(2) YA Twelve-year-old Simon believes aliens have made regular contact with humans. When this belief is terrifyingly confirmed on a camping trip, the truth seems too much to bear. Escaping into computer games and his own fantasy writing, Simon finds some comfort but no resolution to his increasingly frequent abductions by aliens. Simon's first-person narration sustains the story's strong forward momentum toward a climax that will chill readers straight to the bone.

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2019

(3) 4-6 In this origin story, future Black Panther T'Challa is twelve and attending middle school in Chicago while his father the king deals with a hostile invasion of Wakanda. From this unlikely premise Smith weaves a taut and nuanced tale as T'Challa must keep his identity secret, negotiate a new culture, make friends, and uncover and foil the scheme of a dangerous dark-magic cult.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(3) 4-6 Jess, assistant to her sham-spiritualist mother, is surprised when she receives an authentic--and sinister--message from the spirit world. Jess, a gifted mesmerist, must use her visions and thought-reading skills to defeat a bloodthirsty villain who wants eternal life for himself. Smith's plot-driven tale, set in Victorian London, plays on horror and the supernatural for its drama; the first-person, present-tense writing is involving.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker

(2) 4-6 Folks in the insular 1930s African American community of Sardis, Alabama, believe in God and in folk magick, or hoodoo. Twelve-year-old Hoodoo Hatcher's father tried to cheat death by transporting part of his soul into Hoodoo. To free him, Hoodoo must destroy the evil Stranger. This creepy Southern Gothic ghost story is steeped in time and place; Hoodoo's folksy asides relieve tension.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2015