(2) K-3 Illustrated by Sarah Gonzales. Lawson’s lyrical picture-book biography of change-making wildland firefighter Deanne Shulman opens with an anecdote from Shulman’s childhood that foreshadows her future vocation. The young girl, an avid hiker and outdoor enthusiast, builds up the courage to climb, and then jump from, her favorite tall tree. Lawson employs vivid imagery to describe Shulman’s life on the front lines with the United States Forest Service: “Short naps with no sleeping bag. Curled up, waking like a big ball of dirt.” Her story might be many readers’ first exposure to the 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which she first successfully invokes when her small stature initially bars her from becoming a smokejumper. With tidy narrative symmetry, Shulman’s story closes with her first parachute jump on the job. Gonzales’s textured illustrations swirl together both cool forest greens and blues and the warm tones of fire but never grow too scary—the darkest, most intense hues are reserved for reflecting the fuel of Shulman’s frustration and determination: “Inside, Deanne was ablaze.” An author’s note acknowledges both the useful role of wildfires and their ­growing severity due to climate change. A glossary is also appended.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2025

(3) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Minna Treat comes from a long line of woodworkers in historic Gilbrith. The pressure to win the village's junior artisan contest is suddenly amplified when she learns that her caregiver, Uncle Theo, may move them away. Then Minna begins finding glass bottles with mysterious messages, possibly related to her ancestry. True-to-life characters play well against the picturesque setting in this quaint family story.

Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay

(3) 4-6 Magical realism and golf as a metaphor for life pervade Lawson's 1972-set novel about eleven-year-old Ben's struggle to come to terms with his father's recent death. Objects, including Daddy's ashes, speak to Ben, precipitating his journey from Alabama to Georgia's Augusta National Golf Club in the company of a secretive female runaway. Lawson's prose--lush as a golf course green--illuminates Ben's acute visual observations.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Natalie Andrewson. In this pastiche of the classic country-house mystery, aspiring young detective Tabitha Crum, along with her pet-mouse sidekick and five other children, is invited to a mysterious countess's ghost-ridden Lake District manor. The dark humor, arch tone, and Dahl-like secondary characters wear thin in an overstuffed plot; the prose is lively, however, and Tabitha is a sympathetic heroine.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis

(3) 4-6 Becky Thatcher is determined to remember her deceased brother by having the adventures he should have had. She finds that Tom Sawyer is a tattletale, but his brother, Sid, is a kindred spirit; their exploits unfold with mischief and fun. Lawson, with her storyteller's ear for language, is respectful of Twain's classic as she tells alternate stories of St. Petersburg, Missouri.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth