(3) PS Cute-as-can-be mouse Ozzy can't find Mommy one morning. He visits all their favorite places, each time mistaking a different (but similarly colored) plant or animal for her. After a series of disappointments and surprises, he finds Mommy gathering breakfast. The bright mouse's-eye-view acrylic illustrations with well-constructed hide-and-peek flaps will keep young ones rapt in the quest.

Reviewer: Sethany Rancier Alongi

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Amy Walrod. Imagine being a mouse who can't eat cheese. After Dolores breaks out in itchy spots and starts to sneeze, Doctor Ricotta confirms the worst: she's allergic. Walrod's illustrations of the three mouseketeer pals keep things lively with dialogue balloons and occasional comic-strip panels, while Howe's story sensibly avoids a fromage-y ending. Kids with food allergies will admire Dolores's take-charge attitude.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2009

(3) K-3 Photographs by Charles R., Jr. Smith. Reflecting Hughes's powerful words, Smith's sepia-tone photographs depict African Americans across generations. Aged, toil-worn hands represent the past, a mother with child holds onto the present, and hopeful youths look ahead into the future. Text and visuals seamlessly acclaim: "Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people." Poetry for all ages and peoples.

Reviewer: Henrietta M. Smith

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Serge Bloch. This entertaining collection presents one profession per poem, with subjects ranging from the expected ("Librarian") to the odd ("Baby Chick Inspector," "Bubble Bath Tester"). Lewis's skill for puns and wordplay keeps things lively. Bloch's eye-popping digital collage illustrations enhance the quirky energy of the text, combining varying textures and mediums to great effect.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Matt Phelan. With sensitivity and precision, Patron delves into the complexities surrounding friendship. Lucky (The Higher Power of Lucky) is thrilled to have a "normal" friend--a girl named Paloma. But, as in the first book, Lucky's show-off tendencies lead to trouble. Return readers will be contented to again pass some time in Hard Pan, while others will feel welcomed by its close-knit warmth.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2009

(4) K-3 This whimsical appreciation of felines focuses on distinctive traits of twelve domestic breeds: e.g., Persian cats are glamorous, Siberians are tough, Ragdolls are soft, etc. "Feline Facts" are included on each spread, but this is mostly a fanciful, humorous treatment of random information about cats and a showcase for Piven's mixed-media collage illustrations.

Reviewer: Paula M. Cairo

(3) K-3 In his geometric world, Puzzlehead, whose dome resembles an upward-facing capital E, is frustrated: his likewise odd-shape-headed friends are having better luck finding physical spaces that will accommodate them. The ending (together, the friends' heads form a complete shape) is predictable, but readers won't challenge the preposterous premise because they'll be too wrapped up in Puzzlehead's universal plight: fitting in.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) YA With customary zeal, Aronson speaks his mind on virtually every issue of Israeli-Palestinian relations. Throughout, he draws American parallels; some are a stretch, but most, however shaky, are thought-provoking. What he knows from experience, and airs, forthrightly, is what American and Israeli Jews of like mind think and, in closing, how American Jewish teens might help to heal the rift. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Barbara Bader | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2009

(3) YA Thirteen-year-old Martin lives in an apparent utopia. However, recent events make him begin to question this rosy picture of life. After his sister is taken away, he resolves to journey outside their domed suburb and find out the truth behind the façade. Part coming-of-age story, part thriller, the novel leads readers on an exciting adventure through a grim future.

Reviewer: Antonio Trujillo

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Paul Rogers. The song-lyrics-as-picture-book-text trend's latest victim is Dylan's 1974 ode to youthful ideals. The repetitive text just doesn't resonate without a melody. Redeeming the effort are Rogers's funky illustrations, which lovingly track a boy's journey toward becoming a Dylanesque, Greenwich Village musician-activist. Appended illustrator's notes identify the cameo appearances included in the drawings.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) YA Five-year-old Victorian slum denizen Ivy acts as a shill. When we next meet her, she's fifteen and addicted to laudanum. A "stunner," she's hired as an artist's model. Bobbing-and-weaving storytelling ensues, including a plot to dispatch Ivy and an unexpected reunion. Hearn keeps readers engrossed as they journey with Ivy from doped-up sleepwalker to young woman with a self-selected future.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2008

(4) YA Illustrated by Kelly Yates. All of Locke Vinetti's relationships have been damaged by his tendency toward angry, violent outbursts. When Locke's rage threatens his first real romance, he must find a way to reject "the venom" for good. The writing is overwrought, but readers may be compelled by Locke's forays into Manhattan's counterculture, reflected in occasional dark comic-book-style vignettes.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by J. P. Coovert. After his father's death, twelve-year-old Finn Garret's hair starts to turn white, causing him to believe he is becoming invisible. Finn's meandering journal explores many facets of dealing with grief, though it can be, by turns, too self-aware and too lighthearted to be truly believable as written by the character. Black-and-white cartoon art throughout tracks Finn's slow disappearance and reemergence.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(3) YA Although Miya lives in Japan and Chelsea is in Los Angeles, the two forge a strange but solid bond through blog posts. They're united by a shared obsession with manga and the "Gothic Lolita" subculture, which is clarified, somewhat, by sporadically interspersed ethereal black-and-white photographs. The text's stream-of-conscious style can be hard to follow but will ensnare its intended audience.

Reviewer: Lauren Maggio

(4) YA At camp, Abby tries to fit in with cool girls Zoë and Beth. Friendship dynamics change when Shasta, a girl who claims she was hit by lightning, becomes Abby's bunkmate. In this graphic novel, the action can be hard to trace, jumping between real and possibly imagined events. The black-and-white ink panel drawings effectively display the wide-ranging emotions of the middle-school characters.

Reviewer: Laura A. Woollett

(3) YA After making a gruesome discovery in her father's lab--an android-style replica of her dead mother's head--Daisy gets caught between letting go of her mother and holding onto the next best thing. Michaels effectively blends elements of science fiction and teen angst to create a suspenseful and emotionally compelling depiction of grief and reconciliation.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) YA Brutally raw and honest, Sheff paints a heartbreaking and graphic portrait of his life as a drug addict. Convinced he could quit using at any time, Sheff details how drugs rapidly took over every aspect of his life, alienating his family and friends in the process. Readers will be inspired by the author's harrowing struggle to overcome his addiction.

Reviewer: Aimee Chevrette Bear

(2) YA With ambition and imagination, Aronson has written a history of racism and its antecedents, interspersed with personal vignettes tailored to a young audience. Anti-Semitism and discrimination against blacks are focal, but they're folded into a narrative that discusses various forms of prejudice. Clearly in evidence are the complexity of race and the tenacity of racism. Pictures increase the text's impact. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Barbara Bader | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2007

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky. A boy puzzles over his grandmother, whom he adores but who embarrasses him daily: she leapfrogs on Monday, flops like a dog on Tuesday, etc. "Because..." is her only reason until she finally divulges "I-am-a-dancer!" The text of this paean to creative movement is lyrical but meanders. Radunsky's gauzy illustrations display the spirited characters in motion.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) 4-6 An orphan from Massachusetts finds her long-lost mother, now a wealthy landowner, in San Francisco's hurly-burly Gold Rush days. Blos turns this romantic premise into a credible journey of self-discovery for thirteen-year-old Eldora, whose letters to her cousin Sallie convey a good sense of daily life and the diversity of the people thrown together during this historic period.

Reviewer: Margaret A. Bush | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2007