(1) 4-6 Operation Kinderspion series. From the moment eleven-year-old Max Bretzfeld arrives in England as a Jewish evacuee from WWII Germany (accompanied by two immortal, opinionated, and invisible-to-others creatures, a kobold and a dybbuk), his overriding desire is to return to Berlin. The preternaturally clever, resourceful Max has always protected his gentle parents, practiced as he is at anticipating the actions of bullies and staying ahead of their next moves. Who now will protect his parents from the Nazis? When he realizes that one of the men in his Jewish foster family works for British Naval Intelligence, he resolves to find a way to use that connection to be accepted as an undercover agent and sent back to Germany. Clearly, Gidwitz's (The Inquisitor's Tale, rev. 11/16) story calls for a great deal of suspension of disbelief, but the unlikely and fantastical elements are balanced by a rich and realistic depiction of WWII London, from the snobbery of life at an elite boys' school (including entrenched antisemitism) to the Blitz. Max's training as a spy is described in riveting detail, with readers rooting for the determined boy even as we know the dangers awaiting him if he passes the test. A cliffhanger ending (a sequel is promised) adds even more tension. An author's note gives more background on the historical and folkloric figures, settings, and events of the novel; an annotated bibliography is appended.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 The day Salva Sanchez's mami didn't come home, her life was turned upside down. Now she's living out of a van in an RV campground with her investigative journalist papi. He's on assignment in Mule Valley reporting on an undocumented woman, Marcia Lopez, who is being held in a detention center and is set for deportation away from her three young children. Salva hangs out at the campground while her father works, her only comforts the songs of salsa legend Celia Cruz. One day Salva ventures out from the campground, and music pulls her inside the local middle school, where she befriends a group of kids in a band. Salva, who blends salsa beats into contemporary pop songs, replaces the belittling Darcy as lead singer. While planning a benefit concert for Marcia to afford a top-notch immigration lawyer, Salva unexpectedly uncovers the shocking truth about Mami. Mancillas handles the difficult topic of a parent who is incarcerated with care. The circumstances are presented directly and in an age-appropriate manner. In the end, Salva confronts Papi for lying to her and sets boundaries with Mami. She also stands up to Darcy's bullying and finds that her voice can help others. An uplifting exploration of family and friendship, mental health, and finding one's place.

Reviewer: Yesica Hurd | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 Julia on the Go! series. Illustrated by Julie Kim. The rec center is nine-year-old Julia Nam's second home: it's where her parents' restaurant, Sushi to Go, is located, as well as the library and the swimming pool where she is the youngest member of the swim team. Fiercely driven, Julia goes hard in warm-ups and doesn't let up until practice is over. She lives for time trials, which her coach calls Personal Best Day, or PBD. When an ear infection forces her to take a ten-day break from swimming, she goes stir-crazy at the thought of missing PBD and the chance to qualify to compete in a regional meet. Her parents advise her that she needs to be patient and "roll with it," punning on the sushi rolls they sell. But she just can't, and readers benefit from the often-humorous trouble she gets into. Kim's black-and-white illustrations bring the rec center environment to life. Ahn subtly fleshes out Julia's world, noting in passing how the young athlete sometimes went to school hungry when her Korean immigrant parents juggled part-time jobs. This spirited first book in a projected series delivers a meaningful message about resilience, the value of patience and flexibility, and the benefits of teamwork and community building.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old narrator Morgan Turner and his older sister, Claire, used to be inseparable, even with their six-year age difference. They were a team: "She was my shoelace-knotter and jacket-zipper. She taught me how to pop my gum and Superman swing... She was always taller, faster, stronger, and smarter. Always better at everything." They abided by the Sibling Code: always there for each other, never hurting each other. But recent conflicts between Claire and their mother are disrupting the whole family and unintentionally causing pain to Morgan. The siblings are memorable characters with realistic motivations -- they aren't just set pieces moving through a plot. There's humor, too, when Claire takes her brother on a quest that includes spray painting an overpass, seeing a waterfall, and conducting a very funny driving lesson. Anderson (The Greatest Kid in the World, rev. 9/23) knows to let a big, complicated family story be complicated, to afford it the space it needs, and to allow a young boy to earn wisdom throughout the course of a powerful narrative.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Patricia Casteleo. fter Bob and Ruby have taken turns narrating the past couple of books, it's only fitting that Ivan (The One and Only Ivan, rev. 1/12) returns as the narrator for the fourth and final volume of the quartet. The gorilla protagonist now lives a good life in the wildlife park, far removed from his traumatic past filled with abuse and neglect at Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. He is surrounded by close friends, both human and animal, who sustain him and understand him, many having gone through trauma themselves. Now Ivan and his mate are about to be parents and must grapple with what this means: "'But it's my job to protect them from the world,' I said. 'It's our job to prepare them for the world,' Kinyani responded, arms crossed over her chest." Offspring aren't the only means of extending Ivan's legacy: he is the subject of a forthcoming documentary. Tragedy almost strikes at the premiere when the filmmaker's son finds himself in the gorilla enclosure with an enraged silverback bearing down on him. Ivan rises to the challenge, both as a father and as a leader. This volume doesn't stand alone as well as the others, and that's okay. It's a wonderful farewell tour for these endearing characters and the themes that they have come to embody so well: adversity, resilience, and hope.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) 4-6 This welcome historical novel traces a Sephardic Jewish family whose members travel from one country to another with first-person narrators from four generations and spanning centuries. In 1492, Benvenida and her family leave Toledo, Spain, for what is then Constantinople to escape the Spanish Inquisition. In 1923, Reina sneaks out at night and sings for a group of boys against her father's wishes and is sent from Turkey to Cuba for an arranged marriage. In 1961, Alegra teaches literacy as a brigadista but then flees Cuba for Miami with Operation Pedro Pan. And in 2003, Paloma and her family travel back to Toledo and learn what they can about their long-ago family history. The family saga provides glimpses of several moments in world history and gives readers opportunities to spot connections among the generations, sometimes knowing details about the past that the characters can only guess at. (An overly earnest tone in narration and dialogue sometimes detracts from the characters' believability.) A Ladino song and the oud that it is played on add echoes from one section to another. The author's note provides context and personal connections; back matter also includes source notes with accessible explanations.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) 4-6 This story of shifting friendships follows two seventh graders: Lily, who feels left out now that Maddie and Sasha are on an elite soccer team together; and Will, who has a crush on Lily and whose every move is fodder for his dad's podcast. There's a dance coming up, and questions of who will ask whom are on everyone's mind, aided by gossipy Sienna, who takes out her own insecurities on both Lily and Will. Entanglements and misunderstandings ensue, largely because, to its credit, the novel allows friend-group dynamics to be complicated. Maddie and Sasha seem to be closer to each other than to Lily, but Lily is the one Maddie tells about her crush on another girl. Sasha and Sienna have a secret of their own, and when it's revealed, so are more aspects of Sasha's inner life. Some of the many characters in the ensemble beyond Lily and Will are touched upon only briefly, but we learn enough about them to understand what they're all learning: that each of them is the main character in their own life.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 In 1942, French police in Occupied Paris rounded up over thirteen thousand French Jews and corralled them into a stadium; almost all perished at Auschwitz. Bradley's (The War That Saved My Life, rev. 1/15, and sequel) story begins just before the Jews are forced into the stadium, and Miri's neighbor thrusts her toddler into Miri's arms and tells her to run. Thanks to compassionate, quick-thinking nuns, the two end up in a village near Catherine de Medici's sixteenth-century castle, Chenonceau. Hiding in plain sight among summer boarders at a convent school, Miri (now known as Marie) grows familiar with the castle -- and with a ghost visible only to her, of Catherine de Medici herself. When Miri gets involved in rescuing refugees, Catherine repeatedly steps in to help her out. This is an engaging, imaginative yarn, and Miri's vulnerability and sense of responsibility give it emotional weight and contemporary appeal -- despite, or perhaps because of, the ways it stretches credulity. Given the ease of a few elements as well as a helpful ghost and Miri's talkativeness -- even when hiding from German soldiers only a few feet away -- the novel is something of an unlikely confection, like the fairy tale–esque castle at its center. Best read in tandem with more straightforward Holocaust accounts.`

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. In this first-person novel in verse, Burg (Serafina's Promise, rev. 9/13) imagines the life of the groundbreaking environmentalist from age eleven through adulthood. Rachel possesses a heightened awareness of nature and makes close observation of the plants, birds, and animals in the surrounding fields and woods. When a teacher praises her writing, she vows to become a writer of fiction. Many obstacles thwart her success, including multiple family crises, so she shifts her career ambitions to studying science. While the limitations on women in the field keep her from capitalizing on all the skills and scientific knowledge she acquires, she is persistent and publishes articles, pamphlets, letters, reports, and books -- laying the foundation for a global movement of environmental awareness and action. Burg's lyrical language keeps the focus on Carson's love of nature and raises many questions that prompt the reader to think critically; e.g., "Why is science considered / the realm of men? / Are we not all people?" and "When will man realize that he / is a part of nature, not its master?" Along with interspersed "Field Notes," Blackall's occasional black-and-white illustrations of plants and animals aptly suggest a kind of nature journal.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) 4-6 Eleven-year-old Princess Marigold has grown up in the shadow of her perfect older sister, Rosalind, who was abducted by a wizard long before Marigold was born. When Rosalind miraculously finds her way home, Marigold is ambivalent and rashly decides that she's wicked and doesn't belong in the kingdom. She runs away to a place where she can embrace her so-called wickedness: the fortress of the wizard who held Rosalind captive for fifteen years. She can stay with Wizard Torville and his imp, Pettifog, if she passes a test to prove that she's evil: "I'll give you seven days to do something so vile that even an imp can't deny your wicked nature." Hijinks ensue (including Marigold mistakenly turning Torville into a sentient blob). When a pair of wizards plots to destroy a peace treaty among the kingdoms, Marigold must reckon with what it really means to be wicked. What began as sisterly revenge becomes part of a complicated web of spells that could undo the Cacophonous Kingdoms altogether. Carlson's deftly told story tackles questions of good versus evil and sibling bonds with a cast of oddball creatures and lots of humor. Clever, quirky, and cozy.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) 4-6 Chung and Majoka offer a wordless graphic novel for younger readers that presents dystopian science fiction through a gentle, nearly amicable viewpoint. After a brief sepia-tone introduction showcases a classroom of students assembling a time capsule (complete with a retro viewfinder), readers are presented with a time jump by way of a futuristic spacecraft soaring across a cosmic double-page spread of swirling purples and blues. Inside the craft is a young astronaut traveling from planet to planet in search of geological specimens. Lonely, the adventurer sets coordinates for home; however, a detour leads to a very Earth-like planet. There the explorer finds abandoned buildings, crumbling infrastructure, and an abundance of luminescent, mushroom-like growths. Only after the protagonist discovers the aforementioned viewfinder can the history of the planet be puzzled together through photo-flashbacks -- and the story culminates in a near-encounter with the viewfinder's original owner. Drawn by Chung and digitally painted by Majoka, the cinematic cartooning has a polished, animated aesthetic composed of endlessly intriguing and imaginative scenes of an abandoned planet, heightened by moments of mild action and skillful lightning effects. A luminous, thought-provoking adventure.

Reviewer: Patrick Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(3) 4-6 The seaside town of New Rotterdam is known as one of “America’s Most Haunted Cities.” As Salem is famous for its witches and New Orleans for its ghosts, New Rotterdam has its urban legends—the Laughing Man, Headless Kate, and the Shadow in the Mirror. Friends Emrys and Hazel contribute pieces on local cryptids to the New Rotterdam Wiki Project and The Doomsday Archives, “where all the weird stuff that happens here gets cataloged.” After an apartment in their building is destroyed by a mysterious force, they discover their neighbor, Alyx Van Stavern, entombed in a book called Atlas of the End, a guiding text of the Order of the Azure Eye, an organization dedicated to protecting the world from dark forces. Van Stavern, a sorcerer and final member of the Order, inducts Emrys, Hazel, and their friend Serena and sends them on a mission involving a mysterious hourglass with blood-red sand, missing people, and a strange woman who eats children. The plot-driven narrative with interspersed illustrations (final art not seen), wiki excerpts, and interludes offers an action-packed debut for this horror series. As the last remaining members of the Order of the Azure Eye, Emrys, Hazel, and Serena are ready for adventures in future installments.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider

(2) 4-6 K is a bourgeois school boy in what appears to be late-nineteenth-century Bohemia. He is frail, anxious, and lonely, isolated at home, withdrawn at school. In each of five graphic short stories, Clement presents a situation of powerlessness, oppression, or ennui in which K encounters a small moment of grace. An errand to buy a carp turns into a nightmare of chaos and alienation, but when K finally makes it back home, pursued by angry townspeople, his mother stands up for him. Faced with the cruel, absurdist bureaucracy of his school, K is comforted by a helpful beetle who advises him to write about it all one day. Based loosely on the life and work of Franz Kafka, this volume makes adept use of the graphic format, as everything from the pace of the panels to the size of the type effectively conveys the feeling of being small, quiet, and timid in a world that can be giant, loud, and aggressive. This isn't parody, pastiche, or melodrama but rather a sympathetic and respectful portrait of the condition of being a child, a condition as familiar now as then. Pair with Theule's Kafka and the Doll for an introduction to a sad boy who became one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(1) 4-6 In 1879, Lettie's African American family begins a westward journey from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nebraska, where her father seeks a better life for them. "We can't live free / on someone else's land / picking someone else's crop! / I need something to call my own." Eleven-year-old Lettie, her parents, and her two younger brothers load all they can into a wagon and join a caravan of ten families journeying on flatboat and on foot. Cline-Ransome's spare free-verse narrative centers three skillfully developed female voices: Lettie; her mother, Sylvia; and eighteen-year-old Philomena, on her way to her first teaching job in Nebraska. Lettie keeps track of the miles and spending on supplies while Sylvia does her best to keep the children's spirits uplifted. Philomena joins the family in Missouri, gaining passage in exchange for help with cooking and laundry. The treacherous terrain, extreme weather changes, and unforeseen tragedies are overwhelming at times, but the sense of community among the travelers offers a prevailing sense of hope. This is a captivating story about African American homesteaders and their claims to land promised them after the Civil War.

Reviewer: Pauletta Brown Bracy | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 Returning to her literary roots in Florida (see: Because of Winn-Dixie, rev. 7/00; Raymie Nightingale, rev. 3/16), DiCamillo again explores bonds of family, friends, and community. Ferris Winkey finds the summer before fifth grade a puzzling one. Much turbulence surrounds her immediate family, her best friend, and some townspeople: her beloved grandmother, Clarisse, sees a ghost; her uncle leaves his wife and takes up residence in the Winkey basement; her younger sister aspires to be a famous outlaw; and her piano prodigy best friend plays "Mysterious Barricades" exclusively and repeatedly. Thanks to her fourth-grade teacher, who now cries constantly, Ferris has the words for these characters: formidable, unfathomable, unrepentant, quixotic, and bereft. Foreboding is another word Ferris contemplates as Clarisse's health gradually fails. But having the words to describe people and understanding them is not the same. In a glorious climax in which all the book's characters gather to appease the ghost, Ferris discovers that obstacles between individuals can disappear if they have the courage to believe in, rather than simply define, a word she knew all along: love. The limited third-person narration glimpses other lives but never dwells on them, thus leaving Ferris's honest, pre-adolescent perspective to drive the story line. As Clarisse tells Ferris, "Every good story is a love story." Here, DiCamillo adeptly proves this axiom.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Veronica Agarwal. At the start of this graphic novel, swimmer Tyler "Shark Fin" de Lugo has just gotten his cast off after a broken arm. It seems like perfect timing, with sleepaway camp about to begin. But Ty's best friend, swim teammate, and camp bunkmate Max has been acting distant, angry, and strange, and Ty's negative self-talk -- in both the first-person ("I got fat. I'm not good enough anymore. I'm useless as a friend, useless to the team") and dialogue ("Was he making fun of me? I must look like garbage right now." "Of COURSE he was making fun of you...idiot") -- is preventing him from getting back in the water. In fact, when Ty is feeling low, the graphic-panel art often shows him imagining being nearly drowned. Durfey-Lavoie and Agarwal (Just Roll with It, rev. 9/21) present another sympathetic and flawed protagonist whose experiences and interactions are understandable and affecting. A few helpful adults at the camp, including a former high school football star turned chill-dude counselor, give Ty some strategies and messaging for countering his insecurities and moving forward. Easy-to-follow panel art in subdued hues helps set the summer-camp scene, reflecting challenges that are cooperative both physically (e.g., building a boat) and emotionally (opening up to a friend -- and maybe more) along with individual growth and acceptance.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) 4-6 Ever since the plague three centuries ago, during which the Prince of Dantessa challenged Lady Death to a game of noctis for the lives of her people, inhabitants of the tiny magical island compete for wealth and standing by taking wagers in the Great Game, the magic system that oversees all games of chance. But when Pia's Gramps loses a final game and is banished, Pia will do whatever it takes to win the money it would take to recall him to play. Her opportunity comes when she is recruited by the Seafoxes into a tournament that carries a hefty prize. Their chief rival is the Krakens, captained by Renzo, once Pia's greatest childhood friend but now her enemy. Can the Seafoxes compete in an arena where the wealthy can afford magical boons that give them considerable advantages -- and can they find a way to break the Great Game so that wealth doesn't automatically equal winning? Befitting a society run by games, some of the magic is silly (one game involves dueling with swordfish; some boons involve being given zebra stripes or invulnerability while standing on one foot), but things become very serious when Lady Death herself appears in order to compete in the tournament. Inventive and unexpected, this creative fantasy will entertain readers while striking deeper notes of honor and teamwork in the face of peril.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 After "a bunch of water ruin[s] her life," all that our twelve-year-old protagonist wants to do is get back to normal. But what does normal look like for "Temple Baxter, flood victim"? It doesn't look like living in temporary quarters for weeks, switching schools, and constantly babysitting her three-year-old sister while her parents work and deal with the extensive repairs on their home. When her former private school friends ghost her, she's further unmoored. A natural organizer, Temple lands on the coping strategy of planning a fundraiser. With the help of neighborhood frenemy Jesse and new friend Asha, whose reframing of "flood victim" as "aquatic adventurer" helps Temple find her footing, she recruits local media, some big-name acts, and (just in time) a venue. With a plot that leans on the "plucky kids save the day with a big show" trope, this could read like a heartwarming feature story on the local news. But Faris elevates it with a keen sensitivity to Temple's emotional development as the tween comes to a maturing sense of her place in her family and community. Her desperate insistence that her parents level with her will strike chords of recognition in readers who are also teetering on the brink of agency. Sincere and heartfelt.

Reviewer: Vicky Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 Seventh grader Mahnoor Raheem is less than thrilled when her Pakistani grandmother, Dadi, comes to live with them in Texas. Not only does Maha have to give up her bedroom, but her father also expects her to "babysit" his mother while he and Maha's mom work long hours at the hospital. Although her home life is disrupted, Maha is excited about her media studies elective; she sees the class as a steppingstone to pursuing her dream of becoming a journalist. A class project -- making "a documentary on a topic that's newsworthy" -- gives Maha the opportunity to learn more about Dadi's life and an appreciation for what history can teach us about the present. By spending time with her grandmother prepping meals, participating in her first Ramadan fast, and playing board games, she learns a great deal about the 1947 Partition of British India into India and Pakistan. Faruqi introduces readers to the Partition, the largest mass migration in history, through relatable characters experiencing recognizable middle-school dynamics. The conversational style of the historical retelling offsets some of the heavier issues of rampant violence, refugee resettlement, and trauma. Readers are rewarded with a deeply immersive and moving story as Maha experiences a shift in understanding of her hyphenated identities and connects her family's history to other immigrant experiences.

Reviewer: Sadaf Siddique | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 Eleven-year-old Sunny Parker lives with her father, the manager and handyman of Del Mar Garden Apartments, an affordable housing complex. She had anticipated that the summer before middle school would be boring but is propelled into activism when she realizes that protests against a new housing project oppose the people in her own community. Despite her father's desire that she stay out of things, Sunny starts a petition in support of the new housing project with best friend and neighbor, Haley. Through her interactions with those from various economic backgrounds and with an array of family structures, and abilities, Sunny's understanding of the world around her expands, and she finds the courage to stand up for others. A conversation with Haley, who is Black, helps Sunny recognize her white privilege, although the girls share similar circumstances: "I didn't feel like anyone's past was determining my future. I may have lost my mom, but I still blended in around town, even with my used clothes." Though the story thoughtfully tackles serious topics such as domestic violence and structural racism, Sunny's hopeful perspective and commitment to community care enhance the swiftly paced narrative. Ultimately, Sunny's journey is a celebration of the power of empathy, intergenerational friendships, and collective action -- potentially inspiring readers to create positive change.

Reviewer: Kristine Techavanich | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024