(2) K-3 Illustrated by Zachariah OHora. In tongue-in-cheek direct-address text, Vega provides an entertaining manual for putting unruly monsters to sleep. She starts with the don'ts; the do list includes slimy bedtime bug juice, an ice-cold bath, and a scary story. It works, and soon the monster is snoring. OHora's thick-lined illustrations--"just old-school [acrylic] paint on paper"--show a brown-skinned girl bossing around a large, rainbow-sherbet-hued, non-scary monster.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2017

(3) YA Orion's up-and-coming (but unnamed) band is preparing to enter the local Battle of the High School Bands. But to succeed he must overcome his nervousness, a rival band, girl problems, and a suddenly acrimonious relationship with his older brother. Between chapters, screenshots from the band's blog and the corresponding user comments help develop the plot in a fresh way.

Reviewer: Randy Ribay

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Erin Eitter Kono. A girl queries her grandmother about the telltale signs of old age: "...have the angels come and painted your hair?...taken your teeth?...curved your back?" Grandma responds with poetic reassurances ("They have painted it white so I may become more like the clouds"). Acrylic and pencil illustrations form swirling patterns to surround the characters, visually binding them in a circle of love.

Reviewer: Tim Wadham

(4) YA Computer-savvy Erin (Click Here (To Find Out How I Survived Seventh Grade)) keeps a private blog chronicling the typical middle school drama of boys, friends, and overprotective parents. When she makes a new friend of questionable influence, good-girl Erin begins to make bad choices. The plot and Erin have some depth, but the story's single-pointed focus on boys grows tedious.

Reviewer: Amanda Mc. MacGregor

(3) YA Sixteen-year-old Kat admires her renowned midwife mother professionally, even if they sometimes clash personally. After a classmate gets pregnant, Kat begins her own nine-month odyssey toward self-discovery. Kat's coming-of-age tale, compassionately and humorously told, will appeal to many readers, while her family's environmentally savvy, New-Agey outlook will speak more directly to green teens.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(4) 4-6 Erin keeps an electronic journal of her thoughts and feelings about herself, her friends and family, and the boy she likes. A leader in her school's intranet club, Erin mistakenly broadcasts her journal to the whole school. Her self-comparisons to Harriet the Spy are apt, plot-wise, but Erin lacks the multidimensionality of the original character.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz