(3) YA Seventeen-year-old Frank had five beers, got behind the wheel, and killed two people. Now quadriplegic, he's released from the hospital to resume his life amid public condemnation. Frank's physical vulnerability is perceptively evoked, and while Aronson overemphasizes his "good kid" status, she explores complex issues of justice, responsibility, and quality of life with a minimum of didacticism in this absorbing, resonant novel.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(4) YA During the Great Depression, Collie rides the rails with hundreds of others. While searching for his brother, who joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, Collie develops a friendship with an African American boy. The story lacks the immediacy and memorable characterization of other similar tales (Bud, Not Buddy comes to mind), but the historical backdrop is soundly depicted.

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(4) YA Nine distinct characters--including a teen survivor of domestic abuse, an elderly teacher, and a calculating thief--chronicle the planning, execution, and aftermath of a fast food restaurant holdup that goes terribly wrong. Strong and detailed until the final few sections, this story wraps up quickly and bloodlessly, detracting slightly from the holdup's tense reality.

Reviewer: Lauren Maggio

(3) 4-6 When Cuban landlord Don Rigol threatens the herd of wild ponies that Enriquito and Ernestina have discovered, their efforts to protect the horses result in a series of adventures complete with lost treasure, a vicious crocodile, a mysterious locket, a jailbreak, and a very unusual trial. Flores-Galbis's blend of magical realism and action animates this tale of friendship and justice.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(4) YA After Kathleen meets mysterious Luke at her brother's funeral, she begins slipping between different realities that result from her day-to-day decisions. She learns to control her time shifting and falls in love. Can Kathleen choose a universe where her brother lives but lose Luke forever? Though her decision seems too easy, the intriguing premise and pleasing romance make this a compelling read.

Reviewer: Amy Lee Bennett

(4) YA After graduation, seventeen-year-old Connor can't forget his teacher, Ms. Timms. So when she contacts him and their relationship turns romantic, he's determined to maintain their closeness at all costs. The relatively short text is packed with intense issues, including violence, teenage sexuality, and a family history of alcoholism, that are only briefly addressed, making the plot gripping but choppy.

Reviewer: Lauren Maggio

(3) YA David, a white doctor's son, lives in Tennessee during the early 1950s. He shares a friendship as deep as brotherhood with African American Malcolm. David relates his painfully vivid memories, including the depth of his father's love and the unlimited cruelty of his racism. The novel's authentic and explicit language adds to its powerful portrait of a time and place.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Majella Lue Sue. Jewish sixth-grader Penina balks at her teacher's assignment: write a letter to a younger student as the Easter Bunny. Her family supports her, but that doesn't keep her from otherwise getting in trouble at home. Funny dialogue, believable characterizations (Penina's petulant attitude, her impossibly peppy four-year-old sister, the unintentional insensitivity of Penina's teacher), and copious black-and-white illustrations round out the story.

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(2) YA Ben's mother stops taking her meds and begins to obsess about "lizard people." Ben meets Marco, who claims he's found a wormhole to the year 4000--where lizard-human hybrids exist--and is shocked when some details of Marco's story match episodes in his own life. Ben is a sympathetic protagonist, and the book tantalizingly blurs the boundaries between madness and lucidity.

Reviewer: Caitlin J. Berry | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2007

(3) 4-6 Ten-year-old Bamse's life in Copenhagen changes dramatically after the Germans occupy his country. Tension builds as Danes debate a response, and Bamse's brother joins the Resistance movement. Relying on her own family history and a penchant for the theatrical, Toksvig provides a memorable cast of characters as the Danish Resistance unfolds in poignant, startling, and occasionally humorous scenes of courage.

Reviewer: Tamara DePasquale

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Pre-teen Floss adores her down-on-his-luck dad and decides to stay with him when Mum, stepfather, and baby brother move to Australia for six months. Some hair-raising adventures, happy coincidences, and a wish-fulfillment ending ensue. Wilson mixes familiar situations and concerns with a brisk pace. Comic-strip panels introduce each chapter, setting tone, illustrating Floss's feelings, and extending the action. Glos.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2007

(3) 4-6 Sam Glodsky is an enterprising young fellow, but he may have gone too far to make a buck when he steals a valuable racing pigeon for a neighborhood gangster. Set on the streets of New York's Lower East Side during the turn of the twentieth century, this well-paced novel features a good sense of humor, an excellent depiction of place, and winning characterizations.

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(4) 4-6 With the middle school's athletic program on the chopping block, self-proclaimed jock Tess Munro tries to drum up support for a tax levy. Some of the subplots wrap up a bit too neatly (eighth-grader Tess makes peace with her two antagonists, a bossy cheerleader and her brother's girlfriend), but the soccer scenes, including on-the-field action and on-the-sidelines chatter, play out realistically.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(4) 4-6 Compulsively neat Destiny thinks she can't possibly be related to her scientist mother, poet father, or slobby little brother. But Dez's best friend, Jil, really is adopted, and when Jil begins a relationship with her birth mother, Dez is afraid people will get hurt. Although sprinklings of pop culture references interrupt the narrative flow, Hicks effectively communicates Dez's hopes and frustrations.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) YA Gwen and Adrian feel mutual loathing. When each inadvertently unlocks the other's formidable psychic power, they are inescapably bound. They deceive and manipulate each other but cannot control their powers until they face unpleasant truths (in an incongruously moralistic ending). The plot becomes repetitive, but effective character development through the angry teens' rapidly alternating voices will hook readers into this fast-paced adventure/romance.

Reviewer: Amy Lee Bennett

(3) YA Fourteen-year-old Isabelle is one of the lucky ones--a survivor of stage IV Hodgkin's lymphoma. In her first-person narrative, Izzy explores her horrific cancer treatment, including six painful rounds of chemo. Although the novel concludes with a feel-good but unnecessary tidy-up, it contains lots of good humor (Izzy has an amiably sardonic edge) and a portrait of talent (Izzy is an intuitive artist).

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom

(4) YA Four years after her twin brother's death, budding artist Sadie and her family move across the country. Sadie's guilt merges with angst over attending a new school and her inability to paint the ocean. The story veers toward melodrama, but the mystery surrounding Sadie's relationship with her brother (is she seeing a ghost or is it all in her mind?) will sustain readers.

Reviewer: Tamara DePasquale

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kristina Swarner. A Jewish midrash, or Rabbinic legend, is recast as a bedtime story offering an explanation of the indentation above a child's lip and an imaginative description of a guardian angel, who whispers the world's secrets to each new child. Mixed-media illustrations, with objects floating in a Chagallian landscape, serve as an intermediary between the sometime high-flown language and child readers.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 This cumulative verse traditionally sung at the end of Passover Seder begins with a goat who is eaten by a cat who is bitten by a dog and so on. A note on the various religious interpretations of the text appears at the end along with the jaunty tune and Aramaic transliteration. Chwast's playful paintings are set in an Eastern European village.

Reviewer: Lolly Robinson

(4) 4-6 Seventh-grader Jo remains a dedicated hockey player despite adult disapproval and hazing by her male teammates. That isn't all she deals with though, as Fitzgerald adds in a sports-lout father, issues of popularity, a potential romance, and a senile grandfather. Missing the genre's "big game" conclusion, this becomes pretty soapy for sports fans but does have a strong narrative voice.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke