(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Kaylani can't understand why her incarcerated father wants her to go to Martha's Vineyard with family friends so badly. She'd planned to spend her summer at home in Brooklyn studying up on law so she can help get him out of prison; she knows her dad is innocent of his fraud and embezzlement charges. Though her hosts' granddaughter London is too snooty to attempt a relationship with her, Kaylani enjoys interacting with some of the kinder people on the island. Then, shockingly, a teen is found dead. The community is stunned to discover that authorities are looking into the death as a murder case, and Kaylani decides to put her investigative and legal skills to use. What she discovers could change the dynamic between her and London, expose hidden history of the island, and change her own future—if she can survive the summer. Kaylani is a protagonist with whom readers will sympathize—intelligent and determined without being two-dimensional. The history of African Americans on Martha's Vineyard is worked naturally into the story, as are issues of incarceration and classism. This debut middle-grade novel from acclaimed young adult author Jackson (The Weight of Blood, rev. 9/22) is immediately accessible to preteens but maintains the intensity for which Jackson is known.

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

(2) YA We Were Liars series. The summer after she graduates from high school, Matilda receives an email from the father she's never known. Kingsley Cello, a famous artist, invites her to his home at Hidden Beach and says he has a painting he wants to give her. Intrigued and feeling at loose ends -- her existing relationships are tenuous -- Matilda makes the trip from Los Angeles to Martha's Vineyard. When she arrives, Kingsley is nowhere to be found, and the people she does meet, including her half-brother, Meer, and Kingsley's romantic partner, June, dismiss his absence as artistic eccentricity. Strange discoveries follow as Matilda gets to know Kingsley's off-the-grid household, leading eventually to major revelations and then devastating consequences. Matilda's yearning for connection with and validation from her father is palpable, as is her confusion about the unconventional situation; occasional passages of cascading short lines create a sense of immediacy and, as the story progresses, of her trying to piece things together. Set in the same world as We Were Liars (rev. 5/14) and Family of Liars (rev. 5/22), this novel takes place immediately after the former's pivotal event; as an opening note from Lockhart indicates, it can be understood on its own but includes spoilers for the previous books. Like those, this book's plot hinges on secrets, but an affecting emotional arc is at its core. A concluding note expands on literary and other references.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2025

(2) 4-6 Show Me a Sign Trilogy series. Following the events of Show Me a Sign (rev. 9/20) and Set Me Free (rev. 11/21), it is now 1810 and Mary leaves Martha's Vineyard again, this time to travel with several hearing, non-signing missionary women to England and France. "The holy relics," as she thinks of them, want to use her to learn about deaf education to expand their missionary work. Although Mary feels at odds with their imperialistic religiosity and sourpuss personalities, she can't pass up the chance to connect with deaf educators and students in France, where she knows there is an exclusively signing school for the deaf. Her first-person, present-tense account is in part a history of deaf education in England and France (ultimately, fundamental to American Sign Language and American schools for the deaf). But LeZotte also conveys Mary's experience of exclusion by "the holy relics," who are convinced of her intellectual inferiority and disregard her in communication. Mary's stalwart nature stands her in good stead: stubborn and driven in her desire to bring greater access to sign language and education to the deaf at home, she dodges the missionaries' attempts to keep her captive. Through Mary's insights and opinions (which are rather twenty-first century in articulation), LeZotte shows that the heartfelt need for Deaf culture, solidarity, and belonging is something both historical and contemporary.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(2) 4-6 In this sequel to Show Me a Sign (rev. 9/20), deaf, signing Mary, now fourteen, once again leaves her home on Martha's Vineyard--where being deaf and signing is part of the established culture--for Boston and environs, a world in which deafness is considered monstrous or, at best, pitiable. Mary has taken up a request that she teach language to a seemingly non-lingual, deaf child of an affluent family. When she arrives at their manor, she finds her charge locked away and the household governed by an abusive butler. As Mary experiments with teaching methods, she realizes that her student's condition is quite different than was supposed, and in an audacious act of rescue returns the child to her proper home. Throughout, as in the previous novel, LeZotte sensitively interweaves and illuminates historical, white attitudes toward deaf people, the Wampanoag people, and the Black population, all the while championing Mary's forthright insistence that all be treated with respect. Mary seems set to become a true hero-adventurer, an almost larger-than-life sleuth, teacher, and woman of action; and while the story's subject matter is serious in its engagement with history's ills, LeZotte conveys a sense of real enjoyment in having Mary disrupt (a little anachronistically, perhaps) the prejudices and expectations of the status quo.

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

(1) 4-6 In 1805 Chilmark, on Martha's Vineyard, eleven-year-old Mary Lambert's family is grieving the death of her brother George in a horse-cart accident. In the larger picture, English-settler residents (Mary's family among them) and the Wampanoag are on opposite sides of a land dispute, causing strife and division. But what causes not a drop of tension is the fact that a significant percent of the English population, including Mary, is Deaf, with many families having both hearing and Deaf members, so everyone is adept at sign language and no stigma is attached to deafness. The novel opens slowly, with Mary, in her direct and intelligent first-person present-tense narration, setting the scene (as well as gradually revealing her agonizing guilt over her role in George's accident). But with the arrival from Boston of a scientist studying the causes of what he calls Deaf islanders' "infirmity," the pace increases, and readers find themselves immersed in a thriller, as Mary endures a violent abduction, enforced servitude, and abusive experimentation. Her eventual rescue is both nail-bitingly suspenseful and empowering, as she plays an active part in freeing herself. Everything about this novel is nuanced, from the syntax of the sign language to the discussions of island politics and history. Mary's dramatic adventure will enthrall readers, but her internal journey--from being an uncomfortable witness to prejudice (including her mother's toward the Wampanoag and freedmen, or former slaves), to experiencing it herself, to determining to oppose it by leading by example--is equally important, and profound.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2020

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Merrilee Liddiard . Twelve-year-old Cove, lonesome after best friend Nina moves from Martha's Vineyard to NYC with her dads, makes three new friends. One, an elder-home resident, teaches Cove to sew. In hopes of visiting Nina, Cove determines to win a spot on a Project Runway–like show. Blecher's characters are well rounded, and her sense of place--including the vacation destination's socioeconomic disparities--effectively conveyed. Occasional sketches (ostensibly by Nina) are interspersed.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Kate Garchinsky. Belle, an osprey born on Martha's Vineyard, is tracked by two scientists as she migrates to South America and back. Bierregaard (one of the scientists) writes engagingly about Belle's adventure--over eighteen months and thousands of miles--in a narrative text that reads like a story. Gorgeous illustrations in watercolor pencil, ink, and aqua crayon help readers visualize the journey. Reading list, websites. Ind.

Reviewer: Janet Dawson

(3) 4-6 Devlin Quick Mysteries series. With the discovery of a gold doubloon, twelve-year-old sleuth Devlin Quick (Into the Lion's Den; Digging for Trouble) and her best friend Booker embark on a pirate-treasure adventure during a summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard. To determine the coin's owner, Devlin must once again draw upon her sound detective skills (and access her police-commissioner mother's resources) to solve this satisfying third mystery.

Reviewer: Grace Enriquez

(3) 4-6 In this pleasant summer adventure tale, Lebanese American Maria's mother transplants the two of them from the South Bronx to Martha's Vineyard to protect Maria from neighborhood bullies. Maria's nurse mother cares for a rich, elderly film director whom Maria befriends; she also joins forces with a local boy to sail and search for pirate treasure. Chalfoun's debut novel is filled with plenty of island atmosphere.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(2) YA With an asteroid strike imminent, three Martha's Vineyard teens--loner Caden; Sienna, just released from a psychiatric hospital; and Zan, who is trying to solve the mystery of her boyfriend's death--live what could be their last days as best they can. With a weighty, appropriately foreboding writing style, Coutts paints a candid and emotional picture of a pre-apocalyptic America.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2013

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Terre Lamb Seeley. In her third book, the Little Black Dog delivers nine pups. The Captain stealthily discovers the hidden birthing spot and brings the pups and mother safely inside from the chilly weather. The grainy illustrations have some awkward moments, but they suitably capture the unpretentious story's Martha's Vineyard setting.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(3) YA Vacationing on Martha's Vineyard, Grace, the shy daughter of a superstar actress, discovers the island's role in her mother's secret-shrouded past, including her father's identity. Eager for truth, Grace uses local friends, shrewd thinking, and luck to find answers. While the novel's quick and neat conclusion detracts from its overall reality, Grace is an engaging fifteen-year-old.

Reviewer: Lauren Maggio

(3) 4-6 In this fast-paced sequel to Devil's Bridge, Ben discovers a car in the water off Martha's Vineyard and, later, the teenage driver's body. He also begins making deliveries for a charismatic older friend, but when he learns he's been delivering drugs--and that the drugs are related to the driver's death--Ben comes to his senses. Though the message is obvious, the novel is strong enough to overcome the moralizing.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Terre Lamb Seeley. In a somewhat meandering sequel to The Story of the Little Black Dog, the adopted stray lives up to her pirate name as she plunders treasures from the fishmarket, town dock, and garbage cans in Vineyard Haven. When the Shenandoah sets sail, however, the dog's treasure-hunting ways prove handy. Homey watercolors ably capture a sense of Martha's Vineyard and the lively pup's curiosity.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute