(2) PS Illustrated by Hyewon Yum. Not Little (rev. 9/21) protagonist Dot is not happy about not being perfect. While her multiracial family members excel at their endeavors (sister is an artist, twin brothers are spelling bee champs, Mom has a black belt, Dad sings in a band, and: "Even my cat is perfect"), Dot bakes lopsided cupcakes, kicks too-wide goals, and plays wrong notes on the piano. At school, her best friend, Sam, shines in tidiness and rule-following, and Dot chooses him for her "person we admire" project. Frustration grows and self-esteem plummets as her portrait of Sam doesn't match what's in her head. She rips up her drawing, storms outside, angry-jumps on a trampoline, then dries her tears, gets back to work -- and arrives at a perfectly imperfect solution. This second book about Dot gives the realistic-seeming child plenty of support from nonjudgmental adults, providing time and space to solve her own problems -- and without the pressure of perfection. Spare colored-pencil illustrations with lots of white space are particularly good at reflecting Dot's feelings, from eager and hopeful to self-conscious, mad, and sad, to relaxed, contented, and proud. "'I made a lot of mistakes. It was really hard.' 'But you did it,' [Sam] says. 'That's true.' I did a little bounce of happiness. 'I did.'"

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) PS "We are wild. We are children of the forest," proclaims the story's narrator, an unnamed older sibling wearing a fern-colored hooded jacket and brown pants and carrying a (toy) bow and arrow--evoking both Peter Pan and Robin Hood. The younger sibling (known only as Sister), wearing a dress and cozy hat and sweater, blithely toddles behind. Though the illustrations make clear that the duo is exploring their own backyard, the text stays true to the narrator's sharply etched imagination. (When it says, "We find a pioneer cabin," for instance, the illustrations show the siblings approaching a shed where their father is taking a nap.) There's much humor in the older sibling's ­hyperbole and dramatic efforts to protect Sister. In the wild woods, the two encounter a mountain lion (a pet cat), a wild beast (the family dog), a scavenger woman (their mother, coming to check on them), and more. The adventure begins before sunset and continues into the evening; the warm yellows of the sky make way for cool blues and lavenders in Myers's thick, dense watercolors. Nighttime brings shadows, and the younger sibling breaks character to run after "Mama!" In the end, both explorers are safely asleep in bunk beds in the tame indoors. An ode to the natural world--and the abundant imagination of children.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2022

(2) PS Illustrated by Hyewon Yum. Though she's the smallest, physically, in her (mixed-race) family and in her (diverse) class, Dot insists: "I'm not little." Her personality is big, as is her intellect ("I tell them that the square root of sixty-four is eight...Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia...my favorite Mars rover is Curiosity"). When a new, also diminutive kid joins the class, he's teased at recess and lunch by a "mean kid" (hmm--labels, Dot!). Luckily the plucky protagonist is able to use her big voice, conveyed loud and clear in Myers's conversational text, to stand up for what's right. Yum's art (Saturday Is Swimming Day, rev. 7/18; I Am a Bird, rev. 1/21) features lots of vignettes, some panels, full pages, and occasional spreads, all with plenty of white space and featuring cute patterns, especially in clothing; Dot's polka-dotted shirt and pants in contrasting colors are accessorized with a bright-red kerchief, giving her a mini-superhero vibe. The brave--and bighearted--Dot serves as an ­easy-to-follow model for self-confidence and up-standing.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

(2) PS Jamie finds other beachgoers' friendly queries annoying; she just wants to build sandcastles and create fanciful creatures from found natural objects. When a woman approaches with an easel and "a lot of things, but no questions," it's Jamie who initiates conversation. Myers's (Battle Bunny) thoughtful layout literally gives each artist space, placing girl and woman alone or on facing pages as they work independently. A pleasing resolution shows how the child has inspired the adult's art-making.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2019

(4) 4-6 Make Me the Best Athlete series. Each of five or six brief chapters (e.g., "Sprint like Usain Bolt" in Track) in these slim volumes focuses on a different outstanding athlete in a particular sport, and provides a few tidbits about his or her skills. Bulleted fact boxes explicate techniques; a "Drill Down!" feature suggests ways readers can improve their own performance, but some necessary supervision isn't suggested. Color photographs appear throughout. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Make Me the Best Athlete titles: Make Me the Best Volleyball Player, Make Me the Best Basketball Player, Make Me the Best Baseball Player, Make Me the Best Hockey Player, Make Me the Best Soccer Player, Make Me the Best Football Player, Make Me the Best Lacrosse Player, and Make Me the Best at Track and Field.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) 4-6 NFL's Top Ten series. Professional football's most outstanding rookies, game-changing plays, legendary rivalries, and stunning upsets are collected and presented in a top-ten format, with each themed volume counting down to number one. The packed layouts include informational sidebars and captioned photos. Sports fans will appreciate the whirlwind descriptions of iconic moments in football history. There are four other fall 2017 books in this series. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers these NFL's Top Ten titles: NFL's Top 10 Rookies, NFL's Top 10 Upsets, NFL's Top 10 Plays, and NFL's Top 10 Rivalries.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) 4-6 Make Me the Best Athlete series. Each of five or six brief chapters (e.g., "Sprint like Usain Bolt" in Track) in these slim volumes focuses on a different outstanding athlete in a particular sport, and provides a few tidbits about his or her skills. Bulleted fact boxes explicate techniques; a "Drill Down!" feature suggests ways readers can improve their own performance, but some necessary supervision isn't suggested. Color photographs appear throughout. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Make Me the Best Athlete titles: Make Me the Best Volleyball Player, Make Me the Best Basketball Player, Make Me the Best Baseball Player, Make Me the Best Hockey Player, Make Me the Best Soccer Player, Make Me the Best Football Player, Make Me the Best Lacrosse Player, and Make Me the Best at Track and Field.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(2) YA Amidst many changes at home, fifteen-year-old straight-A student Ivy Lewis takes comfort in the certainty of math. But other solutions in life are not so easily grasped, and Ivy becomes fixated on one thing she can control: her body. This verse novel's form perfectly mirrors its content, following Ivy from thought to thought through the false logic of her disordered eating--and into recovery. Reading list, websites.

Reviewer: Anastasia M. Collins | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2017

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. In this laudatory biography, each double-page spread covers one event in Douglass's life, such as his determination to learn to read, his work as a caulker while still enslaved, his escape to freedom, and his advocacy for voting rights. The strongest segments concern his early life. Cooper's powerful portraits consistently place Douglass in the foreground of historical settings. Timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Betty Carter

(4) YA California sophomore Wren is forced into boarding school back east when her journalist single mother accepts an assignment abroad. At Hardwick Hall, her mom's mysterious alma mater, Wren struggles to fit in and is shunned by her suitemate, Honor. The book's big revelation about the father Wren has never known feels obvious, but subplots--including Wren's involvement with the school's music scene--add interest.

Reviewer: Meredith M. Sittman

(2) K-3 "Sometimes I feel small...then I remember I have my pen." The narrator lifts himself up through his art, creating precise, fantastical black-and-white drawings. Each features the fedora-ed narrator (presumably a young Myers), but this is ultimately a democratic effort: "There are a million pens in the world / and each one has a million worlds inside it...let those worlds inside your pen out!"

Reviewer: Nell Beram | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2015

(4) 4-6 SportsZone: Bowl Games of College Football series. Each title opens by describing how the well-established season-ending college football game developed; the remaining five chapters provide play-by-play highlights of particularly memorable contests. While the facts are all here, the narratives lack excitement, though the accompanying photos help communicate some of each game's significant plays and climactic moments. "Bowl Records" and "Quotes and Anecdotes" are appended. Reading list, timeline. Glos., ind. Review covers these SportsZone: Bowl Games of College Football titles: The Story of the Orange Bowl, The Story of the Sugar Bowl, The Story of the Rose Bowl, The Story of the Cotton Bowl, The Story of the College Football National Championship Game, and The Story of the Fiesta Bowl.

Reviewer: Jack Forman

(3) 4-6 SportsZone: Record Breakers series. Each of these titles contains well-written and engaging profiles of athletes who excelled in one aspect of their sport. The varied selection of featured players is pleasantly surprising, as some aren't huge media stars (e.g., John Stockton in Basketball and Bruce Smith in Football). Sharp, well-chosen photos of play action effectively complement the lively narratives. "Fun Facts" are appended. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers these SportsZone: Record Breakers titles: Olympics Record Breakers, Basketball Record Breakers, Football Record Breakers, Hockey Record Breakers, Soccer Record Breakers, and Baseball Record Breakers.

Reviewer: Jack Forman

(4) YA Seventeen-year-old black sheep Avery is dispatched by her grandmother on a series of challenges to determine who will inherit the family fortune. Along the way she falls for Riley and uncovers the truth about her long-absent mother. Avery and Riley's relationship feels tacked on and her conniving relatives are caricatures, but Amazing Race fans will enjoy this variation on the competition format.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) YA Adapted by Guy A. Sims. Illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile. A graphic novel adaptation of Myers's Printz-winning classic about sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon's murder trial following a botched robbery. Sims's dialogue-heavy text (some of it printed very small) ably distills Myers's plot; the visualizing-his-life-as-a-movie aspect can be confusing without familiarity with Myers's original. Anyabwile's panel illustrations do an excellent job capturing Steve's fractured identity (and his culpability) and heightening suspense about the trial's outcome.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(2) YA Myers's posthumously published novel imagines the life of legendary African American dancer William Henry Lane (approx. 1825–1854), better known as Juba, who toured Great Britain with minstrel group The Serenaders. Myers confronts head-on the racial realities of the pre–Emancipation Proclamation era. Appended are an epilogue clarifying fact from fiction and a note about Myers's research methods written by wife Constance Myers. Timeline.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2015

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Charles Vess. In Nowhere, Texas, the five Upagainstit siblings find a baby in a tumbleweed. Despite the "littlest-of-all" girl's wishes, they bring Tumbleweed Baby home--where she wreaks havoc. The nonsensical story will prompt a chorus of "Why?" and "How?" from listeners, but the ending helps bring it all together. The inconsistent figures in the ink and colored-pencil illustrations befit the odd tale.

Reviewer: Chelsey Philpot

(4) YA Jaime's life revolves around indie music, drugs, and his mom. But after her attempted suicide, he ends up temporarily living with his estranged father in San Francisco where he makes new friends, meets a girl, delves into the art scene, and confronts his parents' dark past. The story is often engaging (and sexually explicit) but is bogged down with superfluous events and tedious hipster-culture references.

Reviewer: Randy Ribay

(4) YA During the cleanup after a brutal hurricane, Eliza finds a note linked to the death of a teenage girl twenty-five years ago. But Stone Cove's islanders, including her parents, refuse to talk about the incident. Once it picks up steam, Myers's debut is suspenseful, but after the first few chapters, the hurricane disaster gets short shrift (where's FEMA or the like?).

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(2) YA In 2035 sixteen-year-old math whiz Dahlia Grillo joins a resistance group, hoping to make a difference in the world. The Central Eight (C-8) companies rule everything; favelos (the poor) roam the towns; and terrorists and mercenaries fight for a place in the new order. This angry, posthumously published story demonstrates Myers's acute social conscience. Dahlia's an appealing protagonist who raises troubling questions about her world.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2014