(4) 4-6 Magisterium series. Illustrated by Scott Fischer. In their final year of magic school, Call and his friends must confront the history of the Enemy of Death, the ancient soul trapped in Call's body. Multiple long-running story lines are resolved as well, sometimes to the detriment of pacing. Outstanding action sequences are satisfying, but the abrupt ending is disappointing.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Nina Matsumoto. Cats August and Charlie escape from a medical-testing laboratory and together embark on a superhero mission...from inside a robotic dog suit constructed by brains-of-the-operation August and piloted by Charlie. With a cry of "CANINE CONFIGURATION COMMENCE," the cat-heroes take on a despotic baby plotting to conquer Earth. With bright colors, dynamic panels, a wacky sci-fi plot, and lovable animal characters, this graphic novel should engage young readers.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(4) 4-6 Tangled History series. This installment covers Jackie Robinson's role in the 1945 dissolution of Major League Baseball's color line. Burgan vividly captures the "guts" this took with anecdotal narratives (some may be apocryphal) of figures on both sides of the issue. Illustrated with archival photos throughout, the volume is good as a report resource or for casual reading. An epilogue offers a bigger-picture overview. Reading list, timeline. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) 1-3 Translated by Anna Golding. In this Italian import, first in a series, Ghoulia is a zombie who must hide indoors with her eccentric family of ghouls and ghosts and her bug-eyed albino greyhound named Tragedy. She desperately wants some friends and sees her chance on Halloween. The heavily illustrated and colorful story is enticing to new and reluctant readers and playfully confronts the nervousness of meeting new people. Activities and games are appended.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) 4-6 Quirk's Quest series. Illustrated by Deborah Lang. Captain Quirk and crew (Into the Outlands) continue on their Odyssey-like journey into remote corners of fantasyland Crutonia; here they run afoul of danger with the Lost Tribe of Keldorra, who reveals the origin story of their old nemesis Hukka. This graphic novel's complex high-fantasy plot is lightened by adorable cartoony-looking characters that recall Jim Henson's goggly-eyed Muppets.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) YA Serendipity "Pity" Jones's hardscrabble life on a farm is rough, but being sold off into marriage is worse, so Pity runs away and finds employment as a gun-slinging entertainer in a debauched metropolis. But the line between valued employee and disposable orphan proves to be thin. The post–Second Civil War dystopia is vividly imagined and the characters well developed in this girl-powered Western, Ely's debut novel.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) YA During WWII, Haruko (who's Japanese American) and Margot (German American) meet in the Crystal City internment camp in Texas. They form a secret friendship that must withstand suspicion, xenophobia, and the degradation of their families. Told in the girls' alternating voices, this is a touching and enlightening story of friendship and perseverance during a shameful chapter in U.S. history. Includes notes on historical accuracy.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) YA On twins Georgina and Mary's small island home of By-the-Sea, "you could always smell two things: salt and magic." During the girls' last summer working together in their family's inn, which caters to bird-watchers, they prepare for a future without each other and discover how their magical lineage manifests itself. A gentle family story merges with a mystery involving a rare bird in this evocative, lyrical magical-realism novel.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Joe Bluhm. A collection of handwritten notes and drawings from a brother to his younger sister documents their relationship. What starts with uncertainty at her birth ("I am not sure I love you yet") grows to an unshakeable bond and reassurance of his love when he leaves for college ("Everything changes. Almost everything"). Humorous and heartwarming illustrations help tell the moving story of siblings confronting challenges together and coming out stronger.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) 4-6 Cottons series. Illustrated by Heidi Arnhold. The Cottons process carrots into "cha," the economic foundation of a rich rabbit culture. But they're threatened by the foxes who scheme to control the mines, the cha, and the Cottons' territory. In this series-starting graphic novel, mixed-media illustrations infused with an Art Deco palette and sensibility are entrancing in their detail of the complex animal world. Contextual back matter furthers the richly imagined fantasy premise.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) 4-6 One summer, neighborhood children enact fantastical adventures by constructing places and costumes out of cardboard. The diverse group includes a boy pushing gender norms with his alter-ego "the Sorceress," who he describes as "what I want to be." A refreshing look at what creative kids can do with a little imagination, this graphic novel uses vivid color and expression and very few words.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) YA What's left of society wanders space on a fleet of economically stratified starships. To save her family from poverty, Aisha Un-Haad sells her body to become a Scela, a robotic soldier with metallic exoskeleton (think Battlestar Galactica's Cylons); once-privileged Key Tanaka doesn't remember why she became a Scela. This female-centric space thriller is richly developed, particularly the descriptions of how the Scela feel robot parts work with their human bodies.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(4) YA In the sequel to Brave New Girl, Dahlia and Trigger are on the run from the Lakeview cloning facility where they were raised. They find Waverly, who was raised in a family of reality-television royalty and who does not know she's a clone; a case of mistaken identity forces Dahlia to impersonate her. Debates over the ethics of cloning elevate an otherwise average dystopian thriller.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) YA This fantasy in the vein of The Chronicles of Narnia explores the emotional aftermath of living out of one's own time. More than five years ago, Evelyn and her siblings escaped the London Blitz by traveling into another realm. Now, having returned to her own world, Evelyn is devastated by the loss of that life. The siblings' individual journeys to the places their hearts truly belong are poignant and nuanced.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Katie Harnett. After World War II, the world's magic "has come and gone," and the remaining dragons must fit into Vienna society under government regulation. Fire-breathing dragon Grisha meets a girl, Maggie, whose creative nature lets her see the world's remaining magic, and together they devise a plan to free the dragons. Each chapter of this enchanting historical fantasy begins with a full-page scene-setting illustration.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Vali Mintzi. Fourteen "strong biblical women" from the Old Testament are profiled in an informative and inspiring volume. A colorful, Gauguin-like illustration begins each informative chapter, all of which end with a fictionalized first-person story and a poem. Extensive sidebars and marginalia further elucidate topics; readers are referred to specific Bible verses for the original stories. A handsome book, suitable for study, research, or gifting. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) YA Following Bound by Blood and Sand, Jae has mastered the elemental magic that broke her out of slavery. But the rest of her people remain enslaved to the Highest and lack self-determination. Can Jae wield her magic to lead a rebellion so that all are free? Fans of elaborate high fantasies will appreciate the complex narrative and mature themes.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(4) K-3 Colette struggles with a move to a new urban home. But the contrived problem of a (made-up) lost pet parakeet sets her on an adventure with the neighborhood children as they band together searching. Smudgy pencil, watercolor, and ink drawings in varying-size panels--digitally colored with touches of parakeet blue and yellow--can be hard to read, but the story is ultimately heartwarming.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) 4-6 Encounter series. The history behind the mass evacuation of Jewish and other vulnerable children from Germany to the UK during WWII is given multifaceted treatment in this middle-grade nonfiction volume. Recollections, poems, photographs, and other primary sources factor into touching and often heartbreaking narrative profiles of seven real kinder. A final chapter details each subject's "life after the Kindertransport." Reading list, timeline. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) 4-6 Magisterium series. Illustrated by Scott Fischer. Callum Hunt is now known as the Enemy of Death, his body harboring the soul of Constantine Madden, an evil magician from a past generation. With everyone at the Magisterium living in fear of Call, his hero's journey now depends on controlling the powers within. This dark fourth volume leaves some questions unanswered but will keep series fans enthralled.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore