(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Peachaloo Piccolozampa is staying with her beloved grandmother Omi in small-town Pennsylvania for the summer, as usual. This year their idyllic life, characterized by early-morning swims in the local pond, is threatened by villainous real estate developer Major Gasbag. (Gasbag speaks exclusively in hyperbole; timely parallel noted.) The story (which has a mysterious first-person narrator, eventually revealed) continues in this satirical vein as Peachaloo and Omi attempt to resist Gasbag's machinations. Entwining with this plot line is a historical story of two 1930s bank robbers who experienced a conversion from their life of crime due to an encounter with a local religious sect, a society that treated skipping as a spiritual practice. (The use of skipping as a form of social protest may be a sweet nod to Eleanor Farjeon's classic, Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep.) Peachaloo stars in the town's annual play devoted to this inspiring event. It all adds up to a rollicking, digressive, and (unsurprisingly given Raschka's work as an illustrator) highly visually descriptive novel. "Ship-like clouds were burnt a fiery scarlet on their undersides, with their fluffy topsides going lilac." In a dramatic conclusion, Gasbag is ejected from paradise, Peachaloo gains confidence, and order is restored in proper comic fashion.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(2) YA In this loose retelling of the Greek myth, Icarus Gallagher is a seventeen-year-old art thief. He breaks into Mr. Black's home, steals his art, and replaces it with forgeries by his father, Angus -- largely as revenge for Mr. Black's role in Icarus's mother's death years earlier. This revenge comes at a cost, however. Angus has strict rules that keep Icarus distanced from others, and he isn't the novel's only abusive father. One night, Icarus meets Mr. Black's son, Helios, who is essentially under house arrest. Against Icarus's better judgment, they strike up a friendship, and then a romance -- and then they must face their inner demons as they plot their escape. Written in brief vignettes that hover somewhere between flash fiction and prose poems, the narrative begins as an impressionistic character study of Icarus. Gradually, a plot emerges, many secrets are revealed, suspense builds, and the romantic tension between the characters ratchets up -- all of it enhanced by the vivid prose in this refreshingly succinct novel.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) YA Narrative nonfiction veteran Jarrow (recently American Murderer, rev. 9/22) digs into the history of the greedy hucksters and charlatans who defrauded naive and grieving people for decades, as spiritualism began in the mid-1800s and gained popularity in the postwar periods that followed. The book shows how these mediums employed parlor tricks and sleight of hand to deceive seance-sitters into believing the dead could communicate from beyond the grave. Each rise in the practice's popularity brought renewed skepticism, with a curious alliance of journalists, magicians, scientists, and detectives working diligently to convince the public that mediums were merely con artists. The book spends much of its time with famed magician and escape artist Harry Houdini, who used his expertise and experience to disprove mediums' deceptions, performing their tricks himself during his touring shows. This intriguing deep dive into an underexplored period of history shows readers how obvious lies can cement into passionately held beliefs that can stand up to scrutiny if the believer is sufficiently motivated. Frequent visuals include photographs and advertisements; "How Did They Do It?" sections detail mediums' secret methods. The thorough back matter includes a timeline, a glossary, additional resources, an author's note, source notes, an extensive bibliography, and an index.

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(1) 4-6 Moonwind Mysteries series. Translated by A. A. Prime. In this sequel to The Night Raven (rev. 9/23), young detective Mika has reason to suspect that some of the children at her orphanage have taken to thieving. Instead, she discovers they've been taken under the wing of an elegant, savvy performance artist, Henrietta, who has promised them an ideal home at her distant estate, the Apple Farm. First, though, they will help Henrietta with her knife-throwing show at a gala dinner where a priceless Japanese gemstone will be exhibited. When Mika meets Henrietta, even she feels the pull of the promise of a real home and agrees to help her -- until, with a little reading of the newspaper and quick, critical thinking, Mika realizes that "something doesn't quite make sense." This second Moonwind Mystery has a more somber tone than the first, perhaps because, although the book is set in 1880s Stockholm, the orphans' precarious futures and heartfelt longing make for a vulnerability that rings true here and now. Rundberg vividly conveys the part that hope plays in feeding the soul. At the same time, this is a wonderfully eventful mystery, with unpredictable plots, schemes, and a successful get-out-of-jail attempt engineered by a team of juvenile explosive experts -- not to mention indomitable Mika and her sidekick, unkempt and unorthodox police detective Hoff.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) YA Intent on saving his family farm during the Great Depression, sixteen-year-old Joe arrives in Chicago to work and send money home. Thanks to the cousin he's staying with, he has two jobs lined up. One is working in the kitchen of a hotel. The other involves taking French classes at a local church; collecting his wealthy classmates' names, addresses, and travel dates; and passing the information along to criminals who plan to rob the homes while their occupants are vacationing abroad. Despite his reservations, Joe goes along with the scheme and is drawn inexorably into a web of lies, deceit, blackmail, and murder. With elements of noir, the plot is further complicated by a love triangle: Eddie makes deliveries to the hotel, Raymond is in his French class, and Joe becomes romantically involved with both. As trouble catches up to Joe, he's forced to flee Chicago, but he's reluctant to leave the queer community he's found and finds little solace in the idea of returning home. Klise deftly manages to balance a number of elements in Joe's first-person narration: his gradual transition from wide-eyed innocence toward criminal activity, the complicated motivations of secondary characters, convincing dialogue, and an aura of danger and suspense. The historical setting and secretly queer characters may appeal to fans of Lo's Last Night at the Telegraph Club (rev. 3/21). An author's note gives brief historical background and suggestions for further reading.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2023

(2) YA Along the medieval Silk Road, a boy is cast out from the temple and nearly stoned to death by monks. He is purchased as a servant by a fast-talking merchant named Samir, for the price of six bolts of silk, and dubbed Monkey. Monkey watches Samir spin tales and make enemies everywhere he goes. In fact, the man is being hunted by six different "killing lines," from a Viking berserker to a Mongol gunner--though at the end of the first chapter it's Monkey who tantalizingly confesses: "That is why I killed him." The book is warmly funny, with folkloric commitment to larger-than-life characters, exaggerated perils, and plenty of jokes, punctuated by Miyares's lively and colorful illustrations. The formula of the six killing lines encourages readers to anticipate the unspooling of the tale; the twist regarding Samir's eventual death is more a reward than a shock. ­Celebration of the cultural riches of the Silk Road, along with the geographic, ­religious, and material diversity of the setting, make for engaging historical fiction--and a rollicking good yarn.

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

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Matthew Cordell. Lonely, neglected Leeva Thornblossom's greedy parents believe her job is to make them rich and famous. Since this hasn't happened yet, they require Leeva to follow her Employee Manual and perform such duties as washing dishes and cooking the books for the town of Nutsmore, where her mother is mayor and her father is treasurer. Versatile author Pennypacker (Clementine, rev. 1/07; Pax, rev. 3/16) has written a book that is by turns outrageous and wise, funny and touching, fantastical and true; Cordell's sketches contribute to the levity. Although forbidden to leave the Thornblossoms' property, Leeva begins her exploration of the outside world by sneaking to the library next door, where she befriends the kind librarian, Pauline Flowers, and her nephew. Under Mrs. Flowers's direction, Leeva begins reading books to answer her question, "What are people for?" Leeva's social circle and her understanding of the world expand exponentially, and eventually she and her new friends (and a badger) play a role in ridding the town of the adult Thornblossoms and returning all the money they stole. By story's end, Leeva knows exactly what people are for: "Everything that happens is better when someone else shares it with you."

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

(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