(3) YA Gift series. A mysterious stranger bestows supernatural abilities on conflicted teens, with each gift serving as a catalyst for their particular human drama. Despite some overt messaging, the blend of humor ("I don't do flying--it's just pointless"); wish fulfillment; astute character development; understated social commentary; and a diverse, multifaceted cast gives this new hi/lo series broad appeal and resonance.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(3) YA Gift series. A mysterious stranger bestows supernatural abilities on conflicted teens, with each gift serving as a catalyst for their particular human drama. Despite some overt messaging, the blend of humor ("I don't do flying--it's just pointless"); wish fulfillment; astute character development; understated social commentary; and a diverse, multifaceted cast gives this new hi/lo series broad appeal and resonance.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(3) YA Gift series. A mysterious stranger bestows supernatural abilities on conflicted teens, with each gift serving as a catalyst for their particular human drama. Despite some overt messaging, the blend of humor ("I don't do flying--it's just pointless"); wish fulfillment; astute character development; understated social commentary; and a diverse, multifaceted cast gives this new hi/lo series broad appeal and resonance.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(3) YA Gift series. A mysterious stranger bestows supernatural abilities on conflicted teens, with each gift serving as a catalyst for their particular human drama. Despite some overt messaging, the blend of humor ("I don't do flying--it's just pointless"); wish fulfillment; astute character development; understated social commentary; and a diverse, multifaceted cast gives this new hi/lo series broad appeal and resonance.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(4) YA Turbocharged series. Souped-up street-racing cars play more than bit parts in these action-packed hi/lo novelettes. Teenagers with racing knowledge, motivation, and advanced auto mechanic skills try to resolve thorny family dilemmas and peer conflicts or escape dangerous situations. Contrivances and coincidences drive the quick narratives to exciting climaxes. Each story is followed by a descriptive profile of the featured car. Review covers these Turbocharged titles: Drift, Slammed, Blind Curve, and Jacked.

Reviewer: Jack Forman

(4) YA Surviving Southside series. Bella witnesses a boy being gay-bashed and a teacher ignoring it; days later, the boy commits suicide, and Bella decides to make his fight hers by getting school recognition for a GSA. Karre perceptively depicts Bella's attempts to balance old friends and new causes in this hi-lo series entry, but the sense of place and situational backdrop are blandly purposive.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross