(2) 4-6 A car accident during a blizzard strands twelve-year-old Willow's family in tiny Kismet, Maine, for days. As Willow gets to know the townspeople, she discovers a secret: they eat berries from a magic bush to see the next day's events in their dreams. Duble populates her story with well-rounded adult and child characters, and the book's fate-versus-free-will theme is handled in a child-friendly and realistic manner.

Reviewer: Sarah Rettger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(3) YA Tutored and protected by Algernon, thief Celie survives on the Parisian streets until Madame Tussaud takes an interest in her drawings and offers the two a home. The arrangement exposes Celie to both the luxurious excesses of Versailles and the bloody ones of revolutionaries. Celie's loyalties are tested in this smart historical tale exploring the intersection of art, love, and politics.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(2) 4-6 Noah's uncle is a member of the "Phantoms," an elite group of military skiers training for assault against the Germans in the Italian Alps in 1944. Noah joins up, giving readers a you-are-there close-up of the action. Everything is forthrightly told--from plot to characterization to emotions--and the details of training are pitched just right for reluctant readers.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2011

(3) 4-6 This tale of Henry Hudson's ill-fated last voyage is told in four alternating voices, including one of the sons Hudson left behind and one he took with him. A crewmember and a young female spy in Holland round out the narrators. Each of the story's strands is adroitly spun, adding poignancy and intrigue to this imagined version of the famously mutinous expedition.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Alexander Farquharson. Sam is enthralled by his grandpa's tales of seal trapping, dramatic rescues, and brutal storms while aboard the Samson, a Norwegian schooner. The story Sam loves best is how Grandpa built his house from salvaged timber from the Samson wreck. Though the adventures are exciting, shifts in narration are jarring. Well-executed oil illustrations enhance this sea story about a real ship. Reading list, timeline, websites.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(4) 4-6 Samantha thinks her summer is ruined after finding out she must spend it with her grumpy grandfather, the Colonel. When she learns the Colonel has a secret--he built an airplane and is entering it in a competition--Samantha discovers she has more in common with him than she thought. Although the dialogue is wooden, the bond between Samantha and the Colonel is convincing.

Reviewer: Allison Cole

(4) 4-6 In the summer of 1820, fifteen-year-old Lucy struggles to support her friend Jesse, please her father, and discover her own desires. Torn between marriage and friendship, a life in her mountain community or one in Boston, Lucy eventually makes some unexpected choices. The plot twists late in the novel are less convincing than are the artful characterizations that precede them.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac