(2) YA "Who is the 'real' Alejandra Kim?" A high school senior at an affluent prep school, she has her heart set on attending the prestigious but expensive Whyder College while dealing with imposter syndrome as a multiracial young woman (and scholarship student) who asks, "Am I 100 percent Korean, 100 percent Latinx, and 100 percent American...all at the same time?" Amid insensitive friends and performative allies, and with the relentless need to code switch, Alejandra doesn't really feel at home anywhere. The recent loss of her father means that her actual home life is difficult as well. Given an opportunity to participate in research transcribing immigrant stories, Alejandra begins to understand her parents' experiences and thus discover her purpose and place in the world. It might mean a path other than Whyder, but one that is authentically hers. She navigates the flaming hoops of high school and emerges stronger and more confident, supported by her cultural studies teacher, a longtime friend in her Queens neighborhood, and an unexpected confidante at school. Park immerses readers in her fully realized protagonist's complicated everyday existence, peppering her dialogue with insider New York references and untranslated family conversations in Spanish, expecting readers to keep up. Alejandra's powerful story will leave readers with much to think about.

Reviewer: J. Elizabeth Mills | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) YA Illustrated by Karen De la Vega & Marcus Williams. Former NHL player Aliu made headlines in 2020 when he shared stories of the racism and hazing he faced as a person of color in professional hockey. The son of a Nigerian father and Ukrainian mother, Aliu was born in Nigeria and spent his early years in Russia before his family immigrated to Canada and he discovered his love for hockey. His adoration of the sport was tested by persistent and devastating racism throughout his adolescence and beyond. This graphic memoir follows him from childhood through his exit from the NHL and to the formation of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, which makes hockey accessible to "children from diverse communities ­underrepresented in the sport." The narrative is notable for its emotional clarity and the strength with which the concise text carries both Aliu's pain and his resolve. Dynamic comic-panel art serves the story with expressiveness of motion and feeling. Grabbing readers at the intersection of sports and social justice, this is a welcome addition to the graphic-memoir genre.

Reviewer: Anne St. John | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) 4-6 Sicily Jordan had been excited about starting sixth grade with her friend group, the "Tether Squad" (including coordinated "outfits for almost the entire first month"). A last-minute redistricting plan means she has to transfer to Shirley Chisholm Middle School--without her squad. She's devastated and worries about making friends with a whole new group of people. Her "It's My Culture" presentation for class results in ignorant questions about her heritage: how can she be Black and speak Spanish? Is her family really from Panama? Sicily's frustrations are compounded at home, where her beloved abuela has become increasingly vocal about her dislike of her granddaughter's braided hair, calling it "low-class and poor and ghetto." While other family members and friends provide some support and levity, it's an opportunity to write for the school's online magazine that gives the biggest boost. In searching for topics, Sicily also begins to research her culture--and discovers that her biggest advocate just might be herself. Issues of colorism, culture, and immigration are skillfully discussed, and Sicily's journal entries introduce the rich history of Black Panamanians.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) YA First-person narrator Winifred, a Canadian teen of Metis and European descent, lives in present-day Toronto with her father, who is a crematory operator, on the grounds of the cemetery, between "the grubby and the austere"--a ravine where drug users hang out, and the gentrified neighborhood of Cabbagetown. Winifred is ostracized at school because of her morbid surroundings, and as she sees it, she has "lived a fairy-tale childhood. Like, a Grimm's fairy tale." Her own mother's ashes are half buried in the cemetery and half kept in the house, and her father lives a "half-life," yearning for his lost love. Ghosts haunt Winifred, both figuratively and literally, but Dimaline's (The Marrow Thieves) intense, bittersweet, and often funny novel is more than a ghost story. Extended portions about the life and death of Phil, a sympathetically rendered ghost character who becomes one of Winifred's first loves, allude to the real-life neglected epidemic of MMIWG2S (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People). Through this novel, Dimaline (Metis Nation of Ontario) honors those lost; as Winifred's Metis auntie says, "So lucky, you, to live in this place with so many people. Imagine a world without your dead? I'd be so lonely walking around by yourself like that."

