(2) 4-6 Exuberant nine-year-old Gabby Torres volunteers to start a social media account for her ocean-conservation club, the Sea Musketeers, to prove her maturity to its older members. Though her parents are initially wary, they ultimately agree to let her run the account under their strict supervision and with limited access. Gabby is excited to learn about hashtags, promote the club's mission, and score new followers, but after she receives a rude comment from an anonymous account, she begins to view everyone -- from friends to family members to teachers -- as potential culprits. As her accusations intensify and her desire to identify the commenter drives her to break her parents' rules, Gabby finds that her desperation is alienating those around her and distracting her from her good intentions. Dominguez has created an instantly endearing protagonist in Gabby: though she still has growth to undergo, her zeal feels wholly natural in a preteen whose enthusiasm for a cause and desire for acceptance override her common sense. Gabby's close relationship with her Mexican American family provides an affectionate, grounding presence. While the story is not without its messages, it's also charmingly funny. Vignette illustrations and/or comics panels on every page depict Gabby's imaginative perception of the world (e.g., she assumes "Miss Information" is a woman who spreads fabrications online). Gabby's future exploits are sure to have followers -- though maybe not quite a billion.

Reviewer: Ed Spicer | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) 4-6 Millington’s debut (Olivetti, rev. 5/24) was about a sentient typewriter, and this offering begins with the observations of the Odenburgh, an apartment building and one of several narrative perspectives in a quirky and affecting novel. A year after the death of her sister Lina, Prue Laroe is dreading her own upcoming birthday. She’s about to turn twelve, the age Lina was when she died. Their grieving family, including parents and a teenage sister, lives in the fifty-year-old building, the place where Prue feels closest to Lina. After finding out that the Odenburgh has been sold and is slated for demolition, Prue tries to rally the occupants to save their home. She’s assisted by an earnest across-the-street neighbor who, as she discovers, knew her sister—and by the building itself. The story offers day-in-the-life glimpses of engaging secondary characters with various opinions about the demolition and sometimes surprising connections to the Laroe family’s tragedy. “What was worse—never knowing and always wondering? Or knowing and always wishing it were different?” asks Prue as more details about her sister’s death emerge. Although things don’t go exactly as planned, by the end our protagonist has gained some level of healing and the ability to move forward.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Freya Blackwood. Saunders, a member of the Gunai people, writes about weaving, water, and wisdom in this picture book first published in Australia. The spare and straightforward text describes yarning, which can refer both to fiber arts and to storytelling. "We are here to collect the vines. Here to find the rushes, to fuse the fibers...to soak and split. To roll between finger and thumb. To yarn...to knot and loop. Here to form bonds, to make ties...to unite." Saunders's understated prose alludes to traditional ecological knowledge passed down by women elders, to rising sea levels and cultural displacement produced by the climate crisis, and to the need to join together to effect change. Blackwood's illustrations combine saturated details with soft-edged blending and warm, earthy tones with deep verdigris teals and sea-glass greens. Scenes of the familiar, realistic landscape (a creek flows through a concrete drain and past industrial sites, skateboarding teens, graffitied walls, and tent encampments) give way to images of the community weaving together and then to the luminous humpback whale-shaped rafts they've created, which "rise above" the storm -- the world we live in. Blackwood uses weaving patterns (inspired by references "from all over the globe") to especially magical effect in embellishing these whale-rafts that float into the night sky: "We are here to fly, here to shape this world together."

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) K-3 Books for a Better Earth series. Illustrated by Gordy Wright. The partnership between Stremer's expressive and suspenseful text and Wright's evocative hand-painted gouache, ink, and acrylic illustrations (see [cf2[Great Carrier Reef, rev. 7/23) gives readers an exceptionally clear picture of the discovery and correction of one historical threat to wildlife: the use of DDT on crops. The text on the opening spread is positioned like a projectile moving across the page in concert with a brown pelican pod flying together, which plunges as the birds dive for fish. Readers then discover a problem that scientists noticed in the 1950s: fewer and fewer pelicans being born. The text asks: why? Scientists find that the birds' eggshells have become so fragile they cannot support the parents' weight in the nest. Again, the same question: why? And again, scientists search to find the answer, eventually theorizing that DDT contaminates the food chain, leading to weakened shells. They test this hypothesis, and even though they find strong evidence of the link, these findings are rejected by farmers, the companies that produce DDT, and the government. But public protest drowns out these voices, and the use of DDT is finally eliminated. The book concludes with other concerns that threaten wildlife today. Extensive back matter offers further detail (including spelling out Rachel Carson's role in sounding the alarm about DDT), additional brown pelican facts, a glossary, a bibliography, and an index.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jenn Ely. This picture-book biography introduces young readers to the conservation efforts of Hoyt, focusing mainly on her life after the death of her husband in 1918. Newly married in 1897, they had moved to Pasadena, California, where it was only a matter of time before she fell in love with the Mojave Desert. She was particularly interested in Joshua trees, which are not trees at all but rather the largest member of the yucca plant family. By 1933, the Joshua trees and their habitat were threatened by carelessness (people cut them down for wood), and Hoyt hatched a plan to designate the area as a national park, preserving this unique ecosystem. It was a hard sell, but she -- and the activists she inspired -- were ultimately successful. "No one who heard her talk could ever again regard the subject of conservation of desert flora with indifference," said a fellow environmentalist. Ely's cozy gouache illustrations (double-page spreads, single-page drawings, and spot art) depict both Hoyt's plucky spirit and the majesty of the high desert landscape. More information about Hoyt and Joshua Tree National Park, along with tips for environmental activists, photographs, an author's note, and a select bibliography, are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Andrea D'Aquino. This picture-book biography follows Bella Abzug (1920–1998), "the first woman elected to Congress on a women's rights platform," from her childhood defying gender roles at home, in the streets, and in her synagogue; through her career in law, activism, and politics. Aronson describes her personality, her accomplishments, and her brazenness. The layout of D'Aquino's child-friendly illustrations and occasional handwritten phrases brings the words to life and makes Abzug's impact tangible. The text is woven effectively into the illustrations, and the signature wide-brimmed red hats worn by "Battling Bella" make her figure jump out on every page. Issues such as sexism, war, prejudice, gay rights, and disability rights are discussed directly. Abzug's political losses are highlighted without showing those losses to be failures. The book ends with an inspirational call to action for readers in the twenty-first century to help fulfill Abzug's vision. An extensive author's note and a timeline provide further historical context; also appended with a selected bibliography.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) YA Illustrated by Mithil Thaker. In his latest work of narrative nonfiction, Bascomb (recently The Race of the Century, rev. 3/22) delivers a clear and absorbing account of Mohandas Gandhi's ("or, as many of his countrymen called him, 'The Mahatma' [Great Soul]") Salt March and its impact on the world. The book details how Gandhi (1869–1948), educated in London, spent two decades in South Africa developing and applying his theory of nonviolence before returning to India. When he devised his civil disobedience campaign of marching to the sea to collect salt in protest of the heinous British salt tax, he was accompanied by several dozen devout followers. The 1930 march helped to unite the diverse country behind Gandhi and brought attention to the unjust violence of the British occupiers. The book provides perspective on how the Salt March transformed the Indian independence movement in important ways, although complete independence would not happen for another fifteen years. Bascomb covers a lot of ground in these pages, in terms of both chronology and geography. A map would have been welcome, but portraits of the leading characters preface the narrative, and occasional black-and-white illustrations add visual interest. A bibliography, source notes, and an index (unseen) are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(3) K-3 Bunny Samara can’t speak and is one of several students who use wheelchairs. She and her friend Marco do many things at school together; the one thing they can’t do together is swing. In response, the students raise money for inclusive swings. Carlson’s bright illustrations capture the animal students’ joy and determination. An encouraging story about inclusiveness and youth activism inspired, as an appended note explains, by students at a Minnesota elementary school.

Reviewer:

(1) K-3 Illustrated by James E. Ransome. The prolific author-illustrator couple (most recently The Story of the Saxophone, rev. 1/23) teams up again to offer this inspiring picture-book biography of the late human rights and civil rights icon. Cline-Ransome's reverent narrative gracefully captures Lewis's (1940–2020) humility and perseverance. Growing up in a farming family in Alabama, young John learned about love from the Bible at an early age. He felt its presence everywhere he went -- except when he encountered the discriminatory realities of Jim Crow laws. "Election day meant Whites Only could pick the laws, mayors, and presidents. John hated that colored folks had to stick to picking cotton." Inspired by a radio sermon delivered by Martin Luther King Jr., Lewis left home at seventeen to attend the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville. As he learned about practices of nonviolent resistance, his commitment to end segregation through nonviolent protest was unwavering. Beaten and arrested, yet undeterred, he led prolonged sit-ins; rode buses as a Freedom Rider; spoke at the March on Washington calling for jobs and freedom; and led the march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, that ended in state police violence. Ransome's distinctive illustrations, created with a combination of found, printed, and purchased paper with pencil drawings, perfectly match Cline-Ransome's telling and dramatically radiate the magnitude of Lewis's influence. An author's note, a timeline, sources for quotations, and a selected bibliography are appended.

Reviewer: Pauletta Brown Bracy | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Michael G. Long. This inspiring biography of Rudolph (1940–1994), the three-time Olympic gold medalist in track, centers on her work as a civil rights activist. After her Olympic success, she traveled throughout Europe and discovered life was different: "In America, they push me around because I'm a Negro. Here in Europe, they pushed me to the front." In Athens at the beaches, all races could swim together; in London any person could sit anywhere on a bus; in Berlin everyone ate together in restaurants. But back home, the community pool did not allow Black people to swim in it; restaurants would not serve Black people; and Black people could only ride in the back of city buses. When the leaders of Rudolph's hometown of Clarksville, Mississippi, planned a celebration honoring her, she refused to attend until Black people could participate in the activities. Facing objections, she persisted and, at least for that day, Clarksville desegregated to honor its hometown celebrity. Davis and Long's inviting text realistically portrays the subject's athletic prowess and her determined commitment to racial equality. Barlow's inventive collages of hand-painted cut paper and various mixed media are well matched to the narrative and wonderfully capture Rudolph's essence. Back matter includes an author's note that provides more information about Rudolph's advocacy and how her early life was shaped by segregation.

Reviewer: Pauletta Brown Bracy | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2024

(2) YA Dyson and Favreau (Unequal: A Story of America) explore the history of the right to vote in the United States, presenting the complexity of America's election system in an accessible manner. This approach can inspire readers to dig deeper, see their communities reflected in past struggles, and make connections that help inform current events, finding ways to participate in the electoral process. Organized into three sections -- Promises, Awakening, and Two Roads -- the book features tales of famous and lesser-known voting-rights advocates to explain how countless Americans have been denied the right to vote, in contradiction to the modern understanding of the country's founding vision. The personal stories provide examples of courageous leaders who helped disenfranchised voters have their rightful say in government while also exploring how social justice movements, such as women's suffrage in the late nineteenth century, often left underserved communities behind. The authors avoid a specific partisan lens for their commentary; however, they affirm that for this country to live up to its promise as a democracy "of the people, by the people, for the people," all Americans must protect the right to vote. Black-and-white photographs and archival images ably support the text. Back matter includes suggestions for "What You Can Do," a timeline, further reading, and an index (unseen).

Reviewer: Nicholas A. Brown | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) 4-6 Color by Kiwi Byrd. Adèle learns she is a medium -- an inherited gift that emerges along with her first period -- in this spirited graphic novel set in Montreal over the protagonist's winter break. Her grandmother can also see and speak to ghosts but feels the "family gift" is a burden and discourages Adèle from engaging with the supernatural. The girl, curious and open, is not deterred and soon befriends ghosts. It turns out that both humans and former humans are concerned with gentrification -- there are activist groups (people- and ghost-led) working to protect the neighborhood from a shady developer. When her grandmother's group gets blamed for property damage perpetrated by a group of radical ghosts, Adèle and a ghost-hacker friend try to make things right. Well-paced panels keep the energetic narrative moving at a speedy clip, and elements of world-building are embedded into dialogue without overexplanation. The frigid city setting is attractively delineated through clean black lines and lots of snow, condensation, and winter gear. Lighter pastel hues clearly separate the spirit from the human world. Disagreements about activist strategy and movement-building ring true, as do the characters' intergenerational and cross-realm insights. A smart fantasy firmly grounded in real-world issues.

Reviewer: Elisa Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2024

(2) 4-6 Eleven-year-old Sunny Parker lives with her father, the manager and handyman of Del Mar Garden Apartments, an affordable housing complex. She had anticipated that the summer before middle school would be boring but is propelled into activism when she realizes that protests against a new housing project oppose the people in her own community. Despite her father's desire that she stay out of things, Sunny starts a petition in support of the new housing project with best friend and neighbor, Haley. Through her interactions with those from various economic backgrounds and with an array of family structures, and abilities, Sunny's understanding of the world around her expands, and she finds the courage to stand up for others. A conversation with Haley, who is Black, helps Sunny recognize her white privilege, although the girls share similar circumstances: "I didn't feel like anyone's past was determining my future. I may have lost my mom, but I still blended in around town, even with my used clothes." Though the story thoughtfully tackles serious topics such as domestic violence and structural racism, Sunny's hopeful perspective and commitment to community care enhance the swiftly paced narrative. Ultimately, Sunny's journey is a celebration of the power of empathy, intergenerational friendships, and collective action -- potentially inspiring readers to create positive change.

Reviewer: Kristine Techavanich | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) YA Lo Simpson, twelve, is no Margaret Simon: she'd just as soon never get her period, and to her a bra is just "a medieval torture device." But her best friend, Jazz, suddenly wants to go bra shopping and sneers at Lo's Doctor Who cosplay. In fairly short order, Jazz is sitting at the "It Girls' table," leaving Lo bereft, pouring out her sadness and confusion in letters to the Doctor that she never sends. As sensitively as Florence depicts the dissolution of Lo and Jazz's friendship, this is more than a middle-school friend-breakup story. Lo quickly (some would say conveniently) discovers a table of fellow nerds who get her Doctor Who references and give her a new community and new confidence. When, after an excruciating sex-ed session capped by a mass condom handout, some boys target the It Girls with condom-balloons, innuendo, and bra-snapping, Lo draws on lessons about consent from her lawyer mother and fights back -- just the first skirmish in her "revolution." The many references to Doctor Who risk confounding readers unfamiliar with the BBC classic, but Lo comes across as a genuine fan, and the Doctor is an important factor in her growth. Lo's metamorphosis from "friendless loser" to a "new, badass version of herself" is swift but rewarding; readers get enough of Lo's interiority to believe her journey. Breezy and bracing.

Reviewer: Vicky Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) YA In this novel in verse set in 1989, sixteen-year-old Helena lives in Leipzig, East Germany, during a period of oppression when citizens inform on their neighbors. But times are changing, and peaceful protests against the government are gaining momentum. Helena finds solace in music and begins to fall in love with a fellow piano student, but she's pressured to spy on him and reluctantly reveals his plans to escape. As weekly peace prayers at the Saint Nicholas Church turn into a massive march, Helena chooses to confront her betrayal and her fears, and act: "There comes a time / when every voice / must cry out, a time // when every person must lean / into their fear, spread their wings / and rise up. // That time / is now." Green conveys Helena's anxieties and hopes in equal measure in lyrical free-verse passages that flow together like a musical composition. She balances discussion of the political upheaval of the time just prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall with a sensitive exploration of Helena's personal struggles and emotional growth. An author's note with historical background, a glossary, and selected sources are appended.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) 4-6 Translated by Marilyn Parra. Honyouti (Hopi, Iswungwa/Coyote clan) is an award-winning carver. His low-relief carved and painted scenes serve as the desert-colored illustrations for this gently told and moving book about his grandfather's Native American boarding school experience. Most of the illustrations have a slightly three-dimensional effect, both from the actual underlying carved wood and from subtle shading that provides a sense of realism to the highly stylized depictions of landscapes and interiors. Occasional gray and beige illustrations evoke historical photographs. This distinctive style lends itself to the account, which follows a sadly familiar trajectory, outlining the history of forced assimilation of school-aged Native American children stolen from their homes by the U.S. government. Honyouti also references the 1895 imprisonment in Alcatraz of nineteen Hopi men, dubbed "Hostiles," who were arrested in part because they opposed the boarding schools. In addition to the carved scenes, which emulate traditional Hopi art, what sets this book apart is its bilingual text and the appended notes on history and learning, translation, and art. Parra's translation of the text into Hopi Third Mesa dialect is a great example of Native language preservation and revitalization. The author-illustrator provides appended insights into his artistic process and inspiration.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jerry Jordan. Johnson's compelling text tells the inspirational true story of a Black suffragist who fought injustice all her life. This biography of Wells begins with her birth in 1862, a year before the Emancipation Proclamation freed her parents. The Fifteenth Amendment nominally enfranchised Black men, but after Ida's father voted for the first time, his white boss fired him, which led him to open his own business, Wells's Carpentry. At sixteen, Ida lost her parents and younger brother to yellow fever, and she began teaching and pursuing an education to support her siblings. Wells refused to accept discriminatory laws or the racist treatment of Black citizens on public transportation and fought against the brutal practice of lynching. The last half of the book focuses on her suffrage work, including her founding of the Alpha Suffrage Club and participation in the 1913 march of the National American Woman Suffrage Association -- an association that fought exclusively for white women's suffrage. Wells and other women of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, including Mary Church Terrell, participated to show that they, too, required the vote. Jordan's skillfully crafted oil on cloth illustrations effectively capture the historical era in which Wells lived and the determination she showed regardless of the challenge. The detailed back matter -- including an author's note, a timeline, photographs, and source notes -- offers readers ample resources for learning more about a person and history that all young people should know.

