(2) YA In LaFevers's alt-historical fifteenth-century Brittany, Sybella (from the His Fair Assassin trilogy), the trained assassin and daughter of Saint Mortain, becomes attendant to the Queen of France. Not far away, Genevieve, a novice from Saint Mortain's convent who had gone missing, is making the hazardous journey back to the French court. Alternating between Sybella's and Genevieve's voices, LaFevers maintains an intense pitch of intrigue, with murders, assaults, romance, and betrayals.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2019

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Beatriz Vidal. This is a lightly fictionalized picture-book biography of Mexican author Sor (Sister) Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648–1695), then keeper of one of the largest libraries in the Americas. Watercolor and gouache illustrations lend a sunny, idyllic feel to Juana's Mexico. As the original Horn Book review noted, there's no formal bibliography, but Mora acknowledges the work of "the Sor Juanistas, scholars of Sor Juana." Appended with an author's note and glossary for interspersed Spanish words. Concurrently published with a new edition in Spanish: Una biblioteca para Juana.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2002; November, 2019

(2) 4-6 Malley, the daughter of convicted Milean rebels, is sent to a "national school" to become an obedient subject of the oppressive Wealdan government. There she discovers that resistance is more widespread than she'd realized. Malley is an engaging narrator whose gradual maturation adds an appealing layer to her character. Although the book's semi-industrialized world is fictional, readers will note parallels to history and current political discussion.

Reviewer: Sarah Rettger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2018

(2) 4-6 A twelve-year-old orphan girl called Bicycle, raised by a retired nun, cycles solo from Washington, DC, to San Francisco. The odyssey is part travelogue, but mainly the road-trip story's tone is cartoonish, with absurd adults, silly villains, broad satire, and coincidences galore. Beneath the hullaballoo is a heartfelt celebration of the zen of cycling and a sympathetic portrait of an atypical kid who struggles with the art of friendship.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2018

(4) 4-6 Jimmy Murphy, the worst sixth grader at his 1950s Catholic elementary school, is the target of humiliation by a new teacher, Sister Angelica Rose--so much so that he enlists his friends in a revenge prank against her that could be dangerous. Fear not: there's a happy ending. Though occasionally quite funny, there's scant historical detail to anchor the semi-autobiographical story.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(2) 4-6 When twelve-year-old Ruby Clyde Henderson's mother and Mom's boyfriend are arrested for armed robbery, Ruby Clyde's care falls to her aunt, a nun who lives on a ranch. It is "almost paradise" until Ruby Clyde discovers that Aunt Eleanor has cancer. Ruby Clyde's voice makes the story sing; she's resilient, vulnerable, honest, and hilarious, sharing her unique take on an unreliable world.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2017

(4) K-3 Zoom In on Great Women series. The lives of six diverse, inspirational women--three of whom (Goodall, Yousafzai, and Winfrey) are still living--are summarized in this series, which aligns to Common Core Standards. Though only broadly chronicling their challenges and/or accomplishments, these offerings may spur interest in further study. The archival photographs included are noteworthy, and lists of quick stats and key dates are appended. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Zoom In on Great Women titles: Anne Frank, Jane Goodall, Malala Yousafzai, Mother Teresa, Oprah Winfrey, and Rosa Parks.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter

(2) 4-6 In 1911 St. Louis, eleven-year-old orphan Julia and her sister are sent to the nuns' House of Mercy, while their brother is taken to Father Dunne's boys' home. Desperately wanting control over her life and her family reunited, Julia lashes out at authority figures and tries to escape at every turn. The characters' distinctive voices carry this fine work of historical fiction.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2015

(2) YA His Fair Assassin series. Annith, daughter of Mortain, god of Death, rebels against her abbess's decree that she remain immured in the convent as Mortain's seeress. Her escape revolutionizes Annith's understanding of her nature. LaFevers's writing often slips to the banal depths of an adolescent's romantic fantasy and overwhelms engagement with the story's fictional fifteenth-century-Brittany setting. Even so, LaFevers effectively ties up loose ends of the trilogy's cast.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2014

(4) YA Order of Darkness series. Luca has been recruited by a shadowy figure to serve the Catholic Church as an inquisitor and root out evil in Christendom. His first duty is to investigate a nunnery where claims of stigmata and visions point to witchcraft. While some of the solutions are obvious, the richly drawn medieval world and strong secondary characters add clever layers to the mystery.

Reviewer: Lauren Chambers

(3) YA Forced into a convent, seventeen-year-old Giulia relies on a sorcerer's talisman to plan an escape. But as an apprentice in Maestra Humiliatá's studio at the convent, Giulia's passion for art sets her on a new and dangerous trajectory. Strauss's depiction of fifteenth-century Milan employs a wealth of historical details, woven smoothly with magical elements and a compelling protagonist.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(2) 4-6 With their mentor dead, Crispin and Troth make their way to Iceland, reportedly free from strife. Along the way, Troth finds her home in a convent while Crispin joins a family of (purportedly) traveling musicians. It's another rousing page-turner, a brisk, suspenseful narrative with effortlessly interwoven details of medieval life and provocative questions of ethics and morality.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2010

(3) 4-6 Sixth-grader Mary Clare already knows that she wants to be a nun. The personal and political intersect for her as the Vietnam War, women's liberation, and the civil rights movement alternately test and sharpen her faith. With an authentic-sounding writing style, the narrative brings 1967 to life and still manages to resonate today.

Reviewer: Brittany Schlorff

(2) 4-6 In a story set in the 1960s, Alice, a hearing-impaired girl, lives in a Catholic orphanage. After a fire, her mentor, Sister Vincent de Paul, is injured and taken away. Searching for the nun, Alice discovers her own twin sister, who was adopted long ago. Alice, along with the nuns who are her true family, will be hard to forget.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc. | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 1994

(4) YA Strongbow Saga series. Halfdan, a former slave turned Viking warrior, still tries to avenge his half-brother's murder. Seeking combat experience, he becomes embroiled in the Viking invasion of Frankia. The battles are many and thrilling, but Halfdan's leaden narrative voice is improbably reflective, and love interest Genevieve, a captured Frankish nun, is anachronistically independent of thought.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(3) K-3 Recovering from an illness, Matisse is cared for by Monique, a young nurse, who helps him resume painting. Later she becomes a nun, and Matisse designs the Chapelle du Rossaire to thank Monique and the nuns for caring for him. The energetic telling brings this fictionalized account of a true story to life. Reproductions of the artist's work happily co-exist within Anholt's own illustrations.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(4) YA Modern Peacemakers series. These biographies of Nobel Peace Prize winners provide windows into worldwide political and social issues. Triumphs and controversies surrounding the winners (e.g., inaccuracies in Menchú's autobiography) are covered using primary and secondary sources. More photographs would have been useful to break up long discussions of complex issues. There are six other spring 2007 books in this series. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Modern Peacemakers titles: Desmond Tutu, Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Mother Teresa, Elie Wiesel, and Rigoberta Menchú Tum.

Reviewer: Laura A. Woollett

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jeanette Winter. Story and pictures tell of a sickly girl during the Middle Ages who grows up to become a beloved abbess and visionary. The text describes Hildegard's visions in biblically styled prose, while framed pictures convey their glory in brilliant bursts of color. An author's note gives further details of Hildegard's life and work (she was also a scientist and composer). Bib.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2007

(2) 4-6 Demi's biography is distinguished by its attention, in both words and pictures, to Mother Teresa's faith. Quotes from the Bible and from Mother Teresa's prayers effectively complement the generally chronological text. Demi's miniaturist style is also, for the most part, effective in capturing Teresa's life among the "poorest of the poor." A list of awards and honors, a map, and text references are appended.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2005

(3) K-3 Translated by Claudia M. Lee. Illustrated by Beatriz Vidal. This faithful Spanish translation of A Library for Juana retains the impact of the English version. Mora introduces Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the seventeenth-century Mexican nun and scholar, whose love of books and learning will undoubtedly inspire contemporary young readers. The delicate illustrations, attentive to detail and to setting, extend the text. Concurrently published in English.

Reviewer: Tim Wadham