(2) YA Seventeen-year-old narrator Kiera is (secretly) the creator of the hugely popular multiplayer gaming community SLAY, which is rooted in Black culture and which she developed to "showcase how awesome we are as Black people, how multifaceted, resilient, and colorful we are." When a troll disrupts SLAY--and an act of real-life violence follows--Kiera must investigate the events without losing herself or compromising her creation. Morris has truly captured the holistic experiences of many Black digital users.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(2) YA Twelve-year-old Simon believes aliens have made regular contact with humans. When this belief is terrifyingly confirmed on a camping trip, the truth seems too much to bear. Escaping into computer games and his own fantasy writing, Simon finds some comfort but no resolution to his increasingly frequent abductions by aliens. Simon's first-person narration sustains the story's strong forward momentum toward a climax that will chill readers straight to the bone.

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2019

(3) YA Emma is a talented computer-game designer dealing with a nasty internet troll while her parents' marriage crumbles. Rev is the weird kid at school with a secret: his estranged, abusive birth father is trying to contact him. A chance meeting brings the two sensitive teens together; their blossoming romance is sweet but doesn't distract from their equally complex and compellingly told personal dilemmas.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald

(2) YA Emika Chen (Warcross) isn't over Hideo Tanaka, inventor of the virtual reality–enabling NeuroLink, which was redesigned to subvert people's free will. While preparing for the Warcross championship rematch game, Emika is courted by Hideo's nemesis (and long-ago-kidnapped younger brother), Zero. This edge-of-your-seat sequel propels readers through action sequences and intrigue in the shadowy Tokyo underground, even as they may ponder the ethical implications of biotechnology, virtual realities, and artificial intelligence.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2018

(3) YA With her mom's death, her dad's remarriage, and estrangement from her best friend, sixteen-year-old anxious introvert Analee prefers online role-playing games to living in the real world. An arrangement to fake-date a popular jock, though, sets her on a course of self-rediscovery. Milanes delivers a diverse cast of fully fleshed-out characters with nuanced relationships and relatable situations in this complex, rewarding rom-com.

Reviewer: Lana Barnes

(3) 4-6 Rogan Webber, twelve, spends most of his life in Virtual City, gaming his way to the top five in Laser Viper. Invited to compete in an exclusive, high-stakes gaming competition at the creator's cushy headquarters, Rogan eagerly agrees, but the young competitors soon realize the game feels alarmingly real. Video gamers especially will love this thrilling, high-tech adventure.

Reviewer: Jenn Matters

(3) 4-6 Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming series. Each of these informative titles introduces young readers to a specific popular video game, sharing--over four or five brief chapters--the history of each game's development, success, and fandom. Full-page sidebars feature key developers and related careers. Photos of game content, creators, and actual fans appear on every page and highlight the gaming industry's racial and gender diversity. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming titles: The World of Angry Birds, The World of Minecraft, The World of Mario Bros., and The World of Pokémon.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(3) 4-6 Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming series. Each of these informative titles introduces young readers to a specific popular video game, sharing--over four or five brief chapters--the history of each game's development, success, and fandom. Full-page sidebars feature key developers and related careers. Photos of game content, creators, and actual fans appear on every page and highlight the gaming industry's racial and gender diversity. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming titles: The World of Angry Birds, The World of Minecraft, The World of Mario Bros., and The World of Pokémon.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(3) 4-6 Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming series. Each of these informative titles introduces young readers to a specific popular video game, sharing--over four or five brief chapters--the history of each game's development, success, and fandom. Full-page sidebars feature key developers and related careers. Photos of game content, creators, and actual fans appear on every page and highlight the gaming industry's racial and gender diversity. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming titles: The World of Angry Birds, The World of Minecraft, The World of Mario Bros., and The World of Pokémon.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(3) 4-6 Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming series. Each of these informative titles introduces young readers to a specific popular video game, sharing--over four or five brief chapters--the history of each game's development, success, and fandom. Full-page sidebars feature key developers and related careers. Photos of game content, creators, and actual fans appear on every page and highlight the gaming industry's racial and gender diversity. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming titles: The World of Angry Birds, The World of Minecraft, The World of Mario Bros., and The World of Pokémon.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(4) YA Mirador series. Seventeen-year-old Marisa (Bluescreen; Ones and Zeroes) pursues a dangerous mystery, hoping to finally understand the accident in which she lost her arm years ago. Facing mob scions, genetically enhanced agents, and her own father, Marisa must hack to survive in virtual reality–influenced dystopian Los Angeles in 2050. Intrigue and multifaceted characters keep readers hooked, despite a sometimes unevenly paced narrative.

Reviewer: Jenn Matters

(3) 4-6 Project Code series. Illustrated by Glen McBeth. These books include hands-on tutorials, available for download, to develop basic Scratch coding skills needed to create stories, animation, games, and music. Readers learn about underlying concepts such as binary instructions, loops, and repeats, and are encouraged to go beyond directives for deeper understanding. Accessible descriptions, short sections, and an appealing graphic layout recommend this series for self-guided learning. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Project Code titles: Create an Animation with Scratch, Create Computer Games with Scratch, Create Music with Scratch, and Create Your Own Story with Scratch.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Aleksandar Sotirovski. YouTube gamer Ali-A and his girlfriend Clare are at a game launch when the video game infects the entire world, turning all humans--except Ali-A and Clare--into helpless slime aliens enslaved by giant evil robots. While seriously lacking in originality, this fast-paced and action-packed graphic novel is entertaining enough, especially for fans of the real YouTube star Ali-A.

Reviewer: Jessica Costello

(4) 4-6 Quartz Creek Ranch series. Kids come to Quartz Creek therapeutic horse ranch for various reasons: Ella's prone to outbursts (Speed); Rivka lashes out at her family's traditions after an attack on their synagogue (Home); Paley's addicted to online gaming (Summer); Hanna is painfully shy and, ironically, afraid of horses (Shy). Although the tweens' emotional problems get only superficial treatment, this hi-lo series provides plenty of realistic situations with horses. Review covers these Quartz Creek Ranch titles: At Top Speed, The Long Trail Home, One Brave Summer, and Shy Girl & Shy Guy.

Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay

(3) 1-3 Press Start! series. In these early chapter books, Super Rabbit Boy is unaware he exists within a video game. Bright pixelated illustrations mimic video-game play, but the books occasionally pull back to reveal the child controlling the game in more cartoony scenes. This general conceit of a story within a story following video-game conventions will appeal to young gamers and encourage independent reading. Review includes these Press Start titles: Game Over, Super Rabbit Boy! and Super Rabbit Boy Powers Up!.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) 1-3 Press Start! series. In these early chapter books, Super Rabbit Boy is unaware he exists within a video game. Bright pixelated illustrations mimic video-game play, but the books occasionally pull back to reveal the child controlling the game in more cartoony scenes. This general conceit of a story within a story following video-game conventions will appeal to young gamers and encourage independent reading. Review includes these Press Start titles: Game Over, Super Rabbit Boy! and Super Rabbit Boy Powers Up!.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) 1-3 Press Start! series. A cartoony scene shows three children playing a racing video game reminiscent of Mario Cart. Within the game, the kids are Super Rabbit Boy, Jody Racer, and Nugget, in competition with villain King Viking for the Super Cup. Bright pixelated illustrations successfully mimic video-game play in the dual-universe story line. The metafictive video-game-within-a-story conceit will appeal to young gamers and encourage independent reading.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(3) YA Having achieved internet fame in high school with their video game Tampon Run, Gonzales and Houser take turns chronicling their experience, hoping to inspire girls to join the male-dominated fields of technology and entrepreneurship. With black-and-white photographs and relatable details, such as dealing with nerves and parental expectations, the authors make coding, collaboration, and ambition accessible and appealing. An appendix offers basic coding training.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(3) YA Dylan, in "miracle" remission from cancer, takes an unplanned, anger-fueled road trip away from his negligent mother. On the way, he collects his longtime gaming friend Arden, a trans teen whose father won't accept her identity. Their "quest" is fierce and bittersweet, its resolution open-ended. The dynamics of a friendship moving from online to face-to-face are thoughtfully drawn, as is the almost-romance.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(2) YA Emika Chen hacks into phenomenally popular virtual-reality game Warcross. She's only the second person to do so, and its young inventor promises her an outrageous sum to locate the first hacker: shadowy villain Zero. Written in a first-person, present-tense style, Lu's (the Legend and Young Elites novels) latest is a blend of action, suspense, romance, and speculative fiction that will please her eager fans.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2017