(2) YA On April 15, 1920, in South Braintree, Massachusetts (as a prologue describes), two men were shot and killed as they were transporting payroll funds to a major shoe factory. There were a handful of robbers, a getaway car, and dozens of witnesses. Surely the police could find the culprits and bring them to justice. The book then gives the backstory of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian immigrants looking for better lives in America. Eventually, each man is drawn to the political movement of anarchism and its promise of a brighter future for laborers, though some anarchists turn to violence. As Sacco and Vanzetti seek to eliminate evidence of their connection to anarchism amid government suspicion, they become ensnared in the search for the Braintree murderers. The xenophobic bias that dominates their trial and numerous appeals will likely seem blatant to modern readers, and the suspense of whether or not they will be executed is what drives the resolution. Primary sources are included throughout, and longer excerpts from the men's letters conclude most chapters, reinforcing their humanity. Source notes, a bibliography, and an index are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(2) YA Growing up in the slums around Mumbai, India, seventh grader Minni has been raised to follow the rules and stay out of trouble, but she can't keep quiet when she spots injustice. She dreams of going to college but keeps bumping up against the realities of poverty that make that nearly impossible. The narrative focus is on Mumbai's unstable, often non-potable water supply and the lack of indoor plumbing in Minni's neighborhood. When her brother spies the “water mafia” siphoning water illegally, he is sent away for his safety, while their mother goes to the country to recover from a serious illness. This leaves Minni to obtain water and boil it, take on her mother's job as a maid, and struggle to attend school full time. Her own sleuthing leads to a shocking conclusion about corruption and Mumbai's water resources. Bajaj's suspenseful novel peels back the curtain on modern-day class and caste inequities and how they create a cycle of poverty that spirals through generations. Minni's thirst for what's right steers the novel toward an optimistic conclusion in which one person can bring about big changes.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) YA In a fast-paced thriller with elements of the supernatural, Ahmed (Internment, rev. 3/19) continues to explore issues of racism and Islamophobia. Chicago high-school senior and budding journalist Safiya Mirza attends exclusive DuSable Prep. When escalating white supremacist attacks at school and in her Muslim community get an indifferent response from law enforcement, a determined Safiya launches her own investigation--and then a Muslim student, Jawad Ali, is found murdered. Jawad had already received attention from the media, becoming a scapegoat for right-wing conspiracy theorists, labeled a terrorist, and called "bomb boy" after a teacher mistook his cosplay jetpack for a weapon. Now, seeking closure, Jawad's ghost haunts Safiya as she pieces together the events of his violent death, determined to seek justice for him and to challenge systemic racism. In a novel that cleverly uses time jumps; alternates narration (between Safiya and ghost Jawad); and occasionally incorporates text messages, newspaper articles, and the like, Ahmed positions her story in the larger context of a racially divided world.

Reviewer: Sadaf Siddique | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(1) 4-6 Cho's riveting work of historical fiction begins on April 29, 1992, when four Los Angeles police officers are acquitted in the brutal beating of a Black man, Rodney King. Twelve-year-old Jordan Park's parents close their liquor store early, bracing for the unrest to come. They expect Koreatown to be targeted by protesters since, two weeks after television footage showed King being beaten, a fifteen-year-old Black girl, Latasha Harlins, was shot and killed by a Korean American store owner. With his parents busy at the store, there's no time for Jordan to tell them that he's been suspended from school for cheating on a ­Spanish quiz (again). Having had an argument with his father and been told he is a disappointment, Jordan tries to atone by setting off on a dangerous and fraught journey: bringing his father a gun to use for self-defense, if necessary. ­Jordan's first-person narrative offers a fresh Korean ­American perspective on what were then called the L.A. Riots; on racism; and on immigration. This debut middle-grade novel by Cho, well known for his acting work, achieves a complexity of theme that is welcome for this audience. It's an important, even profound, story, yet related with a light touch. Jordan's journey will have readers following right alongside him as he navigates the vicissitudes of this moment in history and his place in his family. Back matter includes an extensive and informative author's note.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(1) YA "Nineteen-year-old Nathan Leopold would kill a child today." The kidnapping, ransom, and murder plot had been in the works for months, but it came to fruition on May 21, 1924, when Leopold and his friend, eighteen-year-old Richard Loeb, targeted Loeb's second cousin, fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks, as he walked through their affluent Chicago neighborhood. Leopold and Loeb had privileged childhoods but ones with elements of neglect and abuse, potential red flags for their troubled relationship, in which Loeb got a partner in crime for his psychopathic tendencies and Leopold got a sexual relationship in exchange for enabling his partner's ­criminal activity. While they pulled off the kidnapping and murder, the ransom plot fell apart, in part because Bobby's body was found too quickly. The horrific crime puzzled the police, but the press, pandering to the public's insatiable appetite for scandal, helped solve the case. The ensuing trial saw Clarence Darrow trying to avoid the death penalty for the amoral and remorseless pair. There is a mountain of primary-source material for this story, and the narrative expertly parses it, giving readers an uncommon depth of psychological insight. This is, at once, a psychological crime thriller, a suspenseful courtroom drama, and a timely, relevant examination of social issues. In the field of YA narrative nonfiction, Fleming (The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh, rev. 1/20) continues to outdo herself. An author's note, source notes, and a bibliography are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2022

(2) YA Beau, a gifted Black sixteen-year-old artist living in Chicago public housing, idolized her older sister, Katia, even though Katia had begun to make questionable decisions under the influence of her boyfriend, Jordan. After Katia is gunned down by a white off-duty police officer accusing her of trying to break into his house, Beau believes that Jordan--who has gone missing--is to blame. She begins to search for Jordan in hopes of clearing her sister's name and soon discovers that she is not the only one looking for him, and that her search could risk the lives of everyone she cares about. As she wrestles with her own grief and the tragedy's effect on her family, Beau also makes rash choices in her attempts to prove her sister's innocence, even as she comes to realize Katia had more secrets than she'd thought. While the reader is drawn to Beau, her first-person narrative reveals motivations that seem counterintuitive, rendering her both a sympathetic and flawed character. Interspersed flashbacks to Beau's time with Katia deeply intertwine themes of love and grief. The mounting action culminates in a complex but comprehensible conclusion, given the unfortunate flaws and loopholes of the judicial system. Fans of Thomas's The Hate U Give (rev. 3/17) will find this a compelling read-alike.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(2) YA On April 14, 1865, just days after the conclusion of the Civil War, John Wilkes Booth shot (and killed) President ­Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theater. Booth would die more than two weeks later during the attempt to apprehend him, and attention shifted onto his accomplices and co-conspirators. Caught up in the plot was the widow Mary Surratt, who ran a Washington, DC, boardinghouse that Booth and other conspirators (including Surratt's son) frequented. ­Surratt's guilt by association and the hearsay surrounding her role in the plot were enough to condemn her to the ­gallows after one of the most unusual trials in American history. Miller (The Borden Murders, rev. 1/16) finds the unlikeliest of protagonists in Surratt. Using court transcripts and contemporaneous secondary sources, Miller pieces together information surrounding Surratt, her family, and her boardinghouse guests during and after the assassination of the sixteenth president. Extensively researched, the narrative is carefully organized to give readers the bearings necessary to follow specifics of the many witnesses and their multiple versions of events. The story lays bare the shocking disregard for judicial normalcy as Surratt and her co-defendants were tried in a peacetime military court while simultaneously tried by the newspapers of the day. True-crime fans will be enthralled by this compelling nineteenth-century case and the woman at its emotional center. Appended with an author's note, list of sources, and an index (unseen).

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) YA In this moving debut novel (set before the COVID-19 pandemic), a racist act of vandalism almost splits two biracial (Chinese American and Irish American) sisters apart as they take different approaches to handling the aftermath. The Flanagan girls are polar opposites: Annalie, seventeen, is quiet, sweet, and self-conscious while college student Margaret, nineteen, is bold and outspoken. When someone paints a slur on the garage of their small-town Illinois home, Annalie and their mother, an immigrant, want to stay silent, while Margaret digs for clues and notifies the press. Further conflict arises when Annalie realizes that her new boyfriend, Thom, may be connected to the incident. Tian crafts a realistic, nuanced coming-of-age tale that deals with questions of identity and self-doubt, internalized racism, sibling rivalry, young love, and microaggressions. The book is a good companion read for other contemporary teen novels that deal with anti-Asian hate, including Ho's The Silence That Binds Us (rev. 7/22).

Reviewer: Michelle Lee | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) YA Poppy, seventeen, and her younger sister, Emma, have grown up on the run. Their parents, though loving, are fugitives from justice who use fake identities to settle in small towns all around the country and never hesitate to pull up stakes and vanish. Her hypervigilant dad maintains that the less the girls know, the better. Poppy and Emma respect their parents' wishes to stay off technology, and they don't even know their parents' real names. But in a beautiful California town, the vibe feels different ("For the first time in all my years running, something shifted"), and Poppy dares to wonder about her future, even convincing her father to arrange her enrollment in an advanced math class. She starts to spend time with classmate Harry, and with his help slowly pieces together her complicated backstory. Weisenberg delivers a compelling coming-of-age novel that explores personal responsibility and what we do for love and for family loyalty. Fans of crime stories, romances, and psychological thrillers will be fully invested.

Reviewer: Luann Toth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

(2) YA Seventeen-year-old Jack comes home one day to find that his drug-addicted mother has hanged herself from the ceiling fan in her bedroom. He initially hides the suicide from his younger brother Matty, along with the fact that they are days away from being evicted. If only Jack could find the drug money his father stole and went to prison for--and that Bardem, the ruthless leader of an organized crime gang, will stop at nothing to retrieve. The deck seems stacked against the brothers but for a chance meeting with a girl named Ava, who reappears several times when they desperately need help. Ava harbors a secret of her own: she is Bardem's daughter, and while her loyalty clearly lies with the boys, her interspersed narration brings constant reminders of how dangerous her father is. The cat-and-mouse game between the young people (Jack, Matty, and Ava) and the adults (Bardem's gang and a sheriff) heightens the tension in this taut psychological thriller. Anderson's spare, lyrical writing yields great insight into her characters, and the unforgiving Idaho winter landscape is almost a character in its own right.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021

(1) YA Recent high school graduate Daunis Firekeeper (known for much of the book by her white mother's family name, Fontaine) decides to stay in Sault St. Marie, Michigan, and attend Lake State with her best friend, Lily. She is then ­devastated when Lily is killed by her meth-addicted boyfriend. Soon after, two undercover agents approach Daunis about taking her late uncle's place as a confidential informant investigating meth that included "hallucinogenic additives...Psilocybe caerulipes from near Tahquamenon Falls." Daunis has strong scientific knowledge and a close connection to the Native community, despite being unenrolled (her father, a member of the Sugar Island Ojibwe tribe, is not on her birth certificate). Readers are introduced to the Anishinaabemowin language and, as Daunis calls on traditional knowledge to assist her in the investigation alongside her scientific knowledge, to the customs of the Sugar Island Ojibwe. This is a gripping page-turner, multifaceted, authentic, and suspenseful, that will keep readers wondering who is responsible for the meth that is taking over Daunis's community--and who exactly she can trust.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2021

(2) 4-6 Sixth grader Zinnia and her young aunt join the Reality Shifters, a league of Real-Life Superheroes who aim to "help the helpless [and] bring hope to the hopeless" through such missions as delivering blankets and water to people experiencing homelessness, while raising awareness with their conspicuous costumes. Quiet Zinnia joins the group largely because her adventurous brother, whose death she is grieving, would have loved it. The influence of fellow Reality Shifters brings her out of her shell, encouraging assertiveness in her daily life; an episode of standing up to a classmate's teasing reveals a lot about both characters. The superhero theme--complete with alter egos (rainbow-loving Zinnia is Spectrum, a bold-when-in-costume classmate is Wrecking Ball, a wheelchair-using member is Papa Wheelie) and a rivalry with another RLSH league--adds a lively element, but the story stays grounded in day-to-day life, encouraging readers to think critically about what allyship means and how to avoid centering oneself. An author's note gives background on the real-life RLSH movement and advice on both grief and advocacy.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021

(2) YA At sixteen, Char (the bully from The Skin I'm In, 1998), who's been expelled from several schools, is on the way to live with her grandparents, sent by her sister in hopes of turning her life around. During the multi-day bus ride (where most of the story takes place), Char decides to try to make it on her own; she also befriends a young mother--who then disappears from a station, leaving Char with the baby. Char encounters a man named Anthony, who approaches her with money and kind words, but the dangerous motives behind his generosity are quickly revealed. This compelling look into the sex trafficking world through the eyes of a complex protagonist should help to start conversations about the painful realities of many young victims. For Char, the nightmare ends--thankfully--when she escapes, and her friends and family begin to help her recover. Back matter includes an author's note explaining Flake's rationale for telling this story, as well as a bibliography.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(2) YA After establishing the absorbing origin story of Stevie Bell in the Truly Devious trilogy (Truly Devious, rev. 1/18, and sequels), Johnson gleefully takes a stab at the slasher movie trope by sending her teen detective on a cold case at a summer camp. Stevie is offered a job by a wealthy "tech bro" who wants to create a true-crime podcast. He's hoping that she will crack the case of the notorious Camp Wonder Falls murders, where four teenagers were bludgeoned to death in the summer of 1978. Stevie accepts and gets right to work interviewing locals and collecting clues, which is a welcome distraction from her ever-present anxiety and complicated relationship with her boyfriend. But there is someone in Camp Wonder Falls who will do anything--including murder--to keep our heroine from discovering the dark truth. This satisfying standalone mystery will delight fans of teen horror flicks and true-crime documentaries, as well as those who prefer their mysteries wrapped up after one volume. Crime history geeks will be particularly tickled by the multiple references to, and author's note about, Frances Glessner Lee, the woman who "basically established forensics in the United States." Here's hoping this highly entertaining volume isn't the last we hear from Stevie Bell.

Reviewer: Jennifer Hubert Swan | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021

(2) YA Illustrated by Maia Kobabe. When the frat boy who raped her sister, Nor, is found guilty in court, Em feels vindicated and amazed, for it was her drive for justice that first energized her family to prosecute him. Then the judge stuns her family by sentencing the convicted rapist to serve no time at all. Em is shattered, and so is Nor, who suffers the unbearable fallout of misogynist bullying when the case is over. As Em tries to process the egregious injustice, she learns about Marguerite de Bressieux, a legendary fifteenth-century knight celebrated as the avenger of rape survivors. Writing a verse novel about Marguerite and her revenge becomes both therapy and obsession until Em quite literally falls on a sword and has to be rescued. McCullough evokes the fiery rage and hopelessness her protagonist feels about America's justice system, and especially in realizing that "our world had already decided" that a boy like the one who raped her sister "could take what he wanted from a girl like Nor." Both in the first-person prose account and in the verse novel (with characterful, medieval manuscript–like decorations), McCullough sustains a one-note pitch of outrage up until the final pages, when, through Em's friend and family members, she offers some nuanced, constructive critique of Em's "tunnel vision."

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

(2) YA In a dystopic Britain of the future, drastic events have left the land awash or turned it into a radiation-contaminated and desolate wilderness "infested with bandits, blood-otters, and wolves"--not to mention cannibalistic humans called "the Tainted." "Normal" people live in scattered fortified Surviving Towns; anyone identified with a perceived deformity or abnormality is cruelly tortured or killed. Scarlett McCain has survived thanks to her wits, agility, and talents as a bank robber, but when she rescues hapless, unworldly Albert Browne after a strange bus accident, even she is amazed by the pursuit that ensues. Men, dogs, guns, explosives, and the mysteriously invincible Mrs. Calloway, Albert's former jailer, are never far behind as the two make their way by raft to the refuge of the Free Isles down the Thames River. Incisive, elegant action scenes, stuffed with daredevil escapes and shoot-'em-up confrontations, keep the story racing along in a turbulent stream of suspense and relief. Stroud's (author of the Bartimaeus trilogy and the Lockwood & Co. series) characteristic humor--irony, sarcasm, a witty quickness--lightens the tale's more dire themes of abuse and psychological damage. The story establishes a context and partnership that suggest future escapades, with characters ripe for development, plenty of unanswered questions, and a tantalizing treasure heist in the offing.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky. The author begins: "On a block dressed up in Red and Green, one house shone Blue and White." He goes on to introduce a boy named Isaac and his best friend Teresa, who lives across the street. Isaac's family is Jewish and Teresa's is Christian. Both kids love to play in the snow, count down to the holidays, and eat cookies with lots of colorful sprinkles. Then one night an act of antisemitism shatters the idyll: someone throws a rock through Isaac's front window, breaking the menorah. After reporting this vandalism to the police, the family, understandably frightened, nevertheless decides to light the menorah again the next night. "If they didn't, Isaac knew it would be like hiding they were Jewish. That didn't feel right." Teresa makes a drawing of a menorah and hangs it in her window in solidarity. Soon hundreds of friends and neighbors join in to show their support, choosing to put their community first and to be (per the appended note touching on the real-life events that inspired the book) "UPstanders" instead of "BYstanders." Zelinsky's (most recently All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah, rev. 11/18) masterful use of light and shadow captures the celebratory joys of the season as well as the sinister undertones of the story. Several scenes are lit by streetlights or headlights of passing vehicles, and most pages are bathed in the soft glow of holiday lights against a dark blue sky. Everykids Isaac and Teresa are lively and openhearted, the lights of the future, "Stronger Together, Burning Bright."

Reviewer: Luann Toth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(2) 4-6 His father, the police chief, is dead, and eleven-year-old Nnamdi knows who murdered him--the Chief of Chiefs, an infamous criminal in their Nigerian province. Vowing to bring justice, Nnamdi is unsure how to proceed until a supernatural encounter on the day of his father's memorial celebration leaves him in possession of an artifact known as an Ikenga, a "place of strength." With the Ikenga, Nnamdi gains the ability to shapeshift into a seven-foot-tall shadowy being who carries a strength--and a rage--similar to his favorite comic-book character, the Incredible Hulk. Simply nicknamed "The Man" by the local ­newspaper, Nnamdi becomes a crime-fighting vigilante. But as The Man's anger ­threatens to consume him (including a violent confrontation with his best friend), Nnamdi is also running out of time to fulfill his promise of bringing his father's murderer to justice. The story puts its readers on a roller coaster of action as Nnamdi battles to harness his newfound power as a tool for good. Peppering her work with Igbo phrases, folklore, and local pop references, Okorafor (Akata Witch, rev. 5/11; Akata Warrior, rev. 9/17) succeeds in imbuing West African culture throughout the origin story of a memorable new superhero.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

(2) YA In this sequel to Dear Martin (rev. 11/17), we are reintroduced to Quan, best friend of that book's protagonist. Dear Justyce opens with a flashback to Quan and Justyce's (then aged nine and ten) first meeting at a park where Quan has run to escape his mother's abusive boyfriend. The novel then fast-forwards to an incarcerated Quan, remembering the day his father was arrested two years after that meeting. While in custody, Quan writes to Justyce at Yale. Through "snapshots" and letters we learn the circumstances and decisions that led to Quan's arrest as well as the ups and downs of his friendship with Justyce. When Quan professes that he didn't commit the crime for which he was incarcerated, Justyce becomes committed to clearing his name. While we learn Quan's story largely through third-person narration, including some interspersed poetic text, it is the letters Quan writes to Justyce that are most powerful. Teens can relate to the feelings of alienation, loneliness, and confusion that lead Quan to make many of the choices that he does, even as the book explores the various ways our current justice system disenfranchises young people of color.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

(3) 4-6 In 1725, twelve-year-old Oliver is sentenced to seven years of indentured servitude in the American colonies. His cruel master instills fear in Oliver and his new friend Bara, an enslaved African boy, causing them to flee into the swamp. This sequel to The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts is again replete with Dickensian incident, and narrator Oliver presents a vivid picture of colonial life.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt