Wielding visual power in this wordless picture book, Rodriguez renders a story of a childhood friendship enacted in the branches of a mango tree. Across a wide ocean landscape, an island rises dominated by the tree. Subsequent images close in on a forest and village, and then the tree itself, planted in a container, in which two children—one brown-skinned, one pale-skinned—spend their days. From flying kites to maintaining a dovecote, the two are inseparable, until a storm carries one—clinging to the contained mango tree—away to a new land. There, amid blue-skinned human figures, the child plants the lone mango left on the branches. Bold graphic images, created with a combination of oil-based printing inks, sumi ink, and digital media, employ a tightly controlled palette and woodblock textures. An author’s note, provided in both English and Spanish, concludes. Ages 4–8. (June)

Reviewed on 06/07/2024 | Details & Permalink

In 1976 Bucheon, young Yangsook is busy with homework, writing about “the best peaches in all of South Korea,” which are grown nearby. Though the “orchards painted the mountainside pink and orange,” the sweet fruits are expensive and can be hard to come by. Suddenly, an August storm sends peaches raining from the skies outside, carried down from the mountain. Yangsook gathers the windfall in an umbrella, and the family feasts on peaches that night. Later, realizing that the peach farmers on the mountainside have lost this year’s crop, the child comes up with a plan to restore part of their harvest. Modeling intergenerational community cooperation, Choi’s story, fully revised and re-illustrated nearly two decades after its initial publication, captures a moment in time via watercolor and pencil depictions that lean fittingly on green and peach hues. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. (July)

Reviewed on 06/07/2024 | Details & Permalink

A grandchild resists helping to harvest mangoes at the start of a layered picture book that melds concepts of counting, senses, and values. When Carmencita expresses a dislike of the fruit, Abuelita answers, “There’s more to a mango, mi amor,” and, counting in Spanish, explains five sensory steps to appreciating the tree’s bounty. “Uno, we listen” to the tree’s rustling leaves and the roots drinking up life; “Dos, we look up” at the tall, strong branches. For each numeral, Carmencita makes connections to family (“Tres,” smelling, helps the child remember Abuelito’s favorite blooms). En route to “Cinco, we taste it,” Santos, in her picture book debut, offers richly embodied descriptions of how, through the taste of the mango, “the songs of our people dance on your tongue.” Sunny, shape-based digital images by Perdomo radiate joyous warmth and nurturing. An author’s note connects the story to Santos’s childhood in Venezuela. A Spanish edition publishes simultaneously. Ages 4–8. (July)

Reviewed on 06/07/2024 | Details & Permalink

A child worries about a harvest ahead of a much-anticipated visit in Chung’s waiting-focused debut. Pigtailed, smiling Joo Hong gasps at the tree in her new yard, where persimmons hang in profusion, “round like a full moon. Amber like the morning sun.” She picks a perfect-looking orb, asking whether her grandma can visit now, to align with the fruits’ emergence, but Mama tells her that they have to wait awhile. Impatient, Joo Hong vows to watch over the fruits’ ripening. The child cares for the tree and harvests its fruit with her mother, but when the persimmons become spotted and shriveled, she believes them “no longer perfect.” Happily, Grandma’s arrival reveals fruits whose final form speaks to the tenderness they’ve received. Digital illustrations employ a blue-green palette against which the titular fruits pop under the care of the work’s take-charge protagonist. An author’s note concludes. Characters cue as being of Korean heritage. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/07/2024 | Details & Permalink

A pair of resourceful cousins endeavors to trap a mango thief in Mascarenhas’s conversationally told picture book about pitching in for a larger purpose. The morning that Marianne wakes up to ripe mangoes outside, she and cousin Zoe discover that the tree’s lower branches have been picked over. When a neighbor hints at the presence of a mango monster (“They’ve been stealing from mango trees since before I was born”), the children imagine a purple entity with long claws and an orange tongue. They try various methods of detection—sprinkling ashes to track footprints, placing bells and pots in the branches to sound an alarm—before solving the mystery of the filched fruit. Oranges, purples, and greens dominate Repka’s engaging digital illustrations, which hint logically at the culprit throughout while leaving room for whimsy. Characters cue as South Asian. Ages 4–7. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/07/2024 | Details & Permalink

“It is the early twentieth century and the spiritualism movement is soaring in America,” writes Jarrow (American Murderer), setting the scene for this spine-tingling work. In the wake of WWI and the influenza outbreak, people turned to spiritualism, “desperate to communicate with their dead loved ones or to learn the fate of those lost” to these events. They flock to mediums performing seances in dark rooms thick with incense and eerie tapping noises; some even spent their life savings or quit their jobs at the advice of purportedly omniscient fortune tellers. But according to famous magician Harry Houdini (1874–1926), spiritualism “is all hocus-pocus”—and he can prove it. Determined to expose fraudsters, Houdini uncovered the mediums’ parlor tricks and demonstrated their methods onstage. While his work did much to expose fraudulent magicians at the turn of the 20th century, Jarrow asserts that spiritualism is still alive and well: “In 2022, people in the United States spent more than $2.2 billion a year on psychic services.” A mesmerizing read that not only details the rise of spiritualism, and the role Houdini played in debunking it, but implores readers to rely on critical thinking skills to evade deception. Ages 10–17. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/07/2024 | Details & Permalink

In this thrilling work, Cherrix (Eye of the Storm) breaks down the fascinating careers of scientists employed in the Epidemic Intelligence Service, “the world’s most elite squads of epidemiologists” in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Using cheeky, approachable text, the author compares EIS officers tracking down the source of an outbreak clue by clue to “Sherlock Holmes with a microscope in place of a magnifying glass.” Covering early disease investigators like John Snow (1813–1858)—the first to understand data gathering and mapping to locate the source of a cholera outbreak in 1854—and the CDC chief epidemiologist who laid the foundation for the EIS, Cherrix details instances of scientists identifying, tracking, and working to eradicate pandemic viruses as one would an Indiana Jones adventure. Each selection culminates in this highly educational work that reads like a gripping and timely whodunit. Other events discussed include how, in the 1970s, investigators hunted down every known case of smallpox to completely eradicate a disease for the first time in history, as well as the scientists who worked to develop the Covid vaccine in 2021. Includes ample back matter. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/07/2024 | Details & Permalink

Escabasse (the Witches of Brooklyn series) suffuses this graphic novel tale of typical tween angst with a magical realism twist. Young Adèle is overwhelmed enough dealing with acne, awkwardness, and the start of her first period. But with her maturation comes an additional wrinkle: Adèle can now see ghosts. Over winter break, which she had hoped would be quiet and uneventful, Adèle meets a ghost hacker and persistent gentleman, whom she dubs Mustache Ghost. Her new acquaintance reveals that he belongs to a spectral club aiming to protect Montreal against ruthless developers— a principle that Adèle’s living grandmother also champions—and embroils Adèle in his plight. Adèle’s sarcastic yet kindhearted narration renders her struggles to balance her new abilities and the everyday challenges of growing up with perceptive relatability. Ghost characters are easily distinguishable in Escabasse’s expressive artwork, which depicts them in a soft palette of pinks and greens and adds a touch of surreality to the grounded metropolitan setting. In this empowering and fanciful ghost story, the creator tackles issues such as gentrification, the afterlife, and cultural traditions surrounding menstruation. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/07/2024 | Details & Permalink

In this endearing graphic novel, Frakes (Prison Island) utilizes flat, saturated colors, busy backdrops, and easy-to-follow paneling to chronicle one tween’s experience navigating the intense pressures of middle school and family life. Norah is a “prison brat,” someone whose family moves around a lot because of her parents’ prison guard jobs. Settling in Cheney, Wash., she starts sixth grade with new teacher Ms. Washines, a member of the Yakama tribe, who encourages students to share about their cultures and families. Following a classmate’s revelation that he is often responsible for his two younger siblings, authorities intervene. The incident stays with Norah, especially after her mother is transferred elsewhere, leaving Norah alone with her kind but overworked father. When Ms. Washines notices that Norah is struggling, Norah worries that the cops will come for her parents too, until a mild act of rebellion on Norah’s part soon opens communication between her and her father. Though the angst and turmoil Norah has been feeling don’t go away overnight, her parents work together to develop a solution, highlighting the way in which adult problems can impact children, while ensuring that repair and joy are always possible. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/07/2024 | Details & Permalink

Siblings Shirley, Pearlie, and Curlie’s world is turned upside down when Pearlie and Curlie are whisked away by a two-headed swan to a lost dimension. Now, Shirley and Mommy must search for them in this sprawling, multiversal epic that combines extravagantly tangled narrative threads reminiscent of Everything Everywhere All at Once with the signature idiosyncratic characters of surreal works by Feiffer (Smart George). Mommy—whom the kids often caught staring out the window—realizes she was once the empress of the swans’ lost dimension, who abandoned her peacemaking duties, a revelation triggered by recalling song lyrics: “Amazing Grapes,/ How sweet to eat/ One bite/ How can it be?” The creator's first graphic novel for children is personified by a gorgeous, chaotic ballet of ink line drawings, and fourth wall–breaking characters are frequently overwhelmed by text; after a lengthy monologue, Mommy adds, “But surely, you are tired of hearing me go on?” to which her conversation partner replies, “Well... yes, I am, actually.” If readers concur, Feiffer’s sui generis comic temperament—a mix of irascibility, introspection, and longing—makes it hard to put this one down. Character skin tones match the hue of the page. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)

Correction: The text of this review has been updated for clarity.

Reviewed on 06/07/2024 | Details & Permalink