(4) K-3 Illustrated by Kayla Harren. Rather clunky rhyming couplets describe the many ways people with disabilities communicate, such as American Sign Language, assistive devices, and stimming. The digital art captures a variety of children and adults using these methods and tools; the message of acceptance and compassion in both text and art is clear. Back matter includes notes for kids (about celebrating difference) and for grownups (about precision in language) as well as short descriptions of the communication forms and disabilities represented.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Kerns

(3) K-3 A newly hatched sea turtle must face her fears to join her siblings in the ocean. Nellie tries several times to enter the water, but each time the big surf sends her back. Finally, she decides to climb to a high spot to get a different perspective. “It was exciting, beautiful, and so much bigger than the parts that were scary.” Seeing this gives her the courage to jump. While some of the digital art is less inspiring, the book's overall message about being brave is admirably presented.

Reviewer: Marva Anne Hinton

(3) YA When fourteen-year-old trans boy A discovers that the conversion therapy group his parents force him to attend has connections to evil supernatural forces, he runs away hoping to save one friend who disappeared from that group. His quest, set during the Jewish High Holidays, features allies including a golem-like creature; A’s rabbi; and the unhoused young residents of “the Transhack,” who have complicated emotional dynamics. Though its messages are at times overexplained, this is a welcome fantasy starring a trans and Jewish hero that engages thoughtfully with both those identities.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(2) K-3 Junior Junior, a young boy with blond hair and ruddy cheeks, lives on a rugged mountainside. He enjoys shouting self-affirming songs into the valley and hearing "Junior Junior is the greatest in the world!" echoed back by his only friend, an agreeable, unseen boy who lives across the valley. An unflappable girl named Sandy moves in next door and tells Junior to stop shouting; he is dismayed by the newcomer's lack of interest in his brilliant chants. Salvaging his pride, Junior boasts that one day he will travel to the brightest star in the night sky. Sandy matter-of-factly states that his "star" is actually a planet, specifically Mars. Skeptical Junior expects Sandy to apologize for her inaccuracy, but she remains resolute: "There's nothing wrong with being wrong...I admit it when I am." Humiliated, Junior resolves to run away to be with the boy across the valley. But spending time with his echo is less rewarding than Junior anticipated. Rex's (On Account of the Gum, rev. 1/21) digitally painted illustrations incorporate dramatic speech bubbles and command light and shadow to create a moody atmosphere, a reflection of Junior's temperament. Rex smartly avoids didacticism in favor of employing humor to highlight the social skills of respectful disagreement and admitting when you're wrong, making Junior's plight both pertinent to our time and timeless.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(1) 4-6 Oppressed orphans, a boarding school, a 1920s setting, a determined heroine, and an exuberant mystery plot -- we think we've seen it all before, but this entertaining romp has some surprises in store. The orphan school, far from being grim, is a utopian institution specializing in delicious food and a jolly and useful curriculum including safe-cracking, knot-tying, automotive repair, and the use of explosives. The whole enterprise is a secret front for training junior crime-fighters and spies, and the plot involves such disparate exploits as solving a mystery of stolen jewels, rescuing a kidnapped librarian, and capturing a monster. The text is jokey, dotted with inventive names and German translation exercises worthy of Edward Gorey ("there is a small fire inside your accordion"). The stunning realistic pencil illustrations play it mostly straight, though with the addition of steampunk-esque airships. Beautifully composed and precise, they celebrate light, shadow, and texture and provide a scaffolding of gravitas to the whole enterprise, while encouraging the reader to slow down and savor a vignette of a friendly pet rat or a double-page spread of a grand cityscape shining with rain. This Australian import is a pleasure on many fronts.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Dan Santat. At the start, this picture book feels like a straightforward primer in both text and illustrations: this animal is a mammal because of these characteristics; this animal is a reptile because of these. But soon, something...fishy?...starts to happen: opinions creep in. Fish “don’t follow any rules,” making them harder to categorize—some live in salt water and some in fresh water, some eat seaweed, some eat other fish...and “some fish eat poor, innocent crabs who are just trying to have a nice time in the sea.” The lesson gets kookier (fish are accused of spying via toilets) and turns more and more toward fearmongering (“What are they learning in these ‘schools’? We have a right to know”), while the mixed-media art expands from staid vignettes to cartoonish full-bleed illustrations with varied perspectives and palettes, seemingly bouncing around with the mood of whoever is speaking. And who is speaking? By the time the answer is revealed, readers and listeners may have guessed—but along the way, they’ll have found some giggles, maybe a little fish information, and some food for thought about considering the source.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Park. Three endearing felines, named Big, Little­, and Middle, enjoy a happy life until a scraggly stray cat enters their backyard yowling and hissing. The mother of the cats’ young owner warns the child, who narrates the book, that this furry stranger might have fleas or even rabies, and the other cats regard the intruder with wide eyes and arched backs. However, when the persistent visitor starts exhibiting signs of friendliness (including bringing a dead mouse as a present), the narrator can’t resist giving the kitty some food and a bath. A bond develops, and even the other cats, once ­apprehensive, start accepting this raggedy new arrival. Sumovich fills her clever narrative, spanning four seasons, with such lines as “she appears like a magic trick, mowling like a banshee” that make this entertaining to read aloud. Park gives each cat a distinct personality and look and excels at rendering comical facial expressions and limber body language. The illustrations also deftly mix in some pathos, especially in an evocative wintry spread that shows the child inside a warm house looking out the window at the freezing feral cat. After some climactic drama, the story reaches a satisfying conclusion. Even the endpapers, packed with the child’s cat-centered drawings, are delightful.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Hatem Aly. Our narrator was proud to have written a book in rhyme...and then little sister came along with her crayon and ruined it. Or did she? Frustrated, the narrator tries to tell the story aloud, with frequent sisterly interruptions that usually add positivity but disrupt where the rhyme seems to be going: "'She tagged along to join the action, / but mostly was a huge distrac -- ' // 'A HELPFUL NEW PERSPECTIVE!'" Between the sibling dynamics and the element of surprise that eventually becomes a recognizable pattern, the story is funny throughout (though its meter has some missteps). But the real payoff comes with a revelation at the end, which will likely prompt readers to go back and look more closely at the sister's contributions, aided by the differentiated font colors for each speaker. The illustrations, "developed digitally with some use of scanned traditional media textures, ink washes, and patterns," match the do-it-yourself imaginativeness of the text; the casual depiction of siblings with different skin tones is another plus.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 In 1942, French police in Occupied Paris rounded up over thirteen thousand French Jews and corralled them into a stadium; almost all perished at Auschwitz. Bradley's (The War That Saved My Life, rev. 1/15, and sequel) story begins just before the Jews are forced into the stadium, and Miri's neighbor thrusts her toddler into Miri's arms and tells her to run. Thanks to compassionate, quick-thinking nuns, the two end up in a village near Catherine de Medici's sixteenth-century castle, Chenonceau. Hiding in plain sight among summer boarders at a convent school, Miri (now known as Marie) grows familiar with the castle -- and with a ghost visible only to her, of Catherine de Medici herself. When Miri gets involved in rescuing refugees, Catherine repeatedly steps in to help her out. This is an engaging, imaginative yarn, and Miri's vulnerability and sense of responsibility give it emotional weight and contemporary appeal -- despite, or perhaps because of, the ways it stretches credulity. Given the ease of a few elements as well as a helpful ghost and Miri's talkativeness -- even when hiding from German soldiers only a few feet away -- the novel is something of an unlikely confection, like the fairy tale–esque castle at its center. Best read in tandem with more straightforward Holocaust accounts.`

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(3) YA Seventh grader Andrew just wants a nice school photo. But the day doesn’t go as planned: a bully rips his shirt; a basketball hits him in the face; and much worse, he learns his grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s, is missing. It all escalates until Andrew, who struggles with anxiety and OCD, has a panic attack. Andrew’s first-person narration, along with interspersed comic-style sketches, make for a story that’s serious but accessible to a middle-school audience. An author’s note and resources about anxiety, OCD, and Alzheimer’s are appended.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Kerns

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Lorena Alvarez Gómez. “Me llamo La Chiva. That’s me! Beep, beep, beep!” But this chiva is not a goat, it’s a bus (helpfully explained in an author’s note) decorated with bright patterns that travels through a town in the Andes. Cheerful rhyming text follows the bus on its way to a market in town, including a stop for a flat tire that the passengers help fix. Painterly digital illustrations in vibrant colors feature a smiling bus, diverse community, and playfully exaggerated steep mountain roads. Also available in Spanish as ¡Me llamo la Chiva!: El colorido bus de los Andes.

Reviewer: Monica de los Reyes

(3) 4-6 Twins Page and Turner Reed discover a hidden world at the New York Public Library, where books come to life and characters escape their pages. With the help of the mysterious Night Librarian, they must save the library from being destroyed by storybook villains. This adventure-packed graphic novel will captivate book lovers of all ages. A charming, original love letter to literature, filled with whimsical art and thrilling twists.

Reviewer: Summer Edward

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Kwon. In a text composed completely of handwritten notes, Jack gradually learns to apologize sincerely and thoroughly for knocking over Zoe’s castle (with some help from teacher Ms. Rice). The notes and thick-lined mixed-media illustrations show Jack’s trajectory from visibly fuming to ready to make up and play with friends. Readers may be reminded of their own conflicts and the emotions that came with them, and reflect on what it really means to apologize.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(1) K-3 Illustrated by April Harrison. Few people have had more of an impact on African American children's literature than griot, educator, and librarian Augusta Baker (1911–1998). Her path to becoming a master storyteller began in Baltimore with listening to her grandmother's folktales. A class on folklore in college further inspired her, and she became a children's librarian in Harlem. It became apparent that while most of the children in the library were Black, most books available to them had no Black characters, and the ones that did "were RUDE, MEAN, and JUST PLAIN WRONG." Baker created a book collection that showcased realistic and positive depictions of African Americans and shared her knowledge with other educators and librarians. Her work carried her to becoming the first Black coordinator of children's services for all of New York Public Library, hosting radio shows, teaching classes, and traveling the country as the "Mistress of Storytelling." McDaniel gives an account of Baker's life that is as celebratory as the heroes in her folktales, attesting that Baker internalized the message that "where there's a will, there's a way." Harrison's exuberant mixed-media-collage illustrations capture the vibrancy of both the storyteller and her stories, creating worlds and words that leap off pages. Back matter includes a timeline, citations, and an author's note, where McDaniel celebrates her own childhood librarian.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) YA Nelson (Printz Award winner for I'll Give You the Sun, rev. 11/14) begins with definitions of a fantasia -- one of which is "a literary work composed of a mixture of different forms or styles." This fantasia features the author's use of magical realism, along with lyrical prose, an epic plot, and the kind of flawed characters who are essential in stories of dysfunctional family relationships and the resultant themes of loss, betrayal, and redemption. The novel opens with the rotating third-person viewpoints of a trio of siblings: twelve-year-old Dizzy, a supernaturally gifted girl muddling through prepubescent friendship issues; seemingly perfect seventeen-year-old Miles, who struggles with depression and coming out as gay; and nineteen-year-old Wynton, the violin virtuoso who is still haunted by their father's abandonment. Each has an early encounter with a mysterious rainbow-haired girl named Cassidy, newly arrived in Paradise, California, who eventually largely takes over the narration. Her first-person perspective provides the backstory, alongside the plethora of letters, emails, transcripts, and newspaper articles interspersed throughout. It's a lot to take in, but patient readers will eventually feel the pull of Nelson's carefully woven storytelling and succumb to her special kind of magic. Not every subplot is resolved, and not all that are resolved have happy endings, but there's catharsis in the realization that "when the world tips over," there is still joy to be experienced.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2025

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Victoria Tentler-Krylov. This picture book encapsulates the Jewish philosophy of tikkun olam—the idea of repairing the world. Through gentle, poetic language and an author’s note, it encourages collective responsibility and the power of small acts of kindness. The vibrant, digitally enhanced watercolor illustrations, with their dynamic splatter art and recurring motif of a multicolored flock of birds, follow a young girl as she rallies her community to restore a city park. A thoughtful, empowering call to action.

Reviewer: Summer Edward

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Hanna Cha. In this picture book set in 1950, Kyung lives with her family in a seaside house in the southeastern Korean coastal city of Busan. As the North Korean and Chinese militaries push south, many families begin to flee toward Busan. Kyung's parents take several of these refugees in, giving them shelter and safety. The girl shares her home, food, parents' attention, and sleeping mat, which she tolerates but becomes increasingly annoyed about. She eventually learns grace and perspective: "visitors are not stones we can toss into the sea. They are people, our neighbors, to help and to love." Cha's illustrations pay exquisite attention to the beauty of the seaside landscape, using color to intensify the experience of being near the ocean. Vibrant greens and blues swirl, producing the feeling of an ever-moving sea, while wheaty shades of tan create sand and scrub, all of which contrast with the darkness of a makeshift air raid shelter where women and children hide. This gorgeously illustrated book contains beautiful turns of phrase and metaphors ("we sat like two quiet hills, the breeze combing through our hair"). It's a touching homage to the author's own grandparents' heroism, which also offers rare insight into complex feelings about personal sacrifice and witnessing the suffering of others. A glossary is appended, and author and illustrator notes provide historical context.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(1) YA High school senior Libertad lives in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, in the lead-up to the country's fraught 2017 presidential election. Libertad's attempts to understand her blossoming feelings for her best friend, Camila, and her own family history become intertwined with her growing understanding of the tensions between student protest movements and the government. Her close bond with her older brother helps navigate challenges in her friend group and as she considers leaving Honduras to attend college in the United States. She turns to poetry and to new friendships to try to make sense of the difficult events in her present and in her family's past. The novel provides an invaluable lens to help readers understand the human toll exacted when democratic governments seek to quash the voices of their citizens. It amplifies complicated and underrepresented recent Honduran history, whose themes resonate on a broader scale, and it increases representation for Honduran narratives, which remain relatively scarce in mainstream U.S. publishing. Debut author and Tegucigalpa native Zaldívar's deeply personal storytelling centers Libertad's humanity, as well as that of her family members. Readers experience Libertad's own journey through her first-person narration and creative expression, and in her relationships with her blood relatives and chosen family. An author's note establishes personal connections and fills in history since 2017.

Reviewer: Nicholas A. Brown | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Magdalena Mora. "¡Parque sí, policía no!" This fictionalized account -- narrated by a young person -- shares the dramatic culmination of efforts by Chicane residents of Barrio Logan to build Chicano Park in San Diego in 1970. When the city began building a police station in the space where the community had long called for a park, residents launched a protest to physically block the construction. Águila weaves together images of daily life in Barrio Logan with community members' experiences of the city's lengthy neglect and environmental racism against their community, to tell the story of the fight to build the park, which was ultimately successful. Spanish vocabulary and slogans used by Chicane and other Latine activists are interspersed throughout the text and illustrations. Mora employs a blend of vivid colors, sepia tones, and pastel hues to highlight the intensity of the struggle and the everyday beauty for which the protesters were fighting, ending with depictions of the inspiring murals that residents eventually painted in the park. Although the story seems condensed, an author's note explains the rapid succession of this phase of the protest and provides more details about the ongoing discrimination suffered by the community. Concurrently published in Spanish as El barrio se levanta.

Reviewer: Monica de los Reyes | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 Stomach pain and the urgent need to run to the restroom are frequent occurrences for twelve-year-old Al, something she finds excruciatingly embarrassing. And that's not the only thing making her anxious: she has realized she's attracted to girls but isn't ready to share that. Her mom's constant worrying about Al's digestive issues is annoying; and Mom's evolving relationship with Al's best friend's mother changes things for everyone involved. After Al learns she has Crohn's disease, some of the stress of her diagnosis is offset by an inflammatory bowel disease support group, one of whose members becomes a romantic interest. Though Al struggles to open up about multiple aspects of her life, the book reassuringly shows that what makes her feel alone is more common than she thinks: she's not the only one who's queer, and she's also not the only "Bathroom Club" member texting from the toilet. Her first-person narration is frank and doesn't lean on euphemisms. Humor is plentiful but not zany; the emphasis on Al's emotions makes it easy to empathize with her. Al and many other characters are Jewish (statistically likely given the IBD subject matter), and the casual, varied Jewish representation is another plus.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023