaires, preppers, and pretty much everybody else. Where these categories overlap is where it starts to get interesting. Lai Zhen lived through the Fall of Hong Kong to become a survivalism influencer. Martha Einkorn escaped her father’s cult to become Lenk Sketlish’s right hand. Badger Bywater is ready to use their access to Medlar—the network their mother oversees—to help their friends try to save the world. And Selah Nommik is best known as the wife of Zimri Nommik, but she’s also a kickass coder. Alderman begins with the end of the world and moves back and forth in time from that moment, which sometimes makes it difficult for readers to understand where they are relative to end times and sometimes makes it difficult to understand

characters’ relationships to each other at any given moment. That said, Alderman has crafted characters readers will want to follow wherever they go—even to the end of the world.

A smart, engrossing fable about digital technology and human community.

The River, The Town

Ali, Farah | Dzanc (216 pp.) | $26.95 Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781950539888

A mournful but quick-witted slice-of-life story by a Pakistani author.

Ali’s debut novel takes place in a destitute riverside village known only as the Town, on the outskirts of a more affluent City. The river, once “wide and deep,” is reduced to “a thin stream flowing weakly over the ground.” The narrative jumps between eras to show what, like the river’s vitality, has changed. In this story about the irrevocable forces of change, climate catastrophe is inseparable from demographic peril. One of the novel’s narrators, Baadal, whose name means “cloud,” explains that “almost every child born here has been given a name meant to evoke a sensation of coolness, of thirst being quenched.” Water has become so scarce, the heat so severe, that simply surviving the day is a labored effort. In one early scene, as a schoolteacher from the City absurdly extols the “virtue of abstaining from too much food and water,” the classroom fans break down, and Baadal reports, “One by one we fall asleep, or maybe only I do.” The story is told through episodes like this, as if in short bursts of activity that punctuate long, lethargic rests. The all-encompassing fatigue sometimes creates a mood of delirium, in which characters have erratic visions while catastrophic, even fatal accidents occur without explanation. Against this foil, flashbacks—from the perspectives of Baadal’s mother, Raheela; and Meena,

Capable and confidently insightful, Athill delivers a stylish life lesson.

DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT

an older neighbor Baadal begins to court—and ventures to the City sometimes feel bucolic, but they reveal how trauma and struggle can inhabit hereditary cycles. At times, the City seems to offer a chance to “[leave] behind thirst and thinness, the sense of depletion”— but is its promise merely a mirage?

A tender family portrait, depicted with nostalgia and empathy for a precarious way of life.

Don’t Look At Me Like That

Athill, Diana | NYRB Classics (192 pp.)

$16.95 paper | Aug. 15, 2023

9781681376110

The coming of age—and the reaching of happiness—of a sharp-witted woman of good breeding in post–World War II England.

Celebrated memoirist and noted book editor Athill, who died in 2019 at age 101, published this, her first and only novel, in 1967. Now reissued with an afterword by Helen Oyeyemi, the book traces the emergence of Meg Bailey, the granddaughter of a baronet, against a background of 1950s Britain. Class undoubtedly flavors the tale—“they ate jam out of the pot it was sold in”—but it’s Meg’s acerbic, judgmental narrative voice that dominates. She is a loner, the misfit daughter of a Church of England parson and his irritated wife. At school, Meg is deemed conceited, superior, and affected, which in some ways she is, but she’s also shy and short on self-confidence, forever seeking likeminded figures who will assuage her

desire to be “seen.” Roxane Weaver is her one close friend, and Meg lodges with the Weavers while attending art school in Oxford, learning there that she is better at design and illustration than painting. But Meg’s true future lies in London, where she moves into a rackety household and finds a community of friends. True intimacy, however, comes with guilt after she begins an all-consuming affair with Roxane’s husband, Dick. Athill grants Meg a forthrightness of tone that is both challenging and disarming. Withering opinions and almost comically damning truths—“At least I was able to disguise from Henry the degree of my revulsion”—are delivered without cease as Meg plows forward, compromised by her feelings for Dick and Roxane. An episode with an Egyptian friend is a weakness in the novel, but helps usher in the surprising discovery of where Meg’s heart has led her. Capable and confidently insightful, Athill delivers a stylish, candid life lesson.

Tom Clancy Weapons Grade

Bentley, Don | Putnam (512 pp.) | $29.95 Sept. 5, 2023 | 9780593422816

Jack Ryan Jr. is back to risk life and limb in saving a teenage girl from international killers while his father, U.S. President Jack Ryan Sr., figures out what to do with Iran’s clandestine uranium enrichment facility, hidden in a mine.

Junior, head of the secret intelligence outfit The Campus, which was functionally wiped out in Tom Clancy Flash Point (2023), is heading across Texas to a rendezvous with his fiancee, Lisanne Robertson, a one-armed former Marine and cop. He’s waylaid by the aftermath of a multi-vehicle accident that he discovers resulted from a gun attack that left a driver hanging on for life, and now puts Jack in the crosshairs of the gunmen. A tip leads him to a 4 a.m. meeting with Amanda, a single mom whose impetuous daughter, Bella, has run off with her highly undesirable boyfriend only to be abducted by the baddies. Meanwhile...in the nation’s capital, American surveillance has determined that Iran is on the cusp of nuclear armament. The only way to stop them is unleashing an unpiloted and untested super plane with massive destructive power. The book’s treatment of Iran’s “existential threat to the entire globe” as a subplot is rather curious, to say the least. You keep waiting for Bentley to connect the two stories, but that happens only superficially. Late in the book, we are told as an afterthought that Iran’s immediate threat had been “mitigated.” Unfortunately, there is no mitigation of the novel’s hackneyed prose—”The analytical portion of Jack’s brain couldn’t help but be impressed.” Lots of violent action with little payoff.

Bluebeard’s Castle

Biller, Anna | Verso (384 pp.) | $19.95 paper Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781804291856

A gothic novelist becomes the heroine of the most harrowing romance: her own.

Filmmaker

Biller’s debut novel is a feminist update of a classic gothic novel. The protagonist, Judith Moore, is a 26-year-old English virgin, a successful author, and a deeply religious and romantic woman. When she meets Gavin Garnet, the

son of a baron, she literally swoons. Almost instantly, she finds herself under his spell and submitting to him in ways she never has to a man before. During their whirlwind affair, she tells him about her childhood, which was full of money but not love, and how she has always lived in the shadow of her beautiful sister. Judith shares her entire life with him—her secrets, desires, values—but Gavin doesn’t reciprocate: “[A] wall went up in his eyes when she asked him certain questions, like a drawbridge rising up over the moat of a stone castle, barricading it beyond reach.” When the two marry and move into a remote castle, Judith begins to see cracks in the facade of her husband and their marriage—and she struggles to trust him, but more importantly she struggles to trust herself. Though she’s a gothic novelist, Judith writes off (deliberately or not) all the red flags she sees: the insults, anger, gaslighting, secrecy, and lies. Biller makes good use of narrative tropes and comparisons to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and the French fairytale “Bluebeard,” about a wealthy man who murders his wives. Though the story is set in the present day, Biller paints a beautifully creepy atmosphere full of billowy dresses, darkened woods, burning candles, and castle corridors full of ghosts and secrets. The novel’s timeless quality helps drive home the unending nature of male violence against women. Judith’s endless gaslighting and torture make the novel feel oppressive and exhausting at times, but Biller’s use of dark humor, melodrama, and exaggerated archetypes help temper the tone. A campy, gothic debut that shines a light on all the ways men can hurt women.

The Blue Monsoon

Biswas, Damyanti | Thomas & Mercer (409 pp.) | $16.99 paper | Oct. 24, 2023 9781662503924

A grisly murder rocks the bustling metropolis of Mumbai.

Senior Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput races through the crowded streets of Mumbai on a rainy night to an unsettling crime scene. Both the eyes and the genitals have been removed from the male corpse found at a Hindu temple. The macabre crime means that Arnav may upset his wife, Tara, by missing his teenage daughter Pia’s highly anticipated dance performance and the subsequent party. This is a serious complication, for Biswas’ novel focuses as much on Arnav’s relationships with his family and colleagues as on his pursuit of the violent killer. Tara is struggling with a difficult pregnancy, Pia harbors dangerous secrets, and rumors of bribery cast a shadow over Arnav’s inspectors Sita and Desai. The case takes one bizarre turn after another, involving a stolen video, a fading Bollywood actress, some missing necklaces, and more victims. Whether Biswas is describing a bloody crime scene or a personal conversation, she writes with economy and a precision bordering on formality. Much of her story’s impact comes from its unusual structure. Super-short chapters from multiple perspectives build a complex tapestry in small, suspenseful pieces. The psychotic serial killer periodically interrupts the narrative in short,

italicized riffs. A revelation of animus toward Arnav and his family gives the second half of the complex plot an additional charge. Overstuffed and lurid, Biswas’ second Blue Mumbai thriller captures both the diversity and tumult of its unique setting. A compelling procedural awash in crosscurrents.

The Glutton

Blakemore, A.K. | Scribner (320 pp.) | $28.00 Oct. 31, 2023 | 9781668030622

A young peasant boy’s ferocious appetite fascinates and repulses his French countrymen during the revolution.

Tarare is born in 1772 to a young unwed woman and, years later, he is dying while shackled to a hospital bed with only a nun for company, as rumors abound that he’s a cannibal. How his life took such a tragic and grotesque turn is the crux of this novel, which breathes life into the mythology surrounding a real historical figure. Tarare is naïve as a child and limited in intelligence as a teenager, but he’s deeply devoted to his mother; then his stepfather almost beats him to death after he makes an inadvertent slip to a friend about the man’s smuggling business. Forced to flee, Tarare falls in with a band of vagrants headed to Paris and develops a voracious appetite, which their savvy leader quickly turns into a street performance, encouraging Tarare to eat corks, animal corpses, and buckets of entrails. After the group dissolves, Tarare joins the military in hopes of being fed, but his appetite lands him in a hospital, where doctors are fascinated by him but also suggest he might be useful to the battle against the Prussians as a spy who can swallow missives. In Blakemore’s second historical novel, following The Manningtree Witches (2021), she vividly and compassionately imagines the misery

A grisly murder rocks bustling Mumbai in this compelling procedural.

of being the Glutton of Lyon and deftly questions what terrible appetites develop when people are denied love and a place in the world: “Sometimes he worries that hunger is all he is.... It is in this moment, with the delicate cruciform shadow of the church’s weathervane grazing at the toe of his shoe, that Tarare realises he faces down an existence of unrelenting, insatiable want. Of eternal suffering. That a void opened up underneath him when it opened up within him.” In Blakemore’s skilled hands, Tarare becomes complex and fully human rather than an abject horror and historical footnote.

Visceral and haunting.

Sexy Strangers

Bussel, Rachel Kramer. | Cleis (268 pp.) | $18.95 paper | Sept. 12, 2023

9781627783293

This erotic anthology brings together 20 sexy stories of strangers becoming lovers, even if just for a night.

Bussel, editor of many erotica anthologies, opens this collection with a quick introduction on what makes strangers and one-night stands so appealing. In short, it’s the thrill of the unexpected with the shared notion that this is someone they each “want to get naked with.” The beauty of an anthology like this, with so many contributors, is that there’s bound to be a winner or two for even the most particular readers. Not vibing with the current story? You

can easily move on without worrying about lost context. In Suleikha Snyder’s “A Body in Motion,” an unforgettable lap dance between a shy patron and a charismatic erotic dancer turns a repeat performance into something more. The yearning undertones combined with the Magic Mike–inspiration make this one an easy highlight of the collection. Friedrich Kreuz’s “Ken’s of Kensington” features two men sneaking into the sauna of the title, which has been closed for a decade but is still accessible if you know how. The story sometimes takes an odd philosophical turn as the men ruminate on how many other sexual encounters occurred in that very spot. In the aptly named “Hot Neighbor Guy,” by Kate Sloan, a bisexual woman finally gets an invitation from the neighbor she’s been watching through the window after he gets a sexy show from her and her friend Tiff. This one packs plenty of sexual shenanigans into its 13 pages. The stories in the book have a variety of characters and contemporary settings on offer. There’s a sex-toy shop with a salesclerk willing to give a personal demo to a curious customer and a fantasy writer finding her next bit of inspiration in the roguish, costumed tour guide who chats her up. There are plenty of steamy scenarios, but expect unevenness in the pacing and delivery of plot. Easy to pick up and put down, this anthology makes for a fast and fleeting read.

Edith Holler

Carey, Edward | Riverhead (400 pp.)

$28.00 | Oct. 31, 2023 | 9780593188903

A comic novel (tinged with gothic elements) about a girl trapped in her family’s theater in Norwich, England in 1901. When Edith Holler—the precocious 12-year-old narrator of this twisty tale—was christened, an old actress put a curse on her: If the girl ever stepped outside, she would die and the “entire theatre would come tumbling down.” Afterward, the story goes, the actress exploded, spattering blood everywhere. But is the story real?

“We who live in the theatre here have some belief in magical things,” Edith tells us. Both imprisoned and perfectly content, Edith roams the nooks and crannies of the theater, and when she tires of this, she reads about the town’s history and makes a disturbing discovery: The children of Norwich have been disappearing in astonishing numbers. Moreover, she has a pretty good hunch who’s responsible: folk legend Mawther Meg, the woman who allegedly invented Utting’s Beetle Spread, a local delicacy. Since no one takes her seriously, Edith pursues the only avenue open to a child forbidden by her father from speaking to outsiders: She writes a play. This, in turn, sets into motion an uncanny sequence of events that seems to come straight from her script and gives credence to her father’s warning that once a play is out in the world, its characters come to life. Though Carey’s book runs a wee bit long, it is a raucous romp through the world of early 20th-century theater, with its barrels of fake blood and donkeys living in the bowels of the understage to provide the muscle for scene changes. In ways both witty and dark, the novel brilliantly probes the distinction between drama and real life, audience and performer, actor and character. And the whimsical illustrations, all drawn by

>>>

A wonderfully strange and quirky tale about the power of penning and performing tales.

EDITH HOLLER

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JAMES McBRIDE

In his new book, the novelist conjures a colorful small-town America that has nothing to do with Mayberry platitudes.

BY LAURIE MUCHNICK

IN JAMES MCBRIDE’S first book, the memoir The Color of Water (1996), he wrote about finding out that his “light-skinned” mother, who had raised 12 Black children in a Brooklyn housing project, was actually the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. His boisterous and touching new novel, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (Riverhead, Aug. 8), introduces Jewish and Black characters living side by side in the Chicken Hill neighborhood of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in the 1920s. The grocery store of the title, owned by Chonie Ludlow, is where the two communities come together and where Chonie cooks up a plan to hide Dodo, a young Black orphan, when his uncle tells her the state is trying to take him away. “The interlocking destinies of these and other characters make for tense, absorbing drama and, at times, warm, humane comedy,” according to our starred review. I spoke to McBride recently via Zoom; our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

This is the first time Jewish characters have played a large role in your fiction. Why now?

Why did the guy decide to climb Mount Everest? These books just show themselves when they want to. You know, I didn’t plan on writing about a grocery store. I planned on writing about a camp for handicapped kids in Montgomery Township, Pennsylvania, where I once worked, but that book was terrible. It read like pulp fiction—it was just awful—so I discarded it and asked myself, What am I trying to say? And who can say it for me? What I was trying to show was—you have to be really careful what you say, because people get really, really pissed off when you say the wrong thing, although I don’t care because I don’t do internet nonsense anyway. But when I was a kid, there was a Jewish sensibility of caring and humor that was part of New York life. Now that doesn’t mean that Italians weren’t that way, Blacks weren’t that way, blah blah blah, get over it. But there was a quality of caring and humor and humility to Jewish life, and there was a connectivity between that and Black America, in my opinion. And my experience at the camp epitomized that because the guy who ran it was a very Jewish guy, even though he

You just have to open yourself up to the idea that the story is in the air.

Grocery Store is the author’s eighth book.

How did you come to write about Pottstown, Pennsylvania?

When I realized this other novel was terrible, I knew I needed to set Moshe [Chonie’s husband] in a town, and somehow the name Pottsville popped up, I can’t remember how. So I was driving that way and saw signs that said Pottstown, so I just drove there instead. It was a beautiful old Pennsylvania town, a lot of it still looks like it looked in the ’30s. It’s one of those many, many Pennsylvania towns that people walked away from after the manufacturers closed. So I just started hanging out there, did some research in the library at the Historical Society. And there’s a real Chicken Hill there.

You just happened on this place, and it just happened to have an area with the amazing name of Chicken Hill?

I’m telling you, when you go looking for the story, you just have to open yourself up to the idea that the story is in the air; you have to find it and let it find you. So anytime I start working on a new book, I travel around, I go to restaurants, I sit in McDonald’s—I don’t go to bars very often because they’re nothing but sports centers now. People watch TV, they don’t even talk. You go to historical societies and you talk to people—some of them don’t want to talk to you, some of them are just ridiculously provincial, and then others are really, really interesting people. You find out stuff, and then you start.

So what was it that you wanted to say?

If America was supposed to be a nation of immigrants, let’s show the immigrants…instead of pretending that in the ’20s, ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s, every small town was like a Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show. My mother’s small town where she grew up wasn’t like Mayberry, and her family were white people. For Black folks, it certainly wasn’t like Mayberry. And many of them couldn’t stand it, and that’s why they came to New York. [There’s] this fictionalization of the past as some great time when people were so happy, and girls were girls, and boys were boys, and men were men, and women

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store McBride, James Riverhead | 400 pp. | $28.00 Aug. 8, 2023 | 9780593422946

cooked and they were just in their place. I mean, that’s Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito, and they can kiss my ass. And I wish somebody would just start saying it. I’m sick of this fictional crap, this historical nonsense. Let’s face it: America wasn’t Mayberry. We had to stretch and pull and work hard to make this quilt come together. And a lot of people suffered and sacrificed so that we came together well and nicely, and if we don’t take care of it, then their struggles would be in vain.

A lot of the plot revolves around Dodo and how the state wants to take him away to put him in an institution. Can you tell us the history there?

Pottstown is right down the street from Pennhurst, which is a notorious state institution for “mentally ill” people. And these places were like zoos, like human zoos. A wife could get divorced from her husband, and he could say she had a nervous breakdown and put her in there. It’s not a stretch at all to think that the state would take this kid, because he was from the Black side of Pottstown, and you know, We want to keep them Black people quiet and we don’t want no trouble. I’m a state employee and we’ll just take care of

. It just so happened that this kid was in the wrong place for the state to take him, because this stubborn Jewish lady really cared about him. And that is what it boils down to. This woman happened to be the wrong person for the state to fool around with and so it backfired on them. These are the kinds of stories I get out of bed to create and

The book opens in 1972, then it moves back 47 years, but there’s one spot where you kind of foreshadow the present, looking ahead to “a future in which devices that fit in one’s pocket and went zip, zap, and zilch delivered danger…that children of the future would clamor for and become addicted to, a device that fed them their oppression disguised as free thought.” Why did you decide to put that in?

Look, in every jazz solo there’s a place where you tell the audience, This is what I’m really saying. That was my Toni Morrison moment—you don’t want to tell people too much, and you don’t want to make them feel bad about being alive. On the other hand, I think it’s important for people to know the precious culture that many of these people left behind—and for good reason—that many jewels were left on the beach. And the question is, do you go back and get some of that polish? Or do you keep pushing ahead to where we are now, with the great-grandchildren of these hardworking, idealistic people ending up fighting over a computer game or cellphone? Did they work that hard so you could sit there and not vote and let some antisemitic son of a you-know-what claim this nation for his own? And if you’re a young person, you don’t pay attention to that, and then all the suffering people did in the past is no good. But you can’t say that to people because it turns them off. You have to figure out a way to make them take their medicine, to present truth and justice in a way that makes you feel good about doing it.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Story received a starred review in the June 1, 2023, issue.

SEEN AND HEARD

Authors Sue OpenAI Over Use of Their Books

Two authors are suing the artificial intelligence laboratory OpenAI, claiming that it used their books without permission to train its chatbot ChatGPT, Reuters reports.

The lawsuit was brought by novelists Mona Awad (13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, All’s Well ) and Paul Tremblay (The Cabin at the End of the World, Survivor Song) and filed in a federal court in San Francisco. In the lawsuit, the attorneys representing Awad and Tremblay write, “[W]hen ChatGPT is prompted, ChatGPT generates summaries of

Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works—something only possible if ChatGPT was trained on Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works. Defendants, by and through the use of ChatGPT, benefit [commercially] and profit richly from the use of Plaintiffs’ and Class members’ copyrighted materials.”

The writers’ lawyers claim that their books “were copied by OpenAI without consent, without credit, and without compensation.”

The lawsuit says that OpenAI engaged in direct and vicarious copyright infringement, unfair competition, negligence, and unjust enrichment. The attorneys are asking that the suit proceed as a class action and are seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief.

OpenAI is at the center of other lawsuits. Recently, a law firm initiated a class action suit against the company, accusing it of “data scraping” blog posts and other online material. And a Georgia radio host is suing OpenAI for alleged defamation, claiming that ChatGPT-generated text stated that he embezzled money from a nonprofit organization.

—MICHAEL SCHAUB

Paul Tremblay is one of two novelists bringing

Theo Wargo/WireImage

AWARDS

Nicola Griffith, above, and Zain Khalid are among those up for the $25,000 prize.

Shortlist for Ursula K. Le Guin Prize Is Revealed

The shortlist for the 2023 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize, given annually to “a writer for a single work of imaginative fiction,” has been revealed, with Yuri Herrera, Zain Khalid, and Nicola Griffith among the authors in contention for the award.

Ten Planets, written by Herrera and translated by Lisa Dillman, was shortlisted for the prize, along with Khalid’s Brother Alive, which was the winner of the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize.

Griffith made the shortlist for Spear ; the novel won the Los Angeles Times’ Ray Bradbury Prize and was a finalist for the Nebula Award for best novel. Rebecca Campbell was named a finalist for Arboreality, alongside Christiane M. Andrews for Wolfish and Yvette Lisa Ndlovu for Drinking From Graveyard Wells

Rounding out the shortlist were Simon Jimenez for The Spear Cuts Through Water, Akil Kumarasamy for Meet Us by the Roaring Sea, and R.B. Lemberg for Geometries of Belonging.

The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize, named after the science fiction and fantasy author who died in 2018, was first awarded last year, to Khadija Abdalla Bajaber for The House of Rust. The winner of this year’s award, which comes with a cash prize of $25,000, will be announced later this year.—M.S.

Griffith: Jennifer Dunham; Kahlid: Roxana Kadroyva

Carey himself, are the perfect accompaniment to a story about an art form as visual as it is verbal. A wonderfully strange and quirky tale about the power of penning and performing tales.

In Their Shadows

Cole, Briana | Dafina/Kensington (320 pp.) | $16.95 paper | Oct. 24, 2023 9781496738769

With a nod to classic noir, the second in Cole’s Pseudo series imagines what happens when a scam artist’s past catches up to her future.

April Garrett is a fake and a conniver. The daughter of a scam artist mother who’s constantly on the lookout for the next grift, April has always been playing a part, walking in the shadow of her counterfeit selves. Married off to a much older man when she’s a teen so she and her mother can steal his fortune, April, now in her 20s, is married to two other men she’s manipulating. This isn’t her mother’s doing—it’s just that she doesn’t know any other way to be. In one life she’s Michelle Evans, married to Carter, an architect. She’s also Erin Duncan, married to restaurant owner Ramsey. As easily as she swaps out her beachy wave wig for one with braids or styled in a pixie cut, she switches identities. But her pretend lives crash into her hidden-away April persona when she meets a man she believes knows her secrets and may be plotting to kill her. Cole, author of the erotic and edgy Unconditional series about strong Black women who get what they want, dishes up a moody story about an abusive mother-daughter relationship, a woman carrying the burden of too many secrets she wants to keep buried no matter the cost. Like Alfred Hitchcock in Vertigo and Patricia Highsmith in The Talented Mr. Ripley , Cole combines suspense and mystery

and creates a propulsive tale about the toll false identities have on the people who wear them. Visceral dialogue that lands like punches and gasp-worthy last-minute shocks will please fans of escapist stories filled with dark deeds and enigmatic characters. Multiple identities take their toll in this dark tale of deception.

Lazy City

Connolly, Rachel | Liveright/Norton (288 pp.) | $16.95 paper | Oct. 3, 2023 9781324094135

After the tragic death of her best friend, a young woman returns home to Belfast, where she considers past relationships, her faith, and Northern Ireland’s recent history.

On leave from her graduate program and back home in Belfast, Erin, the narrator of Connolly’s thoughtful debut, attempts to rebuild her life after the loss of her best friend. Unsure what to do next and unable to live with her emotionally unstable mother, Erin moves into a wealthier neighbor’s house, acting as house cleaner and live-in babysitter for her two kids. Most evenings are spent drinking with her hometown friend Declan, an aspiring artist who’s now working at their neighborhood bar. It’s there that she meets Matt, a lonely yet suspiciously cheerful American, who’s in Belfast to teach a course at Queen’s University and write his novel. She and Matt begin seeing each other and, against her better

judgement, she also resumes a quasi-relationship with an old flame, Mikey. As Erin moves through the daily motions—running, cleaning, drinking, sex with Matt or Mikey—she struggles to confront the depths of her grief. Unable to confide in others, she finds herself returning to church, where she begins to find some level of catharsis while sitting alone among the religious imagery. Erin is a compelling narrator whose few, well-earned moments of self-discovery and exuberance bring life to the narrative. But the emphasis on quotidian details—drinks consumed, drugs taken, routines followed—coupled with an over-reliance on Erin’s often underdeveloped introspection means that the novel never quite reaches its emotional potential, and Erin’s thorny relationships with her mother, Mikey, Matt, and herself often lack satisfyingly deep interrogation.

Excels in its measured and realistic portrait of grief but struggles to develop into a propulsive narrative.

Kirkus Star

The Good Part

Cousens, Sophie | Putnam (368 pp.) $18.00 paper | Nov. 7, 2023 9780593539897

A stressed-out London 20-something desperately wishes to skip to the “good part” of her life.

Lucy Young is struggling. She works in her dream field, television, but she’s a junior researcher

A moving and funny reminder that life is meant to be lived one day at a time.

THE GOOD PART

who gets little respect. She lives in a dumpy flat with roommates who do things like make bone broth in the bathtub. Plus, she’s stuck going on demoralizing first dates that never turn into anything more. When she finds a wishing machine at the back of a shop, she makes a wish to skip to the “good part”: the part where she’s met her soulmate, isn’t broke, and has a career that makes her proud. The next morning, she wakes up in a strange house, with a strange man sleeping beside her. Lucy eventually pieces together that the wishing machine was real, and she’s skipped the last 16 years of her life to end up in the “good part.” Her husband, Sam, takes her to a doctor who diagnoses temporary amnesia, even though Lucy knows that’s not what happened. No one believes her, though, except her 7-year-old son, Felix, who thinks she’s an alien invader and becomes determined to send her back where she came from. As Lucy gets more familiar with her new life, she realizes that she really did get everything she dreamed of, but she has no memories of the happy events that got her there, like falling in love. Worse, she realizes that tragedies have happened and she has no memory of those, either. Lucy starts to understand that perhaps the woman at the wishing machine shop was right when she said, “Life is never quite sorted whatever stage you’re at.” Cousens has written another gentle love story that manages to be both hilarious and poignant. Lucy’s time travel leads to many funny mishaps (like getting used to the high-tech cars of the future, which dispense positive affirmations in the voice of Stanley Tucci), but also some genuinely tear-jerking moments.

A moving and funny reminder that life is meant to be lived one day at a time.

Kirkus Star

The Madstone

Crook, Elizabeth | Little, Brown (288 pp.) $29.00 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780316564342

A spirited tale of the Old West, with outlaws, jewels, and a few good guys.

Crook brings back the likable narrator of her last novel, The Which Way Tree (2018). It’s two years later, around 1868, and 19-year-old Ben Shreve is working as a carpenter in Comfort, Texas, north of San Antonio. He’s still wondering about his half sister, Sam, who took off in the previous book to hunt down the panther that scarred her and killed her mother. Through an outhouse misunderstanding, Ben winds up sharing his wagon with a treasure hunter named Dickie Bell who has found some unusual jewelry and needs a lift to the gulf town of Indianola. They pick up a man whose horse was stolen by highway robbers, “imposter Indians...dressed up like chiefs,” and who refuses to tell them his name. Down the road a piece, the stranger is shot to death by a young pregnant woman whose stagecoach was being attacked by the same imposters who hijacked the unnamed man, who were then interrupted by a different group of bandits. Nell and her 4-yearold son, Tot, continue with Ben and Dickie. Why she shot the man has to do with marital discord and a vicious outlaw taken from Texas history named Cullen Baker, a.k.a. the Swamp Fox, some of whose men are pursuing Tot. Other perils include a rabid coyote and a rattlesnake. Certain threats may lose their sting because some survivors are obvious, given that the story is told in the form of a long letter from Ben to Tot. As in the last novel, Crook notes Ben’s knowledge of Moby-Dick, but the guiding spirit here feels more like Dickens than Melville. Crook has a gift for engaging details, such as the simple comfort, to a young

carpenter raised poor, of a room with a bed and chair and “a nicely carved chest of drawers, with a washbowl atop it, and a small rug alongside the bed.” An entertaining, well-paced yarn, and a sequel that suggests another installment.

Silent City

Davis-Goff, Sarah | Flatiron Books (256 pp.) $27.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781250262622

Post-apocalyptic Ireland is a chilling setting for this dystopian novel.

When something called the Emergency strikes Ireland, turning most of its human population into terrifying zombie-like creatures called skrake, 14-year-old Orpen is on her own after her two mothers die. She’s captured by a band of banshees, women who serve as warriors and guards for the few thousand humans left living in Phoenix City, a walled city adjacent to Dublin. Judged fit by Ash, the formidable banshee leader, Orpen becomes part of A-Troop, the squad that captured her, and is trained to fight and kill. The banshees are structured on the Spartan model, with bonded pairs of women who live and fight together. Orpen soon becomes attached emotionally to her partner, Agata, despite her mysterious absences. Orpen also learns about the strict social hierarchy of the city, with management (mostly male) at the top; farmers, breeders, and wallers, who work constantly to build and repair the thick, high walls that keep out the ravening skrake, next; and, at the bottom, the shunned dwellers in what’s called the shanties, formerly the Dublin Zoo. Banshees hold special status as enforcers, but most of the city’s scant resources are controlled by the leaders, who reinforce their power by holding occasional human sacrifices of rule-breakers. The novel’s worldbuilding is crisply efficient, with enough

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detail to create a sense of dread, especially in set pieces like a banshee foray into a long-abandoned airport to hunt for supplies. Orpen’s candid first-person narration lets the reader learn about her new world as she does, an isolated place without electricity or cars, factories or guns, and dwindling levels of literacy. The plot is fast-paced and suspenseful, and the banshees satisfyingly heroic.

A girl comes of age as a warrior in a ruined world in this headlong thriller.

Her Side of the Story

de Céspedes, Alba | Trans. by Jill Foulston Astra House (512 pp.) | $29.00

Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781662601439

A young woman looks back on her life in Rome before and during the Second World War in this new translation of an Italian novel first published in 1949.

Alessandra Corteggiani grows up in a middle-class home, full of romantic longing and shadowed by the memory of a brother who died before she was born. She’s tightly attached to her mother, whose artistic ambitions have been reduced to teaching piano and who passes along to Alessandra a well-thumbed copy of Madame Bovary. Like the other mothers in their apartment building, Alessandra’s is involved romantically with one of the “younger men of a slightly higher class” who hang around in search of afternoon dalliances. When her mother dies unexpectedly, Alessandra’s father sends her to live with his large extended family in southern Italy, though her refusal to accept a proposal from a local farmer— and her strangling of the family rooster—get her booted back to Rome. She spends two years in an “endless, dark tunnel” of office work, university studies, and housework for her father. Then she falls in love with Francesco Minelli, an academic and anti-fascist agitator 11 years her senior, and

dedicates herself completely to cultivating the “great love” for which she has always longed—a project which, to Francesco’s detriment, he seems only marginally aware of as he continues with his own life and projects through the war and beyond. Readers shouldn’t expect much in terms of plot twists. Instead, de Céspedes immerses the reader in the febrile consciousness of a young woman with too much time on her hands and too many overpowering fantasies about a long series of men with agendas of their own. A lavishly detailed critique of romantic ideals and social constrictions.

Kirkus Star The Last Language

duBois, Jennifer | Milkweed (240 pp.) $26.00 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781639551088

Recently, Angela’s husband died, she got kicked out of her doctoral program in linguistics at Harvard, and she had a miscarriage. And, as is apparent from the fact that she’s writing her story from jail, that’s hardly the worst of it.

With $78,000 of student loan debt, a grief-stricken 4-year-old daughter, and a resumé that reveals her to be nearly unemployable, Angela is forced to move in with her mother, a social worker, in Medford (“not the nice part”). One bit of luck: Alan, her mother’s longtime colleague and best friend, has found her a job working as a speech pathologist, helping nonspeaking patients communicate via a device she describes as “an overgrown graphing calculator.” The therapy has patient and facilitator hand in hand, spelling words on the machine. It’s controversial and unproven (“like a Ouija board,” Angela and the reader think) but she needs the work, so she takes it. Eventually, Angela is assigned to Sam, a 28-year-old who inexplicably

stopped thriving at 18 months and now, nonverbal and barely mobile, lives with his mother, Sandi. Soon enough, an initially skeptical Angela makes wild progress, discovering in Sam a keen and uncannily simpatico thinker who could very well be her soul mate. During their breakthrough session he tells her, “I am excruciatingly literate.” Indeed! Author duBois expertly unspools Angela’s journey to the dock, as the unreliable narrator’s mental state comes increasingly into question, teasing a Garp-ian turn and dire consequences that contemporary notions of sexual abuse and consent require. While occasionally tiresome (because linguistics), the beyond-biting academic-satire companion plot provides many laugh-out-loud moments. Angela, cursing her “archnemesis”: “I hoped he was on NPR every day until he died.” Delicious. A sharp, beguiling tale of madness, this is metafiction done right.

The House of the Coptic Woman

El-Ashmawi, Ashraf | Trans. by Peter Daniel Hoopoe (216 pp.) | $18.95 paper Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781649032546

Egyptian novelist and jurist

El-Ashmawi delivers an allegorical tale of religious strife in a desert backwater.

Tayea Village isn’t much of a place, as Nader Fayez Kamal discovers on arriving. The most interesting thing about the farming backwater is its name, which honors a former mayor but which the inhabitants mispronounce: “They called it Tayha , as in the lost soul,

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instead of the obedient one.” The “lost soul” sobriquet is fitting, for, explains a villager with the redolent name of Ramses Iskander, the house in which Nader, a public prosecutor, has been billeted is said to be haunted by the ghost of a British colonial officer, and in the wake of the resulting curse some of its previous Muslim inhabitants abandoned the town, which was then settled by Christians. One such lost soul wanders into Tayea about the same time Nader does, a woman named Hoda Yusef Habib, who, raped by her stepfather, has been married off to a brutish, abusive older man. Now a widow—or so she thinks—Hoda assumes a Coptic identity and hides in open sight, in the bargain revealing healing powers reminiscent of the biblical tale of Lazarus. Those powers don’t extend to keeping peace between Christians and Muslims, however, and El-Ashmawi’s story becomes one of grinding vendettas, lawsuits, and murders, with a leavening of sardonic magic realism in the vein more of Dürrenmatt than García Márquez. Much of the story can be read as a thinly veiled critique of the last years of the Mubarak regime, marked by sectarian violence and official corruption. The characters are too thinly developed to carry much weight. Nader, though committed to justice, is both weak and shallow: He carries a gun without bullets and lives in fear of a call from his distant but demanding fiancee, while Hoda, strong and resolute, pays a terrible price “simply because she wanted to live,” an outcome that can be predicted well before the book’s end.

Of some interest to readers of contemporary Arabic literature.

MAIDEN

Shield Maiden

Emmerichs, Sharon | Redhook/Orbit (452 pp.) | $18.99 paper | Oct. 3, 2023 9780316566919

A focus-shifted retelling of Beowulf’s final battle.

Set in 994 CE, debut author Emmerichs’ romantic historical fantasy introduces Fryda of Clan Waegmunding—a brave, beneficent 20-year-old who is daughter to Lord Weohstan of Eċeweall and niece to King Beowulf, legendary hero turned ruler of Geatland. Fryda dreams of becoming an elite warrior known as a shield maiden, but her widowed father’s overprotective nature combined with limitations imposed by a misshapen left hand force her to settle for covertly sparring with her friend Hild, an African indentured servant, and her secret crush, Theow, an enslaved Celt. Fryda’s practice pays off when three men attack and attempt to abduct her during a feast celebrating Beowulf and his half-century on the throne. Theow hears Fryda’s cries and helps dispatch the assailants, one of whose final words suggest the entire enclave is in danger. Fryda warns both Weohstan and her boorish twin brother, Wiglaf, about the threat, but they dismiss her concerns, prompting Fryda to launch her own investigation. Meanwhile, Fryda begins experiencing strange surges of superhuman strength, and in a nearby cave, Fýrdraca, last of the fire-dragons, stirs for the first time in centuries. After a languid start rich with character development,

Emmerichs changes gears, skillfully juxtaposing high-stakes action and interpersonal drama with breezy banter and sharp wit. The intricate plot thrills and inspires, fashioning a hidden history that at once honors the original Old English poem and re-contextualizes the tale, conferring new relevance.

Kindhearted and fiercely feminist.

Let the Dead Bury the Dead

Epstein, Allison | Doubleday (368 pp.) $28.00 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9780385549097

Upheaval in Tsarist Russia. After Napoleon’s army retreated from Russia in 1812, years of brutal war left the populace impoverished, roiling with political unrest, and seething with rebellion. Epstein captures the tensions and contradictions of the time in a dramatic page-turner involving the tsar’s wayward younger son, Grand Duke Felix; Felix’s lover, Sasha, a soldier just returned from the war; and Sofia Azarova, a mesmerizing woman whom Sasha rescues when he finds her prostrate in the snow. Felix is an aristocrat out of central casting: “Tall, strong shouldered, and slim-waisted,” Sasha observes; at 28, “he still looked like a storybook prince.” His imperious father has exiled him to the sumptuous but far-off Catherine Palace, where he can draw on an ample allowance to indulge his “zest for grandeur.” But Felix’s life changes irrevocably when Sasha walks in carrying Sofia in his arms. Beautiful, fascinating, and undeniably charismatic, Sofia entices Felix, as if in a spell. Sasha warns him: There is something uncanny about her. She could be a witch, a vila, an evil spirit. But with Sofia’s arrival, Sasha realizes, “the trust between them had become fragile,” and Felix cannot heed

>>>

A kindhearted and fiercely feminist retelling of Beowulf’s final battle.

SHIELD

13 WRITERS TRANSFORMING THE GENRE

Mystery novels have come a long way since the days of Poe and Agatha Christie. These authors have changed the rules of the game.

BY THOMAS LEITCH

THROUGHOUT ITS history, the mystery genre has been defined by transformations. If the great detectives created by Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle sought to impress readers, the golden-age detectives of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ellery Queen invited readers to a competition, solving crimes based on the scrupulously fair presentation of the evidence. The hard-boiled private eyes of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler rejected the country-house coziness of the golden age and emphasized the inhumanity, professionalism and prevalence of

violent crime, and the police procedurals pioneered by Ed McBain and J.J. Marric subordinated individual mysteries to their heroes’ expansive caseloads. All the while, female investigators from Jane Marple to Kay Scarpetta had been making inroads into the once exclusively male province of detectives, and the formulaic story of crime and detection was being gradually supplanted by what Julian Symons called the crime novel, which generated suspense by exploring a surprising range of mysteries outside the realm of the traditional whodunit. So any attempts to transform the genre

these days operate within both a long tradition of earlier transformations and a challenge to produce further changes that feel genuinely new.

Recent writers have risen to this challenge in refreshingly varied ways. The most obvious way to transform the mystery genre is to transform the detective, either by creating detectives whose race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or background makes them look and sound and act different from other detectives or by expanding the detective’s brief to cover a wider range of activities. Take Yasmin Angoe’s trilogy about Nena Knight, whose foster father, Ghanian patriarch Noble Knight, has had her trained as an assassin for the African Tribal Council. Though Nena’s professional brief would seem to make her the opposite of a detective, Angoe intersperses her

Mosley: Marcia Wilson; Torre:Eric Dean Photography; Akunin: Anatoly Belov; Agnoe: Rodney Williams-Creative Images Photography

From left to right: Walter Mosley, A.R.Torre, Boris Akunin, Yasmin Angoe, Kwei Quartey, Sophie Hannah, Anthony Horowitz

three adventures—Her Name Is Knight (2021), They Come at Knight (2022) and It Ends With Knight (2023)—with so many details about her traumatic childhood, which was marked by betrayal, kidnapping, enslavement, and gang rape, that the commissions she’s given become quests for personal vengeance and defining actions in the formation and preservation of her larger community. Readers whose interest in the struggles of African heroes and nations to determine their own destinies has been kindled by Black Panther will revel in Nena’s scorched-earth tactics and Angoe’s radical rehandling of traditional detective tropes.

If Nena Knight is the avenging detective as superwoman, Samuel Honig, the unlikely hero of half a dozen novels ostensibly produced by the team of E.J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen (Copperman’s birth name), is a nondetective who struggles endlessly to persuade other people of his humanity. In five cases beginning with The Question of the Missing Head (2014), Samuel insists that his Asperger’s syndrome isn’t autism and that Questions Answered, the establishment he owns and operates, isn’t a detective agency. The romantic, emotional, and interpersonal problems of Samuel’s clients seem specifically designed to challenge his limited powers of empathy, which are rooted in the same emotional detachment that Dr. Watson diagnosed early on in Sherlock Holmes.

Can Samuel tell a client whether or not a suspicious associate is really his friend? Can a man cheat on his wife with a dead mistress? What’s become of Samuel’s own father, gone AWOL a generation ago to Samuel’s own complete lack of interest? Samuel’s encounters with both clients and suspects constantly use these riddles to raise questions about the relations between the neurodivergent and the allegedly neurotypical.

A closely related way of expanding the remit of the mystery story is to expand its boundaries literally. From its earliest days, the notoriously Anglophone genre established outposts as far away as India, China, and Japan, and the explosion of Nordic Noir—following the international success in the 1970s of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö’s stories about Stockholm police detective Martin Beck—opened the gates still wider. Given the richness of Nordic Noir in the hands of authors as different as Henning Mankell, Karin Fossum, Camilla Läckberg, and Jo Nesbø, any choice from among the field would inevitably be arbitrary. But Ragnar Jónasson stands out because of the varied ways he roots his detectives’ investigations in both the natural and the sociocultural particulars of Iceland. Whether he’s chronicling the adventures of Ari Thór Arason of the Siglufjördur police in his Dark Iceland series or penning blistering standalones like The Darkness (2018) and

Reykjavík (2023) that take up cold cases that are both colder and hotter than you can imagine, Jónasson’s sense of Iceland as an otherworldly place that’s both sequestered from the rest of the world and a cesspool for all the world’s problems is unexcelled.

Readers seeking tropical warmth after their Icelandic excursion will welcome the detective stories of Kwei Quartey. Building on earlier anatomies of African crime by James McClure and Alexander McCall Smith, Quartey pits DI Darko Dawson of the Ghana Police Service against a series of killers who target homeless teenagers, an oil executive and his wife, an American who vanished after he was scammed by a romantic correspondent who may never have existed, and Dawson’s own sister-in-law. Whether he’s prowling the mean streets of Accra or getting dispatched to remote backcountry regions, Dawson uproots the systemic corruption behind individual crimes in a way that would do Philip Marlowe proud. Emma Djan, the private eye Quartey debuts in The Missing American (2019), has a personal history marked by so many kinds of more intimate oppression that she and her investigations focus the social problems of postcolonial Ghana even more painfully.

Closer to home, C.J. Box has used Wyoming Fish and Game Warden Joe Pickett to reimagine the role of the Western lawman in some two dozen novels from Open Season (2001) through Storm Watch (2023). Joe is no Wyatt Earp. He can’t shoot straight; he’s always losing administrative battles with his bosses and counterparts in other law-enforcement agencies; he keeps getting tangled up trying to keep his old friend, falconer Nate Romanowski, out of legal trouble; he’s constantly getting played by the Wyoming governor, who calls on him for favors and then sends him away; he can’t even control the rapacious and increasingly criminal activities of his much-married mother-in-law. But his finely honed instincts make him an effective sleuth whose adventures trace the ongoing conflicts between

Kwartey: Soho Press; Hannah: Onur Pinar; Horowitz: Anna Lythgoe

newcomers and natives, developers and preservationists, humans and animals, against a consistently spectacular series of high-country landscapes.

Boris Akunin has devoted his career to expanding the boundaries of the mystery field both geographically and temporally. Although the historical mystery has flourished for nearly 75 years, Akunin’s tales of Russian Collegiate Assessor Erast Petrovich Fandorin are unlike any others in the subgenre. Fandorin’s successive encounters with a Russia-bound Jack the Ripper, an anti-czarist cabal of terrorists, and a 1900 Moscow suicide club are at once more earnest, more deeply rooted in historical detail, and more exuberantly playful than those of his forebears. Akunin, whose contemporary novel Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog (2007) unearthed a raft of remarkable affinities between Fyodor Dostoevsky and Agatha Christie, is so resourceful and inventive when he returns to the past that Fandorin’s mind-bogglingly complicated adventures are guaranteed to astound even the savviest fans of historical mysteries even as they reveal both unexpected links between past and present and unexpected gaps in readers’ historical hindsight.

Fans who are less interested in original characters and settings than in original plots have a wide range of other options. Brad Parks has made a career out of premises as audacious as they are compelling. The people who’ve snatched a judge’s young twins in Say Nothing (2017) are determined to influence the outcome of what looks like an utterly routine criminal case. A Virginia trucking dispatcher with a troubled past enters a much more troubled present when she’s suddenly accused of drug dealing, assaulting a police officer, and murder in Closer Than You Know (2018). In Interference (2020), a Dartmouth physicist whose work on quantum interference has made him wonder whether his consciousness has been merged with the larger universe is grabbed on the way to the hospital— and held for $5 million—after his latest attack sends him into a coma. In Unthinkable (2021), an

attorney whose kidnapper insists that he can see the future is faced with the question of whether he should kill his wife to prevent a billion deaths threatened by the calamitous global warming her lawsuit will unwittingly release.

A more widespread development in recent mystery fiction, the floridly melodramatic inflation of pedestrian domestic fears and follies, pushes the conventions of gothics like Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca into the stratosphere. After alternating in The Widower’s Wife (2016) between an insurance investigator’s inquiries into Ana Bacon’s fall from a cruise ship deck and a series of flashbacks from Ana’s viewpoint in the days leading up to her apparent demise, Cate Holahan turned Lies She Told (2017) into a beleaguered romance novelist’s attempt to write herself back from the edge by basing her new novel on a nightmarish version of her own life, producing an even more extravagant tour de force of back-and-forth. In One Little Secret (2019), her treatment of a Hamptons vacation interrupted by murder is even more time-warped, fragmented, and ambitious. Genre fans tired of linear plots can find mounting suspense in Holahan’s after-before-during cocktails, each of them guaranteed to leave readers both shaken and stirred.

A.R. Torre’s tales of suburban secrets are less twisty but nastier. A pampered wife finds that she has to fight to keep her husband from an affair with an ambitious neighbor who wants either

a wealthier husband or a big payoff in Every Last Secret (2020), which the Kirkus reviewer described as “Mean Girls for grownups.” The psychiatrist who signs on to prove the innocence of a serial kidnapper she’s convinced is guilty in The Good Lie (2021) finds that the case has unwelcome ties to her professional and personal life. An obituary writer’s revenge affair turns her life and that of her high school son toxic in A Familiar Stranger (2022). Every character in A Fatal Affair (2023) seems to be hiding life-threatening secrets, and Torre provides a series of dazzling revelations that knit them together so tightly you want to cry uncle even if, as you keep reading, you wait for her to connect the murder that opens the story with the double disappearance that keeps it going.

Other writers are less interested in devising inventive plots than in putting inventive spins on familiar plots. Melding the conventions of John le Carré’s tales of post–Cold War spying and Christopher Fowler’s farcical tales of not-quite-retired police detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, Mick Herron’s novels about Slough House, where British agents who can’t toe the line are put out to pasture, tread a fine line between wickedly pointed satire and global paranoia. Beginning with Slow Horses (2010), Herron patiently traced everything that can go wrong as these has-beens struggle to bring themselves to the attention of their uncaring, careerist bosses at MI5 and

Cosimano: Powel Woulfe Photography; Herron: Jo Howard; Copperman: Jeff Cohen

succeed all too well, though not in the ways they’d hoped. In Bad Actors (2022), the eighth and most recent installment in the series, heartless Diana Taverner, the First Desk nemesis of Slough House, is forced to go into hiding, and even though the fate of the free world hangs in the balance, it’s great fun watching her squirm while members of the intelligence community demonstrate everything but intelligence.

Readers hungry for lower-stakes laughter in an equally unlikely setting will eat up Elle Cosimano’s first three novels about the improbable adventures of a struggling novelist of romantic suspense. In Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (2021), a neighbor who overhears the eponymous heroine talking about her latest novel, thinking that she’s a professional killer, hires her to murder her abusive

husband. Cosimano follows up this unrepeatable premise by putting Finlay in the middle of a hit against her own ex by the online assassin EasyClean in Finlay Donovan Knocks ’Em Dead (2022). Threatened with exposure in Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun (2023), the chatty, resourceful heroine, whose ongoing domestic problems already threaten to tax her past the breaking point, develops new strategies, ruses, and stunts en route to a cliffhanger ending that will leave fans hungry for another sequel as soon as they stop laughing.

Still more authors keep familiar pots simmering by supplying transformative pastiches of beloved authors and detectives. Television writer Anthony Horowitz, who’s also published a series of successful Sherlockian adventures and a pair of James Bond capers, turns to Agatha Christie as the model for a series of increasingly meta homages beginning with Magpie Murders (2017), which Kirkus described as “both a pastiche and a deconstruction of golden-age whodunits.” The Word Is Murder (2018), The Sentence Is Death (2019), A Line To Kill (2021) and The Twist of a Knife (2022) all pair the author’s fictional namesake with irascible ex–Scotland Yard DI Daniel Hawthorne; Moonflower Murders (2020), a sequel to Magpie Murders, is another fiendishly inventive novel-within-a-novel that will have readers begging for both mercy and further installments.

If Sophie Hannah can’t quite match Horowitz’s cleverness, her own authorized pastiches of Christie’s best-known detective, Hercule Poirot, are more faithful to their model, which they treat with affection and deep respect. Her five new cases for the incorrigible Belgian dandy, from Closed Casket (2016) to Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night (2023), read less like deconstructions of Christie’s own fiction than like Christie on steroids, their densely imagined puzzles never shattering the illusion of immersion in newly discovered golden-age mysteries, all wedded to Hannah’s signature talent for imagining characters whose psychologies both fit their formulaic roles perfectly and deepen them invitingly.

Horowitz and Hannah, both of whom began far from the franchises they’ve continued or sent up, show how mystery writers from James Lee Burke to Lisa Scottoline can keep inventing themselves as they reinvent their genre. But the mystery writer who’s built the most impressively transformed career of all is Walter Mosley, whose groundbreaking period stories about Easy Rawlins, the reluctant sleuth of the postwar Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, have been supplemented by the parallel universes of “philosophical investigator” Socrates Fortlow, explosive Fearless Jones, and New York shamus Leonid McGill. Not content to explore the impact of Black heroes on mystery conventions and vice versa, Mosley has branched out into visionary science fiction (Blue Light, 1998, and Futureland , 2001), erotica (Killing Johnny Fry , 2006, and Diablerie, 2007), graphic novels (the co-authored Maximum Fantastic Four , 2005, and The Thing , 2022) and political essays from Workin’ on the Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History (2000) to Twelve Steps Toward Political Revelation (2011). If Mosley’s rich career is any indication, the most exciting transformations in and near the mystery genre may be yet to come.

Thomas Leitch is the mysteries editor.

From left to right: Elle Cosimano, Mick Herron, E.J. Copperman, C.J. Box, Cate Holahan, Ragnar Jonasson

These writers put inventive spins on familiar plots.

Book to Screen

The Bear Creator To Helm Frankie Machine Film

Don Winslow’s The Winter of Frankie Machine is headed to the big screen, with The Bear creator Christopher Storer at the helm, Deadline reports.

Winslow’s novel, published in 2006 by Knopf, follows Frankie Machianno, a retired hitman who finds himself the target of a murder plot. A critic for Kirkus called the book “a sprawling, anecdotal saga in which the whole…is less than the sum of its parts.”

Storer began his career as the director of come -

dy specials including Bo Burnham: what. and Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King He worked as an executive producer on the series Ramy and, in 2022, created The Bear, the hit Hulu show about a chef who takes over his family’s sandwich shop in Chicago.

A film adaptation of Frankie Machine was previously in the works shortly after the novel’s publication, with Martin Scorsese interested in directing Robert De Niro in the title role. Scorsese chose instead to adapt Charles Brandt’s nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses; the resulting film, The Irishman, was released in 2019.

Storer’s Frankie Machine adaptation will be written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, the team behind Rounders and Ocean’s Thirteen. Shane Salerno is producing; he previously co-wrote the 2012 film based on Winslow’s Savages and is behind two other Winslow adaptations: a film based on City of Fire and a television series based on the author’s Border trilogy of novels.—M.S.

Michael Buckner Variety via Getty Images

To read our review of Don Winslow’s The Winter of Frankie Machine, visit kirkusreviews.com.

Christopher Storer

his warning. Nor can Marya resist Sofia’s power. Marya is a member of the rebellious popular movement Koalitsiya, which agitates for “legal protections for workers and peasants, a reformed imperial council, religious freedom, [and] a clear path to emancipation for the country’s twenty million serfs.” Sofia infiltrates the movement, seductively manipulating Marya, at the same time as she insinuates herself into the palace. Violence, betrayal, murder, assassination: Sofia incites mayhem. “This was a woman who could change the shape of the world with a thought,” Marya comes to believe. Epstein interweaves a brisk plot with Eastern European folktales that reveal a vila’s insidious power. Sofia, hardly human, was “like a creature from legend, an ancient spirit hungry to watch something beautiful burn.”

A vividly imagined tapestry of turbulent times.

Coleman Hill

Foote, Kim Coleman | SJP Lit/Zando (320 pp.) | $28.00 | Sept. 5, 2023

9781638931140

A dark “biomythography”—to use a word coined by Audre Lorde, as Foote does— about the Great Migration.

Around 1916, the families of Lucy Grimes and Celia Coleman decide they’ve had enough of the South. Sick of living on and farming land that belongs to white people, they opt to move

north, lured by letters from friends and neighbors who have relocated: “Us women could stay at home all day, baking blackberry pie for our husbands and children. We could have hands like the lily-white ladies in the Sears Roebuck catalog—real soft and smooth, cuz we’d cream em every night. The only cotton we’d touch would be our dresses and gloves and the babies’ diapers.” Lucy and Celia meet on a train to New Jersey, where they hope for better things. The two are unlikely friends: Lucy is gentle and retiring; Celia is “coarse” and “abrasive.” Both become widowed and are forced to raise their children alone; Celia turns to the bottle for comfort. Their relationship is destroyed after Celia catches her son, Jebbie, playing doctor with Lucy’s daughter Bertha. Jebbie and Bertha grow up to have children together, but Bertha loses a pregnancy after Celia shoves her down the stairs. The rest of Foote’s debut novel—inspired by her own family— traces the intergenerational trauma of the entwined families over the ensuing decades. There’s a great deal of focus on Celia, who is revealed to be so mean and drunk that some of her own grandchildren plot to murder her. Though this is a brutal novel, devoid of anything approaching light, Foote’s prose is excellent and her dialogue rings true. She paints a vivid picture of the community of Vauxhall, New Jersey, and sticks the landing at the end of the book. The structure is a bit scattered, and one wishes the stories that make up the novel cohered a little more, but that’s mostly nitpicking—this is a promising debut from a clearly gifted writer. A brutally effective look at intergenerational trauma.

The Book of Ayn

Freiman, Lexi | Catapult (240 pp.) | $27.00 Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781646221929

The tailspin created by a bad review in the New York Times sends an author into the arms of Ayn Rand.

Filled with gleeful and often politically incorrect humor (one running joke revolves around the idea that only gay men wear Hugo Boss underwear), Freiman’s sophomore effort kicks off as our narrator, Anna, is trying to recover from having her satire of the opioid epidemic labeled “classist” by the paper of record. But, as she explains in her own defense, there can be empathy in satire: “Jokes cared, just in a different way. They were a natural and necessary thinkingthrough-of-things. A thinking that had to go barreling straight through consensus to see what was on the other side. Even if that thing was just laughter. Just the useful acknowledgment that things were never solely good or bad; sometimes they were also, mercifully, funny.” Useful insights like this play a gonzo game of tennis with absurd and hilarious plot twists—for example, during an encounter with a group of “sexagenarian beanie babies” touring Ayn Rand’s New York, Anna learns that Rand’s first book was also savaged by the Times. While Anna had previously considered Rand “the gateway drug for bad husbands to quit their jobs and start online stock trading,” she now discovers that she and Alisa Rosenbaum (Rand’s real name) have much in common. “In 1917, the Bolsheviks had seized her father’s pharmacy and twelve-year-old Ayn had stood by impotently, witnessing his humiliation. Here, I saw a parallel with my own

Lively, sexy, and funny, with an actual quest for meaning at its core.

father—the hard-working orthodontist—where the Bolsheviks were his two fourteen-year-old daughters, my half sisters, who mocked him relentlessly for being bourgeois and accidentally misgendering their friends.” If you like this, you’ll love Anna’s move to Los Angeles to script a TV show about her new muse; her affair with a content creator she calls Big Boy, who gives her an animal avatar, Ayn Ram; her pilgrimage to a retreat center in Greece that she characterizes as “Eat Pray Love narrated by Humbert Humbert.” Or, perhaps, Ottessa Moshfegh.

Lively, sexy, and funny, with an actual quest for meaning at its core.

Treacle Walker

Garner, Alan | Scribner (160 pp.) | $22.00 Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781668025512

A brief, cryptic, often charming fable about the convolutions of time and magic. In ways, this book looks like a YA novel of the type its octogenarian author is well known for: It features a solitary boy named Joseph Coppock who wears a patch to combat lazy eye and lives, alone, in a rural house. Joseph seems to spend his days reading comics, wandering the marsh, and marking the passage of the noon train. At the beginning the boy encounters a rag-and-bone man, the eponymous Treacle Walker, and trades ratty pajamas and a lamb bone for a cup and a sort of pumice stone. Soon he’s dealing with incursions of and excursions into magic: interacting with characters who’ve emerged from his comics, bartering with a bog-dwelling time lord named Thin Amren, even receiving a Latin incantation by way of an eye chart only he can see. Amren tells him he has the “glamourie,” which seems at times to mean literally that he has one eye that sees ordinary reality and another that focuses on the mysterious and otherworldly. But in a way such a reading misses the point;

the main adult pleasure here is in the book’s fresh, playful twisted vernacular, the way Garner uses English folklore and old-fashioned linguistic legerdemain to get at big ideas. “Time is ignorance,” reads the epigraph, and Garner seems to imply that tedious adult ideas like plot and chronology hold no sway here. This is a book that takes place before the binocular vision of youth and the child’s comfort with mystery have fully faded or flattened (though the through-line, if there is one, has to do with Joseph’s desire to grow up and set magic aside). Alluring, elusive, and quick—a fable for adolescents, and for those willing to revisit the murk and jumble of adolescence.

Kirkus Star Mama Said

Gentry, Kristen | West Virginia Univ. Press (288 pp.) | $19.99 paper | Oct. 1, 2023

9781952271984

A set of linked stories map the lives of a Black family in Louisville, Kentucky, tracing the generational effects of addiction, poverty, and mental illness.

At the heart of the book is the often fraught relationship between mothers and daughters—always complicated but made especially so by the unpredictable and deceitful behaviors typical of those suffering from addiction. Gentry maps the ways an unstable mother can unmoor her daughter, and how a girl’s innocence is dissolved by the imperative to survive and protect her

vulnerable mother: “You are starting to realize that you have no solution for your mother’s depression. There is nothing you can say. Nothing you can do. You will never save her.” In “A Satisfying Meal,” the sharp contrast between two families at Thanksgiving provides an insight into not only the wealth disparity of the Black community, but also into various political divides. At the Thompson family’s dinner, everyone is seated and served formally at the table; JayLynn—who’s attending for the first time as Nigel Thompson’s girlfriend—is subtly interrogated about her intellectual pursuits at college; and the use of the N-word represents an egregious blasphemy. Meanwhile, at JayLynn’s aunt’s house, where she and Nigel go afterward, family members eat without ceremony, use the N-word freely, and joke around. The absence of JayLynn’s mother and the eventual departure of her aunts to buy drugs draws attention to the relentless mundanity of addiction and depression—and the ways these illnesses impact families. In “A Good Education,” two young men who grew up together reunite, but now one sells the drugs the other’s mother is addicted to, seemingly without making the connection: “Your moms is like my moms...I mean...you think she’s using?” In “A New World,” JayLynn’s 16-year-old cousin, Zaria, goes into labor with the baby she’d hoped would deter her mother, Dee, from feeding her addiction, only to have Dee leave the hospital before the baby arrives, going in search of the next high. Gentry steadfastly refuses to reduce her characters to their misery, imbuing them instead with wit, loyalty, and humor.

A celebration of Black family life that will make you laugh and cry in equal measure.

A celebration of Black family life that will make you laugh and cry.

MAMA SAID

Fully Booked

“Dark academia meets forbidden love” in K. Patrick’s scintillating debut, Mrs. S.

BY MEGAN LABRISE

EPISODE 326: K. PATRICK

On this episode of the Fully Booked podcast, we’re joined by K. Patrick, author of Mrs. S (Europa Editions, June 20), a sexy literary fiction set at an English boarding school, where a new faculty member—the matron—falls hard for the headmaster’s wife. Patrick, a British writer who lives on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, was recently named one of the Best Young British Novelists of 2023 by Granta. In a starred review, Kirkus calls their pitch-perfect debut “an erotic yet highminded literary achievement.”

Here’s a bit more from our review of Mrs. S: “The novel follows the matron as she navigates her growing attraction to Mrs. S amid the politics of school administration and the complicated adolescent power dynamics of ‘The Girls,’ as she calls the students. The protagonist, identi fied only as ‘Miss,’ is drawn to Mrs. S from their first encounter, commenting, ‘I am discovered, I burn. Like her I stand my ground. Dare her to wave, to give that hand to me.’ Given the circumstances…their erotic relationship evolves slowly and behind closed doors.…As desire trumps vigilance, they increasingly risk exposure by colleagues, Mr. S, and even The Girls.…Patrick’s deft manipulation of narrative time and use of interior monologue to describe the tensions among thought, intention, and action recall the work of Virginia Woolf.”

Patrick confesses their prepublication jitters, and host Megan Labrise points out Mrs. S is receiving a lot of critical acclaim (which may or may not make it worse). Patrick then reads aloud from the novel’s opening passage, after which we discuss rhythm and pacing; the benefits of reading aloud; how the protagonist of Mrs. S comes into their own queerness in the course of the book; a

Mrs. S Partick, K. Europa Editions | 240 pp. | $18.00 paper | June 20, 2023 9781609458409

bit about boarding schools and their staff; the inspiration for the “famous author” memorialized throughout this particular boarding school; sensuality in this setting; rules, regulations, and power plays; queer attraction; and much more.

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

EDITORS’ PICKS:

Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption

Story by Sarah Myer (First Second)

Salat in Secret by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, illus. by Hatem Aly (Random House Studio)

Into the Amazon: The Life of Cândido Rondon, Trailblazing Explorer, Scientist, Statesman, and Conservationist by Larry Rohter (Norton)

The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand (Little, Brown)

ALSO MENTIONED ON THIS EPISODE:

Temple Folk by Aaliyah Bilal

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

Dark Magic from the Chronicles of the Underworld series, Vol. 1, by Raluca Narita

The Alchemist’s Portal by Kim Acco

The Devil You Knew by Mike Cobb

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

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

To listen to the complete episode of Fully Booked, please visit kirkusreviews.com

Kirkus Star

The Spy Coast Gerritsen, Tess | Thomas & Mercer (366 pp.) | $25.95 | Nov. 1, 2023

9781662515125

A secret past catches up with a former CIA agent, with bloody results.

Maggie Bird, age 60, is comfortably retired in Purity, Maine, where she considers herself “a small-town chicken farmer.” Out of the spy game for 16 years, she certainly doesn’t want her history to be discovered. “Here on Blackberry Farm,” she says, “I’ve found a measure of peace, even happiness.” But a woman, possibly CIA, tracks her down and asks for Maggie’s help in locating a missing agent. Soon after, the woman’s body ends up in Maggie’s driveway. So much for an uneventful retirement. The complex plot weaves back in time to when Maggie meets her future husband, Dr. Danny Gallagher, in Bangkok. She loves him oh so much but deceives the poor man about her clandestine livelihood. But then, maybe their accidental encounter doesn’t happen by chance at all. In the present, Jo Thibodeau, Purity’s acting chief of police, is frustrated because the state police take control of the murder case. That doesn’t stop her from asking a lot of uncomfortable questions about who the hell Maggie Bird really is. Maggie is part of the Martini Club, where she socializes with a klatch of other retired CIA agents who cheerfully deflect Thibodeau’s persistent queries. “She can’t outsmart us but she can outlast us,” Maggie thinks of the chief. The story has some nice lines as it moves to London, Bangkok, and Milan before ending in Purity: “The killer must have been in bad-breath distance of him.” And Chief Thibodeau, smelling a man’s good cooking, thinks, “Too bad she didn’t have a man at home, cooking for her.” But Maggie is a pebble

in Thibodeau’s shoe, and it’s easy to imagine a series with the two of them. This is a nice take on retirement—five old spooks whose bones may ache but whose minds remain sharp. You can expect mystery, action, and bloodshed in this exciting thriller launched straight from the peaceful shores of Maine.

The Last Guardian

Gervais, Simon | Thomas & Mercer (303 pp.) | $16.99 paper | Oct. 10, 2023

9781662510762

The assassination of the FBI director thrusts a retired super-spy back into service.

President Alexander Hammond has entrusted former Secret Service agent Clayton White with spearheading the fight against the fentanyl epidemic. White first appears at the Mexican border steering the Drug Enforcement Administration to a major confiscation of the drug. But this is just the tip of an ominous criminal iceberg linked to the Red Dragon Triad. Two months later, White’s in Key West with his pregnant fiancee, Veronica Hammond, an archaeologist who just happens to be the president’s daughter, when the specter of the Red Dragon resurfaces, requiring a trip to the Virgin Islands for a secret meeting with FBI director Patrick O’Donnell. Meanwhile, in Macau, Red Dragon leader Geng Peiwu sets an elaborate plan in motion by tricking American CEO Henry Newman into murder and then blackmailing him. Gervais puts even more players into the mix, laying the groundwork for the multiple twists to come. O’Donnell is hosting a party whose guests include his son, Jeremy, a newly minted FBI agent; Jeremy’s fiancee, Daphne; and several others whose true allegiances become clear as the action unfolds. White arrives at O’Donnell’s shortly after a bloodbath that marks the

opening move in a complex tale of duplicity and revenge. White’s third thrill ride spans the globe, unfolding in Monaco and Switzerland as well as China and Washington, and benefiting as much from its numerous surprises as from its expertly choreographed action scenes. A brisk globetrotting thriller with abundant tension and a timely premise.

Kirkus Star

Breaking and Entering

Gillmor, Don | Biblioasis (240 pp.) $18.95 paper | Aug. 15, 2023 9781771965231

In the throes of a sanity-destroying summer, a Toronto woman explores a dangerous new hobby.

It’s not just hot, it’s an “end-ofdays climate that increasingly resembled an Old Testament Hell.” In fact, thinks Beatrice Billings, “It could rain frogs now and humanity would take it in stride…. Oh, it’s always rained frogs....She knew our Saviour had thrown in the towel and gone back to His golf game, and knew that mankind deserved to be punished. Certainly Bea deserved it.” Why does Bea, a 49-year-old Toronto art dealer with a son in college and a shaky marriage, think she deserves punishment? It begins on just another day she’s stuck in her empty gallery feeling lonely, bored, stressed out, and claustrophobic. She Googles “escape.” One video later, she’s sending away for a lock-picking kit. Not long after, she joins a lock-picking club; turns out, she’s very good at it. Next thing she knows, she’s trailing a woman who’s just paid cash for a $1,500 dress. She returns to the woman’s home the next day, gets in fairly easily, and leaves with a rich store of knowledge about the lives of this woman and her husband—and also the dress. It doesn’t stop there for Bea, though after the first time, stealing isn’t

part of the routine. She does tend to leave marks of her uninvited visits, at one house typing a Descartes joke into a crappy philosophy manuscript and, at another, phoning in a tip to a suicide hotline. Gillmor does an impressive job of keeping Bea not just sympathetic but even normal-seeming as this outlandish summer progresses. She does all she can for her mother, who’s in memory care; she’s patient with her annoying sister, who has lots of opinions while not contributing at all; she misses her son, whose presence in her life has been reduced to infrequent texts, not to mention her husband, who’s drifted as far from her as she has from him. As for breaking and entering? The genius of this book is to capture the exact way a familiar world of aging parents and divorcing friends and nice charcuterie platters could go right around the bend. Oh, you know, it’s always rained frogs.

A smart, funny, and sneakily terrifying version of the way we live now. (Do not read without working air conditioning.)

The Exchange

Grisham, John | Doubleday (368 pp.)

$29.95 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9780385548953

In this sequel to The Firm (1991), star attorney Mitch McDeere tries to rustle up ransom for a kidnapped colleague in Libya. In The Firm, he barely escaped the clutches of the corrupt law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke. Now it’s 15 years later and Mitch is living in

New York and is a partner at Scully & Pershing, the world’s largest law firm. He’s frustrated that his Alabama and Tennessee death row clients keep getting the needle, except for the latest one who supposedly hanged himself in his cell. He doesn’t want to take any more of these cases, so he agrees to help out on a lawsuit for Luca Sandroni, a Scully partner in Rome who’s dying of pancreatic cancer. The client is Lannak, a major Turkish construction company that’s suing the government of Libya for an unpaid debt of $400 million. Please let my daughter, Giovanna, come and help you, Luca asks Mitch. She’s an associate in the firm’s London branch. It’s 2005, the time of Muammar Gaddafi, who came up with the harebrained idea of building the “Great Gaddafi Bridge in central Libya, over an unnamed river yet to be found,” Luca says. (It’s true!) Mitch plans to see the bridge, but he comes down with a wicked case of food poisoning, so Giovanna volunteers to go instead. Soon she’s been kidnapped, and her guards and driver are murdered. In Manhattan, a mysterious woman tells Mitch’s wife, Abby, that the price of Giovanna’s return is $100 million, and she will die if anyone involves the government or police. Can Scully & Pershing put their hands on that much dough? And who are they dealing with? Mitch isn’t even certain whether Gaddafi is behind the crime or whether it’s some unknown gang. Mitch and Abby come across as sympathetic and credible, while other characters are no deeper than they need to be. The story moves at a fast pace, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake.

A tense legal thriller with nary a courtroom scene.

The Defector

Hadfield, Chris | Mulholland Books/Little, Brown (368 pp.) | $29.00 | Oct. 10, 2023 9780316565028

In 1973, a Soviet test pilot defects to the United States, bringing the super-advanced MiG-25 Foxbat with him—along with deeply mysterious intentions.

While vacationing in Israel, Kazimieras Zemeckis, a onetime U.S. Navy test pilot and current NASA official, is shocked to witness what appears to be an Israeli plane shooting down the MiG. The intelligence-gathering Soviet plane is known to fly at such great heights and with such speed that getting close enough to threaten it isn’t thought possible. Though reported dead, the Soviet pilot, known as Grief, has actually landed the plane and immediately asks to defect. After alerting U.S. officials about what he’d seen, Kaz winds up accompanying Grief to the Air Force’s highly classified Area 51 testing and training site in Nevada, where the Soviet is debriefed as technicians take apart and study the MiG. Grief, with whom Kaz bonds as a fellow flyer, is eager to learn about the new American F-15 fighter, among other things. Hadfield, in a sequel to The Apollo Murders (2021), spends a lot of time with hardware, flight technology, nuclear rocket engines, and such, showing off his own experience as a top astronaut and test pilot. There are tense meetings in Moscow and Israel, a sizable dose of back history and a meeting of astronauts and cosmonauts in preparation for Apollo-Soyuz, the first crewed international space mission. Lots of interesting stuff, but the climactic showdown in the air between good guy and bad guy is rushed. And though the Yom Kippur War assumes great importance early in the novel with Golda Meir’s appearance, it’s quickly forgotten as soon as she’s off the page. Still, there’s much to enjoy for fans of the series.

A well-rearched but ultimately flat thriller.

A smart, funny, and sneakily terrifying version of the way we live now.

BREAKING AND ENTERING

Normal Women

Hogarth, Ainslie | Vintage (320 pp.)

$17.00 paper | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780593467046

After moving back to her hometown, a new mother becomes captivated by an unconventional community where she believes she can reclaim her body and purpose.

When Dani tells her husband, Clark, that she’s pregnant, he insists that they move to Metcalf. Metcalf isn’t merely Dani’s hometown; thanks to her father’s waste-processing “kingdom,” Dani is local royalty. Feeling the weight of her legacy, Dani fears returning with a husband and baby but no career. As she and Clark settle into parenthood, Dani grows increasingly frustrated with her financial dependence on Clark and his lack of gratitude for her domestic labor. Just as Dani’s existential crisis hits its peak, she stumbles on The Temple, a yoga studio where vibrant women provide sexual stimulation to and promise emotional healing for the men who visit. Immediately drawn to The Temple’s “village” of confident and beautiful women, Dani quickly befriends the owner, Renata. But when Renata disappears, Dani begins to wonder if the healing center really contains the higher purpose she’s been seeking. Hogarth’s novel opens strong with creeping suspense, laugh-outloud humor, and smart critiques of the ways gendered expectations wear on people’s self-worth, enjoyment of

life, and relationships. But the book is not for everyone. The stakes of Dani’s choices rely on the assumption that toxic masculinity can only be cured by cisgender, heterosexual sex; if employed in a way that allows the men to access their deepest vulnerabilities, such sex can “fix the whole world.” Also, despite Renata’s passing comment that she respects other kinds of sex workers, readers are repeatedly reminded that The Temple is not full of “cracked-out streetwalkers.” Temple women are exceptional—and therefore acceptable—because they don’t have sex for pleasure alone, and neither do the men they heal, but for the greater good. They’re not like other women, and especially not the caricatured stayat-home moms who share their love of yoga but who don’t even know how their credit cards work. A conversation starter about gender roles and sex work, but a lackluster mystery and limited critique.

Kirkus Star

Burn Man: Selected Stories

Jarman, Mark Anthony | Biblioasis (320 pp.) | $18.95 paper | Oct. 10, 2023

9781771965477

A collection of short stories that push frighteningly into the psyches of the troubled and cast-aside in a language of microscopic precision.

In these 21

selected tales by Jarman—a Canadian writer who, if there were any literary justice, would be much better known in the U.S.—marginalized men are on the road, on the run, failing to figure out how to stay in one place, how to stay sane, how to pin life down and make sense of it. Amid a welter of sensory impressions and a decided lack of the steadying machinations of traditional plot, narrators imagine alternate outcomes to their meager existences, their common language a heady, often surreal stream-of-consciousness. In their hands they tilt bottles, hold steering wheels, lug corpses of their fellow soldiers; on their lips they spit venom, self-pity, bursts of allusive quotation (Shakespeare, ads, songs spun on 45s in beat-up Wurlitzers). These are the stories of a bricklayer father who inadvertently harms his young son; of a hockey talent scout drowning in the game’s violence (on ice and off); of a team of North Pole scientists finding a young woman on their frozen shores; of aging sailors, junkies, fishermen, jailbirds inside for bird-brained crimes, men approaching death. Broken soldiers march in nighttime retreat, a traveler stumbles down the history-haunted streets of Pompeii and, in the story from which the book takes its title, a man awakens from deep sleep to find himself on fire (camper, propane tank), instantly transformed into a sickening new being, Burn Man. “I am becoming a lunatic who loves tragedy…” says one doomed character; the tragic reality, says Jarman, is that chaos sits only a stone’s throw away at any given time, ready to laugh at our claims of expertise, our self-serving expectations, to flick a finger in our direction and burn down all we know.

Literature at the highest level: heartrending, disquieting, fascinating.

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Literature at the highest level: heartrending, disquieting, fascinating.

BURN MAN

Kirkus Star

Distant Sons

Johnston, Tim | Algonquin (400 pp.) | $29.00

Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781643753591

Forty years after three boys went missing in a small Wisconsin town, a nomadic carpenter becomes the unwitting catalyst for discoveries old and new.

Sean Courtland’s truck breaks down on the outskirts of town, so he decides to stay a while and accept a building job to make up for cash spent on repairs. His quiet presence in the community stirs up violence when he intercedes in a domestic dispute and accidentally ends up hitting Denise Givens, the woman he’s seeking to protect. This incident brings him to the notice of local detective Corrine Viegas and, somewhat surprisingly, also brings him closer to Denise and her father. As this gentle courtship unfolds, Sean is also getting to know Dan Young, another down-on-his-luck outsider who happens to have plumbing skills, and he hires him to help him finish the building job at Marion Devereaux’s house up on the bluff. There are still whispered rumors that Devereaux might have been involved in the disappearances of three boys in the 1970s, or maybe it was Devereaux’s war-haunted uncle. There’s no denying that there’s something strange about the house and its basement, but Sean’s not one for gossip and he just wants to finish the job. All these characters are heading to a reckoning of sorts, but the novel is such a slow-burn that the mysteries at hand, dramatic as they are, are rendered secondary to the people living through them. Johnston writes with such care, understanding, even love for the flawed humans in his story that it’s almost too much. Readers may wish to look away from the damage these characters inevitably do to themselves and each other, but if we persist, we will bear witness to their

moments of pain and tragedy. The reward: We are treated to occasions of such care that it’s almost redemptive. A slow-burn novel that quietly elevates the fragile codes of honorable men.

Off to Join the Circus

Kalb, Deborah | Loyola College/Apprentice House (316 pp.) | $19.99 paper July 18, 2023 | 9781627204491

After more than 60 years, a woman reconnects with her estranged brother and his family.

Kalb’s novel opens in a festive mood: Howard Pinsky, the patriarch of a Washington, D.C.–area family, has just turned 75. It’s on that day that his older sister, Adele, whom he hasn’t seen in decades, calls him out of the blue. His first reaction is bafflement: “What does one say to a sister one hasn’t seen or spoken to in sixty-four years, he thought hazily.” Adele tells Howard that she’d like to visit, and the novel traces how her presence influences several members of the family in the days and weeks that follow. It’s an eventful time for the family, with one grandchild about to become bar mitzvah and the impending birth of another. Not everyone is thrilled to have Adele there—she alienates Howard’s wife, Marilyn, not long after they meet. Gradually, Adele begins providing advice to Howard’s children and grandchildren. She’s also prone to dropping hints to the parts of her life when she was out of touch, as in, “You know, I had a stint on local television. Back in the seventies. I covered all kinds of stories.” She also alludes to vanishing from her brother’s life by saying, “Wouldn’t you want to escape from West Orange?” It’s unclear if there’s some secret underlying some of these events, especially Adele’s leaving home in her teens, her interest in reconnecting with Howard, and her treatment of Marilyn. Kalb instead opts for a less conflict-heavy

resolution; there are no grim family secrets or shocking revelations to be found here. Kalb does juggle a large cast of characters well, but the stakes don’t have much impact.

An intriguing premise that might have benefited from more heated drama.

At Night He Lifts Weights

Kang Young-sook | Trans. by Janet Hong | Transit Books (225 pp.) | $16.95 paper Sept. 12, 2023 | 9781945492709

These stories about environmental and social failure remind us that the dystopian future we fear is already here.

Red dust settles on South Korea. Squeals escape from industrial pig farms. Toxic waste seeps into the water supply. Cities are “submerged in water the color of peanut butter.” Award-winning South Korean author Kang’s dystopian settings look a lot like our own. Her characters are being slowly suffocated by aimlessness and isolation, rising costs and ecological disasters. Protests pop up and then dissipate. In “Pripyat Storage,” a woman is convinced she will die of cancer from Chernobyl runoff, despite living in Seoul. When she inherits a storage facility from her mountain-climber mother, she is eager to preserve her imagined hometown, Pripyat. In “Greenland,” a group of male friends succeed in business together, then flee when it all comes crashing down, their wives left searching for them in “exercise bar” clubs. In the title story, an old woman struggles with living alone; she sits helpless as her toilet overflows again and again. Her long walks uncover the old man behind several young girls’ recent disappearances, and he becomes her obsession. The collection can be uneven—“Disaster Area Tour Bus,” a thinly veiled look at a post-Katrina New Orleans, adds little to our knowledge of that devastation. Furthermore, the collection’s prose can feel

5 Really Feel-GoodGreatNovels

A warmhearted story of improbably matched characters trying to reclaim their lives.

A comically delightful romance about how the best love stories are found where you least expect them.

McKenzie has created a wonderful addition to the crew of damaged characters beloved by readers, so very endearing and real.

5 The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie

4 Exes & O’s by Amy Lea

1 Happy Place by Emily Henry

A wistfully nostalgic look at endings, beginnings, and loving the people who will always have your back.

2 The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks

A loose-limbed, bighearted Hollywood yarn.

3 Silver Alert by Lee Smith

flat, dulling the emotional impact of its suspenseful plots. In “Radio and River,” the main character, looking at his immobile, couch-potato family, feels “like a child with a hammer who was told to strike either happiness or sadness, and he sensed the hammer in his hand starting to list to one side.” With Kang holding the hammer, this collection lists to the side of atomization and desolation.

A collection of pertinent, socially conscious stories is hindered by its flat prose.

The Dead Take the A Train

Khaw, Cassandra & Richard Kadrey

Nightfire (400 pp.) | $28.99 | Oct. 3, 2023

9781250867025

A freelance spellcaster is in love with drugs and on the run from a primeval evil in midtown Manhattan. What could go wrong?

Everything old is new again in this comically horrific team-up between prolific Malaysian horror writer Khaw and Kadrey, taking a brief and well-deserved break from his popular Sandman Slim series. Whether it’s the ancient, squelchy things hunting our heroes or the novel voice Khaw brings to the genre’s blood-andone-liners schtick, this adults-only episode may not be for everyone, but it’s certainly something memorable. When we meet nearly-30 Julie Crews, she’s already tied up in exorcising a demon at a bachelorette party before retiring to her squalid apartment for Korean street food, vodka, and drugs. We’re soon introduced to the book’s New York City underground, where Lovecraftian horrors control Wall Street, things older than humans still walk the Earth, and people like Julie use magic to regulate funkiness. The book’s complicating events don’t take long to stir things up. First, Julie’s ex Tyler, a corporate bootlicker, hires her as part of his plan to get promoted by

sucking up to his firm’s…patron?—an eldritch horror called The Mother Who Eats that would make Pinhead wet himself. Secondly, Julie’s best friend, Sarah, shows up at her door, the victim of domestic abuse. Bloodshed ensues, natch, but there’s some good stuff among the overstuffed plot, not least the Wick-ian worldbuilding the authors employ to lurid effectiveness. Tyler is saddled with Annabeth Fall, an ice queen from his firm’s security division with cutthroat ambition and a low tolerance for his bullshit, while Sarah’s violent ex Dan nearly kills Julie. Meanwhile, on Julie’s side, we meet her prehistoric landlady, St. Joan, and her “guy in the chair,” Dead Air, who join her reluctant crusade to kill an angel, kiss the girl, and end this spooky bullshit once and for all. An enchanting introduction to a magical bitch on wheels, to be continued.

Candelaria

Lozada-Oliva, Melissa | Astra House (304 pp.) | $28.00 | Sept. 19, 2023

9781662601804

The debut novel from poet Lozada-Oliva shows five women’s lives undone by a strange curse.

In Boston on Christmas Eve, 83-year-old Guatemalan immigrant Candelaria chats with her daughter on the phone and moments later inexplicably knifes her own loving boyfriend in the gut. The killing seems to trigger an earthquake—or an imagined cataclysm only Candelaria can see—just before the novel flashes back to a year prior to explain the murder. Candelaria’s daughter Lucia has three daughters, Candy, Bianca, and Paola, estranged from one another and recovering from addiction, betrayal, and violence, respectively. Dark stories emerge from the family’s history, including a relative who died mysteriously in the Candelaria Caves of Guatemala. With

these pulp fiction elements in place, Lozada-Oliva then delivers a gleeful but clunky schlock-fest, complete with zombies, cannibalism, body-snatcher sex, and a fertility cult with an underground lair. As an idea it should amount to raucous fun, but somehow even with all this crammed in the novel still feels padded with needless scenes to reach 300 pages. As her granddaughters reunite under dire circumstances and Candelaria guns her way through post-earthquake Boston toward an Old Country Buffet, past and present merge for a blood-soaked finale, as male characters are eaten, stabbed, hung, and one later turns into a TV. In its best moments, the book leans toward Everything Everywhere All at Once territory, but the novel has very little heart and too much of the writing feels dashed off: “The world is finite, but women are forever,” “Bianca approached the TV like it was a giant horse,” and “Life is a lifelong journey.”

A wild, inventive plot can’t hide the novel’s weak writing and lack of emotional center.

Moscow X

McCloskey, David | Norton (432 pp.) $29.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781324050759

America and Russia don’t play nice in a tale that mixes spies, horses, and gold bullion.

Moscow X is a secret CIA operation designed to cause migraines for the Russian government, especially for Vladimir Putin. “Access to Putin’s money would give us beautiful opportunities for fuckery and general mayhem,” declares Artemis Aphrodite Procter, formerly the CIA’s Chief of Station in Tajikistan. Her hands already “wet with Russian blood,” she jumps at the chance to join Moscow X. At about the same time, Lieutenant Colonel Chernov of the Federal Security Service (FSB)

illegally transfers 221 bars of gold from Bank Rossiya, although it’s theft on Putin’s behalf. “What is to be done when the police are robbing you?” wonders a bemused banker. Chernov demonstrates that “the law is nothing but ritual, it is a glorious gesture of subjugation to our leader.” Anyway, the gold belongs to Russia, which in turn belongs to God. Therefore, it’s God’s gold, so the “withdrawal” is ultimately legitimate. (Nice reasoning!) Putin has a financial stake in RusFarm, a Thoroughbred horse operation. Anna Agapova has deep ties to the Russian establishment, but she meets sub rosa with the CIA. She is a complex character who has troubled relationships with her husband and her country, but whether she becomes a traitor to her homeland remains to be seen. A nice detail: She carries a lipstick gun, the “Kiss of Death,” which plays an unexpected role in the story. The cast of well-developed characters also includes Hortensia “Sia” Fox, a “hotshit NOC” (non-official cover) who wants a Russian scalp, and there are nasty villains like Anna’s husband. The story builds a bit slowly at first, but the tension grows as well. There’s a reference to overthrowing Putin, but that doesn’t seem like the point. Procter has it right that the best analogy for U.S.-Russia relations is of “two individuals punching each other in a fight without end.” Human life and horseflesh are at risk, and the blood that eventually flows won’t tilt the balance of power in either direction. The author researched his subject deeply, and it shows. The CIA pokes the Russian bear, and thriller fans win.

West Heart Kill

McDorman, Dann | Knopf (288 pp.) | $28.00 Oct. 24, 2023 | 9780593537572

A metafiction that combines a murder mystery set at a storied upstate New York hunting club in the 1970s and lessons on the mystery genre; the author, MSNBC news producer McDorman, is making his fiction debut.

Young private detective Adam McAnnis, a Vietnam veteran through whose “sad and wary” but amused eyes the story is told, has been hired by one of the guests at the club’s annual Fourth of July gathering to investigate a possible plot against that guest. Until a female guest is found dead in the lake, an apparent suicide, there’s no indication of anything untoward going on, except for some pot smoking and the adulterous couplings in two designated rooms in the clubhouse (in one of which McAnnis is happy to “interrogate” a straying wife). But murder is very much afoot, and as we are lectured in long, informed commentaries by the “author” of the mystery, “[a]ren’t the suspense and anticipation the real secret thrill of the book?” There are examinations of plot and method and the first-person narrative technique (“a point of view you have viewed with suspicion ever since your first innocent reading of Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”), as well as references to Shakespeare and Sophocles, Dashiell Hammett and Patricia Highsmith,

“locked room” specialist John Dickson Carr and Thomas De Quincey’s essay “On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts.” While such material is interesting enough, it fails to resonate with this murder mystery, which concludes with the reader joining the cast of characters.

An entertaining novel, but a tad too clever for its own good.

Deliver Me

Nash, Elle | Unnamed Press (250 pp.) $28.00 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781951213718

A young Missouri woman contends with her past and future when a childhood friend moves in upstairs. Dee-Dee, a former Pentecostal who still struggles with her confining religious upbringing, works at a meatpacking plant in small Cassville, Missouri, where she lives with her intermittently employed boyfriend, Daddy. Desperate to become a mother after five miscarriages, she’s thrilled to learn she’s pregnant, despite her mother’s disapproval and Daddy’s lack of interest. But when another miscarriage coincides with the arrival of Sloane, Dee-Dee’s first love and former close friend, Dee-Dee decides to keep the loss secret and continue to prepare for the baby’s arrival. When she learns that Sloane is also pregnant, her determination to live out her dream of motherhood deepens, and the lengths she’s willing to go to keep up the act spirals into increasingly dangerous territory. Nash excels at capturing the claustrophobia of rural poverty and religious fundamentalism, homing in on seemingly small details, like a dirty sink, to illustrate the grinding conditions of Dee-Dee’s life. Dee-Dee’s desire to escape and inability to do so are harrowing, and the story unfolds like a thriller. Littered with bizarre details, such as Daddy’s obsession with exotic insects, the book blurs the lines between reality and fantasy—specifically

The CIA pokes the Russian bear, and thriller fans win.

MOSCOW X

regarding Dee-Dee’s imagined pregnancy—taking the reader deeply into Dee-Dee’s unraveling mental state. Haunting and at times relentlessly cruel, this novel will keep readers guessing.

Kirkus Star

Self-Portrait In Green

NDiaye, Marie | Trans. by Jordan Stump Two Lines Press (110 pp.) | $16.95 Sept. 12, 2023 | 9781949641486

This book may be a novel or fable; it may be memoir, autofiction, or photo essay. One certainty? This small story is too big for one genre box.

A 10th-anniversary edition of NDiaye’s mercurial chronicle—of encounters between an unnamed narrator and a mysterious parade of “women in green”—includes dreamlike photos, some by French photographer Julie Ganzin which first appeared in the original French release. Musing that green cannot be the “sole color of cruelty” but that cruelty is often given to “draping itself” in green, NDiaye illustrates meetings and relationships with the (often spectral) women in her narrator’s life who sport green shorts, dresses, and coats. Some even have green eyes (or eventually do, thanks to contact lenses!). Ranging from a stern school administrator from the past to another mother at school drop-off to the ghost of a disappointed-in-life but happy-in-death wife, the women encountered by NDiaye’s bemused narrator seem positioned to illuminate various truths about her own life to her, however obliquely. NDiaye slyly alludes to the artifice of wardrobing all the women in green when the narrator’s mother, “a green woman,” appears wearing a pink suit. (She also ponders whether life without these muses would be bearable and whether she would lose

individuality should they disappear.) Ganzin’s photography, along with other shots attributed only to “anonymous,” amplify the moody and atmospheric sense of vague unreality NDiaye so successfully creates. The presence of what may—or may not—be a menacing black creature running around the riverside setting does nothing to dispel this fantasy. Stump, a frequent translator of NDiaye’s work, preserves the enigma as well. NDiaye’s glittering narrative prism reflects more than green—it reflects a life.

Vengeance Is Mine

NDiaye, Marie | Trans. by Jordan Stump Knopf (240 pp.) | $28.00 | Oct. 17, 2023 9780593534243

A portrait of a woman on the verge of—or maybe beyond—a nervous breakdown. (Apologies to Almodóvar!)

When Gilles Principaux hires Maître Susane to defend his wife, Marlyne, who’s been accused of the murder of their three young children in Bordeaux, the attorney spirals into a web of obsession, suppression, and uncertainty. Somewhat convinced she has met Gilles before, during the course of a childhood encounter buried deep within her psyche, Maître Susane struggles to determine whether or not Principaux is actually the teenager who may have encouraged her dormant youthful enthusiasm and intelligence, or who may have taken

advantage of that enthusiasm in a more troubling fashion. Her persistent questioning of her parents about the circumstance of that episode creates tension in the family and ruptures her relationship with them. Maître Susane’s relationship with her otherwise exemplary housekeeper— an undocumented worker from Mauritius—falters as well due to the housekeeper’s secretiveness (at least in the attorney’s eyes) and her reluctance to provide Maître Susane with the documents needed to support her immigration paperwork. Caught between Marlyne and Gilles and their differing accounts of the domestic life which led up to the triple filicide, and increasingly concerned with the welfare of her own young “goddaughter-in-spirit,” Maître Susane engages in projection and perseveration kickstarted by the appearance of Gilles in her office. NDiaye, winner of the Prix Goncourt, slowly delivers scene after scene of puzzling and ambivalent behavior on the part of her protagonist but also those in her orbit. A series of startling monologues by Marlyne and Gilles set out their positions in the drama, but Maître Susane’s internal equilibrium is puzzlingly out of balance as she continually asks herself: Who is Gilles Principaux to me?

A twisty and unsettling psychological puzzle.

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NDiaye’s glittering prism reflects more than green— it reflects a life.

SELF-PORTRAIT IN GREEN

Picture Perfect Autumn

Noble, Shelley

| Avon/HarperCollins

(384 pp.) | $18.99 paper | Sept. 19, 2023 9780063141544

An up-and-coming New York photographer seeks out a mentor who had his heyday decades before.

Twenty-eightyear-old Dani Campbell has it made as a photographer. With an agent who finds her ever-more-lucrative projects to work on, she’s raking in the money, but she feels that something is missing from her art. When, in an antiques shop, she stumbles across an envelope of forgotten photos taken by a man named Lawrence Sinclair, she realizes that he has exactly what she’s missing, even if she doesn’t know what it is. And as the daughter of a couple who run a bar in Brooklyn, she doesn’t take her position—or income—for granted. She decides to seek Lawrence out to help her discover what’s missing in her art. When she tracks him down in Old Murphy Beach, Rhode Island, she finds a grumpy, bitter old man living in a ramshackle, dilapidated monster of a house. She convinces him to take her money for room and board—$800 dollars a week is what they settle on—and to mentor her. While she thinks he’s poor, what she doesn’t know is that he’s let everything fall down around him because of his bitterness at losing everything that mattered to him—his wife, Krista; his son, Elliott; and his grandson, Peter. She also doesn’t know that he’s an extremely wealthy man from an extremely wealthy family. As the days pass and he helps her rediscover her eye, a number of events transpire: The nuns next door are losing their convent and must find a new location to run their arts school; Peter reappears after a long estrangement, struggling with his place in the family empire, and Dani becomes enmeshed in helping everyone as she seeks to rediscover her art. The book is well

written, though some of the characterizations are a bit clichéd—the nuns are beatific, for instance, while Lawrence, though cantankerous, finds joy in helping the community rather than in his wealth.

An uplifting story that offers clear signposts about how it will unfold, bringing comfort and closure to the reader.

Kirkus Star

The Vulnerables

Nunez, Sigrid | Riverhead (256 pp.) | $28.00 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780593715512

In Nunez’s latest, set against the early days of New York City’s Covid lockdowns, a woman finds unlikely—and uneasy—companionship in a troubled college student and his parents’ friends’ parrot.

As in What Are You Going Through (2020) and her National Book Award–winning The Friend (2018) before that, Nunez’s subject is the core business of being alive: the tenuous beauty of human connection, the nature of memory, the purpose of writing, the passage of time. All of that sounds pretentious, or precious, or both. It isn’t. Instead, the result is almost arrestingly straightforward. Spare and understated and often quite funny, the experience is less like reading fiction than like eavesdropping on someone else’s brain. To the extent there is a plot, though: a woman, an academic and writer—not unlike Nunez herself—old enough to qualify as “a vulnerable,” agrees to spend the first days of the pandemic living in the apartment of a friend of a friend to look after their miniature macaw, Eureka, who has been abandoned by his previous collegiate bird-sitter. It doesn’t spoil much to say the former bird-sitter—a handsome Gen Z vegan—soon returns without warning, and the pair (or the trio, counting the parrot) become

inadvertent housemates. The evolution of those relationships, interpersonal and interspecies, becomes the scaffolding on which everything else hangs. The woman wanders the shuttered city. She has minor interactions with passing strangers, and ruminates on them. (“For the writer, obsessive rumination is a must,” she thinks, in her defense.) She grapples with the meaning and purpose of the novel; she recalls a recent reunion with a tightknit group of college friends. (It is one of those friends, in fact, who facilitates the bird-sitting gig.) “If it is true that an inability to deal with the future is a sign of mental disturbance,” the woman muses, “I don’t know anyone who is not now disturbed; who has not been disturbed for some time.” And yet—despite the grimness of the setting—the novel itself is strangely, sweetly hopeful; there is, it seems, a reason to go on. Sharp—and surprisingly tender.

The Helsinki Affair

Pitoniak, Anna | Simon & Schuster (368 pp.) $27.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781668014745

The sins of the father return to haunt his daughter in a long game of spycraft. Amanda Cole is dying of boredom at the sleepy Rome bureau of the CIA when a tip comes in from a Russian bureaucrat on vacation—an American senator will be assassinated the next day in Egypt. The ripple effects of this event will change the lives of both Amanda and her father, Charlie Cole, also a CIA operative. Shortly after Amanda is promoted to Rome station chief, her father gives her a stack of papers found in the late Senator Vogel’s office. These papers contain notes that indicate the senator was working with a Russian oligarch to uncover a nefarious scheme involving “meme stocks” and day traders. For reasons Charlie does

not understand (but can anxiously suspect), his name is written on the last page. Though part of him wishes to destroy the information, he delivers the papers to Amanda, setting in motion a complex plot that unfolds both in the present and decades earlier, during Charlie’s posting in Helsinki, which is where Amanda was born. By the time he left, his marriage was over and his career permanently derailed. As in her previous book, Our American Friend (2022), Pitoniak artfully deploys all the tricks and tropes of the spy genre, and she creates for Amanda a wonderful ally—a 73-year-old CIA superstar named Kath Frost who “had sniffed out more double agents than anyone in agency history” and who shows up in “a linen dress belted at the waist, a chunky turquoise necklace, a pair of red cowboy boots. Her gray hair hung long and loose over her shoulders.” The developing mentorship and friendship between Amanda and Kath as well as the unfolding of the Cole family’s unhappy past give the novel emotional weight and interest that add to its espionage plot. These excellent female spy characters deserve a series.

Kirkus Star

One Hundred Days

Pung, Alice | HarperVia (256 pp.) | $30.00 Oct. 17, 2023 | 9780063313002

A story of teenage pregnancy, immigrant experience, and the mother-daughter relationship by Australian author Pung.

Karuna Kelly is the child of an unhappy marriage. Her father, a white, working-class Australian, dotes on her but has little regard for her mother, his mail-order bride from the Philippines. When they divorce, Karuna must live in a subsidized flat with her mother, whose narrow idea of health and success leads her to

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be critical and harsh. At 16, Karuna exercises her limited independence by having a fling with a local 19-year-old, becoming pregnant. The novel is written in Karuna’s first-person voice as addressed to her baby, and the tone is raw and lyrical, hopeless and hopeful at the same time. Her mother controls her to an abusive extent, limiting her access to the outside world and rejecting medical advice in favor of old-time traditions. Karuna increasingly chafes against this treatment, aching for help but stymied in her attempts to get it. For such a slim book, the story is deeply complex. Pung shows people of different heritages mixing in this poor community, the insular quality of diaspora, and the different expectations placed on Karuna for being biracial. She also shows—and Karuna is aware of this to varying degrees—that Karuna’s mother’s actions are driven by trauma and love, not maliciousness, and that this both excuses them and doesn’t. Karuna’s experience of pregnancy is intimately, vividly detailed. As it progresses, she becomes resigned and depressed, but when the baby is born, there is the possibility of change. Subtle, difficult, lovely, and gorgeously written.

Take Creek, For Example

Rugeley, Chris | 7.13 Books (192 pp.) $19.99 paper | Oct. 1, 2023 | 9798987747100

An unnamed photography student stalks the grounds of his elite art school in search of the truth about a mysterious fellow student.

The narrator of Rugeley’s punchy debut is entering his senior year at Take Creek,

a private art school in upstate New York. Something of a photography prodigy, he earned admittance with a portfolio he shot in a San Francisco homeless camp in which he developed his “ragged and seedy aesthetic.” Since then, however, in spite of the tutelage of his world-famous mentor, Salter, the narrator has lost his way. He’s hard at work in his senior year, “struggling with a new series on process and color…shooting pictures of very small objects and then repurposing them in other completely irrelevant frames,” when Salter gives him an assignment: Surveil Take Creek’s new hotshot transfer student, Manning, who Salter believes is there to destroy his career. What follows is a wry, absurdist, at times achingly earnest romp through the darker crannies of metamodernist philosophy as it plays out on Take Creek’s campus. As the students and teachers become more deeply embroiled in the paranoia, isolation, and ennui that seems to imbue both the snow-smothered landscape and their art, the reader is periodically encouraged to consider the concurrent suffering that afflicts the world outside the school’s rarefied halls with paragraphs that report dystopian-skewed (fictional) current events juxtaposed against the mechanics of art-making at Take Creek. This technique reveals a narrator who is aware of the discrepancy between what is at stake in his art and what is at stake in reality, but unclear, as of yet, how to apply himself to bridging that gap. The result is a book full of loopy energy told with a terse, self-conscious sincerity reminiscent of a young man in a Salinger story who can find neither himself, nor anyone else, through the miasma of his own ideas.

An entertaining, unsettling exploration of the making of meaninglessness.

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Kirkus Star

The Collector

Silva, Daniel | Harper/HarperCollins (402 pp.) | $32.00 | July 18, 2023

978-0-06-283487-4

A lost masterpiece and a professional hit lure the world’s most famous spy back into the field. Summoned by an old friend to the Amalfi Coast, Gabriel Allon finds a murder scene and an empty stretcher that could have held only one painting, a painting of inestimable value that has been missing for decades—Vermeer’s The Concert, stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. Allon’s search for this cultural treasure leads him to an alliance with a Danish IT consultant—and gifted thief—and it will require the assistance of the team he once led as head of Israel’s intelligence service. As Silva’s fans will expect, this hunt for a work of art will quickly turn into something much bigger—maybe a rush to avert World War III? Over the course of 22 novels featuring Allon, Silva has vacillated between escapism and realpolitik. This installment is a near-perfect combination of both. One of the pleasures of a Gabriel Allon novel is that it allows us entrée into a world few will ever experience. But even as he might leave readers sighing over a Versace gown or a Michelin-starred meal, Silva asks us to take a hard look at what money can do. He shows us an underground economy in which irreplaceable works of art are used as currency or

collateral—or, at best, end up in private vaults where they are protected but inaccessible. And the same wealth that makes commissioning the theft of a well-known and well-guarded masterpiece possible makes murder easy. None of which is to say that this is an anti-capitalist screed. This is a thriller, and it satisfies in the ways that a thriller should while also offering food for thought. And if the plot hinges on one absolutely outrageous coincidence… well, Silva’s fans will likely be willing to allow him that. Relevant and richly entertaining.

The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch

Taub, Melinda | Grand Central Publishing (400 pp.) | $30.00 | Oct. 3, 2023

9781538739204

A secret society exists within the mores and marriage plots of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter must be a witch.” Enter Lydia Bennet, the youngest of the Bennet sisters. Anyone who has read the source material will insist that Lydia is the fifth daughter and thus the maxim shouldn’t apply. But they are not factoring in the three eldest sisters who died shortly after birth. Nor are they aware that Kitty, the second-youngest sister, doesn’t count since she’s a cat Lydia hexed into girlhood without her family remembering. In setting down

Lydia’s recollections, Taub breathes new life into classic characters in a novel that is carefully researched and surprisingly layered. Magic comes at a price here, and for every spell a witch casts she must offer up something in return. Lydia’s troubles start when, in order to spare her and Kitty’s lives, she foolishly makes a promise to Lord Wormenheart, a dragon demon. Years later, Wormenheart comes to collect what he is owed, which sends Lydia on a dangerous adventure to Brighton. There she seeks out the Jewel of Propriety with the help of fellow witches Mrs. Harriet Forster, a beautiful but existentially unsatisfied colonel’s wife, and Miss Maria Lambe, daughter of a freed Black woman and a South Seas plantation owner’s son. Lydia’s future husband, George Wickham, who in this telling is Wormenheart’s demon son, lends help and a good deal of mischief. Mostly detailing events from her past, Lydia also describes her current (though far less engaging) predicament, trying to help Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy’s hexed sister, Georgiana. While at times the story drags, Taub’s wit and creativity shines through, making even the Kitty/kitty character endearing where a lesser writer might have made it grating. As our heroine says: “though it is dauntingly long I daresay it is charmingly written.”

A delight for both Austen lovers and fans of magical adventure stories.

The Future Future

Thirlwell, Adam | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (352 pp.) | $28.00 | Oct. 17, 2023 9780374607616

Her privileged existence shaken up by pornographic pamphlets about her, a woman looks for meaning in a time of radical change.

Coyly partial names (Antoinette, Beaumarchais, Louverture) and the general course of

A subtle, difficult, lovely, and gorgeously written story.

ONE HUNDRED DAYS

events indicate that Celine struggles to face down her slanderers in the years leading up to the French Revolution, falls afoul of the new government during the Reign of Terror, then wanders off to the Americas, where George Washington oppresses Native Americans, and French revolutionaries fail to live up to their ideals when faced with a slave revolt in Hispaniola. At the same time, Celine and her friends message each other and use anachronistic words like fascist. “Centuries and centuries go by, but everything happens in the present moment,” is apparently Thirlwell’s point, insofar as his all-over-the-map narrative can be said to have a point. An interlude among the Mohawks and a bizarre trip to the moon (“the calendar on the wall in the kitchen was saying that the year was now 2251”) suggest that Celine’s quest involves a desire to live in greater harmony with the natural world, and she muses about women’s lack of power and agency throughout. The uses and nature of language is another thematic undercurrent; Thirlwell definitely isn’t short on ideas. But his tone is so abstract that it’s difficult to engage with those ideas or the people voicing them. A comment by Celine’s daughter, Saratoga, on writers’ limited notions about the future is characteristically opaque: “The true future wasn’t what was about to happen in a month or even a year but the future future, said Saratoga: alien and incommunicable.” Celine’s relationships with the numerous secondary characters milling around her are equally hard to parse. The enigmatic ending is likely to frustrate anyone who hasn’t already been frustrated by a text that seems to go out of its way to be disorienting and alienating. Some interesting ideas in search of a coherent fictional framework.

Blackouts

Torres, Justin | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (320 pp.) | $27.00 | Oct. 10, 2023 9780374293574

An unnamed narrator and his elderly interlocutor weave together forgotten queer histories in Torres’ second novel, following We the Animals (2011).

When the 20-something narrator wakes up from a blackout to find his kitchen flooded, he drives into the desert to visit Juan, an elderly friend who lives with “a badling of queer ducks” in a housing complex called the Palace. In exchange for a place to stay, the narrator agrees to carry on Juan’s life project, which involves a (real) 1941 research study called Sex Variants: A Study in Homosexual Patterns. Though the research was begun in 1935 by Jan Gay, a lesbian anthropologist, the author named in the published study was psychiatrist George W. Henry, who used the text to pathologize homosexuality. Perusing Juan’s copy of the study, the narrator discovers largely blacked-out pages featuring highlighted fragments of text that Juan calls “little poems of illumination,” exercises in erasure that attempt to wrest the text from Dr. Henry and blow life back into the individual testimonies collected by Gay. Scans of the blacked-out pages of Sex Variants, in addition to related photographs and documents from Gay’s fictional archive, punctuate the novel’s short chapters, which capture Juan and the narrator’s conversations. Composed of stories both real and invented, collective and personal—Juan frequently asks the narrator to tell him about his sexual exploits—the novel’s interlocutory structure recalls Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman. As playful, inventive, and at times kaleidoscopic as the book may be, the dialogue between Juan and the narrator often comes across as forced, with some blocks of storytelling (including the entirety

of Torres’ short story “Reverting to a Wild State,” which was published in The New Yorker in 2011) feeling wedged in. The novel shines and surprises, though, in sections where the characters interweave cultural and historical artifacts, as well as memory and literary references, to reconstruct and revise queer history. Here, the novel’s central question about where storytelling ends and history begins comes to the fore, albeit with no clear resolution. It’s up to the reader, the narrator concludes, to decide where truth and fiction converge.

An inventive novel that displays the scope of its author’s ambitions.

The Refugee Ocean

Toutonghi, Pauls | Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) | $14.99 paper | Oct. 10, 2023 9781668007433

Two refugees struggle to build new lives in the U.S.

As its title suggests, this novel is concerned with refugees. On one side, there’s Naïm Rahil, a 14-yearold piano prodigy from current-day Aleppo whose left hand is mangled by shelling. On the other, there’s Marguerite Toutoungi, born in 1925, the middle daughter of an elite Beirut family that made its fortune from tobacco. While her parents hope to marry her off, Marguerite longs only to study music at the Conservatoire de Paris; both plans are foiled when she falls in love with the son of a Cuban tobacco farmer. Late in the novel, of course, both halves of the story converge. The author’s construction is awkward—haphazard, even—while his dialogue frequently feels overshadowed by Hollywood scripts in a way that seems completely divorced from the way people actually speak. After the event that destroys his hand and most of his family, Naïm wakes up in the hospital. “ ‘Where’s Dad?’ ” he asks Fatima, his mother. “Fatima’s

gaze seemed to harden. She started to speak, then shook her head, cleared her throat, looked away. Her implication was clear. ‘Anyone?’ he asked. She shook her head slightly.” The scene wouldn’t be out of place in an action movie, but that doesn’t seem to have been Toutonghi’s intent. Then, too, he has a habit of using current-day standards to evaluate things that would have preceded those standards—as, for example, when Marguerite considers that “her work had been validated.” It’s the early 20th century, and Marguerite is in Beirut: Would she really use validation language?

A novel that sags under the weight of improbable dialogue, two-dimensional characters, and various anachronisms.

Straw Dogs of the Universe

Ye Chun | Catapult (336 pp.) | $27.00

Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781646220625

Chinese immigrants grapple with violent racism in 19th-century California.

Ye, a poet, short story writer, and translator, begins her first novel in 1876 as, amid famine in rural China, 10-year-old Sixiang is sold into quasi-slavery by her grandmother. Soon, the girl is on a ship bound for California and a life of toil and exploitation. But Sixiang (her name means “remember home”) is no “straw dog of the universe,” which is to say, she doesn’t perceive herself to be “spent and disposable.” So spirited that even as a small child she refused to endure ritual foot-binding, Sixiang has an agenda of her own: She intends to find and retrieve her father, Guifeng, who came to America to build the transcontinental railroad before she was born and has since vanished. It’s a bold, naive plan worthy of a Disney cartoon heroine and Sixiang would make an exemplary one. Chapter by chapter, Ye weaves together the harrowing stories of Sixiang and

Guifeng as well as Feiyan, the fiery woman Guifeng loves, and Daoshi, a Taoist priest who tries to preach and practice spiritual detachment, “not accumulating more than the bare minimum, nor craving more than a few diversions.” The quartet of immigrants endures whippings, diabolical bosses, sanctimonious missionaries, leg amputation, brothel work, sexual assault, opium addiction, opium withdrawal, existential despair and, above all, nonstop abuse at the hands of monstrous gweilo (white people), who are sneering at best, murderous at worst. “They were all the same,” one character reflects. “All wanted to see the Chinese burn and die.” Setting her novel amid well-documented episodes of anti-Asian violence, Ye imagines a ghastly and luridly perilous world reminiscent of a horror story.

A choppy, fast-paced historical novel informed by a 21st-century critique of whiteness.

Kirkus Star Stockholm

Yedlin, Noa | Trans. by Jessica Cohen HarperVia (320 pp.) | $30.00 | Nov. 14, 2023

| 9780063310810

When renowned Israeli economist Avishay dies at home alone of an apparent heart attack, his four best friends, like him almost 70, conspire to conceal his death for a week to keep him in the running for a Nobel Prize.

Avishay is a strong contender for the honor but needs to be alive when the Nobel committee makes its decision. Yehuda, who has lived in Avishay’s shadow despite becoming rich as a young man from his invention of a kitchen bag opener, proposes the scheme to keep him “alive.” How would they want Avishay remembered, he poses: as “a nice, divorced professor of economics who had a few friends who liked him” or “a man who will be immortalized”? Not to mention a man whose foreword to Yehuda’s yet unpublished book would ensure its success if it bore the Nobel imprint? Everyone has personal gains in mind. Zohara, a single, struggling ghostwriter who has been having an affair with the womanizing Avishay for 20 years, concocts a plan to grab a big share of the Nobel prize money by claiming she was his common-law wife. Keeping the death a secret proves as hairy as it is complicated, especially after an electric bicyclist runs over the dead body during an exasperating attempt to transfer it. As much as the book—the basis for a popular Israeli TV series—thrives on dark slapstick humor, it’s no Weekend at Avishay’s . Yedlin, a master at tone, grounds the antic comedy in reflections on aging, friendship, parenthood, life as “one big effort to compensate for feelings of inferiority,” and “sadness, more sadness, respectable sadness, unsatisfying sadness, mature sadness.” In the end, the absence of real mourning on anyone’s part can be read as an embrace of life beyond death or a reflection of the shells in which many people live. A seriously funny take on death and dying.

An unnamed narrator and his elderly friend weave together forgotten queer histories.

BLACKOUTS

A Cold Highland Wind

Alexander, Tasha | Minotaur (304 pp.)

$28.00 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781250872333

A trip to the Scottish Highlands provides another crime-solving opportunity for a pair of aristocratic sleuths in 1905.

The beauty of the Highlands has always appealed to Lady Emily Hargreaves. So she; her husband, Colin; their twin sons, Richard and Henry; and their ward, Tom, are delighted to accept an invitation to Cairnfarn Castle from their dearest friend, Jeremy Sheffield, Duke of Bainbridge. The village is hosting a ceilidh to welcome Dr. Genevieve Harris, that rara avis at the time, a woman doctor, who’s replacing the retiring Dr. William Cameron. The people are friendly and the party fun, but the following day the boys stumble on the body of Angus Sinclair, Jeremy’s gamekeeper. There’s something of a mystery about Sinclair, who’d left the area years before to become a lawyer in Edinburgh and recently returned to take up the job of gamekeeper. He’d been seen arguing with Dr. Harris, who reveals that the dead man is certainly not Angus Sinclair, to whom she was engaged for two years before he vanished. The faux Sinclair was a great favorite with the local ladies, and Emily wonders if a romantic entanglement rather than his masquerade could provide the motive for his murder. Alexander spins a counterpoint tale set in 1676 Cairnfarn of Tansy, a formerly enslaved woman from Tunis who longs to return home but becomes embroiled in one of the many witchcraft trials so prevalent in Scotland in that period. Although Emily is certain that Sinclair’s murder has nothing to do with witchcraft, the sleuths have their hands full unraveling a web of lies.

An enjoyable mystery and historical information combine in a puzzle whose pieces don’t always fit together snugly.

Let It Crow! Let It Crow! Let It Crow!

Andrews, Donna | Minotaur (304 pp.)

$27.00 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781250893963

Fans who think that Virginia blacksmith Meg Langslow has forgotten her vocation because of all her amateur detective work will be delighted to hear that her latest adventure features no fewer than eight blacksmiths.

Alec Franzetti, an old acquaintance but never exactly a friend of Meg’s even though they were both trained in the craft by William Faulkner Cates, has brainstormed Blades of Glory, a new reality TV series set in retired drummer Ragnar Ragnarson’s castle/farmhouse in which six blacksmiths—or, more precisely, bladesmiths—compete to forge the best weapons and win cash and eternal glory. Meg’s attempt to stay clear of the whole enterprise fails when someone mugs Faulk, breaking his arm, removing him from competition and leading him to entreat Meg to take his place in order to safeguard the unwise loan he and his husband made to Alec to underwrite the series. Three of the smiths Meg joins, Victor Noone, Andy Kim, and John Dunigan, are fine with that arrangement, but the other two, Duncan Jackson and Brody McIlvaney, whine about their number including Victor, a Black smith; Andy, a Korean American; and Meg, a woman. When somebody starts messing with Meg’s and Andy’s forges, it’s pretty obvious who the guilty party

is, and soon after Meg confronts the saboteur with evidence against him, he’s found dead in Ragnar’s cow pasture—unavailable, as the producers fret, for any retakes. The limited cast focuses the mystery more sharply than the extended-family reunions that some of Meg’s recent Christmas-adjacent tales have more closely resembled, and those crows turn out to have an important, though highly improbable, role to play.

More than ever, Meg strikes while the iron is hot.

Caught on the Book

Black, Laura Gail | Crooked Lane (272 pp.)

$30.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781639104819

A North Carolina bookshop owner reluctantly investigates a murder.

Jenna Quinn, owner of Twice Upon a Time in Hokes Folly, may not be able to cook dinner or do laundry, but she has an excellent memory. She’ll never forget how Det. Frank Sutter zeroed in on her last year as chief suspect in a murder, causing her to be locked up for months on end. So when Frank comes under suspicion himself for killing author Greg Hurst, his estranged wife Emma’s new boyfriend, Jenna enjoys a moment of well-earned schadenfreude. But only for a moment. Then Jenna’s boyfriend, Det. Keith Logan, pleads to her better angels. As Sutter’s former partner, Keith can’t be involved in the investigation, but he’s sure that

Snappy banter among colorful townsfolk makes this shopkeeper cozy a winner. CAUGHT ON THE BOOK

even though the whole town heard Frank threaten to kill his rival for Emma’s affections at the annual Bass Festival the day before Hurst’s demise, Frank can’t possibly be guilty. When Jenna finally agrees to track down Greg’s murderer, she doesn’t have far to look. Members of the local writers’ group, led by Amanda Trent, offer plenty of reasons why someone would have wanted the shifty author dead. But will her attempt to exonerate Frank and vindicate Keith’s faith in his partner succeed? Or will it just put Jenna directly in the crosshairs of a killer who won’t hesitate to strike again? Snappy banter among colorful townsfolk makes this shopkeeper cozy a winner.

Murders of a Feather

Brady, Eileen | Poisoned Pen (384 pp.)

$8.99 paper | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781728249377

A veterinarian’s keen perceptions may help her solve a slew of murders.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, Dr. Kate Turner is a little bummed that the only Cupid in her life is a Doberman with a bladder infection. But she’s typically too slammed with work for much of a love life, especially since she’s been filling in at the Hudson Valley’s Oak Falls Animal Hospital while Doc Anderson is on a yearlong cruise. Though she’s been happy in Oak Falls, it’s hard for Kate to know what’s next in life. She doesn’t have much going on in the romance department, but she does have the undying affection of her own dog, Buddy, and the begrudging respect of the office’s resident feline, Mr. Katt. As Kate and her assistant, Mari, are driving back from a house call to Maple Grove Farm, they’re flagged down by a man who’s just found someone shot dead in the woods. After the two women rush

out to see if they can help, Mari, a lifelong local, follows a path deeper into the forest, and the two discover a second body, a beautiful woman who’s drowned beneath the ice of Lover’s Lake. The apparent murder/ suicide becomes the talk of the town, and a third fatality soon after inclines the police to consider all three deaths murders. Kate, who’s used to investigating animal illnesses, may have the eye for detail that could assist officers, even though she’s distracted by her attempt to deepen and define her recent friendship with large-animal vet Dr. Mike.

The copious details on the health of animals great and small sets this apart from similar series.

Viviana Valentine and the Ticking Clock

Edwards, Emily J. | Crooked Lane (272 pp.) $30.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781639105229

The dawn of 1951 presents a long list of cases for Edwards’ heroine, now the partner and fiancee of Hell’s Kitchen shamus Tommy Fortuna.

The thing is, Tommy and Viv’s clients are cagier

than most suspected criminals. The first of them, Floristan, asks the pair to recover a missing item he refuses to identify and shows them what he considers a ransom note that’s written in cipher. Bowen, an investment banker, won’t say exactly why he’s concerned about the disappearance of Trevor Penhaligon, a cog in the wheel of Keller Bachmann Investments. Morty Lobel, an old pal of Tommy’s, wants Fortuna and Valentine to shadow Rachel Blum, his bride-to-be, because she’s changed in some indeterminate way he can’t put his finger on. Given a caseload like this, with clients as enigmatic as the puzzles they bring to the sleuths, it’s no wonder that Viv and Tommy have little time or energy to devote to the mystery of the dying man they found on the sidewalk west of Times Square in the closing minutes of New Year’s Eve. Whoever the victim was— the person who stabbed him to death seems to have lifted his identification—his dying words, “Tell Frankie… it’s okay,” pose still another riddle. The solutions to most of these mysteries are instantly forgettable, and the title promises more suspense than Edwards delivers, but the sharpness and warmth of Viv’s lively patter and the evocation of postwar New York will stick with you much longer. Perfect for anyone who longs for a return to the days when “violent crimes are rarely committed against strangers.”

Baking Spirits Bright

Fox, Sarah | Berkley (288 pp.) | $8.99 paper Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780593546635

When a baking competition is almost derailed by a contestant’s murder, a chocolatier uses the case to cozy up to a local police officer.

Becca Ransom has no regrets about giving up her Los Angeles life to return to her gorgeous childhood

A veterinarian’s keen perceptions may help her solve a slew of murders.

MURDERS OF A FEATHER

home of Larch Haven, Vermont, where winter makes everything in the small town look even more beautiful. Not only does Becca get to be near her beloved grandparents Lolly and Pop; she’s also happily taken over their family chocolate shop, True Confections. When her closest friend, Dizzy Bautista, tries to talk Becca into entering the upcoming third annual Baking Spirits Bright competition, Becca at first demurs, modestly thinking of herself as more of a chocolatier than a baker. But Dizzy’s anticipation is infectious, and the prospect of appearing in New England’s renowned Bake It Right magazine would be icing on the proverbial competition cake. Soon enough, Becca finds herself not only in the competition but in the finals, with plans for a heavily detailed, fully edible model of Larch Haven as her showcase. Full of jitters, Becca shows up at the finals ready to do her best only to discover the body of fellow competitor Irma, killed by a blow from Becca’s own chocolate chipper. Though Becca is shocked that a murder could take place in such a small community, she’s also cheered at the idea that her favorite police officer Sawyer Maguire’s involvement in the crime might mean a little extra time together as they pool their individual talents to solve the case.

As sweet as its many sugar-infused puns.

The Socialite’s Guide to Death and Dating

Golden, S.K. | Crooked Lane (336 pp.)

$29.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781639104857

The death of a visitor to her latest party before he’s even left the Pinnacle Hotel gives New Yorker Evelyn Murphy another excuse to play detective.

It’s 1958. Having already sent his young and very pregnant second wife, Elena, home separately, Judge Cliff Baker makes it only as far as the parking garage before someone injects him with a lethal dose of heroin. Nor is his body the extent of the discoveries that await Ev and her new lover, Pinnacle bellhop Malcolm Cooper, in the garage. When Det. Laurence Hodgson and his unsympathetic new partner, Det. McJimsey, arrive and pop the judge’s trunk, they find an agitated young woman inside. By the time she dies several days later, when she’s smothered in her bed at Manhattan General Hospital, Ev’s father, Pinnacle owner Mark Murphy, the third (or maybe fourth) richest man in the world, has returned from his latest trip, been shot up with a hefty dose of heroin, and been sent to Manhattan General, where he lies unconscious while someone strangles his visitor, Florence, Ev’s longtime maid. When Hodgson gets fired for failing to establish security protocols that might have saved Florence’s life, the unlovely McJimsey is left in charge of the case, and Ev visits Hodgson—telling him, “No coffee for me, thanks. Do you have

champagne?”—to enlist him as her equally unofficial investigative partner. Though the period details are less thickly strewn than in The Socialite’s Guide to Murder (2022), the ending comes as quite a surprise. The heroine’s serenely coy sensibility vividly evokes the 1950s.

Blessing of the Lost Girls

Jance, J.A. | Morrow/HarperCollins (352 pp.) $27.00 | Sept. 19, 2023 | 9780063010109

For reasons she doesn’t explain until her “After-Afterword,” Jance works her most popular detective, Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady, into the latest installment of her Walker Family chronicles.

But it’s not a starring role. Joanna is the one whom Dan Pardee, a federal agent of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Task Force, asks for help when the body of a young woman discovered outside Tucson three years ago is finally identified as that of Rosa Rios, who was followed out of a local bar and strangled shortly after she was expelled from high school. As the husband of Dr. Lanita Walker-Pardee, Dan is the pivotal figure who binds together the myriad parts of a convoluted tale that combines Indigenous family history and serial homicide. But it’s criminal-justice major Jenny Brady who realizes that the case her mother has described to her has unsettling parallels to the recent attack on Jenny’s rodeo competitor Deborah Russell, who was lucky enough to be rescued by the worthless boyfriend with whom she’d had a rendezvous. Deb hasn’t reported the incident because she was afraid that her Mormon family would be scandalized by both the boyfriend and the rendezvous, and she has no intention of reporting it now. So there’s no official record of the attack, and Jenny, then Dan, are the only

heroine’s serenely coy sensibility vividly evokes the 1950s.

ones who have access to the information that will ultimately unmask a killer revealed on page 1 as Charlie Milton, né Ronald J. Addison. Readers who find the manhunt lacking in surprise may prefer the updates on Lani and Dan’s complicated family, but it’s hard to imagine many readers loving the whole shebang.

A labor of love triggered by a serial killer.

A Traitor in Whitehall

Kelly, Julia | Minotaur (304 pp.) | $28.00

Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781250865489

A mystery-loving Englishwoman is thrilled to give up working in a munitions factory to take a job in Churchill’s war cabinet operation in a bunker under Whitehall.

Evelyne Redfern prefers not to mention her past, when she was known in the British newspapers as the Parisian Orphan. A nasty custody battle between her father, Sir Reginald Redfern, and her French mother resulted in her attending school in England. After her mother died, her father ignored her and she was given into the care of her aunt. Now she’s approached by Lionel Fletcher, a family friend from the Redferns’ years in Paris, who offers her a job that will change her life. The work itself is merely secretarial, but she lives parttime in an underground dormitory along with her fellow workers, some pleasant, others not. When she’s sent

to get the required sunlamp treatment—“It helps keep us healthy, what with the amount of time we’re underground”—she discovers Jean Plinkton, who’s much disliked by most of her fellow workers, dead in the treatment area. Her thoughts on the crime are rudely dismissed by the investigators; only David Poole, who found her with the body, gives any indication that she could possibly help. A sharp observer and great reader of mystery novels, Evelyne’s seen a number of things that might identify the person who’s leaked information to the Germans they could have gleaned only by working in the cabinet war rooms. Both Fletcher and Poole are investigating the leaks, and her knowledge of office gossip turns up many promising leads and sets her on the trail of a spy. Romance, feminism, and historical detail combine in an exciting new series.

Sugar Plum Poisoned

McKinlay, Jenn | Berkley (304 pp.) | $8.99 paper | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780593549124

When an up-and-coming singer comes to Scottsdale, Arizona, with her controlling manager, murder tags along.

Fairy Tale Cupcakes, which Melanie DeLaura owns along with Angie and Tate Harper, is set to provide a luscious assortment of treats for the VIP events surrounding Shelby Vaughn’s Christmas show.

Angie met Shelby when she was opening for the Sewers, a band whose drummer was Angie’s then-boyfriend, Roach, and she loves her. Melanie, who’s married to Angie’s brother, is protective of her best friend but is slowly won over to Shelby’s side. Not only does Shelby’s manager, Doc Howard, try to run every aspect of her life, but he seems to be holding back her career by insisting that she sing only Christmas songs instead of the wildly popular numbers she wrote herself. Shelby’s only true friend seems to be Cheryl, her stylist. She has an enemy in Doc’s wife, singer Miranda Carter, whom he dumped as a client to manage Shelby. Also, the daughter of her former manager, Diana, who died in a fire, has accused Shelby of killing her. Asked by her mother to host Christmas dinner, Mel never imagines it will morph into an extravaganza that expands to include more and more guests, including Shelby and Cheryl. When Doc is found dead clutching a cupcake, Mel and her entire circle of friends and family, who’ve had plenty of previous experience solving murders, have every reason to spring into action.

Multitudes of motives make it difficult to catch the killer in this sweet tale.

Cold Turkey

Meade, Amy Patricia | Severn House (224 pp.) | $31.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781448306558

A Virginia café owner probes the murder of an unpopular public official.

As she prepares to open Cookin’ the Books, her literary-themed eatery, Tish Tarragon is also looking forward to a romantic Thanksgiving dinner for two with her new boyfriend, Sheriff Clemson Reade. At the annual village Turkey Trot footrace, however, someone with a high-powered rifle manages to blow a hole in both her plans. The >>>

Romance, feminism, and historical detail combine in an exciting new series.

A TRAITOR IN WHITEHALL

A talented new writer and an unforgettable heroine.

MURDER BY DEGREES

victim, Deputy Mayor Royce Behrens, seems like such an innocuous target that everyone assumes the intended victim must be Mayor Schuyler Thompson, Tish’s former main squeeze. But although Tish’s parting from Schuyler was anything but amicable, she still has a hard time believing that anyone would want to kill the irascible mayor. What firmly cements her conviction that Royce was the intended victim all along are her chats with the friends and family of the late unlamented. Everyone, from former town council secretary Faye Wheeler to Royce’s own mother, Annabelle, had reason to resent the shady philanderer. Once her ex is no longer seen as the real victim of the shooting, Tish is free to join Sheriff Reade on the hunt for the killer. Meade introduces readers to the quirky residents of rural Hobson Glen as Tish balances her investigation with her need make sure all her buddies get the convivial Thanksgiving meal they deserve.

A good-natured look at a pretty mean-spirited crime.

Kirkus Star Murder By Degrees

Mukerji, Ritu | Simon & Schuster (304 pp.)

$27.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781668015063

Debut novelist Mukerji, who is also a practicing physician, applies her knowledge of medicine to a gripping tale set in 1875 Philadelphia.

Dr. Lydia Weston serves working-class patients at the city’s

Spruce Street Clinic and teaches future female doctors at the Woman’s Medical College. Her accomplishments are often dismissed by men who believe women are prone to hysteria and not capable of being good doctors. When the body of a woman believed to be one of Lydia’s patients is discovered in the Schuylkill River, Lydia is invited into the police investigation. Anna Ward worked as a housemaid for a wealthy family whose haughty members are far from willing to cooperate with the search for her killer. Their sense of privilege opens the door for Mukerji to morph her crime novel into a social novel that deftly examines the deprivation suffered by people in service and the struggles of women like Lydia and Anna who want to choose their own paths. Mukerji, like Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs, pulls the reader into fascinating and richly detailed forensic autopsies and blesses Weston with the instincts and determination to carry out a murder investigation as effectively as—or even better than— the police. This well-constructed narrative will also be appealing to literature lovers as Lydia finds solace in reading Tennyson, Browning, and Wordsworth. Mukerji writes with the assurance of a more seasoned novelist, and armchair sleuths can hope this is the beginning of a substantive new series. Like Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs, Lydia is a strong and

indomitable woman who transcends her circumstances to become her true self and a crusader for social justice. This atmospheric novel heralds the arrival of a talented new writer and an unforgettable heroine.

Home At Night

Munier, Paula | Minotaur (352 pp.) | $28.00 Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781250887894

A haunted house, poachers, and murder threaten a house-huntiwng couple in Vermont.

Former soldier Mercy Carr and her husband, game warden Troy Warner, have had plenty of experience with murder. When a deal for a larger house falls through, they’re packed into a tiny cabin along with their dogs, Elvis and Susie Bear; Amy, a teen mother Mercy met on a case and took in; her baby, Helena; and her boyfriend, Brodie, who’s there most of the time. Luckily, the house of Mercy’s dreams comes on the market, but getting it will be a death-defying experience. Grackle Tree Farm, a beautiful piece of property with a decrepit Victorian haunted mansion, is perfect for their needs. Once owned by famous poet Euphemia “Effie” Whitney-Jones and her longtime companion, both deceased, it’s finally going on the market. Undeterred by the amount of work the place needs, they put in a bid. Meanwhile, Troy and his park ranger friend search for poachers who are stealing animals from endangered species, and Mercy’s great uncle Hugo Fleury, a retired military veteran and intelligence officer, and Daniel Feinberg, a wealthy neighbor for whom she’s done several security jobs, want Mercy to find something Effie hid at the farm, providing only a cryptic clue. Hugo, who knew Effie, also knows that a private detective and others are searching for whatever was hidden by the puzzle-loving poet.

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Accompanied by Troy’s boss, who provides official cover, Mercy finds not only the hiding place but the body of the private detective. More deaths will follow before Mercy can unravel the puzzle that involves both her case and Troy’s. A thrilling combination of physical and mental feats by human and beast.

‘Twas the Bite Before Christmas

Rosenfelt, David | Minotaur (304 pp.) $26.00 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781250828842

Smart-aleck

Paterson, New Jersey, attorney Andy Carpenter celebrates the holidays by taking on the defense of a man with a criminal past who’s facing even more serious charges backed up by a mountain of evidence.

Robert Klaster has failed twice in his attempts to foster dogs from Andy’s Tara Foundation, but that’s far from his greatest offense against society. As the getaway driver in a robbery that left two people shockingly dead, he turned state’s evidence against triggermen Johnny Luko and Donnie Briggs, from Tony Giordano’s Cobra gang, and was given a new identity as Derek Moore and placed in New Jersey’s witness protection program. His newfound sense of security crashes when he’s arrested for the murder of Roland Banks, an ex-con from Camden, after a conveniently anonymous tip advised the cops to search his home, where they found the gun that shot Banks, and his car trunk, where they found

Banks’ blood. Andy’s not eager to take the case in the face of all this evidence, but then Andy’s never eager to take any case. Things get more complicated after a highly revealing conversation that Andy and private eye Corey Douglas—the partner of Andy’s wife, Laurie Collins, on the K Team—have with Alex Castro, the night manager at the motel where Banks stayed, leads to Castro’s strangling. Andy is certain that the two murders are connected, but can he persuade a jury—assuming that prosecutor Stan Godfrey will even let him introduce the evidence connecting them?

As usual, the courtroom scenes shine, though the biggest mystery is who’s going to follow the title and get bitten.

Guilt Strikes at Granger’s Store

Shames, Terry | Severn House (240 pp.) $31.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781448311279

A constant stream of complications keeps the life of a small-town Texas police chief eventful.

Jarrett Creek chief of police

Samuel Craddock has been dating Wendy Gleason for several years. So he wants to help when her daughter Allison, who’s always in trouble, lands in a Mexican jail. Though she apparently drove into an accident without the special insurance Mexico requires, the lawyer Wendy hires is slow to discover the more precise circumstances. Allison’s problem is put on the back burner when Mark Granger is assaulted after he’s been warned not to renovate his father’s feed store. Melvin Granger is in ill health, and Mark, to the disgust of his sister, Chelsea, and many others, has decided to add a gift shop. When someone named Michael Sullivan is shot dead and a fire is started at the store to try to conceal his body, Craddock starts looking for motives.

But the Texas Department of Public Safety has jurisdiction, and Sgt. Leland Reagan, the new district manager, doesn’t want Craddock on the case. Ignoring Reagan, who comes to realize that he’s overextended himself, Craddock taps his many sources for more information on Sullivan, who lives in a nearby town but grew up in Jarrett Creek. The case becomes even more complicated when the construction crew ripping up a floor in the mill finds a long-dead body wrapped in a shellacked tarp. Since Maria Trevino, his trusted deputy, has gone to Mexico to help Allison, Craddock has to delve deep into the past on his own when he learns that Sullivan was one of three young men who installed the floor in the mill 30 years ago. Long memories help solve a fascinating case in a small town with plenty of big problems.

A constant stream of complications keeps the life of a small-town Texas police chief eventful.

GUILT STRIKES AT GRANGER’S STORE

Masters of Death

Blake, Olivie | Tor (416 pp.) | $26.99

Aug. 8, 2023 | 9781250892461

The latest in a series of rereleases from a prolific fantasist’s previously self-published works is a contemporary spin on the fairytale “Godfather Death.”

Viola Marek is an aswang, a shapeshifting vampire from Filipino folklore. She’s also a Chicago real estate agent trying to sell a mansion even while the ghost of its last owner, Thomas Edward Parker IV, is doing his supernatural best to block the sale. In a desperate attempt to earn her commission, she hires Fox D’Mora, Death’s mortal godson, to use his connection to get the ghost to leave. Unfortunately, Death is unavailable: He’s been kidnapped, and to get him back and prevent a worlds-spanning catastrophe, Fox, Vi, the ghost, and assorted other supernatural creatures will have to enter a high-stakes gambling game that usually only immortals can play…but rarely win. The story begins with an unusual blend of myth, fairy tale, and cosmology and inevitably descends to an almost unbearable level of sentimentality, which is simultaneously a refreshing change from Blake’s usual tableau of self-involved, selfish characters who seem driven toward tragedies of their own making. Blake could definitely do a better job at showing the love between characters rather than merely telling the reader that they’re

in love. She also has an unfortunate tendency to skip potentially intriguing bits of backstory if they don’t immediately drive the plot along, which is why readers never learn anything about Fox’s childhood and what it was actually like having Death as a parent. Nor does she explain why only two of the four archangels, Gabriel and Raphael, play outsize roles in determining the order of the cosmos, while Uriel and Michael are nowhere to be seen. Bits of anachronism—like the use of a rubber band as aversion therapy 200 years ago or the presence of a magical wristwatch from a time long before watches were common— might be intended to be Pratchett-style humor or chalked up to magic? It’s hard to tell what’s intentional and what is simply careless. Now that Blake has a traditional publisher, perhaps the editors of her future novels will guide the author to address these issues when they arise.

A reasonably charming urban fantasy that could have used a more rigorous edit before primetime.

Generation Ship

Mammay, Michael | Harper Voyager (608 pp.) | $19.99 paper | Oct. 17, 2023

9780063252981

The spaceship Voyager (no, not that one) faces threats from within and without as it finally nears its destination.

After 253 years, the titular ship is approaching the planet Promissa, but

most of the probes seeking information about this potential home go offline before they can report back. Is something—or someone—interfering with the ship’s research? And the news that their goal is imminent catalyzes a growing unrest in the ship’s population, who chafe at the rigid strictures of the ship’s charter, which effectively locks an individual into the same work division until they submit to mandatory recycling at age 75. The autocratic governor; an overzealous cop; a farmer turned unwillingly into opposition leader; a scientist excited and worried by the limited data they’re receiving from Promissa; and a young hacker with an uncanny ability to infiltrate the ship’s systems all play roles in determining the future of Voyager’s inhabitants even as politics and competing ambitions threaten to bungle the colonization process. SF has produced many stories suggesting that the centuries-long mission of a ship traveling from Earth to a new home is unlikely to meet with success. Mammay primarily addresses the conflicts among the ship’s inhabitants; while emphasizing that human frailty may overcome good intentions and careful research, this choice also means that some of the intriguing aspects of landing on the new planet don’t get all the attention they deserve. As a result, the pacing feels a bit distorted: a slow burn and then a rush to climax. That focus also highlights the implausibility of the societal organization on the ship. Determining a person’s job at an early age and not allowing them to switch, with all major decisions made primarily by the governor and the captain and then by division directors, is not a viable structure for a journey that takes generations. The absence of representative democracy means that

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The story begins with an unusual blend of myth, fairy tale, and cosmology

MASTERS OF DEATH

corruption and stagnancy are bound to occur; it’s shocking that this kind of upheaval didn’t happen considerably earlier in the voyage. It might be interesting to contrast this work with Kim Stanley Robinson’s Aurora (2015), a more accomplished generation-ship novel in which the ship lacked a clear leader and ran into its own problems. An entertaining read that doesn’t add anything fresh to the slow-ships-tothe-stars-are-doomed canon.

Throne of the Fallen

Maniscalco, Kerri | Little, Brown (384 pp.) $29.00 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9780316557290

An artist with a secret and a Lord of Hell must work together to solve a puzzle in this romantic fantasy adventure.

Miss Camilla Antonius has a lot on her plate. She’s a talented artist, but is barely keeping her late father’s gallery afloat while being blackmailed by a local lord who knows a potentially ruinous secret about her. Envy, one of the seven princes of hell, is also trying to keep up appearances while a terrible malady slowly decimates his court. When he’s invited to play a dangerous magical game with a prize that could save his people, he goes all in. When one of his clues involves Camilla, the two must work together, becoming partners as they cross realms, dealing with human, demons, and Fae in order for both to win what they most covet—all while doing their best not to fall in love. Though this is a standalone novel, it’s set in the same universe as Maniscalco’s Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy, and certain elements, character dynamics, and plot points will be harder to follow for readers unfamiliar with the earlier books. This is also Maniscalco’s adult debut, and it shows: Steamy scene follows steamy scene as characters use extremely coarse language, like a teenager at last gleefully free of

parental supervision. The story itself, an adventure filled with riddles to be solved and problems to be overcome, is fun and interesting but overshadowed by the need to push every boundary. Despite its length, the book reads quickly, switching back and forth between the two leads’ points of view, though the voices aren’t distinct enough to be clear. It’s all quite jumbled.

Maniscalco fans will enjoy, but it will be hard for new readers to find their footing.

Kirkus Star Cursebreakers

Nakamura, Madeleine | Canis Major Books/ Red Hen (284 pp.) | $14.95 paper | Sept. 12, 2023 | 9781939096128

Two men starved for community and camaraderie fall into a multilayered conspiracy that offers both a shot at redemption. The justice system acquitted Adrien Desfourneaux of witchcraft charges years ago. Back then, he worked as a doctor in a psychiatric

facility where he pushed forward an experimental procedure that left all his test subjects dead or comatose. He gave up medicine and now works as a professor at the Pharmakeia, a magical college. These days, Adrien is more concerned about treating his own mental illness—dithymic akrasia— than healing others’ maladies. But when a curse with symptoms eerily similar to those his patients endured begins claiming both Pharmakeia students and soldiers of the Vigil—an organization whose sole responsibility is to police magically talented citizens—he feels compelled to launch his own investigation. Confronting the ghosts of his past throws the akratic professor into a mixed state just as the Vigil sends soldiers and witchfinders to the Pharmakeia to ferret out whatever witch or witches are responsible for the curse. One of those soldiers is Gennady Richter, a painfully awkward young man who trained with many of the victims in childhood and now believes his previous commanding officer may be involved in the conspiracy. Unfortunately, Gennady’s obliviousness to social cues leads directly to the two men’s deputization as Vigil spies— though Adrien’s support network believes the whole thing is a psychotic delusion. Nakamura’s treatment is nuanced and thoughtful, avoiding a veritable minefield of harmful stereotypes to deliver genuine characters with heart. This is a society that openly accepts queer people; Adrien is gay, as are the members of his network. Additionally, Adrien’s and Gennady’s conditions—coded as bipolar disorder and autism, respectively—are integral to the story. A tightly plotted conspiracy novel that blends seamlessly with its superbly developed setting.

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A tightly plotted conspiracy novel that blends seamlessly with its superbly developed setting

CURSEBREAKERS

Dreaming of a Duke Like You

Bennett, Sara | Forever (368 pp.) | $8.99 paper | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781538723814

A duke not to the manner born meets challenges with some new ideas.

Gabriel Cadieux, the owner of a London gaming hell—he won it playing cribbage—doesn’t know he’s a duke. Sent to a foundling home at age 3, he’s since made a name for himself. Vivienne Tremeer, the daughter of a baronet, has fled to London from Cornwall with her younger brother, Will. She’s a virtuous woman, but through a scandal not of her making and “certainly not her fault,” her reputation is “ruined beyond repair.” Her stepfather, a drunken spendthrift, is pressing Vivienne into a loveless marriage so he can steal her dowry. As the story begins, Will has fallen in with bad friends, gambled recklessly, and lost more money than he can pay Gabriel. Fearing they may lose everything, Viv begs Gabriel to forgive the debt. To which, of course, he says nothing doing. But they impress each other; there’s a frisson. She’s especially surprised to see The Wicked Prince and His Stolen Bride, a romance she wrote with her cousin, on Gabriel’s bookshelf. Not long after, a lawyer arrives to tell Gabriel he’s not an orphan. His father has just died, and Gabriel is, in fact, the sixth Duke of Grantham; a guilty priest has confessed that his father, the former duke, secretly married his mother, a poor Frenchwoman, before he was born. The fifth duke’s second wife is now a mistress, their six daughters are illegitimate, and if Gabriel rejects the dukedom, they will be left penniless. So Gabriel takes the high road. To prepare his eldest half-sister for her debut, he hires Vivienne. She can work for him and pay Will’s debt that way. The predictable problem: Though they love

A vibrant love story about repairing community and romantic connection

each other, he cannot fulfill his aristocratic duties by marrying a fallen woman and she cannot believe a duke would ever want a woman with a soiled reputation. With the encouragement of his six new sisters, Gabriel thumbs his nose at convention and rides to Cornwall to propose. All the duke romance conventions are here, and Bennett also makes her lovers into friends.

Kirkus Star

A Dish Best Served Hot

Caña, Natalie | Harlequin MIRA (336 pp.) | $16.99 paper | Oct. 31, 2023 9780778333500

Years after their high school relationship ended, a war veteran and an aspiring community leader navigate a complicated reunion.

Santiago “Saint” Vega and Lola León were high school sweethearts— in secret, that is—but their different backgrounds, with the Vega family a pillar of Humboldt Park and Lola’s father engaged in less-than-legal activities, made it tough for them to envision a future together. They both left town after high school, Saint enlisting in the military and Lola cutting ties with her family for her own safety, and the former sweethearts haven’t crossed paths for decades, until now. Lola decides she’s done running and is back home teaching self-defense classes, while Saint has been concentrating on his

A DISH BEST SERVED HOT responsibilities as a single father. Neither suspects that their meddling grandfathers, longtime rivals in a mean-spirited nursing home prank war, will bring them together again. For Saint, it’s an opportunity for a fresh start with the girl who got away, but Lola isn’t convinced that he’s interested in more than a fling, especially given her lingering connection to her family’s criminal past. Besides, her attention is focused on helping out her neighborhood, including finding a new building for the local LGBTQIA+ youth shelter. She doesn’t realize that Saint’s uncle made a business deal with the company responsible for closing the old shelter, but how long can the truth stay hidden? The latest in Caña’s Vega Family Love Stories series is full of all of the dynamics that made A Proposal They Can’t Refuse (2022) so irresistible, from a comedic cast of supporting characters to an emphasis on the importance of community. Saint and Lola’s relationship is explored through both past and present timelines, emphasizing just how deep their history runs and providing an illuminating comparison between the people they were before and the ones who are much better equipped to pick up where they left off.

A vibrant second-chance love story about repairing community and romantic connection.

For Never & Always

Greer, Helena | Forever (368 pp.) | $16.99

Nov. 28, 2023 9781538706558

Childhood friends turned exes are reunited at the inn of which they’re now part owners.

Hannah Rosenstein spent her youth traveling the world, and the only place she felt at home was in the Adirondacks with her best friend, Levi “Blue” Matthews, whose parents worked at her great-aunt’s business, Carrigan’s Christmasland. Since she became one of the owners of Carrigan’s, she’s helped reinvent the place as not just a holiday destination but an all-year-round inn and event space. When Levi—now a globe-trotting celebrity chef—returns after years away, he brings back all Hannah’s memories of how they fell in love and then fell apart. She wants him to transfer his shares in Carrigan’s and leave, but when an important bride discovers he’s there, she wants him to cater her wedding. Although Levi always felt stifled and out of place growing up at Carrigan’s, he now desperately wants to win Hannah back, so he makes her a deal: He’ll help with the wedding, and in the meantime, she’ll go on a series of dates with him. Much like its predecessor, Season of Love (2022), this story focuses on introspection and identity—Levi is demisexual, Hannah has anxiety, and both are working through emotional trauma. Although these elements are deftly crafted, the plot feels underbaked and conflicts overly drawn out, which

leads to the story losing tension and momentum. Interspersed flashbacks fill in Hannah and Levi’s backstory but further disrupt and slow the pace. Fans of the first book may enjoy this return trip to Carrigan’s, but newcomers could be overwhelmed by the abundance of side characters.

Thoughtful representation marred by a sluggish plot.

Darius

Ward, J.R. | Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) | $26.99 | Sept. 5, 2023 9781668035382

The Black Dagger Brotherhood series returns to the 1980s.

The year is 1981, and Darius leads his brethren in what was once an elite vampire fighting squad. Their king, Wrath, refuses to take the throne, preferring to fight as a regular soldier. As the eldest member of the brotherhood, Darius feels responsible for the weakened state of both his king and the brotherhood. While out driving one night, Darius accidentally hits a human woman, Anne Wurster,

who’s stumbled into the road after a narrow escape from her abusive boyfriend. Darius arranges to pay her medical bills, intending for that to be the end of their interaction—but even though he knows it’s strictly forbidden for humans to know anything about his world, he finds it impossible to stay away from her. They enjoy a brief affair before Anne discovers he’s a vampire and runs away, keeping her pregnancy a secret. This book operates as a tragic series prequel, with Anne’s and Darius’ fates having been established in the first book of series. Their daughter, Beth, was destined to become Wrath’s mate and Queen of the Vampires, but neither of her parents were part of her life. Longtime fans of the series are likely to enjoy this story. Ward is known for her fearless embrace of pop culture, and this novel delights in reminding readers of the touchstones of the ’80s, name-dropping stores, music, actors, and movies of the time (though there’s an occasional anachronism, like a reference to Miami Vice several years before it aired). Compared to the frenetic latter books of the series, which are jammed with multiple narrating characters and long, ongoing plotlines, this novel is calm and almost mellow. There are brief appearances from beloved characters, and some convenient rewriting of series lore, but Darius and Anne’s tragic love affair remains front and center.

A book designed to please diehard series fans.

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FOR NEVER & ALWAYS

Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series jumps back to the 1980s.

DARIUS

Hannah and Levi, childhood friends turned exes, are reunited at the Christmas-themed inn of which they’re now part owners.

Nonfiction

AMERICAN HISTORY, UN-WHITEWASHED

ACCORDING TO HIS website, Michael Harriot is a “Wypipologist: a professional who has specialized knowledge in the field of Caucasian culture, including the political, economic, and social habits of white people and their history.” He’s also an acclaimed writer for the Root and host of TheGrio Daily podcast, and his debut book, Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America (Dey Street/HarperCollins, Sept. 19), illustrated by Jibola Fagbamiye, is a masterwork.

Like The 1619 Project, Harriot’s book is a significant reconfiguration of American history, injecting the Black experience into the center of the narrative, where it belongs. According to our starred review, Harriot provides a necessary reframing of “conventional [American] history, showing us how the slave trade was human trafficking, plantations were ‘forced labor enterprises,’ Jim Crow was American apartheid, and lynch mobsters were serial killers and ethnic cleansers.” This massively researched book is also consistently funny, as Harriot and Fagbamiye

interweave wit and, occasionally, laugh-out-loud humor into the proceedings.

Early on, the author lays out his mission, a methodical, thorough debunking of the “whitewashed” history of America, a tale built on fabrications, lofty mythmaking, and outright lies. “That story of America is a fantastical, overwrought, and fictive tale,” he writes. “It is a fantasy where Christopher Columbus discovered a land that he never set foot in. It is the story of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower building a new nation. It is George Washington’s cherry tree and Abraham Lincoln’s

log cabin. It is the story of slaves who spontaneously teleported themselves here with nothing but strong backs and a brainful of negro spirituals. It is Betsy Ross’s sewing kit and Paul Revere’s horse and Thomas Jefferson’s pen and Benjamin Franklin’s eyeglasses and George Washington’s teeth and liberty and justice for all. And it is a history predicated on lies.”

Harriot is completely unafraid to call bullshit where it is warranted, and the humorous sidebars, digressions, and reader activities add further value to a history that every American would do well to read. The author offers a series of key terms— e.g., “MOORS: Originally used to described Africans who conquered parts of the Iberian Peninsula, later to

mean anyone with dark skin, worshippers of Islam, or any group of Africans that was smarter than white people….WHITE PEOPLE: An arbitrary, non-scientific, phenotypical classification for people of European descent created by people of European descent. People who don’t use washcloths.” He also delivers a devastatingly spot-on and amusing takedown of the Confederacy, its flag, and the legend of the “Lost Cause” (“it wasn’t only about slavery. South Carolina left the Union in part because Northern abolitionists apparently kept reading books and showing pictures to enslaved people. My bad. They probably promote the myth of the Lost Cause”). The result is a reinvigoration of many of the elements of American history that right-wing bigots would choose to ignore.

He presents the material in a way that promises to keep readers engaged and, when required, agitated and spurred to action, and documentation offers ample opportunity for anyone to dig further into a particular topic. As our critic notes, “Fresh eyes and bold, entertaining language combine in this authoritative, essential work of U.S. history.”

Eric Liebetrau is the nonfiction and managing editor.

ERIC LIEBETRAU

Illustration by Eric Scott Anderson

EDITOR’S PICK

A dazzling meditation on the quest of the early Greek philosophers to understand the world.

Most readers have heard of the most famous Greek philosophers—Plato, Aristotle, Socrates—but Nicolson, author of Life Between the Tides and Why Homer Matters, goes back further in time to examine the Iron Age philosophers: Sappho, Thales, Pythagoras, and Heraclitus, among others. His premise is that the Greeks of this era, from roughly 700 to 500 B.C., developed their agile way of looking at the world from their seaborne way of living and trading. The author calls it the “dolphin mind,” an attitude that rejected the authoritarianism of the past in favor of a “mindset of entrepreneurial, adventuring people…a form of mercantile courage, of reliance on fluidity.” Author

These Titles Earned the Kirkus Star

of many award-winning books on literature, nature, sailing, history, Nicolson is an excellent writer, his work shot through with wonder, erudition, and curiosity. He effortlessly pulls together strands of history, philosophy, language, art, culture, and archaeology. He chronicles his travels to present-day sites and ruins of the cities these philosophers called home, from Turkey’s western coast to Sicily, and re-creates both everyday city living and the philosophers’ struggles to understand the gears in the machine of existence. He organizes chapters around existential questions—What Is Existence Made Of? Is the World Full of Souls? Does Love Rule the Universe?— and the text is accompanied by reproductions of Greek art and artifacts, including pottery, coins, statues, and entire temples. These are

How to Be: Life Lessons From the Early Greeks

all tangible clues to how these philosophers worked, played, and thought. Nicolson acknowledges the brutal side of Greek life, and he doesn’t shy away from the ugly realities of slave life, from endless, backbreaking manual labor to forced prostitution. Much deeper

than a self-help book, this work returns to the past and shows how the ancients’ struggles were in many respects our own. A must-read for anyone interested in philosophy, history, travel, art and the quest of human beings to comprehend themselves.

A Strange Life: Selected Essays of Louisa May Alcott

Alcott, Louisa May | Ed. by Liz Rosenberg

Notting Hill Editions (168 pp.) | $21.95

Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781912559435

Essays from the author of Little Women.

Even occasional readers know that Louisa May Alcott (18321888) wrote Little Women. Few may be aware that she was also a remarkably witty essayist. This volume collects some of Alcott’s nonfiction, which editor Rosenberg calls “even more brilliant—or perhaps more consistently brilliant—than her novels and stories.” The book includes three long essays and excerpts from six additional pieces. The snippets, including “Happy Women,” where she begins, “One of the trials of womankind is the fear of being an old maid,” and then cites several women who did just fine without a man, have their pleasures, but the highlights are the longer essays. “How I Went Out to Service” describes the weeks she spent working for “a tall, ministerial gentleman” in search of “a companion for his sister,” whom he called “a martyr to neuralgia.” The hilarious “Transcendental Wild Oats” chronicles the escapades of family members who had no talent for farming yet tried to build an Eden in the woods. The most poignant piece is “Hospital Sketches,” Alcott’s account of her service as a nurse during the Civil War, an essay Jane Smiley, who provides the preface, describes as “maybe the most idiosyncratic and interesting depiction of war that I have ever read.” Although it contains dated racial terms that make for uncomfortable reading, this essay gives a then-unprecedented view of war from the hospital ward, where Alcott describes harrowing conditions (“the floor covered with the more disabled, the steps and doorways filled with helpers and lookers-on”). Many of the pieces contain moments of humor,

as when a hospital attendant prepares “a fearful beverage, which he called coffee, and insisted on sharing with me.” The author also proves that some things haven’t changed, as when she writes about a woman working alongside men: “The men got two francs a day; the woman half a franc.” Lively, occasionally grim, and genuinely funny essays from a beloved author.

Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change

Austen, Ben | Flatiron Books (336 pp.) $29.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781250758804

What the flawed parole system tells us about American (in)justice.

As Chicago journalist Austen clearly demonstrates, America’s commitment to mass incarceration over the last half century has exacted a staggering human and economic toll. Moreover, the logic of incarceration—what it is meant to achieve in relation to offenders, victims, and the public at large—has remained disastrously ill defined. In this follow-up to his acclaimed debut, High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing, Austen explores the senselessness of the parole system. The experiences of Johnnie Veal and Michael Henderson, men convicted of serious crimes at young ages and held in prison for decades, provide illuminating case studies for how the system has gone wrong. Parole decisions have often hinged on irrelevant criteria or impossible standards, and the possibility of an early release from a long sentence often simply amounts to false hope. For those granted parole, other daunting obstacles remain in place: Adequate help in transitioning from prison life is routinely unavailable, and parole supervision often seems designed to catch parolees in infractions in

order to send them back behind bars. Systemic racism in policing and discriminatory sentencing guidelines have also meant that nonwhite Americans have suffered disproportionately from these failings. The author’s contention that the recent history of the parole system represents an ethical catastrophe is compelling. “Imprisonment became the default response to crime,” he writes. “Imprisonment also became the de facto response to poverty, lack of social mobility, addiction, joblessness, housing insecurity, mental health issues, and segregation. A sense of justice in the United States was shaped by a profound lack of mutual responsibility and collective identity.” Despite a few clunky passages, Austen argues persuasively that improving the carceral system must involve shifting emphasis from “vengeance and permanent punishment” to genuine rehabilitation and the chance for the incarcerated to lead productive lives after serving their time.

A cleareyed, compassionate, urgent appeal for prison reform.

To the Temple of Tranquility...And Step On It!: A Memoir

Begley Jr., Ed | Hachette (256 pp.) | $29.00 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9780306832109

A true Hollywood insider reflects on his 56-year career as an actor, overcoming a “smorgasbord of addiction,” and his lifelong dedication to environmental activism and social-justice causes. Begley seems to have known everyone in Hollywood, from Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando to Bill and Hillary Clinton and iconic Los Angeles artist Ed Ruscha. He met his first wife while drinking with Tom Waits, and Harry Nilsson took him to visit John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the Dakota. “As this was my very first real encounter with a Beatle,”

writes the author, “I was just trying to keep my face from crystallizing and shattering into pieces as it dropped to the floor.” He claims his only talent is that “I’m at the right place at the right time,” and he acknowledges the role that his white privilege has played in landing roles. Begley was governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 15 years, but his friendships with United Farm Workers activists Cesar Chavez (“my lifetime hero”) and Dolores Huerta are equally important to him. He was an early adopter of electric cars and has been an advocate for prison reform and veganism. Begley’s self-deprecating charm and good humor are evident throughout the book, but this sets up a curious tension between the author’s breezy tone and its extensive name-dropping. One chapter offers background on his life as an “aging hippie riding a bicycle,” while another celebrates his work alongside Geena Davis, William Hurt, and Kathleen Turner in The Accidental Tourist

If this life story hits familiar notes about alcoholism (“my consumption was such that it became a source of concern for John Belushi”), eventual sobriety, and redemption, the path is decidedly off-beat. Begley’s charming gloss on his career and life is at once a Hollywood tell-all, a cautionary tale, and a work of earnest advocacy. There’s more to this celebrity’s life than mere show-business success.

Every Shot Counts: A Memoir of Resilience

Boozer, Carlos | Hanover Square Press (320 pp.) | $29.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 9781335454997

A former NBA player recounts his rise to stardom. Boozer was drafted in the second round by an unexpected team that hadn’t even invited him to work out, namely Cleveland. “I’d cycled through pretty much all my emotions in just a few hours— from confidence and excitement to anger and embarrassment,” he writes, adding, “I’d build up an incredible resume at Duke, and that hadn’t been enough.” Both remarks are true: At Duke, which he chose over UCLA, he was a consistent high scorer, which won him the draft spot in the first place, and he performed well enough as a professional—though nowhere near superstar status. Boozer emphasizes that he did his best, every time out. “I’ve loved everything about basketball from day one,” he writes. “I rose to the challenge. I grinded. I agonized. I celebrated. I agonized some more. But I embraced every moment of it. I made every shot count.” The on-the-court reminiscences harbor no surprises, though one feels for Boozer every time he incurs an injury, which is often. The surrounding frame of his life makes for sometimes interesting reading. He opens the book with an account of the murder of a childhood friend and his parents’ subsequent decision to move their family

from Washington, D.C., to Juneau, Alaska, where Boozer stood out both as an athlete and as a member of “one of five Black families among a 30,000-person population.” A particularly entertaining anecdote involves the author leasing his Los Angeles mansion to Prince, who turned the place into a purple fantasia. Though Boozer’s narrative is mostly by the numbers, there are some dramatic moments, too, among them the near loss of a young son—now a Major League Baseball prospect—to a blood disorder. Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski provides the foreword. A serviceable memoir that will appeal to basketball fans and aspiring players.

Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle To Save Reconstruction

Bordewich, Fergus M. | Knopf (464 pp.) $35.00 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780593317815

An award-winning historian digs into the heyday of the Ku Klux Klan.

Drawing on abundant archival sources, renowned American historian Bordewich offers a penetrating examination of the rise of the KKK, “the first organized terrorist movement in American history,” a paramilitary unit that arose in the vengeful South during Reconstruction. Engaging in murder, kidnapping, raping, castration, flogging, and burning, the Klan of the 1860s and 1870s bequeathed its sadistic tactics to later generations of white supremacists, such as the movement’s second wave in the early 20th century, incited in part by the release, in 1915, of the incendiary movie, The Birth of a Nation. With former Confederate officers at its helm and angry racists in its ranks, the Klan attacked not only Blacks, but also white sympathizers, including political officials. Until

A critically important revisionist history.

KLAN WAR

Kirkus Star

For more nonfiction content, visit Kirkus online.

An intelligently provocative memoir and investigation.

DATA BABY

Ulysses Grant won the presidency in 1869, with Republicans taking both houses of Congress, there was no federal response to the atrocities. When Grant took office, “in nearly every southern state, the Klan was thriving,” targeting local office holders and community leaders, teachers, craftsmen, and former Union soldiers. Because the Klan aimed to put Democrats back in power, that political party did nothing to oppose the terrorist group whose shocking atrocities intensified with the passage of the 14th Amendment, which gave Blacks citizenship. Grant knew that ratification of the 15th Amendment, providing for the enfranchisement of freedman, would exacerbate the violence further. Although he had considered giving amnesty to former Confederates, intense opposition to that move came from southern states where Republican office holders testified to the Klan’s sadism. Instead, in 1871, Grant ordered the Army to take on the Klan. Aided by judges, prosecutors, and ordinary citizens, his war succeeded. By 1872, the Klan was in retreat. For Bordewich, Grant’s decisive move proved that “forceful political action can prevail over violent extremism.” Yet, as he makes clear in this significant work of scholarship, it did not stop the future systematic stripping away of Blacks’ civil rights.

A critically important revisionist history.

Data Baby: My Life in a Psychological Experiment

Breslin, Susannah | Legacy Lit/ Hachette (224 pp.) | $29.00 | Nov. 7, 2023 9780306926006

A freelance journalist explores how a 30-year scientific study in which she became involuntarily involved has impacted her life.

Breslin’s participation in the Block Project, a psychology experiment that aimed to predict the adult identities of its child subjects, began shortly after she was born in 1968. Just after her birth, her professor father enrolled her in a child-care program that doubled as a laboratory for researchers. Four years later, the author attended a preschool where investigators studied children from a hidden observation gallery and routinely probed teachers for insights. Breslin’s memories of being constantly observed during school hours contrasted with those she had of feeling “invisible” in a family that eventually broke apart. She remarks that the study made her feel “seen” and “special,” though it did little to assuage the turbulence that marked her adolescence. The author began her post-collegiate journalistic career by writing about the sex entertainment scene in San Francisco. From observed subject, she became “the voyeur,” which was “intoxicating.” She also lived in Los Angeles, where she wrote about the pornography industry, and New Orleans, where she became a

freelance writer. Her marriage to an unexpectedly abusive man and a battle with breast cancer infused Breslin with the desire to investigate the Block Project and finally become “a serious journalist.” When divorce freed her to return to California, she restarted her career with a journalism fellowship. For all she uncovered about the project and its creators, her most significant discovery was personal. The experiment that had used her often painful life experiences in the pursuit of enlightenment had discarded all the information it gathered about and from her “like so much trash.” As she examines the dark side of experimentation on human subjects, Breslin also asks disturbing questions about the consequences modern data-gathering will have on future generations. An intelligently provocative memoir and investigation.

Touch the Future: A Manifesto in Essays

Clark, John Lee | Norton (192 pp.) | $25.00 Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781324035367

A Deaf-Blind poet and teacher tells his story with fervor and wisdom.

As a young boy living with Usher syndrome, which affects both hearing and vision, Clark, author of the poetry collection How To Communicate, met his hero in his parents’ basement. A family friend, Leslie, who was a DeafBlind activist and beloved community member, opened the door for him to one day write this book. With Leslie’s charisma and talent for storytelling, he was an excellent instructor to the world of Protactile learning, which uses touch and signing to communicate and navigate. “To say [Protactile] is a movement Deaf-Blind people are leading isn’t wrong,” writes the author. “To say it’s a new language enlisting tactile properties never before used in human communication is to state a

fact. To say it’s reinventing everything isn’t hyperbole.” In these compelling essays, Clark warmly welcomes us into this “new world,” and his charm graces nearly every page. The author is a character in his own essays, weaving fables and legends together with undeniable craft. Funny, angry, and heroic, Clark is an amiable guide as he takes us through discourse on issues such as inclusivity, translators, government policy, and education, as well as theater, architecture, and art. One of the author’s grievances is “distantism,” which “privileges the distance senses of sight and hearing to the exclusion of other ways of being in the world.” At the same time, he writes, “touch is considered disposable. Our governments have never been good with multiple nuanced solutions. They always go for One Answer. We also live in a society that’s very comfortable with leaving people behind.” Throughout this lively journey, Clark, like Leslie before him, relishes his ability to tell tales, break rules, and possibly change the world. An epic and riotous book. Ignore it, and you might get left behind.

Kirkus Star

The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance

Clarren, Rebecca | Viking (352 pp.) | $32.00 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9780593655078

A deft mix of personal and social history that recounts the transfer of Native American lands to non-Indigenous settlers, including Jews fleeing antisemitic violence.

Clarren, who has spent many years reporting on the West and “attempting to write articles that expand our fixed ideas about the region,” delivers a fascinating narrative that centers on a great irony: In the 19th century,

the federal government removed Native peoples of the Great Plains to reservations and granted their stolen lands to immigrants, many displaced from lands of their own. Some of the author’s ancestors, Jews escaping tsarist Russia, wound up on Lakota land, settling on a patch of South Dakota prairie locals called “Jew Flats.” It was a transformative moment, for, driven from place to place, they “believed that having land was the hedge against exile,” protection from being further uprooted. Locals still remember the family, whose descendants left long ago, and a divisive effort to transform Jew Flats into an oilfield. Taking a larger view, Clarren observes that many Jewish immigrants, suspected of being something other than white and American, did their best to assume the interests of the conquerors as their own, even though, in real terms, they had more in common with the dispossessed Native peoples. Ranging widely across the Plains and reporting deeply from reservation lands and neighboring non-Indigenous communities, Clarren inserts a Talmudic adage that if a homeowner knows that even a single beam has been stolen from someone else, it’s that owner’s duty to make amends. She returns to it with the observation that the theft of Native lands undergirds much American wealth, for which reason she is working to return what she reckons to be her share of her family’s holdings of yore, “our piece of the stolen beam.”

Free land comes at a cost. Clarren’s memorable book, troubling and inspiring, seeks a humane path toward restitution.

The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall

Cohen, Eliot A. | (304 pp.) | $30.00 Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781541644861

A former senior adviser at the Department of State and analyst at the Defense Department argues for Shakespeare’s relevance in illuminating the workings of power.

As Cohen sees it, power infuses not only political life, but also universities, foundations, institutions, and business—wherever there is a hierarchical structure. Drawing on plays including Macbeth, King Lear, and the history plays from Richard II to Richard III, Cohen examines the arc of power: ways power is acquired, how it is exercised, and how it is lost. “Inherited power is the norm and is always perilous,” as Shakespeare shows, since the heir to power may be unequal to its demands. “Cunning and calculation and adroit maneuvering” is another path to power, as is seizure, which leaves the usurper fearful of rivals to a crown or a presidency. Cohen cites Julius Caesar and Macbeth as unhappy examples of the lust for power through seizure. Conspirators, Shakespeare shows, cannot succeed alone, but “must have a willing or at least a complacent victim.” Often, they ignore the consequences of their actions until it is too late. Cohen explores the exercise of power

Clarren’s memorable book, troubling and inspiring, seeks a humane path toward restitution.

THE KIRKUS Q&A: MYRIAM GURBA

The author of Creep on violence, influence, and audience.

BY MATHANGI SUBRAMANIAN

IN 2019, Myriam Gurba’s essay “Pendeja: You Ain’t No Steinbeck,” a bitingly hilarious takedown of Oprah’s controversial book club pick, American Dirt, went viral. Gurba’s criticism not only sparked a Latine-led campaign called #DignidadLiteraria, but also showcased the writer and critic’s formidable rhetorical skill. Gurba’s newest essay collection, Creep: Accusations and Confessions (Avid Reader Press, Sept. 5)—a follow-up to her memoir, Mean—received a starred Kirkus review. In Creep, Gurba roams beyond the borders of her lived experience, engaging with history, literature, art, culture, and crime. On a recent video call, I talked to the author about her influences, audience, and ancestors. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you settle on the title Creep?

On the night that I escaped from domestic violence, the word creep played a pivotal role in breaking the spell of my abuser. Until that night, I had not witnessed anybody stand up to him. And then, not only did a defender confront him, but they named what he is. Once my defender called my abuser a “creep,” it was as if his mask had been stripped off. My abuser had gone to great lengths to hide his abusiveness, and suddenly here he was, unable to hide it. The naming was so important in that moment.

Creep also functions as a verb. We’ve got these

individuals who are creeps, who move in this almost gothic manner. Plus, I think of domestic violence and gender-based violence as more of a structure than an event—the sort of structure that creeps up on us, that we slowly creep into without realizing what we’ve set foot in.

When it comes to titles, I initially conceived of Creep as a kind of sequel to Mean Since they were in the same family, I wanted another title that also had consonants that really slap. Creep has those consonant clusters, and it’s almost a violent word. It’s like a mouthful of glass.

What do you mean when you say Creep was a kind of sequel to Mean?

As I was doing press for Mean, I encountered certain questions over and over and over. They really began to bother me. When I began to think of a book-length response to some of the questions, I realized it could become a sequel.

One of the questions that got under my skin was whether the experience of writing Mean was cathartic, and whether or not externalizing that story had led to my recovery from PTSD. There’s this myth that those of us who write about violence, who write about trauma,

who write confessionally, are somehow engaged in an emotional purge. That we’re somehow lighter afterwards. That’s simply not the case.

When I was doing press for Mean—and I wasn’t sharing this with anybody who was an interlocutor—I was also surviving gender-based violence that was as horrifying as the stranger assault that I documented in Mean. Which means I was being lauded for using the narrative process to overcome the scars of gender-based violence while new ones were being inflicted. I wanted readers to understand that if one is subjected to gender-based

Geoff Cordner

The author made waves with her essay on American Dirt

violence, that violence is present across one’s lifespan. Until whatever form of supremacy motivating the violence ends, there’s no escaping it. It’s not as if we overcome it through the creation of a work of art.

Speaking of art, what are some of your influences?

My maternal grandmother played a large role in my infancy and my childhood. Because her hobbies were drawing and painting, that was what she would engage in when she cared for us. During the summertime, for example, we would sit on the couch watching reruns while the two of us drew the view of the backyard. We’d sit side by side with sketchpads in our laps.

My writing is impacted by my attempt to keep alive the painter’s eye that my grandmother began to develop in me. I’m a visually oriented person. I love looking. And I think it’s important for writers to immerse themselves in many different art forms. The worlds that we create on the page are strengthened when we’re able to create solid, well-etched pictures.

Mexican literature has also strongly influenced me. The most passionate imprint was made by the work of Juan Rulfo. He published Pedro Páramo, which is a novel narrated by the dead set in a fictional ghost town named Comala. It’s an iconic book because of the fragmentary nature of the writing, and because the verb tenses are dynamic and ever shifting. Time exists in a blender: We don’t know where we are. We don’t know when we are.

All we know is that everybody’s dead or dying.

What I wanted to do with Creep was use Rulfo’s structure in specific essays—in particular, the “Creep” essay, because certain situations and events are best narrated without strongly adhering to a linear narrative. Rulfo offered a counterstructure. And then by adopting that counterstructure, I was also nodding toward my grandfather, because my grandfather and Rulfo were friends—or, one could say, frenemies.

You have an essay about your grandfather and his writing. Did he encourage your writing the way your grandmother encouraged your art?

No! My grandfather did not encourage women or girls to develop intellectual or artistic talents, because he didn’t believe that we had them. In the essay about my grandfather [included in this collection], I really tried to reckon with how complicated he is. Born into a peasant family that was racialized as Indigenous, he became— according to him—the first publicist to operate in the city of Guadalajara. He is in part responsible for my interest in Mexican literature, and yet he demeaned and abused women.

For me, the most delicious irony is that even though my grandfather believed he was destined to be one of Mexico’s great men, he never developed the reputation he believed he was fated to have. But now, people will know his name because of his granddaughter. So, it’s like, do you want it, grandfather? Because you’re getting the thing that you wanted

with a messenger you hadn’t anticipated! He does inspire me to write, but there’s an element of spite in my writing about him.

Who else inspires you to write?

I have various imagined audiences. One of those is made up of my high school friends. I hung out with a group of girls that I thought was the funniest, meanest, nastiest, smartest girls to live in California. I loved making these girls laugh: They’re the first group of people who I really wanted to impress with language. Very often when I write, I still imagine that I’m addressing them. Like, we’re not going to be meeting outside of the gym, but they might pick up the book and read it. I can’t let them down.

The other group of people that I write for are my former students. I taught high school for over 10 years, so when I write, I think to myself, if one of my former students were to pick up this book, what would they get out of it? Also, when you teach at any level, part of your lesson planning should involve how not to bore the students. Relatable stories, stories that center humor, novelty, violence—all of those phenomena are going to keep kids’ eyes open. Those same techniques can be used by writers.

Mathangi Subramanian’s latest novel, A People’s History of Heaven , was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Creep received a starred review in the June 15, 2023, issue.

If one is subjected to genderbased violence, [it] is present across one’s lifespan.

through inspiration (Churchill, JFK, Henry V), manipulation (Lincoln, FDR, Henry V once again), and murder, metaphorical—when a head is forced out—or bloody (Lenin, Stalin, Macbeth, Richard III). Innocence about the world, along with arrogance and complacency, combine to cause loss of power, which Cohen sees exemplified in the Henry VI plays, where a king is shown as out of touch with his country’s needs. In modern times, he ascribes the fall of Margaret Thatcher to the same forces. Sometimes, however, power is relinquished—with regret, or with dignity. For Cohen, Shakespeare underscores the connection of power to magic, theater, and charisma. “The exercise of power,” he writes, “is facilitated by trappings designed to impose awe.”

A thoughtful consideration of the complexities of power.

Fierce Ambition: The Life and Legend of War Correspondent

Maggie Higgins

Conant, Jennet | Norton (576 pp.) | $32.50 Oct. 31, 2023 | 9780393882124

The eventful life of an intrepid journalist.

Conant offers a brisk, richly detailed biography of acclaimed reporter Marguerite Higgins (1920-1966), the first woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize for foreign correspondence, for reporting on the Korean War, one award among many others. Born in Hong Kong to an American aviator father and French mother, Higgins grew up in Oakland, California, itching to escape. In 1937, she entered the University of California, Berkeley, soon writing for the well-regarded college paper, the Daily Californian . Journalism, she decided, was to be her future. Arriving in New York in 1941, she enrolled in the Columbia School of Journalism, eager to find a

job at a newspaper. She was hired by the New York Herald Tribune the following year, beginning a career that was as illustrious as it was controversial. Her enemies—and they were many—accused her of exploiting “her feminine charms to get ahead.” She was dogged by gossip and rumors of affairs wherever she was assigned. Conant acknowledges that Higgins liked sex but “courted fame more ardently than she ever did men.” She also courted risk, excitement, and the rush of danger. Reporting from Europe during World War II, she “loved the tension in the air, the lightning pace of events.” When Germany surrendered, she was one of the first reporters inside Dachau, shocked by the sight of more than 30,000 “half-starved, lice-infested, traumatized prisoners,” who ecstatically embraced the American liberators. She left with a new sense of mission, and her reporting took on “an undercurrent of gravity and moral responsibility.” Conant chronicles Higgins’ career in detail, including stints as the Tribune ’s Berlin and Tokyo bureau chief; two marriages and motherhood; her close friendship with the Kennedys; and her ferocious drive. In 1950, a profile in Life made her “the most famous war correspondent in the world.”

An admiring, cleareyed portrait of an ambitious, successful woman.

The Chapter: A Segmented History From Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century

Dames, Nicholas | Princeton Univ. (384 pp.) | $35.00 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780691135199

The origins of the modern book chapter.

Dames, a professor of humanities at Columbia and author of The Physiology of the Novel, acknowledges that “the chapter” might strike some as a boring topic. Writing about something so “embarrassingly common, the musty old furniture of the book,” runs the risk of sounding pedantic. However, Dames shows exactly why chapters are worth our attention. Though they often sit below the threshold of our notice, they shape our thinking about time and transition. The author offers a pleasing investigation of why they exist and “what…they [do] to our sense of time. He analyzes segmentation decisions made over the course of history by the various agents—authors, scribes, printers, editors—involved in making books. He finds that the function of the chapter has shifted over the millennia, from antiquity to the present. What began as a tool for facilitating discontinuous access to information became, by the early modern period, a tool for experimenting with temporal matters. “The art of the chapter” becomes “necessarily an art of poignancy,” as the modern narrative chapter represents, in a variety of ways, the passage of time. The author’s case studies are diverse, and his analyses are rich. He shows how 15th-century editors used chapter breaks to “insert a feeling of presentness” and linger on “swiftly passing gestures.” He describes the case of an 18th-century abolitionist, formerly enslaved, who wrote an autobiography in which each chapter “speaks of a time structure that is not one’s own”—“an inhabited or endured…time.” In the

An admiring, cleareyed portrait of an ambitious, successful woman. FIERCE AMBITION

19th century, novelists often blended their chapter breaks into the diurnal rhythms of the day. Bringing us up to the present, Dames explores how the old convention of the chapter looks “too rote…to pulse with reality” and yet still endures, continuing to organize our books and our understanding of our lives.

A comprehensive history of an understudied element of literature.

Rivals: How Scientists Learned To Cooperate

Daston, Lorraine | Columbia Global Reports (160 pp.) | $16.00 paper | Oct. 17, 2023

9798987053560

A short, lucid history of efforts by scientists to work together.

Daston, director emerita of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, writes that modern science began about 400 years ago. Before then, scholars believed that everything worth knowing was already known; their goal was to discover it—in writing by such esteemed thinkers as Ptolemy, Pliny, Aristotle, and Confucius—and pass it on. Beginning with the British Royal Society in 1660, individuals organized to investigate the natural world and exchange information. Members corresponded widely and hosted scientists from other countries, but these were largely national groups, patronized by their rulers. Scholars call this collective the Republic of Letters, the first

of three periods Daston identifies. She maintains that it was the first scientific community to attempt to balance competition and cooperation in a quest for knowledge. In the end, “the Republic of Letters was more like a state of nature than a state”—peaceful when little was at stake, quarrelsome and disorganized when faced with complex projects. Daston delivers an amusing account of the 1761 and 1769 expeditions to observe the transit of Venus. Astronomers traveled the world, but these efforts lacked coordination, and the results were worthless. Thanks to the telegraph and steamships, matters improved in the 19th century, when innumerable international scientific congresses convened, leading to extensive collaboration and standardization but less material progress because these were mostly independent of governments and short of money. For better or worse, a genuine international scientific community emerged after World War II, when governments took an interest. With maddening unpredictability, they “helped and hindered scientific collaborations ….happy to bankroll them in the name of national glory, but just as happy to wreck them in the name of national security or frugality or simple indifference.”

An entertaining account of the development of scientific collaboration.

The Economic Government of the World: 1933-2023

Daunton, Martin | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (1,024 pp.) | $45.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 9780374146412

An esteemed academic unravels 100 years of economic history and its social consequences. This is a dauntingly long, detailed, meticulously researched book, and it has the feel of a textbook for advanced students. Daunton, emeritus professor of economic history at Cambridge, has a massive story to tell, tracing the development of the institutions that have managed the global economy from the London Economic Conference of 1933 to the present day. Stability has always been the goal of economists and technocrats, and for a decade after the London Conference, it was largely provided by Britain, with the pound being the dominant currency. This changed with the rise of the U.S., although Britain was still powerful enough in 1944 to sit down with the U.S. and design the Bretton Woods Agreement, which set out postwar arrangements. A series of agencies, such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, were established, all underpinned by the dollar as the reserve currency. It was a stable environment for many years; however, to many developing countries, it looked like a party to which they had not been invited. By 2000, supply chains were becoming globally integrated, and capital was crossing borders with few restrictions. Daunton tracks the financial crises of the past few decades and acknowledges that globalization, while increasing the wealth of the wealthy, had also created a well of discontent and a sense that the old methods were no longer working. The emergence of China and the Eurozone also spelled the end of American economic hegemony. Daunton would like to see new thinking to tackle global issues like

An entertaining account of the development of scientific collaboration.

RIVALS

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climate change and income inequality, but he does not know how the story might end. A more solid conclusion from a 1,000-page book would have been welcome, but perhaps uncertainty is a feature of the subject.

Daunton tackles an endlessly complex subject with authority and fairness.

Kirkus Star I’ve Been Thinking

Dennett, Daniel C. | Norton (464 pp.)

$38.00 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9780393868050

The renowned philosopher and cognitive scientist reviews his remarkable life.

Dennett (b. 1942) opens on the day he felt chest pain from the dissection of his aortic artery. Following a nine-hour surgery, he is now “the proud possessor of a new aorta.” This happened in 2006, seven years after a catastrophic heart attack required triple-bypass surgery. Although Dennett is widely known for his cheerful atheism, this is predominantly an autobiography and so entertaining that even devout readers of faith should skim the few parts they may find objectionable. From a very early age, writes the author, everything fascinated him, and by college, he had taken up drawing, singing, jazz piano, and music composition and arrangement without, in his opinion, reaching a professional level (although he has had several exhibitions of his sculpture). In one year at Wesleyan and the remaining years at Harvard, Dennett devoted himself to the study of philosophy. On the whole, he avoided science and held a hilarious contempt for mid-20th-century psychology, until he grew captivated with the mind and consciousness, subjects in which he has made his sterling reputation. Two years at Oxford solidified his preoccupation with philosophy, and throughout the book, he discusses its burning issues as well as colleagues who agree and

disagree with him. Readers seeking a deeper understanding of modern philosophy should consult his earlier books. Mostly, this is a rollicking autobiography of a successful academic who travels the world, lecturing, teaching, and arguing, often bitterly, with colleagues, but hating few. Along the way, the author chronicles plenty of diversions. He remains with his wife of more than six decades. The couple bought a run-down farm in Maine in 1970 and remained there until 2013, working it intensively. Dennett also tells us about his love of sailing and openly shares his skepticism about artificial intelligence. A delightful memoir from one of our deepest thinkers.

Up the Down Escalator: Medicine, Motherhood, and Multiple Sclerosis

Doggett, Lisa | HCI Books (384 pp.) $16.95 paper | Aug. 15, 2023 9780757324864

A physician’s life juggling a busy career and motherhood is further complicated by multiple sclerosis.

In 2009 Doggett, while working on her personal efficiency in her clinical practice and raising two young children, began experiencing unexplained dizziness and double vision. “This time, I was the medical mystery,” she writes. “I kept racking my brain for an explanation and willing myself to make it disappear.” A diagnosis of MS refocused her energies, and she embarked

on a wellness journey, bolstered by community connections yet hobbled by unpredictable relapses, depression, denial, sleeplessness, and, eventually, hard-won acceptance. The author, co-founder of Texas Physicians for Social Responsibility, writes candidly about the challenges of treating uninsured patients, many of whom suffered from mental illness and chronic disease. Doggett highlights a wide variety of clinical cases, tapping into the “intimate connection with misery” she has experienced with her own illness during her career. Thankfully, the author sprinkles in lighthearted moments—e.g., an anecdote about meeting her future husband, Donny, at a party at MIT. Most memorable are Doggett’s knowledgeable perspectives on the countless thorny aspects of American health care. She wrestles with an “unfair and unethical” system that “value[s] quantity over quality, and procedures—biopsies, surgeries, colonoscopies—over face-to-face time and the thinking part of medicine.” She also struggles with the unavailability of birth control for those who need it and the complex paradox of health insurance. The author presents a real-time narration of her spinal tap procedure, and she consistently demonstrates her resilience and personal growth. The text is smoothly and meaningfully narrated, and her testimony validates those living with chronic illnesses while offering hope in the form of new and proactive avenues toward symptom management. Readers struggling with MS (or careerdom and motherhood) will find much to ponder and appreciate in Doggett’s candid perspective. An affecting account of living fully with a difficult disease.

A delightful memoir from one of our deepest thinkers.

I’VE BEEN THINKING

INVITATION TO A BANQUET

Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food

Dunlop, Fuchsia | Norton (416 pp.) | $32.50 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780393867138

An acclaimed chef and author argues that a better understanding of China’s food can do much to build cultural bridges.

Dunlop has been exploring Chinese cuisine for more than two decades, and she says she is nowhere near the end of the journey. She has written a series of award-winning cookbooks focused on Chinese food, as well as her memoir, Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper , and she was the first Westerner to train as a chef at the prestigious Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine. In her latest book, she chronicles her travels around China, framing each chapter with a famous dish. She believes that most Westerners, especially in her native Britain, think of Chinese food as coming in cartons from the local restaurant, but she emphasizes that there is little connection between that and the real cuisine. Many Chinese restaurants in the West have two menus: one where the dishes are modified and simplified for Western tastes and another for Chinese customers (she suggests asking for and ordering from the second one). Genuine Chinese food is defined by precise dicing and a careful balancing of flavors, using top-quality ingredients with medicinal qualities in mind. The range of seasonings is massive

and can require a lifetime to learn. Large slabs of meat are not common, and vegetables are often the center of a meal, rather than merely a side. Dunlop describes dishes like Shandong Guota Tofu and Sweet and Sour Yellow River Carp, and she highlights the cultural importance of rice, soy, and cabbage. The resulting narrative will have readers reaching for the chopsticks. Dunlop acknowledges the political tensions between China and the West, but she believes that food “offers the possibility of a different type of relationship and an alternative window into Chinese culture.” Dunlop delves into a complex, subtle cuisine with an insider’s expertise.

Kirkus Star

Around the World in Eighty Games: From Tarot to Tic-Tac-Toe, Catan to Chutes and Ladders, a Mathematician Unlocks the Secrets of the World’s Greatest Games

Du Sautoy, Marcus | Basic Books | (384 pp.) $30.00 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781541601284

According to one of the world’s most respected mathematicians, the games we play have made us who we are.

Du Sautoy, an Oxford academic and author of The Music of the Primes, Symmetry, How To Count to Infinity, and other acclaimed works, admits to

a fascination with games. When he has travelled to attend conferences and meetings around the world, he has tried to find out how the locals amuse themselves. In his latest book, the author examines the mechanics and history of each game (he does not include sports) as well as the underlying math. “Tell me the game you play,” he writes, “and I’ll tell you who you are.” While he has great affection for rational, strategic games like chess, his main interest is games that require both skill and luck. The games that have endured are those with simple rules that give rise to near-infinite complexity. Some games, like backgammon and bridge, transcend national borders, while others, such as mancala (mostly in Africa) and truco (South America) are played mainly in their culture of origin. The author acknowledges that his list is somewhat arbitrary, but he thoroughly knows his subject, and he writes with self-effacing charm. He discusses the odds that apply to dice games, cards, and even roulette, although he emphasizes that the most that math study can give you is a slight edge, not an unbeatable advantage. In fact, many regular game players have an intuitive grasp of the odds, which leads du Sautoy to speculate that games played a crucial part in the brain development of early humans. “Both games and mathematics combine the creativity and imagination of the artist with the logic and practicality of the scientist,” he writes, adding that “we will keep on inventing new games”—a fitting conclusion to an engrossing tour. A complex package delivered in refreshingly simple and consistently entertaining terms.

Dunlop delves into a complex, subtle cuisine with an insider’s expertise.

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Book to Screen

The Escape Artist TV Series in the Works

Jonathan Freedland’s The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz To Warn the World is headed to the small screen, Variety reports.

Freedland’s book, published last October by Harper, is the true story of Rudolf Vrba, a young Slovak man who was imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942. He escaped from the camp two years later and co-authored a report

Freedland’s book is the true story of a man who escaped Auschwitz.

on the atrocities there with another escaped prisoner, Alfréd Wetzler.

In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called Freedland’s book “a firstrate account of one of the few Jewish prisoners who escaped Auschwitz” and “a powerful story of a true hero who deserves more recognition.”

Bonafide Films bought the screen rights to the book. The television adaptation will be written by Peter Moffat (Criminal Justice, Undercover ); Moffat is also writing the screenplay for Scoop, an upcoming film based on Sam McAlister’s Scoops: Behind The Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking

Interviews. Freedland and Moffat are among the show’s executive producers.

“Jonathan Freedland’s conclusion that Rudolf Vrba deserves to ‘stand alongside Anne Frank, Oskar Schindler and Primo Levi in the first rank of stories that define the Shoah,’ is hard to argue with,” Moffat said. “It’s a great privilege to be asked to adapt this profoundly moving work.” —M.S.

Serge Attal Sygma via Getty Images

To read our starred review of Jonathan Freedland’s The Escape Artist visit kirkusreviews.com

SEEN AND HEARD

Ta-Nehisi Coates Shows Up at School Board Meeting

Ta-Nehisi Coates attended a school board meeting in South Carolina in a show of support for a teacher who had been ordered to stop assigning one of his books to students, the Associated Press reports.

Coates did not speak at the meeting in Irmo, a town near Columbia, South Carolina. Neither did the teacher, Mary Wood, who had used Coates’ Between the World and Me in her Advanced Placement English class at Chapin High School.

In February, some of Wood’s students complained about the book, which had been

assigned as part of a lesson plan on systemic racism, saying that Wood’s lesson made them feel ashamed to be white.

After the complaints, school district officials told Wood to stop using the book, apparently fearing that it would run afoul of a state budget proviso that prohibits funding of schools that teach material that causes students to “feel guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his race or sex.”

The Daily Beast reports that at the meeting—at which no vote was held—one student addressed the board, saying, “We cannot become critical thinkers without being uncomfortable in some way. If students can’t learn these things in a safe space, like school, how are they—we—meant to make good decisions and think critically?”—M.S.

To read our starred review of Ta-Nahesi Coates’ Between the World and Me, please visit kirkusreviews.com.

Coates did not speak at the meeting in Irmo, South Carolina.

November 1942: An Intimate History of the Turning Point of World War II

Englund, Peter | Trans. by Peter Graves Knopf (496 pp.) | $32.00 | Nov. 21, 2023 9781524733315

A meticulous chronicle of ordinary people in the extreme circumstances of war.

When looking at the epic sweep of World War II, it is easy to forget that the big picture involves millions of personal experiences. Englund, a member of the Swedish Academy and winner of the August Prize, draws on diaries, journals, memoirs, and records to delve into the lives of those who lived through the war. He covers the gamut from battle-hardened soldiers to home-front civilians, from a concentration-camp inmate to a scientist working on the Manhattan Project. The frame for the narrative is the month of November 1942, which the author sees as the pivotal point in the war. After that, with the tide turning at Guadalcanal, Stalingrad, and in North Africa, it was just a question of time for the Axis countries. This is a massive undertaking, ably translated by Graves, who worked with Englund on a previous book, The Beauty and the Sorrow, which similarly looked at World War I. The tone of this book is unremittingly grim, and some of the most heartrending stories are those of civilians who were swept up by the flood. One of the most painful is that of Mun Okchu, a young Korean woman forced into sex slavery by the Japanese army. Amazingly, she survived the protracted ordeal. Englund deserves admiration for bringing such an impressive body of research together, but the text is sometimes difficult to follow. The narrative, set out chronologically, leaps from one place to another and between characters. With this disjointed structure, readers may struggle

to engage fully with the individual stories or remember who is where. Perhaps Englund would have done better to focus on fewer people and narrate their tales more coherently. The book is commendable but not for everyone.

A stark, challenging-to-read picture of the war from the bottom up.

The Meth Lunches: Food and Longing in an American City

Foster, Kim | St. Martin’s (320 pp.) | $28.00 Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781250278777

A mournful exploration of the connections between food and community, set against the ravages experienced by the marginalized. In her debut book, Foster, a James Beard Award–winning writer, details her family’s experiences after moving to Las Vegas to facilitate her husband’s work as a show producer. As she became attuned to the city’s bleak undertow of addiction and poverty, she tried to counter it with a passion for cooking and sharing, beginning with their meth-addicted handyman, Charlie, whom she invited for lunch daily until his decline prevented such gestures. “In just three months,” she writes, “we have seen Charlie and [his wife] Tessie through a lifetime of crises—temporary sobriety, meth binges, two stints in jail, three moves, one eviction, [and] several religious, end-of-the-world texts.” These caring

instincts drove her to first foster and then adopt two severely traumatized children. They also started an at-home food pantry for the needy during the pandemic: “Trauma food is what I’m trying to provide.” Foster engages subtopics including the plight of the unhoused and the mentally ill, with the backdrop of the city’s ruthless service economy and the exploitative nature of low-end housing. The author’s deepening connections to the troubled individuals she encountered highlight both her empathy and frustration. Throughout, she contrasts her sensual, detailed depictions of food and the satisfactions inherent in the private act of cooking and collective solutions like food pantries and foster parenting with the intractably grim circumstances of those she befriends and assists. Foster writes sensitively, with percussive and observant prose, portraying herself as well meaning yet also conscious of her status. “Words like heirloom, organic , local may exude certain privileges,” she writes, “but the joy of food is not a privilege.” Despite relishing the benefits of the hard labor of building social capital, her outlook remains hobbled by reality: “Poverty is a policy choice. We have poverty because we choose to have it.”

A disheartening yet engaging, urgent report from the front lines of social decline.

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A disheartening yet engaging, urgent report from the front lines of social decline.

THE METH LUNCHES

Doyle’s World― Lost & Found: The Unknown Histories of Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Friedman, Daniel & Eugene Friedman

Square One Publishers (344 pp.) | $24.95

Nov.

7, 2023 | 9780757004483

A deep dive into all things Doyle.

In their choppy second book, the father-andson team of Eugene and Daniel Friedman offers a “fresh and unexpected perspective” on the doctor and his famous fictional character. They begin by looking at Arthur Conan Doyle’s early years “under the lens of a microscope,” uncovering obscure bits of biographical information, concluding Doyle inserted portions of his personality and early years into the characters of Holmes and Watson. In medical school, Doyle’s friend William Budd, with his “Holmes-like powers of observation,” influenced many stories. The authors explore how Doyle drew upon a “remarkably gifted coterie of physicians” and how he “transmuted” them into the gifted Holmes, and they show how another Edinburgh doctor, William Rutherford, inspired Doyle’s later creation, George Edward Challenger. They uncover a “long overlooked and virtually unknown Black leader Doyle met” while serving as ship’s physician aboard a freighter; this character, they write, “lurks behind his civil rights–inspired tales.” The Friedmans spend time on Doyle’s importance as a doctor who spoke out about urgent

health matters like vaccinations and water contaminants, and they examine the influence fellow writers William Henley and Robert Louis Stevenson had on him. They also consider how Professor John Moriarty and Holmes’ relationship was becoming a “millstone” around the physician’s neck. After he killed Holmes off, ardent readers persuaded Doyle to bring him back. The Friedmans go on to examine his close relationship with friend and writer Grant Allen, for whom Doyle graciously completed the ill man’s last book; and Doyle’s feelings for and travels in America and his “lifelong belief in the unseen world,” employing “his own brand of scientific methodology to delve into the metaphysical.” The book concludes with a special treat: two stories by one of Doyle’s mentors, Dr. Reginald Ratcliff Hoare, stories the Friedmans endeavor to prove with scrupulous textual analysis were actually written by Doyle. An odds-and-ends miscellany best suited for hard-core fans.

Kirkus Star Madonna: A Rebel Life

Gabriel, Mary | Little, Brown (860 pp.) $38.00 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780316456470

A thoughtful biography of one of the most iconic entertainers of our time.

At more than 800 pages, this latest book by Gabriel, author of Ninth Street Women, spares few details about its

subject. Born in Michigan in 1958 to humble, hard-working parents, Madonna Louise Ciccone suffered the loss of her mother at age 5. Once in New York City, she scraped by in the performance and club scenes and gradually rose to fame at a pivotal juncture where disco and punk suffered existential crises and MTV was in its infancy. Using music video and fashion as her mediums, and life as her muse, Madonna stirred a generation of young women. As Gabriel amply demonstrates, however, glamor and art are only part of the story. Proximity to the LGBTQ+ community drove Madonna’s advocacy for AIDS education. “In order to talk about AIDS,” writes the author, “one needed to talk about gay sex, and that was not a conversation to be had in Ronald Reagan’s America.” Unafraid to avoid controversy, she became the artist, according to her, that the critics “hate to love.” With years and locations serving as chapter signposts, Gabriel unfolds Madonna’s life seamlessly. The author shows us how her groundbreaking tours and acting chops in videos, on stage, and on the silver screen light propelled her, as well as a thick skin. “Madonna wasn’t overly bothered by the critics,” writes Gabriel, “which like the paparazzi seemed to be a necessary evil.” The author fully analyzes Madonna’s songwriting talent and her triple-threat ability as a singer, dancer, and actor. Often misunderstood, she emerges as a conscientious mother of six who treasures love and honors family while also remaining unafraid of expressing her sexuality. Ultimately, Madonna’s relatability is what will draw readers in, whether they listen her music or not. Fans and neophytes alike will come away with greater respect for an uncompromising artist.

A thoughtful biography of one of the most iconic entertainers of our time.

MADONNA

Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People’s Business

Gay, Roxane | Harper/HarperCollins (320 pp.) | $30.00 | Oct. 10, 2023

9780063341463

Essays, op-eds, and pop-culture pieces from the acclaimed novelist and memoirist. The decision by the New York Times to hire Gay as an opinion writer in 2014 was a no-brainer: She has a gift for clean, well-ordered prose, and strong feelings on matters of race, gender, and sexuality. Most important, she possesses a fearlessness essential to doing the job right; though she can observe an issue from various angles, she never wrings her hands or delivers milquetoast commentaries. As she writes in the introduction, “On the page, I get to be the boldest, most audacious version of myself.” According to the author, police officers shouldn’t march in pride parades, and Louis C.K. isn’t owed a second chance.

To Kill a Mockingbird is overrated, and Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine black churchgoers in 2015, doesn’t deserve the forgiveness the victims’ families gave him. Planted firmly on the left, Gay’s thoughts on Trump, #metoo, and Black Lives Matter are predictable, but they are engaging in their ferocity all the same. That’s partly because she comes to her opinions more out of empathy than ideology, which is why she’s also served well as an advice columnist for the Times (a few examples of her columns are included). Like any op-ed writer, she sometimes contradicts herself. For example, a piece explaining her refusal to sign a petition condemning a TV show because “creators are allowed to make bad, irresponsible, problematic art” follows a piece arguing the Roseanne reboot shouldn’t have been made. Mostly, however, Gay is consistent, and the squishiness

is relegated to puff pieces profiling Madonna, Janelle Monáe, Tessa Thompson, and others. The author may spit fire in her essays, but even she can’t penetrate the PR armor in which Nicki Minaj has encased herself. Fierce and informed riffs on current events and enduring challenges.

She May Be Lying Down But She May Be Very Happy: A Micro-Memoir

Gelb, Jody | Kelson Books (154 pp.) | $20.00 paper | Nov. 6, 2023 | 9798218231323

A stage actor’s account of her unconventional life with a disabled daughter. The daughter of an Episcopalian mother and Jewish father, Gelb, who has appeared on Broadway in Wicked and Titanic, among other productions, grew up as “a hybrid. Calm and hysterical. Peaceful and self-loathing.” In adolescence, she relieved the sense of “unending doom” through self-harming acts and barbiturates and opiates she stole from her mother’s bathroom. Theater brought some relief, and in drama school, she fell “in love with a play about a severely disabled epileptic and speechless child in a wheelchair.” This foreshadowed the defining event of her life: becoming a mother to a severely disabled daughter, Lueza. A difficult birth left Lueza unable to lift up her head and body. When doctors told the author that scans did not show brain wave patterns that portended severe disability, Gelb actively looked for the one thing that had eluded her throughout her youth: hope. Then a neurologist revealed that Lueza had basal ganglia damage, which meant permanent impairment. Nonetheless, the author devoted herself to helping Lueza with everything from praying and begging to craniosacral therapy and “holy powder dust from an Indian guru.” Gelb’s personal life grew increasingly complicated as both

she and her husband took outside lovers whom they incorporated into the family. Yet for all the apparent chaos, the author discovered the unparalleled gift of joy through Lueza, who died at 16 but was never without a smile on her face. “I would breathe her in,” she writes. “Smell her skin and her hair. Mash my mouth into her cheek for kisses….You couldn’t possibly imagine that her life would be joyful, but this is how she dragged you up and into life.” As she thoughtfully and understatedly explores the challenges of parenting a disabled child, Gelb also clearly reveals the profoundly transformative power of love. A poignant and a refreshingly restrained memoir.

The Purest Bond: Understanding the HumanCanine Connection

Golbeck, Jen & Stacey Colino | Atria (256 pp.) | $28.00 | Nov. 14, 2023

9781668007846

In our turbulent times, the unconditional love of a dog is more important than ever.

Humans have had canine companions since before history was recorded, and there is an excellent reason for it. Dogs are good for us, and we are good for them; this book explains how and why. Golbeck is a scientist whose research field is personality and psychology, and Colino is an award-winning writer who specializes in health and psychology. Both are lifelong dog lovers. They add the surprisingly large body of research into human-dog interaction to their own experience, finding that people with dogs in their lives are happier and healthier. Part of this might be because they are more likely to exercise, but there is also the aspect that such indicators as blood pressure and heart rate improve by simply petting a dog. Then there is the emotional side,

with dogs providing crucial support. During the pandemic, many people looked to dogs to counter isolation. “Dogs can…serve as a sort of balm to mental health struggles and ongoing stress,” write the authors. “Our canine companions help us feel grounded and present-minded, leading by example.” Interestingly, studies on brain chemistry in dogs have shown that they enjoy interacting with people, and their affection goes well beyond the food bowl. The book has plenty of feel-good stories about dogs who helped people through illnesses and sometimes even detected a health problem at an early stage by smelling biochemical changes.

Golbeck and Colino provide guidance on choosing the right dog, developing a relationship with it, and how, when the time comes, to say goodbye. “Dogs can lend a sense of stability and permanency when life feels chaotic,” they conclude. “They serve as a bright, integral thread in the fabric of our lives.” A charming, lucid exploration of how dogs can heal our bodies, minds, and hearts.

Jane Kenyon: The Making of a Poet

Greene, Dana | Univ. of Illinois (224 pp.)

$29.95 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780252045387

An intimate portrait of the tormented poet.

Drawing on key primary sources and numerous interviews, Greene, who has written biographies of Denise Levertov and Elizabeth Jennings, has

fashioned a subtle, sensitive portrait of a “complex, talented, and ambitious” woman. In her early years, Jane Kenyon (1947-1995) was quiet and moody. At the University of Michigan, she took poetry classes from the enthusiastic poet Donald Hall and won her first poetry prize. With both adrift and despite a large age difference, they married in 1972—to “marry him was to marry poetry,” Greene writes. They moved to Hall’s ancestral farm home in Wilmot, New Hampshire, which Kenyon came to love, and she found joy in writing, gardening, the local community, and a newfound spirituality. She translated the poems of Anna Akhmatova and co-founded and edited a poetry journal. Her first collection, From Room to Room, is “central to understanding Kenyon’s legacy.” Throughout, Greene carefully discusses each collection, highlighting their themes and individual poems. Eventually, Kenyon’s success strained her marriage, which led to an affair. At the time, she “was deeply depressed, and it seemed that only drugs and frequent sex gave relief.” In 1989, Hall was diagnosed with cancer. Kenyon was gaining prestige, but her depression continued, evident in her longest poem “Having It Out with Melancholy.” The U.S. Information Agency invited both of them to give talks in India, which resulted in her poetry becoming more political and socially aware. In 1993, Bill Moyers traveled to Wilmot for a TV documentary. After an interview with Terry Gross for NPR, the couple went to India again. In 1994, Kenyon was diagnosed with leukemia; Hall’s cancer was in remission. After a bone-marrow transplant, Kenyon’s life was one of routine and calamity. Greene gracefully chronicles

her final days. Kenyon “democratized poetry….In her poems readers experience beauty transforming sorrow.” On the dry side, but a solid, poignant biography.

Kirkus Star

A

Book of Noises:

Notes on the Auraculous Henderson, Caspar | Univ. of Chicago (272 pp.) | $24.00 | Nov. 9, 2023

9780226823232

A splendid survey of the symphony (and spectra) of sound.

An inelegant, if precise, title does little justice to a book packed with inestimable beauties, piquant facts, cacophonous din, startling conjecture, and unexpected connections among the human, animal, and inanimate worlds. Henderson, the author of The Book of Barely Imagined Beings and A New Map of Wonders, does not refer to “noise” as disagreeable sound alone. Far from it. He presents a series of fascinating entries across four harmonious categories: “geophony” (sounds of the earth), “biophony” (sounds of life), “anthropophony” (sounds of humanity), and “cosmophony” (sounds of space). Each is rich with wonders, but especially fine are the author’s analyses of music in its various forms and sound in the plant and animal realms. Henderson amplifies centuries of research into sound with engrossing cultural (art, literature, film), historical, philosophical, medical, and political references. Immediately apparent is the author’s wide-ranging erudition and curiosity, which also embraces pop culture. Although Henderson’s immersion in subjects is fascinating, occasionally he gets carried away with technical or historical detail. He presupposes readers have an academic grasp of musical forms, theory, and mathematical bases, for example, which will excite some and

In sound terminology, Henderson consistently strikes dulcet tones.

BOOK OF NOISES

Memorable Memoirs

Each of these audiobooks immerses listeners in the extraordinary experience of another human being.

BY MARION WINIK

IN MARCH 2021 , Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Neil King Jr. set himself the task of walking from his home in Washington, D.C., to the island of Manhattan, a 330-mile journey he documents in American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal (HarperAudio, 10 hours and 57 minutes). A history buff with profound concern for the state of our country, King planned the route to include sites of Revolutionary and Civil War import, but it’s what he didn’t plan that knocks his, and our, socks off. These include serendipitous encounters with unusual people and moments of sudden, intense epiphany; as the Kirkus reviewer put it, King’s storytelling skills transform a “seemingly insignificant trip into something revelatory.” Because the author’s vocal cords were gravely damaged by Lyme disease, the audiobook is read by Will Tulin, a perfect stand-in.

The daughter of composer Richard Rodgers died just as her memoir was reaching completion, so a stand-in was also required to read Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers (Spiegel & Grau by OrangeSky Audio, 15 hours and 45 minutes). Fortunately,

the pinch-hitter is actor Christine Baranski. Jesse Green, the New York Times drama critic who was Mary’s amanuensis and co-author, reads his own footnotes and commentary; his afterword is deeply moving. Believe the subtitle: Rodgers will alarm you, seeming to hold nothing back as she lionizes her father, vilifies her mother, and details her relationships with every member of the midcentury Manhattan theater crowd. As she says of the 1960 Tony Awards, “I’d fallen into my address book and couldn’t get up.” Of her OB/GYN, who was also her Uncle Morty: “There is nothing good to say and I will say it later.” Of herself: “I was, at least a little, an anti-feminist woman, an anti-Semitic Jew, a snob bohemian. I would have been an excellent snitch in Vichy France.” With this memoir, the self-deprecating art ist who wrote Upon a Mattress Freaky Friday the immortals, where she belongs. If any memoir of a cross-species relationship is more endearing and magical than Magpie Memoir

Schuster Audio, 8 hours and 58 minutes), written and narrated by the painter and poet Frieda Hughes, I don’t know it. George is as irresistible as Marley and Me and has similar lineaments, with an unruly and infernally adorable creature at the center of a swirl of marital challenges and household depredations. Though the author reveals how much she hates to be introduced as “FRIEDAHUGHES-DAUGHTER-OF-TEDHUGHES-AND-SYLVIAPLATH,” this story is all the more powerful for one’s awareness of her legacy. Her peripatetic youth left her with a deep craving to make a home in a single

place, anchored by plants and animals; in 2004, she realized this desire with a property in Wales. It needed a vast amount of work, but Hughes pours cement as easily as she writes poetry columns for the Times of London . She arrived with three dogs and, in short order, added a rescued baby magpie to the menagerie. To hear her read, in her bright English accent, this diary of the two years that followed is to fall in love, amazed by the very dear and stunningly competent person who emerged from that hard childhood.

Marion Winik is the host of the NPR podcast the Weekly Reader.

impede others. Nonetheless, he blends the rigor of a scientific mind with a lyrical appreciation of both the marvels of sound and the dualities of silence, in particular the relationship between silence and memory. He also demonstrates how hearing predated touch as our first superpower, and he looks for ways that we might forestall seismic testing of our seas and other harmful noise pollution. Fittingly, Henderson says writing the book was his attempt to listen closely, deeply, to the world around him. Readers will be grateful to accompany him on his “earwitness” explorations. This is a writer who thinks, really thinks, though always gives full credit to those who preceded him in sonic studies, quoting them liberally.

In sound terminology, Henderson consistently strikes dulcet tones.

Down the Hill: My Descent Into the Double Murder in Delphi

Hendricks, Susan | Hachette (288 pp.)

$29.00 | Sept. 19, 2023 | 9780306830242

Pensive narrative of a double homicide in a small town.

On February 14, 2017, the bodies of two young teenage girls were discovered below a hiking trail near Indiana’s Wabash River. The local police, writes Hendricks, then on the beat as a CNN reporter and anchor, “said the matter was now being investigated as a crime and they suspected foul play”—a by-the-books conclusion that seems rather too foregone, given the forensic evidence that was eventually revealed. The investigators were confident that they could solve the case in a couple of days, relying on the fact that the community was small and tight-knit and that strangers would be noticed. However, the killer had enough knowledge of the rough terrain, a precarious railroad bridge that figured in the crime scene, and the

comings and goings of other people that he—almost certainly a male—was a local. For all that, and despite the discovery of audio and video evidence of the criminal’s identity, it took years to develop a case, with one suspect dying of Covid-19 before the evidence finally pointed to a likelier perpetrator. Even then, a crime specialist told Hendricks, “It would not surprise me if it takes two years, four years, six years to get to trial, just because of all the defense motions that are going to be occurring, all the antics that can be played.” The author, as much a victim advocate as a journalist, inserts herself into the story more than one might like (“My tears started falling, trickling down my cheeks”). Yet, though the prose is merely competent, she gets to the heart of the story: Terrible crime seldom meets speedy retribution, and survivors often must live with trauma long after the event. Indeed, while the prime suspect was arrested in 2022, the case has yet to come to trial.

A serviceable tale of true crime with no punishment in sight.

The Dissident: Alexey Navalny: Profile of a Political Prisoner

Herszenhorn, David | Twelve (304 pp.) $30.00 | Oct. 31, 2023 | 9781538709450

Comprehensive study of Vladimir Putin’s chief domestic opponent, who exercises his resistance from behind prison walls.

According to Washington Post Russia, Ukraine, and

East Europe editor Herszhenhorn, Alexey Navalny is the most iconic of all the political leaders to have resisted Putin’s totalitarian rule. After all, he survived a poisoning attempt that, Navalny said, “inflicted a mortal offense against him by the fact that I just survived after they tried to kill me on his order.” He returned to Russia soon thereafter, after having testified before the European Parliament that it needed to do more to stand up to the regime and that “Russia is degrading in every sense.” The return earned him an 11.5-year prison sentence. Herszhenhorn’s title is somewhat ironic, for Navalny believes that he is not a dissident, which he describes as a minority view. He insists that he speaks for most Russians, despite the apparent indifference of so many of them. Indeed, a minority position makes it easy for the government to crack down on dissent, which Putin has done by, among other things, imposing a fine of 1 million rubles on protest organizers. For all that, Navalny, at least one of whose convictions in Putin’s courts has been declared invalid by the European Court of Human Rights, continues to speak out against tyranny and official corruption. While the conviction technically makes him ineligible to run for office, he shows no signs of slowing down. Herszhenhorn closes with Navalny’s recently appearing outside prison for a courtroom hearing only to learn of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempted coup. “Navalny, whose only crime had been working to expose corruption and pleading for a chance to run in a free and fair election, was on trial for extremism charges,” writes the author, while the “murderous warlord” Prigozhin, “Putin’s chef,” faced no criminal charges.

A valuable addition to the literature surrounding a tyrannical Russian state.

THE DISSIDENT

A valuable addition to the literature surrounding a tyrannical Russian state.

Climbing the Rough Side of the Mountain: The Extraordinary Story of Love, Civil Rights, and Labor Activism

Hill, Norman & Velma Murphy Hill

Regalo Press (432 pp.) | $32.00

Oct. 17, 2023 | 9798888452820

A chronicle of lives of unwavering dedication.

Now in their 80s, labor and civil rights activists Norman and Velma Hill recount more than six decades of struggles, triumphs, and frustrations in their tireless work as “crusaders for democracy.” Beginning when they first met in 1960 on a picket line outside of a Woolworth store on Chicago’s South Side, they devoted themselves to activism. “We have organized, marched, participated in sit-ins and wade-ins, and gotten ourselves arrested, yelled at, browbeaten, harassed, even bloodied,” they write. “We have demonstrated and strategized from Chicago to Selma, from Montgomery to Mississippi, from Washington, DC, to Atlanta, from coast to coast; and then, around the world, including apartheid South Africa, Brazil, and Israel.” Mentored by Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph, the authors were invested in coalition politics and building majority support across race, class, and gender lines. Early in their career, they became part of a group of advisers to Martin Luther King

Jr. “While we understood the role of nonviolence in the movement,” they admit, “neither one of us believed that nonviolence meant passive nonresistance.” The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which occurred on the centenary of the Emancipation Proclamation, stands for them as “a defining moment for Black struggle in America,” helping usher in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Both activists held leadership positions in the national Congress of Racial Equality but resigned in 1964, when tensions between traditional civil rights ideas and Black nationalist ideas, as well as poor stewardship, weakened the organization. Velma, who had by then earned a master’s degree in education from Harvard, became deeply involved in the labor movement, counting as a major success organizing paraprofessionals into the United Federation of Teachers. They continue as advocates of reform in such issues as job training, health care, education, the environment, and prisons. An inspiring joint memoir.

The Heartbreak Years: A Memoir

Honey, Minda | Little A (240 pp.) | $20.29 Oct. 1, 2023 | 9781662500022

The daughter of “a Black veteran and a Filipino immigrant” reflects on her romantic history.

Growing up, Honey was obsessed with romance novels. “I fantasized about living in that

serene, happily-ever-after moment when the girl and the guy in the movie have found their way back to each other,” she writes. Though the author experienced sexual assault as a teenager, she remained obsessed with finding true love. As she grew older, this need grew increasingly practical: Referring to marriage’s financial and logistical benefits, she writes, “a relationship is the cheat code to make everything else easier.” Unfortunately, she adds, “a relationship was the thing that I and most Black women knew were missing from our lives despite our many successes.” As though to confirm Honey’s fears, over the years, she weathered a series of unsuccessful romances with partners ranging from her high school boyfriend, to a man who with whom she pursued casual sex, to a man who wooed her into an emotionally intense, confusingly nonsexual relationship. By the end of the book, Honey muses, “it’s been more than a decade since my last long-term relationship….Maybe my romantic relationships are so short because, in my experience, it’s been much easier to be happy without a man than it has been to be happy with a man.” The author’s candid self-reflection illustrates the depth of her transformation, and her conflicted and at times contradictory desires add a welcome layer of complexity to an already nuanced narrative. At times, Honey seems to shy away from her most vulnerable moments. For example, she glosses over her potential alcoholism and her mother’s apparent illness, both of which leave gaps in her story. Overall, though, Honey’s witty, frank storytelling makes this book compulsively readable. The insightful story of a Black-identified biracial woman’s search for love.

Honey’s witty, frank storytelling makes this book compulsively readable.

THE HEARTBREAK YEARS

Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight To Expose Its Harmful Secrets

Horwitz, Jeff | Doubleday (336 pp.) | $32.50 Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780385549189

An award-winning tech journalist takes a deep dive into Facebook and finds a morass of deceit and hubris.

Wall Street Journal reporter Horwitz won a huge coup as a key player in the release of “The Facebook Files,” a massive trove of inside information leaked by former employee Frances Haugen (her memoir, The Power of One, was released earlier this year). In this book the author provides a wealth of background about the leak and subsequent publication of the material—although even before he made contact with Haugen, he had been covering the company for long enough to know that much was amiss. Horwitz had once admired the goal of connecting people through technology, but the obsession of Mark Zuckerberg with usage data had infected the whole enterprise. The Haugen material showed the extent to which Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram knew about the problems, from political polarization, to fake news, to body image issues, especially among teen girls. Despite protestations that it always acted responsibly and fairly, in the end, all the company really cared about was gluing people to their screens; if that meant keeping them in a constant state of worry and resentment, then so be

it. Facebook’s main response to the publication of the leaked material was to graft another layer of curators onto a structure driven by AI systems, so it achieved very little. Horwitz concludes that many of the issues he describes are intrinsic to the nature of social media and are essentially unfixable. He worries, as well, that although Facebook (now Meta) has suffered reputational damage, it does not seem to have affected the user metrics, profitability, or stock price. Perhaps Facebook has become so embedded in the culture that it is effectively invulnerable. It is a worrying idea but one that Horwitz makes us seriously consider.

A well-researched, disturbing study of a tech behemoth characterized by arrogance, hypocrisy, and greed.

It’s Not You, It’s Capitalism: Why It’s Time To Break Up and How To Move On

Jabali, Malaika | Illus. by Kayla E. Algonquin (224 pp.) | $24.00 | Oct. 24, 2023 9781643752648

A cheeky introduction to anti-capitalist theory with a focus on race. This takedown of capitalism is equal parts explanation, rejoinder, and manifesto. Jabali, a senior news and politics editor at Essence, employs the overarching metaphor of a toxic romance to illustrate how capitalism works to keep its subjects from imagining a better, healthier world.

Ultimately, capitalism is “your average gaslighter.” The author’s vibrant language works together with memes and emoji-esque graphics to make this book a breeze to read, but her brazen, sometimes cringey tone draws on a deep well of theory and historical analysis. The book’s most compelling feature is Jabali’s focus on nonwhite and non-Western socialist theorists and leaders, which makes it a valuable resource for a wide audience. Entrylevel readers will learn the basics of capitalism, socialism, and colonialism. Regarding the latter, the author writes, “today, capitalism compels the ownership class to continually amass more capital with less input and cheaper labor in order to remain competitive, just as the colonial powers of the past competed internationally for resources and workers to plunder. So what if it meant millions of people would come to be considered an inferior race, with lasting, devastating effects for a few centuries?” Readers who may have never connected with socialism may find satisfaction in encountering a diverse set of socialists who have built on Marxist orthodoxy. Such scholars, writes Jabali, “realized the OG communist theories weren’t one-sizefits-all, especially given how integral racism was in creating and maintaining capitalism in other parts of the world.” Full-page, bright infographics and abundant sidebars demonstrate historical events and deploy statistics to argue how capitalism is inextricable from racism and that “rare case[s] of racial solidarity” are invaluable building blocks of working-class power. Other chapters examine current affairs such as health care, housing, debt, the climate crisis, and campaign finance. A radical textbook for budding socialists, uncompromising in its attention to race in the story of global capitalism.

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A well-researched, disturbing study of a tech behemoth.

Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time

Kaplan, Seth D. | Little, Brown Spark (304 pp.) | $30.00 | Oct. 17, 2023

9780316521390

A sharp exploration of neighborhood-based, scalable responses to social ills.

“The U.S. is fragile, but not as a state,” writes Kaplan, whose background includes stints at the World Bank and the U.S. State Department. He continues, “the social decay we are experiencing in neighborhoods across America is unlike anything I have seen elsewhere—in even the poorest places.” The author suggests that epidemic problems, from gun violence to underemployment and “drugs and despair,” are inextricably linked to the decline of collective behaviors and community-focused places, a lack of “social connectedness” that may be fueling the attractiveness of authoritarianism. “I aim to provide a deeper understanding not only of social poverty in America,” writes Kaplan, “but also of the approaches and strategies required to reverse and prevent it.” The innovative responses required are already in use in grassroots or philanthropic responses in urban, suburban, and rural environments. The author studied five “leading-edge social repairers,” from Kentucky to Detroit, and documents the dimensions of programs “to strengthen the social institutions” of areas clearly needing revitalization. Kaplan examines these case studies and relevant subtopics, including the role of surrogate family networks in Baltimore; schooling innovations in Appalachia; faith-based initiatives in Florida; and the racial aspect inherent in the abandonment of places like Detroit. The author offers a host of concrete suggestions for action, and he notes

that despite the diverse examples, “the principles underlying all these efforts are strikingly similar.” He emphasizes the urgency of localized neighborhood revitalization, and he concludes that “addressing the epidemic of social poverty in America may require a rethinking of the American Dream.” Kaplan writes clearly and with passion, and while the narrative is light on historical background, his central thesis is important and worthy of further discussion and study. A thoughtful, useful addition to the toolkit of any progressive community activist.

Magic: The Life of Earvin “Magic” Johnson

Lazenby, Roland | Celadon Books (832 pp.) $40.00 | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781250248039

An overstuffed biography of the best point guard in NBA history.

Larry Bird, of the much-reviled Boston Celtics, took great pleasure in tormenting Magic Johnson (b. 1959) during the many years of their rivalry for NBA supremacy. Appropriately, Lazenby, who has authored biographies of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, opens with Bird’s marveling at what he called “a one-man fast break.” Readers may wish that Lazenby had some of Bird’s economy of language, for he follows with a staccato flood of encomia: “Magic. In defiance of the physical world. Finite. Complete. Perfect. Open only to pale imitation.”

The worshipful overwriting is characteristic (“He was so sweet then, his head tilted often in that sudden tenderness that only the truly innocent possess”), but determined readers will tough it out. As the author shows, few players worked as hard as Magic, and few were so attuned to the strategy of the game and the wiles of opponents. Lazenby turns up a few things that only diehard fans might know, connecting them to larger matters. For instance, Johnson was dyslexic, and though he had trouble reading, he compensated by listening so closely to instructions that he was able to act as a de facto coach for less attentive teammates. The author is very good at both play-by-play narrative and recalling the ways of the receding past, as when he writes of a push-and-shove between Bird and Johnson’s fellow Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, “In the modern game, the exchange would have resulted in immediate suspensions. In that era, the NBA wasn’t about to throw stars like Bird and Kareem out of a highly charged championship series.” Lazenby also writes sensitively of Johnson’s HIV–positive status and its consequences, as well as Johnson’s post–NBA emergence as a highly successful entrepreneur.

Too long by half, but a satisfying bio for fans of the legendary player.

A thoughtful, useful addition to the toolkit of any progressive community activist.

FRAGILE NEIGHBORHOODS

Kirkus online.

1 American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress

by Wesley Lowery

A masterful blend of narrative history and empathetic reporting.

5 Books That Should Be Bestsellers

2 Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain by Sathnam

Sanghera

The sun may have set on the British Empire, but this piercing examination of its legacies is thoroughly timely.

3 Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Myths and Meanings of “Latino” by Héctor Tobar

A powerful look at what it means to be a member of a community that, though large, remains marginalized.

4 Women We Buried, Women We Burned: A Memoir by Rachel Louise

Snyder

Exceptional writing, a harrowing comingof-age story, and critical awareness combine to make a must-read memoir.

5 Red Memory: The Afterlives of China’s Cultural Revolution

by Tania Branigan

A heartbreaking, revelatory evocation of “the decade that cleaved modern China in two.”

For more books that should be bestsellers, visit Kirkus online.

Kirkus Star

Dwell Time: A Memoir of Art, Exile,and Repair

Lowinger, Rosa | Row House Publishing

(360 pp.) | $27.99 | Oct. 10, 2023

9781955905275

An art conservator’s personal and professional memoir.

From the coasts of Cuba to Israel’s Mediterranean shores, Lowinger, the author of Tropicana Nights , interweaves her life story with insights drawn from her career in art conservation and restoration. Fleeing rising antisemitic sentiment in Eastern Europe and landing somewhat accidentally in Cuba, the author’s family became immigrants twice over when they left their successful dry-goods stores and Fidel Castro’s communist autocracy for Miami. “We’d lost an island, but gained America,” she writes. “Refugees around the world were clamoring to get into this amazing country.” Though her parents saw some financial success in their new country and Lowinger herself rose from a small South Beach apartment to build a successful art restoration practice, the generational weight of dreams foregone, marital tensions, and homelands left behind, wormed indelibly into the family. Undercurrents of violent tempers, indignation, and selfdoubt hum throughout the text, with the author’s simple, straightforward prose and humble anecdotes belying her impressive professional stature, particularly as one of the few Latinas in the field. Lowinger offers detailed but approachable explanations of materials and techniques used in her work as metaphors (some more cohesive than others) for life’s ups and downs, from personal experiences of marriage and divorce to societal reckonings with racial, political, or economic injustice. As she acquired the skills, experience, and judgment

required to lead prolific restoration projects, she began to understand, forgive, and love the places and people she came from, both physically and psychologically. Willing to immerse herself in the complexities and contradictions that mark Cuba, her family, and herself, without rushing to erase them, the author leaves readers with respect for the hazy, ever-moving line between remedy and disease and between making something better and destroying it completely, in life as well as in art. A masterful revelation about life and art imitating each other in maintenance and repair.

A Memoir of My Former Self: A Life in Writing

Mantel, Hilary | Henry Holt (448 pp.) $40.00 | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781250342225

A collection of the late author’s essays coheres as a memoir.

A gathering of more than 70 essays, talks, and reviews by award-winning British author Mantel (1952-2022), edited by Pearson, offers insights into the life and work of a prolific novelist. The pieces, previously published in venues

such as the New York Review of Books, the Guardian, and the Spectator, include reflections on movies (When Harry Met Sally, for one), books (a comparison of biographies of Jane Austen), social and cultural commentary (irreverent assessments of Diana and Kate Middleton), Mantel’s inspiration as a writer, and her serious, debilitating health struggles. In 1980, she discloses, after years of misdiagnoses, she underwent surgery for endometriosis, which involved a hysterectomy and removal of part of her bladder and intestines. Still in her 20s, she became infertile and post-menopausal. Some pieces are slyly funny, such as the title essay, which reports her experience with a hypnotist who sent her careening into a past life. Throughout, Mantel offers insights into the enterprise of writing. “My concern as a writer,” she reveals, “is with memory, personal and collective: with the restless dead asserting their claims.” Her Reith Lectures, broadcast on BBC radio in 2017, are likely to seem freshest to readers familiar with her published pieces. In these talks, she considers the challenges of historical fiction and the “violent curiosity” that propelled her to investigate the French Revolution and Tudor England. “History,” she writes, “is not the past—it is the method we have evolved of organizing our ignorance of the past.”

Mining historical sources, she aims to imagine “the interior drama” of characters whose minds can never fully be known. The novelist, she asserts, “works away at the point where what is enacted meets what is dream, where politics meets psychology, where private and public meet.”

Shrewd, humane, and deeply engaging pieces.

Shrewd, humane, and deeply engaging pieces.

A MEMOIR OF MY FORMER SELF

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Black Lives, American Love: Essays on Race and Resilience

Maroon, D.B. |

Lawrence

Hill Books/ Chicago Review (240 pp.) | $27.99 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781641609326

Explorations of Black selfhood and communitybuilding.

Maroon, a cultural anthropologist and CEO of an urban research institute, explores the status of Black identities in America and the possibilities that exist for cultivating redemptive love. In a series of essays, the author mixes personal reflections with a scholarly view of broader social realities as he takes on a series of pressing topics, including the social construction of race, the politics of the 1619 Project, and the origins and consequences of police brutality. At its best, Maroon’s writing is engaging in its reckoning with the complexities of Black experience. In “Mahicantuk: An Ever Giving River,” the author subtly argues for the significance of questioning dominant cultural narratives—and of recovering buried histories—in order to live authentically in the present. “Creating Blackness” and “Black Spectrums” provide insightful commentary on the urgency of—and inevitable difficulties involved in—constructing a racial self linked to community and tradition. In “Hope and Rage,” one of the most memorable essays, Maroon poignantly recounts her involvement with the Black Lives Matter movement and confrontations with astonishingly virulent prejudices in her community. “The density of hate, the volume of

anger, dazed me,” she writes. “It felt like falling through a time hole and turning up in the jarring black-andwhite footage of civil rights protestors being swarmed by hysterical anti-Black crowds.” The most personal and moving essay, “American Love,” vigorously affirms the author’s journey to self-acceptance as the necessary foundation of loving others properly. Though much of the collection highlights the suffering inflicted by historical and contemporary injustices, what stands out most vividly is Maroon’s conviction that, with the proper effort and encouragement, enough of America will “continue to embody the best of agape kindness” and make possible greater collective understanding and healing. An eloquent and perceptive series of essays on Black lives in America.

The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived: Tom Watson Jr. and the Epic Story of How IBM Created the Digital Age

McElvenny, Ralph Watson & Marc Wortman PublicAffairs (592 pp.) | $32.50 Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781541768529

Comprehensive biography of the tech pioneer who transformed IBM into a digital giant.

As early as 1964, Tom Watson Jr. (19141993) was “widely esteemed as the most successful head of a major corporation in mid-twentieth-century America.” He wasn’t the easiest person to get along with, given to excoriating underperformers, but

he was also democratically inclined, at a far remove from his father’s aloof demeanor. By McElvenny and Wortman’s account, Watson’s greatest success was developing a computer that, thanks to a relatively simplified operating system, was compatible with other machines, offering “solutions to myriad problems previously beyond calculation, even imagining.” This machine provided an essential underpinning for the modern economy, making possible the use of credit cards, improving inventory management, and eventually forming a network of computers and servers that would become the internet. The authors take numerous detours in this history, with one pressing concern being to exonerate IBM from the charge that it helped the Hitler regime. While technology was provided to the Nazis via a subsidiary organization, Watson’s father, they argue, disengaged from the German state well before the U.S. entered World War II, when Watson Sr. “put IBM and its comprehensive social and business culture in the service of the US and its allies.” IBM would become a linchpin in the Cold War technological economy, with Watson Jr. inaugurating a transformation into the new world of personal computing and, at one point, hiring more than 2,000 programmers to develop software. On that note, the authors let some of the air out of the legend that Bill Gates skunked IBM by developing MS DOS as industry-standard software, noting that IBM would have courted antitrust scrutiny had it required a proprietary system. In a swift-moving narrative, the authors make clear that Watson was a man of parts, one of the prime shapers of the modern technological world. A readable and revealing work of business and tech history.

An eloquent and perceptive series of essays on Black lives in America.

BLACK LIVES, AMERICAN LOVE

Kirkus online.

Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America

McKevitt, Andrew C. | Univ. of North Carolina (320 pp.) | $24.95 paper Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781469677248

How consumerism and paranoia supercharged American gun culture.

In this revealing book, McKevitt, a history professor, analyzes the roles played by unrestrained capitalism and Cold War anxieties in transforming the nation into a “gun country” after World War II. Examining cultural flashpoints around race, gender, and the ostensible threat of communist infiltration, and of the rise of a market for war surplus weaponry from around the globe, the author provides an original way of understanding a stunning and enduring increase in gun ownership in the U.S. Particularly engaging are McKevitt’s detailed explorations of prominent figures involved in this broader narrative, including a colorful arms dealer named Sam Cummings, who exploited lax regulation to flog cheap guns; disarmament activist Laura Fermi, who cannily generated political resistance to a booming crisis of gun violence; and Lee Harvey Oswald, who, like thousands of Americans in the 1960s, bought inexpensive guns through the mail. Also intriguing is the author’s analysis of how the killing of an unarmed Japanese exchange student in Louisiana—and its galvanizing of international outrage at the nation’s violence—both revealed and intensified what is now a familiar domestic cultural divide about gun rights. Though sections of the book are repetitive and meandering, McKevitt offers a compelling argument about where the extremity of America’s permissiveness toward deadly weaponry originated and how debates on the Second Amendment’s

meaning have evolved in response to shifting cultural preoccupations. He also makes a persuasive appeal for how the human costs of mass gun ownership could be mitigated. “Meaningful reform is possible, but it will require confronting mythologies and material reality head on,” writes the author. “We must stop legislating around the problem of plenty and in the service of historical obfuscation. If the gun country of the postwar era could be made, it can be unmade.” Illuminating, timely commentary on the rise of consumer gun culture.

Mischievous Creatures: The Forgotten Sisters Who Transformed Early American Science

McNeur, Catherine | Basic Books (432 pp.) $32.50 | Oct. 31, 2023 | 9781541674172

Lively biography of two sisters who made substantial contributions to 19th-century natural history.

Elizabeth and Margaretta Morris were sisters who, writes McNeur, “lived together, hiked together, and debated new scientific theories together.” They were hardly alone in their vocations and avocations. As the author notes, the term scientist came about in 1834 to describe “a woman with a talent for turning complex scientific phenomena into understandable prose for popular audiences.”

Some men whom we would now call scientists believed that women were better equipped mentally to ponder the minutiae of classification than men, whose supposed task was to come up with big ideas. Well to do but constrained by their time, Elizabeth and Margaretta turned to botany and entomology. Margaretta, in particular, became well known for her work describing the 17-year cycle of the cicada—and as for big ideas, she corresponded with none other than Charles Darwin, then “an up-and-coming

naturalist in England,” on the subject of water beetles. McNeur notes that the sisters may have approved of Darwin’s ideas about speciation and natural selection, even if they also collaborated with the anti-evolutionist Louis Agassiz. The sisters were acknowledged as skilled researchers and observers in their time, although when Margaretta, arguably the more accomplished of the two, passed away, “the Academy of Natural Sciences announced her death…but included no details about her life or accomplishments.” As a result, they were never properly acknowledged nor memorialized, an erasure that may not have been intended, strictly speaking, but that “gradually accumulated until the sisters’ stories faded from view.” Fortunately, in a well-written book that digs deep into the literature, McNeur recovers those stories and places them in the context of a science that, for all its strides forward, took no trouble to include women in the conversation. A welcome addition to intellectual history that restores two gifted women to the scholarly record.

Blood In the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech

Merchant, Brian | Little, Brown (496 pp.) $30.00 | Sept. 5, 2023 | 9780316487740

A history of the 19th-century revolutionaries who fought against the machine.

In 1812, writes Merchant, the author of The One Device, British workers watched as power looms began to displace them, then rose up in a movement named after a young rebel named Ned Ludd, leading the UK to “the brink of civil war.” Two centuries later, advanced digital technology in the hands of capitalists threatens human livelihoods in many fields, occasion for a new Luddite revolt. Merchant chronicles how the British

militants didn’t necessarily object to labor-saving devices, but instead to how they were used—namely, to enrich a small handful of industrialists at the expense of a great mass of skilled workers. Indeed, Merchant adds, when textile workers asked that a machine be put in place to measure thread count, an index of quality, the owners refused, “preferring to retain the unilateral power to determine the quality of a garment themselves, and to offer workers the prices they approved of.” Under such conditions, weavers’ wages fell by nearly half between 1800 and 1811, good reason for protest. At times, those demonstrations turned violent, with factories burned and one particularly hated capitalist murdered. Some reforms ensued, but the supremacy of the bosses endured. Just so, Merchant writes compellingly, while today’s gig workers may object to the whims of employers who offer few benefits and jobs that “are subject to sudden changes in workload and pay rates,” it seems unlikely that those bosses will change their ways short of a mass uprising. After all, Merchant charges, Jeff Bezos determined that it was cheaper to keep emergency technicians on hand to treat heatstroke rather than air-condition some of his warehouses. “And since Amazon does it,” writes the author, “everyone else must make their employees machinelike as well, if they hope to keep pace.”

A well-argued linkage of early industrial and postindustrial struggles for workers’ rights.

The Forgers: The Forgotten Story of the Holocaust’s Most Audacious Rescue Operation

Moorhouse, Roger | Basic Books (352 pp.) $32.00 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781541619852

Historical study of an overlooked hero of the Holocaust. When Poland was occupied during World War II, its legitimate government went into exile. That government posted diplomats who were sometimes recognized, sometimes not, with the Reich momentarily placated by the naming of one, Aleksander Ładoś (1891-1963), not as ambassador but as a temporary chargé d’affaires to Switzerland. “A former journalist and diplomat,” writes Moorhouse, author of Poland 1939 and Berlin at War, “Ładoś had served in a number of significant diplomatic posts through the 1920s and ’30s.” Ładoś had a widespread network of contacts who pulled together, once it became clear that Poland’s Jews would be in the vanguard of victims of the rapidly developing Shoah, to find ways to deliver at least some of them to safety. They did so by securing doctored passports and visas, most from Latin American countries and then delivering them to a lucky few. On that note, Moorhouse estimates that the “Ładoś Group” issued passports and other identity documents to somewhere between 8,300 and 11,400 people (the discrepancy comes from the fact that passports sometimes covered whole families and not just individuals).

Less than half are known to have survived, since passport holders were often transferred from death camps to “internment camps” where they were subject to starvation and disease. Moorhouse writes circumspectly of sensitive subjects such as how choices were made as to who would receive the forged papers. He also notes that corruption figured in the larger enterprise of document forgery, with some characters outside the group selling documents at a premium. While Moorhouse allows that other groups were active along the same lines—one Polish underground organization “produced some fifty thousand forged documents, on average around one hundred every day”—he makes clear that the forgotten Ładoś deserves to be remembered, as do his lieutenants. A capable investigation of a little-known aspect of World War II history.

Kirkus Star

The Upside-Down World: Meetings With the Dutch Masters

Moser, Benjamin | Liveright/Norton

(320 pp.) | $39.95 | Oct. 10, 2023

9781324092254

An expatriate chronicles his youthful discovery of the Dutch Golden Age.

In a luminous, splendidly illustrated melding of art history and memoir, Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer, translator, and essayist Moser pays homage to 17th-century artists whose works he discovered when he first settled in the Netherlands 20 years ago. For half of his life, he writes, “I felt that these artists were guiding me, carrying me, through their world.” Besides Rembrandt and Vermeer, Moser examines a host of less familiar artists, including Rembrandt’s neighbor Jan Lievens and his students

A capable investigation of a little-known aspect of World War II history.

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SEEN AND HEARD

Book by Sen. Katie Britt Coming in November

U.S. Sen. Katie Britt will tell the story of her life and career in a new book, AL.com reports.

Hachette imprint Twelve will publish the Alabama Republican’s God Calls Us To Do Hard Things: Lessons From the Alabama Wiregrass later this year. The press describes the book as “warm, humble, and often lighthearted.”

Britt was born and raised in Alabama and educated at the University of Alabama. She worked as a lawyer and as the chief of staff

to then-Sen. Richard Shelby and, in 2022, ran for the seat that Shelby was vacating. She won the Republican primary after being endorsed by Donald Trump and posted a landslide victory over Democrat Will Boyd in the general election.

Britt, 41, is the youngest Republican woman in the Senate, and the third-youngest member of the body, after Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff and Ohio Republican J.D. Vance.

Her book, Twelve says, “is about how a determined young woman decided to enter the arena and make her mark. At a moment when politics feel so toxic and broken, Katie Britt proves that there’s still a way to listen to your heart, serve and inspire.”

God Calls Us To Do Hard Things is slated for publication on Election Day, Nov. 7, 2023.—M.S .

Tom Williams CQ Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Britt, 41, is the youngest Republican woman in the U.S. Senate.

Ferdinand Bol, Govert Flinck, and Carel Fabritius, painter of The Goldfinch, a charismatic work that, for Moser, “emitted a force that was as real as the net of gravity.” The author ably conveys the radiance of genre paintings by Ter Borch, “famous for his ability to reproduce the shimmer of satin” and suffuse interiors “with the intimate glow of the happy home.” That evocation of warmth strikes him as particularly Dutch: Pieter de Hooch, for one, “showed spotlessly clean middle-class rooms where, bathed in warm light, brightly clad people were taking part in some peaceful activity: getting ready for school, chatting with neighbors, playing with the dog.” But Moser resists what he calls art historians’ “misplaced materialist fixation,” which ascribes to Dutch painting an obsession with the decorative, the ostentatious, the bourgeois accumulation of things. He sets artists’ lives in the context of violence and upheaval, as well as personal loss, poverty, grief, and longing. In Vermeer, he sees “a mind seeking.” In writing about art, Moser admits that he, too, was a mind seeking: to understand his identity as a writer and as a foreigner in a new culture. “My goal,” he writes, “was a record of my encounter with this culture, of how its great figures helped me explore my own questions: about love and death and art and money, about how to see and how to be.”

A graceful meditation on art.

How We Age: The Science of Longevity

Murphy, Coleen T. | Princeton Univ. (480 pp.) | $35.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 9780691182636

A leading researcher surveys the current thinking on living a longer life. There is no shortage of books promoting “magic bullets” to increase longevity,

from fad foods to strange potions. This book is definitely not in this category, and Murphy is far from a smooth-talking purveyor of snake oil. She is a professor of genomics and molecular biology at Princeton, where she directs the Glenn Foundation for Research on Aging. Many of her experiments have been conducted with worms, which have the advantage of short lifespans and simple biological structures. In a crucial finding, she discovered that changing a gene in a certain type of worm doubled its lifespan and extended the youthful part of its life. But genetic manipulation is only one aspect of longevity research, and Murphy examines the processes of aging in humans from a variety of perspectives. Lifespans have increased markedly over the past century, due to higher rates of vaccination, better health care, and improved diets. However, there are still many problems associated with age, ranging from cell deterioration to cognitive decline. A promising way forward is a “cocktail” method of drug treatment, targeting specific ailments on a preventive basis. It would have to start early, as the aim is to give recipients a longer period of active living as well as more years. None of these drugs is ready for public release, although there are promising directions and research is slowly progressing. This is interesting stuff, but this book is not an easy read. Murphy assumes that everyone shares her enthusiasm for worm experiments, and much of what she discusses is extremely technical. This book is not for everyone, but readers with a scientific bent will find it an enlightening piece of work.

Murphy has gathered a huge amount of research material on longevity, giving the book a tone of meticulous authority.

Kirkus Star

The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism

Nagourney, Adam | Crown (592 pp.) | $35.00 Sept. 26, 2023 | 9780451499363

A deep-dive history of the New York Times in an age of transformation. The Times, writes veteran political reporter Nagourney, has long borne the sobriquet “the Gray Lady,” but women have seldom figured in its management and upper ranks. The same was true of anyone but white males. As Nagourney, who covered the 2020 election for the paper, writes, this became a source of much concern to the publishers, members of the Sulzberger dynasty, and the paper’s editorial and business leadership, who oversaw its transformation not just into a more diverse organization but also one at the forefront of the digital age. It came at a cost: “Newsrooms as a rule are unhappy places: roiled by self-doubt, anger, competitiveness, resentments, and vindictiveness,” and the Times was no exception. Accordingly, episodes of massive bloodletting were not uncommon. In an absorbing case study, Nagourney revisits the checkered career of serial fabulist Jayson Blair, who, in the end, took down his editor, Howell Raines, with him when his inventions were exposed. “I’ve got more arrows in me than Custer’s horse,” Raines once quipped, but this time the horse died. Another critical juncture in the book comes with the tortured saga of the Times’ first woman executive editor, Jill Abramson, whose dismissal stirred up unpleasant memories of a sexual discrimination class action lawsuit filed decades earlier. Nagourney’s account of the Times’ performance during the fraught days after 9/11, the good with the bad, is outstanding. Still, students

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of the journalism business will most value his study of the halting steps the paper took toward becoming a digital giant, with, today, far more online subscribers than print ones, lending weight to one editor’s observation: “Readers love news articles and narrative. But they clearly want more journalism that doesn’t consist mostly of blocks of text.”

An exemplary work of journalism about journalism, of surpassing interest to any serious consumer of the news.

Energy Follows Thought: The Stories Behind My Songs

Nelson, Willie with David Ritz & Mickey Raphael | Morrow/HarperCollins (384 pp.)

$50.00 | Oct. 31, 2023 | 9780063272200

In a wry narrative shot through with a loopy, stoner spiritualism, the great songwriter and outlaw country artist takes a ramble through his back pages.

“I’m dumb enough to think everything I write is going to be a hit.” So Nelson remarked to Faron Young, who turned the musician’s “Hello Walls” into an early chartbuster. It didn’t always work out that way, however. For years, the record companies wrestled with Nelson’s sometimes impenetrable lyrics—as he reveals, he sometimes speaks to various parts of houses and makes songs of what they tell him—while trying to turn him into a conventional star. “After struggling in Nashville,” he writes, “I returned to Texas in 1970,

not as a conquering hero but as just another singer with a band looking to survive.” As one of his songs puts it, “Nobody said it was going to be easy,” but Nelson found himself with just the right people, from his celebrated drummer and best friend Paul English to the hard-living Waylon Jennings, whose album Wanted! The Outlaws , containing a co-written Nelson tune, was “the first country album to sell over a million copies.” That helped the coffers, but, as the lyrics assembled here, richly illustrated with photographs, suggest, Nelson’s prime motivation is less money than the good life. Much of his commentary on his lyrics concerns spiritual lessons. “Because I’m into my ninetieth year,” he writes, “a lot of people want to know my strategy for survival.” Faith in something that may or may not be God is one element; smoking righteous quantities of marijuana has a part, and as does kneeling in gratitude. Essential are humility and service, as with this memorable comment paired with the song “Heartland,” co-written with Bob Dylan in 1990: “To give voice to the voiceless is a priceless privilege that comes with being a writer.”

A lively accompaniment to Nelson’s sprawling, genre-crossing, delightful catalog of recordings.

George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle

Norman, Philip | Scribner (480 pp.) | $35.00 Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781982195861

The author of biographies of John Lennon and Paul McCartney turns his attention to George Harrison (1943–2001).

“Fuck off…can’t you see I’m meditating?” Thus quoth George—never Sir George, for unlike bandmates Sir Paul and Sir Ringo, Harrison was never knighted. That fact, reports longtime Beatle-watcher Norman, seems to have rankled, for if Harrison seemed to be bucking for sainthood throughout much of his too-short life, he was also all too human. His wife, Pattie Boyd Harrison, once asked George’s assistant, “What’s he got his hands in today, the prayer-beads or the cocaine?” Norman is no mean-spirited, character-assassinating biographer in the Albert Goldman vein, but he does seem to take a certain pleasure in catching Harrison out doing things he shouldn’t have, such as seducing Ringo’s wife—no secret, and present in other Harrison bios, but lingered over all the same. The author makes a few things clear: Harrison was a nimble guitarist, one of the best in the business, but he was undervalued by both Lennon and McCartney as a songwriter, which resulted in his longpent-up solo effort, All Things Must Pass, a dark horse that charted higher than any of their solo efforts. Regrettably, its biggest hit was legally proven to have been inadvertently plagiarized.

A lively accompaniment to Nelson’s sprawling, genre-crossing, delightful catalog of recordings.

ENERGY FOLLOWS THOUGHT

Norman...knows his subject and the soulful torments Harrison endured.

GEORGE HARRISON

A creature of “endless self-contradictions,” Harrison was the one Beatle who grew up in true poverty, and while he claimed to renounce the material world, he also spent fortunes on the creature comforts of his British estates and Hawaiian getaway. Given to bad puns (“Vengeance Is Mine Saith the Chord”) and occasional clunkiness—e.g., Tom Petty was “the blondest man in Country rock”; after the Beatles broke up, “Beatleness still ran through him like the grain in old oak”—Norman nonetheless knows his subject and the soulful torments Harrison endured. The quiet Beatle turns out to have feet of clay—a surprise to some, perhaps.

A well-informed, serviceably written biography of an enigmatic musician.

Kirkus Star Ignition: Lighting Fires in a Burning World

O’Connor, M.R. | Bold Type Books (384 pp.)

$30.00 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781645037385

A confrontation of modern-day views on fire suppression and “the myth of wilderness.”

As apocalyptic megafires blaze uncontrollably throughout North America, journalist O’Connor, author of Resurrection Science and Wayfinding , takes readers on an all-encompassing journey through a variety of perspectives regarding our relationship to fire. The author interweaves her wildland fire experience with the complex, often fraught history of fire and how we have slowly erased the culture of prescribed fire, or “good fire,” in the nation’s ecosystems. For thousands of years, Indigenous people maintained a symbiotic relationship with the land, and their system involved prescribed fire interventions. These routine fires helped to clear debris and competing vegetation that covered the forest floor.

Eventually, arriving colonizers made these fires illegal, and fire suppression gained favor over the following centuries. O’Connor shines a light on the individuals and groups working to reintroduce good fire back into our culture and policy. “Suppression has created a fire deficit and a need to reduce the fuels that cause high-severity wildfires,” she writes. “In California alone, an estimated twenty million acres—an area the size of Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey combined—would need to burn to eliminate the so-called fire deficit created by a century of suppression. Federal agencies acknowledge the problem, but bureaucratic risk aversion and budget constraints, among other things, have stalled the adoption of new approaches, leaving America both burning and fire starved.” Along with diverse crews of wildland firefighters, Indigenous leaders, prescribed fire experts, scientists, and ecologists, O’Connor engagingly chronicles her adventures in the nation’s lush forest landscapes. She explores not only the unexplained nature of the megafires, but the mental and physical toll these often record-breaking fires have on the firefighters trying to contain them. An intricate examination of the relationship humans once shared with fire in the past and what it can become in the future.

Tokens: The Future of Money in the Age of the Platform

O’Dwyer, Rachel | Verso (320 pp.) | $29.95 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781839768347

A scholarly investigation of the role of online tokens, which “are both more and less than money.”

O’Dwyer, an Irish lecturer in digital cultures, examines a question that yields complex answers: What is money, and

how does it differ from other significations of value? A classic example of the latter are the giant stones of Yap, the Micronesian island, which have been shorthanded as “primitive” money. Not quite so, writes the author: The stones are really “value contracts” that constitute “an invisible ledger held in trust by the Yapese community.” When one fell into the sea while being transported from a neighboring island, all agreed that the stone retained its value as a measure against which to gauge transactions. Consider how blockchain works, and consider how “non-fungible tokens” are given a value that doesn’t align with commonsense economics, and those primitive measures suddenly don’t seem so primitive after all. Today, writes O’Dwyer, tokens “can be used to market insubstantial things—famous people’s farts, virtual kittens, skins in Fortnite—to make ephemeral things solid enough to enter the economy,” whereas money stands for solid things that circulate in proxy, such as the bars of gold tucked away in Fort Knox. Cryptocurrency, the accoutrements players buy in Second Life, NFTs—all are something like money, yet something not like it, too. Whatever they are, O’Dwyer observes, tokens come at great cost—not to the money economy, per se, but instead to the environment. “In 2006,” writes the author, “the average Second Life avatar consumed more electricity than the average Brazilian.” What’s more, she notes, the famous anonymity of cryptocurrency is not the norm in the token world. Where cash can change hands unrecorded, most electronic transactions are so thoroughly tracked that such things as “Venmo stalking” have lately become commonplace. A cautionary, comprehensive look at money and its virtual discontents.

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Are You Willing to Die for the Cause?

Oliveros, Chris | Drawn & Quarterly (160 pp.) | $24.95 | Oct. 24, 2023

9781770466616

The founder of Drawn & Quarterly offers presents the first of a two-part graphic chronicle of the ill-fated efforts of the Front de liberation du Québec, covering the period from 1962 to 1970.

In Oliveros’ telling, the separatist violence was triggered by the casual, public bigotry of an Anglophone, Montreal-based railway executive. The FLQ began in Georges Schoeters’ tiny apartment, where he and his confederates (many in their teens) drafted a manifesto and mixed Molotov cocktails. These initial scenes are often quite funny, Molotov cocktails arcing from one panel to the next in front of imposing gray armories to explode with BOOMs and speech balloons filled with Nos as the downat-their-heels revolutionaries seek one among them with a car to take them to their targets. But the violence was real and claimed victims, so the mood darkens. Oliveros creates a device to carry the story: a fictional CBC documentary with the principals and prominent figures of the day narrating events. When Schoeters was imprisoned, the mantle passed to François Schirm, who tried to start a guerrilla army and was sentenced to life in prison; and then to Pierre Vallières, who returned to the FLQ’s early, incendiary strategies. It’s an

ARE YOU WILLING TO DIE FOR THE CAUSE?

absorbing treatment of a story mostly forgotten in the U.S. Oliveros works in mostly six-panel-per-page layouts, peopling them with unprepossessing-looking white characters (mostly men) whose expressions frequently enhance the overall feeling of their incompetence. Largely missing from the tale are French Canadians’ genuine grievances. Readers must pore over the copious backmatter to learn that Quebec’s Francophones—87% of the province’s population—labored as an underclass in an Anglophone-dominated economy. Confining the focus to the FLQ’s leadership and their bumbling attempts makes for an entertaining read, but it’s hardly a nuanced one. The bibliography includes both contemporary and retrospective accounts, many in English, and meticulous notes detail Oliveros’ research and artistic choices. An engaging introduction to a fascinating historical and cultural flashpoint.

Lucky Me: A Memoir of Changing the Odds

Paul, Rich with Jesse Washington Roc Lit 101 (224 pp.) | $28.00 | Oct. 10, 2023

9780593448472

The CEO and founder of Klutch Sports Group recounts a life up from the streets and into the big time.

Paul is known in sports circles as the head of Klutch, which has signed more than $3 billion in contracts. There are those from the old neighborhood, to say nothing of rivals, who write off his success to luck, as the title suggests. However, notes the author, “those who call me lucky don’t realize what kind of assembly line I was built on.” That line ran along mean streets where drugs and violence were rampant. Paul learned early on to rely on himself and not expect much from others. Some of the lessons he imparts in chapter-opening principles (“Discipline your approach”; “Build an ecosystem of empathy”) he owes to his father, a storekeeper entrepreneur who tried to keep him from the worst Cleveland had to offer; others were hard-won through experience. In the anecdotal narratives that follow his slogans, Paul builds on his ideas while recounting successes and failures. “Ain’t no stumbling your way through life,” he writes. “Black folks don’t have enough margin of error for that. Most of us have no margin of error at all.” The author adds that even if you possess an abundance of

An aspirational, often funny, and always sharply pointed tale of winning against the odds.

An engaging introduction to a fascinating historical and cultural flashpoint.

self-discipline, -training, and -control, it behooves you to roll with whatever punches come your way—“you have to plan with intent but always be ready to improvise.” Particularly well taken are Paul’s frequent reminders that the life he knew is not, in the end, so different from the cutthroat world of business, save that “in the business world, it’s harder to see who’s trying to kill you.” Though there’s plenty of braggadocio to go along with his well-intended admonitions, Paul is never too full of himself—and full of good advice.

An aspirational, often funny, and always sharply pointed tale of winning against the odds.

Grace in All Simplicity: Beauty, Truth, and Wonders on the Path to the Higgs Boson and New Laws of Nature

Quigg, Chris & Robert Cahn | Pegasus (336 pp.) | $29.95 | Nov. 7, 2023

9781639364817

Two renowned scientists survey the incredible discoveries that have redefined our understanding of the laws of nature and our place within the cosmos.

From the Higgs boson to dark energy, the history of scientific exploration is rife with mind-bending breakthroughs—and illuminating failures—that have revealed the complexity and beauty of our surroundings. In this insightful and accessible book, Quigg, a scientist emeritus at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and Cahn, a scientist emeritus at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, celebrate the people behind these discoveries, following their paths around the globe to explore the extraordinary experiments that probe the fundamental properties of the universe. Readers will find many of

these characters familiar—Rutherford, Fermi, Curie, Perlmutter—but the authors also highlight a range of fascinating characters who may not be household names but whose contributions are invaluable to fields including particle physics, cosmology, and astronomy. In each chapter, the authors excel at making connections among scientific advances that have occurred across history. The breakthroughs that define the laws of physics aren’t discrete, the authors argue, but a series of accumulated truths that build in a continual refining of knowledge. “Particle physics is a planetary undertaking….Professional and personal lives are enriched by teachers and students, colleagues and friends, from many countries and cultures,” they write. “Together, we elevate experimental test over attachment to received truths. We welcome uncertainty not as motivation to be cynical, but as incentive to open our minds and investigate. As individuals and as teams, we compete and collaborate.” Moreover, this woven patchwork of revelation is more than just science; it’s also storytelling. The vast collective of minds that collaborate in this building, across space and time, is an astonishing feat itself—one driven by the most essential curiosity: that of our existence.

A captivating book that reveals the interconnectedness of science’s most profound advances.

First, Best: Lessons in Leadership and Legacy From Today’s Civil Rights Movement

Reed, Steven L. with Fagan Harris Avery (256 pp.) | $28.00 | Oct. 10, 2023 9780593421758

The first Black mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, recounts the life lessons that led him to a career in electoral politics. Is Montgomery really the “capital of the South”? Perhaps not, given Richmond, Atlanta, and Nashville, but Reed isn’t shy about making the claim while insisting that his city is prepared to go up against the bigger metropolises by taking their example and “building a more inclusive economy, an opportunity economy that gives everyone the chance to achieve their level of success in every way possible.” Part memoir, part motivational treatise, and part political manifesto of a kind that often precedes a bid for higher office, Reed’s book honors his father, Joe, a member of the “Moses Generation” that pioneered the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and beyond. One of the lessons his father imparted was that all politics is personal—i.e., that building relationships is part of the business, but maintaining them and not letting them go stale is even more important. “Of all crimes, the worst is ingratitude,” he told his son. On the practical front, for Joe, this meant forging alliances as the leader of the Alabama Education Association with people who might not have seemed likely candidates for them,

A captivating book that reveals the interconnectedness of science’s most profound advances.

For more nonfiction content, visit Kirkus online.

a lesson that the son has brought to his mayoral office by attempting the greatest inclusivity possible, building a new South that works from the premise that “diversity was a strength.” Recounting lessons learned at his parents’ side about making the best effort one can and expressing gratitude to those who marched against police dogs and batons back in the day, Reed ventures some operating principles of his own: Even when other parties seem unapproachable, leaders seek to build alliances and coalitions; leadership is more important than effectiveness (“The civil rights movement was resource-poor but leadership-rich”), and so forth. A readable, useful manual of practical politics wrapped in an inviting, anecdotal narrative.

Eat, Poop, Die: How Animals Make Our World

Roman, Joe | Little, Brown Spark (304 pp.) $30.00 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780316372923

A colorful picture of how wild animals can heal a damaged environment. A book dealing with feces and carcasses may not sound like an appetizing read, but conservation biologist and marine ecologist Roman, author of Whale and Listed: Dispatches From America’s Endangered Species Act, delivers a thought-provoking, accessible text. His focus is on the interaction between wild animals and the environment, and he begins in Surtsey, a volcanic island that rose out of the ocean near Iceland in 1963. For years, it was a barren outcrop, but gradually seabirds began to nest there. Their excrement provided nitrates and phosphates for seeds to take root, and eventually the island became a lively place. This highlights the role that animals play in biological loops, and Roman continues his theme by tracing how whales spread valuable nutrients throughout the ocean. No armchair theorist, the author chronicles

his treks through bear country in the Pacific Northwest to assess the environmental impact of salmon spawning. He sees great value in projects such as the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park and bison to the Great Plains. Ecosystems are basically puzzles, and each piece fits into many others. Even hippos play an important role as prolific contributors of fecal matter. At the tiny end of the size scale, insects like midges provide nutrition to plants through their decaying corpses. Roman makes a range of useful proposals, such as an expansion of rewilding programs and nature reserves. He points out that building up wild environments would help to fight climate change. While his commitment to the environment is clear, he avoids the hectoring tone of some ecologists, and the result is a book that entertains and encourages readers to see the world from a different perspective. With expert knowledge and wry humor, Roman returns animals to their rightful place at the center of the environment.

Kirkus Star

Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will

Sapolsky, Robert M. | Penguin Press (528 pp.) | $35.00 | Oct. 17, 2023 9780525560975

A neuroscientific takedown of the notion that free will guides us. The question of predestination versus free will has driven theological disputes for centuries. Stanford biology and neurology professor

Sapolsky holds a seemingly simple but carefully elaborated view of the matter: “There is no free will, or at least… there is much less free will than generally assumed when it really matters.” Modern brain research shows that in decision making, for example, seldom do we deliberate on a matter, instead relying on a record of past behavior determined by neural responses and learned actions. Sapolsky notes that the difference between success and failure in academia is contingent on “the womb in which nine months were spent and the lifelong epigenetic consequences of that,” as well as material considerations such as being fed adequately in childhood. The lot of the “crack baby,” another charged example, is similarly determined by factors ranging from neurodevelopmental problems to being marooned in a poor neighborhood. Against Daniel Dennett and other philosophers of consciousness—a concept Sapolsky dismisses for the purposes of his argument—the author examines the ethical consequences of what happens to our notions of justice and punishment when we sideline the idea of free will. We’ve done so already, Sapolsky observes, in questions such as acts committed by the mentally ill, just as we’ve dismissed the idea that epilepsy is caused by demon possession. The author is fearless in taking on a matter that is fraught with a long history of debate and division, and he covers a wide variety of disciplines, from philosophy to ethics and law, with admirable clarity. Particularly provocative are his ideas about restorative justice and the contrarian suggestion that improving people’s lives might actually improve their behavior—and the human condition as a whole.

Sure to stir controversy, which, to judge by this long but lucid exposition, the author is perfectly willing to court.

[Roman] avoids the hectoring tone of some ecologists.

EAT, POOP, DIE

Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever

Singer, Matt | Putnam (352 pp.) | $29.00 Oct. 24, 2023 | 9780593540152

How “two schlubby film critics from Chicago” rose to unlikely fame.

According to film critic Singer, author of Marvel’s Spider-Man: From Amazing to Spectacular: The Definitive Comic Art Collection, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert “had chemistry—the kind that causes glycerol to explode when it’s mixed with nitric and sulfuric acid.” The author rides this hyperbole throughout this diverting yet overlong book, which begins with the critics’ inauspicious pilot at WTTW, Chicago’s PBS affiliate, in 1975, and ends with an assessment of their legacy. The pair were famously in conflict with each other both on screen and off, and Singer reels off countless anecdotes documenting their bickering—what they should eat for lunch, who had more lines in a Saturday Night Live skit, who got to sit next to the host during one of their many talk-show appearances, etc.—to the point that they begin to feel like padding. Interspersed are insights into the design of their iconic balcony set, their journey from PBS to syndication and the contractual disputes behind their show’s evolution, and how the two print journalists adapted their reviews for TV. It’s an unashamedly admiring treatment, with analysis running to declarations such as, “Surrounded by phony chumminess, they cut through the bullshit with unflinching honesty” and “Now…they are still the most famous film critics on the planet.” (Singer acknowledges a professional relationship with Ebert.) The author’s fulsome praise aside, there’s no questioning that Siskel and Ebert were a cultural phenomenon, and while it’s debatable that they “invented an entirely new kind of film criticism,” they certainly

had an impact. Since both critics were dead at the writing of this book, Singer relies on copious previously published accounts—and YouTube–archived episodes of their shows—for their voices. Interviews with both men’s widows and with former production staff help flesh out the history.

Readers who recall Siskel and Ebert will be delighted by this opportunity to reminisce.

If You Would Have Told Me: A Memoir

Stamos, John with Daphne Young | Henry Holt (352 pp.) | $29.99 | Oct. 24, 2023 9781250890979

An earnest debut memoir from the General Hospital, Full House, and ER star.

Opening with an account of his drunken drive down Rodeo Drive in 2015, Stamos (b. 1963) puts his mistakes front and center. Whether it’s missing the mark in love, slipping up with substances, or blowing auditions, the author tells it like it is, and he demonstrates empathy for everyone involved and hindsight showing that the former teen heartthrob has learned a thing or two from his journey through life and fame. Stamos is a self-described “band geek” and Disney fanatic, and he describes a Southern California youth filled with love, hard work, and opportunity. He chronicles his first big break on General Hospital and how he became a teen idol, balancing weekday fame with weekend modesty and working at his father’s restaurant.

Even though he’s made it as an actor, Stamos’ first love, music, has never faded away. His dream of playing drums for the Beach Boys came true, and his awe and respect for the band never flags. “The Beach Boys, represent all the best of who we can be: generous, talented, brilliant, benevolent, and divine,” he writes. “God only knows where I’d be without them.” Although Stamos is a legitimate celebrity himself, his memoir is a lesson in humility and gratitude for the people he’s shared scenes and stages with throughout his life. He credits relationships with his parents, mentors, and close friends like Bob Saget for keeping him grounded and safe from more tragic Hollywood pitfalls. The author intersperses the narrative with handwritten notes his mother left for him, and the effect is a portrait of a charming and charmed actor who has received plenty of love—and who has plenty of love to give. Jamie Lee Curtis provides the foreword.

A heartfelt, sincere memoir filled with useful wisdom.

The Conspiracy to End America: Five Ways My Old Party Is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy

Stevens, Stuart | Twelve (240 pp.) | $30.00 Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781538765401

A former Republican strategist decries a party that has gone off the rails and plunged into totalitarianism.

According to Lincoln Project senior adviser

A rallying cry for a movement to push against Trumpism and its legion of true believers.

CONSPIRACY TO END AMERICA

Stevens, the author of It Was All a Lie, five ingredients fuel “an autocratic movement masquerading as a political party.” These five, in order, are propaganda and its makers; a party willing to be twisted; piles of money and willing suppliers of it; legal theorists willing to distort the law; and a body of shock troops. No one surveying the political landscape would doubt that these five threads are broadly present in the Republican mix. On the first count, the author argues that Fox News did not create the current Republican Party—it was the other way around, with Fox propagandizing in the interest of the authoritarians, among its chief cheerleaders the now-departed Tucker Carlson and Lou Dobbs. The GOP also enabled Trump by responding to his false claims of election fraud by “humoring him” rather than insisting that he honor constitutional norms. It does no good to “imagine that there is a possibility for the Republican Party to become a ‘normal’ American political party once again”—not with the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Josh Hawley roaming the land. Oceans of money are behind this authoritarian impulse, since the doctrinaire insistence on doing away with regulations is music to a capitalist’s ears. The Koch brothers’ political staffers alone, Stevens notes, number “three and a half times more employees than the Republican National Committee.” Crank lawyers and judges are busily eroding legal norms, and then there are the perpetrators and supporters of the events of Jan. 6—who, Stevens suggests without undue alarmism, will be back in even greater numbers come the next election. It all makes for a civil libertarian’s nightmare, but the author

offers useful prescriptions for acting to counter the authoritarian impulse. A rallying cry for a movement to push against Trumpism and its legion of true believers.

American Confidential: Uncovering the Bizarre Story of Lee Harvey Oswald and His Mother

Stillman, Deanne | Melville House (320 pp.) $28.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781685890681

How a pathological maternal influence shaped a famous killer.

On the brink of the 60th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Stillman, author of Blood Brothers, Mustang, and other books, explores Lee Harvey Oswald’s relationship with his mother as a means of understanding the killer’s deepest motivations. This work joins an enormous body of scholarship that investigates the perpetrator and his relationships with key figures. While avoiding the wildest conspiracy theories, the author posits that Oswald was, in effect, aided in his crime by his mother, Marguerite, who passed on to him an obsessive interest in achieving personal notoriety. Drawing on some of the most prominent treatments of the subject as well as original archival research, Stillman focuses on Oswald’s chaotic childhood and Marguerite’s alternation between neglect and indulgence. In particular, the author examines his disruptive transitions between schools as the family changed

residences, as well as an ominous potential for violence that grew steadily through his adolescence. Stillman offers a plausible explanation for the development of a dangerous loner bent on making his mark in the world. Like other commentators, the author sees both Marguerite and Oswald as emblematic of the dark side of national ideals. In her, we find “the promise and failure of the American dream.” Regarding Oswald, “while he certainly linked himself with various causes, and he may have convinced himself that one or the other of these was an identity for him at one time or another, the only cause he really had was himself—a distinctly American condition that in his case, and in the case of many who have followed the killing path, could have revealed itself in only one way.” Stillman synthesizes the conclusions of other scholars, but she offers little fresh insight. Moreover, a somewhat turgid style, marked by frequent and distracting allusions to cinematic and literary parallels, weakens the overall narrative. A suggestive overview of the making of an infamous murderer’s warped character.

The Trials of Madame Restell: Nineteenth-Century America’s Most Infamous Female Physician and the Campaign to Make Abortion a Crime

Syrett, Nicholas L. | The New Press (352 pp.) | $29.99 | Oct. 31, 2023

9781620977453

A survey of the early days of anti-abortion activism.

Syrett, a scholar of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, draws on considerable archival sources to recount the life of British-born Ann Trow Summers Lohman (1812-1878), aka Madame Restell, who became infamous as a women’s health provider.

A richly detailed biography of a defiant woman.

THE TRIALS OF MADAME RESTELL

The author examines the social and cultural forces that made her a wealthy celebrity and repeatedly attempted to quash her. Lawmakers, doctors, and vice crusaders sought to limit women’s bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom, and a “nativist outcry” emerged from Americans fearful that allowing abortion for upper- and middle-class married women, thereby limiting the size of their families, would result in a nation overrun with the offspring of fecund immigrants. Abortion foes were also concerned that women who sought to end a pregnancy were rejecting their sacred destiny to be a mother. Furthermore, the American Medical Association was determined to keep women’s bodies firmly under its control. Early in her career, one of Restell’s most energetic detractors was George Washington Dixon, a zealous reporter who published vicious attacks and rejoiced in her arrest in 1841. Public interest in her trial—where her “youth, beauty, black eyes, raven hair, and singular physiognomy” attracted admiring attention—and the 1842 appeal that overturned her conviction, afforded her “enormous amounts of publicity,” which the savvy businesswoman used to her advantage. Throughout her career, she vied with competitors, notably two known as Mrs. Bird and Madame Costello, and she fought accusations of “manslaughter in the second degree for the abortion of a quick child”; of abduction, and of murdering infants. Syrett portrays her as empathetic toward her clients— if less so toward her daughter and brother; strong-willed as she fought against misogyny; and wily in her business dealings. This book is a solid complement to Jennifer Wright’s Madame Restell

A richly detailed biography of a defiant woman.

Warriors, Rebels, and Saints: The Art of Leadership From Machiavelli to Malcolm X

Temkin, Moskik | PublicAffairs (320 pp.)

$30.00 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781541758476

A professor of leadership and history reflects on influential political leaders.

Temkin, a fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and author of The Sacco-Vanzetti Affair, asks whether leaders make history or the historical moment makes the leader. The answer is both. To argue his case, the author looks at leaders under different conditions: in times of crisis (Herbert Hoover, Huey Long, and Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression); under tyranny (the French resistance during the Vichy regime); when past decisions severely constrain present choices (the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki); when leadership fails (Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara during the Vietnam War); and under colonial and authoritarian regimes (Algeria’s war for independence). Temkin casts suffragist movement leaders Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul as successes in the face of entrenched power, and he uses Martin Luther King Jr. to illustrate the claim that a leader has to leave a legacy. Although the author excels at providing historical context, he offers little about the “the art of leadership.” His focus is the consequences of leadership—good leaders “do not even need to be warriors, rebels, or saints. In our current condition, it may be enough that they simply want to help the public”—and not how leaders achieve their goals. That Temkin’s interest is confined to the politically famous— leaving aside university presidents, corporate heads, labor leaders, and directors of charitable organizations— further limits his perspective. The book’s title is also problematic. The author is never explicit about why the

categories of fighting for a noble cause, overcoming oppression, and sacrificing oneself to the greater good are helpful for distinguishing among leaders and understanding leadership. In fact, he attests that the “best” leaders are all three—e.g., the suffragists were “committed warriors,” “determined rebels,” and “reluctant saints.”

A plea for the importance of history in the study of leadership.

The Fatal Alliance: A Century of War on Film

Thomson, David | Harper/HarperCollins (448 pp.) | $35.00 | Nov. 14, 2023 9780063041417

A leading film critic examines the long, uneasy relationship between war and cinema.

Robert E. Lee famously said, “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.” This is the sentiment that pervades this book, a study of movies about war since the beginning of cinema. Thomson has written numerous books about film, TV, acting, and directing, and his encyclopedic knowledge of the archives is clearly on display again. He notes that many directors and actors are drawn to the subject of war due to the spectacle, historical connections, and inherent drama. War movies practically write themselves, and they usually make money. Thomson admits that there are war movies among his favorites, although he feels conflicted about “loathing war while feasting on it.” Many war movies are direct or indirect propaganda, but some delve into human frailty and the often shadowy motivations of the governments that arrange the conflicts. For Hollywood, war movies in the period after 1945 were usually triumphalist, although after Vietnam there were attempts to capture the ambiguity and pointlessness of the exercise. Thomson worries that recent war movies, especially when

enhanced by CGI, are taking the terror out of war, turning audiences into numb spectators. Some are even turned into games. The problem with Thomson’s latest erudite exploration is that it is often difficult to work out what he is actually saying. His tone is portentous and convoluted, with many of his sentences veering around several corners before ending up in a ditch with the wheels spinning. He also likes to throw hypothetical questions at readers—more than 600 of them, in fact. Whether it is worth the effort of wading through all this for nuggets of insight is something that any potential reader should consider before parting with $35. Thomson is one of the foremost authorities on film, but his tone makes this book a challenge to read.

Goth: A History

Tolhurst, Lol | Hachette (256 pp.) | $29.00

Sept. 26, 2023 | 9780306828423

A founding member of The Cure offers his take on the relationship of goth culture to the punk-rock revolution.

Tolhurst remembers The Cure, the band he formed in 1976 with Robert Smith and Michael Dempsey, as a fiercely individualistic unit that was “against the idea of following anything or anybody.” He continues, “We were very serious young men and leery of being pigeonholed by our many critics who didn’t care for our dark music.” He also notes that in the mid-1980s, the band came to symbolize the elusive goth subculture that the 1970s punk movement actively nurtured. He traces the origins of British goth to the mid-18th-century Gothic arts movement and saw periodic revivals during periods of crisis and uncertainty. In particular, the nihilism of the punk music recorded by the Sex Pistols and other bands—along with edgy modernist literature by Camus and Sartre—served as “the initial spark”

that inspired The Cure’s moody, often melancholy work. Within this musical and cultural framework, Tolhurst interweaves personal recollections that include stories from his life growing up in the small town of Crawley alongside fellow outsider Smith. Like the author, Smith was Catholic and privy to the “dark theatrical symbolism and guilt” of Catholicism, “a very intense religion,” that would also influence later Cure music. Tolhurst also pays tribute to other musical artists—whom he calls goth “prototypes”—such as horror aesthete Alice Cooper and goth “godparent” David Bowie, while remembering interactions with other fellow “architects of darkness” like Joy Division, Bauhaus, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Interspersed throughout with black-and-white photos of punk/ goth-era people, places, and memorabilia, this thoughtful, highly readable memoir and music-history book will appeal to Cure fans as well as anyone interested in the history of Anglo-American punk and goth culture. Lively, intelligent reading for discriminating late-20th-century dark music fans.

Activate Your Greatness

Toussaint, Alex | Henry Holt (256 pp.) $27.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781250852038

A deep dive into what drives a senior Peloton instructor.

Alex Toussaint sets the stage with a vivid depiction of the moment when his parents left him at military school. First generation American, Toussaint describes the ups and downs of his childhood and teenage years, centering around his relationship with his dad abruptly changing as a child. Feeling confused and angry, Toussaint explains how he found himself kicked out of schools, landing at what he describes as his dad’s only optionmilitary school - where he spent four years. Toussaint opens up about his

struggles with what he thinks is his dad’s lack of belief in him early in life, and his inability to activate his own greatness from within. Toussaint explores his heart-wrenching low moments where his feelings of selfworth and self- doubt were high. His journey from rock bottom was hard fought with grit and determination to do better. Landing his first job as a janitor at a spin studio, he “outworked” the role. His grit and hustle put him in a position to be noticed. Reading this book feels like you are on a long ride with Toussaint as he takes you through his lessons learned as they shaped his life and hopeful perspective. Step-by-step he leads you along with him to want to “feel good, look good, and do better” his mantra and mission. He explains the importance of believing in yourself, looking good “about the inside, that internal light that radiates out into the world” and how to shine that light outward to pay it forward.

An authentic story that will leave readers wanting to hustle for the greater good.

Call You When I Land: A Memoir

Vargas, Nikki | Hanover Square Press (320 pp.) | $21.99 paper | Nov. 7, 2023 9781335455093

A travel writer describes how her adventures around the world have shaped her professional and romantic life.

“I don’t want to get married!”

When Fodor’s Travel senior editor Vargas, who was born in Bogotá and lives in New York City, screamed these words into the waterfalls of Iguazú National Park in Argentina, she had no idea how much they would change her life. After ending her engagement with her partner, the author felt abandoned by her support system and guilty about her decision. She

told herself, “I promise I’ll earn this,” implying that, for the rest of her life, she would start making choices that justified her “twentysomething” decision. What follows is a chronicle of a series of global wanderings that helped Vargas establish a career as a travel writer and meet the new love of her life. In Colombia, while working as a travel editor for the London-based publication The Global Journey , she interviewed a former guerrilla soldier while also uncovering the truth behind the murder of one of her relatives. While on a government-sponsored trip to Indonesia, Vargas got lost in the jungle while generating content for her blog, The Pin the Map Project . In a moment of poetic justice, she writes about how her boyfriend proposed to her at Iguazú in the same place where she decided to end her first relationship. “Looking at the photo now, my expression says it all: pure, unbridled joy and triumph,” she writes. Although the author’s sincere and passionate voice render the book supremely readable, her approach to memoir is largely descriptive, recounting events with a minimum of self-reflection. Occasional glimmers of deeper thinking—such as a trenchant reflection on whether her love of travel is helpful or destructive—suggest that Vargas may find more profundity in future work. An entertaining memoir by a globe-trotting writer with a promising career still ahead of her.

Kirkus Star

Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature’s Toxins―From Spices to Vices

Whiteman, Noah | Little, Brown Spark (336 pp.) | $30.00 | Oct. 24, 2023

9780316386579

An evolutionary biologist explores natural toxins and their uses.

Following his father’s death in 2017 from complications related to substance use disorder, Whiteman, a professor of molecular and cell biology at Berkeley, became interested in learning more about how natural poisons have been used by humans and other animals. “My attempt to grasp why he died,” he writes, “allowed me to identify and then draw together the many ways that nature’s toxins affect the world.” In 2020, the author received a Guggenheim Fellowship to write this book. He examines the origins and evolution of numerous toxins found in nature, including psychedelics, nicotine, and opioids, as well as the pros and cons of more “socially accepted” compounds such as those found in coffee, tea, and chocolate. Whiteman also shares the story of his father’s addiction issues and the reasons some people have a higher risk of developing drug abuse disorders than others. As Whiteman points out, many of the toxins discussed in this book “can also be the cure in the right context.” In fact, he notes, “Indigenous healers have yielded nearly 50 percent of all modern drugs we use today.” Of course, these natural toxins did not evolve for our sake; “they were here long before us and in many cases keep enemies at bay.” In most cases, natural toxins evolved as defense mechanisms—e.g., the consumption of milkweed by monarchs, the latex found under the bark of the rubber tree, and cyanogenic glucosides found in apple seeds. Whiteman also discusses how our taste for spices

evolved to prevent some toxins from harming us. The information in this book is certainly well researched and compelling; however, readers should not expect a quick read, as Whiteman’s writing is rich in detail and well suited for academic audiences and conscientious general readers. A fascinating discussion of how nature’s toxins can affect us all.

American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed Into the Lands and Imaginations of America

Whittock, Martyn | Pegasus (272 pp.) $29.95 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781639365357

A lucid survey of Viking lore, archaeological finds, and modern interpretations. Whittock has published numerous educational books, including studies of Viking and Anglo-Saxon history. In his latest, he focuses on 11th-century Viking settlements in North America and how the Viking legacy—in both fact and myth—continues to influence the U.S. today. The author demonstrates that medieval Norse sagas and modern archaeology have surprising confluences, though both remain open to debate and vulnerable to misuse. In the process, he assays claims for a Viking presence beyond the archaeological evidence from Newfoundland and the Canadian Arctic and tries to pinpoint the much-contested location of Vinland, possibly as far south as New England. Whittock investigates many bogus claims of Viking presence and artifacts, not least in the heavily Scandinavian U.S. Midwest. The author also parses the tug-of-war among the Vikings, Columbus, and the Mayflower Pilgrims for the mantle of “first Americans,” while reminding us that it’s nonsensical; only Native North American peoples hold that distinction. The book is authoritative in its details and engagingly written, and it’s unsettling

A fascinating discussion of how nature’s toxins can affect us all.

in its examination of how Viking symbology is being co-opted, distorted, and perverted by white supremacist and other far-right extremist groups— some of it on display during the Jan. 6 insurrection. Especially topical from a European standpoint is the subject’s connection to the knotty roots of nationhood that underlie Russian nationalist claims denying Ukraine’s legitimacy as an independent nation. Whittock concludes with a survey of the enduring fascination with Viking lore in popular culture and in product marketing. If the book suffers from any shortcoming, it’s unnecessary reiteration. Though illustrative to a point, there is some padding here, with perhaps too much space devoted to the particulars of Viking-inspired comic books, movies, and TV series. Those are interesting subjects, but prove to be a diversion from the more scholarly content.

A solid examination of how the Viking story continues to be told, embellished, and contested.

How to Expect the Unexpected: The Science of Making Predictions―and the Art of Knowing When Not To

Yates, Kit | Basic Books (448 pp.) | $32.50

Oct. 31, 2023 | 9781541604933

From tarot cards to forecasts of Armageddon, a mathematician examines the psychology of predictions, debunking myths and setting an agenda for clear thinking.

It’s human nature to want to know what is going to happen in the future. However, writes Yates, author of The Math of Life and Death, doing so with a useful degree of probability is extremely difficult—or even impossible. The author pleasantly explains the tricks used by psychics and charlatans, which usually involve telling paying customers

what they want to hear. He tracks numerous apocalyptic predictions and the reasons given by the forecasters for their obvious failure. There is also a tendency of people to see patterns in events and data that don’t exist. Random distribution can throw up apparent causations and connections, but they are really no more than background noise. Humans think in linear terms, assuming that the future will be like the present and therefore precise extrapolations are possible. Not so, says Yates. There are too many variables to consider. True, linearity is needed for everyday existence, but when it comes to making predictions, it is more hindrance than help. The author examines the different types of delusional thinking and outlines the mathematics of probability, and he devotes a useful chapter to chaos theory. The only field with a scientific basis seems to be shortterm weather forecasting, although even there, things can go disastrously wrong. Math-based models can be important tools, with the proviso that the output is only as reliable as the input. In the end, there is no perfect prediction method. The best we can do is think broadly, be prepared to change our minds in light of new evidence, and understand our own biases.

Yates’ tour of the predictions business covers much interesting ground, which he tills with an entertaining sense of humor.

Kirkus Star

Black Friend: Essays

Ziwe | Abrams Image (192 pp.) | $26.00 Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781419756344

An essay collection that reveals personal and theoretical underpinnings of a Black woman’s innovative approach to anti-racist entertainment.

“I do not exist just to move plot. While I am a supportive friend, I am

not a supporting character.” So begins Ziwe in her wide-ranging collection that centers her experiences as a Black, immigrant woman. The author covers everything from the struggles of others to pronounce her name, to the irony of facing racism at a screening of a movie adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk, to her decision to acquire a guard dog to protect her from racist street harassment. The latter project failed miserably because Ziwe ended up adopting a Chow Chow “too cute to intimidate strangers.” As she does on her show, Ziwe uses jokes as vehicles for her staggeringly insightful cultural analysis, fueled by her unparalleled knowledge of history, literature, criticism, and popular culture. For example, in an essay about her guests’ answer to the question “How many Black friends do you have?” she includes a footnote in which she describes her show as “a modern deconstruction of the American interview that has devolved from thoughtful discourse about societal issues (Dick Cavett talking to James Baldwin, Muhammad Ali, etc.) to inconsequential conversations about celebrities promoting their movies in between anecdotes of their movies.” The author then unravels the patronizing, racist, and misogynistic questions that people ask her about her show: “You would never ask this question to Howard Stern, Zach Galifianakis, Andy Cohen, and The Colbert Report’s Stephen Colbert, the latter of whom my character is based off of, despite the confrontational questions that they’ve asked their guests for decades.” Ziwe fans will revel in the behind-the-scenes details, while those unfamiliar with the author or her show will delight in their personal discovery of one of the smartest, funniest voices in modern America. A satirical feminist and anti-racist essay collection showcasing a formidably talented comedian and cultural critic.

For more nonfiction content, visit Kirkus online.

Children's

BETTER LIVING THROUGH SCIENCE PICTURE BOOKS

WHEN IT COMES to scientific literacy, it feels like we’re living in both the best and worst of times. Though the Covid-19 vaccine, the fastest ever developed, has prevented millions of deaths, false claims about this medical miracle—that it can alter DNA or track people’s movements, for instance—continue to pro liferate. And while scientists studying climate change are making momentous discov eries, there are far too many dismissing their findings; I was struck by the words of scientist Corinne Le Quéré in a TED Talk several years ago: “I have a mountain of data on my shoulders, but I feel so powerless.”

The consequences of this rampant misinformation are dire. So how do we combat it? As always, I believe litera ture offers a solution. Several picture books published this year will leave young readers enlightened and passionate about everything from astronomy to ornithology… and maybe, as they grow older, less likely to willfully ignore the science-based evidence in front of them.

In Kirsten W. Larson’s picture-book biography, a star is born—actually, make that two stars. The Fire of Stars: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered

What

Stars Are Made

Of (Chronicle Books, Feb. 7), illustrated by Katherine Roy, explores the tireless search by astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Payne (1900-1979) for answers about stars’ elemental composition, while simultaneously tracking the progress of a star. This offering bursts with facts sure to tempt budding scientists. It’s also a mesmerizing portrait of an individual driven by an overwhelming love for her work.

To those not in the know, immunization might seem confusing or counterintuitive. In A Vaccine Is Like a Memory (Little Bee Books, June 20), author and physician Rajani LaRocca matter-of-factly demystifies the topic. She explains that vaccines trigger an immune response that helps the body fight off a virus and then chronicles their history. Though potentially frightening diseases like smallpox are covered, Kathleen Marcotte’s cartoonish images give the book a soothing feel—the result is a work that is, to quote our review, “authoritative and reassuring.”

“Around the world / reefs are under attack” from “Warming water temperatures, pollution, and overfishing,” warns Jessica Stremer in Great Carrier Reef (Holiday House, July 4). But

there’s hope yet. Accompanied by Gordy Wright’s lush artwork, her graceful verse details how an aircraft carrier known as the USS Oriskany found new life as an artificial reef off the coast of Florida, providing a much-needed habitat for urchins, barracudas, and much more. Readers will be left with a realistically optimistic message: We can reverse the damage we’ve done to the natural world if we’re willing to try.

“There are bowerbirds in my yard, and I’m going to watch them all spring!!” a Black child scrawls in a notebook devoted to nature observations. In Maria Gianferrari’s You and the Bowerbird (Roaring Brook Press, Aug. 15), the young naturalist watches as a bird—dubbed Satin—builds a bower, fights off rivals, and woos a mate. Gianferrari’s playful text and Maris Wicks’ witty illustrations imbue their avian subjects with personality, and readers will find the protagonist a relatable stand-in. The detailed backmatter notes that the satin bowerbird is native to Australia, but children who live elsewhere will be quick to start observing birds—and other animals— closer to home.

Illustration by Eric Scott Anderson

MAHNAZ DAR

Mahnaz Dar is a young readers’ editor.

EDITOR’S PICK

The art of kids being kids comes alive.

Amanda and her mother, who both present Black, are carrying a large cardboard box they’re taking down from the 15th floor. A plethora of diverse kids spill out of a packed elevator in a massive apartment complex into the early spring, “like candies from a box,” to a concrete courtyard. Reaching into the box, Amanda pulls out a rainbow’s worth of chalk and draws what appears to be the Covid-19 virus. Another kid, Jackson, adds a stem to Amanda’s drawing and turns it into a dandelion. Other children join in and create flowers, a snail, a palm tree, and balloons, every new addition filling the space.

Above, Nasrin, wearing a hijab, “lonely for her mom in faraway Isfahan,” sends her a photo of the concrete garden, and it quickly goes viral. And when the rain washes away the kids’ work days later, they just rip up Amanda’s now-empty box and race the cardboard pieces in the water. There are scuffles among siblings in this story, but all told, no child ever chides another for adding to their art or putting something like an alien spaceship into the mix. Graham’s signature watercolor-and-ink illustrations bring it all to life beautifully. The subtlety of the storytelling

The Concrete Garden

Graham, Bob | Candlewick (32 pp.) $18.99 | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781536233803

makes a statement about art in a time of disease better than words ever could. (This

book was reviewed digitally.) Deft, understated loveliness. (Picture book. 4-7)

The subtlety of the storytelling makes a statement about art in a time of disease better than words ever could.

141

Who I Am By Susan Verde; Illus. by Peter H. Reynolds

141

Coyote

144

Jawbreaker By Christina Wyman

145

The Twelve Hours of

By Jenn Bailey; Illus. by Bea Jackson

146

How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? By Mac Barnett; Illus. by Jon Klassen

148

The Magical Snowflake By Bernette Ford; Illus. by Erin K. Robinson

Way Past Embarrassed

Adelman, Hallee | Illus. by

Josep Maria Juli Whitman

(32 pp.) | $18.99 | Sept. 7, 2023

9780807580981

Series: Great Big Feelings

How do you ask for help when everyone is looking?

Juan finds math tricky but is too embarrassed to ask for help with a tough worksheet. Then Juan is summoned to the board to solve a problem. Anxious and upset, Juan disrupts the lesson and scoots out into the hall, only to realize that someone else is having trouble, too. When Juan returns and tells the class, “I might need some help. This is hard for me,” the teacher and other students share their own difficulties, leading Juan to realize that everyone struggles and that it’s OK to ask for assistance. The solution to this well-intended story is somewhat oversimplified and doesn’t necessarily recognize the complexity of academic difficulties; while many students do need to ask for help, the book puts that responsibility solely on Juan’s young shoulders rather than on the teacher, who would ideally provide more support. Still, Juan is an engaging and sympathetic character whose insights will inspire those in a similar situation; others will gain understanding and empathy for those who need it. The appealing artwork relies on simple, flat colors. The class is diverse; Juan has skin the white of the page. (This book was reviewed digitally.) An encouraging tale that makes clear that nearly everyone needs—and needs to ask for—help. (Picture book. 4-7)

Ellis Johnson Might Be Famous

Amos, Shawn | Illus. by Robert Paul Jr. Little, Brown (336 pp.) | $16.99 | Oct. 3, 2023

9780759556836

Series: Cookies & Milk, 2

Ellis Johnson returns in this follow-up to Cookies & Milk (2022): This time he’s struggling to accept changes. In this sequel by the son of the Famous Amos cookies founder, it’s time for Ellis to get serious—as his dad’s right-hand man at the cookie shop and as a harmonica player. The 12-year-old Black boy growing up in 1970s Hollywood plans to be famous someday. Ellis has a plan to show everyone just how serious he can be—and put family business Sunset Cookies on the map. It all begins with their highly anticipated appearance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. On the way to New York, Dad has an instant connection with the pilot, Capt. Samantha Golden, which annoys Ellis. And after disaster strikes during the parade, Ellis gives up on his blues music dreams. Life gets worse when he returns—his uncle Wishbone has taken over Ellis’ clubhouse, he has to share Dad with blond pilot Sam, and he can’t escape the humiliation of the parade incident. Ellis has plans, but how much is he willing to risk to get things back to how they were? Simple sentences, clear first-person narration, and a relaxed pace allow readers to immerse themselves in Ellis’ colorful world. The theme of change resonates throughout, reinforcing the idea that it’s normal to be anxious about it, but that shouldn’t stop you from pushing forward. Final art not seen.

A heartwarming story of resilience. (author’s note, recipe, how to play harmonica, playlist) (Historical fiction. 8-12)

Mehndi Boy

Bandali, Zain | Illus. by Jani Balakumar

Annick Press (100 pp.) | $15.99 | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781773217925

An Ismaili Shia Muslim boy’s interest in a traditional art form puts him at odds with his favorite uncle.

Tehzeeb’s family is helping plan his cousin Rahima’s wedding. When visiting Rahima, they meet the artist finalizing her mehndi (alternatively known as henna, a plantbased paste used to decorate the skin) designs. Watching her create delicate designs, Tehzeeb is mesmerized by their beauty. As he practices drawing on family, friends, and neighbors, he earns the nickname Mehndi Boy and imagines himself as a famous mehndi artist. He brushes off unkind comments, but when his uncle curtly tells him that mehndi isn’t for boys, an upset Tehzeeb is hesitant to practice anymore. But when things go wrong on the day of Rahima’s pre-wedding ceremony, Tehzeeb has the chance to put things right—and to open up a dialogue with his uncle. Lively illustrations showcase expressive characters of varying brown hues in a loving family of Indo-Tanzanian heritage. Swahili and Gujrati phrases, foods, and traditions pepper the story, showcasing an underrepresented diasporic community. Tehzeeb’s passion for art shines through in this well-crafted, sensitively rendered chapter book as the boy explores his anxieties about bucking traditional gender roles

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A sweet story about loving oneself and expressing creativity through art.

MEHNDI BOY

FREE THROWS, FRIENDSHIP, AND OTHER THINGS WE FOULED UP

and his doubts about articulating his feelings to those he loves. A sweet story about loving oneself and expressing creativity through art. (mehndi trivia and activities) (Chapter book. 7-10)

Seagarden

Barry, Michelle A. | Pixel+Ink (384 pp.)

$18.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781645951292

Series: Plotting the Stars, 2

A 13-year-old pursues adventure—and finds danger—on Venus. Following the events of Moongarden (2022), Myra, now a second-year student at the Scientific Lunar Academy of Magic, goes with friends to the Venusian Academy of Magical Arts as an exchange student. It’s an opportunity to follow up on her missing friend, Hannah, and perhaps to discover how the clones known as Repetitions are being stopped from using their magic. The new school is a revelatory experience. The students at V.A.M.A. use their Creers to create art using principles of math, chemistry, and electricity. Myra’s own Creer combination of botanical prowess and magic blooms unexpectedly on Venus when seeds she rescued from the moongarden’s plants get spilled into the artificial sea surrounding the school. Noah, a classmate whose Creer lies in the culinary arts, assists her in nurturing and guarding the resulting garden. In these planetary colonies, most characters are cued white, but a few, including Noah, are described as having dark skin; race

holds no significance. Myra struggles with feeling like an outsider as her lunar friends find new friends on Venus, while her pursuit of corporate cover-ups around food production creates larger, more dangerous challenges. The satisfying cliffhanger of an ending to this second book in the series will leave readers eager for the next installment.

Richly imagined and excitingly paced. (Science fiction. 9-14)

Free Throws, Friendship, and Other Things We Fouled Up

Bishop, Jenn | Chronicle Books (304 pp.) $17.99 | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781797215617

History threatens to repeat itself as two new eighth grade friends try to find out why their dads seem to hate one another.

Practically from the moment Cincinnati middle schooler Abby volunteers to chaperone new student Rory on her first day, the girls form a tight bond. In fact, they discover to their shock, their connection is just like the one their own dads had as kids before something caused a decisive break. Even now, meeting years later as coaches of nationally ranked basketball teams at rival colleges, Abby’s dad won’t shake hands with Rory’s dad after a game. What happened? Neither of the fathers will talk about it. But as Rory and Abby gather clues and eventually suffer a traumatic break of their own, Bishop uses flashbacks to weave together two rich friendship stories that differ in

detail but both turn on deep rifts caused by betrayals of trust—and, ultimately, are healed by talking things out. The struggles of the two daughters (both talented hoopsters themselves) with family and personal quandaries play out against a backdrop of March Madness, where their dads go head-tohead. Even though basketball’s more a diversion than the main event here, there’s some competitive action. The leads appear white; names and other cues identify significant characters of color in the supporting cast. Rich in tight bonds as well as savvy coaching on both game play and forgiveness. (Fiction. 10-14)

Race for the Ruby Turtle

Bramucci, Stephen | Bloomsbury (336 pp.) $17.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781547607020

A boy with ADHD explores nature and himself.

Eleven-yearold Jake Rizzi just wants to be seen as “normal”; he blames his brain for leading him into trouble and making him do things that annoy his peers and even his own parents. Case in point: He’s stuck spending a week in rural Oregon with an aunt he barely knows while his parents go on vacation. Jake’s reluctance changes as he learns about the town’s annual festival, during which locals search for a fabled turtle. But news of this possibly undiscovered species has spread. Although Aunt Hettle insists to Jake that it’s only folklore, the fame-hungry convene, sure that the Ruby-Backed Turtle is indeed real—just as Jake discovers is the case. Keeping its existence secret is critical to protecting the rare creature from a poacher and others with ill intentions. Readers will keep turning pages to find out how Jake and new friend Mia will foil the caricatured villains. Along the way, Bramucci packs in teachable moments around digital literacy, mindfulness, and ecological interdependence, along

Rich in tight bonds as well as savvy coaching on both game play and forgiveness.

with the message that “the only way to protect the natural world is to love it.” Jake’s inner monologue elucidates the challenges and benefits of ADHD as well as practical coping strategies. Whether or not readers share Jake’s diagnosis, they’ll empathize with his insecurities. Jake and his family present white; Mia is Black, and names of secondary characters indicate some ethnic diversity.

A wild romp that champions making space for vulnerable creatures and each other. (Adventure. 8-11)

Nesting Dolls

Brantley-Newton, Vanessa | Crown (40 pp.) | $18.99 | $21.99 PLB | Oct. 10, 2023

9781984852373 | 9781984852380 PLB

A young Black girl doesn’t think she can measure up to her big sister.

Anyiaka tells readers that her sister, Sorie, is pretty, helpful, and smart, and she looks just like Mom and Grandma. Anyiaka, whose skin tone is darker, wants to be helpful, too, but when she tries to prepare the red rice, she makes a mess. When she looks at the family photos on Grandma’s wall, she wonders how she can ever fit into a family of such smart and beautiful people with “glamorous hair and golden brown skin.” Spotting some nesting dolls, she starts to paint the smallest, darkest one (with whom she identifies) a lighter brown, but Grandma quickly sets her straight. Anyiaka may not look just like her sister, mom, and grandmother, but she has parts of all of them in her, and she takes after many family members, including Grandma’s mama. The story doesn’t explicitly make clear that Anyiaka is self-conscious about her darker skin, and some readers may not quite follow the story’s multiple layers, though those aware of the impact of colorism will feel a kinship with her. Overall, the simple text, told from the perspective of a

Gullah Geechee child, the use of dialect, the cultural details in the story, and the warm, collagelike art make for a unique and tender offering. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A sweet tale with a strong message about how families fit together. (note about the Gullah Geechee people, photos) (Picture book. 3-7)

Shapes and Shapes: Toon Level 1

Brunetti, Ivan | TOON Books/Astra Books for Young Readers (32 pp.) | $13.99 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781662665172

An introduction to circles, squares, triangles, and more.

A teacher and a classroom of children begin noticing shapes around them. An umbrella looks like an octagon; the lenses in the teacher’s sunglasses are shaped like stars. From there the students create images using shapes, notice them on the playground, and build things with three-dimensional cylinders, cones, and cubes. The opening pages are busy: Shapes litter the classroom floor. A particularly compelling illustration shows a grayish piece of artwork, drawn by the kids, depicting the town, followed by an image of the town filled in with colors—and plenty of shapes. Readers looking closely will pick up on clues in the images that help tell the story, like a kid getting whacked by a ball on the playground. Although there isn’t much plot here— no characters are named, and the story is mostly a demonstration of shapes in our surroundings—the story does serve as a strong introduction to graphic novels, balancing full-page images with panels and helping readers navigate the action and home in

on details in the larger illustrations. The teacher is brown-skinned, and the students have a variety of skin tones and hair colors, their bodies themselves geometrically composed. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Will have readers eagerly pointing out the shapes around them. (Early reader. 5-8)

The Shape of Time

Calejo, Ryan | Illus. by Julia Iredale | Amulet/ Abrams (320 pp.) | $18.99 | Sept. 12, 2023

9781419759888

Series: Rymworld Arcana, 1

A South Florida teenager who yearns for far horizons really gets his wish.

Calejo delivers a time-travel tale rich in inventive twists. The “wrinkles” (wink, wink) begin with a trio of mysterious strangers named Mr. Now, Mr. Minutes, and Mr. Hoursback. Afterward, 14-year-old Antares de la Vega finds himself abruptly hustled away to a prison in the Bermuda Triangle, where he learns, among other things, that the Earth is actually flat and we spherers are all victims of a huge hoax, that lands like Atlantis actually exist and are full of magical creatures, and that his long-vanished parents may still be alive. Soon, along with fierce fellow prisoner Magdavellía and her robotic bodyguard, Deus Ex, he’s engaged in a desperate race to beat a mysterious warlord in finding a compass that will lead to an island where one can find knowledge, youth, power, and wealth. Besides weaving significant elements ranging from ley lines and Platonic solids to Martians into the plot, the author plays creatively with language (“It’s mindbafoggling!”

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“This is wondificent!”). But a scary climax that cuts off abruptly with an epilogue featuring newspaper headlines will leave readers puzzled as to whether events have somehow been resolved offstage or have just been

suspended until the next episode. Antares, prone to panic attacks and foot-in-mouth disease, is a winning protagonist who is Mexican and Cuban on his father’s side and Indian and Irish on his mother’s. There are occasional monochrome illustrations. Stumbles at the end but otherwise mindbafoggling and wondificent. (Fantasy. 9-13)

The Haunting of Loch Ness Castle

Campbell, Chelsea M. | Illus. by Laura Knetzger | Penguin Workshop (64 pp.)

$12.99 | Aug. 1, 2023 | 9780593385753

Series: Bigfoot and Nessie, 2

Two bestie beasties go toe to toe with some big fears in this endearing graphic novel.

Bigfoot and Nessie are heading to Scotland to see Nessie’s family. Nessie, a major cryptid celebrity, attracts a crowd wherever she goes—a tabloid has already shared a pic of her snoozing on the plane, and reporters pepper her with questions at the airport. When they get to the underwater Loch Ness Castle, Nessie’s glamorous mum points out that Nessie hasn’t posted a new YouTube video in weeks. An overwhelmed Nessie tells Bigfoot that she finds her mother overly domineering but that running Nessie’s life is the only thing that has made Mum happy since the divorce.

As Nessie and Bigfoot explore Loch Ness Castle, a spooky mermaid ghost suddenly appears. Bigfoot and Nessie set out to solve what they believe to

be a ghostly mystery, but just like Nessie and Mum’s relationship, the so-called ghost problem isn’t as simple as it seems. Suffice it to say, Nessie isn’t the only creature in this story who needs to find the courage to speak up. Though those unfamiliar with the series will enjoy this installment, most readers will want to pick it up after The Art of Getting Noticed (2022). The manga-inspired artwork, full of sweet pastel colors and soft lines, is charming. Humans, while rare, are racially diverse. A delightful story full of cute cryptids and heart. (Graphic fiction. 6-10)

How To Save a Unicorn

Cannistra, Meg | Inkyard Press (384 pp.) $18.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781335458025 Series: Giada the Healer, 2

Another magical rescue mission with friends old and new.

In this follow-up to How to Heal a Gryphon (2022), Giada Bellantuono, a 13-year-old from Italy, is living in New Jersey for a yearlong strega apprenticeship with her friend Massimo “Moss” Calamoneri and his magical parents. She and Moss are studying to become magical vets. They have animal familiars that only they can communicate with—Giada’s is black cat Sinistro, while Moss has Ofelia, a white dove. Giada goes on house calls, but Moss’ Crohn’s disease has kept him home lately as his family works on a treatment plan. Alessia, Giada’s best friend from Italy, who’s apprenticing with

a family in Chicago, comes to town, seeking to humanely capture a lost unicorn. Giada and Moss tag along, but they show up to find the unicorn has been taken. Always prioritizing others’ well-being, Giada insists they go in search of the unicorn. Their adventures lead them to meet gryphons called Jersey Devils and take them to New York City, where they encounter gargoyles and underground populations of some of Giada’s former foes. Cannistra weaves another enchanting tale centering a passionate, tenacious protagonist who gains strength from her steadfast friends. The journey proffers lessons in adapting to change and approaching events and people with an open mind. Amid a diverse supporting cast, Moss is biracial with a mother who is cued Black, and a father who reads white.

Tremendous fun for fans of magical creatures. (Fantasy. 8-13)

Mama’s Year With Cancer

Churnin, Nancy & Shayna Vincent

Illus. by Wazza Pink | Whitman (32 pp.) $18.99 | Sept. 7, 2023 | 9780807580790

A child faces big changes when Mama is diagnosed with cancer. Cancer, Mama says, is a “big sick.” But she might be better in a year if she listens to her doctor, and then she’ll get to ring a bell to celebrate her last day of chemotherapy. The young narrator relates how Mama receives chemo through a port, loses her hair, and experiences fatigue. Mama explains that cancer isn’t contagious and is nobody’s fault. Sometimes it’s hard; Mama’s port makes cuddling difficult, and she’s too tired to play much. But the family’s love shines through as Pink’s cozy cartoon illustrations mark the passing year, including their Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Hanukkah celebrations. Mama and the narrator still snuggle, have a picnic,

Two bestie beasties go toe to toe with some big fears in this endearing graphic novel.

THE HAUNTING OF LOCH NESS CASTLE

LANE SMITH LIKES to do things differently. Though many recent picture books have explored the importance of appreciating everyday joys, far fewer have featured protagonists as bizarre—or endearing—as the eight-eyed, pointy-toothed, big-nosed star of Smith’s newest work, Stickler Loves the World (Random House Studio, Aug. 22). “Traditionally, in a kid’s book, if you had that sort of message, it would probably be…told by a cute kitten or a teddy bear with a rainbow behind it,” he tells Kirkus in a Zoom interview from his home in Bridgeport, Connecticut. “I guess I have a bit of an aversion to pure rainbows and sparkles.”

Unusual though Stickler may be, the little creature, a species of unknown origin who first appeared in Smith’s A Gift for Nana (2022), has a pure zest for life. After encountering what appears to be an alien (but is, in fact, Stickler’s friend Crow, who’s gotten a can stuck over his head), our protagonist decides to show its new pal everything that

THE KIRKUS PROFILE: LANE SMITH

The award-winning author and illustrator reflects on his most unusual character yet.

BY MAHNAZ DAR

makes the planet “so amazing, so weird, so wonderful,” from the morning sun to flowers, waves, and wind. Along the way, Stickler teaches Crow and readers to see the beauty in the quotidian.

“There’s no irony to this character,” says Smith. “It’s just pure joy and pure love for everything.”

Jarring and offbeat imagery has long been a hallmark of Smith’s work, but so have earnest, tender stories. Smith sees Stickler as the perfect melding of both styles. “I was feeling a little more nostalgic for some of my older books that were painted in oils and were a little darker…something like The Stinky Cheese Man,” he says. He also drew on techniques he developed during the pandemic, when he began doing large-scale paintings. “I did a lot of experimentation with different mediums like cold wax.” He adds, “I would go outside and get little pebbles and dirt and would mix that in with the paint.”

It was a liberating experience: “There

was absolutely no pressure. I didn’t have to show the paintings to anyone; I didn’t have to sell them; I didn’t have to do anything. And then, when it came time to do Stickler, just through osmosis, those techniques found their way into the book.” Smith encourages readers to closely examine his artwork: “If you look at some of the paintings, like the spread with the rocks, you can see little rocks in the paint,” he says.

Smith notes that his wife, designer Molly Leach, has an enormous—though often unseen—impact on his books. On one of his favorite spreads in Stickler, the protagonist waxes rhapsodic about the beauty of the wind. Several words of the text appear to blow about on the page—one of Leach’s many contributions. Over the years, she’s helped to perfect his work. “A lot of times, I’ll have an idea about how I think the type would work best, either to express the humor or to nail a word. Like, I’ll say, ‘Well, this word should be really big.’ And every time she’ll say no. She always then does her own thing. You would think I would learn after we’ve been together for 37 years.”

Leach also reined in Smith and frequent collaborator Jon Scieszka on their early work. “We both had ideas based on the type. But it all had to do with gags, like, ‘Oh, wouldn’t

Bob Shea

it be funny if the type is all bouncy here?’ and ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if it’s melting off the page here?’ And she rejected most of that.” Leach gave their work “a structure and a framework,” says Smith. “She’s almost like an editor, in a way, on all my books. She doesn’t get a lot of credit. Most people, including most of my family, never even know what a designer does.”

In the more than three decades since Smith first started writing and illustrating children’s books, he’s seen the landscape change radically. His art—notably his gorgeously grotesque illustrations for Scieszka’s satirical works The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs (1989) and The Stinky Cheese Man (1992)—stood out at a time when picture books generally favored a more realistic style. “It seemed like most of the books out there were fairly straightforward and earnest,” Smith says. He and Scieszka felt it was their duty to create funny, wacky, and subversive stories. “I would have conversations with art directors and editors, and our discussions would almost become fights about the way my characters looked. ‘Is this character too weird-looking? Why did you draw this wolf like this?’ And now, I think it’s the complete opposite. If you go to any bookstore, nearly every book is sophisticated and beautiful and smart.”

Fractured fairy tales, metafiction, and satire are far more common in kid lit today, thanks in part to artists like Smith. Nowadays, though, he finds himself embracing the earnest as well as the wacky. “I’ll be 64 next month, and I don’t want to be so cheeky all the time,” he notes. When he was younger, he often became frustrated with musicians and artists who created exciting works in their youth but who mellowed as they grew older. “I would think they were tired or sellouts or something, but I get it now.”

Over the years, Smith has illustrated the work of a wide range of authors, among them Roald Dahl, Dr. Seuss, George Saunders, Judith Viorst, Julie Fogliano, and Jory John. His experience working on magazines early in his career prepared him well for these

assignments; he approaches them as though they’re puzzles to be solved artistically as he considers just the right image to sum up a scene. As he’s grown older, though, he’s found writing and illustrating his own work to be much more satisfying. “Because it’s not so much about solving the problem. It’s more of getting something across. It’s getting an idea across that I want to share with people.”

Smith admires authors like William Steig, whose picture book Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969)—about a donkey who’s transformed into a large rock—is both strikingly original and profoundly moving. “You find yourself tearing up and crying when you read some of those books,” he says. “I guess I’m finally mature enough now that I’m happy to try to marry these sensibilities and do things that are a little more sentimental.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is Smith’s sense of joy. Like Stickler, he exudes a great enthusiasm for life. He drew inspiration for the story from his own daily walks with his dog and cat, where he excitedly points out everything he notices, from rocks to the bark on trees. He hopes to write another Stickler book—and to continue pushing himself to try new techniques and styles. For Smith, the future holds “more experimentation with paint and materials. Always. Children’s books give you permission to think like a kid again. What other job lets you do that? Remember grade school art class? Every week you were introduced to a new way of making pictures: collage, finger painting, potato stamps. It’s the same for me now.”

Stickler Loves the World received a starred review in the June 1, 2023, issue.

I’ll be 64 next month, and I don’t want to be so cheeky all the time.

and, with Daddy’s assistance, observe Kindness Day (a day devoted to helping others). Finally, it’s Mama’s last day of chemo! Kids aren’t allowed in the hospital, but the narrator rings in the joyful moment with Mama via video call. Though readers in similar circumstances may not share the narrator’s abundant support system, including two parents, various friends and relatives, and a counselor, the simple matter-of-fact text and warm illustrations are comforting. An author’s note reveals that the story is based on co-author Vincent’s experience of explaining her breast cancer to her daughter and includes further advice for adults. The family is Jewish and light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Informative and reassuring. (author’s note from Churnin, resources, further reading) (Picture book. 4-8)

The Secret of Splint Hall

Cotton, Katie | Andersen/Trafalgar (320 pp.) | $12.99 paper | Oct. 10, 2023

9781839131967

Realism and fantasy intertwine in this British import.

Ten-yearold Isobel and 12-year-old Flora are sisters growing up in 1940s England. Daddy was a pilot who died in the war. When their house was bombed, the girls moved with their mother to Splint Hall, her childhood home in the country that is now owned by Aunty Bea, Mum’s sister, and her husband, the detestable Mr. Godfrey. Exploring the house one day, the sisters discover a locked room and connive to get the key. Once inside, they find sketches of dragons done by their grandfather, as well as another drawing of a horrible creature that Isobel immediately knows is real—she has seen it in a cave near town, although no one believes her. Soon, the girls meet Simon, the son

of Splint Hall’s former gamekeeper, who was dismissed by Mr. Godfrey, ostensibly for stealing. Simon and his dad have a secret, and so, it seems, did Grandpa. To uncover it, the girls must face their greatest fears. Isobel and Flora’s relationship is drawn with fine nuance—they very realistically squabble and get on each other’s nerves, but they are also heartbreakingly attached. The book superbly renders the traumas of war, especially on children, without hyperbole, for example in the way it ably relates Isobel’s deep fear of being underground, her general insecurities connected to the loss of her father, and her recurring headaches.

Deep truths and children’s resilience grace this well-told story. (Historical fantasy. 8-12)

Montgomery and the Case of the Golden Key

Crowder, Tracy Occomy | Tu Books (272 pp.)

$21.95 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781643795171

An almost-10year-old boy races to solve the mystery of a golden key while forming deeper connections with people in his Chicago community.

Born and raised in the South Side of Chicago, Montgomery Carver lives in a world filled with small but plentiful delights. It’s the summer of 2008, and Monty’s Washington Park neighborhood is buzzing with

excitement: A man named Barack Obama could become the first Black president of the United States, and Chicago could host the 2016 Olympics. Monty’s summer plans include perfecting his Afro and mastering his tennis serve. But when he prematurely unwraps his birthday present (a metal detector), uses it to find a skeleton key buried in Old Lady Jenkins’ flower bed, and then breaks his gift, he gets in trouble with his parents. Forced to work to pay them back, Monty does odd jobs for the neighbors, getting to know them— including community activist Ms. Jenkins—better in the process. Monty feverishly makes observations, does research, asks questions, and forms hypotheses, uncovering the story of the key, which reveals surprising connections to Washington Park and spotlights a lesser-known chapter in Black history. Tu Books’ New Visions Award winner Crowder’s debut depicts a vibrant community, showcasing the importance of civic responsibility and the power of grassroots organization. The narrative’s first-person perspective captures Monty’s infinite curiosity and endearing sense of wonder.

An engaging novel drawing strength from its rich narrative voice and celebrating Black historical luminaries. (author’s note) (Mystery. 9-13)

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An engaging novel drawing strength from its rich narrative voice and celebrating Black historical luminaries.

MONTGOMERY AND THE CASE OF THE GOLDEN KEY

Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo

Cuevas, Adrianna | Harper/HarperCollins (256 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 3, 2023

9780063285491

Kirkus Star

The Chaos Monster

DasGupta, Sayantani | Illus. by Sandara Tang | Scholastic (240 pp.) | $17.99

July 18, 2023 | 9781338766752

that is infused with Bengali cultural elements. The author’s note adds context about the folktale and mythology elements, astronomy, and environmental justice.

A Cuban American girl who’s ashamed of her heritage contends with a curse—and a gift—from her ancestral land.

Twelve-year-old Maricela Feijoo just wants to be a normal sixth grader and avoid the scorn of her racist white bully neighbor, Mykenzye. But her family’s “ridiculous traditions” are constant sources of shame. On New Year’s Eve, when they “reach Peak Cubanity” and the time comes to burn the effigy representing last year’s bad luck, Mari spots Mykenzye recording her and pockets the doll instead. Later, a painful black crocodile-shaped mark appears on Mari’s arm and with it, all manner of bad luck and scary visions befall her: Maggots infest her food, her pencils turn into worms, and a creeping black shadow writes ominous messages. The curse jeopardizes her upcoming mariachi audition; worse, her best friend, Keisha, develops the same mark, imperiling her shot at the elite fencing team. When Mari accidentally summons the ghosts of dead relatives, she learns she has the family gift of magic. By learning about her ancestors, Mari realizes that only by embracing her Cubanity—and her family, past and present—will she be able to break the curse. Dynamic action scenes rendered in vivid detail bring Cuevas’ imaginative (and terrifying) interpretation of Cuban cultural traditions to life, while Mari’s relationships provide a rich emotional backdrop. Strong plotting, high stakes, and the curse’s evolving rules of engagement make this a satisfying page-turner.

A delightful horror novel with emotional and cultural resonance. (author’s note) (Paranormal. 8-12)

Series: Secrets of the Sky, 1

Twins Kinjal and Kiya Rajkumar set off on a journey to another dimension to save the Sky Kingdom’s crumbling ecosystem in this series opener. The fourth graders are ordinary New Jersey kids. But when Kinjal sees his mom stretch out her arm to catch a bee in a way that is beyond human, he seeks answers in Thakurmar Jhuli, a collection of Bengali folktales that is special to his father. When the kids find the book, a chaos monster appears and steals their beloved dog, Thums-Up. Next, two pakkhiraj, enormous flying horses from the folktales, arrive to whisk Kinjal and Kiya away. They ask for the twins’ help in saving the Sky Kingdom: Princess Pakkhiraj tasks the twins with saving the bees and thereby their ecosystem, setting them off on a grand adventure. Fans of DasGupta’s Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond and Fire Queen series will love returning to the world of those books, but readers need not be familiar with them to enjoy this one. In this fantasy, DasGupta masterfully highlights the importance of pollinators and environmental activism through a mythological lens that is rooted in real-world examples. Tang’s charming grayscale art adds to the sense of wonder and the enchanting worldbuilding

An exciting, magic-filled story that will leave readers inspired to make a positive impact on the world. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Kirkus Star

The Poison Waves

DasGupta, Sayantani | Illus. by Sandara Tang | Scholastic (240 pp.) | $17.99 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781338766752

Series: Secrets of the Sky, 2

In this second entry in the Secrets of the Sky series, sister and brother Kiya and Kinjal are called upon once again to save the Kingdom Beyond Seven Oceans and Thirteen Rivers.

A few weeks after the conclusion of The Chaos Monster (2023), the fourth grade twins find themselves being summoned by Princess Pakkhiraj, leader of the flying horses in the Sky Kingdom. She wants them to save the water pari, winged mermaid residents of Pari-desh, by finding the source of a mysterious problem that is affecting the water and the health of all its inhabitants. Because Kiya and Kinjal were able to save the bees of the Sky Kingdom, and thus the whole ecosystem, “since everything in the natural world was connected to everything else,” Princess Pakkhiraj believes they can do it again. After some

An exciting, magic-filled story that will leave readers inspired to make a positive impact on the world.

THE CHAOS MONSTER

investigating, the twins track down the source of the issue, which is rooted in science and the impact of pollution, allowing STEM-focused Kiya to shine. Filled with jokes that lighten the seriousness of the central issues, this page-turning fantasy is a mustread. Many elements of the story are rooted in Bengali folklore, particularly the folktale collection Thakurmar Jhuli. Tang’s delicate artwork shows both the kids’ ordinary home in Parsippany, New Jersey, and the many wonders they encounter.

A funny and engaging sequel that seamlessly meshes Bengali folklore and environmental justice. (author’s note) (Fantasy. 8-12)

101 Ways To Read a Book

de Fombelle, Timothée | Illus. by Benjamin Chaud | Trans. by Karin Snelson & Angus Yuen-Killick | Red Comet Press (128 pp.)

$20.00 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781636550824

Not an instruction manual, but a delightfully extravagant demonstration of the persistence of reading and readers.

With a cat. Under a tree. Beneath a table. Out loud. Under the bedcovers. In the sun. In the hospital. In the bath. Dozens of readers, concisely labeled by type or practice (“The Time-Honored Tree Leaner,” “The Fireside Cushion Hog”), are drolly captured in these—and many other—common (and some uncommon) reading situations. Their elongated cartoon figures are differentiated by hairstyle, size, and skin color, though their clothing is always snappy. Chaud’s agile linework is flavored by shades of persimmon, verdigris, and lemon. In all seasons, weathers, and scenarios, alone or together, these bibliophiles resist distraction and discomfort to pursue the written word. Most instances are amusing, offering many opportunities to recognize one’s own or others’ behavior, often in an exaggerated

form—“The Sleepwalker”

(who “lives dangerously”), absorbed by a good read, unwittingly steps into an open manhole. But the final few pages of this French import unexpectedly suggest a gloriously serious “why” to read a book: Reading isn’t just an escape from the world; through reading, one’s imagination can “transform the world.” (This book was reviewed digitally.) The next step is obvious: Add your own favorite reading situation to the list, then label and illustrate it. (Picture book. 8-12)

The Puppets of Spelhorst

DiCamillo, Kate | Illus. by Julie Morstad Candlewick (160 pp.) | $17.99 | Oct. 10, 2023

9781536216752

Puppets yearn for greater things. In a toy store, a lonely old sea captain named Spelhorst spies a puppet who reminds him of a lost love. He tries to buy her but is told he must purchase the full set—a king, a wolf, an owl, and a boy—as these puppets “are in a story.” The captain agrees, and that night, he mourns and writes a mysterious letter before dying in his sleep. Sold by the rag-and-bone man, the puppets eventually find their way to two sisters. While the older sister begins writing a play for the puppets, misadventures befall them; each engaging escapade is relevant to the story arc of the puppet in question. For instance, some of the wolf’s teeth are yanked out by the younger sister, and after the maid tosses the puppet out, a fox absconds with her—the first devastates the wolf, as her teeth were her pride, yet traveling through the wild woods fulfills her deepest wish. Gentle tension builds as the puppets wonder if they will be reunited. After exploring their desires and identities, the recovered puppets put on the older sister’s play, a story that, though she couldn’t have known it, has beautiful symmetry with

the puppets’ adventures. Theatrical language prevents the parallels from becoming too heavy-handed. The vaguely Victorian characters present white in charming drawings that set the mood.

A quiet, comforting fable of identity and belonging. (Fantasy. 7-10)

Big Money: What It Is, How We Use It, and Why Our Choices Matter

Donnelly, Rebecca |

Illus. by Jen Keenan Henry Holt (208 pp.) | $20.99 | Oct. 31, 2023

9781250853134

Big concepts relayed on a small-enough scale for young readers to relate to.

This is a book about money in the big-picture sense. The first chapter covers different forms of money throughout history and around the world, but from there the narrative broadens in scope to include behavioral economics and systemic wealth gaps. The final chapter brings it all home to practical matters such as the kinds of questions to ask trusted adults about money and the power of compound interest and diversified portfolios. The narration is self-aware enough to acknowledge the dryness of lessons about, for instance, the GDP. Thankfully, trivia peppered throughout adds flavor to each lesson, from the ironic origin of the Monopoly board game to the use of giant coins on the Micronesian island of Yap. The book’s broad umbrella means that readers might skim through the volume, starting off on workplace benefits, for instance, before becoming

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absorbed by Bhutan’s gross national happiness measurement. Injustice and inequity are addressed in their many forms, including along workplace, environmental, racial, gender, and political lines, enough to give readers food for thought. Chapters are structured thematically and logically, and Donnelly emphasizes that structural issues play a far bigger role than individual decisions. Final art not seen. A wide-ranging conversation about the role money plays in the world and our lives. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

The Girl Who Fell to Earth

Forde, Patricia | Little Island (288 pp.)

$12.99 paper | Oct. 3, 2023

9781915071439

A half-human teen from the planet Terros faces a dilemma when she’s sent on a mission to destroy Earth’s humans.

Though Terrosians have engineered their DNA to near perfection, 14-year-old Aria Evangular is unusually susceptible to such “glitches” as allergies, fever, and headache. Aria’s DNA looks completely different from that of her classmates, and she’s horrified to discover that her maternal DNA is human. Created by Terrosian scientists 1,000 years ago and carefully observed ever since, humans are considered filthy and primitive. They’re even destroying their own home, which Terrosians dub the Shadow Planet; soon, humandriven climate change will render it uninhabitable. When Aria’s assigned

to join her father on a mission to the Shadow Planet, she learns Dad’s been tasked with releasing a virus in Dublin. It will eventually kill all humans… including, perhaps, Aria herself. But the virus isn’t the only danger; a hidden enemy is watching Aria. Can she save herself and her new human friends? While certain plot elements are too convenient, and the characters sometimes feel like mere vehicles for concepts, Forde gives readers much to ponder; realistically, there are no easy answers. Terrosians’ prejudice toward humans reflects all-too-human racism and xenophobia—which Aria, who’s brown-skinned (like all Terrosians) and assumes a Rajasthani Indian persona in Ireland, also encounters. Aria’s growth is believable and poignant, and readers will especially sympathize with her yearning to belong. Most human characters are white. Suspenseful and thought-provoking. (Science fiction. 9-13)

Kirkus Star Wintergarden

Fox, Janet | Illus. by Jasu Hu | Neal Porter/ Holiday House (40 pp.) | $18.99 Nov. 7, 2023 | 9780823451012

Every winter, a mother and child plant a garden in their city apartment. The child, who has pale skin and wavy dark hair, explains that when it snows, the two of them plant seeds in pots that line the windowsill of their home. Delicate watercolor, colored pencil, and mixed-media paintings show them

selecting and planting the “teeny tiny / seeds like freckles / seeds like eyelashes / seeds like the wings of bees.” Meanwhile, outside, blues and purples blanket the warm glow of streetlights, and “the leafless trees are stark and dark. / The cars roll by in slushy rumbles.” One day, the seeds sprout in the yellow glow of light, and they grow fast. Soon, the whole family is eating lettuce leaves that “crunch like / tiny icicles in my mouth,” and “the parsley dusts the potatoes / like green snowflakes.” On each page, winter imagery, both visual and linguistic, is paired with references to growth and vibrancy—a juxtaposition that emphasizes the joy and wonder of life, as well as the loving care that is given and received among both people and plants. The family soon needs more seeds, and the child gets to choose them, plant them, and wait…for spring. Endnotes give instructions on growing a winter garden, and beautiful endpapers feature paintings of plants and leaves. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Glowing and warm, full of life. (further reading) (Picture book. 3-8)

Ellie in First Position: A Graphic Novel

Freschi, Brian | Illus. by Elena Triolo

Trans. by Nanette McGuinness | Marble Press (176 pp.) | $13.99 paper | Oct. 3, 2023 9781958325001

Are sports the only way to make friends?

After Ellie’s parents divorce, she, her older brother, Robbie, and their mother relocate. At the kids’ new school, Robbie fits in right away, but Ellie feels alienated by her snarky, cliquish classmates. The school has a strong athletic culture, and though Ellie prefers reading about the superhero Super Stella and watching movies, her mother’s convinced that playing a sport will help her make friends. So Ellie tries volleyball, tennis, archery, and swimming—with little

Forde gives readers much to ponder; realistically, there are no easy answers.

THE GIRL WHO FELL TO EARTH

success. After each failure, she asks to take dance lessons. Her father, who visits and calls, is sympathetic, but her mother thinks dance is too competitive and a distraction from school. Ellie’s first romance and a small group of arty friends solidify her love of dance and help her find a sneaky way to pursue her passion. Translated from Italian, this tale is well suited for more experienced graphic novel readers; there are no chapter headings, and clues about the passage of time are often subtle. The story is relatable, though, and the loose-lined, often exaggerated images are filled with humor. Auditory details like a classroom chair squeaking when it’s scooted back, Robbie tearing through moving boxes, and onomatopoeia add to the fun. Ellie and her family are light-skinned; her class is diverse. A relatable tale that will ring true with both creative and athletic readers. (Graphic fiction. 8-11)

Kirkus Star

The Smallest Owlet

Graham, Georgia | Fitzhenry and Whiteside (38 pp.) | $24.95 | Sept. 15, 2023 9781554556144

Readers follow a great horned owl pair as they start a family.

Reusing a magpie’s old nest, the female owl lays three eggs over three days. The male keeps the female fed for the next 30 days, and the eggs hatch over three more days, Smallest Owlet last of all. Readers learn what owls eat, how the owlets develop and change, and about threats to the young owls. When crows swoop in and threaten the babies, Smallest Owlet falls out of the nest and must remain on the ground for the time being. Father Owl provides food for the whole family while Mother Owl protects Smallest Owl, using her wings and tail to appear larger and more threatening to predators. Luckily, the two aren’t on the ground long, as the

owlets are now strong enough to use their feet and beaks to climb. Eventually, they’re big enough to jump from branch to branch, the distances growing until they’re gliding and finally flying between trees and learning to hunt. By late summer, all three are grown and on their own. Backmatter offers additional fascinating facts about great horned owls. Graham’s gorgeous, realistic artwork is a big draw, each tree, wing, and owl face masterfully detailed; she doesn’t shy from the realities of nature (though it’s not overly gruesome, either). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A marvelous close-up look at great horned owls. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Star Pine Island Visitors

Horvath, Polly | Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House (288 pp.) | $17.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 9780823452958

Uninvited guests demand new survival skills from the McCready sisters in this follow-up to Pine Island Home (2020).

The school year is about to start when Mrs. Weatherspoon, who cared for the girls in Borneo after their parents’ death, comes to visit, upsetting the equilibrium. She arrives with another church lady, Jo Menzies, and everyone soon finds themselves towed along in Jo’s manipulative, overbearing wake. At 15, Fiona can’t relinquish

the burden of being in charge of her family, shying away from their guardian Al’s willingness to pay for things. Thirteen-year-old Marlin has yet to realize her ambition to publish her cookbook. Ten-year-old Natasha’s contemplative approach to understanding the world manifests itself in a surprising way. And 8-year-old Charlie has an optimistic naïveté in the face of all this fierce independence. Jo is self-absorbed and almost comically evil in her disregard for everyone but herself. Horvath skewers those who try to wield power over others, using diet or religion or opinions as cudgels. As frustrated Fiona and Marlin find themselves feeling impotent rage, they also gain an understanding of what it means to be—and stand up for— oneself. Everyone presents as white. Horvath keeps the pace captivating in this domestic drama as she demonstrates that life’s ups and downs are inevitable. Neither certainty nor confirmation of beliefs is forthcoming—there are few comeuppances for bad behavior—but what emerges is a compelling case for self-reliance, creativity, and kindness.

Terrifically entertaining. (Fiction. 10-14)

My Mother Was a Nanny

James, Laura | Groundwood (32 pp.) $19.99 Sept. 5, 2023 | 9781773068305

A child of Caribbean descent follows her busy mother around and learns that love takes many forms. With the days of the week used as a frame for the story, a girl describes

The clever narrative structure conveys a child’s-eye view of a strong maternal relationship.

MY MOTHER WAS A NANNY

her mother’s various roles: a parent, a nanny, a teacher, a cleaner, a seamstress, a baker, a sister, and more. Their week is filled with activities, from visiting the market to making bread to listening to an aunty call a daughter back home in Antigua. While Mummy does her work and tends to grown folks’ business, she alternates between enlisting the child’s help and shooing her away. On Saturdays, when Mummy cleans the office of a graphic designer, the child gets to take home art supplies Mr. Waters is getting rid of. On Saturday nights, aunts, uncles, and cousins gather and share food. And one Easter Sunday, Mummy brings out a surprise that shows just how much she’s been thinking of and spending time on her own daughters all along. The clever narrative structure conveys a child’s-eye view of a strong maternal relationship despite the hustle and bustle of Mummy’s busy life. Vibrant acrylic paintings use dramatic compositions and whimsical designs to establish the book’s Brooklyn setting. The protagonist’s quest for her mother’s attention is ultimately rewarded with a delightful surprise ending, making for a unique and loving portrait of a close-knit family. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A tender read-aloud and a valuable discussion-starter. (Picture book. 4-8)

Elle Campbell Wins Their Weekend

Kahn, Ben | Scholastic (272 pp.) | $18.99 Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781338815306

A nonbinary tween goes on a quest to meet their hero.

Seventh grader Elle is a huge fan of Phantom Thief, a fictional Doctor Who–esque show, but above all, they love its nonbinary protagonist, who is portrayed by nonbinary actor Nuri Grena. When Elle finds out their hero will be signing autographs in their town, they are ecstatic—until they’re slammed with an unfair detention by the meanest teacher in school. Now they’ll have to sneak out and race across town on commandeered scooters with their two best friends before they get caught. Elle’s world feels enjoyably like a cartoon or sitcom, a place where kids can sneak out of school inside the gym’s laundry hamper and run amok in an art museum, and famous actors sign autographs in baseball-themed small-town restaurants. The story is also focused on its kid protagonists— no watchful parents stand in the background, and no boring lessons are learned about the importance of detention. Despite the lighthearted atmosphere, Elle is a fully realized character who learns more about themself through and during their adventure. Other characters are more one-dimensional, primarily there to support Elle’s journey. The prose can be clunky at times, but Elle and their friends’ hijinks will keep readers entertained. Elle reads

white, and there is some racial diversity in the supporting cast. A fun, silly adventure with a heart. (Fiction. 9-13)

We Are Palestinian: A Celebration of Culture and Tradition

Kassis, Reem | Illus. by Noha Eilouti Crocodile/Interlink (112 pp.) | $19.95 Sept. 19, 2023 | 9781623717254

A Palestinian cookbook author and food writer explores her country’s rich cultural heritage. Organizing the book into seven sections, Kassis covers geography, cultural symbols, major figures, agriculture, cuisine, performing arts, and history and religion. The author discusses major cities like Jericho (arguably the world’s oldest city as well as “the lowest city on Earth, sitting 258 meters below sea level”), Akka, and Haifa, as well as significant landmarks. She explains the importance of cultural symbols like tatreez, the art of embroidery, and how these designs often tell stories. She also describes traditional garments, such as the thobe (a long-sleeved belted dress) and the keffiya (a scarf worn by men). A chapter devoted to “creative minds” profiles poet Mahmoud Darwish; Mustafa Murrar, often called “the pillar of Palestinian children’s literature”; scholar Edward Said; charity worker Samiha Khalil; and journalist and field correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, among others. Given the author’s culinary background, it’s no surprise that food is well covered, too, from maqlubeh (a dish typically made of layers of meat, rice, and vegetables) to knafeh (a dough-based dessert). Kassis’ details are well chosen and convey her love of her homeland; fun facts and “Did you know?” sidebars enliven the engaging text. Eilouti’s bright illustrations complement the writing, portraying important landmarks in cities, capturing the cross-stitch patterns in

A Palestinian cookbook author and food writer explores her country’s rich cultural heritage.

WE ARE PALESTINIAN

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DRAWING FROM REAL LIFE

In new picture books, illustrators Camilla Sucre and Jade Orlando revisit history— and look to the future.

BY MEGAN LABRISE

TWO AMERICAN picture-book illustrators are making a splash— on both sides of the pond—with award-winning publisher Nosy Crow, based in both the U.K. and the U.S.

Earlier this year, Camilla Sucre made her dazzling debut with Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush (Nosy Crow, May 2), written by Patrice Lawrence. And this fall, acclaimed illustrator Jade Orlando brings her cheerful signature style to bear in I’m Going To Be a Princess (Nosy Crow, Dec. 5), written by Stephanie Taylor.

Both artists felt an instant kinship with the stories by these British-born authors.

Sucre, a Baltimore-based Caribbean American artist, was deeply inspired by the tale of a Trinidadian grandmother’s immigration to England in Granny Came Here. In the book, Granny lovingly shares her story with granddaughter Ava, who’s been tasked with dressing up as someone she admires for a school project. (Spoiler alert: She chooses Granny.)

“I’m Trinidadian American, and my whole family’s from Trinidad,” says Sucre, who was born in New York, raised in Baltimore, and graduated with a bachelor’s in fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2021. “I love Trinidad. I was really excited to do a project focusing on that culture, that heritage.”

When Orlando received the manuscript for I’m Going To Be a Princess, she fell in love with Maya, a bright young Black girl who knows what she wants: to be a princess when she grows up. Just to make sure Maya is aware of her options, her mother introduces her to a number of pioneering Black women professionals, including neurosurgeon Alexa Canady, Olympic athlete Alice Coachman, and rocket scientist Annie Easley.

“I love to do books featuring women, Black women, powerful women—books that I could imagine as a little girl but didn’t see on shelves that much,” says Orlando, who grew up in Michigan and earned a bachelor’s in fine arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Orlando left a successful career in children’s clothing design in 2018 and has since illustrated more than a dozen books for young readers.

“I love that nowadays more kids can see more of themselves in books,” she says.

Sucre and Orlando recently spoke with Kirkus via Zoom; the interviews have been edited and condensed.

JADE ORLANDO CAMILLA SUCRE

At what point in your life did you think, I could be an artist?

I’ve been drawing since I was a toddler, since I could hold a crayon. I used to love to

When you’re considering taking on an illustration project, what are some of the qualities that make you want to say yes?

I always want to be able to

draw mythological creatures and cats—I’ve always been obsessed with cats—and I’ve pretty much always wanted to be an artist of some sort. I just didn’t know at a young age what sort of careers were possible in the art world. That answer is extra good, because it speaks directly to the subject of I’m Going To Be a Princess, which is all about the possible careers Maya might one day pursue. She wants to be a princess; I wanted to be an artist. I do remember my parents were a little bit nervous about the idea of me becoming an artist, because there are some stereotypes— that maybe

artists don’t make the most money, or it’s hard to find a job in the art world—so I felt a little bit of a kinship with Maya, who wants to be something that makes her mom say, “Yeah, that’s great, but here’s something else you could do.…” I also love how the story Stephanie wrote subverts your expectations. On the cover, Maya looks like a traditional fairy-tale princess, but it turns out the princess she wants to be is a unique and cool princess.

What was one of the challenges of illustrating this book?

Along with being a wonderful, super-charming,

entertaining [story], it has a historical aspect to it. It can be challenging to mix the historical with the fictional when it comes to illustration styles. One reason Nosy Crow reached out to me for this project was they saw that I’d done some historical pieces and some fiction pieces. The big challenge was to capture the likenesses of all the strong women in the book, while maintaining the characterization and the personality and the love between Maya and her mom.

Who would you include in your personal pantheon of inspiring women?

I love to read, especially sci-fi and fantasy, and Octavia Butler has been such an inspiration to me. She’s not an artist, she’s a writer, but I just love how she established herself in sci-fi, a genre that’s mostly dominated by white men. She’s made some absolutely amazing books and series and become a name unto herself. She’s one of my favorite women. I actually drew a portrait of her once, for her birthday, and posted it. People saw that work and responded to it, and that portrait helped me get my first historical book project.

connect with a project on some level, whether it’s a personal connection—like I’ve experienced something in this book—or a cultural connection. Or if it’s an exciting concept I haven’t seen much of in my libraries and bookstores. I want the chance to produce something new, to work on a subject that deserves more recognition.

What drew you to the characters in Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush?

I instantly loved Granny, of course, because she reminds me a lot of my own grandma [to whom the book is dedicated]. And Ava I love because she’s a little ball of curious energy. She reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger: all about dressing up, all about singing and having fun with her grandma. I wanted her to look very cutesy and innocent and happy, because a lot of the time Black girls aren’t seen in that light. I was really happy to be able to make that happen.

If you got the assignment Ava gets in the book, to dress up as someone you admire, who would you pick?

That’s a really good question! Who would I pick? Oh, I know: I would dress up as Halle Bailey from The Little Mermaid. I just saw the movie recently and, oh my gosh, it was so inspiring, rich and vibrant and full of life. She did an amazing job in the role of Ariel.

This book was your first with a major publisher. What did you enjoy about the experience?

Nosy Crow had a specific vision, so I could really depend on them to give

me honest feedback, and that helped me push my illustrations further. That’s one thing I really liked. Also, the editors were very, very nice.

What types of projects would you like to take on in the future?

I would love to work on more fantasy stories; I want to do some more graphic novels, YA and middle grade. I’m also hoping to put out some creative projects of my own, which I’m very excited about. I have lots of plans, so stay tuned.

Editor at large Megan Labrise is the host of the Fully Booked podcast.

cushions, and bringing to life examples of native plants.

A joyful and accessible introduction. (index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)

Omega Morales and the Curse of El Cucuy

Kemp, Laekan Zea | Little, Brown (336 pp.)

$16.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780316508872

Series: Omega Morales, 2

Omega Morales grapples with her budding magical talents against the backdrop of Día de los Muertos and the mysterious disappearances of local children in this sequel to Omega Morales and the Legend of La Lechuza (2022).

Omega is an empath, just like most of the rest of her family, but while they can feel and even influence the emotions of other humans, Omega can also tap into the emotions of supernatural beings. This gift is powerful in ways that feel both exciting and scary. When children begin to go missing during Día de los Muertos festivities, many in town blame Omega and her family. Though Omega is not culpable, she does feel somehow tied to what is happening and to the ultimate outcome. She seems to be a magnet for monsters in the way that ofrendas draw the spirits of loved ones who have passed. To find the lost children and heal the brokenness that has created the boogeyman El Cucuy, Omega must tackle her own fears of what it means to be a monster. Abuela’s insistence on finding a “fix” to “save” Omega, while Omega herself wishes to explore the full range of her magical abilities, may especially resonate with LGBTQ+, disabled, and neurodivergent readers. Though the final confrontation with El Cucuy feels a bit perfunctory and unresolved, the cliffhanger ending will leave Omega’s fans thirsty for the next installment in her saga.

Creepy folklore and a quest to find one’s true identity unite in this spooky page-turner. (Paranormal. 9-13)

How Mr. Silver Stole the Show

Klise, Kate | Illus. by M. Sarah Klise | Feiwel & Friends (40 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 9781250864765

An extreme case of kitty charisma, based on a true story. With significant but logical embroidering, this tale recounts the arrival of a small alley cat at the elegant Hamilton Hotel, just as the 1947 Greater St. Louis Cat Club Show is getting underway. Though given a hostile reception by the stuck-up cat owners (if not their well-groomed pets), the tiny stray not only gets a warm greeting and plenty of snacks from the hotel staff, but comes back at the show’s end to charm the judges into awarding a pair of blue ribbons and to win both a name and a home from the hotel’s hostess, Marcella Duffy. As the author notes in an afterword, only the hotel staff would have included people of color at that time, and so it is that Duffy and all the human guests are white-presenting, while most of the bustling kitchen staff, led by a fictive chef and his daughter, are darker-skinned. Younger audiences may not notice the

divide until it’s pointed out, but they’ll see it on a second run-through for sure, and the endpapers sandwiching this historical anecdote do offer a more racially diverse gallery of cat owners fondling their furry charges. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Purr-fect fare for cat lovers, with a bit of sensitivity training slipped in. (photo) (Informational picture book. 5-8)

A Cloud in a Jar

A rousing nautical adventure. Brownskinned Lou and her nameless, pale-skinned friend—the book’s narrator—head out in a rowboat for Firelight Bay, where kids have never seen rain. To demonstrate the joys of water—rainbows, puddles—the pair are bringing along a “cloud in a jar.” A gale arises. Lou says, “This is a job—for a SAIL,” and fashions one from handkerchiefs pulled from her sleeve. The storm-damaged boat whips through the waves, landing on a shore where a beached whale lies. Announcing, “This is a job—for a NET,” Lou devises one from phone chargers extracted from her coat. Slipping into this contraption, the whale speeds the kids onward, but a swarm of razorbills threatens. Lou’s pal intones, “This is a job—for a CLOUD.” Releasing it from the jar, the narrator scatters the birds, but the whole crew tumbles underwater. As they emerge on Firelight Bay, Lou’s companion believes they’ve failed now that the cloud is gone. But as it turns out, they’ve found a way to bring rain to the people. This imaginative, sea shanty–like tale is narrated in quatrains, employing the ABBA rhyme scheme, each one concluding with a couplet with the rhyme scheme BA; these rollicking verses, packed with bold action verbs, mostly scan well and echo rocking-boat rhythms. Vivid

Krol, Aaron Lewis | Illus. by Carlos Vélez Aguilera | Page Street (32 pp.) | $18.99 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781645679936

Creepy folklore and a quest to find one’s true identity unite in this spooky page-turner.

OMEGA MORALES AND THE CURSE OF EL CUCUY

mixed-media illustrations feature blue shades, suiting the watery, nighttime settings. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Ahoy, mateys! Poetic, sea-going fun. (Picture book. 5-9)

The Bone Wars: The True Story of an Epic Battle To Find Dinosaur Fossils

Kurtz, Jane | Illus. by Alexander Vidal Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $18.99 | Nov. 21, 2023 | 9781534493643

A 19th-century scientific feud fueled our modern mania for dinosaurs.

Sharing a fascination with fossilized bones and eager to find new dinosaur species, O.C. Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope started out as close collaborators—“friends forever,” as Kurtz puts it. But they had a massive falling out (“Hoo boy!”) over which end of a long-necked Elasmosaurus skeleton the head should be attached to. For the rest of their careers, they engaged in an “all-out competition” for new discoveries. Things turned so “mean and messy” as they spied on one another and sabotaged or seeded sites with fakes that both ended up “disgraced and broke.” But in the process they filled American museums with dino specimens and sparked a public interest in them that has yet to wane. Along with scenes of racially diverse groups of marveling modern museumgoers, Vidal mixes views of rough-hewn crews digging up bones and trying to figure out how they go together (or donning a false beard and other disguises to sneak into each other’s camps) with antique fleshedout examples of early discoveries based on now-outmoded guesses about how they might have looked. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A wry case study in how bad behavior can advance scientific knowledge. (author’s and illustrator’s notes, selected sources, suggested reading) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

What Music!: The Fifty-Year Friendship Between Beethoven and Nannette Streicher, Who Built His Pianos

Lawlor, Laurie | Illus. by Becca Stadtlander Holiday House (40 pp.) | $18.99 Oct. 24, 2023 | 9780823451432

A little-known piano builder had a great impact on Beethoven. Who hasn’t heard of Ludwig van Beethoven?

By contrast, far fewer know of Nannette Stein Streicher (1769-1833), the German piano builder and proprietor of a successful Viennese piano-construction enterprise and also Beethoven’s lifelong “Beloved Friend.” Well educated and musically gifted, Nannette became involved in her father’s successful piano-building business from an early age. At 18, Nannette met Ludwig, 17, when he visited her home and played for her family. They became fast friends despite their differing personalities and backgrounds. When her father died, Nannette and a younger brother jointly took over her father’s company, since the law forbade a woman to own a company outright. Upon her marriage, Nannette moved the company to Vienna and put her name on what would become the renowned “Nannette Stein Streicher in Vienna” pianos. By then, Ludwig

was a celebrated composer-pianist. He required instruments that met his very exacting specifications, and Nannette produced them all. Throughout his life, he played on more than a dozen Streicher pianos, claiming he preferred them over others. This beautifully written, though lengthy, account rightfully brings a lesser-known historical personality to wider attention, but its appeal is somewhat limited. It will be appreciated mostly by adult Beethoven fans and older children, particularly piano students practicing Beethoven pieces. Gorgeous gouache and colored-pencil illustrations bring the detailed period artworks to radiant life. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Music lovers will rejoice over this worthy title. (author’s note, bibliography, historical figures mentioned in this book, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 7-11)

Kirkus Star

Tethered to Other Stars

Leahy, Elisa Stone | Quill Tree Books/ HarperCollins (320 pp.) | $18.99 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9780063255487

Latine seventh grader Wendy Celestina Toledo loves outer space, but she’s worried about things happening right here on Earth. After a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on her community leads to disappearances of several people she knows, including her best friend, Wendy and her Salvadoran-Guatemalan family move to a new neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio. Aspiring astronomer Wendy enters a school for gifted and talented students, makes a diverse group of new friends, and sets her sights on building a telescope and winning the science fair. However, with ICE vans patrolling the streets and a woman named Luz claiming sanctuary in the church down the street, her parents

A wry case study in how bad behavior can advance scientific knowledge. THE BONE WARS

are fearful. Not only are Wendy and her friends enduring racist bullying at school, but someone Wendy loves is seriously threatened, and she must tap into her own inner resources to do what’s right for herself and those she cares for. The stakes start out high but manage to continue to build throughout the story, culminating in an unexpected plot twist. Heavy topics like bullying, familial hardship, and academic pressures are explored in ways middle-grade readers will understand and are grounded in wellrounded characterization. Readers will resonate with the characters’ threedimensional personalities regardless of their and their families’ own immigration experiences.

A beautifully executed, character-driven tale of family, courage, resilience, and the meaning of what is right. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Star

The Red Fruit

Lee Gee-eun | Levine Querido (64 pp.)

$18.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781646147007

Economically drawn and narrated, this translated work from Korea spotlights a bear cub’s naïveté and determination.

An italicized, scene-setting line of text appears against a page depicting snow, tall conifers, and the bear cub’s tracks: “Baby bear got up early, by himself.” “Tok”—a red fruit bounces off the hungry cub’s head. Finding the morsel delicious, the bear declares, “I want to eat more.” He begins to climb, successively encountering three red shapes that initially appear to be more tantalizing fruit but reveal themselves to be a caterpillar, a squirrel, and a beehive. As the cub climbs, the perspective shifts between close- and mid-range spreads and long views of his diminutive form amid the pine forest. At the very top, the bear sees

“nothing.” But the setting sun’s red blaze tints the branches, catching his eye. “It looks delicious!” Leaping, he falls—first, backlit against the huge orb, then past beehive, squirrel, and caterpillar into the voluminous embrace of a parent, waiting with two other cubs and piles of red fruit. Rendered in inky, grainy gradations of gray-to-black, accented with red and yellow, Lee’s pictures capture the forest’s beauty, evoking traditional brush painting. The bears’ spreading pads and claws seem as significant as their physiognomy—which nonetheless quietly conveys sensations of curiosity, satiety, surprise, and (in the parent bear) implacable aplomb. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Beautifully transcends its seeming simplicity. (Picture book. 3-8)

Boys Don’t Fry

Lee, Kimberly | Illus. by Charlene Chua Farrar, Straus and Giroux (40 pp.) | $18.99 Nov. 14, 2023 | 9780374389857

A young boy of Peranakan Chinese descent would love to help Mamah and his aunties cook a feast for Lunar New Year’s Eve, but will they let him?

Jin’s grandmother Mamah is the heart of their home. He is entranced by the wonderful smells coming from her kitchen as she prepares for a big family reunion dinner. Jin’s three aunties ask his sisters to help, but even though none of them are interested, nobody asks Jin. “Babas never got asked—only Nyonyas did.” So, gathering his courage, he announces, “I can help.” The aunties brush him off, assuming that a boy would only get in the way, but Mamah comes to the rescue: “I don’t see anything wrong with Jin learning if he wants to.” Jin’s excitement at helping Mamah cook is palpable in Lee’s sensory-laden text (“The sizzle of her stuffed fried fish sounded like music”), and the two have a blast pounding, pressing, squeezing, slicing, and crying with

laughter. Soon they have a feast of Peranakan Chinese delights, and Jin even learns some of Mamah’s secrets, like her father’s laksa recipe. Colorful digital illustrations with a cartoony look do a fine job of conveying the action, and the slightly contrived climactic moment for Jin is easily overlooked for the bigger message of allowing kids to explore their interests and connect with family. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Delicious and affirming. (author’s note, recipe) (Picture book. 4-8)

Fox Snare

Lee, Yoon Ha | Rick Riordan Presents/ Disney (320 pp.) | $16.99 | Oct. 17, 2023

9781368081818

Series: Thousand Worlds, 3

Beloved characters from the first two books come together one last time in this Thousand Worlds trilogy closer. Lee mines themes of personal integrity as three young people juggle their human forms with their mythological animal selves. Min (a shape-shifting fox), Sebin (a tiger), and Haneul (a dragon) harness all the magical power they can summon to combat imminent threats to peace talks between the Thousand Worlds and the Sun Clans nations. The two narrators, Min and Sebin, provide alternating first-person perspectives on survival when the space station that’s hosting the diplomatic talks literally explodes, precipitating a high-stakes drama that could result in a devastating space war. After being jettisoned in an escape pod, the three teens face life-or-death challenges on the planet Jasujeong, which is claimed by both nations. Min sees an example of her own powers gone awry; Sebin, who is nonbinary, must override their duties in order to recognize deception; and the weakened Haneul struggles against family expectations. The plot contains historical references to the

struggles between Korea and Japan, and Korean elements are woven into the story to a greater degree than before. With dangers emerging from political operatives, beasts, the weather, and even friends, the degree of emotional awareness of the three main characters is impressive. It is occasionally difficult to remember whether Min or Sebin is narrating, but overall, the trilogy concludes on a high note.

A grand space opera grounded in Korean culture. (pronunciation guide) (Science fantasy. 8-12)

The Death and Life of Benny Brooks: Sort of a Memoir

Long, Ethan | Christy Ottaviano Books (224 pp.) | $16.99 | Oct. 3, 2023

9780316333122

A fifth grader’s tragicomic view of death, divorce, sibling relations, and emotional turmoil.

The acrid divorce is the first trauma as middle child Benny sees his plainly incompatible parents split up and his chain-smoking, self-centered dad failing to be a competent single parent. Then a second blow lands, and he must watch his father lose a battle with lung cancer. Meanwhile, in a Wimpy Kid–style mix of first-person narrative and cartoon drawings that adds twists and punchlines, he records his own growing anger issues and, later, therapy sessions. This heavy material is interspersed with less fraught accounts of, for instance, what it’s like to get

a huge loogie in the face from a big brother, fend off the advances of an overly enthusiastic classmate with a crush, always be the last one picked for street games, and get a ludicrously inappropriate plush toy rather than a coveted bike for Christmas. Long’s loosely autobiographical tale is never going to be a happy story, but ultimately the therapy begins to pay off, and a seemingly hostile teacher helps Benny get his schoolwork back up to snuff. Finally, after Benny bids goodbye to his dad at home (where he goes to die) and experiences a rush of big feelings outside the crematorium, the emotional roller coaster glides to a stop in Benny’s closer relations with his siblings and dutiful, if not exactly maternal, mom. Most of the cast appears white.

Sometimes biting, often intense, and marked by moments both of comical awkwardness and grace. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-12)

Scaredy Cats

Mack, Jeff | Neal Porter/Holiday House (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 9780823452071

Three cats let their imaginations run wild as they wonder what might await them inside a mystery gift box.

Two cats ponder the contents of a white box with pink polka dots and a bow. The white cat is convinced that it must be a cake, but the orange cat thinks it might be something more sinister. A third cat joins them. Could there be a crocodile inside? Maybe a great white shark? Or, wildest of all, a

30-ton monster guinea pig? Mack ends the book with the mystery unsolved, an open question with which readers can wrestle. The pages are laid out with the cats on the left-hand side; their imagined scenarios, set inside colorful thought bubbles, play out on the right. The illustrations are simple, clear, and appealing. The cats are drawn with realistic details: plush fur, soft paws, long whiskers. The imagined side of the page has a cartoonish touch, the surprises appearing out of the box, larger than life, which makes those scenes playful rather than frightening. The moral of the story is clear: Sometimes what we imagine is scarier than reality. Some might be disappointed that the contents of the box are never revealed, but then what’s really inside isn’t actually the point. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Cute kitties and silly, imaginative fun make for a tale that’s perfect for preschoolers. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Star

Tired Town

Marx, Patricia | Illus. by Roz Chast | Roaring Brook Press (40 pp.) | $17.09 | Oct. 10, 2023 9781250859129

When the whole bedroom, city, and even planet are bedding down for the night, how long can a wide-eyed child last?

The spaghetti may be sighing limply, the popcorn feeling “too pooped to pop,” a group of clustered high-rises themselves yawning, and even the sun sinking down with a weary wave to the moon—but Nellie Bee Nightly is wide, wide awake beneath her huge mop of electric red hair. Even her sleepy parents’ five-minute warning only forces her to lower the general volume… and maybe lie down on the bed for a moment: “I’m not sleeping,” she tells her goldfish, Cheesy. “I’m pretending to be a log.” Sure she is. And so, by the time the light has turned itself

Sometimes biting, often intense, and marked by moments both of comical awkwardness and grace.

DEATH AND LIFE OF BENNY BROOKS

SEEN AND HEARD

Roald Dahl Museum Acknowledges His Antisemitism

The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre will post a sign at its entrance acknowledging the children’s author’s history of antisemitism, the Guardian reports.

The museum, located in Great Missenden, England, also posted a statement on its website referencing Dahl’s hateful

statements about Jewish people.

“We are working hard to do better and know we have more to do,” the statement reads in part. “We do not repeat Dahl’s antisemitic statements publicly, but we do keep a record of what he wrote and said in the Museum’s collection, so it is not forgotten.”

In 1983, the James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author told the New Statesman, “There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean, there’s always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere;

even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.” Seven years later, he self-described as antisemitic in an interview with the Independent.

In 2020, Dahl’s family apologized for his antisemitism, saying in a state-

ment, “Those prejudiced remarks are incomprehensible to us and stand in marked contrast to the man we knew and to the values at the heart of Roald Dahl’s stories, which have positively impacted young people for generations.”

The museum said that it supports that apology.—M.S.

The late children’s author was notorious for his remarks about Jews and Hitler.

Ben Martin Getty Images

To learn about changes made to Roald Dahl’s books by his U.K. publisher and his estate, visit kirkusreviews.com.

5 Backto-School Picture Books

A thrilling story with a sound takeaway: Compassionate teachers are

A playful, funny, and heartfelt tale to soothe the back-to-school blues.

For more backto-school picture books, visit kirkusreviews.com

1 Ready for Kindergarten

By Bethany V. Freitas, illustrated by Maja Andersen Buoyant and useful—for children, teachers, and parents alike.

2 Lupe Lopez: Reading Rock Star!

By e.E. Charlton-Trujillo & Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Joe Cepeda

A winning primer on how to rock reading.

3 Yenebi’s Drive to School

By Sendy Santamaria

A going-to-school story elevated by a mother’s devotion and a child’s dedication.

4 Like Lava in My Veins

By Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Shawn Martinbrough with Adriano Lucas

the real superheroes.

5 First Night of Howlergarten

By Benson Shum

off and all the books are closed (including an oddly familiar copy of Goodnight, Cheddar), she is “dreaming of a girl who is dreaming of a girl who is dreaming of a girl who is not tired at all.” Nighty night. As in all the best bedtime reads, rhythmic language joins somniferous images in both the art and the narrative to weave an effective spell that will send listeners in Nellie Bee’s wake straight to dreamland. Nellie and her parents are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

No chance of insomnia when even the bedroom floor is snoring. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Star

Forever Twelve

McAnulty, Stacy | Random House (368 pp.) | $17.99 | $20.99 PLB | Oct. 3, 2023 9780593429624 | 9780593429631 PLB

Series: The Evers, 1

A mortal, a psychic, and a 217-year-old in a 12-year-old’s body meet at boarding school and work to solve a disappearance.

Talented, determined Ivy is driven to succeed by a deathbed promise to her mother, who died of cancer; she sees boarding school as the first step on her path to becoming a Supreme Court justice like Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ronan wants to escape his hometown, where everyone knows that his mother is a psychic, but he can’t escape the abilities he’s inherited. Abigail is an Ever: forever 12 after being saved (or cursed) following a neardeath experience. Their lives intersect as students at West Archer Academy, and the story unfolds in short, tightly paced chapters that switch between Ivy’s, Ronan’s, and Abigail’s third-person perspectives. Abigail befriends roommate Ivy immediately, partly because she looks like her best friend, Grace, who’s been missing since 1944. Abigail wants Ivy’s assistance in

investigating what happened to Grace after her disappearance from West Archer. Ivy reluctantly agrees to help Abigail, and they make a surprising discovery. But Este, the oldest Ever of all, is protective of the Ever family and wants to keep Ivy out, ultimately leading to a clash and a cliffhanger ending that sets things up for a sequel. An intriguing premise, complex characters, and a compelling mystery make for a series opener that will leave readers desperate for the next entry. Main characters are cued white. Fantastic. (Fantasy. 9-13)

The Wilderness

McCarthy, Steve | Candlewick (40 pp.) $17.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781536231373

Cautious Oktober avoids the unpredictable outdoors…until he finds himself face to face with the Wilderness. The Vasylenko family has 12 children, each named after a month of the year. They’re adventure seekers who dream of wild things and places—all except Oktober, who prefers his journeys to be tucked between the covers of his books. He’s terrified of encountering the Wilderness monster—though Mom tells him the wilderness isn’t a beast but “a place filled with many stories and adventures.” After reluctantly heading outside, Oktober wanders off alone and finds himself lost…with the the Wilderness, a hulking yet smiling creature made up of leaves. Confronting his biggest fear, Oktober realizes that Wilderness is afraid, too. With help from his new friend, Oktober makes his way home. This story is an effective metaphor for conquering fears. Oktober is a likable, wide-eyed bookworm, stronger and more adventurous than he realizes. Fittingly, McCarthy’s sweeping landscapes are full of gorgeous earth tones with rolling fog, mossy waterfalls, and piles of autumnal leaves adeptly brought to life. The endpapers serve as an intriguing visual glossary of

fictional plants and animals, like the screaming Susan and the rumble weed. Oktober’s father is light-skinned, while he and his mother are brown-skinned; the other children are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A rich, imaginative world inhabited by believable, endearing humans. (Picture book. 4-6)

Baby Be

McGhee, Alison | Illus. by Sean Qualls

Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum (40 pp.) | $18.99 Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781534405394

A celebration of the bonds between caregivers and their children.

This rhyming picture book opens with an image of a young child and a parent winking and trading high fives in a meadow. As the narrative continues, readers get a window into the lives of numerous other pairings of babies and male-presenting caretakers: a bearded adult in a hat and tracksuit spinning records for a dancing child, a bearded caregiver in a durag fastening a tie around a child’s neck, and a bespectacled, aproned caretaker dancing to the beat a child plays on a set of pots and pans. Written from the point of view of an adult speaking to a child, the book relies on a deliciously fun choice of words: “My wiggle, / your woggle. / My swing, / and your zing.” The book ends with the adult’s assurance that the child is perfect just the way they are and that they should continue to “just BE.” The takeaway is clear—the adult will support this treasured little one no matter what life brings. The exuberant text and whimsical illustrations, rendered in colored pencil, collage, and acrylic, make for a sweetly energetic read-aloud. The pictures feature characters with a variety of skin tones and hair textures. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A tender, lyrical offering conveying a message of unconditional love.

(Picture book. 1-3)

Like a Charm

McNicoll, Elle | Random House (320 pp.) | $17.99 | $20.99 PLB

Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780593649138

9780593649145 PLB

Series: Like a Charm, 1

A neurodivergent tween discovers a hidden world.

Twelve-year-old beret-aficionado

Ramya Knox is dyspraxic. When her famous newsreader parents move the family from London to Edinburgh, she is reunited with her previously estranged maternal aunts and her cousin, Marley. Her grandfather recently died and left Ramya a magical book that only she can read, and with the help of a mysterious stranger, she soon learns that she can see Hidden Folk (like sprites, trolls, and vampires), who cloak themselves in Glamour to blend into the human world. The Hidden Folk are being terrorized and divided by the power-hungry and entirely evil sirens, who wish to cleave not only their own world but the human world as well. With loyal Marley by her side, Ramya discovers how nefarious and dangerous the sirens can be, and how her own differences may ultimately be what saves both worlds. McNicoll, who mentions in her author’s note that she also has dyspraxia, has written a timely tale that stresses how damaging othering can be, how important friendship and belonging are, and how differences can and should be celebrated. While the worldbuilding is cleverly wrought and inviting, more sophisticated readers may easily anticipate the plot twists; this minor quibble aside, tenacious Ramya is wholly

likable, and a cliffhanger ending hints at further adventures. Most characters seem to be white; Ramya has dark hair, and it’s unclear whether her given name is intended to cue South Asian heritage.

An uplifting tale of magic, community, and acceptance. (Fantasy. 7-12)

Curlfriends: New in Town

Miller, Sharee | Little, Brown Ink (288 pp.) | $12.99 paper | Oct. 10, 2023 9780316591454

Series: Curlfriends, 1

A Black girl struggles to make friends and adjust to her new town.

Twelve-year-old Charlie Harper is used to moving around, thanks to her father’s having been in the Air Force. However, this time will be different: They’re settling in her father’s hometown, where he’s surrounded by old friends. Charlie hopes to make a splash with contact lenses instead of glasses, trendy outfits to replace her old uncool clothes, and “tamed hair” in place of her Afro. But the first day of school goes awry when she’s accidentally drenched in water. In the bathroom, Charlie meets Nola, another Black girl. Nola, whose mom has a hair salon, quickly braids Charlie’s hair and helps her get to class on time, leaving Charlie feeling hopeful. At lunch she meets Nola’s rambunctious friends—Black and brown curly-haired girls who call themselves the Curlfriends. But in her pursuit of being liked, Charlie’s not being herself. Eventually, she realizes that it’s exhausting pretending to be something you’re

not, but is it too late? Miller skillfully tackles middle school growing pains, complicated parental relationships, and the importance of a strong community in this brisk, humorous graphic novel. Soft but dynamic lines and a bright color palette add depth to the illustrations and complement Charlie’s charming journey to self-acceptance. Readers are sure to find the Curlfriends endearing as they encourage Charlie to be her true self.

A delightful coming-of-age story. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)

A Duck Called Brian

Murphy, Al | Scholastic (32 pp.)

$6.99 paper | Nov. 7, 2023 | 9781338848113

In this Australian import, a duck spends a silly, disastrous day searching for his friend.

Brian is a bright blue duck who loves three things: his BFF, Gregory (a yellow duck with a red cap), a cold glass of milk, and his favorite cereal, Duck Nuts. Unfortunately, one day Brian wakes up and finds that he has no milk or cereal left. What a catastrophe! He must go tell Gregory all about it. But Gregory isn’t in any of his usual places. So Brian starts to search. A string of increasingly bizarre encounters ensues. All of the other (yellow) ducks are too busy—counting ants, creating a crocodile-proof diving suit, or participating in a sunbathing festival—to help. Eagle-eyed readers, however, will spot Gregory in the background, always heading off to his next adventure. Murphy’s squat, identical, jelly bean–shaped ducks are especially comical when packed together in a crowd—a sea of yellow, with one blue duck futilely shouting, “GREGORRRYYY!” Murphy also slips many amusing asides into the art. The ending takes a psychedelic turn, which seems a bit out of place, but it also makes perfect ridiculous sense. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Playful, absurd, and marvelous. (Picture book. 3-7)

In this Australian import, a duck spends a silly, disastrous day searching for his friend.

A DUCK CALLED BRIAN

Chubby Bunny

Murphy, Julie | Illus. by Sarah Winifred Searle | Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (40 pp.)

$19.99 | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9780063011182

A young girl learns to stand up for herself.

Barbara Binks, called Bunny by her loving mom and grandma (all white-presenting), is “plain old round.” She seems happy, but when a Chubby Bunny contest at school (a stuff-your-mouth-with-marshmallows game) turns into fatphobic bullying, Bunny must figure out what to do. On the wordy side, the narrative drags in the middle as Bunny tries various unsuccessful experiments to stop the teasing, with emotional outbursts at home. The conflict is resolved with a heartfelt conversation between Bunny and her grandmother, which makes the final scenes, where Bunny addresses her classmates, feel anticlimactic. When Bunny’s teacher tries to discourage the other kids from using the hurtful nickname “Chubby Bunny,” Bunny informs them that there’s nothing wrong with the word chubby, but “If you’re going to call me Chubby Bunny, you should say it with a marshmallow in your mouth!” Though the message that chubby shouldn’t be seen as a pejorative is a much-needed one, it gets somewhat muddled, and children may come away wondering if it is, in fact, OK to comment on or even make fun of others’ bodies. The graphic novel–style illustrations use a lot of white space, and many of the spreads feel somewhat static, though Bunny and her family are tenderly rendered. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An earnest attempt at dispelling fatphobia that may inadvertently lead to teasing. (Picture book. 5-8)

Time Chasers

Murray, James S. & Carsen Smith | Illus. by Patrick Spaziante | Penguin Workshop

(224 pp.) | $17.99 | Oct. 3, 2023

9780593226162

Series: Area 51 Interns, 3

Odwar vs. the Shadow Queen

Nguru, Shiko | Lantana (228 pp.) | $18.99 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781915244369

Series: The Intasimi Warriors, 2

Teen interns chase a pair of fugitives—and each other—up and down the timestream.

Following on previous encounters with aliens and cryptids, in this third series outing, Viv, Ray, Charlotte, and Elijah discover that Area 51 includes time travel too. And so, in a tale that features encounters with their past and future selves as well as several historical figures, narrow escapes galore, and regular puking, they pile into a TARDIS-like machine to hare after Viv’s errant parents. Sacrificing elegance for speed (“She floated along in a hapless path,” “They collided into each other,” and “Viv squirmed in her skin”), the authors send their bumbling quartet from a prehistoric extinction event to a far-future one for a climactic battle with bad guys while the swelling sun “plunges the Earth into an uninhabitable chunk of rock.” They then rewind it all for a happy reunion. All this wraps up just in time for a new crisis to set the stage for a lead-in to the next world-saving exploit. Meanwhile, scenes in which the kids help out Einstein, the Wright brothers, Beethoven, and Leonardo da Vinci make fun set pieces, as do Spaziante’s full-color files on the time travelers’ futuristic iPhone 42s and other high-tech gear that appear at the end. High-speed hijinks, albeit in low-rent prose. (Science fiction. 8-12)

A young Kenyan boy struggles to control his newfound power and fight a growing evil. Following the events of Mwikali and the Forbidden Mask (2022), Odwar is struggling to get a good night’s rest. For several weeks he’s had the same terrible nightmare, set in a shadowy dark realm ruled by a monster his friend dubs the Shadow Queen. He isn’t sure what she wants, but it can’t be anything good. Odwar decides that if he finds his Entasim, “a magical object that intensified superpowers,” he’ll be able to banish the nightmares and the Shadow Queen. Mwikali, Xirsi, and Soni, his friends and fellow Intasimi warriors, have noticed that something is wrong with Odwar, but he keeps putting off revealing the full truth in order to keep them safe from the Shadow Queen. But as the Shadow Queen’s influence starts to leak into the real world, Odwar must find the strength to get help before the entire world is consumed in shadow. Nguru’s sequel centers a different student at Nairobi’s Savanna Academy while maintaining the intrigue, action, and magic of the first entry. The Kenyan lore weaves a stunning background for the internal and external battles that unfold within and between Odwar and the Shadow Queen. The last few pages leave readers with a

A young Kenyan boy struggles to control his newfound power and fight a growing evil.

ODWAR VS. THE SHADOW QUEEN

taste of what’s to come in a no-doubt highly anticipated third book. An adventure of strength and compassion. (Fantasy. 9-13)

Secrets We Tell the Sea

Obón, Martha Riva Palacio | Trans. by Lourdes Heuer | Bloomsbury (256 pp.)

$17.99 | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781547608164

A 10-year-old girl who believes she’s a mermaid reluctantly moves in with her grandmother in a small town by the sea in this work from Mexico translated from the original Spanish.

Sofía makes sense of her world by relating everyone and everything in it to the ocean. Even her internal monologue is an ongoing conversation with the sea. She thinks of her mother, who works nights in the city at a mysterious night-shift job that involves wearing a sparkling swimsuit (and perhaps even swinging on a trapeze), as a flying fish. Her mother’s abusive boyfriend, José, is a barracuda. After Sofía repeatedly runs away from creepy José, she’s sent to live with Tita, her sea dragon grandmother, in Bahía. Things start to look up when lonely Sofía befriends classmate Luisa, who has vitiligo. Luisa is ignored by the other kids, too, and shares Sofía’s intense connection to the sea. The girls go to the beach together and bond over their complicated family lives, and Luisa gives Sofía her very special seashell that seems to have a life of its own. After tragedy strikes, lush, magical prose weaves fantasy together with practical explanations for the strange events that suddenly beset Sofía and others, reflecting the characters’ pain. Readers will be left both intrigued and sometimes wondering what really happened but still emotionally blown away. Eventually, Sofía discovers that forgiveness, communication, and hope can help her navigate stormy waters.

Poignant and beautifully written.

(Magical realism. 8-12)

White House Clubhouse

O’Brien, Sean | Illus. by Karyn Lee | Norton Young Readers (240 pp.) | $17.95 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781324052920

Series: White House Clubhouse, 1

Siblings time travel to President Theodore Roosevelt’s era and try to save a tree in this debut by a former White House speechwriter. Ever since their mother’s inauguration as president three months ago, the Suarez sisters—third grader Clara and fifth grader Marissa—have chafed at the lack of freedom in White House life. When the girls find a secret passage in the State Dining Room, they follow it to a candlelit room containing old-fashioned furnishings and a 1903 newspaper with an article about a 2,000-year-old giant sequoia that will be cut down to make room for a dam to supply San Francisco with electricity. They also find a piece of parchment entitled “White House Clubhouse” with signatures of children who lived in the White House before them. By signing, they “promise to make a difference, because we can”—and when they emerge, they’re back in the State Dining Room but during the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt. They meet first children Quentin

and Ethel, and the four kids hatch a plan to stow away on the president’s train that is heading to California. Their plan: to save the giant sequoia. This engrossing, well-rounded story combines adventure, daring, humor, history, and uplifting, kid-centric messaging as it explores the power of nature and the importance of protecting natural resources. The Suarezes are cued Latine in a predominantly white cast. Lee’s crisp artwork adds to the humor and helps readers envision the historical setting.

Hope abounds in this clever, empowering story. (author’s note) (Adventure. 8-12)

Zilot & Other Important Rhymes

Odenkirk, Bob | Illus. by Erin Odenkirk Little, Brown (160 pp.) | $19.99 Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780316438506

Poems on various topics by the actor/screenwriter and his kids.

In collaboration with his now-grown children—particularly daughter Erin, who adds gently humorous vignettes and spot art to each entry—Bob Odenkirk, best known for his roles in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, dishes up a poetic hodgepodge that is notably loose jointed in the meter and rhyme departments. The story also too often veers from child-friendly subjects (bedtime-delaying tactics, sympathy for a dog with the zoomies) to writerly whines (“The be-all and end-all of perfection in scribbling, / no matter and no mind to any critical quibbling”). Some of the less-than-compelling lines describe how a “plane ride is an irony / with a strange and wondrous duplicity.” A few gems are buried in the bunch, however, like the comforting words offered to a bedroom monster and a frightened invisible friend, not to mention an invitation from little Willy Whimble, who lives in a tuna can but has a heart as “big

Combines adventure, daring, humor, history, and uplifting, kid-centric messaging.

WHITE HOUSE CLUBHOUSE

EDITORS’ PICKS:

Those Who Saw the Sun: African American Oral Histories From the Jim Crow South by Jaha Nailah Avery (Levine Querido)

Making More: How Life Begins by Katherine Roy (Norton Young Readers)

King: A Life by Jonathan Eig (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Fat Time: And Other Stories by Jeffery Renard Allen (Graywolf)

ALSO MENTIONED ON THIS EPISODE: By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners by Margaret A. Burnham

Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality by Eliot Schrefer, illus. by Jules Zuckerberg

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

White Girls by Hilton Als

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: Goodfinding: A User’s Guide to EQ and Your Brilliant Mind by William G. DeFoore, Ph.D.

A Journey Must Be Taken by H.L. Howard

Right My College Application Essay by Christine Gacharná

The Alchemist’s Portal by Kim Acco

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

Fully Booked

Jon Klassen renders a misremembered folktale unforgettable in The Skull BY MEGAN LABRISE

EPISODE 328: JON KLASSEN

On this episode of the Fully Booked podcast, Jon Klassen discusses The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale (Candlewick, July 11), the story of a fast friendship between a girl on the run and a hospitable skull, from the highly decorated Canada-born author/ illustrator of I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat, and We Found a Hat. In addition to winning a Caldecott Medal, Klassen is a two-time Caldecott honoree, and the illustrator of beloved, critically acclaimed titles by Mac Barnett and Lemony Snicket, among others.

“Caldecott Medalist Klassen’s signature style is brought to bear on a Tyrolean tale imbued with equal parts comfort and creepiness,” Kirkus writes of The Skull, a brilliant retelling of a classic story. Here’s a bit more from our starred review:

“As the story begins, we meet Otilla, a young tan-skinned girl on the run from her old life, who stumbles upon a large house with a single occupant: a talking skull. The two strike up an immediate friendship, and when the skull confesses that a headless skeleton chases him every night, Otilla is determined to come to his aid. Keen ingenuity on her part protects her new friend, and a happy ending sees the two of them together always.…Employing his customary pitch-perfect tonal gymnastics, only Klassen could inspire readers to want craniums as pals.”

Klassen and host Megan Labrise open with a spirited discussion of how to pronounce Tyrolean. Then Klassen shares the story of how he encountered “The Skull” in a library book in Juneau, Alaska, followed by a beautiful, rigorous retelling of his version of the story. The pair then discuss choosing

The Skull

Klassen, Jon Candlewick | 112 pp. | $25.99 July 11, 2023 | 9781536223378

the right visual details; friendship; what it means to seek asylum; showing care for one’s readers; the nitty-gritty approach to illustrating a 115-page book; what Klassen likes about skulls; and much more.

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

Megan Labrise in the editor at large and host of the Fully Booked podcast.

Carson Ellis

SEEN AND HEARD

New Kids’ Book by Jamie Lee Curtis Coming in 2024

Jamie Lee Curtis has another children’s book coming next year, the Associated Press reports.

Philomel is set to publish the actor’s Just One More Sleep: All Good Things Come To Those Who Wait…and Wait…and Wait, illustrated by Laura Cornell. The Penguin Random House imprint describes the book as “a celebration of delayed gratification.”

Curtis, the Halloween and Freaky Friday actor who recently won an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once, is a prolific author of children’s books with longtime collaborator Cornell. The pair’s books include Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born, It’s

To read our review of My Brave Year of Firsts by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell, visit kirkusreviews.com

Hard to Be Five, and My Brave Year of Firsts

Their new book explains to children why waiting for holidays and other exciting days can be a positive experience.

“In a buoyant book that channels childhood exuberance, Jamie Lee Curtis makes it clear why waiting is worth it,” Philomel says. “And with Laura Cornell’s bold and humorous artwork helping readers celebrate and appreciate milestones throughout the year, this is a story worth waiting for—and one kids will want to read over and over again.”

Curtis announced news of the book on Instagram, writing, “TODAY we are releasing the wonderful cover by my partner in design and color and whimsy, Laura Cornell! The book is being published by @ philomelbooks @penguinrandomhouse and excuse the way intended pun, I can’t WAIT!”

Just One More Sleep is slated for publication on Jan. 16, 2024.—M.S.

IN THE NEWS

Sotomayor’s Staff Pushed Institutions To Buy Books

The staff of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor pushed libraries and colleges to buy multiple copies of her books, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Sotomayor, who was appointed to the court by former President Barack Obama in 2009, is the author of several books, including a memoir, My Beloved World, and four books for children, including Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You, illustrated by Rafael López.

The AP reports that after Just Ask! was published in 2019, Sotomayor was due to speak at the Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon. Anh Le, an aide to Sotomayor, emailed the library, “For an event with 1,000 people and they have to have a copy of Just Ask to get into the line, 250 books is definitely not enough. Families purchase multiples and people will be upset if they are unable to get in line because the book required is sold out.”

Similar pushes were

made to the University of California, Davis School of Law, Clemson University, and other institutions. The Supreme Court said in a statement to the AP, “When [Sotomayor] is invited to participate in a book program, Chambers staff recommends the number of books [for an organization to order] based on the size of the audience so as not to disappoint attendees who may anticipate books being available at an event.”—M.S.

Curtis: Unique Nicole/Getty Images; Sotomayor: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

To read our review of Sonia Sotomayor’s Just Ask!, illustrated by Rafael López, please visit kirkusreviews.com.

Jamie Lee Curtis

as can be. / Come inside, / stay for dinner. / I’ll roast us a pea!” They’re hard to find, though. Notwithstanding nods to Calef Brown, Shel Silverstein, and other gifted wordsmiths in the acknowledgments, the wordplay in general is as artificial as much of the writing: “I scratched, then I scrutched / and skrappled away, / scritching my itch with great / pan-a-ché…” Human figures are light-skinned throughout. A lackluster collection of verse enlivened by a few bright spots. (Poetry. 6-8)

Waaa Waaa Goes Táwà

Ònájìn, Àlàbá | Random House Studio (40 pp.) | $18.99 | Nov. 14, 2023 9780593644072

Táwà’s wails disturb everyone in the village.

Little Táwà is pleasant and sweet—until she hears the word no. Then tears fly, wails blast from her mouth, and onlookers recoil in fright from her tantrums. Mama gives in and lets her come to the market. A toy seller gives in, too, and gives her a doll, even after Mama says no. Táwà’s tears also send a small friend running, cut a hair-braiding session short, and convince a tired Papa to let Táwà snuggle up on his back. Will the terror and manipulation ever end? After bedtime, the tables are turned, and Táwà learns to play a new role. This simple story might worry caretakers who don’t want to encourage tantrums, but its treatment of this common issue does bring a lighthearted humor to frustrating behaviors and may open up healthy communication between adults and children. Ònájìn’s humorous, bright, cartoonlike illustrations are wonderfully expressive, using motion to exaggerate the monstrous impact of a toddler’s tantrum on beholders. The contrast between Táwà before, during, and after her tears works brilliantly to build conflict and tension until the final, satisfying scene. All characters are Black, and names

and cultural details imply an African setting. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Readers will delight in this loving, hilarious tale of a child determined to have her own way. (Picture book. 3-6)

Saving Chupie

Ortiz, Amparo | Illus. by Ronnie Garcia

Colors by Walter Carzon | HarperAlley (224 pp.) | $19.99 paper | Aug. 1, 2023 9780062950284

and lore into themes of familial love and friendship difficulties. When differing beliefs test the bonds between Violeta, Diego, and Lorena, readers will find nuanced, realistic treatment of their anger, frustration, and sadness. Garcia’s illustrations leap off the page with a vibrancy that evokes island life and shows the diversity of skin tones and hair textures found there. Violeta’s father reads white.

An enticing, broadly appealing blend of Puerto Rican mythology and relationship-driven adventure. (field guide) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)

It’s Violeta’s first time in Puerto Rico, and she is excited to help Abuelita reopen her beloved restaurant after Hurricane Maria. But none of her family members let her help, saying that she’s “only a kid once” and should go have fun. Luckily, she meets local kids Diego, whose mother is the butcher who supplied Abuelita’s restaurant, and Lorena, whose uncle is a monster hunter. Violeta is a bit socially awkward, and they become her first real friends ever. Something has been killing the animals Diego’s mother needs for her butcher shop, and the friends, convinced it’s a chupacabra, band together to find it—though Violeta is initially skeptical that they even exist. However, after a young chupacabra gets caught in a steel-jaw trap while protecting her, Violeta vows to keep Chupie, as she names him, safe from the smugglers who deal in mythical creatures. Ortiz expertly weaves Puerto Rican culture

Where Do Babies Come From?

Oud, Pauline | Clavis (40 pp.) | $18.95 Nov. 14, 2023 | 9781605379623

Series: Butterflies in Your Belly, 2

Oud offers little ones an introduction to the ins and outs of human reproduction. The artwork depicts Mommy and Daddy under the sheets but groups unclothed adult and child figures of both sexes on the next page to show their differences; the art also traces a baby’s development in utero month by month. The information is presented in a mix of cartoon illustrations and frank, simple dialogues between little Noa and her parents, Noa and her friend Luke, Luke and his mommies (who explain how they used donated sperm to conceive him), and other children with friends or grandparents. Additional facts float alongside in easily digestible sidebars. Along with sex

A girl and her new friends are on a mission to save a chupacabra from harm.

Readers will delight in this loving, hilarious tale of a child determined to have her own way.

WAAA WAAA GOES TÁWÀ

and development, topics touched on include doctor visits, twins, adoption, why children might look like or unlike their parents, premature birth…and then baby naming, care, and gear from playpen to bottles. Noa’s father is dark-skinned, while her mother is light-skinned, and Noa is tan-skinned. Luke and Mommy Lucy are light-skinned, while Mommy Ellen is tan-skinned. An adoptee, Mika, presents as Asian. The instruction takes on an interactive aspect toward the end, with young viewers invited to spot differences between two versions of a party for the new baby and identify whether toys and other items are meant for babies or for older sibs. The tone is warm and welcoming throughout. (This book was reviewed digitally.) An excellent overview—clear, inclusive, and specific without sounding clinical. (Informational picture book. 3-5)

US Coast Guard Alphabet Book

Pallotta, Jerry & Sammie

by

Garnett | Illus.

Vickie Fraser | Charlesbridge (32 pp.)

$17.99 | Sept. 26, 2023 | 9781570919541

Series: Jerry Pallotta’s Alphabet Books

An alphabetical guide detailing coast guard history, navigational terms, and sailing facts. This picture book reads like a visual glossary, providing readers with information about everything from the origins of the U.S. Coast Guard to details about specific ships. Each letter of the alphabet is accompanied by a related term and a paragraph of information. With “K is for knot,” for instance, the authors note that a knot refers to both a way to tie up ropes and the speed of a ship. Robust vocabulary, complex topics (such as how the U.S. Coast Guard was formed in 1790 “to collect taxes from cargo-carrying ships”), and labeled diagrams like one of a sextant make the book best suited for elementary school readers seeking information on navigation or the

history of the U.S. Coast Guard rather than those learning the alphabet. The illustrations are largely photographs or realistic drawings. With a clean layout and simple focal points, the art is appealing and will help readers easily make sense of the information. Most people depicted appear to be white, though people of color are portrayed, too. “G is for Gold Lifesaving Medal” highlights Ida Lewis, the first woman to receive this award. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Practical and engaging nonfiction. (Informational picture book. 6-9)

Looking Up

Pastis, Stephan | Aladdin (240 pp.) | $13.99 Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781665929622

Imagination and drawing help two grieving children in this illustrated novel by the creator of the popular Timmy Failure series and the comic strip “Pearls Before Swine.”

Things are not looking up for Saint (“I wasn’t named for a bearded guy in heaven. I was named for a football team in Louisiana”). Her favorite toy store is demolished, and her beloved diner closes. It’s all part of the gentrification for which she holds her single mother, who works long hours as a real estate agent and frequently breaks her promises, responsible. Saint very much likes reticent neighbor Daniel “Chance” McGibbons, who uses a cane, but first she has to win his friendship after an awkward beginning at his birthday party. When the uncle Chance lives with sells to developers, Saint’s determination to save his home penetrates Chance’s reserve. The kids’ subsequent shenanigans will

delight readers. The story is generously illustrated with Pastis’ characteristic black-and-white cartoon line drawings, mostly of the two round-headed kids, whose hair and skin are as white as the page. Longtime neighborhood resident Old Lady Trifaldi helps Saint learn to cope with change by looking at the stars from her roof, “to make time go backward.” Pastis fills this deceptively simple first-person account with humor, puns, turns, and twists—and the final twist gives this friendship tale its surprising depth.

Words and art combine to create a moving story. (Fiction. 9-12)

The Monster Above the Bed

Pew, Kailei | Illus. by Steph Lew | Clarion/ HarperCollins (40 pp.) | $19.99

Oct. 24, 2023 | 9780063271326

A typical childhood fear turns out to be true…sort of. Blossom is an adorable tot convinced that a monster that lives above her bed causes the creaks, rattles, and grunts she hears each night. Readers will be delighted at Blossom’s appearance: She has turquoise fur, tiny orange horns, one giant eye, and rosy cheeks…she’s a “monster” herself. When her parents fail to find or even hear anything unusual in her room, Blossom takes matters into her own hands. Collecting the gear she needs and climbing through her window, she emerges from under a bed, only to be caught by the “monster,” a human child with brown skin and a dark ponytail. The child unlocks the trap, and Blossom escapes, but now she has a new theory to test. Armed with a pencil, notebook, and camera, she spies on the “monster” and comes to the realization that it’s not a monster but a friend above her bed, and the two have great fun together. While the bright digital illustrations are a joy, they also may raise questions, since Blossom and the human

For more children’s content, visit Kirkus online.

are about the same size: Where’s the window to Blossom’s room, and how does all that fit under the human’s bed? Regardless, this is a welcome addition to the canon of books exploring this popular childhood fear. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A fun look at monsters above and below the bed. (Picture book. 4-8)

Taking Care

Pirrone, Francesca | Clavis (32 pp.) | $18.95

Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781605379456

Caring for others is noble, but it can be exhausting.

Now starring in his fifth book, Piggy finds a baby hedgehog in the forest. He picks it up gently and, unsure of its care, calls the veterinarian. Diligently complying with the vet’s advice, Piggy provides love, puts the little creature in a box with a blanket, and feeds it goat’s milk every three hours. Then Piggy feels tired (he isn’t shown in bed until after his charge is gone). But his friends worry enough to show up and help. Very soon—a day and a page later—the hedgehog sleeps through the night and feeds itself. Just a page more and the hedgehog is big, returning to the forest as Piggy wishes it luck. When he later reflects on caring for the baby, Piggy thinks only, “It was nice.” And sometimes the hedgehog returns for a sleepover. Delicate line drawings, most from a slightly elevated perspective, are again enlivened by deft touches of red, pale blue, and mustard yellow. Translated from Dutch, the story progresses so swiftly that the ideas of overstretching oneself and of friends’ crucial aid zip past too quickly for a big impact; earlier titles in the series have been a bit more successful. But the simple, spare language could appeal to emerging readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Sweet, subtle, though not as absorbing as previous installments (Picture book. 3-7)

The Golden Imaginarium

Potter, Ellen | McElderry (272 pp.) | $17.99

Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781665910422

Series: Hither & Nigh, 2

A cryptic note on her apartment door leads middle school angel-intraining Nell Batista back to the magical alternate world of Nigh for a second try at rescuing her kidnapped little brother.

In a slapdash follow-up to Hither & Nigh (2022), Nell, along with fellow trainees Crud and Annika, goes from being pitched into a disastrous pass/ fail Initiation Trial for the Angelic Order of Alchemy in the Hither (which is this world, sort of) to reunions in the Nigh with her crush, Tom the Imp, and the big, memorable mama angel of New York’s Bethesda Fountain. Encounters in both worlds with creatures ranging from really big dogs to a terrifying tiny Creeping Yeuk that bestows unreachable itches on its victims—plus battles with deadly monsters and evil, child-stealing Magicians—ensue on the way to a resolution and wrap-up so rushed that it’s unclear whether the author plans further developments. But her comic—and comically romantic—timing remains sharp, her three young leads develop gratifyingly tight bonds notwithstanding very different temperaments and backgrounds, and the story arc does bend toward what appears to be a happy ending. A bountiful creature cast and some learning-curve spellcasting will keep readers amused, too.

The human (and angelic) cast largely reads white.

A rough patchwork of lightweight chills and thrills. (Fantasy. 9-12)

The Power of Snow

Raczka, Bob | Illus. by Bryony Clarkson Millbrook/Lerner (32 pp.) | $20.99 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781728450919

Snow descends mathematically. We intuitively understand that when snow falls, huge numbers of snowflakes combine to form a white cover. This book demonstrates that there’s also a mathematical way to regard snowfall: Consider snowflakes falling in pairs, then multiply them exponentially. The book starts with two snowflakes, which increase in number over the course of the story. At the bottom of each page, a caption shows the base number 2 with an exponent—for instance, on the page labeled “Eight flakes twirl,” the caption reads “2³ = 2 to the third power / 2 x 2 x 2 = 8.” It all culminates with 2 to the 14th power, or 16,384 snowflakes. The correct number of snowflakes is depicted on each page, and when the numbers are manageable, readers may actually count them in the artwork. The text is delivered in simple, lively verse. Younger kids likely won’t get the math, not having learned multiplication yet, but they’ll appreciate fun vocabulary like swoosh and sashay. Older kids who’ve studied multiplication will understand more and appreciate learning how to multiply the same number repeatedly. The lush, textured illustrations, created from cut pieces of painted-paper collage, then assembled digitally, capture nature at its wintry best. Two children—one light-skinned, one brownskinned—are depicted playing in the snow. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Cool! Snow really has the power to wow—and teaches math, too. (what is an exponent?, illustrator’s note) (Informational picture book. 5-9)

A rough patchwork of lightweight chills and thrills.

THE GOLDEN IMAGINARIUM

Salma Writes a Book

Ramadan, Danny | Illus. by Anna Bron Annick Press (120 pp.) | $19.99 Sept. 5, 2023 | 9781773218021

As she prepares to be an older sister, a young girl encourages her mother to make amends with her own sibling. When Salma finds out her mother is pregnant, she’s determined to become the best big sister ever! She can’t find any books about being a good older sibling that speak to her family’s experiences—they are Syrian immigrants who have settled in Canada—and she decides to write her own guidebook. While researching, she feels extra lucky that her uncle, Khalou Dawood, is back in touch with her family for the first time in years. Although Salma doesn’t know why she’s never met him, she’s sure that she can learn how to be a great sibling from him and her mother—that is, until she discovers that her mother hasn’t spoken to her brother for years, simply because he married a man. While helping her mother overcome homophobia, Salma realizes that being a sibling is a lot more complicated than she expected. She also learns that people can change—and that even adults sometimes need help figuring out how to be the best sibling ever. This tender, gentle book conveys the complexities of sibling relationships while also matterof-factly describing a loving same-sex relationship. Purposeful though never didactic, this tale weaves multiple strands together for a satisfying ending. An affirming tale of family and acceptance. (Chapter book. 6-9)

The Portal Keeper

Robertson, David A. | Tundra Books (256 pp.) | $17.99 | Oct. 10, 2023

9781774880258

Series: The Misewa Saga, 4

“Do you guys almost get killed or have to save the world, or somebody, every time you come here?”

The “guys” in question are Morgan and Eli, the Cree foster siblings who have moved between Earth and Askí for adventures aplenty in the previous three volumes of the Misewa Saga. They are talking to Emily, Morgan’s white girlfriend, who has traveled with them to this magical world populated by Cree-speaking animals called pisiskowak. In this volume, they learn that humans from Earth have somehow crossed into Askí and are kidnapping pisiskowak for display in a Winnipeg zoo. The focus in this outing changes from Morgan to Eli, who learns that his portal-opening powers are more extensive than he’d imagined. Though he shifts perspective, Robertson (Norway House Cree Nation) nevertheless delivers what series fans have come to expect: fast-paced adventure, humorous banter, and tender explorations

of Indigenous experiences. Pisiskowak characters from earlier adventures make welcome returns, and the new animal beings the kids meet are excellent additions to the cast. One uses they/them pronouns, extending the series’ LGBTQ+ content beyond Morgan and Emily’s relationship. Critical revelations about Eli’s heritage and a bloody battle both close the tale and open the way for the next entry.

Robertson’s now-familiar formula satisfies once again. (map, pronunciation guide, glossary) (Fantasy. 10-14)

A Daydreamy Child Takes a Walk

Rodari, Gianni | Illus. by Beatrice Alemagna

Trans. by Antony Shugaar | Enchanted Lion Books (32 pp.) | $18.95 | Oct. 24, 2023 9781592704033

A reimagined Italian classic gets the surreal update it deserves.

When Giovanni tells his mama that he’s going out for a walk, she warns him in no uncertain terms: “Don’t get distracted along the way.” For the first block or so, he follows her dictates, but soon enough the boy’s attention wanders. It wanders so much, in fact, that he starts accidentally dropping body parts along the way. There goes a hand! Then a whole arm! Then a foot! Kindly passersby return each part to Giovanni’s mother, who’s at her wits’ end with the boy, even as her neighbors assure her, “Well, it’s no mystery. That’s just the way children are.” By the time he hops home, she just puts him back together, and when he asks if he was a good boy, she assures him that yes, he most certainly was. Any parent with similarly distractible offspring of their own will deeply sympathize with this mother. Interestingly, even as things grow increasingly fantastic, the storytelling reinforces Mama’s unflagging love for Giovanni. Alemagna’s

Heart, humor, and more than a spoonful of weirdness help this mother/son tale ring oddly true.

A DAYDREAMY CHILD TAKES A WALK

For more children’s content, visit Kirkus online.

mixed-media art provides the perfect counterpart to this tale of waylaid appendages, perfectly conveying both the familiar ridiculousness of the storyline and the deep-seated connection between a boy and his mama. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Heart, humor, and more than a spoonful of weirdness help this mother/son tale ring oddly true. (Picture book. 3-6)

Colorful Mondays: A Bookmobile Spreads Hope in Honduras

Rodríguez, N. & L.A. Montes | Illus. by Rosana Faría & Carla Tabora | Trans. by Lawrence Schimel | Eerdmans (36 pp.)

$17.99 | Sept. 19, 2023 | 9780802856166

Series: Stories From Latin America

In this tale translated from Spanish, visits from a bookmobile transform a Honduran neighborhood.

Villa Nueva is a place where “happy stories mix with sad ones.” Young Luis likes to lift his family’s spirits by sharing happy ones. On Mondays, the bookmobile’s arrival at school gives him the chance to replenish his well. Readalouds, puppet shows, and the books the children choose for silent reading enable Luis and his classmates to “carry a glimmer of happiness back to their homes.”

Backmatter explains that the story is inspired by the work of JustWorld International, a nonprofit that partners with the local organization Asociación Compartir. Co-author Rodríguez, a writer, educator, and musician from Trojes, El Paraíso, Honduras, who appears in the book, works with the real-life bookmobile. Though the community is initially described as a blend of happy and sad tales, it’s visually depicted as a depressing place where everyone looks downcast. Monochromatic blues and grays dominate, and rich hues appear only when Luis tells a story and when the bookmobile arrives, suggesting less the uplifting potential of a good story than that these people’s lives would be pure misery if it weren’t for the help of people outside

the community. While the art is lush and textured and the story engaging, they can’t make up for this flattening portrayal. (This book was reviewed digitally.) An attempt at conveying the power of story, dampened by a simplistic depiction of a Latine community. (Picture book. 5-9)

Keynan Masters and the Peerless Magic Crew

Sanders, DaVaun | Inkyard Press (320 pp.) $18.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781335458049

What’s the point of having a crew? Having folks who tough it out with you.

Twelve-yearold poet Keynan “Keymaster” Masters is content with his neighborhood, life with his mom and baba, and attending virtual school. When he gets a surprise acceptance letter from the Peerless Academy of Movement, Art, Genealogy, Instrumentation, and Composition, he’s resolute about not attending, because it would mean leaving Bizzy Block, his tight-knit co-op community. Full of family, food, and fun, Bizzy Block is safe—well, except for the raging storms that seem to come from nowhere and threaten to swallow everything up. After a particularly destructive storm roars through, Keymaster decides to go to Peerless after all, hoping they’ll have the knowledge to help him stop the storms. But Peerless holds more secrets than that, among them the fact that there is broken magic out there that must be held at bay lest it destroy everything. Magic is hard to contain, however, and Keymaster inadvertently

rhymes up trouble. He and his creative crew—artist Amari and dancer Leah—face the biggest threat they’ve ever seen. Collectively, their artistic talents keep Peerless safe, but there’s more trouble in store, as Keymaster learns when he returns home for the summer. Sanders’ debut is a culturally and linguistically rich journey through a magical world populated by young Black creatives, featuring diverse portrayals of Black youth. The fast pace will keep readers absorbed. This magical, action-packed journey is layered with challenges and enriched by friendship. (Fantasy. 9-13)

Waddle I Do Without You?

Schusterman, Michelle | Scholastic (240 pp.) | $7.99 paper | Oct. 17, 2023 9781338893250

Fairy penguins have always been safe on their island off the coast of Western Australia, but something frightening is happening. The tale unfolds in alternating chapters, each focusing on one of the three protagonists. Twelve-year-old homeschooled Addie lives by the beach with her overprotective widower dad and beloved dog, Max. Imaginative and sometimes lonely, she can be impulsive and daring, especially if her beloved sea creatures are at risk. Fortunately, Addie finds like-minded friends and mentors through her youth environmental group. Max follows Addie closely, bringing his own special canine abilities and insights and overcoming his fears to help

This magical, action-packed journey is layered with challenges and enriched by friendship.

KEYNAN MASTERS AND THE PEERLESS MAGIC CREW

protect the penguins they befriend. Then there is tiny penguin Darwin, a misfit and loner who’s the first to recognize the escalating dangers to his colony; though he has difficulty communicating his concerns to the other penguins, he’s determined to find a solution. Climate change is contributing to the ability of predator foxes to reach the island via a path newly opened by extreme low tides, putting the vulnerable fairy penguins in peril. Each chapter overlaps just a bit, with clues and epiphanies that move the action forward slowly at first, later building to a rapid, heart-stopping crescendo. Aided by Addie’s TikTok videos, an international community of viewers, and a strategy generated by Addie, Max, and Darwin, the colony is saved—at least for now. Despite being of different species, the protagonists are devoted to each other, and their cause will capture readers’ hearts. Complex, timely, and deeply moving. (Fiction. 8-12)

The Nighthouse Keeper

Senf, Lora | Illus. by Alfredo Cáceres

Atheneum (320 pp.) | $17.99 | Oct. 17, 2023

9781665934633

Series: Blight Harbor, 2

Evie enters the otherworldly place called the Dark Sun Side, searching for Blight Harbor’s missing ghosts in this sequel to 2022’s The Clackity.

Twelve-year-old Evie Von Rathe returns, this time following the trail of missing ghost Florence and finding herself lured to the Dark Sun Side by ghoulish, evil Portia. Once there, Evie learns about the Radix, a swirling, black, oceanlike expanse of unforgiving magical power. In exchange for Evie’s return to the land of the living, Portia tasks her with retrieving the soul light from the center lantern of the Nighthouse. With the help of Bird, her tattooed sidekick who moves

about her body at will, and a girl she meets on her journey named Lark, who is neither ghost nor human, Evie is pushed to her limits as she navigates this terrifying world on her important, soul-saving mission. Senf’s nightmarish, well-imagined supernatural landscape is original and compelling. Evie and Lark’s friendship is believably close and trusting, their shared pain and fear binding them together. Bird continues to be a scene-stealing companion, a necessary voice of reason and encouragement for Evie and readers alike. More than just a battle between good and supernatural evil, this story shows the ultimate power of empathy and tenacity. Readers will be left both satisfied by the ending and wanting more. Evie is cued white. Deliciously dark and gripping. (Horror. 9-12)

Imagine a Garden: Stories of Courage Changing the World

Singh, Rina | Illus. by Hoda Hadadi Greystone Kids (44 pp.) | $18.95 Sept. 26, 2023 | 9781771647137

People around the world solve community problems. In Palestine, a bereaved mother plants flowers in spent tear-gas canisters; in a Rio de Janeiro favela, a gymnast/ballerina/office worker teaches dance to girls (who must have passing grades in school to attend). Under a bridge in Delhi, a shopkeeper teaches the children of poor migrant workers; in South Africa, a football lover coaches young players using a makeshift ball. In Canada, an Anishinaabe activist struggles to secure water rights; in Mexico, an artist creates musical

instruments from illegal guns; and in Greece, a restaurateur cooks for refugees arriving on her island’s shores. The spare free verse underscores the positive in each case, and though the individual people aren’t identified, they are named in the backmatter, which offers more biographical details. Simple vignettes accompany the text, with two splendid full-page tissue-paper collage illustrations per person. Combining jewel-bright tones and different textures into clothing, landscapes, objects, dwellings, and more, the artwork lights the pages with settings that are barren but not stark. Why mere individuals should be struggling against enormous adverse odds and whether there are other entities and ways to address these issues are unasked questions. Still, these portrayals of seven admirable agents of hope and small-scale change are nothing if not inspiring. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Celebrating human endeavors like these might prompt more sweeping change. (Informational picture book. 6-10)

Mabuhay!

Sterling, Zachary | Graphix/Scholastic (240 pp.) | $12.99 paper | Oct. 17, 2023 9781338738605

Two siblings are thrown headfirst into Filipino magic, mythology, and folklore.

JJ and Althea

Bulan, the children of Filipino immigrants, are trying to figure out where they fit in. Self-conscious JJ cares how others see him, while Althea won’t change for anyone and wants people to accept that. At school, people mispronounce their surname, JJ gets bullied for being unathletic, and kids make racist comments about Althea’s Filipino lunches. Fitting in is even harder when they spend their free time helping out at the Beautiful Pig, the family food truck—JJ has to

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dress up in a pig costume while Althea hands out samples. Then Tito Arvin, their dad’s flaky younger brother, unexpectedly shows up with a warning that the family is in danger. After sharing the same creepy nightmare and being attacked by witches and a monster, the siblings uncover secrets their parents have been hiding: Their mother has magical powers, and the witches who raised her are pursuing them. To save the day, JJ and Althea must learn to embrace who they are and the culture they come from. Full of Filipino folklore and mythology, this humorous coming-of-age graphic novel is an exciting combination of fantasy and relatable middle school issues. The fun, heartwarming story with its bright, expressive illustrations celebrates family, food, and culture. Tagalog words are woven into the dialogue, with pronunciations and definitions provided in the footnotes. An engaging tribute to family, food, and finding yourself. (recipe, author’s note, glossary) (Graphic adventure. 8-12)

Max Fernsby and the Infinite Toys

Swallow, Gerry & Peter Gaulke

Illus. by Marta Kissi | Harper/HarperCollins (208 pp.) | $18.99 | Sept. 19, 2023

9780063214750

A young boy comes into possession of a miraculous bag.

Two weeks before Christmas, the continued shenanigans of North Pole elves Eldor and Skhiff result in their being given the less-than-desirable job of “fertilizer relocation engineer” (shoveling reindeer poop). Meanwhile, a 10-yearold foster child named Max Fernsby takes an ill-fated, snowy bedpan ride (he and his friends couldn’t afford a toboggan)…and winds up careening into Steve Bozeman, the greedy CEO of Rainforest.com. Though the kids run off, they haven’t seen the last

of Bozeman. When a hankering for pizza prompts Eldor to borrow Santa’s sleigh, an almost-collision sends Santa’s red bag falling through the sky onto Max’s head. The bag produces whatever toy he asks for, and he and his friends start a business to support themselves and provide presents to the neighborhood at much lower prices than Rainforest.com offers. The elves need to find that bag, especially before Bozeman gets his hands on it! Opening with a promise that readers have never heard a Christmas story quite like this one, Swallow and Gaulke certainly deliver in the unique zany shenanigans department. Despite a couple of missteps—a key beat of the climax happens abruptly offscreen, and the end has an odd twist—young readers looking for humor with a holiday twist will have fun here. Occasional illustrations depict the primary characters as light-skinned, though people of color appear, too. General tomfoolery, affectionate and otherwise. (Fiction. 8-11)

Kirkus Star Hidden Truths

Swartz, Elly | Delacorte (272 pp.) | $16.99 $19.99 PLB | Oct. 31, 2023 | 9780593483664 9780593483671 PLB

Trust and doughnuts get two longtime besties over a deep rift in the wake of a traumatic accident.

Dani lives and breathes baseball—but after achieving the ultimate triumph of making it onto an otherwise all-boy middle school team, a camper explosion leaves her with a broken leg, a concussion, and serious nerve damage. Her best friend, Eric, dragged her to safety, but he is tortured by guilt because, having a famously unreliable memory, he wonders if he forgot to turn the stove off. Was this disaster on their annual

camping trip all his fault? Swartz skillfully tracks several emotional arcs in her two sixth graders through their alternating voices as Eric’s eventual agonized confession creates a break that drives both well-realized protagonists to fasten onto (and be disappointed by) new friends before realizing their mistake and seeking to mend fences. Eric turns out to be better at this than his tough-minded but inarticulate friend. His MO involves talks with God and bringing doughnuts to social encounters. Dani, her all-consuming determination to heal fast enough to rejoin the team that season only partially dimmed by setbacks, has guilt of her own to overcome for failing to meet him halfway. Sensitive readers will understand what neurodivergent Eric means when he declares “I see stuff differently” as a superpower. The cast reads white; Eric is cued Jewish.

A warm testament to the healing power of mutual respect—and doughnuts. (Fiction. 9-12)

Sam Francisco: King of the Disco

Tagholm, Sarah | Illus. by Binny Talib Annick Press (32 pp.) | $18.99

Sept. 19, 2023 | 9781773218212

An all-night cat disco in the streets—what could go wrong?

It’s midnight, and something “covered in glitter from head to toe” is slinking out the window of an ornate townhouse: Sam Francisco, a flamboyant orange cat with a flashy roster of friends, is throwing a DIY disco in the streets. Clad in a David Bowie–inspired outfit, Sam serves as resident DJ while his pals “breakdance, can-can, hiphop, headbang” to the beat. Buzzkill Bill, a tan-skinned neighbor with a classically villainous countenance, is rudely awakened by the ruckus and instructs his dogs to break up the party. Instead, the dogs get swept up in the music. Bill proceeds to call pest control, the fire department, and the

police—predictably, each subsequently joins the revelers. Out of options, Bill pulls the plug on Sam’s audio equipment and brings the music to a silent halt. Is the party over? Overturning some trash cans, Sam creates a drum set and keeps the fun alive: “The bins were even louder than the DJ set. Everyone was breaking out their best moves yet.”

Paired with illustrator Talib’s busy, whimsical pictures, the rhyming text and joyful tumult of Sam’s late-night jamboree may entertain some readers. Others may not find enough to grab them in this rather formulaic story. Human characters are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Not quite “a megaton of fun” but enjoyable enough. (Picture book. 4-6)

The Bedtime Book of Incredible Questions

Thomas, Isabel | Illus. by Aaron Cushley Bloomsbury (96 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 17, 2023

9781547613601

Not-so-short answers to over 70 random questions about life and the universe.

Science is all about asking questions, Thomas writes, and most of those posed here are the sort that “are still bamboozling biologists, confusing chemists, and making physicists feel perplexed.” Some may seem to be no-brainers, but the answer to, for instance, “Are cats liquid or solid?” proves to be “both,” according to strict definitions of the two terms. “Why do we get only one birthday a year?” launches a lively discussion of astronomical cycles and

birthday celebrations in ancient Rome. Topics range from soap bubble dynamics and the “speed of dark” to our “squidgy and flexible” human genome, and children won’t be the only readers surprised by some of the revelations dished up: No, we don’t actually know what gives airplanes lift, why plants are green, or why we yawn…and petrichor, the fresh smell of rain, actually comes from an oil called geosmin that’s exuded by soil microbes. An invitation to ponder the very nature of reality in response to “How do I know I’m not dreaming right now?” makes clear that the author doesn’t shy away from big questions, either. Most of the human figures in Cushley’s fanciful, stylized illustrations are children, and most are brown-skinned.

Stimulating queries for bed, or any other, time. (Nonfiction. 8-10)

Kirkus Star

Who I Am: Words I Tell Myself

Verde, Susan | Illus. by Peter H. Reynolds Abrams (32 pp.) | $15.99 | Sept. 5, 2023

9781419770913

Series: I Am...

You are your loudest cheerleader.

In a world filled with negativity, it’s important that children say positive things to themselves to quell the internal voices trying to make them believe they’re anything less than kind and exceptional. This inspiring book gently teaches kids to use positive affirmations to remember they’re actually terrific. “It’s with these

words that I am describing the real me. With these words, I know who I am.” Verde doesn’t suggest it’s wrong to experience unhappy feelings, however: “I am human. I am allowed to feel. I am supposed to feel.” It’s OK to talk about feelings, too, for anxious or other troublesome emotions will pass. As for mistakes, failings, and other challenges? There’s a positive angle to them, too. This work contains numerous examples of empowering affirmations kids should learn to tell themselves, but, as the preface sagely advises adults, grownups should use this volume so that little ones will hear the positive vocabulary they must internalize to be able to affirm their own value. The delightful, uplifting illustrations, created with traditional and digital inks, plus gouache, watercolors, and tea, feature active, racially diverse children, sometimes appearing in groups, sometimes alone or in meditative poses. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A must-read that will remind all kids of just how great they are. (Picture book. 5-9)

Kirkus Star Coyote Queen

Vitalis, Jessica | Greenwillow Books (272 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 9780063314405

As the call of the wild meets the call of the runway, 12-yearold Fud faces scary problems at home.

Writing that the despised nickname “Fud” is one of several wrenching elements in this novel drawn from her own life, Vitalis plants protagonist Felicity Ulyssa “Fud” Dahlers and her mom, a victim of domestic abuse, in a Wyoming trailer with unstable ex-boxer Larry, whose increasingly frequent blow-ups are plainly heading nowhere good. Desperate to escape, Fud seizes on the (slim) chance of a cash prize

Children won’t be the only readers surprised by some of the revelations dished up.

THE BEDTIME BOOK OF INCREDIBLE QUESTIONS

offered by a local beauty pageant and undertakes a major makeover with help from aggressively friendly new neighbor Leigh. But along with disturbing visions of being a coyote and feral urges so strong that she actually attacks a mean girl at school, Fud’s senses of smell and hearing seem suddenly more acute, her hair and nails grow oddly, she has spells of coyotelike color blindness—and once, briefly, she even sports a tail. How much of this is imaginary, the author leaves readers to decide, but either way, a tragically familiar tale of abuse is layered onto a raw and multifaceted coming-of-age story. Fud’s memorably unconventional pageant performance will win hearts and minds, as will her cry for help and the strong, constructive response it brings. Main characters read white; Fud’s long-gone father came from Spain, and there’s a racially diverse supporting cast. The author adds child abuse helplines and resources to her eloquent afterword. Rich, strange, and winningly intense. (Fiction. 9-13)

Nowhere Special

Wallace, Matt | Katherine Tegen/ HarperCollins (256 pp.) | $18.99

Oct. 24, 2023 | 9780063254008

Present needs, future dreams, and training in how to fight draw two small-town middle schoolers together.

“Parents can be…yeah,” says shy, chubby Stan at one point to his more outgoing sparring partner, Elpidia. That’s the main theme Wallace takes up in this outing, which he sets in an impoverished town on the dusty shores of California’s Salton Sea. Stan is tired of being scared of his violently abusive dad. Elpidia is being brutally beaten down by a vengeful paternal Cahuilla cousin from the reservation. She’s been living with her Peruvian maternal grandmother since her parents’

imprisonment following a house fire related to their substance abuse. Elpidia joins Stan, the only white kid in her class, for instruction in the martial art escrima from gentle, reclusive Filipino American army vet Charlie Ramos, whose life has complications of its own. Both young people keep notebooks—Stan for his escapist stories, Elpidia for recipes she intends to dish up in a food truck that will one day take her to see the wide world. The friends dream of a combined bookstore/restaurant and have each other’s backs when crises arise. Elpidia’s abuela is one of several memorable members in a diverse and richly drawn cast, and the tale is shaped as much by cultural conflicts and identity as by the personal qualities, situations, and close bonds of its two main characters. Heavy going but strongly characterized and hopeful at the end. (content advisory) (Fiction. 10-14)

Pup and Dragon: How To Catch an Elf

Walstead, Alice | Illus. by Paul Gill Sourcebooks Wonderland (64 pp.) | $12.99 Sept. 5, 2023 | 9781728270517

Series: Pup and Dragon

In this graphic novel spinoff from Walstead and Andy Elkerton’s wildly popular How To Catch picture-book series, a dog and a dragon set their sights on capturing an elf.

On Christmas Eve, Yuletide-loving Pup gives Dragon, who is not the least bit familiar with Christmas, a rundown on Santa Claus. “The kids”—presumably from Walstead and Elkerton’s previous books—have set elf traps in the neighboring houses, and Pup and Dragon decide to help them. They spot Santa and an elf, both light-skinned, sitting down to milk and cookies in one house, then chase them into neighboring homes. Each excursion sees the pair navigating

traps, though Santa and the elf always get away. In the end, the time Pup and Dragon spend together strengthens their friendship and teaches Dragon some things about Christmas. Readers are as likely to be on board with the elf-hunting premise as they are to be confused at how many times Pup and Dragon are unfazed at seeing Santa Claus in person (shouldn’t Pup in particular be thrilled to encounter him?). Dragon’s sarcastic sense of humor and fourth-wall breaks feel at odds with the holiday setting. Then again, a grocery store scene involving a giant food cannon and an eggnog slide could be signs of a madcap randomness that isn’t meant to be scrutinized. The artwork is at its most expressive in the few times when the duo’s dialogue isn’t filling the page.

A buddy-comedy Christmas pursuit full of hijinks that trips over an uneven tone. (how to draw Pup and Dragon) (Graphic fiction. 6-9)

Kin: Rooted in Hope

Weatherford, Carole Boston | Illus. by Jeffery Boston Weatherford | Atheneum (208 pp.) | $18.99 | Sept. 19, 2023

9781665913621

The lineage of a Black family comes to life through powerful poems. Embarking on genealogical research can be daunting but thrilling. But that is not always the case for many Black families, their heritage interrupted by the enslavement of their ancestors and marred by the atrocities they endured. Carole Boston Weatherford invites readers to explore the past through her own family’s history. Beginning with her adolescent indifference and, later, her determined curiosity, she lays the groundwork for how the Lloyd family’s Wye House, in Maryland, came to be the site of mass cruelty. While the Lloyds passed down property, positions, and people as they amassed

wealth, the enslaved began losing parts of their legacies. Writing chronologically, the author pieces together the history of enslavement, her strength and resolve palpable as she tells of her family’s triumphs despite the conditions they were forced to bear. Raw, stark, digitally rendered scratchboard illustrations multiply the depth of her profound words. The imagined thoughts of Weatherford’s kin and the personification of the things—among them Wye House and the Chesapeake Bay—that “witnessed” generations of enslavement will give readers a new perspective and inspire questions similar to those she intersperses throughout. A striking work that reshapes the narrative around enslavement. (author’s and illustrator’s notes, bibliography)

(Historical fiction. 9-18)

The Bigfoot Queen

Weiner, Jennifer | Aladdin (352 pp.) | $18.99 Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781481470803

Series: The Littlest Bigfoot, 3

The reclusive Yare, or Bigfoots, risk exposure and worse in turning at last to face their nemesis.

Folding a thorough recap into the opening chapters, Weiner picks up the action from the end of Little Bigfoot, Big City (2017) to bring her scattered cast of Yare, human No-Furs, and even someone who is both to Vermont for a showdown with biotech mogul Christopher Jarvis. The whirl of family revelations and reunions, new alliances, and bold choices, all leading to a victory snatched from

the jaws of defeat and a positively cozy ending, will please readers who have been absorbed by the searches of Alice and Jessica for the causes of their physical differences, the trials of meek but gifted Millie, and Jeremy’s struggle with conflicting agendas. But it’s the sad, bad, genius villain who really steals the show here—because even as the heart-deep grief of losing the love of his life to cancer has twisted over the years into a thirst for revenge against the long-lived, disease-immune Yare, in the rousingly stomach-churning climax he ultimately stands revealed. Despite a late entry, he is definitely the most vivid, nuanced, and memorable character here. And even though Jarvis is as thoroughly despicable in word and deed as he is awful in appearance, might he not, the author obliquely suggests, still be worthy of compassion? The human cast is largely white.

A buoyant resolution, with just deserts, larger-than-life figures, and, perhaps, forgiveness all around. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Davy in the Snow

Weninger, Brigitte | Illus. by Eve Tharlet; Trans. by David Henry Wilson | NorthSouth (32 pp.) | $19.95 | Sept. 12, 2023

9780735845022

Series: Davy

Two young rabbits have a winter adventure when they’re stranded on their way home from their grandparents’ house.

Davy convinces his mother that he and sister Mia are old enough to travel alone to their grandparents’ house to deliver a homemade piece of cake. After

a nice visit, the pair leave for home, trying to beat the impending snow. They lose their way in the middle of the whiteout, but Davy remembers the wise advice of their grandfather and remains calm and makes a shelter to keep them warm and dry. With a happy ending and the family’s reunification, the story demonstrates the importance of keeping a level head during emergencies. Tharlet’s illustrations give the personified bunnies plenty of charm and personality. From Davy’s red, ear-hugging hat to the grandparents with their drooping ears, the rabbits are expressive and fully imagined. Originally published in Switzerland and translated from German, this tale feels appropriately reassuring—it never truly feels like the young rabbits are in jeopardy, but their situation is nonetheless a serious one. And though Davy and Mia do their best on their own, ultimately their parents and siblings come to the rescue—a lovely, age-appropriate way to resolve the situation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A sweet tale of independence and family support. (Picture book. 4-6)

Sparkle

Wilson, Lakita | Viking (304 pp.) | $17.99 Oct. 24, 2023 | 9780593465752

A Black sixth grader’s love of modeling and performing is challenged on and off the stage.

Maryland tween Sparkle Moore is a budding social media influencer, and her hair—abundant “chestnut-colored locks”—is a big part of her persona. Her mother is a former model who has shifted her focus into making Sparkle and her sister social media successes. Sparkle and her best friends, Taryn and Rae, who are also Black, hope to make a good impression on Ms. June, the Arts Academy drama director. Sparkle wants to help her family out financially by landing a key role in

A buoyant resolution, with just deserts, larger-than-life figures, and, perhaps, forgiveness all around.

THE BIGFOOT QUEEN

the school’s spring production and creating content that could attract the attention of Hollywood casting agents; Sparkle’s dad was a famous TV star, but the residual checks they live on have been shrinking. Things take an unexpected turn when Taryn notices a small bald spot on Sparkle’s scalp. Following a scary diagnosis of alopecia, Rae designs creative hair accessories to help Sparkle cover up her bare patches, but Sparkle’s friendship with Taryn becomes strained as she deals with her shifting roles at school and home. This is an honest look at the impact of a medical diagnosis that affects appearance, particularly in the context of social media. Sparkle is an original character who is personally driven but also able to put her family first. The relationship dynamics among the friends will resonate with middle school readers. A timely and relatable story about self-perception and social pressures. (Fiction. 9-13)

Kirkus Star Jawbreaker

Wyman, Christina | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (320 pp.) | $17.99 | Oct. 24, 2023

9780374389697

Rise of the Shadowfire

Yogis, Jaimal | Illus. by Vivian Truong Graphix/Scholastic (224 pp.)

$24.99 | $12.99 paper | Oct. 17, 2023

9781338660463 | 9781338660456 paper

Series: City of Dragons, 2

Bullying, family strife, and a severe overbite set the stage for this gut-wrenching but overall optimistic tale set in Brooklyn.

Twelve-yearold Maximillia Plink’s life is already difficult enough without the painful headgear for her

braces that her orthodontist makes her wear to correct a complicated overbite. But she’s also contending with the looming possibility of double jaw surgery, her parents’ increasingly frequent arguing, and her family’s financial struggles. The worst things, however, are the relentless abuse by bullies (chief among them her own younger sister), paired with what feels like a lack of support and cluelessness from the adults around her. When a journalism competition is announced at school, Max must choose whether to follow her dreams or shy away from submitting the required video essay for fear of being targeted for even more bullying. Inspired by her own life experiences, in her debut, Wyman explores typical junior high stresses such as navigating friendships while deftly exploring serious topics like toxic family dynamics, substance abuse, and the psychological toll of bullying. Interwoven with the weight of heavy topics is a message of hope, perseverance, and self-acceptance presented in a humorous and relatable way. It’s this accessible, balanced approach to painful and emotionally charged situations that makes this book so wildly successful. Max and her family are white; there is racial diversity among the supporting characters. A hugely relatable must-read: witty, intensely emotional, and full of heart. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)

With one enemy defeated, Grace, her dragon, and her circle of friends now have even greater problems to contend with.

Grace is the last known human with dragon blood, which makes her a target, but really, she’s just like most other kids. Since moving to Hong Kong from the United States, Grace has become close to kids who like to have fun but also have each other’s backs. And this is important, because though the immediate threats to Grace and Nate, her dragon friend, have been vanquished, there are still people out there searching for them. With a secretive cult and a shadowy dragon on their heels, Grace and friends travel to Paris, hoping that Grace’s affinity for dragons (and a little help from Nate) will lead them to uncover a secret relic—before the cult can claim it for themselves. Unsure whom to trust, they must rely on their wits and their hearts to succeed. Colorful panels spill across the pages, sweeping Grace and the rest of the gang through the story’s action in an immersive fashion. This sequel to The Awakening Storm (2021) opens up Grace and Nate’s world while remaining true to the occasionally pensive themes of the first installment. Grace is white and Chinese; her friend group is multinational. An imaginative and dramatic tale with friendship and family at its core. (Graphic fantasy. 9-13)

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For more children’s content, visit Kirkus online.

A hugely relatable must-read: witty, intensely emotional, and full of heart.

JAWBREAKER

Kirkus Star

The Twelve Hours of Christmas

Bailey, Jenn | Illus. by Bea Jackson | Little, Brown (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct.

9780316330978

Santa’s Gotta Go!

Barnes, Derrick | Illus. by

Nancy

Paulsen

Kirkus Star

10, 2023

An extended Black family enjoys Christmas Day in this playful story based on the classic holiday tune.

The story opens on “the first hour of Christmas” as a child discovers a gift from Santa, a kitten, under the tree. But at the “second hour,” the young narrator’s twin brothers appear (dressed as “two stomping dinos”), and the kitten hides and remains concealed through “three French toasts” for breakfast, “five Nana hugs,” and “eight mugs of cocoa,” all the way up to “twelve loud long ‘Love you’s’ ” as the uncles, aunts, and cousins depart. The mischievous twins settle down while the kitten reappears and snuggles with the narrator. Whether singing the text to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” or simply reading it, children will be engaged. Filled with expressive faces and bright red and green hues against white backgrounds, the illustrations have an old-school feel; they beautifully capture the joy of a Christmas morning spent with relatives and the cozy fun of a winter day. When little ones realize that the kitten can actually be spotted on each spread, they’ll be eagerly flipping back through the pages to find it peeking out. Other repeated phrases and events are referenced throughout, keeping the spreads feeling fresh and dynamic. Number words are highlighted in red throughout. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An enchanting, family-centered take on “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” (Picture book. 3-8)

Courtney Lovett

Books (32 pp.) | $18.99

Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780593530436

The Mack family wants to host Santa Claus, but they don’t realize what they’re in for when their wish comes true.

Mr. Mack and the kids, Mabel and Monte, string bright lights, and Mrs. Mack bakes lots of sweets. When Santa stops by to leave gifts and gobble cookies, he doesn’t plan to stick around. But his sleigh won’t start (despite the reindeer, it requires Santa to press a green button that appears to be out of order). Santa orders the part he needs online, and the Mack children invite him to stay for the three days it will take to arrive. But instead of spending cozy quality time with Santa, the Macks must contend with his middle-of-the-night rock band practice, sinks full of dirty dishes (Santa has an insatiable appetite), and broken valuables. Finally, the Macks, in need of a break, spend a night in a hotel. When they return, Santa has left their place spotless, with a note thanking them for being such great hosts during his muchneeded vacation. Lovett’s bright, wonderfully expressive cartoon illustrations feature a relatable Black family and a very modern Black Santa: tall and muscular with jeans, tattoos, and a red flannel shirt. Santa’s outlandish shenanigans will have readers giggling and turning pages to see how the Macks will survive his stay. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A fun reminder about the holiday spirit of giving. (Picture book. 4-7)

How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney?

Barnett, Mac | Illus. by Jon Klassen Candlewick (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Sept. 12, 2023

9781536223767

A dynamic picture-book duo turn their attention to one of the great mysteries of our time.

For those literal-minded children out there, this book serves to answer some essential questions about basic Santa-related logistics. We all know that Santa is supposed to go down the chimney to deliver gifts, but how? “Does he cinch up his belt? Or shrink himself down to the size of a mouse?” That particular speculation is accompanied by an image of a small Santa standing on the edge of a chimney looking down into the abyss. Synched perfectly with Barnett’s gentle yet hilarious questions and often silly propositions (“Or does he slip through the pipes and come out of your faucet?”), Klassen’s tan-skinned Santa is as funny and expressionless as a bearded Buster Keaton. Curiosity runs wild as Barnett ponders everything from Santa doing the laundry in children’s basements to his ability to get along with every household dog he meets, while Klassen’s there to bring each possibility to life. Don’t look for any definitive answers in this story, though. As the last line states, “Santa goes up the chimney the same way he comes down. And I have no idea how Santa does that. But I’m so glad he can.” For all that it leans heavily on absurdity, this book

An enchanting, family-centered take on “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

THE TWELVE HOURS OF CHRISTMAS

exhibits some serious heart. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

In the market for an understated Christmas classic? Behold! A Christmas miracle! (Picture book. 4-7)

Luna Loves Christmas

Coelho, Joseph | Illus. by Fiona Lumbers Kane Miller (32 pp.) | $15.99 | Oct. 30, 2023 9781684646418

A young girl has a busy holiday.

Christmas is “sometimes at Mom’s, sometimes at Dad’s,” and Luna has a pretty positive attitude about having two of everything, from Advent calendars to Christmas dinners. This year, however, they’re doing something a little different. Luna’s mom shares the upcoming Christmas schedule with Luna—a good way to help caregivers make busy holidays calmer for youngsters. Making deliveries for the food bank takes Luna and her mom all around town. Luna is already friends with one of the kids receiving food, and the two have a snowball fight. Ms. Pothers, a white-presenting food box recipient, thanks them by reading “A Christmas Story,” which disrupts the narrative flow and makes the tale a bit too long. Then it’s time to visit Dad. The two bake cookies—a nice upending of traditional gender roles—before Luna puts out her stocking and heads to bed. The next day, they head to the town hall to enjoy Christmas dinner with their diverse community. While Luna’s parents don’t interact, this is nevertheless a warm, welcoming, and much-needed depiction of divorced parents making the holiday special for their child, brought to life by cozy artwork. Luna is biracial; her mother presents as white and her father as Black. (This book was reviewed digitally.) An upbeat story of a divorced family in community at Christmas. (Picture book. 4-7)

We Disagree About This Tree: A Christmas Story

Collins, Ross | Candlewick (32 pp.) | $16.99 Sept. 5, 2023 | 9781536231984

The protagonists of There’s a Bear on My Chair (2016) and There’s a Mouse in My House (2021) disagree about how best to decorate their Christmas tree…until all nearly ends in disaster.

When the polar bear arrives home with a lovely tree, the mouse pushes the bear aside and adorns the tree with huge ornaments. But the bear has a different idea and illuminates the tree with a brilliant display of lights. The mouse, of course, disapproves. And so the two continue back and forth until the tree collapses. Luckily, they find a way to put things right. The rhyming text keeps an even tempo well suited for reading aloud and includes vocabulary words like baubles and incendiary. This silly story will elicit giggles from little readers: At one point a manatee dressed as a fairy tops the tree, and at the end, after a gift exchange, the mouse and polar bear each end up wearing sweaters sized for the other. The soft illustrations, with simple solid-colored backgrounds, focus readers’ attention on the unsuccessful Christmas tree decor and the reactions of the two friends. The mouse’s self-satisfied look is spot-on, as is the polar bear’s expression of annoyance. The length, pacing, and charming illustrations make this one a future Christmas favorite. (This book was reviewed digitally.) We agree: This is a delightful holiday tale. (Picture book. 3-5)

La Noche Before Three Kings Day

Colón-Bagley, Sheila | Illus. by Alejandro Mesa | Harper/HarperCollins (32

pp.)

$19.99 | Sept. 12, 2023 |9780063234321

In this tale modeled after “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” a family celebrates Three Kings Day. Two sisters have a festive night as their family puts on a small party to observe the January 6 holiday observed in many regions, including Puerto Rico, where the author’s family is from. The day honors the Three Wise Men who brought gifts to the baby Jesus, and in this homage to Clement Clarke Moore’s famous poem, they take the place of Santa Claus at the story’s conclusion. After the sisters decorate shoeboxes to hold gifts from the visitors, music is played and food is served (“In the small comedor was my great big familia / boquitas wide open for our scrumptious comida”). When the Three Wise Men do appear, one of the sisters witnesses the gift drop, which includes dolls, candy, and money. Spanish is sprinkled throughout (“There down en la calle I saw quite a sight”); a glossary at the end defines the words. Cozy, stylized cartoon illustrations bring to life a loving brown-skinned extended family, full of warmth and good cheer. The story itself and the backmatter explain the holiday well for those unfamiliar with it. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A fine offshoot of a holiday classic. (Picture book. 4-8)

Otto the Ornament

Cummings, Troy | Random House (40 pp.)

$12.99 | $15.99 PLB | Sept. 5, 2023

9780593481202 | 9780593481219 PLB

A glitzy ornament searches for a tree worthy of him but finds his real place where he least expects it.

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“Merry Christmas, bulbs and baubles! I’m Otto! I’m here to bedeck the heck out of your tree!” And “bedeck the heck” he tries! When Otto is told there’s space for him in the middle of the tree, he scoffs—only the top will do for an ornament like him. After he mocks his fellow ornaments, they refuse to make room for him, so he heads out to look for a new place to shine. He takes a scarring tumble down into the sewer, where he encounters an unlikely precious item. Returning with his find, Otto no longer sparkles but still manages to shine at home on the tree. This is a well-paced, appealing tale that will make for a great preschool read-aloud come December. Arrogant Otto has a satisfying redemptive arc that will resonate with readers. The dialogue and wordplay are pitch-perfect, bringing the characters to life. A mix of cartoonish vignettes and full-page spreads effectively depicts action and movement. Otto is multicolored and patterned with big eyes and a winning grin; the other ornaments on the tree also have personalities that match their styles. The few humans who appear are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An Otto-rly successful modern Christmas story. (Picture book. 4-6)

The Christmassy Cactus

Ferry, Beth | Illus. by A.N. Kang | Harper/ HarperCollins (40 pp.) | $18.99 | Sept. 12, 2023 | 9780063039643

Tiny Cactus eagerly anticipates Christmas—and wishes for some holiday decorations of her own.

Sitting snugly on a bookshelf, Tiny Cactus is especially treasured by her little girl. When she notices all the Christmas decorations coming out, Tiny Cactus is excited for her turn to be covered in tinsel and sparkles. Christmas Day arrives, but Tiny Cactus still doesn’t have any holiday decor. After a pep talk from her friend—an elephant-shaped teapot—and a little holiday magic, she gets some surprising trimmings of her very own. Tiny Cactus has sweetly human characteristics: pink cheeks, expressive eyes, and little legs below her flowerpot. The muted illustrations are dominated by pale grays, various shades of green, and many pops of pink. One particularly stunning image shows the Christmas tree, lights off, still glowing in the moonlight through the nearby window. Little readers will be delighted by the holiday magic and the way that Tiny Cactus ultimately gets her decorations. Evergreen trees are usually the stars of the season, but this unique cactus makes a creative focus for this story. Children will be pleased to learn that the Christmas cactus is a real houseplant; after reading this charming tale, many will be clamoring for one of their own. The

little girl and her family are drawn with light brown skin and puffy dark hair. (This book was reviewed digitally.) This succulent successfully steals the spotlight from the ever-present evergreens. (Picture book. 4-6)

Red & Green

Ehlert, Lois | Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) | $18.99 | Sept. 12, 2023 9781534401723

Mouse explores a house filled with Christmas spirit before helping himself to a little sweet treat that might have been intended for someone else.

In this tale that follows the format of “ ’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” Mouse notes seasonally significant changes around his house. There are new wreaths, a poinsettia, and a plate of delicious cookies, which Mouse samples before snuggling into a mitten to sleep. But Mouse realizes he may have bitten off more than he could chew when Santa bellows, “Who ate my treat?” While festive, the narrative is slight, more list than story, and the rhyme occasionally scans awkwardly. We get only a quick glimpse of Mouse’s tail early on and no actual mouse sightings until near the end, which may be confusing for younger listeners. If the story is a bit lackluster, the art is anything but. In quintessentially Ehlert style, elaborately edged collages, uniquely shaped pages, and intricate die-cuts burst with yuletide cheer. A sharply crimped Christmas tree adorned with shiny foil decorations is perfect for the holiday season, while a bold and dynamically cut snowflake is a visual and tactile delight. At times, the graphic collages bolster each other so that a gently rounded snowman looking at a smiling crescent moon creates a layered, three-dimensional feel. Despite the ho-hum story, the merry art will keep little readers engaged. (Picture book. 2-8)

This succulent successfully steals the spotlight from the ever-present evergreens.

THE CHRISTMASSY CACTUS

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Kirkus Star

The Magical Snowflake

Ford, Bernette | Illus. by Erin K. Robinson

Boxer Books (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 17, 2023

| 9781914912221

When a child wishes for snow, a snowflake transforms her town.

A group of racially diverse kids want to play outside. The weather is cold, the ground is frozen, and the children’s toes are like ice cubes inside their boots—but there is no snow. Ori, a Black girl with puffy hair, looks to the sky and wishes for snow, and a sparkling snowflake lands on her nose, then her shoulder, and whispers for her to follow. The other children follow Ori and the Magical Snowflake, and suddenly it begins to snow. As the children leave the park and pass by houses, other people come outside. Grown-ups follow children, and soon the snow is knee-deep. The people form a circle and sing songs of winter, of snow, of joy, and they dance around the Magical Snowflake. Day turns to night, and the Magical Snowflake attaches to a string of lights in the town, where it stays through the winter. An assured storytelling voice creates anticipation for the characters’ winter day. As readers become entranced, the story builds to joyful moments of community and seasonal cheer inspired by their magical guest. At one point the people sing, “We wish you a merry winter” (rather than “Christmas”)—a nice, and inclusive, touch. Robinson’s layered artwork uses color

and detail in surprising ways to deliver majestic scenes children will want to pore over again and again. Beautifully executed. (Picture book. 4-8)

A Wild, Wild Hanukkah

as the holiday ends. A note in the backmatter offers a brief explanation of Hanukkah’s Maccabean origins. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A madcap Hanukkah celebration for a skillful reader. (Picture book. 4-8)

Gershman, Jo &

Strauss | Illus. by Jo Gershman | Kar-Ben (32 pp.) | $19.99 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781728460260

Wild beasts arrive to observe the Festival of Lights.

After an opening illustration that suggests that the narrative might be a dream from a slumbering child, a cumulative string of wild animals appears on each night of Hanukkah, starting with a single polar bear and culminating with eight penguins. Rhyming text with largely successful scansion introduces each new species, each of which also brings the necessary components for a Hanukkah party, from latkes to potatoes to flour to dreidels. The rhymes combine with alliteration and onomatopoeia, making for a surreal, aurally lavish read-aloud. Some of the lines may require a practice round, though, with phrases such as “eight pompous, punk-rock penguins / spin dreidels on the floor” feeling a bit like tongue-twisters. Gershman’s painterly illustrations employ multiple angles and floating figures in dynamic poses, heightening the zaniness of the tale. Readers will linger over the wordless spreads that depict tigers, armadillos, and more in a frantic swirl before the animals settle in to hear the child read a story about Hanukkah. Then they depart, leaving the light-skinned family alone

Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Lost Christmas!

Heim, Alastair | Illus. by Aristides Ruiz Random House (40 pp.) $19.99 Sept. 5, 2023 | 9780593563168

Since a reformed Grinch is hardly any fun, this follow-up Grinches him up once more. Those seeking more of the same, prepare to receive precisely that. Christmas is coming (again!), and the Grinch can hardly wait. He’s been patient all year, and now he can finally show the Whos down in Who-ville how much he’s changed. When the Grinch learns of a tree-decorating contest, he figures that if he wins, it’ll prove he truly has the Christmas spirit. He throws himself into the task, but when it comes time to judge the trees, the Grinch is horrified to discover that he’s received only the second-place trophy. Can Cindy-Lou Who find the words to save the day? Replicating many of the original beats and wordplay of the original, this tale feels like less a sequel and more like a vaguely rewritten variation. Meanwhile, Ruiz’s art seeks to bridge the gap between the animated Chuck Jones version of the Grinch and the one depicted in the original book. This thankless task results in a strange uncanny valley between Seuss and Jones but does allow the artist a chance to colorize everything and lend some racial diversity to the Who population (Cindy-Lou is light-skinned). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property. (Picture book. 3-6)

Bob

A madcap Hanukkah celebration for a skillful reader.

A WILD, WILD HANUKKAH

It’s Navidad, El Cucuy!

Higuera, Donna Barba | Illus. by Juliana Perdomo | Abrams (40 pp.) | $18.99 Sept. 19, 2023 | 9781419760136

Series: El Cucuy

Ramón tries to get El Cucuy into the holiday spirit.

“¡Feliz Navidad, El Cucuy!” says Ramón. But the fanged, hairy monster would rather ignore Christmas. The lights twinkle too brightly, the muñeco de nieve (or snowman) seems pointless (and initially scary!), and El Cucuy is alarmed at the prospect of strangers showing up at the front door for Nochebuena, the final day of Las Posadas, a nine-night Christmas festival observed by many Latine communities. Can El Cucuy offer kindness to strangers? Perhaps—with Ramón at his side (and some horchata). Soon, it’s time to bash the piñata. Though El Cucuy hesitates, Ramón reminds the little monster that families celebrate together. “I am your family?” asks a happy El Cucuy. A hug, a regalo, and a little assurance bring a feliz Navidad into full swing. Scattering Spanish phrases throughout, Higuera leverages a fruitful push-and-pull dynamic between Ramón and El Cucuy to emphasize the communal spirit of the holidays and, of course, the yummy food that brings communities together. A tad overly gooey at times, El Cucuy’s latest foray into unfamiliar terrain nonetheless reassures readers who may find themselves in similar situations. Enticingly festive, Perdomo’s cheerful artwork moves from

cold landscapes of snow to warmly lit indoor celebrations (eventually merging the contrasts), mirroring El Cucuy’s transformation from reluctant recluse to gleeful participant. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A sweet invitation to enjoy Navidad. (author’s and illustrator’s notes) (Picture book. 4-8)

Little Red

Hillenbrand, Will | Christy Ottaviano Books (40 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 9780316333627

The little truck that helped. Even during a snowfall, Little Red Truck and driver Katie work and make repairs. One after another, six brightly colored vehicles in need stop them, imploring, “Help, Little Red, help!” Observant readers will note each entreaty is enclosed within a speech bubble whose color matches that of the vehicle and its driver’s clothing (except for a silver sleigh steered by a red-suited fellow), helping younger kids hone their color-recognition skills. Additionally, aurally attuned readers may note that, after each seen-to vehicle leaves, the text adds the word down to a key sentence. Thus, after the first vehicle departs, the text reads, “The snow came down”; following the second repair, it reads, “The snow came down and down,” and so on. This correlation heightens children’s number and pattern awareness. Little Red also punctuates each farewell with his onomatopoeic “Honk, honk! Beep,

beep!” exclamation. This is a cheery, albeit low-key Christmas story; some visual cues—Santa and a tree borne by Little Red—nod to the holiday. Readers will appreciate the 90-degree book turn required near the end showing the raised tree festooned with bulbs by eager kids. A final scene portrays it encircled by the vehicles; together, they cry out a rainbow-hued “HOORAY!” Katie is pale-skinned; background characters are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A warm Christmas read and a reminder of the best gifts: friendship, kindness, helpfulness, and cooperation. (Picture book. 3-6)

Dreams of Green: A Three Kings’ Day Story

Jungkunz, Mariel | Illus. by Mónica Paola Rodriguez | Astra Young Readers (32 pp.) $18.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781662620379

When Lucía’s family moves to chilly Ohio from sunny Puerto Rico, the child worries about how the Three Kings will find them now that they’re so far away.

In January, Puerto Rico is full of green, from the grass to the leaves on the trees. Usually, Lucía collects these gifts for the camels ridden by the Three Kings, who once visited Jesus at his birth and who now visit children on Three Kings’ Day each year. But now that Lucía lives in snowy, gray Ohio, it’s unclear whether the Three Kings will be able to come at all. Will the camels eat arugula from the grocery store? When morning arrives, Lucía finds mallorcas baked by Mama and gifts left by the Three Kings—and the family calls Abuela and the cousins back in Puerto Rico. Lucía observes Three Kings’ Day just as the family did in Puerto Rico and celebrates a new path and life. The illustrations of Puerto Rico are vibrant, contrasting with the cooler palette depicting Ohio. During the Three Kings’ Day

A reminder of the best gifts: friendship, kindness, helpfulness, and cooperation.

LITTLE RED

celebration, however, the saturation returns, bringing the beauty of the island to the mainland. Lucía and the family are brown-skinned and brownhaired. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A comforting holiday story about sustaining tradition while making room for new beginnings. (more information on Three Kings’ Day) (Picture book. 4-8)

Eight Nights of Lights: A Celebration of Hanukkah

Kimmelman, Leslie | Illus. by Hilli Kushnir Harper/HarperCollins (72 pp.) | $19.99 Sept. 12, 2023 | 9780063242487

This interactive tale presents the candles on a menorah as small booklets to be pulled out and read, each describing one night of Hanukkah. Opening up this picture book, readers are presented with nine glueddown sleeves that create a menorah. Each sleeve contains a small rectangular booklet whose cover is illustrated to look like a candle on the menorah; they are labeled “shammash” (the candle used to light the others), night 1, night 2, and so on. Pulling out a “candle,” readers open up the booklet to learn about the holiday through the eyes of Lena, a young girl who lives with her parents and her cat, Pickles. Stories include activities such as lighting the menorah, playing the dreidel game, making latkes, giving gifts, helping those in need, reenacting the triumph of the Maccabees, and visiting the synagogue on the eighth night. The whole presentation is effectively illustrated and well thought out,

both as an informative introduction to Hanukkah and a lively, family- and community-oriented tale. Lena and her parents are brown-skinned; other characters are diverse in terms of skin tone and hair color. A child using a wheelchair is depicted, and Lena’s abuelita, who was raised in Cuba, offers a nod to Sephardic Jewish heritage. (This book was reviewed digitally.) An imaginative and inclusive take on Hanukkah that ought to be lots of fun for readers. (Informational picture book. 5-10)

One Christmas in Our Building: A Very Merry Mystery

All’s well that ends well on Christmas. On Christmas Eve, young Emma excitedly anticipates presents and turkey. Tensions mount as Dad and stepmom Susan disagree over when Emma should see the gifts under the tree. It doesn’t help that the turkey Dad bought doesn’t fit in Susan’s roasting pan or the fridge. Deciding to wait until Christmas morning to borrow a bigger pan from neighbors, Susan stores the turkey overnight in the cool hallway outside their apartment. Next morning, it’s gone! Emma suggests eating spaghetti, but Dad and Susan decide to call on the neighbors to investigate—except for the man who

lives on the top floor and never speaks to anyone. No one’s seen the turkey, but everyone’s concerned. The quest is hopeless, and stores are shuttered; it seems spaghetti will be their Christmas fare after all. But then, all the neighbors show up with food offerings and join Emma and the family at their table; afterward, everyone laughs, sings, and plays games in a spirit of rejoicing, symbolizing the true meaning of Christmas. With touches of humor, this charming story, translated from German, underplays holiday trappings and emphasizes kindness and cooperation. The delightful illustrations were created with pencils and colored digitally. Emma and her parents are pale-skinned; the neighbors are racially, ethnically, and age diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A sweet, winning Yuletide offering. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kid Christmas of the Claus Brothers Toy Shop

Litchfield, David | Frances Lincoln (40 pp.) $18.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9780711287433

A holiday origin story that explores how Nicky (of the Claus family) began sharing presents with the world.

Nicky’s three uncles own the Claus Brothers Toy Store. They make the toys, check the toys, and add one more special ingredient…“Ah, yes. Magic.” Every child wants one. But alas, not everyone is able to purchase a toy. Nicky notices some children looking longingly into the toy store’s windows. On Christmas Eve, he follows them and finds many kids living on the street. He rushes back to the store, brimming with inspiration: He wishes to deliver a toy to every child in the city. His uncles unveil the Yule 3000: a sleigh modeled after an elf shoe that will help Nicky on his quest. Unfortunately, the adventure does not go as planned, and Nicky finds himself on a rooftop, in the

Lindemann, Johanna | Illus. by Andrea Stegmaier | Trans. by Polly Lawson Floris (36 pp.) | $17.95 | Sept. 19, 2023 9781782508618

An imaginative and inclusive take on Hanukkah that ought to be lots of fun.

dark, cold city, dejected. But suddenly, a small swirl of light brings a glimmer of hope. Relying on a combination of panels and full-page spreads, Litchfield spins a warm yarn filled with generosity. Tinged with nostalgia and glowing with candlelit fireflies, the saturated art appears to be illuminated from within. Nicky, his uncles, and most characters are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A cozy tale to counteract the Christmas gift-giving frenzy. (Picture book. 3-8)

The Mexican Dreidel

Marshall, Linda Elovitz & Ilan Stavans

Illus. by Maria Mola | Kar-Ben (24 pp.)

$19.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781728449289

A Jewish Mexican boy makes new friends through cultural communion.

Danielito loves Janucá (Hanukkah), and tonight, he and his Bobe will light the first candles. Danielito doesn’t know any of the kids in his grandmother’s neighborhood, but when he sees them playing trompos (tops) in the street, he asks Bobe if she has one. “No,” she tells him. “But I have a dreidel!” The local kids let Danielito join in, and when his dreidel is the last top spinning, something magical happens. Each fallen trompo the dreidel touches starts spinning again, and soon the dreidel is leading the trompos and the kids all through the town. When the tops finally stop, the kids invite Danielito to play with them the next day, and he invites them to celebrate Janucá. Together, they light the candles, enjoy latkes and buñuelos, and play dreidel. This friendship

tale celebrates the Jewish diaspora in Mexico and the blending of cultural traditions it has occasioned. Spanish and hispanophone transliterations of Yiddish words are integrated into the text, the former usually paired with in-text English translations, the latter explained in the authors’ note. Mola’s illustrations feature rich colors and textures that vividly bring the Mexican town and characters to life. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A heartwarming story celebrating friendship across cultural lines. (Picture book. 4-8)

Holy Night and Little Star: A Story for Christmas

Perkins, Mitali | Illus. by Khoa Le WaterBrook (40 pp.) | $15.99 | Sept. 5, 2023 9780593578049

A little star overcomes her fear and learns to embrace change.

It’s almost Holy Night, and Maker wants everyone—the planets, the stars, and Moon—to play a part. Little Star, who shines gently on newborn lambs, fears big changes are in store, and whenever Maker asks for volunteers for different tasks, she declines. Maker tells Little Star to be ready—she will have a special role. On Holy Night, everyone performs their roles brilliantly. Little Star joins in the shining chorus and sees that it’s not so hard after all. When Maker sends everyone off to Bethlehem, Little Star gathers her courage and sets off. On the edge of town, she stops at a stable where a Baby cries. She looks into his eyes and recognizes the Maker. Little Star stays by the stable,

her gentle light soothing the newborn king as strangers come from all around. When she rejoins the celestial celebration, she sees that although everything has changed, Maker remains the same. Perkins’ touching tale makes the story of Christmas new while weaving in the positive message of trusting the constancy of Maker in the face of change. Le’s captivating jewel-toned illustrations and Perkins’ measured unspooling of story will charm readers and make them excited to read on. The Holy Family has brown skin. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A unique retelling of the Nativity that will surprise and delight. (Picture book. 3-7)

The Last Slice: A Three Kings Day Treat

Richardson, Melissa Seron | Illus. by Monica Arnaldo | Little, Brown (40 pp.) $18.99 | Dec. 5, 2023 | 9780316436298

In Richardson and Arnaldo’s jovial collaboration, a distraught girl must overcome her fears on Three Kings Day.

As her sprawling Latine family gathers to observe the holiday, little Marta eyes the delicious crown of sweet bread on the kitchen counter: la Rosca de Reyes, the tasty dessert eaten to celebrate Three Kings Day. Inside the baked ring, a “teeny, tiny” replica of baby Jesus is hidden to commemorate the Three Kings’ search for the Niño Dios. Marta always takes nibbles out of Mamá’s slices to ensure she doesn’t end up accidentally biting into baby Jesus. But this year, Abuela announces that Marta is old enough to eat her own slice of the rosca. Gasp! What if Marta gets the piece that conceals the baby Jesus and she eats the Niño Dios? Marta decides not to have a slice— but can she resist the rosca with its dazzling candied fruit? With dabs of mischief and wild-eyed child-friendly logic, this tale unfolds with amusing

A heartwarming story celebrating friendship across cultural lines.

THE MEXICAN DREIDEL

results. Brief overviews of the holiday provide just enough context for those unfamiliar with it. The artwork, meanwhile, serves up plenty of exaggerated faces and visual gags. Helpful author’s and illustrator’s notes broadly gesture toward the innumerable ways that different cultures and nations celebrate this religious feast. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An edifying holiday primer wrapped in a humorous, good-natured romp. (Picture book. 4-8)

Our Italian Christmas Eve

Sedita, Danielle & Francesco Sedita Illus. by Luciano Lozano | Viking (40 pp.)

$18.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780593621868

Two young siblings of Italian descent describe the year they saved Christmas Eve.

Danielle and Francesco (the authors and protagonists) narrate their story in the first-person plural, a choice that leads to dialogic constraints and little character differentiation, but those elements are not this tale’s concern. What is? Food and family. After the drive to Aunt Babe’s, the first activity is a group photo; all 22 guests are labeled, from Aunt Tootsie to Baby Meemo. The caricaturelike figures—presenting white, with a multitude of body shapes—have a retro feel, but Grandma Yoo-Hoo’s selfie stick places the night in the 21st century. The action mostly occurs in the kitchen and dining room, where readers learn about a traditional Italian Christmas Eve, from the Feast of the Seven Fishes (note the

octopus in the sink) to the bignolati and rosettes. (Backmatter provides information about these delicacies.) The narrative arc peaks at a potential dessert shortage; Uncle Robert forgot to bring the struffoli. Luckily, the children know how to make cheesecake. Lozano’s digital scenes are full of holiday bustle, aunties cooking in high heels, and eye-catching textures and patterns—feathery evergreen branches, the design on the red tablecloth, the shape of stiff spaghetti before it sinks into a pot of water. Common Italian words add linguistic flavor. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

While the drama is low-key, foodies will enjoy this entertaining expansion to the holiday shelf. (authors’ note, recipe) (Picture book. 4-6)

Dasher Can’t Wait for Christmas

Tavares, Matt | Candlewick (40 pp.) | $17.99 Sept. 5, 2023 | 9781536230130

Tavares returns with another Christmas treat for readers.

Building on the success of Dasher (2019), which shared the origin story behind one of Santa Claus’ flying reindeer, this latest offering revisits the young doe. Fairly bursting with anticipation, Dasher can’t wait for Christmas. Each night, she looks forward to pulling Santa’s sleigh. The night before Christmas Eve, she can’t sleep, so she leaves the North Pole. Unfortunately, Christmas lights catch her eye as she flies through the night sky, and she ends up getting lost. Just as children helped her out of a bad

situation in the prior book, a child comes to Dasher’s aid in this story, too. Dasher makes it back to the North Pole and is reunited with Santa and the rest of the reindeer—and just in time to deliver presents. What goes around comes around, and Dasher puts a plan into action to thank the helpful child. This happy ending fits the book’s overall gentle, celebratory tone, which is enhanced by painterly digital illustrations in a realistic style that somehow feels simultaneously nostalgic and current. Santa and the child are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Christmas-book lovers should dash to add this one to their shelves. (Picture book. 3-6)

Merry and Hark: A Christmas Story

Tucholke, April Genevieve | Illus. by Rebecca Santo | Algonquin (32 pp.) |$18.99 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781643752389

A bird’s extraordinary holiday escapade, inspired by the real-life owl discovered in the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in 2020.

Merry, a northern saw-whet owl, has a favorite tree in the conifer forest: Hark, a Norway spruce. Merry stays warm in a hole in Hark’s trunk and listens to the tree’s stories. Merry also loves listening to Sebastian, a great gray owl, tell thrilling owl myths and longs to experience grand adventures, too. But when Hark is felled, lifted “onto a large, red shiny beast,” and taken to a “new world” of “giant structures,” Merry’s whole world is uprooted. Alone in the big city, Merry has trouble hunting, but a kind brown-skinned woman takes Merry home and expertly cares for the owl; from the window, Merry watches Hark become more beautiful as her branches are decorated with colored lights. When Merry’s health is restored, the woman releases the owl back to the forest, and Merry

Foodies will enjoy this entertaining expansion to the holiday shelf.

OUR ITALIAN CHRISTMAS EVE

realizes, “I had a grand adventure.” This gentle tale, narrated by Merry in first “person,” is a quiet, contemplative take on the usual holiday fare. The sweet illustrations, presenting wintry scenes and featuring some dramatic spreads, are mostly muted, with a palette composed largely of blue-grays, browns, ivory, black, and splashes of bright colors. Diminutive, saucer-eyed Merry is endearing and takes center stage throughout. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A “merry,” pleasant, and uplifting seasonal offering. (Picture book. 4-8)

Mrs. Maccabee’s Miracle

Weber, Elka | Illus. by Amélie Videlo Kar-Ben (24 pp.) | $19.99 | Oct. 3, 2023

9781728477916

A mother’s advice saves the day.

The five Maccabee brothers and their parents (all brown-skinned) live in Modi’in. Several times a year the men travel to Jerusalem’s Holy Temple. Before departing, the brothers ask Mom for help finding items like a cloak or a scroll. Mom always knows where the article is but prefaces her reveal with a maxim: “Cloaks” (or scrolls) “don’t grow legs and walk away. Where you leave them is where they stay.” When the Maccabee men aren’t in the Temple, they’re studying and teaching Torah, expressly forbidden after Greek King Antiochus conquers Israel. The Jews fight their oppressors and, miraculously, defeat them. After the final battle, the Maccabees enter the ruined Temple, seeking a jug of oil

to light the great menorah. Unsurprisingly, they can’t find it—but, recalling their mother’s pithy advice, they finally locate it. There’s enough oil for one day, but the flames burn for eight.

Thereafter, whenever Mrs. Maccabee recounts the events, she mentions the Maccabees found the oil—without her help. This is a humorous, very simple approach to the traditional Hanukkah story. Not only is the Maccabees’ bravery on display, but the book also offers a homey reminder that the holiday is about family, too. The colorful illustrations are warm and bright, and readers will easily spot the items Mrs. Maccabee uncovers for her sons. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A welcome and cozy take on the Hanukkah story. (more information on the story of Hanukkah) (Picture book.

4-8)

Dino-Hanukkah

Wheeler, Lisa | Illus. by Barry Gott Carolrhoda (32 pp.) | $18.99 | Sept. 5, 2023

9781728419213

Series: Dino-Holidays

that the youngest dino child gets first dibs at performing the solemn ceremony. Readers watch as the dinosaurs lead songs and blessings, savor latkes and jelly doughnuts, open gifts, spin dreidels, win chocolate coins, and reenact the story of the brave Maccabee heroes of ancient times. This latest entry in the popular series is a rollicking holiday story, told in jaunty, bouncy rhyming couplets that scan very well and convey the happiness of the holiday, its traditions, and the warmth of family closeness. Several characters are referred to by nicknames that play off their species name—for instance, “Bary” for Baryonyx, “Stego” for Stegosaurus, and “Allo” for Allosaurus. Readers might have benefitted from backmatter identifying the dinosaurs by their full names. The vivid digital illustrations depict wonderfully energetic, expressive cartoonish dinos bursting with lively good cheer. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A high-spirited holiday charmer. (Picture book. 4-7)

Hanukkah suits these dinos to a T.

All the dinosaur households are getting ready for the Festival of Lights. At Bary’s, they clean, mop, and dust so the house will look its best when Gran arrives. Meanwhile, T. rex prepares a scrumptious brisket for his family, and Tricera makes applesauce for his guests. Everyone’s excited to participate in Dino-Hanukkah. A group of little ones are anxious to light the menorah on each of the eight nights. However, they are told

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Offers a homey reminder that the holiday is about family, too.

MRS. MACCABEE’S MIRACLE

A rollicking holiday story, told in jaunty, bouncy rhyming couplets.

DINO-HANUKKAH

Kirkus online.

Young Adult

TEEN MYSTERIES

THAT KEEP YOU GUESSING

THESE YA MYSTERIES place intriguing characters in well-realized settings, exploring secrets, lies, and even murders.

My Flawless Life by Yvonne Woon (Katherine Tegen/ HarperCollins, Feb. 14): It’s hard growing up in the public eye, as Hana Yang Lerner knows all too well. Her father had to resign as a senator from Virginia following a public scandal. Since then, she’s become a pariah at her Washington, D.C., prep school—though her classmates from high-powered families secretly hire her

to make their problems go away. When an anonymous client involves her in a case that’s connected to Luce Herrera, her ex–best friend, Hana gets drawn into an intense mystery, one filled with unexpected twists and revelations.

A Long Stretch of Bad Days by Mindy McGinnis (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins, March 14): Ohio senior Lydia has a podcast, On the Ground in Flyover Country, that she hopes will impress Ivy League admissions officers. It’s also the chance for her to earn her missing history

credit and graduate on time. Sheltered overachiever Lydia recruits earthy, hilarious, working-class Bristal, who is in the same academic predicament, to help her explore the town’s history for the podcast. Their research uncovers disturbing information about a missing girl, made more fraught by the close-knit small-town dynamics and the community’s culture of not making waves.

Good as Gold by Candace Buford (Disney-Hyperion, June 6): Casey Whitecroft was one of the few Black kids among the mostly white social elite, but then her dad declared bankruptcy, and now she’s a server at the country club where they used to be members. Her picturesque Georgia town draws in tourists, but beneath the quaint sights and romantic tales about lost pirates’ gold is another story, one embedded in aspects of the town’s history many would prefer to keep covered up. A mysterious old coin becomes the catalyst for Casey to dig deeper and uncover danger-

by Sara B. Elfgren, translated by Judith Kiros (Arctis Books, June 20): Kasper Nordin is spending his summer in the dark, working in the House of Demons at an amusement park. His co-worker Iris is

a massive fan of legendary 1980s Swedish death metal band Dark Cruelty. She’s thrilled to discover that Kasper’s dad is Håkan, the band’s bassist, and that he was named after lead singer Kasper “Grim” Johansson, who died mysteriously at 19, leading to the band’s breakup. Rumors abound— but Håkan won’t talk. When Kasper starts dreaming about Grim, he and Iris decide to investigate his death.

Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Muñoz (Putnam, Sept. 5): The setting: a weeklong high school graduation celebration in an old mansion on a private island in Maine. The cast: seven teenagers from an elite prep school kitted out in authentic 1920s clothing and separated from their electronic devices. The surprise twist: one dead body. Izzy Morales, the daughter of a Marian Academy teacher, lives a modest life compared to her jet-setting classmates. The surprise getaway arranged by her BFF, Kassidy, takes a tragic turn, however, when Kassidy’s boyfriend, Blaine, is found stabbed to death in his room. Flashbacks and police interrogations reveal the young suspects’ secrets and complicated dynamics.

LAURA SIMEON

Laura Simeon is a young readers’ editor.

Illustration by Eric Scott Anderson

EDITOR’S

PICK

A feminist retelling of a popular Irish folktale.

As children, Aífe and her sisters, Aébh and Ailbhe, are sent to live with a foster father, Bodhbh the Red, the high king of their people. When Lir, a neighboring chieftain and warrior, becomes a widower, Bodhbh grants him Aífe’s eldest sister Aébh’s hand in marriage. They have four children before Aébh eventually dies in childbirth. Having once again lost a wife, Lir elects to marry Aífe so he’ll have someone to care for his children. But after falling in love with Lir, Aífe begins to grow envious of Lir’s love for the children, particularly

as he increasingly neglects her. Eventually, Aífe grows bitter enough with jealousy to turn Aébh and Lir’s four children into swans who are destined to remain in that form for 900 years. Each chapter opens with an excerpt of the classic version of the myth and a calligram, or concrete poem, in the shape of letters from the ancient Irish alphabet, Ogham. Through masterful storytelling and stunning prose, Sullivan turns an ancient legend into something complex, transforming a one-note character into a nuanced narrator who carefully weaves Irish legend with a

Savage Her Reply

Sullivan, Deirdre | Illus. by Karen Vaughan Little Island (256 pp.) $15.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 9781912417674

subtly searing condemnation of patriarchal society. The author stays true to the heart of the tale while subverting the evil stepmother trope. While Aífe isn’t

absolved, readers can easily sympathize with her, making the outcome all that much more sorrowful. Vaughan’s exquisite black-and-white spot art is interspersed throughout.

Haunting and lyrical. (language guide) (Fiction. 13-18)

By Deirdre Sullivan; illus. by Karen Vaughan

By Lily Williams & Karen Schneemann; Illus. by Lily Williams

By Laura E. Weymouth

Carefully weaves Irish legend with a subtly searing condemnation of patriarchal society.

Up in Flames

Alcaraz, Hailey | Viking (384 pp.) | $18.99 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9780593525548

A sheltered girl experiences financial and emotional traumas due to wildfires.

Ruby Ortega, of Buena Valley in Southern California, is used to having everything she wants, but she can’t have the boy she likes, her neighbor Ashton Willis. She’s shocked to discover he has a new girlfriend he’s serious about, and they’re moving in together. Suddenly, Ruby realizes that much of what she’d imagined about her college experience revolved around being with Ashton. She even applied to Arizona State just so she could be near him. However, the unusually dry California summer becomes another source of concern as the wildfires approach their town and homes are destroyed. As the fires finally reach their neighborhood and people are told to evacuate, Ruby’s sense of safety is shattered, and she endures terrible challenges that ultimately lead to her transformation. Unfortunately, the story is slow to take off, and Ruby’s emotional growth—from someone who vilifies the young woman her unrequited crush is dating to someone who is aware of her own privilege and starts caring for people who have less than she does—may come too late for some readers. White-passing Ruby has a white mom and Mexican dad.

Uneven pacing and a protagonist it’s difficult to invest in make this a challenge. (Fiction. 13-18)

Eight Dates and Nights

Aldredge, Betsy | Underlined (240 pp.) | $10.99 paper | Oct. 3, 2023 9780593710333

Hannah Levin loves celebrating Hanukkah with her family—unfortunately, this year she’s stuck in Texas with her somewhat distant grandmother and a couple of horses.

New Yorker Hannah is determined to be miserable during her four-day stay in Rosenblum, Texas. It’s a small, slow-moving town with spotty cell service, and Hannah is allergic to the horses. She misses her friends and family back home, especially during the winter holiday. There’s also tension Hannah doesn’t fully understand between her parents and her grandmother; last year, her older brother visited Texas on his own, and now it’s her turn. But when Hannah meets cute, sweet (and Jewish) Noah Blum at the local deli, her short vacation becomes a lot more interesting. When snowstorms lead to flight cancellations, Hannah is stuck in Rosenblum for most of the rest of the holiday. Noah is determined to cheer her up and show her his Texas-style traditions for creating a magical Hanukkah. While Hannah spends each day helping Noah out in the deli, Noah organizes eight romantic nights all around town and even beyond. The adorable meet-cute involving a giant hot dog costume should launch a sweet romance full of Jewish joy, but instead what follows is a clunky

narrative weighed down by repetition and some inconsistencies. While the voice is authentic, the romance is lukewarm at best.

This holiday romance is kind of a schlep. (Romance. 13-18)

Here Lies Olive

Anderson, Kate | Flux (296 pp.) $14.99 paper | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781635830910

A goth girl in New Mexico grapples with death—and what comes after it.

Death-obsessed Olive lives in a town known for dark tourism thanks to its history of a tuberculosis sanitarium that drew in Hollywood celebrities and other elites and which was built by the Seymour family on stolen Navajo land, compounding its morbid legacy. Olive has been terrified ever since her shellfish allergy caused a neardeath experience: “instead of going to Heaven, I was alone in the Nothing.” She’s distanced herself from others, including her parents and best friend, Davis. Seeking answers about the afterlife, Olive decides to ask a ghost and summons Jay, who experienced atrocities at the sinister Seymour House Asylum for the Poor, a nightmarish institution “full of forgotten people.” Jay is at risk of becoming a shade, and Olive must help him find his grave so he can move on. In the process, she hopes to learn the answer to her enduring question, “where do you go after you die?” The book maintains levity through its pleasantly gothic

A creative and surprising mixture of upbeat and macabre. HERE LIES OLIVE

energy, which will appeal to earnest believers in the paranormal and those in the throes of mortality-related existential crises alike. Davis is Diné; Olive, Jay, and the Seymours are white. This morbid tale that’s just as playful as it is unsettling explores race and cultural legacies in the context of New Mexico’s historical and contemporary politics of development.

A creative and surprising mixture of upbeat and macabre make for an engaging read. (Supernatural horror. 14-18)

I Loved You in Another Life

Arnold, David | Viking (352 pp.) | $18.99

Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780593524787

Two teens who are feeling stuck find in each other what they need to move on.

Shosh Bell and her sister were best friends. Her sister’s death turned Shosh’s life upside down, putting her promising acting career on hold. Evan Taft has been avoiding finishing his application for the six-month wilderness education program in Alaska that he’s been dreaming of for ages due to his fascination with northern climes. He’s worried about leaving his mom, who’s being treated for breast cancer, and even more so his E.T. -obsessed 7-year-old brother. An almost overwhelming adoration for their siblings isn’t the only thing that Evan and Shosh have in common: They both can hear music that no one else can perceive, and it seems to be pulling the two of them

together. When they do finally meet, they have an immediate connection and a feeling that they’ve known each other before. Their alternating points of view are interspersed with stories from the past and future—1832 Paris, 1953 Tokyo, 2109 Oslo—showing that maybe these two souls are destined to find each other across multiple lifetimes. Poignant prose and snappy dialogue help build the sympathetic characters, adding layers that make the fabulism work, but the overabundant pop-culture references in the contemporary storyline will quickly date the book. The main characters are white in the present-day timeline. Fully captures the intensity of first love. (Romance. 14-18)

The Search for Us

Not knowing the other exists, half siblings Samira and Henry each take DNA tests and are surprised by the results.

Samira Murphy takes on too much responsibility. Ever since her grandfather died, she’s taken on even more, including caring for her grandmother and supervising her older brother’s participation in AA, all while preparing for college. After she decides to put her college funds toward rehab following her brother’s latest DUI, Samira takes a DNA test, hoping to track down and get overdue child support from their

absentee father. Meanwhile, Henry Owen feels caught between his flighty biological mom and the overbearing, xenophobic aunt and uncle who’ve raised him. Hurtling toward a future he didn’t shape, Henry longs to slow down and forge a connection to his missing father and his Iranian heritage, and so he takes a DNA test too. When the test results link Samira and Henry to each other instead of Mohammed Safavi, as they expected, the two 17-year-olds continue their quest together, redefining family and untangling their U.S. Army veteran biological father’s complicated past. Readers are taken on a moving emotional journey through self-discovery, strained family ties, and the impacts of substance abuse and mental illness. The author effectively explores a number of substantive subjects with nuance in this ultimately hopeful story told through dual narratives. Samira and Henry are multiracial teens living in white families; additional ethnic diversity is shown in supporting characters. Relatable, poignant, and full of hope. (Fiction. 12-18)

And Don’t Look Back

Barrow, Rebecca | McElderry (336 pp.) $19.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781665932271

Harlow Ford has been running her whole life, and she’s not going to do it anymore.

THE SEARCH FOR US

Seventeenyear-old Harlow and her mom, Cora, have been hiding from an unknown enemy and her mom’s secret history for years. During their latest middle-of-the-night escape, Cora is fatally injured in a tragic car accident, but before she dies, she tells Harlow to go find a safety deposit box at a bank in a nearby town. Harlow discovers that it contains money, the deed to a house, pictures of a teenage Cora with two girls (“all so alike: black curls and coils, light brown skin gleaming”), and a newspaper article about a

The author effectively explores substantive subjects with nuance in this hopeful story.

missing white woman from Crescent Ridge, Washington, who seems to be the grandmother Harlow never knew about. Left with more questions than ever, Harlow heads to Crescent Ridge, which is also the location of Severn House, the place listed on the deed. There she meets (and crushes on) a pretty girl named Sloane, who informs her that the deserted place in the woods is rumored to be haunted. This thriller makes the most of its classic genre elements. In the third-person narration, Harlow has a charmingly authentic and angsty voice that invites readers along for the ride, while chapters labeled “before” offer peeks into Cora’s past. The twists and turns, along with the strong pacing, make for an absorbing read.

A gripping thriller that doesn’t reveal its secrets until the very end. (Thriller. 14-18)

Silence and Shadow

Beaty, Erin | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (464 pp.) | $19.99 | Oct. 3, 2023

9781250755841

A new city means a new serial killer for Catrin and Simon to chase.

Following the events of Blood and Moonlight (2022), Cat and Simon escape Collis, traveling to Londunium on the island of Brinsulli. Cat wants to take advantage of her half-Selenae heritage and blood magick by training as a physician at the Selenae’s akademium. Their first day in the city, the pair find and help capture a predator, in the process befriending Martin, a young reeve, or lawman, who, impressed by Simon’s powers of deduction, ends up letting them in on a series of deaths he thinks are connected. The Selenae accept Cat on the strength of her magick but disapprove of her relationship with outsider Simon (the two pretended to be married for ease of travel, a ruse that they find

hard to drop). Cat learns more about how magick works and is drawn into a conflict between two higher-ups at the akademium. The serial killer storyline starts off strong with substantial obstacles, but it’s marred by a plot twist that’s very similar to one in the first novel and a solution that feels obvious. The Selenae intrigue is also a little too easy to see through. The central relationship is superb, though, maintaining tension without undermining what’s already been established and culminating in tasteful, fade-to-black moments. The fast pace keeps things fun. Characters in this fantasy Britain read white. A popcorn read with a good balance of criminal profiling, magick, and romance. (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)

Love in Winter Wonderland

Bello, Abiola | Soho Teen (312 pp.) | $18.99 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781641295079

Two London teenagers develop an unexpected connection while trying to save a Black-owned bookstore. Seventeenyear-old Trey Anderson is the golden boy of Corden College and, with his high-maintenance girlfriend, Blair Bailey, one-half of the campus’ power couple. Although his social life may be enviable, few people know that his family’s independent bookshop, Wonderland, is rapidly losing customers to its corporate rival Books! Books! Books! A few weeks before Christmas, Trey gets terrible news: Unless the shop generates a massive profit to pay off outstanding debts, his family will sell the business to real estate developers. Trey’s determined to keep their legacy alive—even if it means working with Ariel Spencer, also 17 and Black, an introverted classmate who wants to follow in her late father’s footsteps by attending the art school he went to. Hoping to earn tuition money, Ariel accepts a job at Wonderland. Much to

Trey’s surprise, as the teens spend more time together, they reconsider their differences, growing closer. Bello’s YA debut, which is told through the leads’ alternating perspectives, shimmers with holiday magic. The layered narrative depicts their relationship with depth as they also join forces to get the community to rally around Wonderland. Ariel is described as “thick,” and her chapters thoughtfully explore her struggles with self-esteem and body image. The supporting cast reflects the diversity of the Hackney setting.

A sweet opposites-attract romance enriched by affecting moments of emotional vulnerability. (Romance. 14-18)

Run and Hide: How Jewish Youth Escaped the Holocaust

Brown, Don | Clarion/HarperCollins (192 pp.) | $22.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 9780358538165

A powerful account focusing on the fates of Jewish children during the Holocaust. The narrative opens in 1930 Germany, setting the stage for the rise of the Nazis and noting Europe’s history of antisemitism in the preceding centuries. Heartbreaking pages are devoted to the Kindertransport’s separation of kids and parents. For those remaining, ghettos, camps, and mass murder awaited. Many more pages emphasize the children who survived, their endurance, and the dangerously heroic work of resourceful adults, Jews and non-Jews alike, who protected them. Kids were saved by the thousands, but still, over 1,000,000 perished. Using quotations from survivors and many personal vignettes, Brown successfully animates masses of historical material and individualizes the suffering. Some elements would have benefited from more context: Jews’ crime is said to be “their religion,” but the

book does not explain why even secular Jews were targeted. The text notes political machinations and the origins of the Nazi Party’s name, but the party’s misappropriation of the term socialism goes unexplained. The work closes with a historical note recounting post–World War II tragedies from the Partition to the reign of Pol Pot, the Rwandan genocide, and more, along with mention of rising hate crimes, including antisemitism, in the U.S. The devastating impact of the Holocaust on children is only too real in both the text and the dynamic illustrations, which recall the expressive lines and subdued washes of Brown’s The Unwanted (2018).

Vivid, devastating, and impressively documented. (source notes, bibliography) (Graphic nonfiction. 13-18)

Waking the Witch

Burge, Rachel | Hot Key/Trafalgar (304 pp.) | $12.99 paper | Oct. 3, 2023 9781471411083

A teenager looking into her past must harness her own power to save her future.

Ever since her mother abandoned her as a baby at a service station, 17-yearold Ivy Jenkins has moved around to different foster homes. After searching for her in vain, Ivy finally finds her mother through a lead on a missing persons website and discovers she’s living on Bardsey, a remote island off the coast of Wales. But Ivy’s mother calls her with a desperate message: “whatever you do, stay away from the island.

Their powers are strongest at the lighthouse. I’m sorry, but you have to run.” Despite this warning, Ivy travels to Bardsey to meet her and learn more about her past. Her co-worker Tom, who is a keen gamer and inveterate joker, tags along. Upon their arrival, it quickly becomes obvious that there’s something sinister on the island, and Ivy may be in greater danger than she realized as a dark, powerful force is hunting her down. Steeped in the lore of Arthurian legend but with a clever feminist bent, Burge’s novel brings a haunting tale of witches and magic to life through atmospheric prose. While the development of Ivy and Tom’s relationship feels a little forced at times, it brings lightness and occasional humor to a fairly dark and chilling story. Main characters are cued white.

A compellingly fresh and spooky take on an age-old story. (Fantasy. 14-18)

Kirkus Star

Gather

Cadow, Kenneth M. | Candlewick (336 pp.) $17.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781536231113

Family matters; friends, both two- and fourlegged, help too.

The story opens with Ian Gray’s Aunt Terry bustling around the house in anticipation of his mom’s return home from the hospital, just a week before Thanksgiving. In bits and pieces, readers learn that Mom struggles with addiction. Through this and all the subsequent challenges Ian faces, a stray dog who

has wandered out of the woods adjoining his backyard becomes his anchor and steady best friend. He names the large, galumphing stray Gather. Ian recollects spending a lot of time with crusty Gramps, who liked to hunt. Mom makes a slow recovery, landing a job and a boyfriend. Between school, family, and friends, Ian’s world is heavily populated. Cadow’s debut novel portrays a challenging comingof-age in rural Vermont with warmth, humor, and insight. Ian observes the turmoil that surrounds him with bewilderment and deadpan humor. At one point, after a potentially dangerous incident, he remarks, “Obviously I made it since I’m telling you about it.” Cadow captures Ian’s engaging naïveté, which is tempered by a survivor’s unflappability and a blossoming sense of irony. The novel has the flavor of a collection of linked stories, boosted by snappy chapter titles: “What You Come Across and What You Do with It” is a reminiscence about a fishing trip and a found jackknife but also reflects Ian’s philosophy of life. Main characters read white.

A heartfelt novel about the challenges of youth and the value of community. (Fiction. 13-18)

A Bright Heart

Chenli, Kate | Union Square & Co. (344 pp.) $18.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781454949923

A second chance prompts a deadly game of wits. Lu Mingshin is about to be executed. Her fiance, Prince Ren, has ordered her death after using her family’s wealth to vie for the position of crown prince from his half brothers, each of them born to one of the widower king’s Royal Ladies. If that wasn’t enough, Mingshin learns that her Uncle Yi arranged her mother’s murder, and Aylin, her two-faced noblewoman cousin, will be marrying Ren instead. On the verge of

Engaging naïveté, tempered by a survivor’s blossoming sense of irony.

GATHER

THE KIRKUS Q&A: DASHKA SLATER

In Accountable , the author explores the reallife effects of online racism for teens.

BY MARIETTE WILLIAMS

IT’S FAIR TO SAY that America hasn’t yet reckoned with its racism, and our children are paying the price. The tragedy plays out in Dashka Slater’s narrative nonfiction book Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Aug. 22), when a high school in the small town of Albany, California, is torn apart by the discovery of a private Instagram account on which a student has posted racist and sexist memes—some of which include his fellow classmates. Slater skillfully detangles the monthslong investigation, court cases, and community fallout that follow and includes reconstructed conversations, text messages, poems, and essays to tell the story. The book is a cautionary tale about the dangers of social media, as well as an accurate portrayal of how race and class continue to operate in America. I spoke with Slater over the phone about the book; our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

This book took four years of research and listening to testimony from the teens who made and followed the account and the teens who were harmed by it. What were some of the challenges of writing a story with so many moving parts? There were a lot of challenges. First of all, just getting people to feel comfortable talking about it was a very slow process. I knew that I didn’t want to do the book at all if I didn’t have the participation of both sides involved. Some were on board right away, and some weren’t. It was a lot of

getting people comfortable, and then what happens with any group of young people is that once one person starts talking, things become a lot easier. I also had these enormous binders full of legal documents, and I had a lot of reconstruction to do from the documents.

Did you set out to write the book for a teen audience?

I have a special affinity and allegiance to young people because they’re right at the front lines of this brave new world we’ve created for them, in which they’re constantly exposed to ev-

erything. The world is bombarding them with ideas and images and beliefs that they often don’t have the tools to sort out or to investigate the source of.

Throughout the book, you include some first-person narratives, often from the point of view of a Black student. Were those written by the students you interviewed?

Several of the chapters that are set as poems are actually verbatim quotes. A poem from one of the Black girls at the school during the citizen demonstration is actually a quote that’s just broken into lines. And there’s another quote from one of the boys who was a follower of the account, and again it’s just broken into lines. Some of the poems are in my voice, where I try to summarize things that

people have told me in interviews that, for one reason or another, it felt better to try and communicate myself. A few people spoke to me for hours and hours and days and days but then didn’t want to be quoted directly or didn’t want to be a character in the book. When I’m working with those kinds of constraints, I put the material in my voice and try to show the kinds of things they’re saying.

Some of the content seemed aimed at an older demographic, like the chapter devoted to showing how Instagram works and the explanation of a Snapchat streak, which may be useful to parents and caregivers of teens. Do you think parents today are aware of how big a role social media plays in the lives of young adults?

I think parents often have

Fernando Aguila

no idea. I’m the parent of a young adult, but when I started working on this book, he was still in high school. Even though we live in a household where we talk about race and gender and justice, if I’d known how much stuff any kid can encounter just by being online, I would’ve had much more specific conversations. I really want adults to know and understand the sets of incentives kids are responding to. You mentioned Snapchat streaks, which is one that I didn’t know about until the kids explained it to me. It’s such a perverse kind of thing that can get kids into trouble for no reason. They’re responding to a set of incentives that a social media company has set up

to encourage engagement with their product, but kids are not necessarily thinking critically about who’s behind these incentives.

It seems we’re failing to properly educate these kids about slavery and institutional racism and the impact it continues to have on Black Americans today. As adults, we forget how little historical perspective kids actually have about something that happened even 10 years ago. That’s like ancient history to them. These were kids who grew up with Obama as president. This incident happened in 2017, and in their limited understanding, racism is over, right? We were in a “post-racial society”

because we had a Black president. We have to make sure that we’re connecting these appalling parts of our past—slavery, lynching, and Jim Crow—that for many of us are in living memory or in stories our families have passed down. But there are a lot of kids who can sort of set that aside and say, “Well, that was a long time ago, so we can joke about it now.”

You spend a lot of time describing racism and racist ideas to the reader. As I was reading, I kept thinking about the target audience for this book. Who would you say that is? When I’m working, I’m always imagining how what I’m writing is going to land for different audiences, but

the people I think about probably more than any others are white boys, about how to give them the tools and the awareness and the empathy they need to interrupt what’s happening in “boy world.” This is the second book I’ve written in which boys who are trying to be funny cause harm. I have some sense of how much pressure there is on boys to be funny and not to register the impact of hurtful humor. I really want boys to have the tools and the awareness to not cause harm to other people.

Did you have any personal revelations as you were writing this?

I kept a journal while I was working, and I felt like everything I was hearing and seeing, thinking, and reading about was just making my brain light up in all kinds of ways. Certainly, the shame piece was a big one—seeing the ways in which shame can be the enemy of accountability. True accountability requires having enough support from the people around you to allow yourself to take in the pain of the harm that you’ve caused. Another revelation was the amount of ambient anti-Blackness that exists on the internet and the ways that it’s being taken in by kids who aren’t even aware that it’s happening. Without the tools to critically analyze what they’re seeing, inch by inch, step by step, those things become normalized.

Mariette Williams is a South Florida–based writer with bylines in Travel + Leisure , Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan , and Essence . Accountable was reviewed in the June 15, 2023, issue.

I really want boys to have the tools and the awareness to not cause harm to other people.

death, Mingshin desperately wishes for another chance—only to see flashes of light and wake up two years in the past. With her memories of the future intact, Mingshin intends to not become a victim again, training in combat and vowing to endear herself to King Reifeng to secure her family’s safety. Strange dreams reveal the source of the magic that allowed her to jump back in time. A powerful mage is also on Mingshin’s tail, along with the ruthless enemies she’s already aware of. As Mingshin starts to rewrite her life’s story, new individuals come into play: a visiting Elder with questionable motives; Princess Yunle, who becomes a new best friend; and Prince Jieh, one of Ren’s rivals for the throne. Set in a fantasy world reminiscent of imperial China, this debut novel’s structure has a few oddities, but the clever premise and intriguing and suspenseful plot will keep readers engaged.

A fresh and compelling voice. (Fantasy. 14-17)

Unholy Terrors

Clipstone, Lyndall | Henry Holt (384 pp.)

$19.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781250887733

Defying her duties may be the only way for a girl to discover the truth about herself in a world of monsters.

As a warden, Everline Blackthorn has vowed to protect the wall surrounding the Hallowed Lands from the wolflike vespertine, monsters left behind after the fall of evil god Nyx Severin. Though the distinctive dark blue eyes they share prove she’s the warden commander’s illegitimate daughter, her olive skin and dark hair betray her: Her late mother is regarded as a traitor for abandoning her post when the vespertine invaded. Everline fights not only the vespertine, but her mother’s legacy and her own lack of aptitude for magic, while Briar,

her perfect half sister, who closely resembles their father, constantly reminds her of her failings. While out on patrol with Everline’s best friend, Lux, whom Briar is romantically involved with, the half sisters encounter a vespertine who’s walking upright. Seeking answers about both this anomaly and her own origins, Everline ventures onto the moorlands, betraying her warden vows. There she encounters Ravel, another humanlike vespertine, and she can’t help but find him strangely alluring. Some inconsistencies in worldbuilding and characterization are distracting, but the book’s strength and charm lie in its complete commitment to its brooding atmosphere, with stormy nights, bloody rituals, and animal magnetism. The growing sisterhood between Everline and Briar once they escape their father’s influence adds depth. Most characters are cued white.

