(2) 4-6 Kit and Clem's friendship starts to unravel when acrobat Clem suffers a serious injury while on a reality TV show. Kit's reaction to this news is to morph (involuntarily and temporarily) into a naked mole rat. The off-kilter action and widespread anxieties of this novel's world includes mental illness, alopecia, and a burglar wearing a Batman mask. The story is witty and stylish with ample quirky insights, but also breathless, with italic-studded dialogue amping up the pace.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(2) YA Rivers's unsettling second-person-perspective novel immerses readers in the experience of sixteen-year-old protagonist Elyse, flying home from a school trip in Paris when the plane terrifyingly crashes into a mountain. The rest of the story has an increasingly disorienting, dreamlike feel as Elyse and the only other survivor, her longtime crush Josh, recover in Wyoming. As Elyse less-than-lucidly wrestling with grief and her sanity, readers will ruminate on loss, fate, and death.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2019

(3) YA This thriller at first alternates between chapters set "Now," after Sloane's best friend Piper is found dead, and those from "Before," which lay the groundwork for their complicated friendship and a love triangle with Piper's boyfriend, Soup. Later, Sloane and Soup trade narration as they try to make sense of Piper's death. Rivers powerfully depicts an intense, even toxic female friendship in this juicy mystery.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(4) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Nat (Natalia), who recently moved to Canada with her larger-than-life celebrity dad, doesn't know who her mother is (though she could easily find out). She meets Harry, a boy whose parents aren't supportive of his trans identity. Harry's story is woven into Nat's, but Nat emerges as a better-fleshed-out character. While there are a lot of threads to keep track of, Rivers's exploration of identity will keep readers engaged.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(2) 4-6 Mischa ("Ish") Love's goal: being part of the first manned mission to Mars ten years from now, when she's twenty-two. But when Ish is diagnosed with a brain tumor, she finds herself dealing with a more immediate and vital problem. The writing is vivid, and the close first-person narration keeps the reader in Ish's fast-paced mind even as that mind deteriorates.

Reviewer: Sarah Rettger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2017

(2) 4-6 Eleven-year-old Kammie tells most of this story from inside the well into which she's fallen after a (fake) initiation into a popular-girls' clique. For much of the brief text, readers are right there with Kammie, learning vivid details of her predicament. Kammie's voice--often funny, but with enough truths about her problems in and out of the well that we take her seriously--is compelling.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2016

(3) YA JC (or "Sharky" because of his shark obsession) saw his best friend, "The King," fall off a building and wants to believe it was an accident. Now he's spending the summer on a sparsely populated Canadian island with his dad, coping in his own ways (including texting The King's phone). Leaving readers with much to consider, this is an introspective portrait of grief.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(2) 4-6 In this epistolary, dual-narrator story, Ruth, an American twelve-year-old, e-finds her identical twin, Ruby, in England. As with any novel in letters (in this case emails, handwritten notes, and the occasional Tumblr posting), voice is everything, and Ruth and Ruby have distinctive, convincing, and entertaining writing styles. Subplots abound, including the backstory of two complicated families. Hectic, highly textured, and good-natured without being soppy.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2014

(2) 4-6 Isadora (Tink) chronicles her twelve-going-on-thirteen summer in encyclopedia form (with footnotes, cross-references, etc.). It's an amusing yet emotional journey: one of her brothers is autistic, resulting in family tension; she and BFF Freddie Blue grow apart; and the new blue-haired neighbor boy complicates everything. Tink remains true to herself, but her personality and confidence grow stronger, creating a light but sincere, spirited story.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2012