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(1) YA Lou is preparing to spend the summer scooping ice cream at her uncles' seasonal shop, Michif Creamery, to save money for university in the fall. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned. She and her boyfriend break up (he's "all hormones-on-fire"; she realizes eventually that she's "ace or demi or something"), and they still have to work together. King, a former friend, returns from Toronto, and as their relationship deepens Lou is forced to face the fact that she had denied being Métis for most of the time they'd known each other. Additionally upsetting, she injures her shoulder in an altercation, a particular difficulty because she hopes to play water polo at school. The creamery is also under threats both mundane (a broken freezer) and more disturbing (intimidation from Lou's white biological father, a rapist recently released from prison). Lou must figure out how to save her university dreams and her uncles' business, as well as who she is as a Métis young woman. Although the book (a debut for Ferguson, who is also Michif/Métis and white) deals with major issues such as racism, rape, teen dating violence, and sexual harassment, it does not feel too heavy or overdramatized. Young adult readers can relate to the struggles Lou is facing as she navigates her transition from high school to college, and also use them as a conversation starter about race, identity, sexuality, dating, and friendship.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

(2) K-3 Nina's two grandmothers live far away from her and far apart from each other. Though the text does not state exactly where, the dedication ("For my British-American-Malaysian family") and cultural and geographic markers indicate the U.K. for Nana and Southeast Asia for Nenek. Both settings are "somewhere very different" for Nina (whose own view looks like San Francisco). But whether working in the garden, playing board games, or visiting the seaside, Nina is made to feel right at home. Nina's visits with her ­grandmothers are shown side-by-side on well-designed pages, with an engaging, accessible text and featuring cozy yet vibrant illustrations that were "painted on tea-stained paper, using watercolors, many tiny brushes, and a crow quill dip pen" and digitally edited. Differing background colors, patterns, and cultural motifs signify the two different settings, with the unifying features being open arms and warm hearts. Though the premise is somewhat sentimental, the story avoids mawkishness with the art's eye-catching details and the characters' endearing uniqueness (see Mom's blue-streaked hair). In whichever setting she finds herself, Nina feels secure in her family's love as well as in her own multifaceted identity.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) YA When a teacher takes note of newcomer Bel Maier's natural talents in science and pushes her to try out for the school's robotics team, high-school senior Bel--who is less ­interested in academics and college plans than many of her ­classmates--is wary but gives it a shot. She gets off to a rocky start with the team lead, wealthy, beloved school jock Teo Luna, when she criticizes the design of the robot created for competition, but it doesn't take long for the two to begin collaborating and develop feelings for each other. The lack of support from the team advisor and overt misogyny from competitors are frustrating forces that test Bel's self-confidence as a girl of color in STEM. This lively teen romance, with alternating narration from Bel and Teo, is packed with humor as well as tender moments, while also reflecting common anxieties around graduating high school. The characters' multiracial and multicultural family contexts (Bel's family identifies as "half Filipino"; Teo has Mexican and Jewish heritage) are naturally integrated. Though Bel is unsure of her future plans, she solidifies her friendships, familial and academic support, and most importantly, trust in herself.

Reviewer: Gabi K. Huesca | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(2) YA Seventeen-year-old Avery is convinced her family has made a huge mistake in moving from Washington, DC, to Bardell County, Georgia. Biracial and queer, Avery is not sure how she will be received in her mother's Southern hometown--and if her grandmother is any indication, acceptance won't be easy. Elderly, ornery, and dying of cancer, Mama Letty is caustic toward everyone, and neither she nor Avery's mother will give an explanation for their strained relationship. Plunged into mysteries surrounding her relatives, Avery is expected to follow the family motto and "focus forward" while remaining frustrated that no one will provide answers about their past. Two classmates, an attractive Black next-door neighbor and the white heir of the richest family in town, encourage Avery to build a bond with her grandmother--and as she does, she discovers that all of their families' pasts are intertwined. The novel addresses issues of race and sexuality head-on, along with questions of who should be memorialized. Third-person historical accounts of Bardell County are interspersed within Avery's first-person narration, and the pacing and structure lend themselves to a dynamic and astonishing conclusion.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) 4-6 In this picture book for an older audience than Yang's A Boy Named Isamu (rev. 9/21), Hughes presents an impressionistic biography of artist Isamu Noguchi. The book's emotional journey begins with an elderly Noguchi shouting into a phone, angrily turning down an invitation to represent the United States in an important art exhibition. Rejected too many times in both America and Japan, Noguchi "felt like a snail and called himself one." To calm down, he decides to build an akari, a lamp sculpted out of paper and bamboo, though difficult memories arise as he works. Born to a white American mother and a Japanese father, Noguchi grew up in both the U.S. and Japan yet never felt he belonged in either; World War II only deepened his sense of alienation. In her illustrations Hughes makes use of spirals and whorls to play with the snail theme: the artist often works so ferociously he's like a "typhoon"; coiled shapes fill his memories--Japanese ferns, wood shavings, his curly hair as a child; and, finally, there's the rounded shell-like body of the light-filled lamp, his finished product. Noguchi feels "love from the akari's glow" and changes his mind about the invitation; his work at the exhibition ultimately includes a room filled with akari--"a room full of light." In an author's note, Hughes says that while critics at the time complained that the akari were too commercial, she considers them "sculptures of joy...of lightness, impermanence." A brief bibliography is appended.

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

(2) K-3 Adapted by Ibram X. Kendi. Illustrated by Loveis Wise. Kendi's (Stamped, rev. 5/20) adaptation of a short story by Hurston softens (or leaves out) the original's violence, adds elements that are explained in a historical endnote, and retains the narrative frame of a "Mighty River" telling a brook a story about people in love. The tale begins with Bentley, who escapes enslavement and marries Swift Deer, a Cherokee woman. They have a daughter they name ­Magnolia Flower, who grows up during the Civil War and falls in love with a brown-skinned man named John. Bentley doesn't approve of John and locks him up to keep the lovers apart. Magnolia Flower frees him and they run away. The story ends with their return to the banks of the river forty years later. Both the lyrical text and the flowing digital illustrations let the theme of love running through Hurston's stories shine. Wise's (The People Remember, rev. 11/21; Ablaze with Color, rev. 3/22) brightly colored images capture the beauty of the forest and the love between ­Magnolia Flower and John. In his appended author's note, Kendi explains his intention behind adapting a short story for adults as a picture-book text: "The earlier we expose our children to our literary treasures--to our literary legends like Hurston--the ­better."

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) YA Madison Washington has always been bullied because she's skittish and quiet and dresses in 1950s attire. She tolerates the incessant taunting because she has more to worry about than her small-minded classmates. Maddy is biracial and passing as white in a small Southern town that still has segregated dances, and her abusive father is a religious, conservative fanatic who treats her Black heritage as a sin and forces her to pray in front of photos of white Hollywood stars from the past. Then an unexpected rainstorm causes her flat-ironed hair to rise, revealing that Maddy is not the white girl she has pretended to be, and the bullying intensifies. Meanwhile, a classmate captures a racist incident on video and it goes viral, so student leaders propose an integrated prom to fix the school's reputation. When several students commit a racist prank against Maddy at prom, they find out that she has another, ­supernatural secret--one that will result in a deadly incident to be pieced together years later by the true-crime podcast that serves as the book's framing device. This reimagining of King's Carrie is a thrilling, unflinching horror narrative that takes on colorism, racism, classism, microaggressions, white saviorism, and respectability politics. A perfect choice for fans of Àbíké-Íyímídé's Ace of Spades.

Reviewer: S. R. Toliver | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) YA James, twelve, and his precocious sister Ava, ten, have moved from Texas to Oregon with their parents, and James is bitter about having his entire life uprooted. The siblings struggle to adjust to their new surroundings, amping up a prank war to the extent that they start hurting each other's feelings for real. When the kids begin finding mysterious and threatening letters from "the Keeper" around the house, their parents assume it's all just another prank. James and Ava realize they're going to have to solve the mystery of the letters on their own, and fast, because the Blood Moon is approaching and the Keeper has warned James that he must act before then. James and Ava's Mexican American family dynamic is realistically portrayed, and secondary characters are well drawn, as well. As they investigate their neighbors and the history of their almost-too-idyllic gated community, James and Ava learn that they aren't the first children to be threatened. The story's pace is slow but the mystery is intriguing, and determined readers will be satisfied with the surprising and sinister (involving a cult and human sacrifice) denouement.

Reviewer: Sarah Berman

(2) YA After their parents are brutally murdered for miscegenation in 1936, fraternal twin infants Charlie and Magnolia are separated. Because she can pass for white, Magnolia Heathwood is raised as a Southern belle on a plantation in Eureka, Georgia, by her white grandmother, Blanche, who keeps Magnolia unaware of her racial heritage. As the darker of the sisters, Charlie Yates is taken away from the Jim Crow South to Harlem and raised by her Black grandmother, Jeannette. On her deathbed in 1953, Blanche tells Magnolia of her parentage, and this truth causes Magnolia's reflection to mysteriously disappear. Meanwhile, Charlie has been thriving as a young activist; when Jeannette falls ill and asks to be buried in her hometown, they make the journey back to Eureka. Once there, Charlie learns about the circumstances of her birth, the existence of her sister, and a curse that affects them all. Raised in different worlds, Charlie and Magnolia must work together to end the family curse before they lose each other forever. McWilliams uses American history and Southern Gothic elements to create a thrilling story filled with complex characters and significant social themes, including colorism and race relations. Readers who enjoy historical fantasy narratives, such as Corthron's Daughters of Jubilation (rev. 1/21), will appreciate this captivating story of resilience, hope, and love.

Reviewer: S. R. Toliver | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2022

(2) YA In this moving debut novel (set before the COVID-19 pandemic), a racist act of vandalism almost splits two biracial (Chinese American and Irish American) sisters apart as they take different approaches to handling the aftermath. The Flanagan girls are polar opposites: Annalie, seventeen, is quiet, sweet, and self-conscious while college student Margaret, nineteen, is bold and outspoken. When someone paints a slur on the garage of their small-town Illinois home, Annalie and their mother, an immigrant, want to stay silent, while Margaret digs for clues and notifies the press. Further conflict arises when Annalie realizes that her new boyfriend, Thom, may be connected to the incident. Tian crafts a realistic, nuanced coming-of-age tale that deals with questions of identity and self-doubt, internalized racism, sibling rivalry, young love, and microaggressions. The book is a good companion read for other contemporary teen novels that deal with anti-Asian hate, including Ho's The Silence That Binds Us (rev. 7/22).

Reviewer: Michelle Lee | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(1) YA In this expertly crafted graphic novel, recent high school grad Nao, born in Japan and raised in the American Midwest, spends a gap year in Tokyo. "Only half" Japanese and lacking language fluency, she struggles to fit in. Nao's housemates include two other non-natives, Korean Hyejung and Chinese Singaporean Tina; they tell Nao they simply want to experience life abroad but both hide complicated backstories, revealed in sections related from their points of view. Frequent use of manga art styles adds depth and detail to the story of Naos rollercoaster year. Becker (illustrator of Takei's They Called Us Enemy, rev. 9/19) smartly uses speech balloons to re-create the feeling of being a language learner, showing, for example, only Japanese characters when Nao can't understand a word of rapid-fire Japanese but providing both Japanese characters and English translation when she does understand, with blurry lines standing in for the words she isn't getting. Dialogue balloons have characters speaking accented English with their pronunciations written out phonetically; in an endnote, Becker says, "Our accents are not a point of shame but a point of pride, because after all, what is an accent but proof of the ability to speak more than one language?" Hilarious and tender situations abound as this insightful graphic novel explores, among other topics, how language can either separate or bring people together.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

(2) 4-6 Bermudez mined her middle-school diaries to create this appealing debut graphic memoir set in NYC just before and after 9/11. Twelve-year-old Alyssa splits her time between her Puerto Rican dad's apartment in Manhattan and her Italian American mom's place in Queens. While her seventh-grade year at St. Ignatius is full of universally relatable middle-school drama (a painful first crush, multiple friendship conflicts, and a cosmetic malfunction--she accidentally shaves off too much of her eyebrows), Alyssa is also a quintessential New Yorker who rides the subway on her own and takes weekend art lessons at the Met. Then her bustling city life is shaken by the 9/11 attack, which takes place at the start of her eighth-grade year. Though she doesn't suffer a direct loss from the ­tragedy--although her father worked in the World Trade Center, he was not in the building that day--Alyssa's ideas about herself and the future are upended. The cool blue limited palette of the panels underscores the moodiness of the middle-school years and serves as an effective backdrop to the apple-cheeked and open-faced depictions of Alyssa and her friends and family. Fans of Craft's New Kid (rev. 1/19), Telgemeier's Smile, and Hale's Real Friends (rev. 5/17) will find much to love here.