Reviewer: Michelle H. Martin | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) YA Moving to a new town can prove stressful for anyone -- but for Calvin Greene and his family in 1955, it's also dangerous. African Americans passing for white, the Greene family has moved to Levittown, Pennsylvania, a known "sundown town" -- a suburb populated by white people that warns people of color to leave the area by sunset. Determined to grab a piece of the "American dream," Calvin's army-veteran father has advised him and his mother to forget their former lives in Chicago and assimilate as well as possible. Calvin's only solace is visiting his older brother, who is unable to pass as white and who runs a boarding school in an area where a developer is attempting to build an integrated community. At the school, Calvin meets Lily, a beautiful girl with "dark brown skin" who decides to take advantage of the new Brown v. Board of Education ruling by attending Calvin's all-white school. With his two worlds dangerously close to each other, tragedies involving people from his hometown prompt Calvin to act in the best interests of all those close to him -- even if it could cost him his life. Tension is evident from the beginning to the frenetic end of this page-turning novel, which weaves historical events into the narrative. Back matter includes an author's note and resources on topics including passing, the history of Levittown, and redlining.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Ekua Holmes. Adapted from King's autobiography, this picture book offers a new generation the remarkable story of the activist, artist, wife, and mother whose grace in the face of unspeakable loss continued the momentum of a movement. Beginning with glimpses into her childhood in segregated Alabama, King (1927–2006) describes being the second Black student admitted to Antioch College (her older sister Edythe was the first) and her fight to teach in Ohio -- readers see that her pursuit of equality started long before she met and married Martin Luther King Jr. The first-person retelling of events such as the March on Washington is compellingly personal. Holmes's vibrant illustrations (in acrylic with elements of collage incorporating print and photos) saturate the pages with color. The illustrations also take great care in communicating the very human emotions that King and her family experienced in scenes including her surrounded by her young children at the piano; a phone receiver hanging from its cord at the news of MLK's death; and her speaking to a crowd despite her grief just hours after arriving in Memphis. Art and text bring this civil rights icon to life, reminding readers of a dream yet to be fully realized. Back matter includes a timeline of her life and major events.

Reviewer: Monique Harris | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) YA Eighth grader Emily Laurence aspires to be a social media influencer, if only her mom would let her post pictures of herself on her YouHappy account. For now, she'll have to settle for producing the Cedarview Middle School podcast. Before she can gain internet fame, Emily has a lot to juggle in the real world. She and her mom have moved in with Mom's new boyfriend and his obnoxious eight-year-old son; and a new classmate, Amelie, adds an unwelcome dynamic to Emily's friendships. Emily channels her frustrations into producing a podcast story about an upcoming climate march, but the principal thinks the topic isn't appropriate for middle school students and cancels the episode. When a school visit from (fictional) social media influencer (and Emily's idol) Asha Jamil is rescheduled for the same day as the climate march, Emily can't keep quiet about her suspicions of censorship. She tries to emulate her namesake, Emily Post -- whom our protagonist sees as one of the world's first influencers -- to help her manage with tact and courtesy. With a relatable and thoughtful main character, the story offers timely reflections on social media, complicated friendships, climate activism, and what it really means to have influence.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024