(2) 4-6 Two jelly bean–shaped creatures, one blue, one pink, delve into the intricacies and duplicity behind one of the most insidious and pervasive issues of our time, and the first chapter of this middle-grade comic dives right in: "What Is Fake News?" Gravel (Arlo & Pips, rev. 1/21) does a fine job breaking down complex ideas, beginning with the definition of news ("information about important stuff that's happening in the world right now") and explaining that while disinformation is not new ("Hear ye, hear ye! An evil magician turned the king into a goat!"), the internet and other modern technologies have made it much easier to make lies look real and to intentionally spread them. The hows and whys are explored using specific, goofy fictional case studies; and people's motives (e.g., "Reason 1: To make money... Reason 2: To make money and get famous," etc.) are plainly laid out. Though the examples aren't necessarily serious, the consequences are: "So far, I have given you a bunch of silly examples of fake news," says the pink protagonist, "but fake news is not funny at all. It can actually be very dangerous." The tone is non-blame-y of consumers (but not purveyors) of fake news, with acknowledgment of the ease of being duped ("Admit it--you'd be curious, too") and useful advice about thinking critically, examining sources, etc. Well-delineated panel illustrations featuring blobby critters and pastel colors make these thorny concepts relatively easy to get and should leave many readers feeling empowered.

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

(2) YA Poppy, seventeen, and her younger sister, Emma, have grown up on the run. Their parents, though loving, are fugitives from justice who use fake identities to settle in small towns all around the country and never hesitate to pull up stakes and vanish. Her hypervigilant dad maintains that the less the girls know, the better. Poppy and Emma respect their parents' wishes to stay off technology, and they don't even know their parents' real names. But in a beautiful California town, the vibe feels different ("For the first time in all my years running, something shifted"), and Poppy dares to wonder about her future, even convincing her father to arrange her enrollment in an advanced math class. She starts to spend time with classmate Harry, and with his help slowly pieces together her complicated backstory. Weisenberg delivers a compelling coming-of-age novel that explores personal responsibility and what we do for love and for family loyalty. Fans of crime stories, romances, and psychological thrillers will be fully invested.

Reviewer: Luann Toth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

(2) K-3 Here's a classic David vs. Goliath tale, with a twist--or possibly more than one. The town of Puddletrunk, a higglety-pigglety, near-vertical construction on a tiny circle of land, is separated from the mainland by a deep chasm. The wooden bridges that span the chasm collapse with disturbing regularity--destroyed, apparently, by termites. A large bridge troll with bright green skin who towers over the other ­residents--"the fabulous Mortimer Gulch!!!" gushes the effusive and clueless narrator--bilks the residents of their money and possessions to pay for succeeding new bridges. (They're now on #272.) Then a newcomer, a diminutive clock repairman, arrives to rebuild the town's crumbling clock tower; he seems curiously immune to the troll's grift. And that grift is even greater than we first suspect, because it transpires that Mr. Gulch, not termites at all, is the ­culprit/bridge chewer. One night, he gnaws at the base of the (now fully repaired) clock tower--"Just as delicious as bridges!" enthuses the narrator--causing the tower to fall over. But when it does, it exactly spans the width of the chasm, becoming a strong, sturdy, covered bridge. The town rejoices, Mr. Gulch slinks off into the night...and the narrator still doesn't get it. The book's success lies in the sliminess of Mr. Gulch; the surprise outcome; the many clever details in the illustrations (including a blueprint that reveals what the repairman intended, all along); and the mismatch between the narration and the story being told in the illustrations. The palette's lurid colors, the exaggerated figures, even the curlicue font all match and reinforce the over-the-top, funny, and many-times-pore-over-able story.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old CJ lives with her aunt Nic, a YouTube medium trying to break into reality TV. After discovering that a Hollywood producer seeks to unmask her aunt as a charlatan, CJ uncovers a major family secret (about her mother), which convinces her that Aunt Nic is a fraud. Graff's ruminations on life and death; faith and belief; truth, fiction, and lies appear throughout this page-turning story about one family's specific dysfunctions.

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

(3) YA While high-school sophomore Annie's father is on trial for real estate fraud, she and her older brother move to Breckenridge, Colorado, to live with her mom's estranged sister and her husband. There, Annie gets a job at her uncle's restaurant, loses her virginity, and learns a family secret. Annie's spoiled attitude is initially trying, but the maturity she displays by book's end feels earned.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(3) YA High-school junior Brynn works as a con artist so that she can afford college and escape her mom's drug-dealer boyfriend. Her swindling talents earn her a spot at secretive boarding school Vale Hall, making her dreams of escaping come true--at a cost. This twisty, high-stakes modern thriller (based on Norse mythology) will make readers question their own codes of ethics.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Poly Bernatene. Despite having been adopted by bookstore owners when she was five, eleven-year-old Property Jones is (secretly) illiterate. Fortunately, she is also extremely observant, which enables her to thwart the swindlers who are bent on cheating her family out of the commodious, almost-magical book emporium they've just won in a contest. This pleasant fantasy, enlivened by Bernatene's cartoon illustrations, will engage young book lovers ready to take on denser chapter books.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(4) YA Con artist Jo impersonates a missing girl, Vivienne, and is taken in by Vivi's wealthy guardians, no questions asked. Perhaps the family's name (Lovecraft) will tip readers off, but secrets and hidden violence are soon apparent. The narrative, at times addressed to a (gradually revealed) "you," is initially confusing, but this suspenseful novel also has much to say about social class and privilege.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(3) YA Scholarship student Uma has spent most of her life on the Moon colony, waiting to visit Earth again. Earthling Talitha, along with her twin brother Castor, scam consumers from Earth's wastelands. Uma and Talitha fall fast in love when Uma escapes to Earth, but each keeps a secret that could break the other's heart. A poignant futuristic love story about finding your place and building empathy.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(4) YA Scam tarot-reader Skye doesn't really believe in psychic visions. She also doesn't believe she'll ever escape her boring Michigan town or her infamous reputation. When Skye comes forward with a "vision" about a missing classmate, what was an innocent-enough moneymaking scheme deteriorates dangerously. Despite its over-the-top twist, this thriller is attuned to the lies people tell to keep dark secrets.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(2) YA Reality-TV show Waste of Space sends ten teenagers into space (in actuality, a soundstage in Arizona). The teenagers' belief that their "spaceplane" is real falters as details fail to add up. Zanily paced action humming with punch lines captures the anything-for-hype mindset of reality TV; the friendship between Nico and Titania, two teens with tragic pasts, elevates the story to a higher plane.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2017

(4) YA Escape: Summer Road Trip series. A series of light hi-lo novels detail teens' summer trips: Kendra and Mitch are swindled in the City of Sin (Vegas); Tree and Jeanne survive mishaps in 1987 Stonehenge (Lights); and Tamika fights her depression on a kayaking trip (Rapids). Despite the books' uneven plots, their pop-culture references, unchaperoned adventures, and highly accessible texts may appeal to teenage reluctant readers. There are three other fall 2017 books in this series. Review covers these Escape: Summer Road Trip titles: Vegas, The Rapids, and Shooting Lights.

Reviewer: Rebecca Kirshenbaum

(3) 4-6 A boy appears in DC's National Gallery of Art with no memory of his own life (but deep knowledge of art). What follows is a caper involving a "newly discovered" van Gogh painting and two children who hold the clue to revealing the fraud. An exciting mystery steeped in art history, the book includes QR codes to discover the art in real time.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(1) YA In Lockhart's latest intoxicating thriller, eighteen-year-old protagonist Jule is cold, tough, and in trouble with the law, but displays an endearing softness as we learn about her friendship with wealthy Imogen, whom Jule misses dearly. As chapters descend in reverse chronological order, readers get breadcrumb-like pieces to the puzzle of why Jule is running, what happened with Imogen, and what makes the intricately drawn anti-heroine tick.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2017

(3) YA Sixteen-year-old Joss creates myriad (predatory and catfish-y) online personas to escape her humdrum suburban-Arizona life until an anonymous cyber-stalker threatens to reveal her lies. As an unreliable narrator, Joss reels readers into a twisted web of lies veiling her agonizing internal struggles. Despite its complicated plot, this swindler-thriller is wildly suspenseful, and its ending is satisfying.

Reviewer: Lana Barnes

(3) YA In an alternate America, witches have been forced into private "havens." Macie and her mother are magical grifters, always pursuing the next haul in a new haven--until lonely Macie insists their con in utopian Witchtown be their last. With the help of friends, a love interest, and a pyromaniacal poltergeist, Macie escapes her mother's deeper-than-expected deceit. A satisfying paranormal drama with real-world issues.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(4) YA An unnamed teenage con artist poses as a long-missing boy, Daniel Tate, seeing an opportunity to become part of a wealthy family. His fears about being caught, however, are soon dwarfed by concerns about the Tate family members' own secrets, which seem increasingly sinister. Terrill uses an unreliable narrator to good effect, and the plot builds suspense effectively, if at times unevenly.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(3) K-3 Thinking his dad's awesomeness comes from his beard, a boy desperately wants to grow one himself. He spends his money on a "Beard in a Box," but the purported miracle product--surprise!--doesn't work. The boy's dad (who coincidentally shaved off his beard) explains it's the person, not the beard, that matters. Lively mixed-media illustrations add visual punch to the amusing story.

Reviewer: Russell Perry

(3) YA Introduction by Phillip Hoose. This highly entertaining and unusual book takes a fresh and sophisticated approach to world history. Brief but informative sections detail hoaxes and unsolved mysteries from ancient times to the present, and from the familiar (the Trojan Horse) to the more obscure (the 1971 discovery of alleged Stone Age tribe the Tasaday). A fascinating read for high schoolers and adults. Extensive source notes are appended. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(4) YA Big Bet series. Jason Jorgensen is the narcissistic leader of a crew of high-school con artists. As the gang pursues more risky challenges--from rigging poker games and professional basketball games to ultimately trying to scam the Mafia--loyalties are tested and the stakes skyrocket. This hi-lo series features quick-moving plots and snappy dialogue, but Jason's first-person narration is uneven and tends toward prosaic. Review covers these Big Bet titles: Bullseye, Checkmate, The Four Racketeers, Payment in Kind, Too Much Action, and Up the Stakes.

Reviewer: Grace Enriquez