(2) YA Former best friends Celine and Bradley are now enemies and academic rivals. When they both jump at the opportunity to participate in a wilderness competition with a scholarship attached and end up on the same team, they are forced to work together to achieve their individual goals. They also work through what tore them apart in the first place while realizing that there could be more to their feelings. In her debut YA novel, British romance writer ­Hibbert offers an entertaining, laugh-out-loud tale featuring memorable Black characters. The alternating first-person narration of the England and Scotland–set story allows for introspection and reveals the nuances of the multifaceted protagonists. Popular jock Bradley is bisexual and lives with obsessive-compulsive disorder, which the author includes without centering or treating as problematic. Celine, struggling with ­abandonment issues related to her father, can be abrupt and emotionally closed off but is also a compelling and amusing character. Along with a constellation of well-drawn secondary players, Bradley and Celine's skillfully written romantic banter make this an engrossing rom-com.

Reviewer: Monique Harris | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jessica Love . A redheaded child looks a little skeptical when Dad announces over breakfast that the two of them are going camping in the desert "to shake hands with the universe." After saying goodbye to Mom and the baby, they pack up Darlin', their pickup truck, and set off. The child narrator notices the change in smells as they drive up into the mountains, which have "charred black trees and also a lot of flowers." Love pairs this imagery with a page of labeled mountain flowers. After stopping by a junkyard to pick up spare parts and chat with the owner, parent and child set up camp by the sand dunes. At night they lie under a cozy blanket on Darlin's bed and name stars after the things they have seen that day. The narrator is comforted by the idea that "we're all made of the same stuff, in different bodies." Love's watercolor, gouache, and ink illustrations include both factual information (the steps to build a fire) and warm, loving scenes of father and child together. By the time they return home, the child's body language is relaxed and content, and they greet Mom and baby happily. The desire for one-on-one attention from a parent is one many children will relate to, and the final picture shows the child as a constellation, "at home in the universe."

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Chris Turnham. Readers meet poet and conservationist William Stanley Merwin (1927–2019) as a child, reading a book in his clover-and-dandelion-studded backyard. Alas, that's the closest he can get to the "wild places" he loves, as his family lives in a town "where the wild parts had been straightened out." This is depicted by Turnham as an oppressive grid, with smoke issuing from automobiles, chimneys of identical row houses, and a factory. Summertimes, though, are spent in the woods, "where trees grew where their seeds had fallen." As a young man, Stanley realizes "writing poetry was like visiting a wild place," but he still yearns to live among nature and moves to Hawaii. There he finds a plot of land on Maui that's been "wounded" by chemicals--and that he heals over decades until it is a thriving wilderness. Fountain uses a spare text that emphasizes Merwin's role of conservationist over that of poet (she does append one poem following her author's note). The metaphor of "unstraightening" is effective, and the message that "poisoned" land can be healed with care and time is a bracing one. Turnham's crisp illustrations are somewhat more effective for the "straightened-out" scenes than for Merwin's wilderness, where muted tones fail to capture true lushness, but his palm trees do spread out in profusion.

Reviewer: Vicky Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) PS "We are wild. We are children of the forest," proclaims the story's narrator, an unnamed older sibling wearing a fern-colored hooded jacket and brown pants and carrying a (toy) bow and arrow--evoking both Peter Pan and Robin Hood. The younger sibling (known only as Sister), wearing a dress and cozy hat and sweater, blithely toddles behind. Though the illustrations make clear that the duo is exploring their own backyard, the text stays true to the narrator's sharply etched imagination. (When it says, "We find a pioneer cabin," for instance, the illustrations show the siblings approaching a shed where their father is taking a nap.) There's much humor in the older sibling's ­hyperbole and dramatic efforts to protect Sister. In the wild woods, the two encounter a mountain lion (a pet cat), a wild beast (the family dog), a scavenger woman (their mother, coming to check on them), and more. The adventure begins before sunset and continues into the evening; the warm yellows of the sky make way for cool blues and lavenders in Myers's thick, dense watercolors. Nighttime brings shadows, and the younger sibling breaks character to run after "Mama!" In the end, both explorers are safely asleep in bunk beds in the tame indoors. An ode to the natural world--and the abundant imagination of children.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2022

(1) 4-6 Mouse siblings Violet and Jobie live a cozy life in a human house where they are warm and comfortable, have plenty to eat, and sometimes watch Nature Magnificent on television. They like to play the "cheese game," where they use a pencil to spring a mousetrap and then enjoy its bait--until one careless day, they find themselves trapped inside. The humans, a benevolent mother and child, release the mice in a distant state park, and the young rodents find themselves in a new environment that they are ill-equipped to navigate. The first night they sleep in a creature's den, with near-tragic results: "Because suddenly, [Violet] realized that's what the creature was: a fox. Thanks, Nature Magnificent!" Mercifully, they meet a wise old mouse, Zolian, who helps them learn to stay safe and also how to appreciate the world around them. Thoughtful Violet grows close to the elderly Zolian, while extroverted Jobie cultivates a large group of friends. When Jobie leaves to start a family of his own, Violet must figure out what comes next for her. The fast-paced plot keeps this gentle survival story moving. As in Perkins's Newbery winner Criss Cross (rev. 9/05), spot-art vignettes appear frequently, full of insights about life and the natural world along with imaginative and funny details about how the mice might get along in it. Violet and Jobie ultimately discover their own ways, leaving their adventurous stories behind to inspire future generations of wide-eyed rodents (and humans).

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(4) YA Kira enjoys helping her foster mom, Cady, train dogs for search-and-rescue operations. But this work becomes deeply personal when Cady's estranged father shows up, begging the two to help find a girl who's gone missing, in a case that may connect with Kira's own story. A tense mystery plot and strongly drawn setting help compensate for underdeveloped supporting characters.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Ali joins her brother on her father's Survivor Guy reality show in the Great Dismal Swamp and is disappointed to learn the show relies on stunt doubles and deceptive camera angles. When Ali, five-year-old medic's-daughter Isabel, and intern Adam are left behind during a wildfire evacuation, Ali puts her real survival skills to work. The action sequences fit smoothly with the scenes of emotional growth, and the resolution is satisfying.