(2) YA This retelling of Pride and Prejudice replaces the Bennets with a ragtag speech and debate team looking to make it amongst the more elite private academies. Leela Bose, an Indian American high schooler, is poised to reach the top this year with her fellow Longbourn High forensicators ("yes, it's a real word"). But then the team meets Firoze Darcy, a debate competitor for Netherfield Academy (and "Desi hottie"). An obnoxious comment from Firoze makes Leela, who has often faced racism and colorism, feel "ugly" in a way she hasn't felt since she left the nearly-all-white town where she grew up, and when Firoze becomes a regular presence at her high-school tournaments, she goes on the offensive. In her YA debut, DasGupta (author of the Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond middle-grade series) balances everyday teen topics like crushes and arguments with more wide-ranging issues like sexism, sexual harassment, and racism. She evokes the feel of Austen through lots of references to the original and writes with a similar witty tone, while keeping the language contemporary and fresh. With its plucky cast of modern-day teens, this is a great entry point for new Austen fans.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(2) YA Reyna, an artistic Afro-Caribbean teen, comes to terms with the past and paints a new picture of the future in this Caribbean spin on Austen's Persuasion set in the author's native Tobago. After her mother's death, Reyna has all but accepted her narrow existence as the primary caretaker of her family's oceanfront resort. Everyone seems to be moving on except her--her father has a new love interest, her best friend is heading off to college, and her first-and-only ex-boyfriend, Aiden, has become a global music star after leaving the island two years ago. When Aiden's glamorous, jet-setting friends book a villa at the resort as a birthday surprise for him, Reyna's dad inveigles her into acting as their tour guide. Romantic tension builds as the old flames are forced to revisit their bad breakup and unresolved feelings. Faced with big changes at the hotel, Reyna must decide if she's ready to heal from loss, reclaim her stifled artistic talents, and give love a second chance. The narrative seamlessly moves back and forth from the present to the early years of Reyna and Aiden's childhood friendship and eventual star-crossed love. Populated with a cast of believable characters and flush with authentic Trinidadian English dialogue, the story artfully draws from its captivating tropical backdrop. A layered, bittersweet tale of young love, self-discovery, and redemption that marks a promising debut for Dass.

Reviewer: Summer Edward | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021

(3) YA Translated by Romy Fursland. When Emma finds a book that makes everything written in it come true, she uncovers a mystery involving a faun born hundreds of years earlier. Darcy, Emma's arrogant, handsome love interest, is searching for his sister, whose disappearance is tied to the book. Connections to Jane Austen's novels and to fairy tales provide emotional resonance in this unpredictable fantasy.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Qin Leng. Hopkinson's picture book biography has a narrow focus: Jane Austen's mostly uneventful life was spent observing others, and she combined this knowledge with her love of reading--and her father's gift of a mahogany writing box--to pursue an extraordinary writing career. Accompanying Hopkinson's pithy text are Leng's loose, delicate, ink and watercolor illustrations, which fittingly accentuate Jane's youthfulness and the playfulness of her writing. Timeline, websites. Bib.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2018

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jen Corace. Pliscou's lengthy picture-book biography, for slightly older primary readers, provides an overview of Jane Austen's writing and personality and offers historical context. Small details emphasize the bravery it took for Austen to go against the norm and still achieve success. The decorative folk-art aesthetic of Corace's colorful gouache, ink, acrylic, and pencil illustrations evokes styles common amongst the gentry during Regency England, nicely complementing Pliscou's account. Bib.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2018

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Katy Dockrill. For future Janeites here's a picture book that's part informative primer on Jane Austen's six major novels and part entertaining picture-puzzle volume. Spreads alternate between brief synopses of each work's major plot points (illustrated via eight vignettes) and colorful, detailed seek-and-find scenes featuring book characters (and Austen); an appended answer key highlights all the hidden figures.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter

(4) K-3 Little People, Big Dreams series. Illustrated by Katie Wilson. Each appealing picture-book biography spotlights a famous woman and her accomplishments, foregrounding the influence of childhood experiences. Vegara emphasizes empowerment and tackles difficult issues (such as slavery in Tubman) with honesty and sensitivity, but overall the texts are pretty simplistic. The illustrations (each book by a different artist) vary greatly in style. Back matter includes photos and/or paintings along with more detailed biographical information. Reading list. Review covers these Little People, Big Dreams titles: Harriet Tubman, Jane Austen, Jane Goodall, L. M. Montgomery, and Simone de Beauvoir.

Reviewer: Erica Wetter

(2) YA When the wealthy African American Darcys move in across the street, proud Haitian-Dominican teen Zuri must deal with standoffish younger brother Darius and the reality that the family's move means Bushwick is being gentrified. This lively, innovative Pride and Prejudice retelling starring a fully rounded Afro-Latinx character hits the familiar notes of Austen's Bennet sisters while inventively modernizing the original's commentary about social class.

Reviewer: Christina L. Dobbs | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2018

(3) YA Nerdy Samantha narrates the story of her quirky middle-class Jewish family's time on a televised Sasquatch-hunting competition. Though she's much less enthusiastic than other family members, the prize money would help with her premed ambitions. What follows is a requisite romance with prep-school boy Devan and snobbery from the show's other contestants in this unusual but funny Pride and Prejudice takeoff.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(4) 4-6 Who HQ: Who Was...? series. Illustrated by Jerry Hoare. Grosset's long-running Who Was...? series is re-branded. These readable, informative biographies are marred only by the caricatured cover illustrations (typical of the classic series) and interior pencil illustrations that are inconsistent in style. Otherwise, these will give young readers a good sense of who these people were (or are). Occasional full- and double-page text boxes successfully illuminate related topics. Timeline. Bib. Review covers these Who HQ: Who Was...? titles: Who Was Jane Austen?, Who Was Chuck Jones?, Who Was Coretta Scott King?, Who Is Ralph Lauren? Who Was Alexander Hamilton?, Who Was Lewis Carroll?, Who Is Pope Francis?, and Who Was Andrew Jackson?.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) YA Kol and his brothers are coming of age in a male-only hunter-gatherer tribe. But when two unmarried girls from the south appear, misunderstandings and a history of intertribal violence threaten their alliance. With allusions to Pride and Prejudice, Eshbaugh's gender-swapped prehistoric adaptation cleverly reimagines the characters' desperate marital situation and the slowly developing relationship between earnest Kol and mysterious Mya.

Reviewer: Amy Bennett-Zendzian

(3) YA Farrant faithfully--but creatively--retells Austen's Pride & Prejudice from the youngest Bennet sister's point of view. This time, Lydia is wise to Wickham's faults, only marrying him after a failed affair with a count in Brighton. Her droll diary presents a relatable heroine obsessed with fashion, dancing, and enjoying life, yet who isn't as shallow or self-absorbed as Austen's character.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter

(3) YA Teenage Jane Austen protects her cousin Eliza and considers a suitor of her own while investigating threats of French espionage in this clever melding of sound biographical research and fictional murder-mystery. Just as the best of Austen's heroines do, MacColl's version of the famed author flaunts acerbic wit leavened with a compassion for the plight of women. Author's note appended. Reading list.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(4) YA Misanthropic Devon is ambivalent about planning life after high school; she'd rather read Jane Austen or hang around her secret crush. When Devon's misfit cousin is recruited for the football team, Devon finally engages with her Texas school community, her future, and a stoic quarterback. This light, sports-centric romance features a unique family dynamic but is slowed down by over-abundant story lines.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald

(4) 4-6 Pride and Prejudice's Lizzy Bennet tells her story in an illustrated-diary format. Williams embroiders the original narrative with details of life in Regency England; lines from Austen's novel are woven smoothly into the entries. Foldout letters, archival images, and superimposed photos of pressed flowers add a period feel to the whole. This offers a pleasing if less rich variant on the classic novel.

Reviewer: Liza Cortright

(4) YA In newfound destitution after their father's death, sisters Grace and Hallie are forced to reconfigure their lives as houseguests of a distant wealthy relative in the Hollywood hills. Alternating perspectives highlight the girls' differences as they navigate their own love stories. Although details are fit to a contemporary setting, the methodical unfolding of Sense and Sensibility's plot leaves little new excitement for Austen fans.

Reviewer: Andrea Curtis

(3) YA Berry Fields is too busy working for her father as a private investigator to think about love. Then, as she's looking into clues surrounding her mother's death, she meets gorgeous Tanner Halston, who seems to have an interest in her investigations. Should she trust him? This modern Pride and Prejudice adaptation works well as a Veronica Mars–esque teen detective story.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter

(2) YA Drawing heavily from Jane Austen's Persuasion, this story features a post-apocalyptic society consisting of the Reduced; their children, the Posts, who do not share their genetic limitations; and Luddite leaders. Luddite Elliot realizes she is still deeply in love with Kai, her childhood sweetheart, and must resist her entire upbringing to truly begin to see how she can change the world.

Reviewer: April Spisak | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2012

(4) YA "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single girl of high standing at Longbourn Academy must be in want of a prom date." In this entertaining homage to Pride and Prejudice, scholarship student Lizzie Bennet is disgusted by rich Will Darcy. Austen's plot is meticulously translated to the modern-day setting, though the weight of this faithfulness sometimes flattens the story.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(2) YA Reef combines firsthand accounts of Austen written by relatives and friends, facts about late-1700s Britain, and Austen's own novels and surviving letters, highlighting the connections between Austen's works and her life. For devout Janeites it's fascinating to see all this information combined, and for others it's a worthwhile introduction. A family tree, notes, and a list of Austen's works are appended. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2011