Reviewer: Jennifer Hubert Swan | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

(1) YA Recent high school graduate Daunis Firekeeper (known for much of the book by her white mother's family name, Fontaine) decides to stay in Sault St. Marie, Michigan, and attend Lake State with her best friend, Lily. She is then ­devastated when Lily is killed by her meth-addicted boyfriend. Soon after, two undercover agents approach Daunis about taking her late uncle's place as a confidential informant investigating meth that included "hallucinogenic additives...Psilocybe caerulipes from near Tahquamenon Falls." Daunis has strong scientific knowledge and a close connection to the Native community, despite being unenrolled (her father, a member of the Sugar Island Ojibwe tribe, is not on her birth certificate). Readers are introduced to the Anishinaabemowin language and, as Daunis calls on traditional knowledge to assist her in the investigation alongside her scientific knowledge, to the customs of the Sugar Island Ojibwe. This is a gripping page-turner, multifaceted, authentic, and suspenseful, that will keep readers wondering who is responsible for the meth that is taking over Daunis's community--and who exactly she can trust.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2021

(2) YA Spencer Harris begins sophomore year at a new school in Ohio, hoping for a fresh start after having had to transfer because of "the Incident" at his previous school: Spencer is trans, and he was outed and threatened during his freshman year. He succeeds at finding his circle on the soccer team and in the Queer Straight Alliance, but even there he's tentative about revealing his queer and, especially, his transgender identity. To Spencer, fitting in seems dependent on remaining in the closet, but a love interest and other circumstances force him to consider whether he wants to live with a secret. The story briefly touches on secondary topics such as racial identity (Spencer is described as Black, his family as interracial) and disabilities (Spencer's brother is autistic) but keeps the focus on the trans experience. Debut author Fitzsimons's conversational writing style invites empathy for the cast of clearly drawn characters and their journeys of self-discovery. In addition to providing a basic understanding of some of the daily challenges faced by trans youth and their families, the story models how a community can come together to take care of one of its own. A heartwarming tale of determination and one teen's path to authentic living.

Reviewer: Nicholas A. Brown | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Linus Curci. In an emotionally honest first-person text, an older brother reflects on how his younger sibling's gender transition has affected him. The unnamed narrator addresses his sibling, who, for the pair's first few years together, he knew as his brother: "We were brothers and best friends." When the younger child informs her family that she's a girl, the brother needs to process what's changed--and what hasn't. The kids' parents take the news in stride, asking about a new name ("My name is Daisy, like the flower") and making sure to find an affirming community of similar families. The narrator, however, struggles with an understandable sense of loss and confusion. "I was afraid to call you by a new name and afraid to not have a brother anymore. I was afraid it meant losing you. But...I tried it." Curci's painterly illustrations, recalling Ken Wilson-Max's style (Astro Girl, rev. 11/19) with a more muted palette and less-heavy black line, skillfully convey relationships in this mixed-race family. In a particularly effective spread, the right-hand page shows Mom, Dad, and Daisy gathered around a kitchen island, the parents listening attentively to their daughter. On the verso, the narrator sits apart from the rest of his family, listening but not engaged in the conversation--a great depiction of how children can feel left out and resentful of the attention a transitioning sibling often receives. Karlsson's text is purposeful but authentic to a child's voice, and the story (inspired by her own family's experience, we learn in an author's note) should support and guide kids in similar circumstances. With time and parental guidance, the older brother realizes "that you were still the same person, and we could play all the same games." And that's what matters most.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

(2) YA Lee builds an original story around the little-known fact that eight of the Titanic passengers were Chinese men. This engaging historical novel adds a fictional young woman in stowaway Valora Luck, a biracial seventeen-year-old maid and former acrobat of English and Chinese heritage, as she reunites with her sailor twin brother and dreams of life in America. Despite having a first-class ticket, Valora is turned away because of her heritage. But once she sneaks aboard, the resourceful teen uses her wits to move around the ship in disguise, pretending to be sometimes her deceased employer, sometimes a young sailor. Lee creates vivid backstories for her characters and explores daily life on the luxury liner for upper- and lower-deck passengers, including scenes of racism and sexism. There are also memorable scenes of warmth, joy, romance, and daring, particularly when the twins perform for a Ringling Bros. Circus co-owner. As with most Titanic stories, the suspenseful final chapters focus on escape and survival, and the ending is heart-wrenching--and unexpected. Lee's novel should, as she says in an author's note, "provoke a discussion about which of these characters society considers 'worthy' and which it does not." Recommended for history buffs and fans of the 1997 Titanic film; pair with The Six, a new documentary about the Chinese Titanic survivors.

Reviewer: Michelle Lee | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021