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Readers of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, or the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries will likely find These Deadly Prophecies by Andrea Tang a thrilling “who dun it.”  Under the influence of Tang’s pen, readers will revel in the plot twists as they follow the various leads. The story begins with seventeen-year-old Tabatha Zeng who works for Sorcerer Julian Solomon. Although Tabatha knows that sorcery is a liar’s game and the product of want, that knowledge doesn’t change her passion for predicting fortunes and fates. “Telling the future required clearing your mind of wants, of desires. [A sorcerer’s] job isn’t to change the future—merely toRead More →

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Erica Waters explores intriguing questions in her psychological thriller, The Restless Dark: What is the lure of unknowable darkness? What draws some of us to such topics as horror and true crime? To explore this idea, she creates a trio of young women: Lucy Wilson, Carolina Cassels, and Maggie Rey. All three characters attend a Killer Quest event set in Cloudkiss Canyon, an oppressive and terrifying locale in North Georgia where the fog can disorient a person and where legends swirl: Is this a place where people come to dispose of unwanted shame or “to toss ill-gotten goods, murder weapons, bodies, and anything else theyRead More →

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Marigold (Mari) Anderson-Green is anxiety prone, and because of a drug overdose and a recent stay at Strawberry Pines Rehabilitation Center, her mother, Raquel, accepts a Grow Where You’re Planted (GWYP) Residency in a new midwestern city. The GWYP provides a free house for three years, and Mari feels guilty about the circumstances that have made money tight, so she doesn’t complain too much about this search for a “fresh start.” However, Mari will now be a resident of Cedarville during her junior year, and she has no marijuana supplier to provide the weed that helps her take the edge off her anxiety and makeRead More →

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Eyes on the Sky by J. Kasper Kramer is a delightful book with multiple layers. As the reader pulls these back, we learn a good deal about the desert and about Roswell, New Mexico, during 1945-1947 when the USA was conducting experiments. We also learn a great amount about twelve-year-old Dorothy Duncan and her brother Dwight. A lover of science and comic books, Dorothy is a Junior Member of the American Rocket Society. She cares a great deal about jet propulsion systems and radio echoes from the moon, so she gets odd looks from others who invite her into conversation. As far as she isRead More →

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Xavier T. Fletcher is an odd duck. At ten-years old, he’d rather sit silently watching birds than play catch or go fishing with his brother, Nicholas, and his father, Arnold. When his father unexpectedly loses his job, forcing the family to move to Nana Susan’s farm, Xavier should be ecstatic, but he is unsure. After all, Nana Susan’s goat, Cal Ripken Jr., bit him five years ago, and Xavier hasn’t fully recovered from the traumatic experience. Furthermore, “the idea of going forth to explore real nature, all wild and dangerous and free, feels a bit unnerving to Xavier. But as you may know, sometimes theRead More →

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The Three-Berry Academy by Joseph Helgerson is a whimsical fantasy story for young readers. Born and raised along the Mississippi River, Helgeson is familiar with his setting and weaves river lore expertly into his storytelling. Each chapter features a new character profile, as readers gradually meet the river trolls who will attend Three-Berry Academy where Ms. Quiet Quickthorn guarantees that everyone graduates. The trick is that she has to snare her students first. Each year Ms. Quickthorn—who is known by some to “suck the fun out of a juicy clam without even opening her mouth” (167)—sets traps to entice the river trolls back to theRead More →

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Steve Watkins takes on the tough topic of the Holocaust in his book Stolen by Night. Inventing characters like Nicolette and Jules but staying true to the history of occupied Paris during World War II, Watkins tells his horror tale from the perspective of the French Resistance. Nicolette and Jules are two fourteen year old youth who love bicycling and hope to race someday as their fathers did. To live out her dream, Nicolette cuts her hair and plans to enter the upcoming thirty kilometer race disguised as a boy wearing her papa’s racing jersey. Watkins includes various scenes of Rollfast and Favor bicycles andRead More →

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Gale Galligan’s graphic novel for tween readers, Fresh Start shares the story of siblings Ollie and Cat Herrison. Because the sisters are the mixed race children of a father who works internationally, they move frequently. Ollie has always seen this move in a positive light since she can start over in a new place without carrying the baggage of embarrassing moments. However, once she enrolls at Chestnut Falls Middle School in Virginia and begins to make new friends, she isn’t sure. Besides communicating key themes about social development, friendship, and the tumultuous years of early adolescence, Galligan coveys the importance of cultural connection. Being Thai,Read More →

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Dan SaSuWeh Jones has captured a haunting period in history with his book Stealing Little Moon. In this piece of nonfiction, Jones shares the legacy of the American Indian boarding schools. Partially American history and partially a story of Jones’ family history, Stealing Little Moon recounts the hunger, emotional cruelty, extreme loneliness, and physical and spiritual abuse endured by boarding school survivors. It also tells of the courage, determination, and resilience of those who thrived or those who deserve to be memorialized. Despite the abuse the children received, their language and sense of spirituality lingered. Most of all, though, this is a story of culturalRead More →