(2) YA Gospel, this verse novel's protagonist, is a Keeper in the Leaving Room, a space between life and death where she guides recently deceased children through their final transition. Each Leaver transforms her room with small changes: a memory, a crack in the wall, a door. One day, Gospel's room merges with Melodee's, another Keeper whose immediate connection with Gospel fundamentally alters both girls' understanding of their existence. While Gospel clings to her role, Melodee questions what lies beyond their predetermined purpose, and as their rooms blend together, so do the girls. A revelation about Gospel's charges also uncovers a traumatic experience she is processing and a choice she must make. McBride skillfully employs verse that feels both accessible and challenging, capturing Gospel's emotional transformation with haunting precision. Through richly imagined settings and imagery evoking Black Southern gothic elements (e.g., Black people in nature, bodies of water, beautiful music), she crafts a speculative narrative that vibrates with trauma and hope. The lyrical verse captures tender moments of grief while celebrating Black joy, queer love, and the transformative power of human connection. Readers journey alongside Gospel in this moving exploration of what it means to fully exist and what it takes to choose a life.

Reviewer: S. R. Toliver | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2025

(2) YA "I guess magic ran out / or the city burned too bright / or maybe, I guess the ancestors / in the sky had a different plan." Onyx, who is Black, carries the weight of the world on his young shoulders. At twelve, he is coping with the loss of his grandmother and is now caring for his mother, who has early-onset dementia. Onyx lives each day fearful and anxious that he will be separated from his mom and feels he has to keep her illness a secret. It's a lonely and difficult period for the boy; however, his mind is also in the clouds -- more specifically, in the stars, as his fascination with space and flying offers him a place of respite and a possible solution to his dilemma. Before her passing, Onyx's grandmother had encouraged his vivid imagination and his dreams of becoming an astronaut. Written in verse, this tender story is set in the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the subsequent uprisings, which leave an indelible impression upon the protagonist, adding to his unease and his need for safety. Onyx proves a resourceful, compassionate character whose village shows up for him and his mother and relieves him of the burdens that he has carried alone for too long. As Onyx's departed grandmother shares with him in a dream: "Kids shouldn't have to do what adults should be doing."

Reviewer: Monique Harris | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) YA This ambitious novel in verse uses magical realism and fairy-tale elements to explore clinical depression and highlight the various stages of grief. Whimsy is back at the hospital again, where she has been forced to go numerous times since she was diagnosed with clinical depression. She recognizes the sadness and grief she feels, and she knows numerous coping mechanisms to manage her feelings, but she still struggles daily with her (gradually revealed) trauma. Although she is used to the hospital routine, this visit is different because she meets Faerry, a boy who knows sorrow that mirrors her own. Their bond is strengthened after their release from the facility, and together they decide to help each other cope with the pain that affects them both. When Faerry enters the Haunting Forest, a sinister plot of land that feeds on pain, Whimsy follows. If they cannot make it through, sorrow might swallow them whole, leaving nothing but death in its wake. McBride's (Me (Moth), rev. 1/22) lush free-verse poetry creates a vibrant world teetering between the real and the magical, but the images and atmosphere act as background to serious issues of trauma and suicidality. Although the subject matter is heavy, the book serves as a reminder that, as sorrow and loss come for everyone, no one is alone. Back matter addresses mental health and expands on the story's elements from fairy tales and folklore.

Reviewer: S. R. Toliver | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(1) YA McBride (We Are All So Good at Smiling, rev. 1/23) begins this compelling novel in the year 2111: a girl known as Inmate Eleven has lived in a small cell her whole life. All she knows she's learned from Miss Abby, a pale-skinned "Clone" who describes blue-skinned people as "genetic mistakes, which is why we take care of you here." Inmate Eleven's only true companion is her dog, Ira, who will occasionally "go wolf," pacing the cell, looking desperately as if he wishes to be somewhere else. When she finally learns the disturbing truth--that Blues are Black Americans, turned blue from generational trauma; and Clones are white Elitists from the "Bible Boot" of the South--she must escape to save herself. Meanwhile, in the year 2022, young Imogen is struggling with both the racially motivated violence across the country and the catastrophic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. When Imogen and her mother finally find a therapist willing to listen to her whole story, the juxtaposition of past, present, and future creates a jarring narrative. Interspersed throughout are Bible Boot Learning Flash Cards propaganda and asides at the end of Inmate Eleven's chapters touting the virtue of Clones over the "lesser" Blues. A strong voice in the sci-fi genre, McBride presents a fascinating discussion of the inextricable bond between Black Americans and the blues.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(2) YA In McBride's lyrical debut novel in verse, protagonist Moth has been trying to "shrink" herself ("I lived too much. I took up too much space") ever since the car crash that killed her parents and brother. She lives a "secondhand life" with her aunt; she has given up her beloved ballet; and, as one of "only six Black kids--who don't talk to me" at her school, she is ignored by her peers until Sani, who is part Navajo and lives with his white mother and stepfather, shows up in her class. After Sani experiences physical abuse at his stepfather's hands, he and Moth leave on a road trip to Navajo Nation in New Mexico, where Sani's father lives. This novel beautifully handles themes of death, grief, first love, and abuse. McBride weaves Hoodoo tradition, Navajo creation tales, and facts about moths into an engaging story about two teens trying to heal themselves and move past their traumas. The free-verse poems create a vivid picture of Moth and Sani's journey, with a revelation near the end of the story that will have teens rereading to look for clues.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022