(3) 4-6 Mori, Julia, Benji, and Theo try to help their "something other than human" friend, Ilana, who was created by--and is now threatened by--the founding corporation of their utopian community. The kids escape the confines of Old Harmonie and meet a group of outsiders. Sci-fi lovers and fans of the first novel (The Firefly Code) will enjoy this fast-paced, complex sequel.

Reviewer: Aimee Chevrette Bear

(3) 4-6 When new girl Ilana joins Mori's futuristic utopian community, Mori is fascinated by her perfection and a friendship forms. Soon the girls are drawn into an intriguing mystery as they discover the troubling origins of their sheltered community. Fans of The Giver and the like will greatly enjoy this middle-grade dystopian novel that thoughtfully explores a multitude of complex themes.

Reviewer: Aimee Chevrette Bear

(4) 4-6 Twelve-year-old twins Eryn and Nick are shocked to hear their mother is remarrying, and even more shocked that they'll have two new stepsiblings. Their curiosity unearths not personal revelations but world-changing secrets involving human extinction and robots. Interpersonal dynamics are sometimes stilted, particularly between the twins, but multiple reveals keep the tension high throughout this family-drama turned science-fiction thriller.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(3) YA Internment Chronicles series. After being forced to flee their floating city of Internment, Morgan (Perfect Ruin) and her friends have finally reached the land on the ground, only to discover that the foreign kingdom is at war. The Jazz Age–feeling world is vividly realized, but most compelling are the complex relationships between the main character, her brother, and her companions.

Reviewer: Siena Leslie

(3) 4-6 Mouseheart series. Illustrated by Vivienne To. Pet-store mouse Hopper, the Chosen One, struggles with the aftermath of the war in Mouseheart, here rebuilding the rat city of Atlantia in Brooklyn's subway tunnels. Predator-prey and enemy-ally relationships are examined as cats, rodents, and insects live in unison and discord. Fiedler's second animal fantasy is an adventurous journey propelled by courage in the midst of danger and strengthened by kinship.

Reviewer: Sophie Williamson

(3) 4-6 Mouseheart series. Illustrated by Vivienne To. Although no longer under the shadow of Felina the cat queen, the underground city of Atlantia is still full of danger. When young mouse Hope goes missing, everyone suspects the traitor Pup, who seeks a chance to redeem himself in this spirited adventure. The third Mouseheart book is full of classic fantasy elements with an animal twist, such as the dreaded pi-rats.

Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay

(4) YA Fifteen-year-old Pearl is ecstatic to have changed from "a child to a woman"--she can now be a Companion to the all-powerful patriarch, Papa S. But with her new status comes a more sinister view of the cult community of Seed. Pearl is occasionally an unsympathetic protagonist, but this debut novel's well-paced plot, stirring climax, and provocative concept compensate.

Reviewer: Sian Gaetano

(4) 4-6 When Parker and Emma's father disappears, they join forces with Michael, a wealthy kid-genius, to outwit an international conspiracy. Their success, however, leaves them trapped in a utopian colony designed to enable the well-positioned to escape environmental disaster. Although the adults in the novel are mostly just helpful props, the adventure's fast pace will keep readers entertained until the sequel-begging conclusion.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(4) K-3 The Dillons' last collaboration aims to empower children, with an ostensibly child-narrated text imagining a world free of poverty and conflict because kids are in charge. But adult voices creep in, and there's no attempt to explain how kids would achieve their admirable goals. Rich illustrations show diverse groups of cheerful children working together--volunteering in hospitals, cleaning up trash, and more.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(4) YA Esther and the residents of Prin set out on a bicycle-powered road trip in search of safety in the utopian city of Mundreel. The constant threats of violence, lack of provisions, and toxic rainwater mean that survival is unlikely for many. Readers of Wasteland won't find too many questions answered, though the vivid, brutal dystopian setting may please fans of darker fare.

Reviewer: Barratt Miller

(3) YA Having escaped from Pioneer and his Community (Gated), Lyla must now adapt to life with the Outsiders--high school, dating--while surviving the Community's rage over her betrayal. As a brainwashed teen, Lyla's first-person narration is unreliable and emotional, scared yet resilient. This is a creepy, compelling, and enjoyable read.

Reviewer: Sian Gaetano

(2) YA Internment Chronicles series. Internment, a city floating above Earth, is a narrow, careful society--that crumbles with shocking speed after a murder. Suddenly, protagonist Morgan's quiet life begins to fall apart as well, as a chance encounter with the "murderer" leads her to question nearly all she thought she knew. A cliffhanger ending will likely leave readers agonizing until the next entry.

Reviewer: April Spisak | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2014

(3) YA With their leader out of commission after their last battle, the BZRK crew struggles to continue their fight to preserve humanity's minds from evil nanotechnology. Meanwhile, the maniacal Armstrong twins retreat to their nightmarish Doll Ship and biots have taken control of the president. With abundant, graphic nanoscale-anatomy descriptions, the fast-paced sequel to BZRK will keep readers engaged and disturbed.

Reviewer: Randy Ribay

(3) YA Part of a select few who will survive the end of the world, Lyla and her family live in the Community, led by prophet Pioneer, and she can barely remember her old life. Then an outsider raises questions she shouldn't be asking, and Pioneer does not appreciate questions. Slowly mounting action builds suspense in this coming-of-age story and examination of cult mentality.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA Teens Sadie and Noah are recruited into the battle of nature versus technology, as the deranged Armstrong twins seek world dominion by manipulating people's brains with nanotechnological robots. The guerrilla organization BZRK fights back with biots that get "down in the meat"--but at the risk of the host’s sanity. The book is all plot-driven action with terse, gory prose, including imaginative descriptions of the human body up-close.

Reviewer: Ariel Baker-Gibbs

(2) YA Readers of Gathering Blue first met Matt as an exuberant child who found Kira's father (Seer), thought to be dead but instead living in Village, a utopian community of "broken" people. Now, years later, Matty is acting as a messenger for Leader, the blue-eyed Jonas from The Giver. Lowry's serene storytelling nurtures a compelling plot that allows her themes to flourish.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2004

(3) YA In a colony on a distant planet, Jacob believes in the genetic engineering that blinds the colony members and the social structure that unifies them. But when his eyes are opened--both to corruption and to a miraculous ability to see--he questions what he's been taught. In solid, workmanlike prose, Stadler explores society and the human heart.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(2) 4-6 "I am resolved to keep two diaries, one to share with Mother and Father, and this one which shall be my honest thoughts." Whelan ingeniously imagines the seven months ten-year-old Louisa and her family spent at Fruitlands, her father's failed utopic community. The private journal offers Louisa's unexpurgated opinions and is a forum in which she explores her complex feelings toward her father and his beliefs.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2002

(2) 4-6 All eleven-year-old Lousia May wants is a happy family. That goal becomes increasingly difficult at Fruitlands, the farm her father brings the family to in order to realize his utopian goal of living in harmony with nature and with one another. Atkins puts Louisa at the center of the strains on her family. Her salvation is her journal, on which Atkins bases much of this well-researched historical novel.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2001

(4) YA Profiles series. Illustrated with dark, murky photos and reproductions, the volume discusses the history, beliefs, and leaders of several utopian communities that were founded in or that settled in the United States. The Shakers, the Harmony society, and the Theosophists are among the groups profiled in the occasionally flat text. A final chapter surveys modern utopian groups, including "virtual communities" that have sprung up on the Internet. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta