(1) YA In this graphic novel, thirteen-year-old Mei Hao shares her homemade pies and homespun tales about the eponymous Auntie Po (a Chinese Paul Bunyan–type figure of Mei's own creation) with her white best friend Beatrice Andersen and many other eager listeners at Mr. Andersen's 1885 Sierra Nevada logging camp. Mei works hard to help her father cook for the camp's lumberjacks, plus separate meals for the Chinese workers, who aren't given board or allowed to eat with the others. But she dreams of a day when she and Bee can open a hybrid bookstore–pie shop together, even as she realizes that dream--and her unrequited love for Bee--may well be impossible. While Khor's pencils are digital, the rawness and unpredictability of their hand-painted watercolors complement Mei's fluctuating emotions and the harsh life at the camp, where incidents of racism and logging accidents can occur, both devastating. Khor frequently uses the whole page for their illustrations and works outside of panels, techniques that aptly enhance the historical and mythic scope of the ­narrative and that ultimately affirm Mei as the author of her own ­destiny. A multifaceted addition to the historical graphic novel genre, this unique bildungsroman successfully presents many formidable topics with intentional and comprehensive grace.

Reviewer: Niki Marion | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021

(3) YA Social-media sensation Mari leaves behind her shallow online identity to fulfill her deceased cousin Bri's dream of hiking the entire John Muir Trail. Despite having Bri's equipment and written plans, eighteen-year-old Mari is ill-prepared for trail life but learns quickly, helped by sympathetic fellow hikers who become friends. While Mari's experiences sometimes stretch credulity, her growth and introspection about living authentically should resonate with teens.

Reviewer: Renée Wheeler

(1) YA In this compelling verse novel, Brown imagines the Donner Party's harrowing survival tale as experienced by nineteen-year-old Mary Ann Graves, a real-life member of the expedition. Effectively varying meter, rhythm, and form, the poems offer a vivid and gritty portrait of life on the trail, and, for Mary Ann, a liberating sense of possibility. A nuanced and haunting portrayal of the indomitable human spirit.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2016

(3) 4-6 Cause-and-Effect Disasters series. Five disastrous events in American history are explored from a cause-and-effect perspective. Each volume includes four succinct chapters, first establishing setting before relating the major events and their aftermath/results (e.g., the Chicago Fire and 1888 Blizzard precipitated future building codes and public warning systems). Numerous photographs/illustrations, diagrams, sidebars, and a clear appended flow chart round out the presentations. Reading list, websites. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers the following Cause-and-Effect Disasters titles: The Jamestown Colony Disaster, Death in the Donner Party, Hurricane Katrina and the Flooding of New Orleans, The Great Chicago Fire, and The Children's Blizzard of 1888.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan

(2) YA Nicole's survivalist father moves the family to a ramshackle forest homestead. When Mom runs off, Dad goes after her, leaving Nicole and younger sister Izzy behind and putting Nicole's survival skills to an unfair test; at the same time, brooding commune dweller Wolf stirs up Nicole's rebellious yearnings. Nicole's struggle to reconcile her upbringing with the costs of isolation is genuine and compelling.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2015

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Olga Ivanov & Aleksey Ivanov. His mother gone to prison, Tony is sent to live with a great-uncle he's never met, a forest ranger who lives in the Sierra Nevadas with his search-and-rescue dog, Gabe. There's a good story here, but the verse-novel format (with narration by Tony and Gabe) isn't quite right, and the illustrations are at tonal odds with the text.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(3) YA Milestones in American History series. Short, clearly written chapters explore significant events in American history. The curricular-support titles are amply illustrated with black-and-white and color photographs and reproductions and supported with biographical sketches and excerpts from primary documents. There are five other spring 2009 books in this series. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Milestones in American History titles: The Donner Party, The Oregon Trail, The Pony Express, The Prohibition Era, The Outbreak of Civil War, and The Emancipation Proclamation.

Reviewer: Cindy Lombardo

(3) K-3 On My Own History series. Illustrated by Craig Orback. In 1844–45, seventeen-year-old Moses Schallenberger heads west to California with a wagon train but ends up spending a long, brutal winter alone in the mountains. Independent readers will find this simply told story of survival riveting. An afterword provides more information about Moses's life after his rescue. Orback's serviceable illustrations help break up the sections of text. Reading list, websites. Bib.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn