(3) 4-6 Last Chance Academy series. Twelve-year-old Megumi lands in boarding school after her grades fall following her mother’s death. Determined to survive (or be homeschooled by her crotchety aunt), loner Meg surprises herself by making friends while caught up in a mysterious treasure hunt. The author handles the subject of grief well, and the cliffhanger ending will leave readers eager for the next series entry.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander

(3) YA Sixteen-year-old Elijah and his brainy friend Lee spend their free time riding bikes and bonding over the pressures of having Asian moms. Influenced by an older teen, the two start vaping THC, and everything moves slowly and relentlessly downhill from there. The devastating story of addiction is a tough and at times drawn-out read as both boys spiral seemingly beyond help.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander

(2) 4-6 On one side of the Old City Gate live the Gongshi: stone spirits that are awakened when carved into statues. The spirits' job is to protect the humans on the other side of the gate. The Stone Lions—cub Jin and his parents—must also guard the Sacred Sphere, which maintains the open gate between the two worlds, but fun-loving Jin is far more interested in playing zuqiu (a soccer-type game) than in protecting anything. When a game is called off, Jin angrily kicks the zuqiu ball, which knocks into the Sacred Sphere, sending it through the gate. Chasing it, Jin becomes trapped in the human world, where he joins forces with a girl named Lulu and with Worm, a wise dragon stuck in a worm's form. The small cub, young girl, and tiny dragon prove that size does not necessarily equal courage as they face terrifying natural disasters and the deceitful Dragon-Head creature in order to retrieve the Sacred Sphere from a mysterious, shadowy figure. Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, rev. 9/09, and sequels) once again cleverly uses embedded narratives to provide background information about characters in her story. Small spot illustrations open each chapter, while occasional full-page art in gorgeous, saturated color accompanies key moments in Jin's journey. The tale's themes (touching on joy, grief, and the interconnectedness of all life) are naturally integrated into the diverting adventure, and an endnote discusses the author's various inspirations.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Jamie Green. This picture-book biography of Ruth Asawa (1926–2013) uses lines (straight, curved, wavy; physical and imaginary) as metaphors connecting the artist’s life experiences to the sculptures she created. Growing up in rural California, young Ruth attended Japanese school on Saturdays where she “traced arcs in the air with bamboo swords” and practiced calligraphy as “bold black lines stretched across white paper.” She straddles an invisible line that separates the Japanese food, customs, and language at home from those at school. When Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, that invisible line becomes a wall. Incarcerated with her family at the Rohwer Relocation Center in Arkansas, Ruth is eventually allowed to attend college but isn’t allowed to complete her student teaching because of her race; “her path would not be a straight line.” Later, Ruth travels to Mexico and is fascinated by the wire baskets used to carry eggs. Thinking back to the barbed wire at Rohwer, Ruth twists wire into sculpture, showing that “a line could go anywhere, be anything.” After marriage, Ruth refuses to choose between career and family, so she “zigged and zagged” and made art while raising six children. Like her life path, Ruth’s sculptures “curve and curl, with lines that overlap and intersect, connect and divide.” Green’s illustrations nicely complement the thoughtful and well-researched text; brilliant blues against brown backgrounds add visual contrast, highlighting important people and moments. An author’s note, a bibliography, and photos are appended.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

(2) 4-6 This graphic-format biography of Japanese American artist Asawa (1926 2013) begins on December 7, 1941, as teenage Ruth and her farming family hear that Japan has attacked Pearl Harbor. Soon the FBI arrests her father ("They think he's dangerous? He can't even kill a chicken for dinner"), and the rest of the family are sent to Santa Anita Racetrack, where they must sleep in horse stables. But luckily for Ruth, interned Disney animators are teaching drawing classes. "Everything was gray until I met the cartoonists...Truly, art saved me." After the family is sent to the Rohwer Relocation Center in Arkansas, Ruth receives a college scholarship. She studies art education in Milwaukee -- then isn't allowed to graduate; the war has ended, but prejudice hasn't. At the experimental Black Mountain College in North Carolina, Ruth thrives and begins working on the wire sculptures for which she becomes so well known. A theme throughout is Ruth's sheer determination -- to not become a farmer; to study art; to marry the white man she loved despite their families' disapproval, to have children ("I want six") and still be an artist. Gratifyingly, the book closes with her doing just that. Nakahira's black-and-white illustrations, clear and direct, allow viewers to see both the helplessness and courage of those who were forcibly incarcerated. The art is also ideal for illuminating the lines, shapes, and empty spaces of Asawa's famous wire sculptures. Appended are further biographical information, a reading list, and photos of the artist and her work.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) K-3 In this comforting story, a young girl and her mother move to a cozy apartment in a new city where she happily plays by herself whenever her mom has to work in the next room. When Mom suggests going to the park to meet other kids, she isn't interested; her response to the suggestion of a playdate with neighbors is a resounding "NO." An invitation to join a bookstore storytime induces panic, and the girl cries "till [her] face was bright red." One day they visit an animal shelter, where they adopt a sweet and affectionate dog. Millie quickly befriends everyone they meet on their walks, and the girl slowly grows more comfortable with new people and pups. Castillo's ink, watercolor, and soft pastel illustrations show the girl's budding courage: at first she's always glued to Mom, but with every encounter her face and posture relax more until she finds herself smiling and even waving hello. At a dog park, Millie races off to make friends; taking a cue from her affable dog, the girl spots another timid girl and goes over to say hello, just like Millie. In a final, heartwarming illustration, both girls stride along confidently, holding their dogs' leashes, a few small but meaningful steps ahead of their moms. The way in which Castillo's characters stand out against the paler backgrounds, with bolder black outlines filled with robust colors, cleverly helps young audiences focus in on minute but crucial changes in facial expression and body language.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) PS "Emma was a large dog with many small dreams." She dreams about her favorite things, such as rolling in the grass and splashing in water. In Cooper's (most recently Yes & No, rev. 5/21) cheerful black-outlined watercolors, Emma's dreams are pictured as small bluish-gray dogs frolicking vision-like above her. When not dreaming, Emma sometimes worries or feels all alone, and sometimes "her whole body [feels] strange." Readers may wonder if our protagonist is sick or elderly, but -- surprise! -- one day, out from Emma's body emerges a tiny puppy, arriving headfirst into the world. Big Emma (literally "full of wonders") hasn't been thinking back to her frisky puppyhood, but rather ahead to her future, very-active puppies. Re-reading is a treat: audiences will now see that lumpy Emma is obviously pregnant, her "favorite things" are her soon-to-be-born pups, and her growing dreams are her seven growing babies. Once again, small dogs cavort around Emma, this time, brown-and-tan like mom and solid as can be. Cooper's small line drawings of a plump Emma adorn the book's opening endpapers while chubby puppies romp about on the closing ones. There's much to appreciate in this story about a gentle giant of a dog whose "dreams came true."

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(1) K-3 Translated by Deborah Smith. In this clever, humorous Korean import, a young girl describes how she and her two brothers and two sisters share things fairly. Snacks are divided into five portions, rain boots are handed down from oldest to youngest, and when their uncle brings over a scooter, they divide up the allotted time to ride so that each gets exactly twenty-four minutes. Our protagonist goes first but crashes and hurts her arm, and while her four siblings look on with sympathy, at least one of the younger ones is quietly redoing the math, dividing scooter time by four instead of five. For once, the narrator doesn't have to share -- she has her parents all to herself on the trip to the hospital and even gets her own snack. Heading home with a cast on her arm, she's allowed to pick whatever cake she wants: it's her birthday! After imagining how much fun it would be to have a cake of her own, she ends up choosing one that's easily shareable. Simply drawn characters -- perfectly round heads, dots for eyes, lines for mouths -- nimbly convey the wide range of emotions involved, because sharing can be easy (broccoli), hard (cotton candy), and sometimes smelly (the bathroom). A note at the front explains that the various Korean words used for one's siblings depend on the speaker's and addressee's gender and position in the family.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2025

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Gracey Zhang. The creators of The Big Bath House (rev. 11/21) take readers back to Japan, this time for a wild bicycle ride through mid-twentieth-century Tokyo. A group of children, one of whom serves as the book's narrator, eagerly watches as a delivery man sets off on his bicycle in the morning, balancing on his shoulder an impossibly tall tower of stacked soup bowls and noodle boxes. With vivid descriptions of the sights and sounds of the city, the text sets readers right down in the middle of the scenes, while the writing makes for an animated read-aloud: the delivery men are "artists. Architects. Tough talkers. Speedy spinners. But mostly, they are acrobats." Illustrations done in ink and gouache capture the circus-like thrill of the cyclist navigating his precarious tower through busy streets to reach his destinations: a university, a factory, and a big office building. The art conveys equally well the quiet, cozy scene that evening when the man makes his final delivery -- to his own home, where his wife and baby and the children seen earlier happily welcome Papa and their noodle dinner. Two historical photos of Japanese demae (delivery men) bookend the story; the first one alerting readers and the second reminding them that the amazing balancing acts illustrated here aren't the least bit exaggerated. An illustration of an exhausted but smiling Papa soaking in the family's deep tub may send readers dipping back into this talented duo's earlier book.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2024

(2) YA A Japanese American author-illustrator describes her inner journey to find herself while taking an actual journey to Japan. With an Asian mother and a white father, nineteen-year-old Christine has never felt as if she fit in anywhere and hopes that a year living in the country of her birth will make her feel like a whole person instead of just "half." Initially excited, Christine soon finds fitting in just as hard in Japan -- she's exoticized for being biracial, and her lack of fluency in the language makes her feel awkward and lonely. Her range of emotions is well expressed in the illustrations, which are tinted in various shades of purple that manage to suit both her upbeat outlook and her eventual depression. Pops of pink (neon and pastel) add interest, and the book's only full-color scene (a single-page illustration of a blooming cherry tree) highlights Christine's crucial realization that the blossoms' beauty lies not in their short life but in their resilient return year after year. With support from her Japanese grandparents and through regular conversations with a therapist, Christine slowly and believably regains hope and learns it's okay to be uncertain about what life holds for her. Biracial identity, mental health, and Japanese culture are explored in this deeply personal graphic memoir.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(1) 4-6 Illustrated by Christine Norrie. In this graphic novel, a Japanese American girl visiting family outside Hiroshima is trapped there after Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. Amy's sosobo (great-grandmother), whose underwater pearl-diving feats are beloved family lore, urges the girl to learn survival, just as she had to. Amy does survive, even as life gets more and more brutal. When the Japanese military in Hiroshima makes her translate American radio broadcasts, Amy feels like a traitor -- until she learns that her parents are in an American prison camp and that her baby brother has died. Amy is devastated, but Sosobo, on her deathbed, still insists Amy survive, and even thrive, because "life is a treasure." In 1945, Amy is released from work -- just as the bomb is dropped on Hiroshima. She lives, barely (a friend dies in her arms), and is later asked by the Americans to transcribe other survivors' stories; a haunting full-page panel shows a bomb cloud of papers rising from her typewriter as people share their experiences. Eleven years after arriving in Japan, Amy is finally allowed to return to her parents, who have survived. Her fight to endure is fittingly depicted as an underwater tussle with death and a triumphant return to the surface holding aloft a treasure -- a giant pearl. Black-and-white illustrations colored with a solemn slate blue make expert use of the format to tell this painful and little-known history of Japanese American "strandees" whose stories often went untold for fear of American retaliation against "traitors."

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2024

(1) K-3 In this fitting homage to beloved Finnish author Tove Jansson, a girl named Tove travels to a rustic island with her family, as they do every summer. The next morning she rises as "the stars were beginning to yawn, but the sun was still asleep" and strides confidently out the door looking for things to do. Tove's red boots signal adventure, and her yellow hair stands out against the dramatic and ominous-looking sea and sky, a beacon of light in the darkness. She visits a grotto to see her secret friend, a squat, hairy creature with a pointy nose. She takes his five birdlike and mischievous daughters for a walk, but a gust of wind blows them away, "shouting and giggling." Eventually, she finds the tiny girls; a ferocious storm sends her running back to the grotto, the creatures cupped in her hands to keep them dry. Then Tove heads home -- "What a fortifying thing to see light beaming from the windows and cheerful smoke coming from the chimney!" A luminous double-page spread shows her wrapped in her mother's arms, and as she tucks into a plate of hot pancakes, she thinks what it would be like "never getting soaked to the bone and then getting dry again...How dreadful!" This pairing of a strange escapade in the wild with a warm and a cozy welcome home epitomizes the appeal of Jansson's Moomin books; Moomin fans of all ages will especially enjoy this tale. Appended with a biographical note about Jansson.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2025

