(2) 4-6 Lucy's mother died researching sharks when Lucy was young. Now, during a summer project studying the great white sharks near their Rockport, Massachusetts, home, Lucy's best friend Fred dies in a tragic accident. Lucy turns to her mother's unfinished research and finds a way to strengthen remembered connections among her mother, Fred, and those still present in her life. Fluid writing adds depth to the meticulously drawn characters' emotional journeys.

Reviewer: Sarah Berman | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019

(3) 4-6 Unicorn Rescue Society series. Illustrated by Hatem Aly. Created by Jesse Casey, Adam Gidwitz, and Chris Smith. Professor Fauna's jalopy airplane whisks Uchenna and Elliot (The Creature of the Pines) to Laredo on the Texas-Mexico border to help another elusive mythical creature: the chupacabras. They also discover tension in the city concerning the construction of a border wall. A fast-paced plot, plenty of laughs (including in the black-and-white illustrations), and a serious discussion about the border elevate their latest adventure.

Reviewer: Pam Yosca

(1) YA Four teens are connected by "The Freak," a mysterious girl who offers prophetic messages. Interspersed among the protagonists' voices are vignettes about a wealthy old married couple, whose sale of a legacy potato farm has brought no happiness; and two violent brothers hiding a sinister secret. With her trademark surrealism and sharp prose, King confronts her narrative concerns (racism, patriarchy, colonialism, white privilege) directly through her characters' unique (and sometimes twisted) worldviews.

Reviewer: Jennifer Hubert Swan | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019

(2) 4-6 As this believable epistolary (via email) novel begins, twelve-year-olds Bett and Avery are strangers (and adversaries) thrown together at sleep-away summer camp by their bi-coastally dating fathers. The girls gradually become friends--even as their dads are breaking up. Parent Trap–type shenanigans ensue, but the story's main focus is the strength of chosen family. The warmth of the characters' interactions, including the girls' witty banter, is emotionally satisfying.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Anthony Piper. During summer 1984, seventh grader Ebony-Grace visits the father she hardly knows in Harlem. Her anxiety is exacerbated when she learns her beloved grandfather (who entertains her star-filled dreams of space travel and adventure) is in trouble back in Alabama. Zoboi's touching and (sometimes) humorous coming-of-age story highlights the importance of imagination and learning to celebrate being different. Interspersed black-and-white comic panel illustrations depict Ebony-Grace's fanciful voyages to other worlds.

Reviewer: Monique Harris | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(2) YA This multigenerational tale of a family seeking freedom begins by introducing Kollie, a Liberian American teen in 2008 Minnesota. Readers are transported to 1926 Liberia to an earlier generation of Kollie's family; then to 1827 Virginia; forward to 1980 Monrovia; and finally to 2018, where Kollie's sister, Angel, ties together the various threads of this sprawling tale. Gibney tackles the complexity of Liberia's history and illuminates how humans end up treating each other cruelly. Reading list, timeline.

Reviewer: Christina L. Dobbs | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2018

(3) 4-6 Unicorn Rescue Society series. Illustrated by Hatem Aly. Created by Jesse Casey, Adam Gidwitz, and Chris Smith. This collaboratively created series--told through the two newest members of a worldwide society of misfits dedicated to saving mythical creatures--is witty, fast-paced, hilarious, and great fun. Starring upper-elementary-age New Jersey kids Elliot and Uchenna, each book focuses on a different creature in need of protection. Abundant black-and-white drawings spotlight the zany characters and add to the laughs. Review covers these Unicorn Rescue Society titles: The Basque Dragon, The Creature of the Pines, and Sasquatch and the Muckleshoot.

Reviewer: Pam Yosca

(3) 4-6 Unicorn Rescue Society series. Illustrated by Hatem Aly. Created by Jesse Casey, Adam Gidwitz, and Chris Smith. This collaboratively created series--told through the two newest members of a worldwide society of misfits dedicated to saving mythical creatures--is witty, fast-paced, hilarious, and great fun. Starring upper-elementary-age New Jersey kids Elliot and Uchenna, each book focuses on a different creature in need of protection. Abundant black-and-white drawings spotlight the zany characters and add to the laughs. Review covers these Unicorn Rescue Society titles: The Basque Dragon, The Creature of the Pines, and Sasquatch and the Muckleshoot.

Reviewer: Pam Yosca

(3) 4-6 Unicorn Rescue Society series. Illustrated by Hatem Aly. Created by Jesse Casey, Adam Gidwitz, and Chris Smith. This collaboratively created series--told through the two newest members of a worldwide society of misfits dedicated to saving mythical creatures--is witty, fast-paced, hilarious, and great fun. Starring upper-elementary-age New Jersey kids Elliot and Uchenna, each book focuses on a different creature in need of protection. Abundant black-and-white drawings spotlight the zany characters and add to the laughs. Review covers these Unicorn Rescue Society titles: The Basque Dragon, The Creature of the Pines, and Sasquatch and the Muckleshoot.

Reviewer: Pam Yosca

(3) YA This powerful novel, based on the life of Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1653), both introduces readers to a real-life heroine and illustrates her story's ongoing relevance. Forced to sign her father's name to her work, Artemisia was also brutally betrayed and violated by a mentor. Told largely in verse from Artemisia's perspective, McCullough's debut is a vivid portrait of talent and strength.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Fleur Sciortino. The founder of a commercial women's health website for adults presents an approachable guide to puberty aimed at preteen girls. A tight focus on bodily changes and hygiene make this slim volume easy to hand to younger readers. However, the tone of Bloom's voice--veering from playful and slangy to clinical to patronizing--may be off-putting. Color illustrations, diagrams, sidebars, and testimonials round out the presentation.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald

(2) YA Sixteen-year-old Aza Holmes suffers from obsessive compulsions, anxiety, and "invasive" thought-spirals. She's also investigating the whereabouts of missing local billionaire Russell Pickett, which leads her to Pickett's son Davis, Aza's childhood friend. The mystery and tentative romance give the story momentum and shape, but its epicenter is a clear-eyed exploration of mental illness and of the deep existential revelations that suffering can engender.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2018

(2) YA Rumors of a curse on the Devonairre Street Girls circulate in Haydu's alternate-2008 Brooklyn. When a series of tragedies convinces the street's inhabitants that the Curse is real, narrator Lorna and her mother resist their neighbors' increasingly cultish mentality, building to a devastating conclusion. Magical realism and a parallel-world setting enhance this wrenching novel's lyricism--and make the pain somewhat more bearable.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2017

(2) YA In Johnston's alternate history, the British Empire is still vast and strong with a multiracial populace that values equality. Eighteen-year-old Crown Princess Victoria-Margaret travels to Canada, where she befriends Helena and her beau, August. Readers follow their alternating perspectives as the relatable characters navigate society balls, secrets, and unconventional romance (involving an intersex person). Johnston's world-building is a unique mix of Victorian customs and advanced technology, while also thoughtfully addressing timely topics.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2018

(2) YA On a school hiking trip, an inexperienced and ineffectual orienteering club assistant, Ben, attempts to assert himself in a series of bad decisions, culminating in a disastrous outcome. Despite Ben's claims of best intentions, bits of disturbing information revealed in his dispassionate first-person narration call his account into question. This psychological thriller is an unsettling story of a young man wrestling with responsibility, indecision, and insecurity.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2017

(3) YA Alone on a snowy campus for winter break during her first year of college, Marin--who abruptly fled her California home for reasons that only gradually become clear--anxiously awaits the arrival of her best friend for a visit. Marin's harrowing, heartbreaking backstory illustrates the complexities of a friendship that turns romantic and the knotty relationship between grief and memory.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(2) YA When her best friend Angie falls for Margot, Jess's unrequited longing becomes jealousy. Angie hopes that the three of them, plus Margot's hostile best friend Ryan, can become close. Then, after a party, one of the four girls dies from a gunshot. Who killed her? Lo's taut storytelling expertly doles out clues and draws characters as complicit in unexpected ways for an addictive psychological mystery.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2017

(3) 4-6 In this companion to Furthermore, now-thirteen-year-old Alice is tasked through her Surrender (a magical coming-of-age ceremony) with helping similarly aged Laylee, a resentful orphan fated to prep the dead for the afterlife. The omniscient narrator's chatty tone lightens the book's darker, more horror-like elements, as does Alice's friend Oliver, who again accompanies her on the quest. Mafi's vivid language further enhances this Persian-inspired fantasy.

Reviewer: Lana Barnes

(4) YA Nebraska transplant and high-school senior Makani Young is still haunted by her past in Hawaii. A series of student murders, however, soon brings her secret to the foreground as the mysterious killer ultimately targets her, too. Perkins's characters are engaging and the suspense is riveting, but gratuitous slasher-gore overwhelms the story.

Reviewer: Grace Enriquez

(1) 4-6 Crow washed ashore on a tiny Massachusetts island as a baby. A fire on another uninhabited island that once housed a leper colony raises her curiosity about her origins, which leads to fearful danger. An exceptional mix of historical fiction, physical adventure, and interiority; suspense, insight, and the natural world play equal parts. An author's note provides historical background.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2017