(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. This imaginative collection presents thirteen stories from an all-star team of authors, including Nikki Grimes, Pam Muñoz Ryan, and Linda Sue Park. A heartfelt introduction by the coeditors sets up the theme and through line: these are short stories of middle-school kids growing in self-knowledge and empathy as they realize that they each have some sort of gift. ("Because everyone has a power, and that power matters, no matter how small or inconvenient it may seem.") The compilation is cleverly organized into two parts: "The Power of Discovering Who We Are" and "The Power of Being Who We Are." Abilities portrayed include time-jumping, shape-shifting, telepathy, the courage to speak truth to power, the ability to sense when avocados are ripe, and more. In Kyle Lukoff's story, a child learns to take steps to trust and affirm his own wishes about his gender identity; in Mitali Perkins's, a chameleon gives a girl magical cultural code switching abilities. Whether big or small, silly or serious (or both), every power is brought to life through a nuanced, diverse cast of characters and entertaining, thought-provoking plots. While the narratives lean whimsical, this entire project offers readers a careful, serious, and profound invitation to reflect on issues of identity, responsibility, social justice, and the myriad ways that people's gifts -- in both perception and application -- can affect others' lives, relationships, and the wider world. Illustrations not seen.

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

(2) K-3 What is a house if it isn't shared? A "house-sprite" named Noa (with a charmingly acorn-shaped head) can find anything in his cliffside abode but the one thing he wants most: friends. Frustrated by his lonely life, he heads out into a blizzard to look for a new house with friends in it. A cold wind sweeps his hat away and onto the toes of a trapped creature. After a swift rescue, Noa exclaims: "I found a bear! I've never found a bear before. What do bears do? What do they like?" Berries, Bear declares, and the two march on in search of a home with both berries and friends. A yellow haystack beaming in a snowy field provides them with a warm reprieve and a sneezy friend, Ferret; then another companion, Wolf. Though the group journeys through snow, rain, and wind, a sense of coziness permeates the tale. The characters each learn a little bit more about themselves and much more about one another until they come upon someplace familiar. Hand-drawn illustrations and text refrains about what animals like and do imbue the narrative with a folktale's sensibility. Weaving humor with sincerity, Bourgonje crafts a winsome and heartfelt story that feels like home.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2034

(2) K-3 "This is a story that will have a happy ending, so don't worry too much!" With that reassuring front-matter spoiler, Brantley-Newton launches into her tale about a little singing goat. Conflict is immediately introduced, as those around her despise the goat's voice and dislike her penchant for climbing. Seemingly oblivious to others' annoyance, she seeks adventure, only to fall into a deep, dry well. Making good use of the book's materiality, Brantley-Newton offers an illustration that must be rotated ninety degrees for proper viewing, showing the goat at the bottom of the well and only the neighbors' and animals' feet visible up top. They've assembled after hearing her piteous cries but quickly abandon trying to save her, deciding instead to "give her a decent burial." This alarming twist is softened by the established light and humorous tone of text and illustrations. "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?" reads the all-caps print in bold colors as shovelfuls of dirt rain down on a close-up image of the beleaguered, incredulous goat. She's also clever and resourceful as she shakes off the dirt and packs it down, singing to herself, "Shake it off. Pack it under!" A sequence of wordless panel illustrations shows the dirt rising under her hooves until she emerges, dirty but victorious, having gained new respect from her neighbors. The potential for the story (reminiscent of the parable of the donkey in the well) to be read metaphorically is encouraged by Brantley-Newton's dedication to "every child who has been counted out" and her author's note about overcoming childhood struggles with stuttering, dyslexia, and bullying.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by K-Fai Steele. Max's life can be more than a little hectic. Whether getting distracted and missing the bus, forgetting to do every item on various lists of important things, or careening across the playground like a whirlwind, the protagonist's differently wired mind is always working overtime, which can lead to a lot of fun, or a lot of trouble -- or sometimes both. When you're someone like Max, "that always happens sometimes." Then one day Max is assigned to a group project where each team competes to build the tallest index-card tower, and it becomes the perfect opportunity for Max's creative mind to shine. Frank's first-person narration makes apt use of run-on sentences packed with many clauses and sentence fragments to simulate the frenetic energy of racing thoughts that make constant connections and leaps. Steele's watercolor and ink illustrations add to the zany vibe by depicting the characters' googly eyes with exaggeratedly large whites and tiny beady pupils. The strategic use of visual elements such as the gutter, perspective, and speech bubbles with stylized text reinforces Max's unique personality, perspective, and social relationships. A humorous and empathetic tribute to the neurodivergent kids out there who march to the beat of their own drums.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2024

(2) 1-3 Monti the mole has a morning routine: go the bakery, stop at the library, and then rest on his favorite rock beside the river. One day, his routine is interrupted when he hears whispers about a stranger in town -- and then he finds the stranger on his rock. This beginning-reader comic is for children gaining confidence and fluency. It's told in five short chapters with twenty to thirty words per page; multisyllabic words like stranger, favorite, and talent are repeated throughout the text, giving opportunities to practice them. The stranger turns out to be Leo, a long-snouted green creature; and, of course, he and Monti become fast friends. Kantorovitz presents a fresh angle on friendship, though: Leo has been experiencing some suspicion and hostility since he arrived in town, and Monti makes it his goal to show everyone how amazing Leo is. The digital illustrations mix bold lines and pastel colors to pleasing effect, and Kantorovitz varies the number of panels on each page to control the pace, building small moments of drama and breakthroughs and leading up to a talent show Monti and Leo stage to bring the town together. This cozy book feels both familiar and surprising, and it will likely be embraced by young comics fans.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Scott Kurtz & Steve Hamaker. Color by Steve Hamaker. Valeria has struggled with fitting in and fighting in the past, but she is moving to a new middle school -- again -- and hoping for a fresh start. After some boys in her class observe her obstreperous behavior on the first day, one of them invites Val to join the Table Titans, their tabletop gaming club. Val doesn't know anything about Dungeons & Dragons, but she is a fast learner and excitedly joins them mid-campaign. When the team unexpectedly needs a new club advisor, the only teacher available makes them a deal: he will serve in the role if one of the kids fills an open spot on the wrestling team he coaches. Val makes the cut and discovers both D&D and wrestling to be empowering outlets for her outsized imagination, energy, and emotions. This graphic novel's clearly delineated visual narrative effectively moves between scenes from Val's real, everyday life and moments of make-believe. Simple backgrounds spotlight characters and their actions (both real and imagined). D&D vocabulary and concepts are naturally embedded in the narrative, offering context for readers unfamiliar with the gaming world. Themes of nonconformity and being true to oneself will resonate with the audience, and the characters' interactions with one another -- both humorous and awkward -- are realistically portrayed. An unapologetic celebration of growing up and finding one's passions.

Reviewer: Elisa Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Ann Xu & Sunmi. Color by Sunmi. In this graphic novel set "somewhere near Seattle," Michelle and her older sister, Claire, are far from the best of friends. Self-assured Claire takes pride in and embraces her Taiwanese heritage; self-conscious Michelle is more interested in hanging out with her white friends at her middle school, eager to stay in classmate Jess's good graces to secure an invitation to her end-of-summer bash. The scene shifts when their parents send both sisters to a Taiwanese American summer camp. Immersed in Taiwanese culture, Michelle strives to forge her dual identity while struggling with the Taiwanese language, practicing calligraphy, competing in a dragon boat race, and memorizing folksong lyrics for a talent show. In this story of cultural heritage and identity reconciliation, LaMotte and Xu (Measuring Up, rev. 3/21) explore the often nebulous, isolating experience of not quite fitting in and being stereotyped based on appearance. Cultural activities, from making Taiwanese shaved ice to crafting glove puppets, occupy full-page panels packed with a lively collage of details. Moments of humor captured through playful manga-like facial expressions and gestures propel the plot forward in whimsical fashion.

Reviewer: Jerry Dear | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) 4-6 This introspective graphic memoir explores bicultural identity and the path toward self-acceptance. Like many students at her international school in Bangkok, Thailand, eleven-year-old Kathy is "luk khrueng," or "half child." Her father is American, and her mother is Thai, but Kathy identifies more as American and, though she appreciates Thai culture, she feels that she's not Thai enough. She looks forward to summers with her father's family in Maine, but this year she's acutely aware of how her family stands out there. She's also excited to spend three weeks away from her family at summer camp, but once there she struggles to fit in as campers ask rude questions about her heritage. ("Where is that?" "Do you mean Taiwan?") Kathy learns to embrace the unique qualities that connect her to both sides of her family and to her own mixed identity. Sprinkled throughout are elements of Thai culture and Thai language, depicted in Thai text with English translation, adding depth and cultural context. The pastel-toned panels, black-and-white flashback scenes, and cleanly drawn and expressively detailed characters complement the youthful, gentle tone of Kathy's internal dialogue. In an afterword, MacLeod shares her process making the book, comics she wrote as a child, and family photos.

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

(2) K-3 Having recently emigrated from Hong Kong to America, young Jun starts school with a few English words and phrases (e.g.hello, thank you, I don't know, toilet) written on her palm. Nevertheless, she faces misunderstandings and struggles to comprehend a new language and culture. At the bus stop, unable to understand a question about her name, she responds with, "Th...ank you." Filling out a "Let's Get to Know You" worksheet in class, she answers each question, "I don't know." Despite her loneliness, Jun finds solace in her lunchbox, which is filled with her favorite Chinese foods, including bao, dumplings, and bok choy. After a difficult first four days for Jun, classmate Rose makes a friendly overture at lunch on Friday, which leads to sharing food with a small group of kids. Jun invites her new friends to her home, symbolizing the beginning of new connections. With its spare text (most of which is speech-bubble dialogue), the story is primarily conveyed through Mo's sensitively drawn, sometimes paneled illustrations, which vividly depict Jun's emotional state. Warm colors represent her cherished memories of home and the eventual feeling of belonging; cool tones mirror her initial fear and anxiety. This debut picture book captures an immigrant experience, highlighting the impact of small gestures of kindness and celebrating the unifying power of food across cultures and languages. A glossary of written and conversational Cantonese phrases in the story and a labeled illustration of Jun's lunchbox contents are helpfully appended.

Reviewer: Weileen Wang | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) 4-6 Set on an Indonesian-inspired New Earth, this graphic-novel space fantasy explores themes of love and forgiveness, growth and identity. A young, white-haired, brown-skinned child is found living alone on a moon by hijab-wearing astronaut Dariya Muliadi. Promising loving care and companionship, Dariya encourages the child to join her on the spaceship Eyesun; they do -- despite a foreboding warning from the moon about change and heartbreak. The child, referred to at first with a redacted name and they/them pronouns, eventually confesses to Dariya that they want to change their name: "I don't think I'm...whoever it is everyone thinks I'm supposed to be." That change is a good one, but when Dariya and Indu (the child's chosen name) leave the Eyesun and relocate to New Earth, Indu feels overwhelmed by terrestrial life, a new stepfamily, a new school, and the need to learn a new language. A tutor who is transgender and a special bond with a pen pal who is bisexual and Chinese Indonesian help Indu feel a sense of community and connection. The panel and full-page digital illustrations incorporate nods to past and present Indonesian culture, dress, and architecture. The large cast features Indonesian characters of different ethnicities, skin tones, body sizes, and beliefs. Indonesian language, comprehensible in context, is integrated throughout the text in this heartwarming story whose protagonist finds understanding with friends, family, and a broader community.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) 4-6 In this cautionary tale, the sequel to Finally Seen (rev. 1/23), the perks and perils of social media play a pivotal -- and educational -- role. The Gaos still struggle with bills, and Lina's mom joins Instagram to sell more bath bombs. Fifth grader Lina gets her first smartphone, and while technology offers some positives (video-chatting with her Beijing grandma, promoting her neighbors' small businesses), they are outweighed by the negatives. She envies her classmates' fancy homes, worries about her physical appearance, and experiences cyberbullying (as both a target and a bully); and her best friend gets catfished by an adult. Everything converges when the school holds a "Dangers of Social Media" event and a "Justice Session" to discuss student online behavior. Yang integrates facts about how social media is addictive and detrimental to people's mental health into the story and back matter. She helpfully shows readers a way to cut through social media's downsides -- by having honest conversations "brainstorming how to break the dopamine loop. How to not be played by the algorithm."

Reviewer: Michelle Lee | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Natalia Shaloshvili. Dotty and Other Dotty are a perfect match. The pair of yellow-spotted, pink, woolly mittens flaunt their partnership in front of lonesome single mitten Stripes. Drab and gray in both affect and appearance, Stripes has been relegated to her human's pocket ever since Other Stripes went missing. Rather than empathize with the lonesome mitten, Dotty and Other Dotty lord their assumed superiority over Stripes. "What's the use of a single mitten?" they sneer, sending Stripes into a mitt-sized existential crisis. But when Other Dotty is left behind in the snow and Stripes's long-lost partner is found, the mittens are forced to confront their behavior and their biases. Bailey's story of inclusion and acceptance balances any didacticism with a playful tone. "This is just weird," declares Dotty when paired with Stripes, and the illustration shows that visual clash. Rendered in acrylics and watercolor pencils, Shaloshvili's illustrations are soft and sweet, with colors befitting a gray winter's day and a child's cold, rosy cheeks. Justice is restored when our mitten-wearing (and losing) kid decides to mix and match her collection -- giving all her fuzzy friends an equal chance.

Reviewer: Hill Saxton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Karen George. Joe is having a ball playing pirate at the playground until some kids he hasn't met before arrive. One of them shouts, "You've only got one leg!" Joe agrees, unimpressed: "And you've just squashed my shark." Too few picture books recognize and validate the full, happy lives of children who have disabilities; this one does both with sensitivity, goodwill, and humor. The colored-pencil and gouache illustrations in a summery palette focus on the children, particularly their faces as they move from caution to puzzlement to connection. Joe deflects invasive questions, sometimes directly ("What do you think?"), and sometimes with humor ("Stop staring at my bottom"). A wordless double-page spread at the denouement allows Joe a moment of quiet sadness and frustration, and the other children finally realize Joe's leg (or lack thereof) isn't the most interesting thing about him. They go from being Kid One, Kid Two, and Kid Three to Simone, Yuto, and Caspar, and they join Joe's pirate game. An endnote for adults gives suggestions for how to talk with children about disabilities.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) K-3 Translated by Vineet Lal. Illustrated by Anne-Lise Boutin. A girl lives alone in a big house deep in the forest. One day her bat friend suggests that she make room for three bears who "were driven out of their home" and have nowhere to live. The text gives no explanation for the bears' displacement, but an image of them running from a fire allows readers to extrapolate. The child, dubbed "Welcome" by the bear brothers (after the word on her doormat), accepts the new changes to her quiet life and comes to love the vibrancy of her home. But not everyone is comfortable with the newcomers. The neighbors complain to the police, worried that now "all the bears in the world will overrun our beautiful forest." After a suspiciously set fire destroys the house, Welcome and the bears head out into the world looking for a place they will be accepted. Cousseau's somewhat lengthy tale is a modern fable in which creatures migrate and individuals can make room for newcomers even when communities are hostile. The serious themes are balanced by Boutin's decorative, stylized illustrations (with many festive scenes embellished with berries, vines, and flowers) in a palette reminiscent of old-fashioned color-separated art.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) PS In her latest picture book, Frazee says she "hoped to capture and honor what we all have in common, no matter who we are or where we live." Each line of text begins with "In every..." and appears on its own spread with Frazee's signature pencil and gouache vignettes of people, young and old, epitomizing the sentiment expressed (à la her layouts for the similarly inspirational Everywhere Babies, rev. 5/01, and All the World, rev. 9/09). While the text is earnest, Frazee finds ways to insert light humor into her illustrations, such as a child using the potty for "In every hope, blessed is the doing." Wordless full-bleed spreads are interspersed between the vignette pages, showing wide landscape views with people finding peace and joy in nature; these offer viewers a chance to pause and reflect on that line's meaning. She also chooses a predominant color for each line's font and its accompanying art to aid young listeners in linking them together (e.g., yellow is the color associated with the line "In every smile, blessed is the light"). The affectionate domestic scenes feature a diverse mix of people and are a visual testament to Frazee's inclusive goal of showcasing the commonalities "in every life." According to her author's note, she's revised a baby-naming blessing that she attributes to the Jewish faith (the original source of which is unknown, "but it has been adapted and used widely in welcoming ceremonies of all kinds") by simplifying the poem and adding her own lines, including passages about smiles and sadness.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Oge Mora. "I come from / early morning wake-ups, / handcrafted blankets / knitted with memories." A young Black boy arises from his cozy bed and finds Dad in the kitchen making his favorite breakfast of pancakes and pan-fried bologna. Readers accompany the (unnamed) character as he rides the rowdy school bus, plays in the schoolyard, and endures a "looooong school day." After a visit to the neighborhood store, he returns home to his loving family and, finally, climbs back into his bed at night. While describing a seemingly ordinary routine, the lyrical text is a journey through Black language and culture, evoking a sense of identity, community, and connectedness: "Cotton candy hair / and razor-sharp line-ups. / High fades and / low fades, / tight ponytails / and laid edges. / What's up y'all?" Mora's mixed-media illustrations enhance the poetic storytelling. The colorful collage-work adds texture and motion to the pages, while selective hand-lettering emphasizes parts of the verse. On one spread that mentions microaggressions toward the narrator ("Can I touch your hair?" "Where are you from?"), the questions take over the pages, visually communicating the isolating feeling of being othered. This beautifully rendered picture book serves as a reminder of the importance­ of familial and cultural identity and the grounding that it offers in the wider world.

Reviewer: Monique Harris | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) 4-6 Melleby and Sass bring together the middle school–aged protagonists they each created for the 2021 short-story anthology This Is Our Rainbow (co-edited by Melleby and Katherine Locke) in this novel set at a camp for LGBTQ+ youth. Melleby's Abigail (she/her/hers), all but ostracized by her friends since she admitted to a crush on one of their mothers, begs her parents to send her to the camp. Sass's Kai (e/em/eir) attends under protest: eir parents sign em up after a bullying incident. The two newbies form sometimes-bumpy relationships with each other and with the more seasoned campers in a safe but not necessarily awkwardness-free space. There's a heightened awareness (even more than in other settings) that anyone might be romantically interested in anyone else--or might not. There's also, realistically, a wide range of knowledge about and comfort with queer identities among the kids: one of them launches a campaign for a more inclusive camp name ("there's no letter in the QUILTBAG acronym for pansexual kids, plus a lot of others"), while Kai tries to remember what pansexual means. Intersectionality in the differences between campers adds another dimension, especially in the area of religion: Abigail attends Catholic school; Kai is "kind of" Jewish and tentatively learns more about Judaism from another camper. This engaging, gently affirming novel should be valuable to young readers exploring their own identities or curious about those of others.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Gabriel Alborozo. Riley likes to tear up old newspapers, line stuffies up by size, and draw colorful swirls. But when Bossy Older Cousin Emma and her sister, Violet, come to visit, Bossy Emma says Riley's games are boring and insists on noisy play and having tea parties. Alborozo's mixed-media illustrations are all rounded corners, soft lines, and gentle pastel hues, giving the book a peaceful feeling appropriate to its quiet protagonist, a contrast to the cousins' more raucous forms of play. When Bossy Emma and Riley glare at each other, though, it's clear there's a difference between being mild and being a pushover. Riley wants Bossy Emma to understand that she isn't the only one who knows how to play, so Riley enlists the assistance of Charlie, a gray pooch with floppy ears and a waggy tail. When the kids' game of fetch turns into Charlie's game of keep-away, the children chase him "until we all fall down laughing." The language here is straightforward and instructive, and an appended author's note reveals Miller-Lachmann wrote this based on her experiences. ("It was only in adulthood that I found out I was autistic.") Negotiating relationships with children who play differently is a universal experience, though, and this will strike a chord with many readers.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(2) PS From the moment readers open this book, they are treated to an album of beautiful, joyous children, all with one salient feature: "Everybody has a body." But not every body is the same. There's a youngster using a rollator who says, "I like to take a walk." There are two bespectacled kids, one of whom shares the information that "glasses make me see better." Other differences, such as one child who has "to get checkups for my heart," are not apparent from the photos but are nonetheless noted in accompanying text. This photo-essay shows children participating in a range of activities, including rock wall climbing, swimming, and reading. The message--"Even though we're the same in many ways, we're different in our own ways too. Let's be kind to everybody and every kind of body!"--has been expressed before, but rarely through such memorable images. Brief sketches of three of the children with disabilities as well as one adult advocate and a glossary of physical and learning differences complete the book.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) K-3 First-day-of-school anxiety and the fear of not fitting in take a hair-raising twist when aspiring werewolf Sophie begins howlergarten. Sophie wants "to be part of a pack" but worries she'll never grow fangs or a bushy tail like her werewolf parents. As she struggles through "furry fun were-activities," humorously depicted in Shum's comic-style illustrations, Sophie discovers that being in a wolf pack runs deeper than fur. While Sophie's desire for community will resonate with all readers, Shum uses the werewolf theme to subtly subvert ideas of which identities and social behaviors equal acceptance, imagining a world where everybody has a pack.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023