(2) YA Seventeen-year-old Khosi (This Thing Called the Future) tries to support herself and her sister as a sangoma, only to be accused of witchcraft. Then she learns she is pregnant. When a hate crime leaves a dead Somali immigrant at Khosi's door, she feels duty-bound to speak out in her South African community. The story's blend of Catholicism, traditional beliefs, and Western scientific thought allows readers to sample Khosi's culture.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2019

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Tim Wesson. Three misfit toys (a too-strong teddy bear, a bad-tempered ragdoll, and an AWOL police-rabbit) get a second chance when they are recruited as spies by the Department of Secret Affairs. The book is mostly action sequences, some overlong, but a snarky sensibility ("soft toys are nothing more than cushions with eyes sewn on them") keeps things crisp. Plentiful grayscale cartoons add to the fun.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(4) 4-6 Connect: Discovering the New World series. In text and accompanying illustrations, both volumes in the curriculum-connection series cover much of the same cursory information about early North American explorers during the Age of Exploration, beginning with Christopher Columbus in 1492. With a running timeline format, Chronology skims through European explorers' paths up to 1700; Story tackles a different explorer with each chapter. Critical thinking questions are appended. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Discovering the New World titles: The Story of North America's First Explorers and A Chronology of North American Exploration.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(4) K-3 Illustrated by George Mendoza & Hayley Morgan-Sanders. Full-page paintings by Mendoza face text describing how, despite losing most of his vision by fifteen, Mendoza became an Olympic runner then an acclaimed painter. Mendoza's colorful, vibrant paintings overshadow the prosaic drawings on the text pages. An author's note explains the extent of Mendoza's remaining vision, his approach to painting, and his ongoing career, but it's a bit redundant.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(2) YA Khosi Zulu is fourteen, living in a township in South Africa. When her mother comes down with a wasting disease (is it AIDS? tuberculosis? a witch's curse?), Khosi seeks the help of a sangoma, a traditional healer. With extensive research into life in South Africa, Powers delivers a first-person narrative from a South African girl that has many hallmarks of authenticity.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2011

(4) YA After a man blows himself up on a bridge between Mexico and El Paso, tensions run high at Jesuit High School in Texas. Motivated by loyalty to their heritage and friends, students make alliances, but when a student is murdered, all bets are off. Chapters alternate among many voices, showing multiple perspectives but also creating confusion.

Reviewer: Lauren Maggio