(4) YA Sophie travels north from København, Denmark, with her sweetheart, Mikael, to ask Alfred Nobel what he knows of her parents' death. She learns that their fate is entwined with that of a Snow Queen–like nuclear physicist who has psychically wounded Mikael. In this alternate history that evokes 1930s northern Europe, cumbersome prose muffles a promising premise and a colorful setting.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Zachary Pullen. Wargin focuses on Nobel's adult life, from his invention of dynamite to his horror at its use ("...people began to use dynamite to solve problems by hurting others. This made Alfred very sad") to the creation of the Nobel Prize. Though the text is superficial, it gives a sense of the man. Pullen's accompanying oil paintings are nicely shaded but distractingly caricaturish.

Reviewer: Chelsey Philpot