A modern, moody, and monstrously gothic experience. (Fantasy. 14-18)

By Any Other Name

Cotter, Erin | Simon & Schuster (464 pp.) $19.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781665940719

An Elizabethan actor witnesses the murder of Christopher Marlowe and accidentally becomes the queen’s spymaster in this Achillean historical fiction.

In 1593 London, Will Hughes scrapes together a life as a teenage actor at the Rose Theatre under the

mentorship of Christopher Marlowe. Kidnapped from his anti-monarchist family at a young age, Will escaped indentured servitude and is now determined to get back to them. So when handsome young nobleman Lord James Bloomsbury offers him an exorbitant sum to stage an illicit play, Will is sure he’s found his ticket home. But when Will sees Marlowe get stabbed through the eye and finds a phial of poison that may be meant for the queen, their plans are derailed. James convinces Will to team up with him to solve the murder and earn the queen’s favor—something that’s vitally important to James but that Will sees as risky. As their investigation grows, the two are pulled into an increasingly tangled web that includes spies, noblemen, the infamous pirate queen Gráinne Ní Mháille, and Queen Elizabeth I herself, not to mention complicated feelings for each other. Will and James’ romantic arc is captivating, and Will’s first-person narration is propulsive. The existence of Black people in Elizabethan England is acknowledged through the presence of Will’s roommate Inigo. A well-balanced, well-researched dramedy, Cotter’s quippy, heart-wrenching debut is ideal for fans of Mackenzi Lee and F.T. Lukens.

To read or not to read? There’s really no question: pick this one up. (Historical fiction. 14-18)

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The book’s strength and charm lie in its commitment to its brooding atmosphere.

UNHOLY TERRORS

The Glass Scientists: Volume One

Cotugno, S.H. | Razorbill/Penguin (240 pp.)

$24.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9780593524428

Series: The Glass Scientists, 1

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde must work together to save the Society of Arcane Sciences. When a monster is cornered by an angry mob in the East End of London, Dr. Jekyll comes to help—thanks to information from his so-called associate, Mr. Hyde. Jekyll’s substantial reputation and membership in the Society for Arcane Sciences, where rogue scientists can freely practice their art, offers him that freedom. With the society’s Grand Exhibition only two weeks away, Jekyll must keep up appearances so he can lure in new financial backers and stay afloat. Hyde, however, does his best to lead Jekyll into mayhem at every turn. But when Dr. Frankenstein herself shows up with her creature in tow and in need of help, they lead diabolical Dr. Moreau right to them. Hyde and the society take Moreau on, leaving destruction in their wake. With Hyde a wanted man and the exhibition drawing closer, will Jekyll be able to keep the society safe and Hyde in check? This imaginative, beautifully illustrated work ironically struggles with its own identity—its multitude of plot lines and characters—even as it explores themes of identity, imposter syndrome, and living authentically in a world that doesn’t want you to. The main character is light-skinned; there is some diversity in skin tone among the supporting cast.

Makes interesting narrative promises but requires waiting for the sequel to see if they will come to fruition. (short story, afterword, author’s note, art notes) (Graphic horror. 14-18)

Here, and Only Here

Dabos, Christelle | Trans. by Hildegarde Serle | Europa Editions (200 pp.) | $21.00 Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781609459567

Secondary school can be a nightmare, and that’s particularly true of a macabre school governed by peculiar social rules and supernatural machinations in this novel translated from French. The story follows four students, each feeling like outcasts in their own ways. First-year Iris abandons her childhood friend in his time of need and suffers the consequences. Pierre, the odd one out who’s without a partner to share his desk in a class of 27 students, is violently bullied and ostracized. Madeleine feels insecure and ascribes mystical powers to herself. Guy is paired with a new girl in class and starts to question the tyrannical rule of the prince who dominates his class. Meanwhile, a small cabal of students who call themselves the Top-Secret Club meet to discuss the underlying cause of the school’s peculiarities, which they ascribe to the schmoil, a supernatural substance in the pipes. All of this is a metaphor for the isolating perils of existing as an adolescent within the social trappings of schools that so often operate according to elaborate, cliquish, and downright indecipherable

social conventions. This is well-trodden territory, and this iteration feels particularly impenetrable. The prose is clunky, and the circumstances of the characters feel so odd that they nearly obscure the familiar emotions of loneliness, isolation, and insecurity that readers might otherwise find relatable. A dense fever dream that’s not for the faint of heart. (Paranormal. 13-18)

Kirkus Star

When Ghosts Call Us Home

de Becerra, Katya | Page Street (368 pp.) $18.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781645679639

An amateur horror movie star returns years later to the haunted house where the film was shot, hoping to get answers and resolve her fears.

WHEN GHOSTS CALL US HOME

Sophia Galich was 12 when her older sister, Layla, made her the unwilling star of Vermillion. Cashore House’s reputation is haunted by the film’s startlingly realistic and disturbing footage, combined with the dark lore surrounding the tragic fate of a well-known Russian ballerina who died there in the 1930s, both of which make it a cult favorite among V-heads. These ardent fans believe everything in the film was true and claim that viewing it leads to paranormal experiences. Sophia, however, chooses to believe it all was fake, accepting the reassurances her sister gave her about special effects. Two years ago, Layla mysteriously vanished; eager to find her, Sophia, now 17, agrees to play the lead in a documentary that includes an on-site reenactment. She’s convinced the house holds the answers to her sister’s disappearance and the question of whether Vermillion’s ghosts are just memories of her fears, or if she was—and still is—embroiled in a demonic game of identity, possession, and death. An intricate paranormal

Artful weaving of ghostly horrors with off-kilter creepiness.

backstory imbues the book with robust terror that may provoke readers to wonder whether it’s all real. The artful weaving of ghostly horrors with the off-kilter creepiness of films and fandoms creates multiple layers of fear in this deeply unsettling page-turner. Main characters are cued white. Haunting, intense, and eerily spooky. (Horror. 14-18)

Untraceable

de León, Aya | Candlewick (336 pp.)

$18.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781536223750 Series: The Factory, 2

In this YA companion to middle-grade thriller Undercover Latina (2022), a Los Angeles teen’s family tries to escape her mother’s dangerous ex.

Fifteen-year-old Amani Kendall goes from practicing roller skating for an upcoming birthday party one day to starting over in a different school with a cover story and a fake name the next. Amani never fit in at elite, STEM-focused Penfield Academy as a “plus-size Black girl who wore African braids…because her mother wouldn’t let her flat-iron her hair.” But after Amani encounters a creepy man in her backyard and makes a police report (to her mother’s great displeasure), everything changes. Her mom picks her up early from school, informing her that their house was burned down, possibly by a stalker ex-boyfriend. Amani’s dad, a climate-change researcher, has been away working in the field for months. Amani and her mom take shelter with Sister Niema, who ran the Afrocentric weekend school for girls

Amani once attended. Now going by Imani Kennedy, she starts over—with some negative preconceptions about her new classmates—at a public school that’s dramatically different from her old one. But she can’t help feeling like her mom is hiding something. This body-positive story has an exciting premise and addresses many relevant social issues. Unfortunately, the slow pace makes it difficult to sustain readers’ interest, and the book juggles a number of plotlines that don’t deliver on their promise.

Underwhelming. (Fiction. 12-16)

Too Scared To Sleep

Duplessie, Andrew | Clarion/HarperCollins (224 pp.) | $19.99 | Oct. 10, 2023

9780063266483

Spooky stories covering multiple subgenres, plus some added attractions. Few horrific tropes or creepy conventions are overlooked in Duplessie’s debut. The stories are arranged into six sections: “Short Frights for Dark Nights,” “Anatomical Anomalies,” “Five Minutes in the Future,” “Be Careful Who You Trust,” “The Dark Web,” and “The Unearthly, the Ghoulish, and the Downright Monstrous.” Some of the best entries are grounded

in familiar setups, but Duplessie is careful to avoid repetition. The stories’ relatively short lengths and the crisp, direct writing style make this volume inviting for even reluctant readers, but it doesn’t shy away from the truly terrifying and grotesque. That said, the grisliest events are often described with poetic elegance rather than gratuitous violence: “His face collapsed like an empty paper bag.” The stories frequently conclude with the suggestion of frights to come rather than graphic depictions. One ends with an overly curious girl getting sealed up in a brick wall. Another foreshadows the murderous power of a cellphone. Highlights include the eerie “The Reaping,” in which the prick of a rose’s thorn triggers a spate of bloodlust, and “Chamber of Horrors,” which features a murderous iron maiden. Each story ends with a bonus in the form of a QR code and instructions to “scan the code for a scare”—if readers dare. Short, eerie poems are peppered throughout; there are even a handful of riddles. Most characters read white; names cue some ethnic diversity.

A fresh, generous, wide-ranging compendium of frights. (Horror. 13-18)

Being Ace: An Anthology of Queer, Trans, Femme, and Disabled Stories of Asexual Love and Connection

Ed. by Dyer, Madeline | Page Street (352 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 9781645679561

A multigenre anthology of short stories for teens that centers asexual protagonists. A teen Slayer who is repulsed by sex is the target of monsters attracted to her virginal blood—until she deconstructs her community’s buy-in of the heterosexist concept of virginity in “Smells Like Teen

Doesn’t shy away from the truly terrifying and grotesque. A fresh, generous compendium of frights.

TOO SCARED TO SLEEP

Virgin” by S.E. Anderson. In S.J. Taylor’s “The Witch of Festa Falls,” a girl living in 18th-century Norway is able to save her community from a fossegrim, a terrifying creature from folklore, because she’s immune to his charms. “The Third Star” by RoAnna Sylver follows an aro-ace, agender, autistic teen who is worried about their queerplatonic relationship when their two partners go through rough patches, all while surviving on an emergency craft in the depths of space. The Little Mermaid is rescued from the clutches of exploitation and finds an unexpectedly platonic alliance with a merman prince in Moniza Hossain’s “The Mermaid’s Sister.” Themes of grief, community expectations, resilience, self-esteem, and queer joy are woven throughout this anthology. The stories range widely in tone and genre, although the majority are speculative. While some are immensely satisfying, others feel noticeably underdeveloped and rushed. But readers hungry for intersectional ace (and frequently also aro) representation will be pleased to see a range of queer identities, racial backgrounds, and disabilities (including a protagonist with hyperacusis and cerebral palsy who uses a power wheelchair).

May not take the whole cake, but asexual readers hungry for representation will find some outstanding pieces to dig into. (content warning) (Anthology. 14-18)

If You’ll Have Me

Eunnie | Viking (336 pp.) | $24.99 Oct. 17, 2023 | 9780593403228

Two beloved characters from artist Eunnie’s Instagram feed get a full-length graphic novel treatment.

Readers meet college student Momo just as she’s about to encounter PG for the first time. It’s not an ideal meet-cute, however. Momo is doing her friend Kayla a favor by dropping off some class notes at Kayla’s friend Lea’s dorm room. When scantily clad PG answers the door, Momo is immediately flustered by how gorgeous she is—but she learns that PG has a reputation for seducing women and avoiding serious commitments, the exact opposite of Momo, who’s never dated anyone. Still, after witnessing a fraught situation at a nightclub, Momo overcomes her shyness to check on PG. They have an open conversation and a romantic dance. Running into each other around town turns into texting, which turns into mutual big feelings. Readers will fall in love with both young women as they fall in love with each other. Their conflicts give them depth and feel believable for their stage of life, their different but equally relatable backstories are fleshed out, and the satisfying resolution inspires happiness. Well-developed friendships play smaller but still important roles. The appealing artwork features clean, pastel-tinted backgrounds and doe-eyed characters with expressive faces. Momo has dark brown skin and wavy brown hair; PG is Vietnamese American.

Utterly charming and swoonworthy. (Graphic romance. 14-adult)

When We Become Ours: A YA Adoptee Anthology

Ed. by Gibney, Shannon & Nicole Chung HarperTeen (352 pp.) | $19.99 Oct. 24, 2023 | 9780063144408

An anthology of short stories by and about transracial adoptees offering solidarity and understanding. Across 15 stories, authors from a broad variety of backgrounds explore the need to belong and the difficulties in doing so when one is a child adopted and raised by parents who look different and are of a different race. In Mariama J. Lockington’s “Cora and Benji’s Great Escape,” set at Camp Unity, “A Black Identity Experience,” Cora, a Black 15-year-old, uses poetry to explore her increasing sense of disconnection from her white adoptive mother, and she eagerly reunites with fellow adoptee and camp bestie, Benji. In MeMe Collier’s “Haunt Me, Then,” Hazel, who was adopted from China, is visited by the ghost of Jamie, her brother who was adopted from South Korea and died six months ago; raised by strict Christian parents, both siblings sought information about their birth parents, but Jamie’s curiosity grew into rage. Though each story conveys its own nuances and contributes to deeper understanding of the subject, those that speak more directly to the central theme of adoption are overall stronger than the more abstract entries. An afterword by transracial adoptee and scholar JaeRan Kim deftly summarizes the value of this work: “those from dominant and majority groups need decentering if they are to develop into compassionate, justice-seeking adults. This book is for everyone—those personally connected to adoption and

Readers will fall in love with both young women as they fall in love with each other.

Book to Screen

Emma Myers To Star in Guide to Murder Series

Emma Myers will play the lead role in a television adaptation of Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy of young adult mystery novels, Deadline reports.

Jackson’s series kicked off in 2020 with A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Two more novels followed, Good Girl, Bad Blood and As Good as Dead. The novels focus on Pip Fitz-Amobi, a young woman who investigates the disappearance of a high school student and whose life continues to be thrown into disarray by the case.

Myers, best known for her performance on the Netflix series Wednesday, will play Pip in the series, which is being developed for the BBC. Also starring is newcomer Zain Iqbal. Dolly Wells (Good Posture) will direct, with Poppy Cogan (Chloe, Red Rose) as lead writer.

Fiona Campbell of the BBC said, “In Emma and Zain we’ve found two actors who embody the characters so perfectly it will feel as though they’ve stepped straight from the pages of Holly’s books onto our screens.”

Jackson, who will be among the series’ executive producers, announced the casting news on Instagram, writing, “I am so unbelievably excited that Emma is our Pip. She is phenomenal and this role was truly always meant to be hers. And we found our perfect Ravi in Zain. I can’t wait for us all to be able to watch their scenes.”—M.S.

SEEN AND HEARD

Jesse Andrews Addresses Book Ban in New Column

Author Jesse Andrews addressed efforts to ban his novel Me and Earl and the Dying Girl in a column for Deadline.

Andrews’ young adult novel, published in 2012 by Amulet/Abrams, follows a high school senior and his friendships with a fellow aspiring filmmaker and a girl who is battling leukemia. In the column, Andrews reacts to news that his book has been removed from school library shelves in Leon County, Florida, after complaints from the right-wing activist group Moms for Liberty.

“The book banners, once again, have banned my book,” he writes. “Every time this happens, I’m not sure whether to find it funny or sad.…It seems to have been banned mainly because there’s a lot of swearing and a two-page passage where the main character and his only friend do a long jokey riff about eating pussy.”

Me and the Earl and the Dying Girl has been one of the most

challenged and banned books in American schools and libraries in recent years. The American Library Association included it on its lists of most frequently banned book in 2021 and 2022.

“For the last two years, a national movement of right-wing activists has been busily bleaching the bookshelves of hundreds of books they’ve targeted as unfit for teenagers to read,” Andrews writes. “My novel has been banned dozens of times and challenged dozens more; I don’t see this ending anytime soon.”—M.S.

Curtis: Unique Nicole/Getty Images; Sotomayor: Alex Wong/Getty Images

To read our starred review of Jesse Andrews’ Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, visit kirkusreviews.com.

To read our review of A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson, visit kirkusreviews.com.

Meyers: Stephanie Meyers/Getty Images; Andrews: Jeff Swenson Getty Images; Johnson: Leah Tribbett

Emma Myers

Jesse Andrews

Leah Johnson To Open Store for Banned Books

Author Leah Johnson is bringing banned books to her hometown, Publishers Weekly reports.

Johnson, best known for her young adult novels You Should See Me in a Crown and Rise to the Sun, will open Loudmouth Books in Indianapolis, Indiana. The brick-and-mortar store will be an extension of her Bookshop.org online store with the same name.

foot store was funded partially by a successful GoFundMe that raised more than $16,000.

“I was so pleasantly surprised to see how overwhelming the response was,” Johnson told Publishers Weekly “The lease is signed, the building is secured, and we’ve already started work on the inside to get it ready.”

Johnson shared the news of the new store on Instagram, writing, “I cant even pretend to do an intro bc I’m too excited so here it is:

OPENING A FREAKING BOOKSTORE!!!!…

The retailer will focus on both books for adults and young people, with an emphasis on titles that have been challenged or banned in schools and libraries. The 1,000-square-You

@loudmouthindy is here to loudly and proudly proclaim that you can’t ban queer joy, you can’t ban Black joy—and you can’t stop us from telling our stories. We will NEVER

Loudmouth Books will have a soft opening in late September before its official launch during Banned Books —M.S.

anyone interested in expanding their understanding of adoptees.”

An emotion-filled collection. (editors’ note, about the authors, further reading) (Anthology. 13-18)

These Are the Words: Fearless Verse To Find Your Voice

Gill, Nikita | Macmillan Children’s Books (192 pp.) | $14.99 paper | Oct. 10, 2023

9781529083606

British Indian poet and playwright Gill’s first work for young adults is a tender, feminist examination of hard topics that honors quiet moments of healing and connection.

This poetry collection, organized around the four seasons, has sections that begin with a line of advice for each sign in the zodiac. Many of the poems focus on women’s bonds and identity: There are meditations on the women who have come before and those who will come after, emphasizing enduring mutual support. Romantic love, with partners of different genders, and self-love are explored next. The family section delves into toxic family ties and different parental reactions to coming out. There’s also a powerful meditation on colorism: “As a child, the aunties called my sister Coal. / Coal because of the colour of her skin, / not because of her ability to become fuel, / to glow so brightly despite them.” The next few sections—on hurting, protest, and body image—are empowering, inclusive reminders of one’s value. Topics like microaggressions, climate change, and the importance of voting are addressed: “You deserve a future filled with hope.” The concluding pieces about healing, friendship, and found family are soothing and beautiful. The concise poems, many of which contain abstract ruminations that feel relevant to many moments of joy and pain,

combined with Gill’s black-and-white sketches, are accessible and welcoming. A gentle emphasis on hope and healing makes this a compassionate, restorative collection. (author’s note) (Poetry. 14-18)

Superman: The Harvests of Youth

Grace, Sina | Colors by Cris Peter DC (208 pp.) | $16.99 paper Oct. 3, 2023 9781779511058

Smallville is rocked by a teen’s death and the arrival of a mercenary businessman. High school student Clark Kent is walking to school with best friend Pete when a couple of police cars zoom by. Overheard comments made by shocked classmates appear in a constellation of thought bubbles around Clark’s head: Fellow student Alvin Buenaventura has died by suicide. Clark finds Amy, Alvin’s stunned sister, sitting outside the school office and offers his support. His friends Lana and Pete are sympathetic, but Clark, who is reeling from the news, is shocked by the callous reactions of Chloe and Gil. A relationship blossoms between Clark and Amy as she works through her grief, and he probes the tragedy for answers. At home on the farm, Clark’s parents provide grounding and sound advice. The plot thickens with the arrival of industrialist Lionel Luthor and his son, Lex, who faces off against Lana in a debate. Gil, meanwhile, worries his friends with his increasingly erratic behavior: Could he be following in Alvin’s footsteps? At a fall community festival, LutherCorp implements a sinister and destructive plan that only Clark can disable. Grace sensitively addresses the issue of adolescent depression and disaffection within the parameters of the Superman universe, deftly combining this personal story with a high-octane adventure plot. The

clean lines and crisp, realistic artwork are a good match for the economical storytelling. Most characters appear white; Pete reads Black. Compelling and sensitive treatment of an important topic. (Graphic fiction. 12-18)

Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy

Hicks, Faith Erin | First Second (304 pp.) | $17.99 paper | Oct. 3, 2023 9781250838728

Ice hockey dynamo Alix asks cool-under-pressure theater-loving Ezra for help with managing her temper, sparking an unlikely friendship and journeys of self-discovery.

Vancouver Island, British Columbia, teen Alix is struggling with Lindsay, the mean captain of her hockey team who verbally torments her in front of the other girls. Meanwhile, Ezra is recovering from a breakup with his boyfriend and fielding homophobic insults from a classmate. After physically lashing out at Lindsay, Alix approaches Ezra. He agrees to work with her, and their honesty and vulnerability allow them to confide in each other. The story thoughtfully explores identity, sexuality, and complex family dynamics: Ezra shares information about his sexual identity (“I’m attracted to lots of different people, not just guys”) and traumatic past with his father; Alix opens up about her romantic inexperience and complicated relationships with her mom and absent father. Alix and Ezra read as real, complex, interesting, unique teenagers, and their romance unfolds naturally and believably. Amid the sparse grayscale illustrations, Hicks makes stunning, purposeful use of touches of light blue, carefully highlighting details like Ezra’s hair and Alix’s hockey uniform. The visuals are crucial to readers’ understanding of the story, offering powerful images

A bold addition to queer dark academia stories. THE FOREST DEMANDS ITS

full of tension and nuance. The ending feels a bit abrupt, but readers will forgive that thanks to the overall incredible storytelling and character building. The main characters appear white; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast.

Compelling characters presented through captivating, expressive illustrations. (bonus art) (Graphic romance. 14-18)

Life Expectancy

Hughes, Alison | DCB (240 pp.) | $16.95 paper | Sept. 19, 2023 | 9781770867093

Sophronia Gayle-St. John, plagued by unexplained mood swings, memory lapses, and clumsiness, struggles through high school as best she can.

Sophie’s class for students with disabilities will be performing the play Abomination, the story of a magical, disfigured child who’s shunned by society, that’s based on an award-winning novel by Mariam Gayle, her literary titan of a grandmother. This prompts Sophie to dig into her family’s past— and she discovers shocking revelations, among them the fact that her parents won damages in a lawsuit over her “wrongful birth.” For 16 years, they’ve carefully hidden her diagnosis of juvenile Huntington’s disease, and Sophie learns she may only have a short time left to live. Now she must decide what to do with this truth. Hughes grapples with enormous questions about bodily autonomy, genetic testing, legal morality, and coping with terminal

illness—and only sometimes succeeds. Sophie’s classmates, thrown together despite vastly different access and academic needs, are a collection of broadly drawn disability stereotypes; Sophie herself, while easy to root for in her anger and intense willfulness, is on a trajectory that feels intended more to teach through inspirational clichés than to paint a truly complicated vision of disabled reality. More successful are the explorations of interpersonal conflicts, her high-powered professional parents’ neglect, Mariam’s legacy of abuse, and Sophie’s profound isolation. Sophie’s family is cued white.

A didactic web of family dramas and lessons for living that falls short in nuanced representation. (Fiction. 12-18)

Shadow Coven

Isabelle, S. | Scholastic (368 pp.) | $19.99 Sept. 19, 2023 | 9781338758993 Series: The Witchery, 2

Readers return to Haelsford, Florida, to be reunited with six teens who face new dangers in this follow-up to The Witchery (2022).

It’s summer, but rather than enjoying a well-deserved break after the events of the previous book, witches Jailah, Logan, Iris, and Thalia, and their mundane friends, Trent and Mathew, find themselves facing even more challenges. While exploring their new romantic connection, Iris and Mathew are contacted by Lord Death himself and learn they have life-changing roles to

play. Meanwhile, Thalia, Trent, and Logan trek back to Thalia’s hometown to investigate the mysterious disappearance of witches and how they may be connected to Thalia’s witch-hating pastor father. Back at Mesmortes, the coven academy, Jailah is taking up her role at the Junior Witchery Council when she comes across a secret that could potentially change everything. As the friends’ paths diverge, so do the threads that previously connected them. The six protagonists become entangled with revenge attempts, unexpected revelations, and unveiled secrets, all while discovering their agency and sense of purpose in this multistranded sequel. The character-driven nature of this novel—in contrast to the cohesive central mystery of the first book—makes for interesting beats, yet it sometimes feels too loosely connected overall. But fans of the first book will still find much to enjoy. The well-developed cast of characters is predominantly Black and includes queer representation. A disjointed but nevertheless engaging sequel. (Fantasy. 14-18)

The Forest Demands Its Due

Jackson, Kosoko | Quill Tree Books/ HarperCollins (432 pp.) | $19.99 Oct. 3, 2023 | 9780063260795

A whispering forest surrounds a school full of deadly secrets. After being accused of setting a fire that caused multiple deaths, Black high school junior Douglas accepts a full scholarship to prestigious Regent Academy in rural Vermont, an institution filled with privileged students that’s known for producing leaders. After a fight with a bully, Douglas comes to in the forest and realizes this opportunity of a lifetime has been twisted into something nightmarish. After another classmate goes missing, and no one seems to

recall the boy’s existence, Douglas approaches Headmaster Monroe about the strange events. Monroe recognizes the significance of what Douglas experienced, and Douglas agrees to take part in Monroe’s plans. Lured to the forest (which seems to call to him in many voices) and unsure of his own senses, Douglas seeks answers from rugged and aloof groundskeeper Everett Everley, the blond 17-year-old descendant of a family with its own connections to the forest. As Douglas’ inner strength becomes clearer, Everett trains him for a standoff against a terrifying and powerful force. They both fear more lives are at risk, including their own. As they work together, the mutual attraction between Douglas and Everett grows. Alongside the growing body count, this satisfying and suspenseful genre-bender delivers an uplifting gay romance: It’s the perfect choice for fans of high-intensity action, surprising twists, and fantastically frightening creatures. A bold addition to queer dark academia stories. (Horror/fantasy. 13-18)

Star Wars: Crimson Climb

Johnston, E.K. | Disney Lucasfilm (368 pp.) $17.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781368093750

To navigate a precarious life in Crimson Dawn, Qi’ra must rebuild herself into the cunning, ruthless survivor she perhaps once was—before Solo. Though Han did manage to escape the Corellian spaceport, Qi’ra did not, so back she plunges into the Coronet City tunnels with the thieving gang of scrumrats known as the White Worms. Punishment for her disobedience soon follows as crime boss Lady Proxima sells Qi’ra to a cruel trafficker. Still, she uncovers a path forward: “There would be no more reckless plans, no more trust.” Qi’ra’s remaining days on Corellia and harrowing time with the trafficker prove short when Crimson

Dawn recruits her. The powerful crime syndicate represents another means of survival in a harsh galaxy, but her keen ingenuity swiftly attracts the attention of Dryden Vos, the gang’s cruel, enigmatic leader. At first resistant to Vos’ influence, as well as the comparative comfort the notorious syndicate affords her, Qi’ra nonetheless steps further into Crimson Dawn’s twisted games of power and survival, with visions of the boy “who’d always had stars in his eyes” in the recesses of her memories. An exquisite portrait of an intrepid character in the Star Wars universe, Johnston’s latest richly plots Qi’ra’s ascent through Crimson Dawn with verve. Though certain characters’ motivations sometimes get muddled amid the action, the overall arc of the novel’s reluctant antihero as well as some delightfully baddie villains prove to be major draws.

A propulsive read for fans of a galaxy far, far away. (Science fiction. 12-18)

Curious Tides

Lacelle, Pascale | McElderry (544 pp.)

$21.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781665939270

Series: The Drowned Gods Duology, 1

In a world where everyone has a magical ability based on the moon’s phase on their day of birth, magical education is reserved for those with exceptional talent. Students at Aldryn College for Lunar Magics pursue the advanced study of magic. Emory Ainsleif is a Healer, an ability associated with House New Moon. Last spring, she followed her best friend, Romie Brysden, and seven others into the Dovermere Caves. In the deepest cave, known as the Belly of the Beast, Emory unwittingly took part in a ritual that left a peculiar mark on her wrist and left the other students dead. Back at Aldryn for the new school year, Emory begins to develop magical abilities that go beyond healing—and

that she’s unable to control. She turns to Baz, Romie’s brother, for help—Baz was born during an eclipse, giving him unpredictable magic. Reluctant to train Emory but eager to find out what happened to his sister, Baz finally agrees, and together they begin to unravel what happened last spring. This dark fantasy, told in Emory’s and Baz’s alternating third-person perspectives, has a spooky atmosphere and rich worldbuilding. It slowly unfolds to reveal what really happened to Romie, but predictable plot twists and a gratuitous deus ex machina may frustrate readers. The central characters are described as having pale skin. The magical world is fresh, but the storyline is less satisfying. (content warnings, Sacred Lunar Houses & their tidal alignments) (Fantasy. 14-18)

Be That Way

Larson, Hope | Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House (272 pp.) | $22.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 9780823447619

A ’90s teenager pours her heart out in style.

Sixteen-year-old Christine, living in Asheville, North Carolina, begins her year of diary entries with a New Year’s resolution: “BE SHINY! (And get a new boyfriend.)” Her best friend, Landry, has better luck with boys, and their relationship is turbulent, eventually culminating in an intense physical fight. Despite her friendship woes, Christine stays focused, continuing to write for her school newspaper and later getting a summer job at the local video store. Her experimentation with dating wealthy neighbor Whit is tumultuous, and good friend and fellow student journalist Paul is an additional, complicated love interest. Each beat of this drama is compulsively readable and intense; Christine’s interior life is full of rage, hyperbole, sarcasm, and vulnerability— especially as she also is mourning her

father’s death. The best parts of the diary entries are Christine’s incredible drawings, which are generously interspersed throughout. Ranging from simple pen-and-ink-style sketches to intricate full-page spreads featuring gorgeous detail, diverse techniques, and searing emotion, even the more quotidian details are brought to life. Fans of Larson’s graphic novels will appreciate the short, intermittent fullcolor comic panels that are especially reminiscent of her trademark style. Some misogynistic name-calling and cruel descriptions of other people that aren’t unpacked may make it difficult for readers to always root for Christine. All characters read white. An emotional and art-filled slice of teenage life. (Illustrated fiction. 14-18)

What if We Were: Book 2

Lenoir, Axelle | Trans. by Pablo Strauss Top Shelf Productions (88 pp.) | $14.99 paper | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781603095303

High school besties Nathalie and Marie are back in a new collection that reveals the origins of their yearslong friendship and the eponymous game of hypotheticals they like to play.

The major story arc is a joking wish on a lamp that catapults the girls into a fairy tale. Our heroes are no damsels in distress, however, and their predicament provides a rich setup for exploring the powers of naming and identity. Bookending the primary adventure is a series of episodic one-shots that capture the

reality and cringe comedy of being a teen, including scholastic struggles, crushes, and gym class. Readers new to the series are cleverly oriented through several pages of opening character sheets. Yet those unfamiliar with the first collection may struggle to keep up with the repartee and frenzied movement between panels. Interludes, such as letters and an activity book, help measure the pacing without dampening the joy. A poignant two-page spread alluding to the Covid-19 pandemic, juxtaposed with Nathalie’s and Marie’s opposite approaches to lockdown, creates one of several beautiful moments. The teens’ sincere friendship (with a side of good-natured ribbing) is grounded in mutual respect and love. Except for a villain, adults are out of frame or obscured by word bubbles. Most characters appear white; Marie reads Black and has a white grandfather. A zany, surreal compilation that reframes and celebrates female friendship. (Graphic fiction. 13-17)

Ryan and Avery

Levithan, David | Knopf (320 pp.) | $18.99 Sept. 12, 2023 | 9780399553097

Two boys—bluehaired Ryan and pink-haired Avery—learn date-by-date what it means to build a relationship.

Ryan and Avery met at a gay prom. That night was the beginning of a conversation they both wanted to continue. Neither of them has much experience with dating, so they don’t know if they are moving

too fast or too slow. Avery’s parents are welcoming and supportive when their son brings Ryan to dinner, but Ryan’s parents don’t know about Avery, because they don’t really know their own son. As Ryan and Avery open up to one another, the rift between Ryan and his parents stretches into a chasm that may soon become too wide to cross. An omniscient but personable narrator follows the teens through the first 10 dates of their new relationship. After setting the stage during dates five and six, when Ryan’s familial conflicts emerge, the narrative winds back and forth between chapters that progress backward to the night of pride prom and forward to the present. Although Ryan and Avery made their debut in Two Boys Kissing (2013), this novel-length version of their story not only stands alone but also revises Ryan’s family relationships and how Avery, who is transgender, talks about his gender identity. Levithan’s quietly musing prose overflows with earnest emotion and understanding. The cast of characters is cued white.

An intimate unfurling of first love. (Romance. 13-18)

One in a Million

Lordon, Claire | Candlewick (272 pp.) | $16.99 paper | Oct. 10, 2023 9781536213676

In this graphic memoir, Lordon recounts what it was like to go from being an active, thriving high school junior to struggling when her life took a terrifying turn.

Claire began experiencing weight gain, brain fog, headaches, and exhaustion, turning what should have been an exciting new phase of life into a series of doctor visits that resulted in a shocking diagnosis of Cushing’s disease. In this account drawn from her diary entries, readers are thrust into the heart of her mysterious health journey, feeling each moment alongside her. Refreshingly pushing

Quietly musing prose overflows with earnest emotion and understanding.

RYAN AND AVERY

back against tropes that often appear in these types of stories, Claire is not required to be heroic in the face of her declining health or to find meaning in it; she expresses all the frustration of a typical high school student. She values her hobbies and time with caring friends even as she drifts away from or is not allowed to do things that bring her joy. Claire’s family is supportive but not smothering, providing companionship that buoys her, and her love of sports and art carries her through. Where Lordon succeeds most is in making her losses, compounded by disorientation, feel both frightening and ordinary. The visual format is the ideal medium for depicting her emotional state: Simple, expressive character designs and backgrounds in white and shades of purple help soften even intense situations. Interspersed are grayscale sections vividly depicting how her symptoms felt.

Informative and full of relatable honesty. (content warning, resources, photos) (Graphic memoir. 14-18)

Coral’s Reef Vol. 1

Lumsdon, David | Illus. by Shiei

Seven Seas (256 pp.) | $13.99 paper

Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781645059790

Series: Coral’s Reef, 1

Aquatic adolescence meets magical girl intrigue in this surfside romantic comedy.

Sea sprite Coral works as a surf instructor for a hotel. She has a little stepsister, Maki, who is a kappa. Maki’s father, Taki, runs a boba shop and is married to Coral’s mom, Leora, who is a fashion designer. Coral’s friends include siren Anemone, whose legs turn into twin fish tails when wet, and dryad Lillyana, who has plant powers and a penchant for nudity.

Maki teases Coral about her huge crush on Nick Inferno, a fire ifrit. In fact, there are plenty of crushes to go around in this story. Coral also

finds Lance Riptide, the hotel owner’s privileged son, irresistibly cute, and Lillyana subjugates a boys’ volleyball team with giant plants in order to flirt with them. On top of that, the student body at Littoral High School is gaga for Nick and Ember, his “smoking hot” billboard model twin sister. The romantic comedy and drama that ensue take center stage along with a touch of mystery around Coral’s secret powers and missing father. The full-color artwork gives each anthropomorphic species its own palette (for example, kappas are green, while ifrits are yellow and orange) and frequently shows off the cast’s buff and curvaceous swimsuit bodies.

The perfect beach read for shōjo manga fans who like a little fantasy magic with their love triangles. (bonus comics) (Graphic fantasy. 12-18)

The Prince & the Apocalypse

McDowell, Kara | Wednesday Books (320 pp.) | $24.00 | July 11, 2023

9781250873040

After missing her flight home from London, an American teen faces further travel interruptions when she hears an announcement that the world is ending in eight days.

Nothing has gone to plan during 18-year-old Wren Wheeler’s summer study abroad trip to London with her BFF. After years of anticipation, planning, and creating itineraries, she spent most of the time sick in her hotel room, and now she’s missed her flight home just as the news breaks that a comet is due to hit Earth, putting an end to life as we know it. Wren was running late in the first place because earlier, in a meet-cute at Camden Market, she helped 19-year-old crown prince Theo evade paparazzi after he ditched his security detail in hopes of enjoying some freedom before it was too late. Calling in a

favor, she asks Theo for help getting home to Chicago. He agrees but in exchange wants Wren to help him get to Santorini, where he was happiest and would like to die. He’ll send her on to Chicago in the private jet that’s waiting there. The two embark on a trip across Europe involving trains, a ferry, and a stolen car, not to mention a blossoming romance. Quirky Wren is full of personality, and her lively first-person narration is engaging and sympathetic. The witty banter and romantic tension between the leads, combined with a fast-paced plot, help readers suspend their disbelief. Main characters are white. A charming escapist romance. (Romance. 13-18)

Outcasts

McFall, Claire | Walker US/Candlewick (304 pp.) | $19.99 | Oct. 31, 2023 9781536218473

Series: The Ferryman Trilogy, 3

The conclusion to the Ferryman Trilogy sees its protagonists realizing that there’s no cheating death.

Dylan and her boyfriend, Tristan, find their new lives in the world of the living falling apart as the balance between the real world and the wasteland continues to crumble. The veil between worlds shows signs of degeneration, and wraiths are increasingly intruding into the living world, leaving them to deal with the guilt of being responsible for this fracture. Everything changes when the souls of Dylan’s mum and dad are taken by the Inquisitor: “You have upset the balance, and it is my job to reset the equilibrium. I made a bargain with you, and I will hold to it.” The lovers are offered a chance to make things right—but this means crossing the wasteland and surviving all its dangers, knowing that in the end they will be separated forever. Meanwhile, ferryman Susanna and Jack, the soul she must escort into the

afterlife, have grown closer and are hoping to survive their own harrowing crossing. In doing so, however, they discover something that should have been impossible. This novel features high stakes and examines ideas of accountability and making amends for wrongs, but these elements are undermined by the difficulty of sympathizing with the four protagonists, given their self-absorption. The worldbuilding feels flimsy and, disappointingly, seems to change to accommodate the characters’ needs. Main characters read white. Returning fans may be satisfied with this series closer. (Fantasy. 13-18)

Flower and Thorn

Mehrotra, Rati | Wednesday Books (352 pp.) | $20.00 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781250823700

A teenage girl in India faces a dangerous journey to recover a rare, powerful flower.

Seventeen-year-old

Irinya Dewa has grown up hunting for magic flowers in the salt flats of the Rann of Kutch. When her childhood friend Fardan finds the bud of a silver spider lily, a plant not seen in decades, Irinya dreams of the possibilities. They could sell it to get their kul, or band of nomadic families, out of debt— and with its magical capabilities, the flower could turn the tide on the war with the Portuguese. Irinya initially promises not to take the flower, but an attractive man persuades her to give it to him, promising a generous financial reward. By the time she realizes she was cheated, it’s too late— the vicious baniya, or moneylenders, learn what she did, and a beloved elder from her kul is killed. Vowing to make things right, Irinya sneaks off to the capital of Ahmedabad. Tigers are the least of her worries on the dangerous journey, where she gets involved with the wazir of Gujarat and the politics of the sultanate. Using her magic

flowers, her blowpipe, and carefully harvested poison thorns, Irinya tries to set things right. Mehrotra reimagines India’s history using beautiful, detailed worldbuilding and well-developed characters. The story explores family, friendship, loyalty, betrayal, and love, beginning slowly but quickening in pace as the action increases. A well-realized fantasy world full of both beauty and danger. (glossary) (Historical fantasy. 13-18)

The Broke Hearts

Mendez, Matt | Caitlyn Dlouhy/ Atheneum (240 pp.) | $19.99 | Oct. 3, 2023

9781534404489

Two friends struggle to find their way through the world after the death of their friend in this follow-up to Barely Missing Everything (2019). A year has passed since Danny Villanueva and JD Sanchez’s best friend, Juan, was shot and killed by police. Danny is struggling in his first semester of college, while JD, a new Air Force recruit, is 10 days from deployment. The people around them have moved on, but JD and Danny continue to feel angry and unmoored. When JD turns 19, he drives back to El Paso to celebrate with Danny, but Danny’s father has suddenly been hospitalized due to a heart condition. Between visits with his father, Danny works on the art assignment that may save his grade. When a drunk JD asks Danny to meet him at the abandoned building where Juan died, Danny has the idea to create a mural of Lotería cards, in order to narrate the story of what happened to Juan. As time ticks down and JD’s deployment looms, the two friends struggle to clear the weeds and find their true paths. Much of the novel is masterfully realized; its symbolic system is noteworthy, with images that accrue ever more refined meanings. Yet the structure of its interwoven narratives

is sometimes confusing, even if one is familiar with the earlier book, and requires patience from readers. Major characters are Mexican American. A rewarding novel for readers who stick with it. (Fiction. 14-18)

At the End of the World

Mikail, Nadia | Feiwel & Friends (192 pp.) $19.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781250868091

A looming apocalypse leads a family to heal their estrangement.

Seventeen-year-old Aisha’s older sister, June, left home three years ago, trying to escape the emotional burden of dealing with her mother’s depression and strict rules. The quick succession of family tragedies—the deaths of Aisha’s father and maternal grandparents and uncle—affected each of them in different ways. Now, with a devastating asteroid set to collide with Earth and put an end to humanity, Aisha and her mother set out to find June. Walter, Aisha’s boyfriend, along with his parents and a stray cat they name Fleabag, join mother and daughter in a road trip across Malaysia. They meander, making pivotal pit stops that reflect cherished memories and support the characters’ emotional journeys. Once they find June, feelings of grief, abandonment, and simmering resentment surface, but they slowly give way to understanding and reconciliation. Aisha’s family is Muslim and cued Malay; Walter’s presents as Chinese and South Asian in heritage. The heartfelt writing evocatively portrays the complex emotions within close relationships; the bewildering sense of loss in not being able to experience a full life is thoughtfully expressed by both Walter and Aisha. The characters seem so resigned to their impending deaths, however, that framing the story around an apocalyptic event feels unnecessary. Though the situations are easily resolved and some of the

metaphors feel overdone, the different landscapes and cultural touches give readers a glimpse of a rich and historied land.

A quietly reflective novel enveloped in hope. (Fiction. 12-18)

Prince of Thorns & Nightmares

Miller, Linsey | Disney Press (432 pp.)

$18.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781368069120

Series: Princes, 2

“Sleeping Beauty” is the source for this second prince-focused novel based on Disney’s animated classics.

Betrothed to Princess Aurora since her birth, young Prince Phillip witnessed her being gifted by good fairies and doomed to death by the evil fairy Maleficent, although intervention by a good fairy weakened the curse to a long sleep until true love should awaken her. Assigned the task of defeating Maleficent before the curse takes hold on Aurora’s 16th birthday, and with no say in the matter, Phillip’s spent his childhood preparing for a battle he expects to lose—acquiring knightly skills, jousting in tournaments—all to facilitate his marriage to a girl he hasn’t seen since her infancy. Resentful but struggling to accept his fate, Phillip and his squire, Johanna, foil a robbery, helped by magical vines. Soon three fairies arrive to tell a skeptical Phillip he possesses magic. By day, they train him to develop powers he’ll need to defeat Maleficent; at night, he dreams of a girl, Briar Rose. They’re separated by an impenetrable, thorny maze, so he never sees her face, but over time they get to know each other through their nocturnal conversations. As Phillip’s showdown with Maleficent approaches, a devastating discovery undermines his confidence. The sympathetic characters, who largely read white, are well drawn. While their interactions often resemble repetitive, extended talk-therapy

sessions, and readers will quickly grasp where the plot is headed, some action scenes pick up the pace. For fans of all things Disney. (Fantasy. 12-16)

All These Sunken Souls: A Black Horror Anthology

Ed. by Moskowitz, Circe | Amberjack Publishing (256 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781641608374

An entertaining and eclectic horror anthology centering Black characters sure to scare and delight. Editor Moskowitz has collected 10 horrific tales showcasing a variety of subgenres, from zombies (as in her own contribution, “No Harm Done”) to haunted houses (“The Consumption of Vienna Montrose” by Joelle Wellington) and monsters lurking in the dark (“Lights” by Kalynn Bayron). Some of the standouts include “All My Best Friends Are Dead” by Liselle Sambury, a twisty take on the Bloody Mary classic showcasing a sleepover slaughter, and “Mother, Daughter, and the Devil,” an eerie fable from Donyae Coles told in a mesmerizing and lyrical voice. Continuing the theme of teeth that appears in Coles’ story, Sami Ellis’ “The Teeth Come Out at Night” gives a new twist to babysitting horror stories. Black protagonists provide new perspectives on a genre that traditionally is somewhat limited in representation; these inclusive takes on well-known tropes offer readers not only delightful chills and thrills but

also a new and necessary lens through which to view the fears that haunt us all in the night. Overall, this is an accessible, fast-paced, and often startling collection. Fans of Stephen King and Jordan Peele will be eager to dig into this modernized take on age-old scary stories.

One to enjoy with the lights on. (contributor bios) (Horror. 12-18)

Thin Air

Parker, Kellie M. | Razorbill/Penguin (304 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 9780593526002

A group of teens on a private jet are slowly picked off by a mysterious killer who seems to know all their secrets.

Emily has just completed her junior year at an exclusive boarding school where she’s on a need-based scholarship. Among other things, she’s been hiding the fact that her mother blew their savings on an MLM scheme and is living in her car following the loss of their house. Fortunately, Emily managed to get a scholarship from a charitable foundation that will allow her to escape to Paris for two weeks over the summer. The unusual program takes 12 finalists from hundreds of boarding school applicants and pits them against one another as they compete in challenges related to “character, intelligence, leadership skills, teamwork, and talent.” The kicker? It all begins as soon as they’re in the air. Emily’s first-person narration of this elaborate setup establishes her as a sympathetic and

ALL THESE SUNKEN SOULS

An accessible, fast-paced, and often startling collection.

flawed protagonist. The initial chapter is a quick, interest-piquing vignette set seven hours into the chaotic flight, and it quickly sets the taut line of tension that’s maintained throughout, with each chapter opening with a time stamp marking the plane’s progress across the Atlantic. The fast pace will keep readers engaged, particularly fans of locked-room mysteries, although the romantic subplot feels a bit formulaic. Emily is cued white; secondary characters show some racial diversity. A fun page-turner. (Thriller. 13-18)

Sleepless in Dubai

Patel, Sajni | Amulet/Abrams (288 pp.)

$18.99 | Oct. 24, 2023 | 9781419766961

Patel’s friends-tolovers romance takes readers on a journey of friendship, love, and celebrating Indian culture set between Austin and Dubai.

High school senior and aspiring photographer Nikki finds herself pushed to repair her relationship with neighbor and former best friend Yash during a weeklong trip to Dubai to celebrate Diwali with their families. The teens’ parents are incredibly close, and Nikki’s mother and father urge her to do the right thing: “there is light in forgiveness, and only darkness by holding grudges.” As the trip goes on, the two do mend their rift, but complicating matters, Nikki realizes she’s developing romantic feelings for the boy she grew up with. She fears that this revelation would ruin their still-fragile rapport but fails to stop herself from impulsively confessing that she likes him. As it turns out, Yash has a confession of his own, one related to a complicated secret he’s been hiding from her that threatens their newly rebuilt trust. The book is humorous and full of sharp wit. It touches lightly on topics of otherness, feminism, extended family and community, and cultural differences

in ways that will speak to teens from many backgrounds. Patel’s Gujarati characters move through lovingly described surroundings, but the setting is at times overdeveloped, slowing the pace of the narrative. Food and joyous all-out Diwali celebrations also feature heavily, adding to the festive mood. An endearing, feel-good rom-com celebrating love, heritage, and friendship. (Romance. 13-18)

Kirkus

Star

Bittersweet in the Hollow

Pearsall, Kate | Putnam (384 pp.) | $18.99 Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780593531020

Mystery and magic unfold in a West Virginian town surrounded by Appalachian forest.

The James women are insular not by choice but because they are feared as well as loved by the small-town denizens who patronize their restaurant by day and purchase their magic by night. Narrator Linden, one of “four sisters born in as many years,” can taste other people’s emotions; the women in her family each have their own small but potent powers. But no magic can repair the fallout from Linden’s disappearance last summer solstice. She went into the woods and tried to summon the local bogeyman called the Moth-Winged Man, only to vanish for a day and be found injured and with no memory of what had occurred. Her father has moved out, her nightmares won’t stop, and suspicion trails her, especially when another girl disappears a year later. This multifaceted book successfully manages to be many things: a satisfying paranormal mystery, a family narrative examining the damage of secrets kept and the ways in which silence allows violence to grow, and a paean to the immense Appalachian forest and the small communities nestled between the trees. Luscious prose

and a compelling setting make the book hard to put down as the mystery slowly and steadily unfolds over the course of just a few days. Main characters read white.

Complex, well-realized, and engrossing. (Fantasy. 12-18)

Wrath Becomes Her

Polydoros, Aden | Inkyard Press (384 pp.) $19.99 | Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781335458032

A golem created during World War II to kill Nazis ponders the meaning of humanity.

Vera was crafted not just from clay but also magic and body parts taken from Chaya, a 17-year-old Jewish girl from Lithuania who was murdered by Nazis. Seeking vengeance, Chaya’s father makes Vera in his beloved daughter’s image. He also gives her access to some of Chaya’s memories so Vera can destroy the men responsible. Told through Vera’s first-person narration, the story follows the nearly indestructible golem as she attempts to follow this command while questioning her own existence and purpose. Chaya was in love with Akiva, a Jewish Lithuanian boy, so when Vera meets him, she’s unsure if her feelings are her own or just the remnants of Chaya’s. Still, they work together, especially when they learn of Nazi plans to use knowledge stolen from Vera’s creator. The historical setting is richly portrayed and doesn’t shy away from atrocities as it focuses on the war’s impact on civilian life. The fantasy elements are beautifully blended in, deepening the darkness and horror of the story, particularly as they relate to Vera’s internal turmoil. She was built for wrath, and sometimes the tale leans into this anger and violence, but more often it’s slower paced, occasionally meandering and lyrical, as it raises philosophical questions about human nature.

A haunting and thoughtful World War II tale with a dark, magical bent. (content warning, map, glossary) (Historical fantasy. 14-18)

Wild Wishes and Windswept Kisses

Prasad, Maya | Disney-Hyperion (480 pp.)

$17.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781368081245

Four sisters, two fathers, many relationships. Nidhi, Rani, Avani, and Sirisha—the Indian American Singh sisters whom readers met in 2022’s Drizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things—are back together. Well, almost. Oldest sister Nidhi’s on her way home from New Delhi to Orcas Island in Washington state when she bumps into Grayson, the boy she’d been dating, at LAX. Meanwhile, Avani is still writing her poetry (some of it steamier these days, thanks to boyfriend Fernando) but also wondering about her future as she tries to figure out her college plans—but none of her sisters seem to have time for her. Meanwhile, youngest sister Sirisha is reeling from her breakup with girlfriend Brie, but she’s invited to an interactive murder-mystery costume party that pushes her out of her comfort zone, and things start looking up. However, the star of this story is aspiring filmmaker Rani, Avani’s twin, who’s shooting a short movie for a festival inspired by her relationship with boyfriend Raj, but her plans go awry right from the start. The fathers—Dad and his new husband, Pakistani Amir—play less of a role this time around, and they’re sorely missed. Oscillating between past and present timelines, the story is punctuated by group chat messages offering insights into the family’s warm, poignant relationships. As a windstorm picks up, so does the story’s pace, as it traces the ebb and flow of the ties among the members of the charming ensemble cast. An easy, comforting read. (Fiction. 12-18)

Night of the Witch

Raasch, Sara & Beth Revis | Sourcebooks

Fire (416 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 9781728272160

Series: Witch and Hunter, 1

The destinies of a witch and a witch hunter become entangled against the backdrop of 16th-century witch trials. It’s 1591 in Trier, part of the Holy Roman Empire, and the increasingly brutal persecution of witches has led to the destruction of Fritzi’s coven and the murders of her family members. The only other survivor is her cousin Liesel, a younger witch with a unique power who is taken by the hunters’ kommandant as part of a perverse plan. Determined to rescue Liesel, Fritzi follows a path that collides with that of Otto, an up-and-coming captain of the hexenjägers, or witch hunters. Otto has a secret: He is working from the inside to bring down an institution he despises for very personal reasons. As Fritzi and Otto learn to trust each other while venturing deep into the Black Forest, they unveil bigger truths about magic and witches (and the goddesses they worship).

Romance, magic, and fantasy intertwine with the real history of Trier’s witch trials as the worldbuilding juxtaposes paganism and Christianity in a story that explores belief, fate, power, accountability, and revenge. The story grows from the initial, slow-moving setup, becoming a more complex, evolving, dual-perspective tale. While the overly fast romantic bond between Otto and Fritzi feels unearned, and

the villain’s nefarious plan is a bit cartoonish, overall, the story engages and entertains.

A promising introduction to a witchy new series. (content warnings, historical note) (Fantasy. 14-18)

The Rosewood Hunt

Reed, Mackenzie | HarperTeen (368 pp.) $19.99 | Oct. 31, 2023 | 9780063287600

Money is enough to drive a town—and a family—into a high-stakes race against time.

Lily Rosewood, granddaughter of wealthy fashion tycoon Iris Rosewood, wants nothing more than to study abroad in Milan during her senior year of high school, attend the Fashion Institute of Technology, and eventually work her way up the ranks of Rosewood Inc., the luxury-coat brand that’s been in the family for generations. However, Iris (or Gram as she’s known to her grandchildren) decides to send Daisy, Lily’s cousin and archnemesis who’s also a TikTok star, to Milan instead. When tragedy strikes and Gram suddenly dies, the family learns from her mysteriously cryptic will that the recipient of the Rosewood fortune is to be determined later. Gram often communicated with Lily through clever games and riddles, and Lily realizes that the letter Gram left her with the will is a clue in itself. Lily’s hunt requires the assistance of an unlikely group of teens who are willing to risk it all to find the Rosewood fortune and save the company. While genre-savvy readers may find

Traces the ebb and flow of the ties among the members of the charming ensemble cast.

WILD WISHES AND WINDSWEPT KISSES

aspects of the treasure hunt predictable, the meaningful friendships are endearing. Serious topics around mental health, included as backstory, could have benefited from deeper exploration; the thrilling hunt for the fortune takes center stage over these topics. Most characters are cued white. An exploration of chosen family packed with action and unexpected twists.

(Thriller. 13-18)

Teen Guide To Managing Mental Health

Roland, James | ReferencePoint Press (64 pp.) | $32.95 | Sept. 1, 2023

9781678205928

An introduction to the broad topic of mental health for teen readers.

Citing current concerns about teen mental health, Roland addresses teens directly with information and advice. After a brief introduction stressing the importance of paying attention to psychological and emotional health as well as physical health, the author goes on to define his topic. He identifies factors that affect mental health, describes problematic symptoms, and discusses sensible strategies for self-care as well as encouraging concerned readers to reach out for help. In general, the book’s information and advice are sound, if somewhat superficial. Roland covers anxiety disorder, depression, and PTSD in particular and also mentions bipolar disorder, eating and substance abuse disorders, and schizophrenia; he also addresses self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Text boxes highlight particularly helpful background information, including one box on the greater mental health risks that LGBTQ+ people face. Exercise, healthy eating, and sufficient sleep are some of the suggested self-care strategies. The chapter on reaching out includes descriptions of what might happen during a teen’s first visit with a health care professional and different

types of therapy. The writer has no obvious expertise in the area and has relied solely on internet sources; given the number and quality of recent publications for teens on this subject, this one does little to stand out. The actual teen experiences recounted come from reports published online. Stock photos show racially diverse teens.

A straightforward if unexceptional survey. (source notes, resources, index, picture credits) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Cage of Dreams

Schaeffer, Rebecca | Clarion/HarperCollins (368 pp.) | $19.99 | Sept. 26, 2023

9780358645542

Following the events of City of Nightmares (2023), desperation leads Ness to make a deal with a dangerous force.

Ness may no longer be paralyzed by her fear of Nightmares, but she still finds tons of other things to worry about, such as the high bystander fatality rate in the ultraviolent city of Newham. She’s also uncomfortable with the power dynamic between her and Cy, the rich, handsome vampire friend who is letting her live at his apartment rent-free. While she’s searching for safety and stability, her path crosses with the Nightmare Phantom, who has a deal for her—in exchange for one favor, he’ll turn her into a Nightmare in a way that will take away her vulnerability. When things go wrong, however, Ness draws the attention of powerful enemies, and her fragile confidence is eroded by the reveal of a past manipulation that leaves her having trouble trusting herself. The characters actively struggle to function in a society with widespread corruption and undermined consent; these themes are tackled head-on in between the wild, imaginative action sequences. Questions of fear, agency, society, and interpersonal connections are logically deployed as the results of uncovered revelations. The ending

concludes Ness’ growth nicely, while also leaving the door cracked open for revisiting this delightfully madcap and casually diverse world.

A fantastical exploration of personal agency set in a bold, wild adventure. (Fantasy. 13-adult)

Kirkus Star

Charming Young Man

Schrefer, Eliot | Katherine Tegen/ HarperCollins (288 pp.) | $19.99

Oct. 10, 2023 | 9780062982391

A young pianist seeks to understand himself while trying to gain a foothold in high society. Seventeen-year-old Léon Delafosse is a piano prodigy, but he lacks the connections and know-how to find a patron and climb the social ladder in belle epoque Paris. Luckily—or, perhaps, unluckily—he meets the charismatic writer Marcel Proust, who introduces him to the fickle young Count Robert de Montesquiou. Robert could become his patron—and maybe more—if Léon plays his cards right, but Robert’s patronage comes with more perils than Léon expected. As Léon attempts to learn the social games of the upper classes, he also struggles with his attraction to other boys and what that means for his life and career. As related in the author’s note, the novel is based on the life of the real Léon Delafosse, a French pianist and composer who is largely unknown outside his wistful portrait by John Singer Sargent and his unfavorable fictionalized appearance in Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past . With these details and Delafosse’s and Proust’s letters as research material, the author creates an intimate, sensitive, gay coming-of-age story. Each description paints a sensual image of Léon’s world, from the rural idyll of his childhood home to his cramped

Parisian apartment and Robert’s sumptuous town house. Knowledge of the era is not necessary to enjoy Léon’s story, but readers who do have that context will find even more to appreciate.

Beautifully realized and a pleasure to read. (Historical fiction. 13-18)

Teen Killers at Large

Sparks, Lily | Crooked Lane | $18.99

Oct. 10, 2023 | 9781639104871

Series: Teen Killers Club, 3

Signal Deere’s efforts to prove her innocence and hook up with trained killer boyfriend Erik culminate in a welter of hot snogging and blood-spattered betrayal in this trilogy closer.

Sparks winches up the suspense, pitching Signal into a desperate tangle as she frantically searches for ways to meet her thrillingly dangerous squeeze in secret; find out who’s stealing the evidence that she wasn’t the one who strangled and decapitated her best friend, Rose; and, most importantly, expose the threat of Wylie-Stanton, a secret algorithm that purportedly rates teenaged brains for potentially homicidal tendencies. But on the way to an improbably happy ending—and despite the throat cutting, computer and other hacking, mysterious black drones, highspeed car chases, assassin training, and revelations of evil corporate scheming to “fix” minors deemed troubled or dangerous—readers will get to enjoy some good old-fashioned romance. Series fans will enjoy seeing continuing plotlines playing out to reasonably tidy resolutions, and lines like “I claw at him, and he meets, then escalates my intensity, ladders racing down my tights as his fingers dig at my hips,” will appeal to fans of steamy prose in general. The leads are cued white, but names point to some intended diversity in the supporting cast. Throbs and bleeds. (Thriller. 15-adult)

The Space Between Here & Now

Suk, Sarah | Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins (320 pp.) | $19.99 | Oct. 31, 2023

9780063255135

A Korean Canadian teen with Sensory Time Warp Syndrome looks for answers. Seventeen-year-old Aimee Roh has a rare condition that causes her to spontaneously travel back in time to specific memories when she’s exposed to relevant sensory triggers. Since her mother left when Aimee was a child, it’s just her and Appa now, and he refuses to acknowledge that Aimee, whose uncontrollable disappearances are becoming more frequent, might need help. After an especially long disappearance into a revealing memory about her mother, Aimee starts to wonder if there was more to her mother’s departure than Appa let on. With the encouragement of her best friend, Nikita Lai-Sanders, she seizes the opportunity to go to Korea to search for her mother and find a way forward with her STWS. This is a quietly moving story that explores family secrets, shifting memories, and finding one’s home, with a gentle romance and a time-traveling mystery to further propel readers. The narrative is interspersed with supporting artifacts—notes from the school counselor’s file on Aimee, snippets of conversations from online STWS forums, entries from Aimee’s journal—that extend the worldbuilding. First-person narrator Aimee is a

well-developed lead. While a few of the secondary characters are somewhat lacking in depth, Suk deftly handles the time-travel premise, and the story’s emotional core resonates. Most primary characters are Korean Canadian or Korean. Evocative and original. (Fiction. 12-18)

The Totally True Story of Gracie Byrne

Takaoka, Shannon | Candlewick (384 pp.) $19.99 | Oct. 31, 2023 | 9781536228786

An old journal gives a teen the ability to control the narrative of her life—but at what cost?

Gracie is a lover of words and stories. Her imagined life on the page is so much more appealing than her real one. Reality means divorced parents and a new start in Pittsburgh as she begins her junior year of high school, now that Alzheimer’s disease prevents Katherine, her maternal grandmother, from living alone. Gracie, while idly exploring Katherine’s vanity, discovers a velvet-covered journal. Unable to resist the lure of its blank pages, she begins penning her stories there— and soon realizes that the stories are moving beyond the pages and into the real world. What initially seems like a boon has unexpected ramifications: Having seen how Alzheimer’s disease has affected Katherine’s memories, Gracie belatedly realizes the impact her stories are having on those around her. She grapples with whether a developing romance is genuine or the artificial

Suk deftly handles the time-travel premise, and the story’s emotional core resonates.

result of her stories. Takaoka skillfully portrays teen interactions, as well as the messiness and love of family members caring for a relative with Alzheimer’s disease. She grounds readers in Gracie’s 1987 world, from an immersive midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show to Orange Juliuses at the local mall, landline phones, and Aqua Net. Main characters are cued white. A warmhearted story that will resonate with anyone who has ever dreamed of reinventing themselves. (author’s note) (Fiction. 13-18)

Bad Medicine

Twin, Christopher | Emanata (116 pp.) | $20.00 paper | Oct. 24, 2023

9781772620870

Realities of Indigenous life delivered via ghastly campfire stories.

Author and illustrator Twin, a member of the Swan River First Nation, a Cree community in Alberta, plays with light, shadow, and genre in his debut graphic novel. With the flick of a lighter, readers are transported to a dark riverside where a group of Cree teens, illuminated only by the flames of a campfire, start telling stories. There are the usual suspects—mischievous spirits, a ghost, shapeshifters, and demons. By paying special attention to water and the weather, Twin ensures that readers are reminded of the vastness of nature and the consequences of disrespecting it. Drawing from Cree folklore, he helps readers recognize that the monsters of the Indigenous world are often rooted in reality. With enough ghastly supernatural images to appease true horror fans, the book also takes a journey into the real-life issues haunting Indigenous people, with its nods to breaking the cycles of intergenerational trauma and highlighting the underrepresentation of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in public awareness. This graphic novel is

the rare sort of work that can be read and digested easily but that also provides the cautionary tales and allegory that elevate horror to something that remains long after one has finished reading. The visually appealing and atmospheric artwork sustains the narrative through many spreads that feature little or no text. Blood and gore, sure—but also a lot of emotional substance. (Graphic horror. 14-18)

The Uninhabitable Earth (Adapted for Young Adults): Life After Warming

Wallace-Wells, David | Delacorte (192 pp.) | $11.99 paper | $14.99 PLB | Oct. 10, 2023 9780593483572 | 9780593483558 PLB

This young readers’ adaptation of Wallace-Wells’ acclaimed 2019 adult original outlines the effects of human-caused climate change.

With sections on heat death, hunger, drowning, wildfire, loss of freshwater, dying oceans, unbreathable air, plagues, economic collapse, climate conflict, and the multiplying effects of these individual scourges, the author makes it clear just how many ways climate change caused by human activities has already affected us and is likely to affect us even more in the not-so-distant future. He goes on to consider the stories we tell, the dream that technology will save us, the politics of consumption, the loss of the historical idea of progress, and what can be done with our despair. This condensed version retains the substance of the adult edition, including much of the same language, which may lack appeal for many teen readers (“It is only intuitive, in other words, that impulses toward purity represent growth areas of our culture, destined to distend further inward from the cultural periphery as apocalyptic ecological anxiety grows, too”). The story presented here is terrifying.

The afterword summarizes some more positive recent political decisions and shifts in public opinion. But the author ends with tentative positivity, noting that global action could yet result in a less unhappy future. The dense text is not broken up with sidebars or other design features, and the book is notably missing sources or further reading suggestions.

Heavy going, both in content and prose style, but filled with critical content. (index) (Nonfiction. 14-18)

Hatchet Girls

Wallach, Diana Rodriguez | Delacorte (336 pp.) | $18.99 | $21.99 paper | Oct. 10, 2023 9780593643419 | 9780593643426 paper

A new start for one family collides with the violent and repeating history of another.

Moving to Fall River, Massachusetts, was supposed to offer a fresh start for Tessa Gomez’s family after her father’s death. Her brother, Vik, has settled in more quickly than she has; he’s head over heels for new girlfriend Mariella Morse, who is white and the daughter of the town’s wealthiest, most well-connected businessman. She’s also a descendant of the infamous Lizzie Borden. When Tessa, whose family is Puerto Rican, wakes to news that Vik, found covered in blood, was arrested for the axe-murder of Mariella’s parents, she knows in her heart that there is more to the story. Though unraveling the truth about the threads of violence that run through Fall River will be dangerous, neither human nor supernatural forces are prepared for the determination of a sister who believes in her brother’s innocence. This creative spin on the tale of Lizzie Borden asks readers to consider issues of race, power, and control through the abusive and dysfunctional relationships surrounding Mariella’s family, some of which more effectively masquerade as healthy than others. Told from both

Tessa’s and Mariella’s third-person viewpoints and packed with action, the book’s layered, emotionally wellrounded characters add depth to the horror elements.

A fresh, fantastic twist on a crime with an enduring legacy. (Thriller. 12-18)

Rise Up and Sing!: Power, Protest, and Activism in Music

Warner, Andrea | Illus. by Louise Reimer Greystone Kids (200 pp.) | $19.95 Oct. 17, 2023 | 9781771648981

Illuminates the tremendous impact of activist artists and songs on individuals, communities, and social movements both past and present.

As the global demand for social change expands, the need for protest music has only grown. The book’s eight chapters focus on climate justice; gender equality; peace movements; and Indigenous, racial, disability, LGBTQ+, and general human rights. To signify that musicians often address multiple issues in their songs, the book uses symbols—a globe icon for climate justice and a sun symbol for Indigenous rights— which are introduced in the table of contents and repeated later, where relevant, next to each artist’s name. Each chapter opens with an overview of the topic and goes on to include notable musicians, information about specific songs and videos that have made an impact, a suggested playlist, and three thought-provoking discussion questions. A broad range of talent is represented, from artists with decades of fame like Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, and Aretha Franklin, to newer stars like Billie Eilish, Beyoncé, and Lizzo, and many others who are less commonly known. There is also significant racial, national, and ethnic diversity, notably many Indigenous voices. The colorful illustrations and photographs break up the heavy

text. This volume would serve as an excellent resource for readers already deeply interested in the subject matter; due to the evocative song descriptions, it could also whet the appetite of casual browsers. An inspiring deep dive into the history of activist music. (further reading, endnotes, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

All That Consumes Us

Waters, Erica | HarperTeen (416 pp.) $19.99 | Oct. 17, 2023 | 9780063115965

Tara Boone has escaped her mother and is finally going to college. She wasn’t able to land a spot in the prestigious Magni Viri program at Corbin College, something that comes with a full-ride scholarship, not to mention invaluable connections. But Tara was able to secure a couple of on-campus jobs to help offset her massive student loans, allowing her to major in English for secondary education through the college’s regular track. A forlorn Tara attends classes, goes to work, and tries to ignore her unfriendly roommate, all while being jealous of the enchanting Magni Viri students she sees around campus. When one of the MV students dies under mysterious circumstances, Tara is offered her spot in the coveted academic society. Maybe now she can finally achieve what she’s always wanted: to be a world-famous writer. For the first time in her life, Tara has close friends and feels like she finally belongs somewhere. Unfortunately, her new friends are harboring a huge and deadly secret. This gothic horror story is an enjoyable though at times

For more YA content, visit Kirkus online.

predictable read. The drawn-out plot lacks enough twists that could keep readers guessing and instead ambles toward an expected, yet still satisfying, conclusion. Despite the bland narrative, readers will empathize with Tara and root for her success and developing self-esteem. The main character is cued white; there’s racial diversity among the supporting characters. Mild gothic horror for fans of dark academia. (Fantasy. 14-18)

Kirkus Star

The Voice Upstairs

Weymouth, Laura E. | McElderry (320 pp.) $19.99 | Oct. 3, 2023 | 9781665926836

Ghosts and visions may be the least sinister problems facing a young maid and her haunted love in post–World War I England.

However hard she tries, problems have followed Wilhelmina Price ever since her deathsense appeared the day before her mother died. Wil’s best friend, Edison Summerfield, who’s heir to Wither Grange (and secretly in love with her), knows of her abilities—Wil can “see and summon the dead and even predict a death before it came.” But Wil’s inability to sense Ed’s brother’s ghost, who’s haunting the nursery, leads him to fear that he’s losing his mind. When a maid drowns in the millpond, just like Wil’s mother did, it seems that neither incident was accidental. Wil and Ed’s search for the truth leads them to long-buried secrets that twist and turn and, of course, do not want to be brought to light. Intensely atmospheric and eerie, with a killer opening hook, this is a nonstop thrill ride of visions, communing with spirits, and interactions with angry (and not-so-angry) ghosts. The deeply heartfelt central romance is enchantingly melodramatic, drawn in sharp contrast to the parental figures’ muted emotions. Ed is also

very sensitive to the power differential between himself and Wil: She and her grandfather are employed by his family, even as she longs to go to university. The layered mystery blends well with the brave, clear-voiced protagonist. Main characters are white. A compelling, secret-filled gothic tale. (Supernatural mystery. 14-18)

The Night Fox

Wilda, Ashley | Rocky Pond Books/ Penguin (336 pp.) | $18.99 | Oct. 10, 2023

9780593618929

An evocative, imaginative story about our emotional landscapes and the quest for mental health and independence.

In lyrical, sometimes overwrought language, Wilda’s debut tells the story of a girl named Eli, a high school graduate who’s mourning her first love and questioning her previously strong faith. The first-person point of view brings readers into the otherworldly wilderness of Raeth, a remote center for struggling teens. There are outings in a morphing natural world, encounters with other participants in supernatural circumstances, and talks and mugs of tea with the warden, Gale. Raeth reveals alternate versions of Eli, including an older self who tells her: “Life’s gone dark, sure, but you didn’t do anything wrong. You took the hard path. Not the wrong one. That just means you’re brave.” Between each chapter, readers encounter Eli’s poetry, gleaning details about the relationship that led to her broken heart. With a growing sense of questing through her emotional life, Eli ventures on nighttime adventures, guided by a fox and culminating in the realization that she can both hold on to her first love and move forward into a purposeful life. The language and strong imagery will appeal to teens who enjoy literary fiction and poetry, while the concluding author’s

note with mental health resources will compel readers on their own journeys. Most characters read white. Prose and poetry weave the story of an inner journey of intense emotion, fantastical adventure, and, ultimately, healing. (Fiction. 13-18)

Kirkus Star

Look on the Bright Side

Williams, Lily & Karen Schneemann | Illus. by Lily Williams | First Second (336 pp.) | $14.99 paper Oct. 10, 2023 9781250834102

Four friends grapple with everyday challenges.

For Hazelton

High juniors

Sasha, Christine, Abby, and Brit, the new school year brings new trials. Sasha struggles to balance her love life and academic aspirations. Scholastically minded Brit finds herself in a love triangle between a good-hearted grump and a handsome playboy. Abby feels anxiety about her once-popular blog and putting a label on her sexual orientation when confusing new feelings emerge. Christine fears coming out to Abby (although she is out to Brit and Sasha), on whom she’s harbored a long and tortuous crush that she worries will destroy their friendship. The girls navigate timely and important issues like establishing and communicating boundaries, defining one’s sexual orientation, righting miscommunications, and (staying in the vein of its predecessor, 2020’s Go With the Flow) menstrual equity. Williams and Schneemann’s warm and engaging graphic novel is a welcome return to this world, with vibrant art; short, episodic chapters; fast pacing; and the right blend of tension and sweetness. The group’s dynamics and communication skills as they work through their issues are commendable, modeling openness and honesty and leaving aside cattiness and drama. The main cast is diverse and inclusive, showing

a range of skin tones, body sizes, and sexual orientations.

A warm hug of a tale. (authors’ note) (Graphic fiction. 11-16)

The Homecoming War

Woolridge, Addie | Underlined (320 pp.) | $10.99 paper | Oct. 3, 2023 9780593568668

A high school junior fights her attraction to the jock who could derail her postgraduation plans.

On the cusp of turning 16, Megan Williams is on a mission. Academic excellence guarantees she can escape her California town and the memories of her late father, whose ghost casts a shadow over her childhood home. Meg, whose father was white, lives with her Black mom and maternal grandmother; her older sister is away at college. Meg’s thrown for a loop when the district announces that her school, Hirono High, will be combined with its rival, Davies High. This decision means she could lose the junior class presidency, marring her otherwise impeccable track record. Enter Chris Chavez, who is cued Latine. He’s Davies’ handsome junior class president, a star baseball player, and an obstacle on Meg’s road to glory. When Chris refuses to resign, the pair must work together to keep the peace and defuse an escalating prank war. As Meg and Chris grow closer, Meg starts to wonder if her crush is a betrayal of her friendships, her leadership role, and herself. Told through Meg’s first-person narration, Woolridge’s debut YA novel touches on grief’s many forms and explores how loss changes family dynamics. Chris is an empathetic, thoughtful, pointedly nice guy, in contrast to Meg’s anxious, Type A personality, and their relationship is cute. The challenges keeping the couple apart are relatively minor, however, so the story fails to sustain tension. A lighthearted if low-stakes romance. (Romance. 13-17)

Indie

YE GODS

IN THIS SUPERHERO-saturated pop culture moment, pundits regularly make the case that today’s caped crusaders are the modern era’s equivalent of the mythological gods and heroes who fired imaginations and served as aspirational figures millennia ago. An iconoclastic clutch of recent Indie titles goes back to the source, blending ancient figures of legend with contemporary action and adventure tropes in a way that, ironically enough, feels fresh. Keep your irradiated spiders, arc-reactor tech, and super-soldier serums—Medusa brings snake hair to the party. That’s right: Her hair is snakes. Where’s her franchise?

Perhaps it will begin with the 2022 novel Protectress by Kendra Preston Leonard, in which the gorgon works as a humanities professor and protects

women as a Batman-like vigilante. A worthy nemesis arises in the form of slut-shaming Athena, an ostensibly feminist deity who in actuality supports patriarchy. Our starred review notes that the novella-length prose poem “urges women to care for one another and reconsider the ways their perceptions of female identity are shaped” and calls the book a “clever, illuminating feminist take on Greek mythology.”

Rod Vick’s The Book of Invasions (2022) looks to the pantheon of ancient Egypt (the Rolling Stones to Mount Olympus’ Beatles?) for a paranormal adventure our starred review calls

“Girl With the Dragon Tattoo meets Indiana Jones,” in which an alcoholic archaeologist is swept up in an international race against cultists for the legendary Egyptian secret of life and death after receiving a priceless map. “A grand spirit of master storytelling hangs over the novel, and readers will be glad to go along for the ride.”

Detective Death (2023) by Darius Ebrahimi features a Persian god named Zarik who is compelled to carry out the killings ordered by those who summon him. Our starred review asserts that “While Ebrahimi constructs a solid mystery, the novel’s biggest draw is its cast—the dual protagonists in particular are exceedingly and delightfully complicated.”

Indigenous American myths provide the inspiration for Fiona Wimber’s Bridge of the Gods (2023), in which immortal brothers Wyeast and Pathoe defend humanity against encroaching demons— when not clashing with each other over the object of their mutual affection, a woman named Loowit. Our reviewer calls their saga “an

enthralling, densely packed, historically rich tale.”

Kim Conrey’s Nicholas Eternal (2023) features another immortal hero: St. Nicholas, who, despite multiple centuries of heroic actions, has grown emotionally numb and withdrawn. He is pulled from his torpor by the plight of Atlanta homeless shelter manager Noory Abramson. Together, they (along with John, of Jesus’ 12 disciples) contend with a conspiracy that could lead to Heaven on Earth or plunge the world into Hell. Our review praises the novel’s “witty and lighthearted edge” and pronounces the story “An absorbing, character-driven paranormal tale.”

Catching Souls for Beelzebub by Gordon Haynes (2023) takes a decidedly more diabolical approach; the title character, an agreeable administrator fondly referred to as “Mr. Beel,” charges his top agent, Abel, with the task of retrieving two escaped evil souls, who have returned to Earth and hijacked the bodies of innocent living humans. Our review characterizes the narrative as “A delightful otherworldly story with a zingy assortment of characters”; is it going too far to say it’s a Hell of a good read?

Arthur Smith is an Indie editor.

Illustration by Eric Scott Anderson

ARTHUR SMITH

EDITOR’S PICK

Hartsock’s poetry collection combines musings on nature in the Great Lakes region, classical myths, and an account of struggling with chronic illness.

The wolf tree—that old, craggy giant of the forest—is employed as an elaborate metaphor throughout this collection, the author’s second after Bed of Impatiens (2016). Wolf trees are described colorfully in “The Wolf Tree in Film”: “Casting / shade for lovers or a villain’s fried chicken / lunch spread on gingham cloth, / and the treasure buried beneath its roots.” They harbor many kinds of life, so experts advise not to cut them down, and in the title poem, Hartsock links this idea to modern people with diabetes who live longer because of insulin (“And why/was I not cut down

like the rest”). Another poem addresses the challenges of motherhood, including breastfeeding, which is con nected to the ancient Greek goddess Thetis in the prose poem “The Nipple Shield of Achilles.” Always, the speaker is cognizant of her own mortality, as in “Mus culature”: “Call its excess / Whitmanian, this blood / sugar of mine, that loafs at its ease / and sometimes in largesse.” A wonderful Western-genre anecdote turns into an imagined meeting of Ovid and Jesus Christ in “John Wayne Brings Wyatt Earp a Cup of Coffee”: “and the epic erotic tragic elegiac poet / locked eyes with the youth in a way / that made the sagebrush whir / and thrum below the signposts.” Hartsock’s exciting collection excels at moving classical figures and

mythology into the modern world, using such varied devices as The Empire Strikes Back, and an Italian tour guide wearing Ray-Bans. Although the topics are serious, the unpretentious tone and flawless descriptions make this an engaging collection that confronts modern problems head-on.

The incorporation of personal relationships takes the collection to an even higher level; Hartsock does it with such command that the effect is beautiful and jarring, as in “Marriage Bed With Medical Devices.” A dynamic and accessible set of poems brimming with ancient lore.

Hartsock, Katie | Able Muse Press (104 pp.)

The Self-Sufficient Princess

Addams, Sanguine | Amazon Book Marketing Pros (368 pp.) | $22.13 | $13.13 paper | May 5, 2023 | 9781961075344 |9781961075337 paper

Addams presents a modern YA fairy tale in which a princess deals with suitors, dragons, and approaching adulthood.

Sometime before her 18th birthday, Princess Nightingale—“Gale” for short—of the land of This-and-That chose to move to a tower at the edge of the woods. She needed her own space to stay up late playing an online game called Scabs of Destiny and then sleep until noon—or whenever her magic mirror, Reflexa, awakens her. The idea of becoming a responsible adult was already daunting, and then Wrathnarok, Harbinger of Doom, shows up. The large dragon lets Gale know that she’s about to receive several suitors hoping to win her hand. Gale doesn’t take this news well: “You OK, kid?” asks Wrathnarok. “You look like a puppy trying to bite a football.” Traditionally, a princess presents her husband-to-be to the court at her 18th birthday celebration. Gale’s not sure if she wants to be a princess anymore, and she isn’t looking to get married any time soon—especially not to the sad specimens who show up at her tower. Dragons also make difficult roommates; they eat everything in sight—even, on occasion, people. Can Gale make choices about her life without letting her kingdom down? Addams delivers a delightful tale that subversively values the independence of its protagonist above all. Gale effectively learns to find her joy in self-reliance with the help of her support network; her friends and family prove to be so understanding, in fact, that it takes some of the conflict out of her decisions. However, the novel more than makes up for this slight drawback with its sharp humor, as expressed by

an exhausted narrator trying their best. The fantasy world, which not only features dragons but also the social network Gracebook and royal pizza makers, is entertaining, but the banter between Gale and Wrathnarok—who agrees to be called Mittens and shrink down to the size of a dog when offduty—is the highlight of the story. A novel that’s sure to be a hit with everyday princesses who like junk food and video games.

Echo From a Bayou: One Man’s Journey To Confront His Own Murderer

Bennecke, J. Luke | Jaytech Publishing (412 pp.) | $19.99 paper | Aug. 8, 2023 9780965771559

In this thriller, a real estate broker stumbles into danger when he examines the past life of a reincarnated soul inhabiting his body.

Californian John Bastian, divorced and nearly bankrupt, hopes a ski trip with his bestie Kevin will be the escape he needs. But an accident on the slopes puts John in a coma for three days. When he comes to, he has someone else’s memories mingling with his own. The bodily interloper is the soul of Jack Bachman, a longdead commercial pilot from Baton Rouge. Dreams/visions make it clear an ax-wielding killer took Jack out. But John gets an even stronger vibe from visions of Tammy, Jack’s beautiful redheaded wife. Wanting to make sense of this potential reincarnation, John, along with Kevin, travels to Louisiana to find Tammy. The late Jack, however, also had ties to a reputedly cursed hidden treasure worth more than a billion dollars. The pilot’s memories may help John unearth the lost gold, which pits him against a vicious treasure hunter. Bennecke, whose last book was Waterborne (2021), seasons the novel with romance, lost treasure, a murder mystery, and even

the supernatural. All combine to fuel an impressive pace. Meanwhile, a hurricane aimed right at Louisiana sets a menacing tone; indeed, villains gradually pop up the closer John gets to the gold and to unmasking the person who swung that ax years ago. The lead is an endearing hero, willing to accept reincarnation despite his Catholic upbringing, and his tendency to do things on a whim gives the story a welcome unpredictability. The finale throws everything into a tailspin—a shocking but effective turn. A consistently nimble and riveting cross-genre tale.

The Signatory

Black, Stuart | Glass House Books (228 pp.) | $25.00 paper | April 21, 2023 9781922830289

An Australian crime thriller focuses on a problematic business deal. Black introduces readers to 34-year-old Sam Pride. Sam and his business associate Zoe Barnes have spent years building up an ad agency called TBA in Australia. When TBA is purchased by a gigantic corporation named YRG, the money is astonishing. It is so good that Sam rewards each of his employees with a $40,000 bonus. Sam is even able to purchase brand new BMWs for both his wife and himself. Once all the partying is over, there is one small snag. A look at the accounting records reveals that nearly $8 million seems to have vanished after the merger. Things get worse when Chaz Bailley, the chief financial officer of TBA, is kidnapped. The abductors contact Sam: They want the memo that explains the transfer of the missing money. Sam is startled, but he does have one ace up his sleeve. A friendly but imposing ex-con nicknamed Little Ted works for TBA. Ted is able to call in a favor to help with the Chaz situation. But the operation goes poorly, and Sam finds himself in

DOWN BELOW BEYOND

a situation that he could hardly have predicted when he was still celebrating TBA’s amazing fortune. The narrative takes several pages to hit its stride. Sam’s foray to the BMW dealership and his congratulations speech to his staff (not to mention dialogue about how his talks are “legendary”) can test readers’ patience. Yet once Chaz is in very serious trouble, tension fills the air. The fact that the protagonist is a mild-mannered advertising executive helps differentiate this engaging work from the average thriller. Sam is new to such things as negotiating with kidnappers; sometimes he needs advice. Who knew the dull world of mergers could create such terror? As Sam points out, a major flaw in the corporate world “occurs when your only imperative is money.” As his gripping mission proves, money may buy nice cars but it can come with great peril. A rollicking adventure that stars an unlikely corporate-world hero.

Poster Girl: A Jane Benjamin Novel

Blanton-Stroud, Shelley | She Writes Press (256 pp.) | $17.95 paper | Nov. 14, 2023

9781647425937

When a young female welder dies in a shipyard accident, a reporter suspects foul play in Blanton-Stroud’s mystery novel.

On Saturday, November 7, 1942, the Lowe Shipyard in Richmond, California is buzzing with excitement. Owner Adam Lowe is about to announce a contest, a

challenge for his workers to build the next Liberty Ship in less than one week, beating the 10-day record recently set by the Lowe Portland shipyard up north. Plus, Adam has just hired, for the first time, women welders for the Richmond yard. This second part of the announcement is met with decidedly less enthusiasm. Jane Benjamin, gossip columnist for the local San Francisco Prospect, is there to cover the event. As the ceremony draws to a close, whistles and a horn sound from Yard Two of the complex. Jane follows her instincts and runs toward the whistle. There she sees the lifeless body of a young woman, Jeannie Lyons, her hand curled around a welding wand (“She lay at the base of a U-shaped concrete deck, facing the watery bays where five partly built ships lined up, the middle bay empty, like a missing tooth”). The death is declared to be work-related, resulting from carelessness and inexperience. Ambitious and intrepid, Jane has an idea to patriotically promote the replacement of soon-to-be-drafted male workers with women who can contribute to the war effort. The shipyard will run a contest to select a poster girl—Wendy the Welder—and Jane will have a career-boosting story. This third volume in the Jane Benjamin series gradually builds its way into an actionpacked thriller as Jane races to uncover the nefarious doings at the shipyard before she becomes one of the victims. Intermingled with the sinister plotline are the politics, prejudices, and societal restrictions of the period, issues that lamentably still have currency. Appearances by notorious columnist Hedda Hopper add a realistic touch to the media frenzy, as well as some satisfying levity. Lively prose, enjoyably edgy dialogue, and a delightful,

unconventional, feminist heroine add up to a captivating page-turner. An intriguing, tense, and entertaining read, with a sturdy female protagonist.

Down Below Beyond

Bruno, T.A. | Tom Bruno Author (326 pp.) $26.99 | July 31, 2023 | 9798987571019

In Bruno’s SF tale of a future dominated by a for-profit system of teleportation portals, a scrounger stumbles upon outlaw technology that could change everything.

Space travel in the wild, wild future is conducted via the “Voyalten Web,” faster-than-light spaceship portals used by numerous civilized worlds who participate in an intergalactic socio-economic trading system. The resulting trans-species “Lodespace” has spawned a syndicate of ruthless, paramilitary thugs, controlled by the alien kingpin Gulna Kii Fessenog and his Fleet. The human Levort Aatra occupies the lowest social rung of Lodespace. He’s a “prospector,” scrounging for salvage on the abandoned planet Tayoxe (“The mask of desperation wore heavily on the prospectors who had taken multiple trips down to Tayoxe and found nothing. There were more of these cases on every trip”). Levort’s one advantage is a lifelong friendship with fellow human Bayfo Niall, an armed “enforcer” who uphold the Fleet’s self-serving regulations at ground level. An unfamiliar, four-armed alien informs Levort that a collective of civilizations has generated an alternative to the Voyalten Web: portable devices that generate their own teleportation gates outside of Fessenog’s control and tariffs. Proponents of this taboo network are known as the Beyond, and Fleet policy is to eradicate any trace of them. Bayfo, indoctrinated in Fleet dogma, believes that the Beyond are a “cult” devoted to anarchy and war; Levort’s involvement with

Light-year-leaping space-opera fun, pure and simple.

them marks him as an enemy, and the conflict between the two former best friends is joined by a variety of creatures on both sides of the fight. The author constructs a gallery of exotic aliens (even if most of them talk like claim-jumpers in old westerns), depicted in cartoon-like inserts in the chapter headings, saving a lot of descriptive verbiage. The action never flags, and no love interests intrude to slow the thrills (perhaps a bromance does, as the two leads bemoan their fellowship lost to ideology and mistrust). Any gravitas reliably yields to a quick teleport to the next exciting caper. Light-year-leaping space-opera fun, pure and simple.

Camelot & Vine

Burchard, Petrea | Boz Books (300 pp.) | $16.99 paper | May 11, 2023 9780985883775

Burchard offers a modern take on the Arthurian legend in which a struggling Los Angeles–based actor finds herself in the court of Camelot.

It’s the year 2000, and Cassandra “Casey” Clemens, who’s about to turn 40, is dealing with a lot of bad news. First, she discovers that she’s being fired from her gig as the star of a series of cleaning product ads; then, when she tries to surprise her married boyfriend at the airport, she sees that his pregnant wife is already there. When she gets a moment alone with him, Casey decides to salvage some of her dignity by pretending she’s at the airport not to meet him but to fly to London for a new acting job. So off to London she goes, headed to a small town called Small Common, where she hopes to have zero human contact and recover at her leisure. However, after a freak horse-riding accident, she has a strange encounter with an even stranger man holding

MAGELORD: BOOK 1: WORLDWALKER

a bloody sword. Then she notices dead bodies around her, and it soon becomes clear that this isn’t Hollywood make-believe: She’s somehow been sent to Arthurian times. Now these odd soldiers have her in chains and a clear command to bring her to their king; it turns out that she’s a very important person in this time and place. Over the course of this novel, Burchard spins a fun fantasy tale. Narrator Casey has a narrative voice that’s sometimes laugh-outloud funny (“Running away from everything I knew wasn’t the smartest thing I’d ever done, but it wasn’t the dumbest, either”), and the story in which she finds herself balances humor and action in a way that flows naturally. Casey is portrayed as just flawed enough to be relatable, and even in Arthurian times, she still reads as a real person that one would like to know. The supporting cast, both in modern and olden times, effectively allows Casey to shine more brightly.

An enjoyable and enticing page-turner.

Magelord: Book 1: Worldwalker

Christian, Andrew | Self (521 pp.) | $19.99 | $12.99 paper | June 12, 2023 | 9798398133417 | 9798392915132 paper

A young man faces dangerous political enemies in this epic fantasy series opener.

Devon Mason, 25, and his cousin Corinne are gearing up for the “Examination,” a test presented

by Magelord Alexander Mason to see if they are able to call upon the “Veils of Chaos.” The head of the Mason family and many years Devon’s senior, Magelord Alexander can summon the Veils. He has made the family and their home the most prosperous on the continent called Kral by traveling to other worlds and bringing back valuable technology and information. Devon’s Examination turns deadly, and Corinne receives a nearly fatal wound—but while they are collapsed together, hands and blood entwined, the Veils are summoned. After his injuries heal, Devon learns that he and Corinne have a deep, soul-tying bond, allowing them to share emotions and thoughts. The Magelord soon informs Devon that his life is now in danger since the world knows of his ability to call upon the Veils. Devon and Corinne decide to keep their bond and her shared talent concerning the Veils a secret. Now, Devon must learn to control the Veils, apprentice under the Magelord, and discover how to “walk among the five known worlds” in the short time that the Mason family patriarch has left. Hiding Devon on Earth to learn about the planet’s technology and what it has to offer is the Magelord’s first step. But even on another world, Devon’s enemies find ways to draw him back home, where he is a target. It will take all of Devon’s abilities and allies to keep him alive long enough to harness his

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A compelling fantasy with political schemes, magic, and lovable characters.

full powers. In this epic, worlds-spanning novel, Christian skillfully blends classic fantasy tropes with SF elements, fusing magic and technology together to form a captivating tale. Devon grumbles about his mission (“My style of magic is powerful but quite tedious, given the delicate and time-consuming preparations that must go into each spell”) yet he gets easily distracted by a pretty woman’s charms, which makes him both believably fallible and enchantingly endearing. The author has created a fantastic universe with vivid characters and magic systems that will leave readers quickly turning the pages. A compelling fantasy with political schemes, magic, and lovable characters.

Dead Beckoning

Cobb, Mike | M G Cobb Books

(424 pp.) | $17.95 paper | Feb. 1, 2022

9780578339887

An intricate historical novel based on a murder committed in Atlanta in the 1800s.

In late August, just weeks before the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition, Baker Bass, a well-respected merchant, starts his morning walk to work down Ellis Street. He’s carrying a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson for protection. He had moved his family to Atlanta a few years prior and opened a dry goods and tobacco store. Thinking about the detectives who had accused

him of selling stolen tobacco, he’s taken by surprise by a man who sidles up to him and shoots him in the head. The police are baffled by the case. The only clues are a missing gun, which was stolen from the coroner’s house prior to the murder, and rumors about a tobacco deal that may have gone wrong. The characters driving the story are Det. Thomas Greenberry Conn, aka “Green Conn,” a crooked cop who paid potential witnesses to testify that they saw Bass shoot himself; Jenkins, a traveling tobacco salesman; and Capt. Manly, second in command of the Atlanta Police Department—and the man assigned the task of solving the murder. Bass’ murder sets the stage for an intricate whodunit with layered portrayals of Baker’s family, friends, enemies, and associates. Cobb also threads the social and political details of 19th-century America into the novel, mentioning, for example, a talk given by Booker T. Washington. While the dialogue is somewhat plain, Cobb creates mesmerizing scenes. One knock-down, drag-out fight evokes the language and cadence of old radio mysteries: “Every sensation was intensified––the throbbing of his heart...labored breathing...the feel of his fingers wrapped around the gun barrel.”

An engrossing blend of mystery and high drama, embellished by many historical elements.

Kirkus Star

Welcome to the Silent Zone

Csák, Viktor | Writing Systems (402 pp.) $19.99 | $12.99 paper | 9786150174457 9786150173993 paper

A man and a teenage girl defend themselves against packs of bloodthirsty mutants in Csák’s zombie thriller. The author’s epic debut captures the terror and the desperation of an apocalyptic America. It follows two standout protagonists who must battle their way across lands infested with mutant beasts. It’s been seven years since the great “Breakdown” occurred, in which a mysterious pandemic caused humans to mutate into bloodthirsty, animalistic monsters who roam the countryside and are eager to kill. Jake Armstrong, nicknamed Cassius by his “long dead friends,” bands together with teenage Abigail to contend with the looming threats of the wastelands they traverse. Cassius unofficially adopted Abigail when her mother and a group of small children were bitten by ravenous creatures and transformed into vicious, zombielike creatures. After training her to use automatic weaponry, the fierce duo strategize, shoot, and slash their way through deadly regions, searching for the rumored safe colony sanctuary they hope to call their home. Csák wastes no time setting up the premise and placing his engrossing characters immediately on the defensive against hordes of “ferals” who “could smell uninfected blood from a distance and wouldn’t give up the taste of flesh.”

The narrative twists and turns its way to a breathtaking finale—in tense, cinematic action scenes, natural elements conspire with the threat of inhuman beasts to create sequence after sequence of stark survival and bloodshed. The novel is a sharp character study as well: Cassius and

One knock-down, drag-out fight evokes the language and cadence of old radio mysteries.

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36 Indies Worth

FALL 2023

Kirkus presents Indies Worth Discovering , a sponsored feature spotlighting an array of fiction and nonfiction works from the Indie section. Here readers can find a useful sampler that shows the excellence and breadth of Indie titles. Find pulse-pounding thrillers, revealing memoirs, twisty mysteries, fiery romances, thoughtful business books, problem-solving self-help guides, and incisive poetry collections, among many other works. Searching for something new and exciting? Read on.

Fred Goes Home

By Megha Kaushik

A delightful animal tale of friendship, adaptability, and resilience.

Ode to Murder

By Nicole Dieker

An entertaining whodunit with a captivating amateur sleuth.

Bone Necklace

By Julia Sullivan

A detailed volume that shines a light on a tragic period of American history.

Burnt Pot Island

By Karen Dove Barr

A powerful sense of time and place infuses this well-crafted, disturbing family tale.

Hmong Reverse Appliqué

By Linda A. Gerdner

An enlightening look at vibrant designs and their place in Hmong traditions.

Killer Motives

By Bonnie Traymore

A by-the-numbers but still engaging procedural whodunit.

The Writing on the Wall

By Marilyn Howard

An often engaging account of an eventful life, along with thoughtful meditations on being a female entrepreneur.

Deadman and Other Tales of the Irreal

By Daniel Tierney

Diverting, grim, and outright bizarre.

Blood Pudding

By Ivan Cox

A moving tale of an immigrant child’s trials.

Dance of Light

By Alice McDowell

A well-rounded enlightenment guidebook.

Blameforest

By Jason Stocks

Provocative, explicit poetry written with muscular swagger.

No Ghosts in the Graveyard

By Bob Crites

After a slow start, this book presents an engaging account of a wide-ranging life.

Frama-12

By Aud Supplee

A fun, intricate, fast-moving teen fantasy adventure.

Catbird

Barbara J. Ostfeld

A finely wrought account about embracing big dreams.

Chimera Conflict

By Robert Morgan

A wildly thought-provoking, albeit flawed, work that raises numerous ethical considerations.

Wholly Unmanageable

By Angela Chase

A brash and sometimes-brilliant recovery memoir.

Speaking Out

Ed. by Esther Schwartz-McKinzie

An inspiring guide for parents navigating new, sometimes difficult terrain when a child comes out.

Under a Darkening Moon

By Peter A. Heasley

An engaging dystopian novel with elements of spiritualism and science fiction.

Forever Dogs

By Tricia Spencer

A charming and funny roundup of pictures of dogs and what might have been going through their minds.

F. Scott Fitzgerald: American Spy

By Murray Sinclair

A decidedly clever and well-written flight of fancy starring a literary legend.

Nothing Ventured: An American Life

By Steven L. Pease

An engrossing and personable look at real-life business decisions and the man behind them.

Ellis River

By Nicki Ehrlich

An earnest and poignant bildungsroman.

May Cause Side Effects

By Brooke Siem

An important, timely, and intelligently rendered recollection about quitting antidepressants.

Take Your Lunch Break

By Massoma Alam Chohan

An engaging, personal, and informative selfhelp manual.

One Last Song for My Father

By Edwin Fontánez

Captivating from cover to cover, readers will share in the author’s struggle and celebration of family.

Regina’s Imagination Universe

By Joram Piatigorsky

A slim but inventive science parable that challenges conventional views of reality.

Pesticide

By Kim Hays

An entertaining whodunit that finds plenty of toxic rot in a seemingly wholesome setting.

Far Out Man

By Chuck Snearly

A highly entertaining mystery fueled by a smooth blend of irreverence and ’60s ideology.

Unclaimed Remains

By Tom LeCompte

A concise and engaging account that explores a family’s secrets.

Ogden’s Proverb

By John McCluskey

A rich, soulful comingof-age tale full of the wonder of first love.

Alphapoetica

By Kate McCarroll Moore

A functional, unfussy volume of poetry prompts for those who need a bit of inspiration.

Dad in a Cheer Bow

By Patrick Riccards

Courageously upbeat writing in a frank, inspirational sports account that supports change.

Mozay of Pepperwick

By Jean Perry

A moving account of an enslaved young man’s longing for liberty.

The Lost Colors

By Sally Alexander

Fun and fast moving; a bright, vibrant adventure.

The One We Left Behind

By Sara Coven

Strong characters drive an enthusiastic adolescent tale that ably tackles serious issues.

Silk: Caroline’s Story

By Sophia Alexander

A richly atmospheric tale about two very different women seeking their ideal loves.

Abigail often lock horns over what’s most important to them and their differing methods to secure their futures in an ultraviolent, uncertain world full of malignant monsters. Regular watchers of the television series Z Nation and The Last of Us will find much to savor in this pulse-raising thriller.

A creatively accomplished, atmospheric, and gripping adrenaline rush for monster fans.

An Upper West Side Story

Cullen, Rachel | Lime Street Press (340 pp.) | $14.99 paper | July 6, 2023

9798986383033

Four New Yorkers in their 20s build relationships and careers in Cullen’s novel.

In 2004, Jessica returns home to find her boyfriend in a compromising position with another woman. She laments the relationship, especially since the two were planning to move in together. Rent is sky-high on the Upper West Side, but Jessica gets a tip about a two-bedroom unit, with the roommate’s share at $1200 per month. The leaseholder is Robin, an assistant brand manager for Victoria’s Secret skincare. She invites Jessica to look at the place, but another person beats her to the punch: Tory, a trust fund baby who still lives at home with her warring parents. They have altered the trust to

give her less money, so she needs the relatively affordable rent, as her publishing assistant job pays next to nothing. Jessica, learning that she won’t get the apartment, bursts into tears and meets Zach, who lives down the hall. He is riding high with his job at Expedia, but he invites her to be his roommate. She moves in, and it’s not long before he makes a move romantically and she considers moving back to her native Sonoma for good. The author gives equal time to her four protagonists, and fills each of their stories with enough complexity to make their busy lives enjoyable to read about (Jessica on her graphic design job: “some power-hungry Harvard MBA comes in at the last minute, tweaks one of the charts, and takes credit for ninety pages of my work. Then I come back the next day and do it all over again”). The narrative is laser-focused and the writing self-assured, with the interconnected stories making room for a few gratifying surprises. With four revolving narrators, distinctions between them are key, and the voice of Robin could have been made less generic. Yet Cullen has a terrific ability to evoke the milieu and write about that age when everyone is so busy and everything feels so pivotal.

An entertaining novel that nicely captures the hopes and dreams of four young professionals in New York City.

Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Savannah: Being Book Three of the Unpublished Case Files of John H. Watson, M.D.

Downing, M.J. | Burns and Lea Media (300 pp.) | $11.99 paper | July 8, 2023 9798986413112

The famed literary detective of 221B Baker Street and his dependable sidekick battle James Moriarty and a slew of vampires in Downing’s third series installment.

In 1889 Dr. John Watson, as a member of the Logres Society, defends the world against occult “dark forces.” He’s reluctant to take over as the society’s Sovereign, but he at least bears the Mantle of Logres, which provides him with such “occult power” as continually replenished strength. While Watson is on a society mission in Africa,and Sherlock Holmes is off on his own adventure, Professor Moriarty makes attempts on both their lives. Holmes and Watson reunite and trail their nemesis to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where the diabolical professor has a scheme in the works. In little time, Watson runs into vampires, which he fights with the Mantle’s power and by skillfully wielding his “Mustard Seed,” an ancient Japanese sword. What Moriarty is brewing isn’t immediately apparent, but it most certainly involves other nefarious individuals and a hybrid creature who’s more intimidating than a mere bloodsucker—and they threaten to trigger all-out chaos. Downing’s cross-genre tale ably portrays the late 19th-century setting as well as Arthur Conan Doyle’s celebrated duo. It favors supernatural action, though, as confrontations teem with dark magic, fanged creatures of the night, and quite a few ghosts. Watson, as usual, narrates, but this time, he’s the story’s focus; he struggles with potentially

Nicely captures the hopes and dreams of four young professionals in New York City.

leading the Logres Society and even has a romantic subplot. Although there are signs of Holmes’ inductive reasoning, the sleuth’s brilliant mind doesn’t drive this action-oriented story, which moves at a steady clip as the cast travels from the Congo Free State to Portugal and various spots in the U.S. The author also weaves in delightful nods to such real-life figures as U.S. President Benjamin Harrison and author Samuel Clemens, who’s depicted as a Logres Society member. A fleet-footed supernatural outing with relatively light Sherlockian touches.

Echoes In the Stars

Frisbie, Gordon | TFL Stories (200 pp.)

$12.95 paper | Apr. 11, 2022

9798886274257

A man celebrates his love for his dogs in this doting memoir.

Frisbie looks back on his relationships with several pooches, focusing on Boo, an Australian shepherd, white with black patches, whom he picked out at a shelter because she had “sinuous muscles” and a sleek physique that seemed “like a vessel designed to contain a strong spirit.” Frisbie and Boo trained and competed together in dog agility meets, in which canines run obstacle courses under their handlers’ command, near their Denver home. But mostly they just provided each other with companionship, especially on long walks around the neighborhood and in nearby state parks. The book unfolds as a series of essays about the doggy things Boo did, including chasing squirrels, floundering into ponds, hogging the bed, fidgeting incessantly while riding shotgun in Frisbie’s pickup, getting stung on the snout by yellow jackets, and carrying on a ceaseless crusade against any coyote whose scent crossed her nose. (“A coyote-tinged miasma drifted from a heavily vegetated swale…. Within seconds, a riot of shrieks and

screams erupted from the swamp,” the author writes of one encounter.) Other adventures erupted on fishing trips to Montana and Idaho, including Boo’s brave, suicidal, bristling stand-off with a grizzly and her two cubs. Nosing in occasionally are Frisbie’s mother’s canines Koko, Sachi, and Yoshi, all of them shiba inus, who looked like small, reddish huskies and contributed their own feisty antics. Frisbie gives an unusually fine-grained, intense portrait of the deep emotional bond that can develop between a human and a dog. (“Boo was my child,” he writes, describing his panic when she was almost swept away in a river.) His prose is colorful and droll and captures the delightful strangeness of the dog universe in evocative detail. (“To execute a perfect stinky roll,” he observes of the canine habit of wallowing in manure or carrion, “the dog must remain in an inverted position over the target area while aggressively kicking their legs with spasms of joy. This technique, if performed properly, grinds the foul odor deep into the fur on their backs. It’s a difficult maneuver and can require multiple attempts until the dog is satisfied with the results.”) Dog lovers will embrace this resonant account. A deep dive into human-canine friendship, by turns funny and heartfelt.

Tower and Pit: A Stranger World Adventure

Genzano, Jim | Self (144 pp.) | $14.50

June 5, 2023 | 9798391153580

A boy contends with a demonic underworld in the fifth installment of Genzano’s middle-grade fantasy series.

Hunter, a young boy, has had many adventures traveling alone through the once closed, now open Doors to the Stranger World. His exploits— which include exploring the realm of Faeries, working aboard a pirate ship, and escaping the mazelike museum of Aloysius Greel—have left him with a magic bag of treasures that once belonged to the Dark Child, a mysterious villain who came from Hunter’s own world in the past and attempted to cut off its magic by closing all portals to other worlds. When Hunter’s father visits a hospital for a cut finger on Thanksgiving, the boy finds a narrow stairwell leading to a wizard’s tower overlooking floating islands, and doors leading to a range of places. The experiment–obsessed, morally ambiguous wizard expounds on the nature of magic and insists that what Hunter needs next is the time glove, which can create temporal paradoxes. Why Hunter needs it is unclear, even when Raven shows up to offer prophetic riddles (“You carry it with you all the time, and open it often, though it can take you a day or more to reach it. The easiest to use – you can stumble on it by mistake – but often hardest to find when you go looking for it”). Hunter must retrieve the time glove from where it lies in an ancient pyramid, guarded by a dragon. Along the way, Hunter discovers that the Dark Child knows he is back. The author’s brand of fantasy reveres classic sword-andsorcery tropes and his narrative is engineered for a young audience that craves variety, occasional humor, and a quick pace. His wide-eyed, powerful

Engineered for a young audience that craves variety, occasional humor, and a quick pace.

TOWER AND PIT

boy protagonist often feels derivative; however, the crystal caverns, constant action, and an elaborately unfolding plot may well scratch a fantasy itch for young readers who have not yet traveled to Narnia, Albion, or The Old Kingdom.

The ante is upped and the magic bag is a little fuller in this diverting adventure for middle-grade readers.

Clave

Goss, W W | Self (270 pp.) | $17.99 paper March 15, 2023 | 9798986921525

In Goss’ thriller sequel, a former venture capitalist in Switzerland gets unwittingly entangled with illegal waste disposal and sex trafficking.

American

Max Stonecrop leads a simple life in Zürich. It should stay that way, as long as no one becomes aware of the violence in his past—namely, his offing of a couple of killers. Max agrees to do a favor for a Swiss cop friend and assist in buying out a woman’s contract with sex traffickers. Max wants to help both the woman, Lomi, and her little sister, but that requires more money. He’ll have to do another favor for that— this time for his girlfriend Federica’s “reformed Bulgarian thug” father Gregor Ratzow. Max, who works as a courier for Gregor, will take part in a shipment to an “e-waste” disposal site where raw materials are extracted from discarded electronics. More specifically, Max will aid in “laundering” the profitable goods. It’s not as easy as it sounds; not only must he work with a dangerously nosy CIA liaison officer, but he must also deal with a menacing figure from his own past. Goss gleefully complicates his protagonist’s life in this follow-up to Red Monkey (2022): Max must care for his teenage daughters while his ex-wife is in Paris on business; it’s revealed that Lomi may be responsible for a recent murder; and Max must interact with a

handful of very untrustworthy people. This measured tale ably develops its outstanding supporting cast, from polyglot physician Federica to sleazy embassy rep Harry Chum, who seemingly knows of Max’s earlier crimes. Many of these characters add to the narrative’s unwavering tension, as Max, even with his Glock 19M at the ready, worries that certain people will try to take him out. Passages throughout offer vibrant details; a local barman’s studio apartment, for instance, provides a visual feast, with a case of hunting rifles, classic Italian furniture, and a glass wall displaying a “panoramic view of the Engadine valley.”

A taut, compelling, and wonderfully constructed crime story.

The Comfort of Stone: New and Selected Poems

Groundwater, Marie | FriesenPress (186 pp.) | $28.99 | $17.99 paper

Feb. 17, 2023 | 9781039116443 9781039116436 paper

A volume of poetry focuses on life in Scotland and Canada.

Groundwater was born in Orkney, one of Scotland’s many islands, but immigrated to Ontario as a child. There, her father struggled to support a large family. As an adult, following her father’s death, the author returned to her family’s homeland, once with her mother and another time with her daughter. This collection of poems

begins with one such homecoming. Groundwater visits the room above the family bake shop where she was born, marvels at the Ring of Brodgar, and rides the Jacobite Steam Train. Harkening back to her youth in a rented cottage in Ontario, she describes the “smell of bleach on my mother’s kitchen hands / over ripe bananas, vinyl tablecloth / upstairs clean sheets spread / over mattresses stained with summer sweat / and we lay near naked in our beds / under the heat-baked beams.” The poet recalls her grandmother’s handkerchiefs, “fragrant with flowery scent,” and recounts the various pianos her father played during her childhood. “Geese Heard At Night,” a poem organized in V-formation, follows those “dark travellers / across a brimstone moon / phantoms flying / before / the shrouding snow.” The second section of the book takes place at the poet’s newly acquired country house in Essex, Ontario, where she is reminded of the pains and pleasures of rural life. Groundwater’s vivid language leaps off the page in lines like “it seemed the savage wind / could grasp the very mosses / from their crags / and fling them to the foam.” She deftly captures the “rugged beauty of the landscape” of both Scotland and Ontario, painting a clear and breathtaking portrait of her life. The poet’s love for her family is palpable. In “My Father,” she tenderly remembers her dad “smiling at me when I pushed / up under his paper / taking the pens from his pocket / so I could lean against his heart.” Only rarely does a line or an image feel recycled: “Firemen feed the firebox with coal, / the glowing cinder and flame heat / the belly of the boiler.”

A captivating collection of poetry about hearth and home.

Passages throughout offer vibrant details. CLAVE

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The Patriots of 9/11: Answering the Call to Courage

Hill, Howard | M.T. Publishing (168 pp.)

$36.88 | June 23, 2022 | 9781949478983

Hill gathers testimonies from those on the front lines in this oral history of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack in New York.

The author, a retired New York Fire Department assistant chief, collects reminiscences from 26 first responders, most of them FDNY personnel, from top brass like then-Chief of Operations Daniel Nigro to ordinary firefighters, recounting their actions on 9/11 and afterward. Centering the volume are the accounts of those who were at the World Trade Center as the disaster unfolded: their rush to the site as news of the attack broke; their scramble to set up command posts at the WTC and organize teams of firemen to evacuate the buildings; and their shock at the collapse of the twin towers, which killed hundreds of their comrades and nearly killed some of them. The focus then shifts to the around-the-clock search for people trapped in the rubble at ground zero in a frenzy that gradually gave way to the somber realization that there were no survivors. Other sections explore the experiences of overwhelmed paramedics; dispatchers who fielded gut-wrenching calls from doomed people on upper floors of the WTC, pleading for help that could not come; analysts who studied the buildings’ collapses; and officials who comforted the families of the dead, organized funerals, and continue to attend memorials. These stories make the 9/11 tragedy intensely personal, capturing in plainspoken, evocative words the day’s bizarre horrors (“Just outside the North-Tower on West Street one firefighter was directing others exiting the building,” recalls one chief, “[t]elling them when no jumpers were coming down and

GO TO THE START

it was safe to run out”), terrifying escapes (“I could still hear the building pancake-collapsing rapidly, loudly, Boom! Boom! Boom! [a]s each floor hit the one below it...[l]ike the world was ending”), and plangent losses (“People I knew so well who I saw…and then they were gone”). Accompanying the text are iconic color photos of the twin towers spewing black smoke, like hellish beacons radiating darkness into a brilliant blue sky, and of the colossal ground zero debris pile, a mountain of chaos under a ghostly ashen shroud. A gripping re-creation of the catastrophe and the human drama of those who confronted it.

Go To The Start: Life as a World Cup Ski Racer

Janyk, Michael | FriesenPress (306 pp.)

$38.99 | July 11, 2023 | 9781039152892 9781039152885 paper

Retired alpine skier Janyk shares tales from the ski slope in this debut sports memoir.

Raised in British Columbia, the author grew up in a family of skiers. One of his grandfathers first came to North America to compete with the University of Zürich ski team; he stayed when World War II broke out and worked as an engineer designing chair lifts. It’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that Janyk found success in the sport in his youth. By the time he was 12, he was already placing in youth competitions. At 15, he began competing in events hosted

by the International Ski Federation, whose ranking system is used to identify the best skiers in the world. In this memoir, Janyk recounts the moments, mentors, accidents, and races that took him from being a kid with “excessive energy” who was small for his age to a world-class athlete representing Canada at the 2006 Olympic Games. The book offers an insider’s view of the training and lifestyle of a skier on “the circuit,” traveling the world and skiing its premier slopes. He offers insight into how to reach the heights of the Ski World Cup podium…and how to face one’s fears while staring down the steepest ski courses. Janyk’s candid prose is conversational, though it kicks up a notch in rhetoric when describing the beauty of the slopes: “I felt my skis right away; the front of the ski was picking up early in the turn, connecting me to the snow. My timing was in sync and flowing with the hill. I was dancing! This is why I go through the pain and discomfort—for the feeling of being alive on course.” His story is perhaps not as dramatic as those of some professional athletes, but his musings regarding the relentless pursuit of a dream are refreshingly blunt: “I never found the true fulfillment that I thought would come from such a result,” he writes of winning the bronze at the World Championship. Ski fans, in particular, will enjoy this not-always-smooth ride.

A sleek, in-depth remembrance from a world-class skier.

Ski fans, in particular, will enjoy this not-alwayssmooth ride.

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The Light Within Darkness

Jeffrey, David C. | JeffreyJazz Publishing (422 pp.) | $12.99 paper | April 29, 2023 9780998674261

The interstellar craft Sun Wolf pursues a villain intent on sterilizing habitable planets in Jeffrey’s SF novel.

The author continues his Space Unbound series with this installment, following Sun Wolf (2020). It is the year 2218, in the aftermath of the discovery of “voidoids,” mysterious structures akin to black holes that permit starships to jump light years in an instant and travel to numerous once-inaccessible star systems. It is through a newly opened “astrocell” that a supremely evil and ambitious Earth man, Cardew Seth Amon, escapes from regulated Bound Space with stolen technology and plans for his own galactic empire. Hunting him is the cutting-edge “zero-point drive” spacecraft Sun Wolf, headed by intrepid commander (and old Cardew nemesis) Aiden Macallan, who is abetted by a multi-talented crew adept at navigating the new mysteries and perils of these spaceways. After an attempt on Macallan’s life, the heroes determine that Cardew has a growing army of zombie-like, self-replicating, virtually immortal “cloneborgs” (“an amalgamation of human clones and synthetic augmentation. The clone part had been derived from Cardew’s own genetic material”) intended to populate habitable worlds and replace humanity entirely. Ecological concerns are a side theme in the Space Unbound series, and while the sermons are not so prevalent this time around, there is still the acknowledgment that humanity has been a lousy steward for nature. People still fall for Cardew’s long-distance online deepfakes and anti-vaccine propaganda, spurning the sustainability wisdom of good guys like Macallan (who, thanks to a previous adventure, is intimately attuned into the rhythms of life throughout the cosmos). Readers

should appreciate that the author does not depend on aliens who are mere Spock and Worf knockoffs (thinly disguised earthling types in minor makeup), though a cozy Starfleet milieu prevails aboard the courageous Sun Wolf, and the cloneborgs make for a serviceable parallel to Star Trek’s menacing Borg Collective.

Eco-tinged SF marked by deep-space chases, invigorating combat thrills, and endearingly fanciful physics.

Kirkus Star Katelyn’s Crow

Laufer, Mary Beth | Illus. by Kathleen Phillips Poulsen | Self (391 pp.) | $9.99 paper Nov. 18, 2022 | 9781737442004

An 11-year-old girl finds a baby crow and takes it home in Laufer’s middle-grade novel.

Katelyn’s mom and teacher warn her that a baby bird needs its mother to grow strong, but the youngster is determined to help the crow, which she calls Taco. Set in upstate New York, the story wends through the wilderness, the backyard, the farmland of neighbors, and an affluent gated community. Katelyn’s parents don’t use smartphones, and her fifth-grade teacher encourages students to learn how to use books to find information. Maddie, a new girl from New York City, owns a smartphone and, against school rules, brings it to class. When Taco stops eating, Maddie shows Katelyn how to use the phone to look up information on birds when the class is supposed to be looking for books in the school media center. As the girls become friends, Katelyn learns how differently Maddie and her wealthy, tech-oriented family live: “I heard you saw a lot of things at Maddie’s that were new to you,” says Katelyn’s dad later. “Now you know how the other half lives.” Maddie and Katelyn grow closer, but their

differences become more apparent. Meanwhile, Katelyn’s love of collecting bugs comes to a dramatic climax after a banded woolly bear caterpillar finally turns into a moth. While tackling a range of themes, Laufer vitally exposes the nuanced contradictions of value systems within families. Katelyn is shown to be passionate about both birds and insects but for different reasons; meanwhile, Maddie’s family is vegan, yet their pet cat is declawed. Maddie has learned how to manipulate and deceive others, perhaps while navigating her parents’ divorce; however, Katelyn generally trusts her friend. The trappings of Maddie’s economic privilege subtly elicit Katelyn’s jealousy and judgment as well. Themes of maturity are effectively expressed in terms of Maddie’s independence and Katelyn’s developing sense of responsibility; just as Katelyn learns that bugs are not hers to keep, she must also accept Taco’s wild nature as he grows. A work that thoughtfully examines a child’s encounter with the complex natures of people and other creatures.

A Wild Region: Tales and Stories from the Heartland

Lovelace, Robin Lee | Liminal Books (248 pp.) | $12.99 paper | June 6, 2023 | 9781958901250

Magic, nature, and violence abound in Lovelace’s debut short story anthology set in Indiana, Tennessee, and Louisiana. These seven stories, which take place in various eras from 1946 to 2044, address issues such as poverty and addiction, sometimes in a fantasy context. In “Virgie’s Headless Chicken,” a bullied high-school girl severs the heads of 23 chickens, hoping to find one that can stay alive without it. In “Savonne, Not Vonny,” one of a few tales with supernatural elements, the young title character learns to wield magic (“make minnows jump into a coffee can,

make butterflies light on her shoulder, make grass grow into flowers”) and must keep a conjuring book out of the hands of Diamond John, an almost 7-foot-tall man who can “turn an Ace into a Jack, cause a man to trip over a leaf and break his leg, make a woman start bleeding even though it weren’t her time of the month.” Throughout the collection, Lovelace’s short, declarative sentences make fantastical concepts seem part of daily life; the prose is most successful when evoking a sense of place through rich description: “Savonne would lay awake at night, in her bed, her wild hair haloed around her face, listening to the sounds of Motown music as it mixed with the laughter of the greasy-legged girls.” Three stories are fewer than 10 pages long and would have benefited from the inclusion of less exposition and more scenes in which something specific is at stake. Also, Lovelace struggles to evoke specific time periods; there’s little to tie “Virgie’s Headless Chicken” to its 1946 setting aside from the lack of cell phones, for instance, and few specific details point to 2044 in “Sauce,” the collection’s final story. Still, Lovelace succeeds in her longer works, in which she crafts complex characters struggling with affecting and timely issues that touch on wider themes. In “Sauce,” for example, a young woman struggles with opioid addiction in the near future amid a devastating viral pandemic. An uneven collection whose longer stories shine.

The Glass Frog

Lowry, J. Brandon | Bowker

(388 pp.) | $16.99 paper | May 23, 2023

9798986491202

Lowry’s middle-grade fantasy novel charts an unexpected arrival in a small coastal town.

In the tiny coastal town of Seaside, everything is always the

same: Life is unimaginatively ordered, and nothing ever deviates from the dull, dreary uniformity that most of its inhabitants prefer. Until, that is, the day that a castaway washes up on its shores after a storm. The survivor— who mysteriously slumbers for days on end after being rescued—is deemed an “Unnecessary” visitor by most of Seaside’s residents, who wish him dead until Damon Farrier, an orphaned young man, saves his life. Damon sets in motion a chain of events that will reverberate across their world, because when the castaway (called the Navigator) eventually wakes up, he proves to have magic in his veins, magic connected to fantastical creatures from the deep sea and also to Damon’s 14-yearold sister, Sophie, whose imagination starts to run even wilder than it did before the Navigator appeared in their lives. When the Navigator leaves Seaside, Sophie follows him, setting out on a journey that will shape her future and possibly even determine the fate of Seaside. The author’s debut novel is charming and whimsical, featuring a delectable writing style with plenty of subtle humor: “Seaside was given its unimaginative name by its unimaginative people. In fact, hostility toward creativity and change is a central feature of the Seasider mentality, a proud tradition handed down from generation to generation.” The narrative, which resembles a fairy tale both in structure and tone, is full of unexpected depth and follows a surprisingly interwoven, complex arc as it explores topics of change, agency, and growth as both Damon and Sophie struggle to fit into a world they feel uncomfortable in. The bonds between brother and sister—and between mentor and mentee, as forged between the Navigator and Sophie—are heartfelt and celebrate family, with members both blood-bound and found along the way.

A delightful fantasy debut.

Kirkus Star

The Unexpected Hostage

McKenzie, Allison | The Wild Rose Press, Inc. (376 pp.) paper | Sept. 6, 2023 9781509249831

An American tech exec is caught up in international terrorism as she also battles personal demons in McKenzie’s thriller.

Tess Bennett is having a bad week, trying to chase away some of the demons of her past at a sketchy punk club in London. But things only get worse for the American tech executive, who, while filling in for her boss and CEO at a conference, is taken hostage by terrorists determined to steal an encryption computer code called Firefly that was developed by Tess’ company. Tess is held hostage with Mark Nygaard, a widowed Norwegian doctor dealing with his own grief. They plot a thrilling escape and strike up a romance that plays out against a backdrop of terrorism and computer espionage. After Tess and Mark get away, the extortionists go after her boss, David Kingsley, CEO of Kingsley Tech, and the new couple fight to save him and keep the software out of the wrong hands. The software isn’t just the lucrative product of the company Tess works for; it was developed by Kyle, her fiance, who was killed in a car wreck a year before. What seemed like an accident proves to be murder, and Tess and Mark work to bring the killers to justice, helped by clues Kyle left for Tess. The investigation takes Tess to the dark web and headfirst into the world of cyberterrorism and blackmail. In her debut novel, the author writes with

Riveting adventure and romance power this forceful first novel. THE UNEXPECTED HOSTAGE

a sure touch, creating thrill-a-minute adventure scenes while also excelling at the tender, romantic moments. The plot is intricate without being convoluted, and the characters, especially Tess and Mark, are layered and memorable. Tess is a character you want to know more about (“Danger Dad taught her countless precautions throughout her childhood. Hypervigilant but teetering on paranoid, he required she study martial arts and master basic weaponry, even fencing”), and her romance with Mark, which could have been just a convenient plot device, comes off as real and organic. Hopefully Tess and Mark will return in future volumes for more intrigue.

Riveting adventure and romance power this forceful first novel.

The Love Tank

Mendoza-Vasconez, Andrea | Illus. by Rita Nilson | Wholesome Children Books (32 pp.) | $18.99 | $13.99 paper Jul. 25, 2023 | 9798988022916

9798988022909 paper

Mendoza-Vasconez’s picture book demonstrates that self-care is about helping others as much as it’s about helping yourself.

In every person’s body, describes a mother to two children with white skin, are a set of tanks: one for food (stomach), one for knowledge (brain), and, most importantly, one for love (heart). “Just like the gas tank in a car that we fill with gas so the car will run, the tanks in your body fill up with other important things that can make you feel your best.” People with a full love tank may feel fulfilled, while those with an empty one might falter. They may seek solace in harmful behaviors, but a helping hand can pull them out of their funk. This ode to self-care and the power of community is Mendoza-Vasconez’s debut picture book and conveys its message in a simple, child-friendly way. While adults may question whether the concept of the tank means

there is a limit to love or knowledge, kids may find the metaphor gives them a concrete way to balance and monitor their emotions. The narrator’s warmth and optimism are reflected in Nilson’s colorful, flowing illustrations that use a motif of swirling flowers to reinforce the cyclical impacts of people performing acts of kindness for each other.. Creatively encourages preschoolers to regulate their emotions and practice kindness.

Tiepolo’s Greyhound

Merwin, E. | Illus. by Veronica Arrigoni Book Bogglers (227 pp.) | $12.00 paper March 30, 2021 | 9780578884097

An Italian greyhound travels to Brooklyn to search for his artist father, then returns to Venice and looks into his family’s creative roots in Merwin’s fantasy tale.

Piccolo Fortunato, born “at the turn of this century,” is from a family of dogs who helped humans build Venice in the fifth century and “developed dexterity far beyond any breed.” His adventure-loving greyhound father, Alfonso, was a sculptor who taught him how “to carve the wood, chisel the stone and with a small blue flame of my torch to cut and weld the steel.” Alfonso went off to the United States two years ago and hasn’t been heard from since. Piccolo tells his mother, Isabella, that he’s undertaking a search for his dad; on the ship to America, he meets famous Brooklyn-based human sculptor Guy Gizárd, who makes Piccolo his intern. Luckily, a human worker eventually reunites Piccolo with Alfonso, who was once a Gizárd intern himself. Father and son return to Venice to discover that Isabella has new pups and a new protector. Alfonso, Piccolo notes, is “almost twelve. But he’s had hard times, and the last two have been like ten”; after the art that he created finally gets shipped back from America, a tragedy occurs. Later, Piccolo has a renewed passion for art and

life following supernatural communion with a canine ancestor and 18th-century Venetian artist Giovanni Tiepolo. The copyright page of this book notes this tale is based on the 2014 novella Piccolo, an Intern’s Tale, credited to two authors: Merwin and “Piccolo Fortunato.” Merwin tells this story with a clear sense of whimsy, as canine characters wear porkpie hats, enjoyably lap up wine, listen to and sing Frank Sinatra tunes, and yearn for romance. Along the way, the author also effectively skewers the modern-day art world—particularly its use of interns. Ultimately, however, this book is most effective as a joyful appreciation of Venice and great art, with depictions of the masterworks of Tiepolo and Tintoretto sprinkled among illustrator Arrigoni’s lovely, occasional grayscale images.

An appealing anthropomorphic dog story commenting on and celebrating artistic pursuits.

Occupant #3

Moccia, Kevin | iUniverse (284 pp.)

$31.99 | $14.52 paper | Nov. 10, 2022

9781663241306 | 9781663241290 paper

In this second installment of Moccia’s planned trilogy, a war veteran takes part in a dangerous experiment inside a massive virus-laden biosphere.

American farmer and widower Clarence Clay volunteers for a 90-day experiment. He’s one of 10,000 new “prescribers” in a pharmaceutical company’s biostructure on a vast, private bird sanctuary. They’ll all be exposed to viruses, and if Clarence can make it to the end, he’ll receive more than $150,000 for himself and his teenage son. Almost as soon as he arrives, he learns how dangerous the biosphere is. Its young inhabitants, who’ve lived their whole lives there, safely navigate the environment and steer clear of dangerous types, such as cannibals, with help from a map Clarence has memorized (courtesy of

his wary pawn shop–owner friend). Elsewhere, a group of animals, including goats and a red-tailed hawk, plans to rescue warrior beagle Striker’s son, Zorro, from the biosphere. However, Zorro may not need rescuing from his human owner, Clarence. Moccia, an actor and playwright, packs this delightfully bizarre story with characters, which can be overwhelming as subplots outside the biosphere unfold and bring in characters from the preceding installment, The Beagle and the Hare (2019). These storylines feature humans, such as a couple of farmers and Clarence’s guitarist son, as well as animals. The best scenes, however, follow Clarence and the kids traversing the “environmental complex.” They cross such picturesque terrain as a magazine mountain, filled with popular periodical titles: “they scampered up the side of the magazine cliffs at a frenetic pace…causing mini-staple flows to gush with each tumbling step.” They also brave unsettling sights, including a “swamp” of medical masks, all while ever present stenches linger in the air. They’re a sympathetic bunch, as well, especially after Clarence becomes their protector. The final act, though rushed, is gratifying and deftly connects an outside character to what’s happening inside the biosphere.

An eccentric but often engrossing cautionary tale despite an overflowing cast.

Death on the Grand Canal: An Intrepid Traveler Mystery

Monnin, M.A. | Level Best Books (268 pp.) | $16.95 paper | May 18, 2023 9781685123642

In Monnin’s whodunit, a rookie Interpol agent must unwrap the mysteries of a missing golden peacock, a pile of inconvenient bodies, and the past life of her new lover.

Stefanie Adams is a new member of Interpol’s Artifact Recovery Team, and Contessa Giuliana Bergamo is the wealthy scion of a fading Italian aristocracy. The contessa is looking to sell a piece of art to the highest bidder: specifically, a long-lost 15th-century pendant known as the Borgia Peacock. Stefanie aims to win the auction and return it to Milan’s Sforza Castle. She arrives at the contessa’s home in Venice on the eve of the Regata Storica, a masquerade ball on boats. Stefanie’s not the only one hoping to purchase the item, and after first offers are made, bidders start dying; one is stabbed in the throat with a steampunk-ish plague mask and another killed with a gold-handled letter opener. Stefanie’s almost crushed by runaway aluminum beer kegs while buying frittellas. In the chaos, the Borgia Peacock goes missing. Meanwhile, Thomas Burkhardt—who recruited Stefanie into this new career and proposed to her in the first series installment, Death in the Aegean (2022)—seems strangely

close to the contessa’s great-niece Francesca, a potential murder suspect. Monnin places Stefanie’s relationship questions in the center of a sinuous plot with confident, clean prose studded with telling details that set scenes and act as clues. Situations drive the plot and build character, as when Stefanie’s challenged to identify differences between 15th-century jewels and 19th-century copies, or in her response to the aforementioned keg attack, after which she jokes about her crushed hat: “I think my fedora is ready for Last Rites.” If there’s a fault in this multifaceted jewel, it’s that Stefanie seems to wait for her own hero to act—but the author snaps her back to the real story, in which Stefanie’s the hero and performs admirably, despite her doubts. Solving a crime isn’t the same as solving a relationship, of course, but what makes this structure interesting is that the main mystery that’s Stefanie’s solving is herself.

A romantic mystery that re-energizes its genre.

A Path to Heaven: My Journey from Atheism to Hope

Queen, K. R. | Resource Publications (136 pp.) | $32.00 | $17.00 paper Jan. 31, 2023 | 9781666763621 9781666763614 paper

An atheistturned–Christian attorney details his faith journey in this memoir.

Born to a conservative religious home, Queen became disaffected with “the immensely legalistic sect I grew up in,” and rejected their beliefs as “sheer simplistic nonsense.” However, on a later reread of C.S. Lewis’ classic, Mere Christianity (1952), he began to rethink his atheism. While still skeptical of conservative, politicized Christianity, the author eventually rediscovered what he considers a more authentic and

A romantic mystery that re-energizes its genre.

DEATH ON THE GRAND CANAL

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intellectual brand of his childhood religion. Written from the prospective of “a theological and philosophical layperson,” this book is divided into two parts. The first examines the author’s philosophical journey from atheism toward Christianity; these chapters place a particular emphasis on how he came to terms with difficult themes, such as reconciling the Bible’s description of God as both “the epitome of love” as well as violent and “shockingly harsh.” The author also responds to popular critiques of Christianity from New Atheists such as Richard Dawkins, including their emphasis on the appalling conduct of Christians throughout history. Whereas the first half of the book focuses on “what I should think,” the second half centers on “what I should do” once reconverting to Christianity. To that end, topics in the final chapters range from exploring “the difficulty of living out this love of enemies in practice,” and the author’s disagreements with vocal, conservative Christian churches and their “extreme and clearly false accusations.” Many readers will find that none of the book’s apologetic arguments are particularly novel. However, its strength lies in its willingness to call out instances of intellectual dishonesty and uncharitable actions of fellow Christians, as well as confront the arguments of atheists on fair terms. A practicing lawyer in Seattle, Queen has clearly honed his communications and debate skills, and he offers readers a well-reasoned and accessible case for his return to his faith. At fewer than 125 pages, this is a concise book that keeps its focus on fundamental questions from the perspective of a former skeptic who discovered “a far better

Christianity than I began with.” A well-written, nuanced case for coming back to one’s religion.

The New Technology State: How Our Digital Dreams Became Societal Nightmares—and What We Can Do About It

Raduchel, Bill | Amplify Publishing (224 pp.) | $26.95 | Sept. 12, 2023 | 9781637557464

Raduchel, an American tech company executive, presents a book that had its origin in conversations he had with British Member of Parliament Tom Tugendhat about the societal impact of technology.

More than a decade ago, the author, who’s worked as an adviser and executive for companies such as Sun Microsystems and AOL Time Warner, met Tugendhat at a conference that gathered leaders from various industries. It was an encounter that sparked the author’s reflections on the nature of society in this book, which is specifically “about what technology is enabling us to do to ourselves.” The author readily acknowledges technology’s extraordinary benefits, but he also concisely raises provocative questions about its negative aspects: “What is seen generally as ‘progress’—and which of course, economically speaking, was exactly that—was far from positive for many individuals. For them, the changes constituted a profound and altogether lamentable

disruption of traditional patterns of life and behavior.” Every blessing that technology promises comes with an attendant curse, he notes; for example, tech advances have dramatically improved efficiency, but this “necessarily reduces the robustness and resilience of markets” by making them “too efficient” and less able to handle the unexpected, such as the recent pandemic; advances are also “devoid of compassion,” he asserts, as gains in efficiency surely result in massive job loss. Moreover, the tech industry tends toward monopolistic hegemony; the “history of the computing industry,” he notes, “is a succession of antitrust cases.” Raduchel’s impressive analysis goes even deeper than this, exploring the ways in which social interaction, the consumption of media, and even the nature of problem-solving have been deeply transformed by the proliferation of technology. This book is not merely a lament, however—the author also ably navigates a “path to sanity,” showing ways in which the growing excesses of technology can be chastened by targeted taxation, although these recommendations seem unequal to the radical emergence of a “New Technology State.” Still, Raduchel furnishes a critique of the latter that’s as thoughtful as it is rigorous. A valuable contribution to an important debate about the consequences of technological progress.

Enjoying the Interval: Murray Enkin: A Life

Reiger, Kerreen M. | FriesenPress (482 pp.) $34.99 | $24.99 paper | Aug. 31, 2022 9781039109131 | 9781039109124 paper

Reiger presents a biography of Murray Enkin, a Canadian obstetrician who became a leading figure in the movement to reform maternity care.

Murray Enkin was born in 1924

A captivating picture of the reform movement in maternity care.

THE INTERVAL

in Toronto during a time of great controversy regarding maternity care—mortality rates for both pregnant women and their babies were terrifyingly high, provoking demands from the public for reform. Enkin, a bookish and philosophically minded youngster, was effectively raised to advocate for progressive change— he attended the experimental Blatz School as a boy, which encouraged the development of personal responsibility and independent thinking rather than submission to rules. Years later, after becoming an obstetrician, he proposed radical innovations in his field, including prenatal classes for mothers and advocacy for a more natural approach to childbirth that assigned an elevated role to midwives. Enkin’s overarching philosophy—lucidly captured by the author—emphasized the human elements of childbirth, acknowledging the autonomy of mothers and the importance of their own preferences and perceiving childbirth holistically as an “emotional, sexual, and social experience.” In Enkin’s own words, “The aim of obstetrical care is to achieve the physical, emotional, and social health of the mother, the child, and the family, and to find a means of delivering that optimal care to all who need it.” With breathtaking thoroughness, Reiger chronicles Enkin’s contributions to the notion of “family centered maternity care” and the ways in which his support of the idea ultimately exerted an international influence. The author’s account can be gratuitously granular— this biography at times reads like a dryly narrated curriculum vitae, and it is easy for the reader to become numbed by the swarm of organizational acronyms. The reader may also

question whether it was necessary for Reiger to devote so much space to Enkin’s personal life. Nevertheless, this is a captivating picture of the reform movement in maternity care (and Enkin’s deeply important contributions to it), presented with impressive scholarly scrupulousness. A remarkably comprehensive biography of a central figure in the health care debates of the 20th century.

Daughters of Dunn House 1953: Stories of Fisk Early Entrants

Roach, Hildred; Donna Penn Towns & Maryann Rebecca Gay Rozzell, et al. Dorrance Publishing (214 pp.)

$18.00 paper | April 1, 2023

9798886836394

Seven Black women reflect on their experiences at Fisk University in the 1950s in this group memoir.

At the age of 84, Towns fondly recalls “the more subtle aspects” of her time at Fisk University more than a half-century ago, noting that the school instilled in her a lifelong “thirst for knowledge” and enshrined “the belief in the contribution that African-Americans have made and continue to make to

the country and the world.” Founded in the aftermath of the Civil War, Fisk emerged as one of the nation’s preeminent historically Black colleges and universities whose graduates include W.E.B. DuBois, John Lewis, and Nikki Giovanni. In the early 1950s, the school collaborated with the Ford Foundation to open their Basic College, an experimental program that offered Black teenagers the opportunity to skip their final two years of high school and complete their general course studies in college. The girls selected for the program lived in the two-story, eight-bedroom Dunn House, located in the middle of campus. Seven of the “Dunn House Girls” recount their experiences in this celebratory collection, which includes ample photographs and yearbook scans. While many of the stories emphasize the role Fisk played in shaping a generation of 20th-century Black women leaders, scholars, and activists, they also provide glimpses into the lives of Black college students in the Jim Crow South. Rozzell recalls that many of Talladega’s ballet and theater programs were often attended by white citizens and that integrated YMCA regional meetings were held at Talladega; there were also Ku Klux Klan processions, when hooded terrorists drove through campus as “shotguns and Confederate flags protruded from the windows.” The book may also be useful for genealogists, as most authors include brief family histories.

An important document of Black history and celebration of higher education.

Hello, Can I Bug You?

Roberts, Sherry | Solander Press (32 pp.) $19.99 | $11.99 paper | April 17, 2023 9781959548096 | 9781959548164 paper

Two bashful students find friendship in this picture book about making connections. Briella notices her classmate Jasper

An engaging tale for bug lovers—and shy readers looking for pals.

HELLO, CAN I BUG YOU?

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even though he is quiet. The other kids pick on him, but Briella understands: She’s shy, too. She decides she wants to be his friend, so on a day when she feels brave, she asks about the bugs he is looking at. At first, Jasper doesn’t talk, not even when Briella offers gummies. So she tries to learn more about bugs, thinking they’ll be able to chat. Finally, she catches a ladybug and gives it to him— but it dies in the box. Her attempt is just what Jasper needs to make an effort of his own. He gives her gummy worms and asks: “Will you be my friend?” While the story feels simple, the hurdles that the children both overcome are their shyness and the fear of not being recognized. Briella’s perseverance and her willingness to step out of her comfort zone to make a friend offer young readers valid techniques for trying to forge their own connections. Roberts uses simple phrases and short sentences to tell the enjoyable story. Taylor’s cartoon illustrations of the two white friends, with soft, watercolor-like backgrounds, have plenty of vibrant hues (and bugs) to please young readers. Briella’s facial expressions when dealing with bugs she detests are particularly charming and will likely elicit giggles. An engaging tale for bug lovers—and shy readers looking for pals.

MacKenzie’s Last Run

Rosengren, Gayle | Three Towers Press (235 pp.) | $13.95 paper | Sept. 1, 2022

9781595989048

Rosengren’s middle-grade novel aptly explores the aftermath of a tragedy and its impact on one family.

One evening, Wisconsinite MacKenzie “Mac” Lawrence goes for a run and returns home late for dinner. Although that’s typical behavior for Mac since his father, a paramedic, was shot at Prairie View Mall two years ago, his twin sister

Tessa is angry that he’s not at home, and his mother and grandparents fear that he’s gotten into some kind of trouble. Soon after his return, the twins’ mother announces her engagement to her partner, Simon, and Mac becomes enraged, threatening to leave if she goes through with it. Soon, Mac runs away, leaving a striking note on his laptop: “I MEANT WHAT I SAID!” The book then separately follows the close third-person perspectives of Mac and Tessa in alternating chapters. Rosengren offers a story that illustrates how family relationships undergo change following trauma and loss. Specifically, the narrative emphasizes how Tessa and Mac’s once-close relationship has become distant and tense and how each processes their father’s death and their mother’s engagement differently. Rosengren uses subtle linking strategies—such as a motif of darkness at the end of one section and the beginning of another—to show how the two main characters remain connected. The alternating storytelling style also works well to move the plot forward, although there are moments when Mac’s reactions feel extreme, and Tessa is always cast as the maternal, responsible person in her family. Overall, though, the work effectively shows how the twins’ relationships with their father have shaped how each teen thinks. At the end, Rosengren ties up loose ends in a satisfying manner.

An emotionally authentic representation of the legacy of gun violence.

Drake’s War: A Tennyson Drake

WWII Thriller

Saint, Gideon | Arcus Editions (454 pp.) | $13.99 paper | April 26, 2023

9781916618008

An inexperienced British soldier becomes caught in the Battle of France in Saint’s military thriller series starter.

It’s May 1940, and British Army 2nd Lt. Tennyson Drake is on a reconnaissance mission in neutral Belgium’s Ardennes Forest. When the German First Panzer Division suddenly bursts through the trees and kills Drake’s commander, he’s left corralling his unit’s survivors on the wrong side of the battle line. All he has, in terms of orders, is a bloody notebook his dying captain handed to him, containing a drawing of a raven and pages of code: “Letters and numbers. Long lines of letters and numbers. There was nothing else in it. No orders. No instructions. No explanations. Just letters, numbers, and a bird.” Until a few months ago, Drake was just a “schoolie”—a barracks tutor—and he had no combat experience until today. Now Germany’s finest armored division has struck at a place that no one predicted: the impenetrable, and therefore lightly defended, Ardennes. The war has come, and Drake must try to prevent a complete collapse of the Allied defense. To do so, he must figure out the meaning of the raven book and the true mission that his unit was sent there to complete. Saint’s prose is sharp and suspenseful, rarely

An emotionally authentic representation of the legacy of gun violence.

MACKENZIE’S LAST RUN

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letting up as the story briskly unravels with all the haste of a retreating army. Here, for example, is Saint’s description as Drake makes it to the town of Sedan just as the German army is about to seize control of the area: “There, ahead of them at last, was the French defensive line. Barbed wire and machine gun posts encircled the city and blocked the road. But the straggling French soldiers were still running back, anxious faces glancing over their shoulders.” The author has written a propulsive, mystery-driven narrative that manages to effectively capture the stakes and scope of the real-life battle it portrays. Die-hard history buffs may take issue with a few authorial liberties, but fans of World War II films will certainly enjoy this cinematic offering.

A quick-paced, well-plotted novel set during a German invasion.

Caleb McCallister and the Sword of Light

Sargent, Scott M. | Red Branch Books

(284 pp.) | $12.99 paper | June 10, 2023

9798988181705

In Sargent’s YA fantasy novel, a teenage boy learns that his destiny lies in the world of Celtic legend. This debut, the first in the author’s Sentry series, is barely underway when readers realize they’re in for a suspenseful ride. When 14-yearold Caleb, the novel’s first-person narrator, falls off a dock during a field trip to one of the Boston Harbor islands, his everyday life of school,

friends, and obsession with Irish legends changes forever. Was Caleb really nearly drowned by a hideous creature and protected by a seal? And what is the meaning of his parents’ cryptic argument about telling Caleb something now rather than waiting for his upcoming 15th birthday? When his parents abruptly disappear on mysterious business, the strange, fearful behavior of his loving but unstable uncle, Seamus, culminates in their flight from Caleb’s Massachusetts home to a farmhouse in Canada (“If ye do no hurry,” Seamus tells him, “we’ll be dead before we get to the car”). Along the way, Caleb is attacked by what seems to be a runaway horse. It couldn’t have been a púca—a shape-shifting spirit out of Celtic folklore—could it? With this eventful setup, the author expertly mines Celtic mythology to catapult Caleb into a quest to keep the long-hidden four treasures of the legendary Tuatha Dé Danann race, including a Sword of Light, from falling into the hands of the demonic Fomorians and the supernatural Dark Court. Caleb’s struggle to accept not only the magical realms he finds himself in, but his hereditary role tied to the legend of the great warrior Cú Chulainn, takes him to Ireland and into an epic, subterranean battle, rendered in cinematic detail, with the safety of his parents— and the world—at stake. This exciting fantasy, encompassing friendships, a devastating betrayal, elves, leprechauns, ancient texts, and a young protagonist finding his own strength of purpose, is enjoyable for anyone who appreciates well-written YA fiction. The ending offers a welcome hint of more highstakes adventures for Caleb to come. A dynamic mix of living mythology and a modern-day young hero in the making.

Kirkus Star

Whoever Drowned Here: New and Selected Poems

Sessner, Max | Trans. by Francesca Bell Red Hen Press (88 pp.) | $21.00 | Aug. 22, 2023 | 9781636281384

Translator Bell offers a long-overdue introduction of German poet Sessner to English-speaking readers.

The collection contains poems in three parts, drawn from three of Sessner’s previous books, with a fourth dedicated to new poems. The poet’s minimalist style marks all the works, which are devoid of punctuation and provide multiple images within a single line. Prospects of death haunt Part I, from Kitchens and Trains ; in “Man With Dog,” the speaker observes a lonely man and his pet walking in the fields, playing fetch: “I’ve a notion that / one time instead of a stick / the dog brought the / whole forest and then / into it they both / disappeared.” Themes of family and identity permeate Part II, from Why Especially Today . At Grandpa’s 80th birthday celebration, “every adult is / a short rhyming poem,” and “the children scurry like / commas” (“In the Circle of the Family”). Part III, from The Water of Yesterday , examines aging; “While Leaving the Café” contrasts the grandmothers of many poems with an observation of the lightness of youth: “The girl takes the / umbrella or / does the umbrella take / the girl.” In “A Landscape,” the speaker ponders the trainlike oncoming of old age. Over the course of this collection, Sessner’s inclination toward enjambment and sparse use of stanzas encourage readers to trust the speakers, and the poems always lead to a striking close. The stark form belies intricate layers of actuality and vision. Part IV, from New , also blurs distinctions among dream, memory, and impression. The

The author expertly mines Celtic mythology to catapult Caleb into a quest.

CALEB MCCALLISTER AND THE SWORD OF LIGHT

abundance of seemingly incongruous imagery is heightened in these poems; in “Flowers,” for example, the speaker describes moments after waking, still engrossed in the world of the dream: “someone is binding / flowers into a bouquet it’s the / one for my mother that / I’m to pick up I often awaken / exactly at this point and / feel in the dark for my / glasses as if I’d be able / to see the ending.”

A vivid anthology of poems in which everyday events are infused by speakers’ inner lives.

Deadbeat Druid

Slayton, David R. | Blackstone (350 pp.) | $12.65 paper | Oct. 18, 2022

9798212256308 | 9781094067988 paper

In Slayton’s latest fantasy-series installment, Adam Binder knows two things: Immortals have rules, and a deal always comes with a catch.

Warlock Adam Binder was supposed to kill John Binder, his evil warlock ancestor, but instead he and the man Adam loves, Vicente “Vic” Martinez, used their combined powers and sent John somewhere deep in the underworld. Unfortunately, Jodi, Adam’s unstable cousin, pushed Vic into the portal as well and fell into it herself. Adam seeks an answer from Death on where Vic is and how to get him back. As it turns out, Death wants Adam to retrieve a mysterious woman named Melody, nicknamed Mel, from the underworld along with Vic. Adam sets off with his brother Bobby and elf friend Vran in his old Oldsmobile Cutlass on the road to the underworld. Along the way, they’ll meet unknown dangers, including demons in various forms. Adam will have to be careful, smart, and a bit lucky to find Vic before something sinister finds him first; he must also make good on a deal with Seamus, the leprechaun who’s the Guardian of the Western Watchtower, and kill

John. Meanwhile, Vic and Jodi try to survive the weird, unpredictable place in which they find themselves. While held captive by otherworldly beings, they meet Mel, who’s been in the underworld since 1935 but has very little memory of her old life. Slayton returns to his series with a fantastic third installment that’s full of adventure and intrigue. However, it also features a good deal of angst and heartache, as the protagonist contends with many deals and many rules to get his boyfriend back: “Everything was a transaction, every conversation a chess match.” Adam is depicted as a dynamic and complex hero to whom readers will easily relate; they’ll sympathize with his problems with immortal beings as well as his challenging family relationships. Secondary characters, such as Bobby, Vran, Vic, and Jodi, are offbeat and engaging, adding to the story and supporting the complex worldbuilding.

A fast-paced adventure that’s likely to please fans of the series.

Kirkus Star

How to Hire: The Essential Guide to Recruit & Retain the Right People

Smith, Clint | Amplify Publishing (248 pp.) $29.95 | Aug. 8, 2023 | 9781645433248

A clear, practical guide to consistently recruiting and retaining excellent employees.

“Anything is possible with the right people,”

writes Smith, the founder and CEO of a firm that designs business management software. Acknowledging that effective hiring is difficult, Smith walks readers through the process. The book comprises three sections: “Culture” outlines the necessity of understanding and articulating the business’s values, mission, etc.; “Recruit” covers identifying hiring needs, strategies for recruitment, interviewing, and making the hire; and “Retain” advocates persuasively for keeping staff engaged and motivated by providing support and investing in professional development. Each section includes thought-provoking questions like: “Who is helping you see your blind spots during the hiring process?” and “Are you selling job seekers on the responsibilities or the opportunity?” Throughout, Smith emphasizes that recruiters consider what’s important to the role rather than a broad list of attributes. He offers concrete suggestions for incorporating hiring best practices, providing plenty of examples and anecdotes from his own experiences; he notes that while his first hire as an entrepreneur was a winner who helped build the business over 12 years, the next two were disastrous and had to be fired. He also references other well-known companies and authors including Zig Ziglar, Carol Dweck, and Daniel Pink. Readers can visit the companion website howtohire.com (which isn’t currently live) to download sample checklists, templates, and worksheets for implementing the systems described in the text. Smith’s approach, intended for hiring managers without specific HR expertise, is a refreshing departure from most conventional advice

A fantastic third installment that’s full of adventure and intrigue.

DEADBEAT DRUID

on hiring (and getting hired), which focuses on beating systems or verifying skill sets. Many companies claim, perhaps disingenuously, that their greatest asset is people, but Smith provides the resources to make that claim a reality.

A sensible, cleareyed playbook for attracting, developing, and retaining top performers.

Kirkus Star

Immortalised to Death

Squire, Lyn | Level Best Books

(262 pp.) | $16.95 paper | Sept. 26, 2023

9781685123581

Squire imagines the murder of Charles Dickens in this historical novel.

The novel opens with Charles Dickens suffering a stroke while in the middle of writing The Mystery of Edwin Drood and dying in Kent, England. That’s all largely accepted as truth, but in this inventive and intriguing piece of historical fiction, the great British author is murdered, the victim of strychnine poisoning. When Dickens’ notes for Drood are stolen, retired bookkeeper and distant Dickens relative Dunston Burnett becomes convinced the two events are related. He begins an investigation that encompasses Dickens’ literary rivals, family, and others. During this investigation, running parallel to Scotland Yard

Chief of Detectives Archibald Line’s inquiries, family secrets are uncovered, more murders are committed, and Burnett uses his relative’s unfinished Drood to lead him to pertinent information. All the while, Dickens’ beloved sister-in-law, Georgina Hogarth, tries to protect his reputation from potential tawdriness as the world mourns his loss. A sweet secondary story, which eventually intertwines with the primary plot, depicts Georgina’s stableboy, Isaac, and parlor maid, Dulcet, falling in love. At the end of the novel, Burnett and Line are allies, so the reader may expect more exploits from the duo (“He didn’t know what the future held in store for him. Perhaps the tranquillity and solitude of a contented bachelorhood; perhaps another adventure in tandem with the iconic Archibald Line”). The novel is a delightful piece of reimagined history set against a backdrop of locations and characters that would make Dickens proud. It’s hard to tell where the history ends and the fiction begins in this twisty narrative (though the author includes a handy fact vs. fiction guide at the end of the book). References to many of Dickens’ works—including Oliver Twist, Bleak House, David Copperfield, and A Christmas Carol— and real figures from his life, such as Hogarth, his ex-wife, Catherine, and his girlfriend Ellen Ternan, are interspersed with fictional characters and storylines. All of it combines in an intriguing mystery, one worthy of one of the greatest writers in literary history.

An engaging and entertaining alternate take on a mammoth literary figure’s fate.

How the Earth Holds Us

Tuteur, Mary Holman | Wordrunner Press (210 pp.) | $19.99 paper | Sept. 15, 2023 9781941066607

Tuteur explores nature, memories, and mortality in a personal poetry collection.

In poems reminiscent of Mary Oliver’s work, the author recounts her mother’s suicide when Tuteur was 17 and its repercussions. She compares two of her own identities, as an adoptee and a Jew, concluding they are alike in that “both chosen / and dispossessed, we can’t stop / calling out for the impossible homeland” (“On Not Being a Jew”). In “Negative Space,” the poet details the struggle to connect with her birth mother, “the void just over my shoulder” who refused her request to meet. “I was the gap in her universe. / She wasn’t going to turn around,” the poet laments; of her birth mother’s funeral, she writes, “I hear the silence behind the silence / where the echo of her absence does not ring.” Other poems effectively take an unapologetic tone, as in “Adultery in Late Middle Age,” which circles around her lover’s second wife being “deceived by our low-key friendliness”; she later lingers over the way love changes as lovers age, likening them to tired elephants, “walking, two by two, / down dusty roads toward sunset” (“A Ripening”). The poet similarly considers the passage of time in “Aging,” how the past loses its momentousness as death inches closer: “All you have is the present you breathe in.” There is a clear sense of joy resounding through these poems in lines such as “I am

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A delightful piece of reimagined history set against a backdrop of locations and characters that would make Dickens proud.

IMMORTALISED TO DEATH

living in the echo / of a clear bell’s ring” (“Grace for My Twenty-Fifth Year”), and there is also an undertone of sorrow, often against a backdrop of beauty: “roses, wisteria assault us / with the stubborn persistence of life.” Her descriptions are also surprising and lively, as when describing the way the moon “went on down as eager as a child on a slide” (“Invocation”) or a flock of birds becomes “A swarm of heartbeats” (“Birds Bearing South”). An often intimate exploration of one poet’s life.

The Day I Had a Bulldozer

Wall, Ashley | Illus. by Vaughan Duck

Mamabear Books (32 pp.) | Jan. 1, 2023

Wall’s picture book explores the possibilities of youngsters using construction equipment.

Young Luke is eating breakfast one morning when his dog begins to bark at something outside—a bulldozer with Luke’s name on it. After donning a helmet, the boy drives the vehicle to the home of his best friend, Noah, who’s driving a dump truck. The pair set about making a giant dirt pile until another friend, Mikey, rolls up in a steamroller. Mikey’s a bit clumsy with it, so the friends drive to a more spacious park. There, they find Emma, who’s driving a digger and making a path through debris to Mr. Popsicle’s ice cream shop. Some readers may wonder why the shop is open without any way for customers to approach it, but this is beside the point. The book’s clear lesson is that people should always use their gifts to help others. And at another point, Luke remembers his responsibility to get home for dinner on time. The text also includes numerous facts about construction equipment, as when and Noah tells Luke how much dirt a dump truck can hold. However, the side plot about the dirt pile seems extraneous. Duck’s colorful,

well-executed cartoon illustrations feature foregrounds that are detailed and clear with sparser backgrounds. A message-driven tale that will appeal most to young construction-vehicle enthusiasts.

The Marsh Keeper

Werbitsky, E.L. | Fire & Ice Young Adult Books (310 pp.) | $16.24 paper | Feb. 20, 2023 | 9798886530780

In Werbitsky’s YA fantasy debut, a teenage boy who sees human auras must cope with persecution while investigating a young girl’s disappearance. High school junior Calvin Hughes lives in West Shelby, a marshy town in Orleans County, New York. When Cal was 5, he had an encounter with a mysterious hooded figure by the local creek that left him with the ability to see colored energy clouds around people that reflect their emotions and often presage their behavior: “Before a person acted upon an idea or a feeling, it swirled in their energy field first.” Except his sister Eva, who’s now a high school senior, Cal has never told anyone of his ability, but his insights have nonetheless made him an outsider. The one person who

isn’t leery of him is classmate Star McClellan, a rebel whose skull-shaped earrings belie an angelic energy cloud. Cal likes Star, and she likes him, but Star has her own secret: She sees visions of the future, including one that shows Cal drowning while trying to save her life. Determined to avoid this outcome, she pushes Cal away. Cal, however, is determined to help Star by uncovering the truth behind her 4-year-old sister’s disappearance. Werbitsky’s prose and dialogue create an eerie sense of dislocation and show the everyday vicissitudes of teenage life both inside and outside school. Cal’s and Eva’s characterizations are particularly refreshing; Cal, for instance, is never at peace with his ability, and for a self-defeating stretch midway through the book, he leaps at the chance to be “normal” and becomes rather unlikable in the process. Eva is not the ally one might expect but rather a force of active antagonism; yet for all her sibling jealousy, she eventually proves uncommonly reasonable. The story moves at a good pace, fueled by teenage travails and supernatural developments; the latter are left unresolved, and although this makes for a less than satisfying conclusion if the book is judged as a stand-alone, it makes the prospect of a sequel appealing.

An often poetic exploration of the good and evil in everyday teenage life, enhanced by offbeat characters.

Again & Again

Wittman, Juliet | Beck and Branch (294 pp.) | $14.99 paper | May 1, 2023 9780999445785

In Wittman’s novel, an oncology nurse and a handful of patients with only months to live decide to try to save the youngest among them—and steal a horse along the way.

An often poetic exploration of the good and evil in everyday teenage life, enhanced by offbeat characters.

THE MARSH KEEPER

NEWS, BAD NEWS, WHO CAN TELL?

About a fourth of the way into this quiet stunner of a novel set in Colorado, a nurse in her late 20s named Paula comes to a frightening realization that the most important people in her circle are likely to die soon of cancer, and it’s not the only heartache awaiting her. This is where a typical story plants its hook or reveals a quest. But there’s nothing that beats the odds, as even cancer isn’t the villain in this thoughtful novel about life and death, grief and love. In real life, there’s often a clear answer: One goes on, whether one chooses to or not. “Thread your arm through mine,” Paula imagines telling her friends and patients. “We’ll walk this together.” Readers who go on may be surprised at how effortlessly a mundane moment can turn into a scene that can leave them shaken. Paula’s circle includes 23-year-old Chloe Braverman, whose narrator voice alternates with Paula’s; Linda, a Christian woman with two young children about whom “there was something impermeable and too bright”; Doris, an older woman who’s led a full life and becomes a mother to them all; and Colin, a 3-year-old boy whose cancer is curable if the group can raise $250,000 for a bone marrow transplant. That quest, like most quests in the real world, is derailed by failures, cast aside by doubt, and picked up again and again. The characters emerge as

three-dimensional: They’re not brave all the time, nor angry all the time, nor sure in their beliefs. They’re mercurial—certain and uncertain, by turns. They rely on one another and don’t always come through. They fail, they quit, they start again as the inevitable draws nearer. And then there’s the story’s horses—a metaphorical black horse of fear and a real-life animal in need of rescue.

True to its title, this novel contains several worthy endings and, on its last page, presents a new beginning.

Kirkus Star

Good News, Bad News, Who Can Tell?

Worth, Don. | ArchwayPublishing (268 pp.) | $35.95 | $17.99 paper | Nov. 6, 2022 9781665730709 | 9781665730716 paper

Edited by Worth, this absorbing collection of stories, essays, song lyrics, and poetry shares lessons learned during the Covid-19 lockdown.

While working in a counseling center during the pandemic, Worth, a psychologist, noticed an unexpected change in his patients’ mental health—many were getting better.

The title of this book is inspired by a Buddhist parable that cautions against overreacting to seemingly positive or negative events; outcomes are never certain. While most consider Covid to be a wholly negative event, Worth chooses to withhold judgment and find wisdom and

hope in the pandemic accounts collected here. Arranged according to categories of people, the collection includes the stories of physicians, clergy, artists, restaurateurs, and others from both the U.S. and India. Teacher Morgan Gulley, for example, describes the challenges and successes of making instruction “as normal as possible.” Summer Aguiar, a student, discusses isolation and how she “learned to be okay with being alone.” At the book’s close, Worth reflects on the ways life’s struggles can be regarded as useful and opportunities to evolve. This collection, extraordinary in its scope, approaches the pandemic in an engaging, unconventional way. The writing, especially, stands out. The poet Smita Agarwal deftly captures the eerie dawning of the pandemic: “A new way of life … / All around, humans with sandpaper-breath / Topple like skittles, as flies to wanton boys.” Meanwhile, Andy Fraenkel, a teacher of the Vaishnava/Krishna tradition, explains with philosophical clarity that we have within ourselves the power to overcome our anxieties: “We have the choice whether to focus on the negative or on the positive, to focus on that which is destructive or that which is healing and nourishing.” Worth’s epilogue succeeds in drawing definite conclusions from the myriad experiences and emotions captured here. One telling lesson: “We are relationship creatures,” and we would benefit from further “appreciating and cultivating relational connections.” This is an important collection that not only records a range of pandemic experiences, but demonstrates how we can learn from this and other events. A novel, thought-provoking angle on the recent world health crisis.

A novel, thought-provoking angle on the recent world health crisis.

GOOD

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