(2) 4-6 Lizzie "sees" sounds as colors and is sensitive to direct eye contact and being touched; her older sister, Minka, looks out for her and paints the colors Lizzie describes. One day Minka comes home from the market rhapsodic over a new vendor--a handsome young man selling the most delectable fruit. Over the next few weeks, Minka grows pale for love of him, loses her hair, and falls into a ­coma-like sleep. The girls' neighbor Jakob helps Lizzie learn what is wrong with Minka: upon investigation, they suspect she's been enchanted by a zdusze, a goblin who steals away children and young women. The ­pastoral surroundings (and particularly Lizzie's description of rich sound-colors) create a lush setting for the folkloric ensorcelled-by-goblins plot, with its dreamy depictions of fruit and longing and with sprinklings of ethnological details from Eastern European cultures. On her quest to save her sister, Lizzie faces down many of her "worries" (going to the market, talking to strangers, knocking on people's doors) while also making use of her strengths (blunt honesty, unsentimental perception, bravery regarding snakes). The ­climax delivers some breath-quickening action, but this warmly reassuring tale, with its nontraditional protagonist, will keep readers engrossed from beginning to end.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(2) 4-6 Daughter of a mere butcher, Nell nevertheless becomes best friends with Prince Edward--"Ned," heir apparent to England's King Edward IV. When Ned is sent off for his training, Nell is lucky enough to be allowed to help out in the printing shop of William Caxton, England's first printer, staying in touch with Ned through letters. In 1483, Edward IV dies, and Ned's uncle, plotting to be crowned King Richard III, imprisons twelve-year-old Ned and his brother Dickon in the Tower of London. Nell and her brother are asked to stay in the Tower, too, to cheer the two young princes. Anglophiles know how this story ends: the princes are murdered. Or are they? Riffing on historical accounts of the "reappearance" of Dickon in later years, Zahler makes a tale of Nell's rescue of Ned's brother and her subsequent grieving for Ned. In an accessible, uncluttered style, she delicately balances historical fact with our own contemporary ­values. It's especially refreshing that Nell's literacy (rare, if not outright anachronistic, for a girl of her status) leads her to the works of medieval women writers for consolation and inspiration for her own future.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021

(4) 4-6 Eleven-year-old Mattie (who can read minds by touching another person) and her magical mixed-race traveling family join Master Morogh's Circus of Wonders. They soon discover that the sinister ringmaster has the ability to steal talents. Despite some moralizing, the story features eerie suspense and a pleasingly diverse cast of kind and helpful circus characters that behave like family.

Reviewer: Amy Seto Forrester

(3) 4-6 Bee has a (literally) magical talent for baking: her creations make those she feeds feel the way she felt while baking. To help a new friend, as well as her kingdom, she tries to combat greed and fix past damages with her gift. A Holland-like fantasy world, environmental consciousness, and a heartfelt search for family underlie this tale of magic and adventure.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(4) 4-6 Sleeping Beauty's daughter Aurora is cursed by the same evil fairy as her mother. When she pricks her finger and starts feeling sleepy, she and her sister Luna set sail with fisherman Symon to seek fairy Emmeline to remove the curse. The tension in this gentle fantasy is sometimes low-stakes, but the well-sustained atmosphere and the sisters' realistic interactions will please fairy-tale lovers.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) 4-6 When Princess Meriel's new stepmother turns her five brothers into swans, Meriel must save them by making each a shirt from stinging nettles--but she mustn't speak before her task is done. The novel departs from Andersen's "The Wild Swans" in ways that diminish the narrative tension, but fairy-tale fans will enjoy the atmosphere and the spunky heroine.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) 4-6 In this fairy tale, Lilia is on a quest to locate a jewel that will free her friend Kai from the Elf-King. Meanwhile, Lilia's friend Karina and a prince searching for a "true princess" fall in love (with echoes of "The Princess and the Pea"). Readers who enjoyed Zahler's The Thirteenth Princess will likely appreciate this lighter tale as well.

Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay

(3) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Zita narrates this take-off on the classic Grimm tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." After her mother dies in childbirth, redheaded Zita, the unlucky thirteenth princess, is banished to live with the servants. But when her flaxen-haired sisters mysteriously fall ill it takes all of Zita's perspicacity and gumption to save them. A well-rendered retelling.

Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay

(3) YA Pivotal Moments in History series. This series explores events that had profound and long-lasting impacts on world civilizations. More than just a dry relating of facts and dates, the volumes dig deeper into the spread of Islam (Middle East) and the root causes and aftermath of the plague (Death). Numerous sidebars, illustrations, maps (there is a minor mistake in Middle East), and art reproductions provide additional information. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Pivotal Moments in History titles: The Arab Conquests of the Middle East and The Black Death.

Reviewer: Antonio Trujillo

(4) YA Dictatorships series. This dense volume focuses on life in modern Burma, or Myanmar, under the rule of its military dictator, Than Shwe. The first third contains a brief history of the country; the final two-thirds detail daily struggles of the people who live there and the work of opposition leaders. A map, sidebars, and photographs provide additional detail. Thorough back matter includes a "Who's Who?" Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Antonio Trujillo