(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Lily Padula. After mysterious pink flashes apparently destroy most of civilization, five child protagonists find themselves aboard the ship the Defiant. They learn how to survive both nature and other groups of stranded children, mostly hostile, whom they encounter during their months at sea. The tone of this mystical, Lost-like adventure is rather sinister, but the children's loyalty buoys the tale; the conclusion is open-ended but hopeful.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Lisa Brown. Siblings investigate the Swinster Pharmacy: is it a run-of-the-mill shop that sells "aspirin and toothpaste," as a police officer asserts? Or, is it something more sinister? Snicket nails the intensity of a child's curiosity, but the book (twenty-nine observations ranging from quirky to lyrical to matter-of-fact) ultimately--and perhaps intentionally--leaves readers in the dark. Brown's illustrations are just right: gloomy and eerie.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Katherine Roy. Kit and his siblings (The Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon) are off to the Caribbean to find the next clue their missing explorer father left behind, all the while dodging jealous classmates and government officials out to steal their father's secret. Although the story's pacing is off, the sibling dynamic is believable. Full-page black-and-white illustrations are included.

Reviewer: Lauren Chambers

(4) 4-6 Translated by Lucas Zwirner. Illustrated by Marcel Dzama. This is a newly illustrated and translated (from the German) edition. Ende's fantasy about the importance of spending time on things that matter has little child appeal, but it offers plenty of imaginative writing and criticism of contemporary values. Dzama's occasional black-and-white illustrations provide welcome relief from the lengthy text.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Forgetful Alfred Crabtree has misplaced his false teeth and begins to organize his many possessions in an effort to find them. Every page of this oversize volume serves as a catalog of Alfred's world, each item labeled (sometimes literally, sometimes not) and creatively categorized. The dizzying cacophony of color and line extends into the book jacket, which unfolds into a dual-sided poster.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) YA During a "passing-out game" blackout, Sophie, a working-class teenager from gritty Chelsea, Massachusetts, envisions a mermaid in the salty muck of the creek who tells the teen that she's destined to save the human race from sadness. In this unconventional coming-of-age novel, Tea's brand of magical realism deftly inverts expectations, endowing the ordinary with magical properties while things typically so are considered unremarkable.

Reviewer: Shara Hardeson