(4) YA Illustrated by Sally Cantirino. In a highly stratified society, Lyla's educational aspirations are crushed when she's caught committing a petty crime and tattooed to mark her infraction. When offered the chance to have the Mark removed, Lyla agrees to infiltrate a rebel group but struggles with the betrayals and corruption she becomes party to. Interspersed comics-style episodes offer historical background on Lyla's world. The premise is familiar but engaging nonetheless.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Craig Orback. Saving up for a skateboard, Tim returns cans for their deposits. It becomes increasingly apparent that he's in competition with a homeless man (who's remarkably sympathetic to Tim's efforts). When Tim realizes how much the "Can Man" needs the money, he relinquishes his earnings and learns a lesson about generosity. Orback's oil paintings enhance this text-heavy morality tale.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(4) YA Korean American Lauren has been saving money to have her eyes surgically altered to look more Caucasian. No one knows about her plan--especially not her father, who is still grieving the loss of Lauren's mother and keeping a few secrets of his own. While the topic and the story are compelling, the story's resolution, coming after Lauren's believably explored self-doubt, feels too easy.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Eujin Kim Neilan. Jinho wants to play video games and go skateboarding. He laughs at his grandfather's traditional Korean ways, including building a kite instead of just buying one. However, their mutual respect and love grow slowly but naturally as they work together on the project. Swirling circles in the acrylic paintings effectively echo the "best winds" that ultimately carry the kite aloft.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) 4-6 Desperate to join a band of women warriors, twelve-year-old Alia and her friend Kay capture two child spies from a hostile country. But when Alia is put in charge of the captives, they demonstrate that her own leader is an evil magician and the war isn't black and white. The story offers a nuanced view of conflict and an intriguing speaking-to-trees magic from first-time author McCaffrey.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) 4-6 Starshine's afraid her environmental activist mother, Miracle Bott, loves trees more than her own family. She won't come down from her tree-sitting protest in their Louisiana town for storms, Starshine's first period, or even her grandmother's illness. In sure phrases, Williams sketches the conflicts that can crop up between a mother and adolescent daughter, set against a sultry southern summer.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) 4-6 Lily, who works in her parents' apothecary and heals injured animals, lives as an outcast because her father is the town executioner. When her mother dies and she must begin assisting her father in public executions, Lily makes a crucial decision about her future. The spare prose unobtrusively depicts the medieval setting and quietly charts Lily's journey from rigid acceptance of society's norms to more equivocal understanding.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) PS From clown and dirt to underwear and vegetables, objects familiar to young children represent every letter of the alphabet, although many are not the usual words found in alphabet books. The text consists only of the twenty-six letters and words; the often amusing photographs of preschoolers are clear and appealing.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(4) 4-6 Mary Elizabeth feels a closer connection with the Ghost Stallion, a wild horse roaming the open prairie near her Oregon home, than she does with her own family, particularly her father. Yearning to be free like the stallion, Mary Elizabeth challenges her past and learns what family really means to her. The story and its conclusion are predictable, but the plot is well paced and will appeal to horse fans.

Reviewer: Juliet Stebbins

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Fabricio Vanden Broeck. Each afternoon Makoa's grandfather canoes out to the horizon to catch the sun in his net, enabling the torch fishers on shore "to attract fish to their spears." When another boy casts doubt on his grandfather's ability to "pull the sun from the sky," Makoa decides to "believe in things [he] cannot see." Luminous pastels, good for sharing in a group, add drama and atmosphere to the well-paced story.

Reviewer: Jennifer Polshek