(4) YA When best friends/girlfriends Josie and Annette leave home to attend boarding school together, straightforward Josie doesn't fit in, while Annette, welcomed by the "Soleets" ("Social Elites"), remains closeted and grows increasingly self-destructive. A subplot involving Josie's underground adventures in the school's steam tunnels is intriguing but poorly integrated; nevertheless, Josie's struggle to define herself in a challenging new context, sans Annette, rings true.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(4) 4-6 DC Super-Villains series. Illustrated by Luciano Vecchio. "Superman would persevere until the bitter end...where Lex would destroy him for good!" Three supervillains star in these action-packed page-turners, which may appeal to reluctant readers. After two-page profiles of the bad guys, the exclamation-point-heavy texts play out their good-versus-evil scripts. The colorful comic-book art also lacks nuance but matches the texts' energy. Discussion questions and writing prompts are appended. Glos. Review covers these DC Super-Villains titles: Joker on the High Seas, Lex Luthor and the Kryptonite Caverns, and Black Manta and the Octopus Army.

Reviewer: Ariel D. Rosen

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Loek Koopmans. Scrooge-like Stella never shares her prizewinning raspberry pies and preserves. After she contends with the bear who starts stealing her berries, she mends her ways. While the story will hold readers' attention, the reason for Stella's change of heart is murky. The sunlit, green-and-yellow-hued watercolors depict a grizzly bear instead of the black bear named in the text.

Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin