(4) YA When Kiva, who believes she lives in ancient Egyptian times, awakes from that virtual reality, she's shocked to discover herself on a shuttle to retrieve a part for a spaceship--and leading the mission is Seth, the boy she'd thought was the prince of Alexandria. Although the world-building is thin and the author plays fast-and-loose with reader credulity, the emotional drama should please romance fans.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) 4-6 Since series-starter Shipwreck Island, the Robinson family has been trapped on a strange island populated by dangerous people, strange hybrid animals, and possibly even aliens. Villains searching for hidden treasure add another layer of danger. To escape, Sarah must finally learn to trust and work with new stepbrothers Marco and Nacho. Sci-fi and adventure mix entertainingly in this more cohesive but still over-the-top fourth book.

Reviewer: Antonio Trujillo

(4) 4-6 The sequel to Shipwreck Island introduces a fellow castaway, teen Cash. She tells Sarah and Sarah's new stepbrothers, Marco and Nacho, that she was taken prisoner by the sinister Curator--the person they believe to be responsible for the general strangeness of the island. While the story is creepy and full of adventure, the plot has many unresolved issues.

Reviewer: Sian Gaetano

(4) YA Author of a bestselling YA trilogy, seventeen-year-old Livvy Flynn gets into a car accident on her way to a writers' retreat. An unknown woman rescues her only to take her hostage for a purported insult that Livvy needs to figure out to gain her freedom. This drama is slow moving with two obvious "twists," but Livvy's growing self-awareness is well drawn.

Reviewer: Sian Gaetano

(3) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Sarah becomes unwilling stepsister to brothers Nacho, ten, and Marco, also twelve, when their parents wed. The blended family then goes yachting off Fiji, and things go horribly wrong. The book switches focus from the realistic, well-developed stepfamily drama to creepy paranormal elements about halfway through. Strong characters, creative world-building, and interesting genre-mixing create an entertaining, sinister adventure story.

Reviewer: Sian Gaetano

(2) YA Having escaped his father's underground bunker, Eli (The Compound) begins to investigate some shady medical research done by the company he has just inherited. Bodeen excels at using complex, uneasy family dynamics to escalate the corporate and psychological intrigue, driving tensions higher as the story unfolds. Crisp, atmospheric first-person narration never wavers from Eli's blunt, anxious voice.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2013

(2) YA When the aging turboprop carrying fifteen-year-old Robie home to Midway Island goes down over open ocean, Robie seems doomed. The pilot is dead, the co-pilot is unconscious, no one knows she was on the flight. This old-fashioned adventure story is effectively related in Robie's voice. Readers will be right there with her on the leaky raft, longing for rescue and home.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2012

(3) YA Mason's only connection with his father is a movie of a man reading a children's book. When he plays the movie for a group of comatose teens, one girl, Laila, awakens. Soon they are on the run, and Mason learns that Laila is part of an experiment to produce genetically superior life-forms. Sci-fi fans will enjoy this fast-paced, ethically complex story.

Reviewer: Aimee Chevrette Bear

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Linzie Hunter. Her parents don't want a dog, but that doesn't stop Amelia from hatching a well-thought-out and -executed plan to get her heart's desire. Colorful, skillfully composed illustrations chronicle Amelia's scheme, from hypothetical questions to an imaginary dog to searching for said imaginary dog at the animal shelter to bringing a real dog home. Fellow dog-owner-wannabes will be in awe.

Reviewer: Sethany Rancier Alongi

(2) YA When Eli was nine, his billionaire father led his family into an underground bunker built to protect them against nuclear war. Now fifteen, Eli begins questioning: is the outside world really gone? Bodeen's action-packed writing conveys the Compound environment and its subtly debilitative effects. This tense portrait of a family in crisis probes the psychological and moral costs of survival.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2008

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Aaron Boyd. Longing to own a soccer ball, Bernardi, a boy in modern-day Tanzania, sells a keepsake music box made for him by his mute grandfather, Babu. Saddened by his poor judgment, Bernardi confesses to Babu, who forgives him and uses the money to send Bernardi to school. The story is sentimental, but both Bernardi's situation and the warm, realistic watercolors accurately depict modern rural Tanzanian life.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Christy Hale. This is a story at once universal and specific, set in a contemporary Tanzanian village. Elizabeti (Mama Elizabeti) is excited about going to school for the first time, but also a bit apprehensive. Details of the school day root the story in its place and bring Elizabeti's world to life. The message that home is "the best place to be" but that school has its uses, too, will resonate with anxious new pupils. The mixed-media illustrations are striking.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2002

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Christy Hale. This sequel to Elizabeti's Doll finds Elizabeti charged with the care of her younger brother. Right away she discovers the difference between caring for her cherished--and inert--rock doll and caring for a squirming toddler. The book shares with its predecessor a resolutely childlike point of view and a matter-of-fact but authentic presentation of another culture (that of rural Tanzania).

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2000

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Pam DeVito. When young Emma learns she'll have a new sibling soon, she thinks of all the activities she can do with the baby. But when her brother Isaac is born with Down syndrome, her father explains that she can probably do all of the activities she had planned, but that Isaac might require more time, patience, and help to do them. Unremarkable illustrations accompany the story, which focuses on portraying Isaac as a baby, rather than a baby with Down syndrome. Information about Down syndrome is appended.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Christy Hale. Elizabeti, a contemporary Tanzanian girl, adopts an oval-shaped rock as a doll and names it Eva. The story tells about Eva's temporary disappearance, but the heart of the story is Elizabeti's acceptance of Eva not just as a real doll, but as a real person. The straightforward telling is smooth and clean, and the illustrations, echoing Eva's shape and color, are often oval vignettes with softly speckled backgrounds.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 1998