(1) YA In this verse novel with a basis in Caribbean folklore, fifteen-year-old Marisol and her mother, Lourdes, have recently emigrated from the Caribbean to Brooklyn. The two are soucouyant, shapeshifting "monsters" who shed their skin during the new moon to feed on the souls of their enemies. As a poor Black immigrant girl, Marisol finds that the world she inhabits sees her as monstrous in more ways than one. Seventeen-year-old Genevieve, by contrast, has lived in New York her whole life with her white father and stepmother (she has a Black biological mother). Although she enjoys privileges such as wealth, light skin, and U.S. citizenship, Genevieve feels trapped in her own body: enflamed rashes make her feel like her skin "will burn and melt / right off my fucking bones." The two girls' lives intersect when Lourdes is hired as a full-time nanny by Genevieve's stepmother for her newborn twins, and they come to realize that despite their very different upbringings, their worlds are more interconnected than they could have imagined. Expressive verse alternates between Marisol and Genevieve's perspectives, with judicious shifts in placement emphasizing connections between them. In a story that explores class, nationalism, colorism, colonialism, and ancestry, Zoboi skillfully captures the complexities of identity and belonging, offering a powerful narrative about two girls struggling to understand who they are and where they come from.

Reviewer: S. R. Toliver | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) 4-6 Moko Magic series. It's the summer before sixth grade, and Misty and her mother have recently moved from Trinidad to live with family in Brooklyn. Despite Misty's outgoing and determined nature, she feels like an outsider, attempting to adapt to her new environment and missing her old home, particularly with her father still in Trinidad due to visa issues. One day, while searching for craft supplies in the basement, Misty and her cousin Aidan stumble upon a magical entity made from sequins, feathers, and other assorted materials. The discovery surprises the children but is less startling to the adults, who reveal that their family descends from a lineage of mokos: healers, protectors, and seers with special powers to safeguard their community. As the next generation of mokos, Misty, Aidan, and their cousin Brooke are assigned the duty of protecting the Brooklyn Carnival. Their new roles are soon challenged by a mysterious force threatening both the celebration and those who celebrate it. Baptiste's fast-paced narrative skillfully blends humor, history, and heart. Readers familiar with her Jumbies series and other works rich in Caribbean lore will find this story both entertaining and resonant, celebrating family, community, history, and the power of storytelling.

Reviewer: S. R. Toliver | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Darika Lovelace is spending the summer in Trinidad with her grandmother; she feels like her dad and stepmother don't want her around because she has been getting in trouble. She also misses her mom, who left two years earlier. When she arrives in Trinidad, she notices a strange woman looking at her; she asks about it, but Granny brushes her off. Later, Granny asks her to clear out her mother's childhood room and finish the mural her mom started. While painting the mural, Darika begins to have strange visions of her mom trapped in a tree she painted. Darika learns from some neighborhood kids that she is a witch and must save her mother. Howard mixes Trinidadian folklore with present-day issues to create a fast-paced adventure. Her descriptions of the island are vivid and create a strong sense of place; references to popular video games add appeal. Fans of Baptiste's Jumbies series will enjoy this accessible page-turner.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) YA In this historical verse novel, teenage Lucille comes of age against the uneasy backdrop of 1930s Haiti. The American colonizers have removed their troops, and political discussions among Haiti's new leaders about the country's future are turning incendiary. Lucille discovers she has the gift of hearing her deceased mother's spirit in their mapou tree, and the only one who understands her gift is Fifina, Lucille's best friend and first love. Fifina vanishes under terrible circumstances, which leads Lucille to a confrontation at the section chief's house; she must then leave home. Now a servant in Madame Ovide's house, Lucille is intrigued by conversations she hears about progress, but to quell Lucille's growing relationship with her son, Oreste, Madame Ovide sends Lucille to another one of her homes, to help an eccentric American who has come to the island to do fieldwork in folklore: Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston's presence angers some powerful Haitian politicians, and Lucille finds herself in a race to save Zora, Oreste, Fifina, and herself. The novel addresses issues of classism, colorism, misogyny, and activism with nuance. While the resolution is somewhat abrupt, the detailed, lyrical free verse makes for an impressive debut.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Sara Palacios. In this expert picture-book riff on the classic Caribbean folktale "La Cucaracha Martina," Otheguy celebrates big families with room for all types of dispositions. Introverted, story-loving Martina is overwhelmed by the noise from her three boisterous tías, who have come for a visit and a fiesta. With a pounding headache, Martina slips away, falls into a pot of bubbling guava fruit, and is transported to a warm island, illustrated in calming blues. On the island, she interacts with various animals until she finds the quiet ratoncito. In the end, Martina misses her loud family and makes her way back to her tías. She shares the story of her adventure, and her tías listen attentively. Colorful collages, digitally rendered, bring a sense of vibrancy. Palacios's visual representation of the cacophony of sounds in the overlays--in particular the page with all three tías--is bright and loud; you can feel the noise pop off the page. An author's note explains the folktale tie-in and explores the trope of the loud Latina.

Reviewer: Yesica Hurd | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

(2) YA Pheus is an Afro-Dominican, bachata-singing teen whose Bronx world is upended when he meets Eury, a Puerto Rican girl visiting New York after she is forced from her home in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Suddenly, instead of spending his time charming girls and going to the beach, Pheus feels driven to allay the trauma that follows Eury. Eury is hoping the evil spirit Ato, who has haunted her life since childhood, won't follow her to New York, and meeting Pheus distracts her temporarily from her troubles. But eventually, when she is attacked and falls into a coma, Ato finds her and takes her to el Inframundo (the Underworld), and Pheus follows on a quest to save her. This detailed reimagining of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice mixes contemporary realism with fantasy, starting with the backbone of the Greek myth and adding elements of Caribbean mythology alongside realistic issues of identity and trauma, as Eury's loved ones debate the best way to help her in her struggles with anxiety. Though one could enjoy this story without prior knowledge of the myth, knowing the original will likely give readers a unique appreciation for this version's updates.

Reviewer: Christina L. Dobbs | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2021

(2) 4-6 After defeating her vengeful jumbie aunt and out-dealing the treacherous water jumbie Mama D'Leau (Rise of the Jumbies), Corinne worries that an off-season hurricane has the hallmarks of Mama's cruel mischief. But this is the work of an angry god, and half-jumbie Corinne has no idea how to stop a god's wrath and save her Caribbean island. Baptiste successfully blends fantastical and realistic elements, punctuating the plot with true and terrifying details.

Reviewer: Anastasia M. Collins | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2019

(2) 4-6 When several children go missing, suspicion falls on the mischievous jumbies and on half-jumbie Corinne (The Jumbies). Corinne and friends set out across (and under) the ocean to secure help from powerful water jumbie Mama D'Leau. As Baptiste's rich seascape of Caribbean myth expands to Ghana's coast, she fully integrates the impact of the transatlantic slave trade on Caribbean people into her complex and deeply thoughtful narrative.

Reviewer: Anastasia M. Collins | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2018

(4) 4-6 Corinne La Mer, who has lived all her life on an unspecified Caribbean island, fights off a violent uprising of jumbies, fantastical indigenous creatures led by a female figure she discovers was actually her dead mother's sister. Despite some heavy-handed messaging, Baptiste's story, based on a Haitian folktale, is action-packed and original with an appealing cast of characters.

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Diane Greenseid. Vivid acrylic paintings drenched in primary colors accompany a Caribbean version of "Stone Soup." Granny has no food until she uses a seashell to help her convince the people in the marketplace to contribute to a magical soup. Soon meat, fish, vegetables, and spices are filling the pot and the kallaloo (Caribbean gumbo) is boiling away. Two recipes are appended.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) K-3 Hand-sewn fabric illustrations distinguish this tale inspired by Caribbean folklore. When Emanuel, "a very small chile," disobeys his grandmother, he provokes the wrath of the village's spiritual protector, Mista Mocko Jumbie. The text is so skeletal that the author's notes and glossary are essential reading, but the "story fabric" technique is impressive and expressive.

Reviewer: Amanda Sullivan

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Fabian Negrin. Based on Dominican folklore, this dreamy story tells how a bold ciguapa almost reveals her tribe's whereabouts. Ciguapas are beautiful creatures who live underwater and hunt for food on land at night; their feet are on backwards, so their footprints never give their location away. Illustrations in a rich blue-green palette bring out the magical realism in this well-told tale.

Reviewer: Pamela McCuen

(3) K-3 Cecile yearns for her mother, who has left their Caribbean home to find work on the mainland. Although her grandmother and grandfather care well for her, Cecile is truly excited when her mother sends for her during the school vacation. The lives of many children whose parents must leave their homes to find economic opportunity is reflected in this tale. The rich paintings are full of details, and a folktale about a mermaid is interwoven in the story.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Stefan Czernecki. A cadenced text tells about the creation of the world and the origin of ethnic diversity. Papa God says, "If everyone looked alike and spoke the same language, it would be very boring . . . . This way they can live their lives learning all about each other." Illustrations in the brilliant colors of the tropics portray Mama God, Papa God, and their human creations with mask-like features.

Reviewer: Henrietta M. Smith

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Brian Pinkney. This lively adaptation is based on a French Creole version of Perrault's familiar tale. Choosing Cendrillon's godmother (a lonely old washerwoman) as narrator provides a fine rationale for the intimate yet traditional storytelling tone that San Souci adopts here. Pinkney's signature multimedia art glows with the richly saturated colors of the Caribbean. This vital, assured "Cinderella" deserves a place in every library.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 1998