(2) YA Jackson is obsessed with numbers: they're predictable, unlike life with his bohemian singer mother. Across the street lives spirited Esmerelda, and Jackson and Ez narrate their unfolding friendship. Things heat up when they become embroiled with mobsters who are blackmailing Jackson's mom. The book has plenty of appealing elements: friendship, romance, adventure, and two likable protagonists with rich emotional lives.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2007

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Kim Gamble. Every year pirates abduct and enslave all the twelve-year-old boys in Horrendo's village. Horrendo, "cursed" by a wise woman to always be polite and kind, engineers an escape from the pirate ship for all the boys and helps discover a buried treasure. Though overlong, the farcical tale will still amuse pirate fans. Humorous illustrations accompany the boisterous text.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(2) YA Appeasement has largely defined sixteen-year-old Callisto's life: taking care of her little brother to appease her mother, playing dumb at school to appease her tougher classmates, and having sex to please her boyfriend. In sharing her painful seventeenth year (in which she gets pregnant), Callisto is an involving character who directly addresses the reader in an honest, revealing voice.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2000