(3) 1-3 Backyard Witch series. Illustrated by Deborah Marcero. When Maya loses the school spelling bee--to Sadie, one of her best friends, of all people!--her confidence is shaken. With the help of quirky neighborhood birdwatcher/witch Ms. M (who happens to be substituting as the school's librarian), Maya overcomes her jealousy, regains confidence, and learns important lessons about friendship. Spot art appears throughout this third amiable installment.

Reviewer: Kari Allen

(3) 1-3 Backyard Witch series. Illustrated by Deborah Marcero. In this second book, Ms. M, a diminutive, kindly witch with unexpected talents, makes her return as Jess's babysitter and serves as the catalyst for a reconciliation between Jess and her cuisine-obsessed chef mother. Culinary disasters, food jokes, and cookery-related back matter (including a grilled tofu recipe) round out the fun in this illustrated chapter book. Reading list, websites.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis

(2) 1-3 Backyard Witch series. Illustrated by Deborah Marcero. Nine-year-old Sadie is in a sour mood after her friends vacation without her. Then a small witch moves into Sadie's playhouse. Ms. M. is a birdwatcher witch, or ornithomancer; bitten by the birding bug, Sadie is lured out of her snit by a fresh awareness of nature. Sprightly prose will pull in readers, and spot illustrations keep the pages lively. Birding tips are appended.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2015

(1) YA Fourteen-year-old Walker offers up a prayer ("my brother's been dead / two whole months, and [Mom's] still crying"), and Jesus answers it in person. Turns out He's a pretty ordinary Joe with an irreverent sense of humor. Koertge's verse novel--in third person with short lines, plain language, and abundant white space--is a good vehicle for meditations on life, loss, and faith.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2013

(1) YA Illustrated by Andrea Dezsö. With a contemporary sensibility and voice pitched perfectly to teenagers, Koertge retells, in free verse and from various points of view, twenty-three familiar tales. It's a swell mix of the comical, concrete, and macabre. Dezsö's choice of cut-paper illustrations is brilliant, a nod to Hans C. Andersen’s skill in that medium despite the radically different tone. Perfect for grabbing a restive class's attention.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2012

(2) YA In this worthwhile sequel to Stoner and Spaz, high school filmmaker Ben is fresh from the success of his documentary debut--but also freshly wounded by on-again/off-again girlfriend Colleen. While sorting out his feelings, Ben spends time with A.J., a popular, preppy, and ambitious girl. The bond with Colleen is tough to break, though, and readers will be pulling for them despite the odds.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2011

(1) YA Writer/first baseman/eighth grader Kevin (Shakespeare Bats Cleanup) takes on more challenging poetic forms as well as romantic complications. Baseball, of course, remains a fixed point, as his team heads to the playoffs. Koertge's pleasing variety of verse is a seamless fit for his story and characters. Kevin's ponderings of form and style unobtrusively help inform readers less familiar with poetic technique.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2010

(3) YA Since his sister died, Ryan just wants to "get lost." He trades in schoolwork and sports for listening to music and getting stoned. Visiting a popular girl from school who's in a coma helps Ryan wake up to his own life, one he realizes is worth living. Koertge tells the affecting story with his trademark teenage-friendly humor and insight.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams

(2) YA After Ted's parents die in a car crash, he's placed in a foster home with a drill-sergeant father, a nut-case mother, and two foster brothers. Ted relates better to animals than people, and animals, in turn, speak freely to him. However, animal speech leaves Ted as he gradually forges his first real friendships. Koertge's young characters are interesting and three-dimensional.

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

(1) YA Beautiful, popular high school senior Margaux befriends gangly "animal nut" classmate Danny. Reading is one thing the odd couple have in common (the other is a history of neglect and abuse), and it's clear, through the limited-omniscient narration, that Margaux loves books and language as much as does Koertge himself. Young adults will find this a meticulously crafted story of an unexpected friendship.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2004

(2) YA Laid-up with mono, Kevin reluctantly sets aside his baseball glove and starts investigating poetry. In a narrative composed of first-person poems, the fourteen-year-old muses on sports, his mother's death, and his chaotic history with girls. The poems convey an evolving sense of self as Kevin gets romantic with a poetry-loving girl, considers sharing one of his own works publicly, and realizes that poetry is "almost as cool as baseball."

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2003

(2) YA Sixteen-year-old Ben, impaired by cerebral palsy, believes that nobody wants to deal with him and his disability. When drugged-out Colleen, a classmate, falls asleep on his shoulder during a showing of Bride of Frankenstein, Ben determines not to let this chance at human contact slip away. The first-person narrative, related in Ben's witty voice, is part angst-ridden teen romance, part coming-of-age story.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2002

(4) YA Fifteen students representing extremes of teenage social problems (alienation, race issues, teen sex, etc.) bring their high school experience to life in this collection of free verse, culminating in a Columbine-type massacre only barely averted. The characterization is so thin that the students become their issues, and the verse is unremarkable, but with such potent ingredients the result is powerful.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) 4-6 Moving from the homogeneous suburbs to a diverse inner-city Los Angeles neigborhood is Joy's artist father's idea; but gradually Joy and her wary mother begin to feel at home on Ibarra Street. A fresh, well-realized setting and engaging dialogue distinguish this stimulating--though overly optimistic--view of neighbors working together to keep their street free of drugs and violence.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.