(2) 4-6 In this graphic novel, fifth grader Mei Ying and her Taiwanese immigrant mother deal with daily microaggressions. Mom says people don't mean to be offensive, but Mei hates that her mom seems so unbothered by people's ignorance. When new student Sid starts bombarding Mei with racist taunts, she again wonders why no one else seems upset, while others say Mei is oversensitive. During an especially bad confrontation, Mei finds her voice. She calls Sid out for being racist and yells at him to "STOP MAKING FUN OF ME"; shocked into silence, he does. Tsong's cover art aptly captures Mei's experience: fingers plugging her ears, Mei is dwarfed by the title words (in large speech bubbles) and surrounded by illustrations of fake Chinese characters resembling angry, jeering faces. Each of the story's three parts features panels and full pages of expressive black-and-white drawings highlighted with a different color: yellow for the warmth of a summer visit from Nai Nai, who teaches her granddaughter about tai chi and inner strength; red for Mei's anger at being bullied and left alone to deal with Sid; and orange in the final section, for the optimism with which Mei decides to loudly convey her pride in being Taiwanese American. Sid's written apology may also be optimistically imagined; still, Tsong's (If I Were a Tree, rev. 7/21) debut novel is a well-crafted portrayal of a girl asking crucial questions about racism.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) 4-6 Sixth grader Melony tries really hard to please her overprotective Japanese immigrant parents and be the good girl they expect her to be, but inside she's raging against their strict rules. Her mother won't let Melony have a phone but does decide she's old enough now at twelve to hear the real reason the family left Japan for Oregon years ago: apparently, they were running from an evil spirit. Melony scoffs, thinking it's just a silly story--until the creature shows up at their house while her parents are out. Though terrified at first, Melony quickly falls under the Amanjaku's spell; the wily shape-shifting demon somehow knows she's yearning for adventure and freedom--and a phone!--and provides her with everything she desires, including revenge on the mean boys at school. Although the Amanjaku convinces Melony that it's all harmless, she slowly realizes that plenty of people are getting hurt, especially her new friend Chloë. The demon has become more and more dangerous; is it too late for Melony to fight back and save everyone? Brown's (Dream, Annie, Dream, rev. 3/22) eerie tale is a suspenseful, just-scary-enough story of the supernatural; the author's note reveals how she incorporated elements of her favorite Japanese folktale, "The Melon Princess and the Amanjaku," into the novel.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

(1) K-3 While a child gets ready for bed, a father gets ready for work--as do other night-shift workers in the city. Readers follow the dad (a nurse) and eight others: a taxi driver, a firefighter, an emergency dispatcher, a janitor, a security guard, a hotel manager, an on-location film tech, and a baker. Spreads with multiple panels or apartment windows highlight people at home and at work; in busier scenes the colorfully depicted main characters easily stand out. Nifty details are everywhere, and crisscrossing narratives add tons of fun. Wisely, the quiet text lets the pictures tell the stories, allowing viewers to discover the connections on their own: the hotel manager welcomes a guest whose dog gets loose and runs down the street to the bakery, where firefighters (alerted by the dispatcher) have just put out a fire; an expecting couple hails the taxi driver, and later the nurse tends to new mother and baby, while outside their hospital window the baker holds the lost dog and hails the cab driver, who takes the pup back to its owner, an actor who's on a set with the film tech. Phew! Fittingly, the work-night wraps up with a scene outside the cozy bakery, where each worker, before heading home, can be spotted inside or out. The characters' diversity nicely reflects the big-city setting: the nurse is a Black man, the firefighter is a woman, the dispatcher uses a wheelchair, and the hotel manager wears a hijab.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky. A fairly standard retelling changes course quickly when Cinderella storms out of the ball ("What a disaster!") declaring that the prince is a snob and her feet are killing her ("Seriously? Glass high heels?"). As her horse turns back into a mouse and the pumpkin coach cracks open on the road, "Ella" blithely kneels on the ground, picks out the seeds, and pockets them. "I'll find my own destiny, thank you very much"--and she does, with mouse pal Fred witness to it all. Zelinsky's humorous illustrations have fun with Cinderella's clown-like stepfamily and their ridiculous attempts to squeeze large feet into the tiny glass slipper. Ella, on the other hand, is depicted as a down-to-earth pumpkin farmer who soon finds true love with another like-minded farmer. The two women (yaaas!) marry and move to a small farm, where they grow spectacular pumpkins, in a truly satisfying fairy-tale ending. Hopkinson's enhanced retelling even adds a small pourquoi tale: "And that, dear readers, is the story of how fairytale pumpkins got their name." Sorry, Prince Charming--this revisionist tale ends quite happily without you.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) PS Illustrated by Sakika Kikuchi. Every morning, Milo and his mom go for the same walk, "but what they see is never the same." It's not just seeing, either -- they use all their senses. When they come across a rain puddle, Milo squats down, sees himself, then touches his hand's wet reflection. Next, they hear some busy bees and smell some yellow flowers. They see a plane's contrail in the sky and hear a woodpecker in a tree. When they reach a bench, both mother and son make some art, mom using watercolor and Milo using crayons to depict a tree in the park. Milo thinks the tree looks sad and gives it a goodbye hug, whispering, "I will see you tomorrow and you will be happy." On the walk home, a friendly neighborhood dog ("full of slobber and good intentions") licks Milo's cheek, making him laugh. At home, Milo's mother writes down the story he tells her about their walk -- a nice way to recap the book' s events. While never using the term the five senses, Howe's text naturally introduces them in affable, authentic-sounding dialogue and narration. Softly outlined in pencil, Kikuchi's cheerful watercolors feature soothing pastel-toned yellows, blues, greens, and pinks. This outing contains just the right amount of detail to prompt audiences to make their own outdoor observations.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(1) K-3 "One night...Otilla finally ran away." After trekking through the snowy forest, she knocks at the door of a large old house. A skull in the window says he'll let the girl in if she'll carry him: "Rolling around is difficult for me." "All right," Otilla agrees, and soon they are touring his home together. Otilla finds there's a lot she can do for the skull, who can no longer build a fire or make tea or reach the pears on the tree. (She kindly feeds him a bite of pear, which "went through him and fell onto the floor. 'Ah, delicious,' said the skull.") They dance together in the ballroom, and when the skull warns her of the headless skeleton that chases him every night, Otilla sets out to help her new friend, handily destroying the skeleton. In gratitude, the skull invites her to stay with him, and, of course, she accepts. Unflappable Otilla and the unfailingly polite skull make for odd but exemplary companions in this well-paced tale, told in five parts (with most split into three brief sections) and illustrated in classic, deadpan Klassen style with speckled art that's both mesmerizing and dryly hilarious. The dark tones of the art are warmed by slants of peach-hued winter sunlight; like the scary-funny story, darkness and light work in tandem surprisingly well. An author's note expands on the background of this folktale retelling.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Claire Keane. When a young girl says she'd like one hundred dogs, her dad logically asks where they would all sleep. The following spread shows her vision (dogs tucked comfortably into bed next to her) alongside her parents' vision (dogs sleeping uncomfortably on top of her). Convinced, the girl agrees to ninety dogs. "But how would you walk 90 dogs?" Again, two very different pictures are conjured--one where the girl holds many leashes while sitting jauntily atop the largest dog and one where the dogs drag her along at top speed. McAnulty ([cf2[Excellent Ed, rev. 5/16) continues the pattern as each time ten fewer dogs are involved. Keane's (illustrator of Make Way, rev. 3/23) loose lines and lively compositions show the opposing viewpoints in comedic scenes of dog bliss (dogs bathing in a large swimming pool) versus dog chaos (dogs piled up in the girl's wading pool). All the bases are covered--feeding, naming, training, vet visiting, grooming, and playing. Down to ten dogs and it's finally time to address a different number--the number two. There's no pretty picture here, as all involved imagine the same stinky scenario. "I think I'd like 1 dog. Please," the girl says, and one she gets. The humor continues on the final spread, as Dad says to Mom, "I can't believe we talked her out of 100 dogs," while the girl, tucked in bed with her happy pup, says, "I can't believe I talked them into getting 1 dog." It's winner takes all here--or maybe just one.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Keiko Brodeur. When eight-year-old Mai gets off the train to visit her grandmother, her obchama, she accidentally leaves behind the delicious-smelling muskmelon she was so excited to share. Sakai's story, set in 1960s Japan, will pull readers in with its colorful and detailed illustrations of lovingly described scenes. When Mai realizes she's forgotten the melon, Obchama knows just what to do. They race back to the train station and search through the various objects at the lost and found: "glasses, wallets full of money, dentures, comic books, a ukulele, hats, and umbrellas...live pet crickets and large beetles in cages and a beautiful goldfish with a lacy white tail in a bowl." The melon isn't there, but the station official says he won't leave until he finds it. Back at Obchama's, Mai begs her to retell a favorite story about six local buddha statues that come to life one snowy night to return a kindness bestowed on them. Moments later, Mai's own kindness in choosing to bring the melon to her grandmother comes back around to her when they get a phone call: someone has turned in the missing fruit! Readers will be drawn into this heartwarming tale as surely as Mai is lured that morning by the melon's sweet aroma, depicted by illustrator Brodeur as a flowery trail that curls through the air beckoning the sleepy girl from her futon to the dining table.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023