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Of Her Own Design

Nicole Andelfinger and Birdie Willis, illus. by Eva Cabrera et al. Mad Cave, $14.99 paper (216p) ISBN 978-1-9523-0-3579

Freckled and pale-skinned high school sophomore Brie is struggling to think of a concept for her next writing project. Between her crush on cool new girl Kay, her mother wanting to move to the city, and her best friend turned enemy’s relationship with her neighbor, Brie’s life is complicated—but dull. She drudges through a colorless existence and hopes for a stroke of inspiration for her writing; her work is the only anchor she has. When she bargains for a magic pen from enigmatic bookstore owner Ambrose, the stories Brie writes with it literally come to life in this rollicking portal fantasy graphic novel by Andelfinger and Willis. Suddenly enmeshed within the dramatic stories of her own making—portrayed via highly stylized and saturated art, which juxtapose the angular, cleanly lined grayscale renderings of Brie’s everyday—Brie must save the people of her imagined town before their world devolves into chaos. Bouncy dialogue imbues Brie’s adventures with their own narrative flair, chronicled through a mixture of standard panel layouts and sweeping montage collages that keep a steady pace. The finely tuned parallel realities make for an engaging look at big emotions, bigger magic, and the consequences of both. Ages 14–up. (June)

Reviewed on 03/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Lockjaw

Matteo L. Cerilli. Tundra, $17.99 (328p) ISBN 978-1-77488-230-6

Cerilli delivers a stunning debut in this gripping paranormal horror novel about queer teens growing up in a community that doesn’t accept them and the insidious danger of apathy. Paz Espino is considered a “weirdo” in her hometown of Bridlington—and most Bridlington denizens don’t like weirdos. Not the ones like Paz, who’s often blamed for anything and everything that goes wrong around town, and not the ones like Chuck Warren, whose parents often ignore or don’t notice how neighbor kids constantly bully him. When Chuck turns up dead at the old paper mill, however, local authorities rally behind the Warren family, who claim that Paz is responsible for Chuck’s death. But Paz knows the truth: it wasn’t an accident. Chuck was killed by a monster, and if Paz can’t prove its existence, she fears that it will return to tear the town apart. Without eschewing how self-preservation instincts can sometimes perpetuate harm within queer communities, Cerilli blends present-day events, flashbacks, and supernatural happenings via multiple third-person perspectives to explore myriad queer experiences. Characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 14–up. (June)

Reviewed on 03/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Four Eids and a Funeral

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Adiba Jaigirdar. Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends, $19.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-2508-9013-9

The week before summer break, junior Said Hossain is pulled out of class at his prestigious Virginia boarding school by his older sister Safiyah, who shares devastating news: Said’s beloved childhood librarian and mentor, Ms. Barnes, has died and they must return home to New Crosshaven, Vt., for the funeral. There, Said encounters his former best friend Tiwa Olatunji; their simmering distaste for each other has only grown in the years they’ve spent apart. But when New Crosshaven’s Islamic center catches fire the day of Ms. Barnes’s funeral, Said and Tiwa set aside their feud to try and raise the money and support to both restore the building and throw an amazing Eid celebration. Their well-intentioned plan becomes complicated by family drama, a ticking clock, Safiyah’s sisterly meddling, an unsupportive mayor, Said and Tiwa’s joint ownership of Ms. Barnes’s cat, and the teens’ annoyingly amorous feelings. Via flashbacks to Eids past, Àbíké-Íyímídé (Where Sleeping Girls Lie) and Jaigirdar (A Million to One) craft a lighthearted rom-com that’s bookended by potent depictions of cultural customs, personal revelations, past hurts, laugh-out-loud moments, and a satisfying romantic conclusion. Said is Bengali American and Tiwa is Nigerian American; both are Muslim. Ages 14–up. (June)

Reviewed on 03/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Better Must Come

Desmond Hall. Atheneum/Dlouhy, $19.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-5344-6074-4

Jamaican teen Deja works with her uncle and his friend Mr. Wallace on his boat Gregor catching fish to make ends meet. While she learns to pilot boats, Deja also eagerly anticipates receiving American goods such as clothes, food, and treats via barrel from her mother, who is working in Brooklyn. Everything comes to a halt when Deja’s mother is robbed of all her money, an event that will have a dire impact on Deja and her siblings’ lives. As Deja struggles to figure out how she’s meant to survive now that she’s no longer a “barrel girl,” she meets Gabriel, an orphaned “gangsta boy.” When the two connect again at a party, Deja can’t deny their easy chemistry. After Deja discovers a seemingly abandoned boat she knows belongs to a drug dealer, she finds a man, barely alive, who urges her to deliver a money-filled briefcase to Webber—a shifty shipping agent known for illegal activities. And if she succeeds, Webber will reward her. Hall (Your Corner Dark) presents an expansive exploration of how class and privilege intersect within Jamaican culture through the eyes of teens in this intimately narrated tale told via Deja and Gabriel’s dual POVs. Ages 14–up. Agent: Faye Bender, Book Group. (June)

Reviewed on 03/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Such Charming Liars

Karen M. McManus. Delacorte, $20.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-593-48505-7

Former stepsiblings reunite to solve a murder in this uneven thriller from McManus (One of Us Is Back). Kat Quinn, 16, and Liam Rooney, 17, haven’t seen each other since their parents met, eloped, and divorced during a weekend in Las Vegas 12 years ago. Kat’s mother then joined a jewelry theft ring, while Liam’s father started fleecing lonely women. When Kat’s mom announces her intentions to pull one last high-stakes job before going straight, Kat contrives to tag along. Mom hopes to use “half billionaire” Ross Sutherland’s 80th birthday bash as a distraction to steal a ruby necklace, but upon arriving at the Sutherlands’ compound in Bixby, Maine, Kat encounters Liam, who reveals that his father is there with his newest mark, Annalise—the necklace’s owner and Ross’s daughter. Complications avalanche, and after someone shoots a Sutherland, Kat and Liam find themselves on the run from an unidentified killer. Following a lengthy setup, the narrative slips into high gear, executing hairpin twists and exploding bombshells that catapult the tale to an electrifying close. Kat and Liam take turns narrating, and their candid first-person-present accounts confer tension and texture. All characters cue as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (July)

Reviewed on 03/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Castle of the Cursed

Romina Garber. Wednesday, $21 (304p) ISBN 978-1-250-86389-8

An orphaned teen uncovers her family’s terrible legacy in this bumpy Gothic fantasy from Garber (Cazadora). While Estela Amador and her parents are riding the N.Y.C. subway, smoke obscures Estela’s vision, followed by a “starry burst.” When Estela’s sight returns, she’s surrounded by corpses. Authorities blame a gas leak, but Estela insists otherwise, earning her a hospital stay at the Rainbow Center, “a treatment facility for children of the elite.” Estela’s parents never mentioned relatives, so it’s surprising when Beatriz Brálaga writes from Oscuro, Spain, claiming to be her aunt and inviting Estela to live in Castillo Brálaga. Upon arriving, Estela discovers Beatriz isn’t the castle’s only inhabitant: a vampire named Sebastian appears nightly, calling her “bruja” and threatening death unless she ends the spell blocking his memories and binding him to this realm. Estela fears she’s hallucinating, but soon learns that the truth about her new home is far stranger than she imagined. An appealingly sinister start is dampened by puzzling and seemingly arbitrary plot twists. Half-baked worldbuilding and the unearned central romance aside, Estela’s tenacity and fortitude lend the tale moxie. Major characters read as white. Ages 13–up. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary. (July)

Reviewed on 03/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Break to You

Michelle Knowlden, Neal Shusterman, and Debra Young. Quill Tree, $19.99 (432p) ISBN 978-0-06-287576-1

Two incarcerated teens fall in love at a gender-segregated juvenile detention center in this uniquely rendered romance by Knowlden, Shusterman, and Young. High school junior Adriana Zaharn writes rhythmic poems in her journal while serving time at Compass, where “days pass in a numbing rain of emotional sleet.” When she misplaces the notebook, 17-year-old Artorias Jonathan “Jon” Kilgore cleverly smuggles it back to her via the Compass library. Adriana’s relief sours upon discovering that Jon has added brazen responses to several entries, yet the journal becomes a lifeline for both as friendly banter evolves into flirtatious revelry between poems and letters, compelling the pair to do the impossible: meet. The intersectionally diverse teen characters that populate this smoothly plotted, emotionally intense read are fully developed and represent a range of incarceration experiences; mostly one-dimensional adults spotlight warped ideas of justice that permeate a corrupt judicial system. Close third-person narration melds letters and slam poetry–inspired verse to deliver a high-stakes, dual-perspective love story that critiques juvenile incarceration and celebrates the connective power of the written word. Jon is Black; Adriana is of Moroccan descent. An author’s note concludes. Ages 13–up. (July)

Reviewed on 03/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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The Wonderful Wishes of B.

Katherin Nolte. Random House, $17.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-593-56514-8

A grieving 10-year-old living in small-town Ohio plans to say “Goodbye, heart. Hello, Tin Man,” in this quirky story about loss by Nolte (Back to the Bright Before). Since her grandmother’s death, Beatrice Corwell’s ambition has been to stop feeling—not just grief, but any emotion at all. Project Tin Man hasn’t gotten very far: she’s still grieving her grandmother, she’s irritated by newcomer Caleb, she’s hopeful that her absent father will come to town for his annual visit, she loves her eight rescue cats, and she yearns for her doll to come to life. When she realizes that her grandmother has somehow found a way to leave her messages—one word a time—and learns that Caleb’s granny is a witch, she enlists Caleb’s help in bringing her many desires to fruition. Lightly magical touches (Beatrice can seemingly communicate with her cats, who have a dance routine) and the inclusion of kind, indulgent neighbors (they let Beatrice’s mother cut their hair, even though she’s awful at it) make for a whimsical and touching story about connection, grief, and learning to understand and live with one’s feelings. Main characters read as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Kerry Sparks, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary. (June)

Reviewed on 03/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Wander Lost

Laura Martin. HarperCollins, $19.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-06-332621-7

White-cued 12-year-old twins Rhett and Nash have always chafed at their mother’s board game prohibition. It’s only after she vanishes that they finally learn the truth. They’re picked up by their estranged, taciturn grandfather, who takes them to stay at his home in remote Indiana woods, where he informs the siblings that members of their family can enter the worlds within board games by exchanging places with the game’s inhabitants. But their mother did not go willingly. They discover that she’s been kidnapped and stashed in one of myriad game worlds by pirate captain Ogden, a former enemy who escaped into the real world years ago. With their grandfather’s mentorship and assistance from 13-year-old Cress, a brown-skinned board game character capable of bounding between worlds, the twins must hone their powers, search the games, and thwart Ogden’s nefarious revenge plans, all to rescue their mother. Combining the mechanics of Jumanji with the interconnectedness of Wreck-It Ralph, Martin (Vanishing Act) spins a humorous and heartfelt homage to classic board games via fictional creations as real and evocative as any childhood favorite. Idiosyncratic characters, thoughtful worldbuilding, and a palpable sense of possibility permeate this fanciful adventure. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (June)

Reviewed on 03/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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They Call Me No Sam!

Drew Daywalt, illus. by Mike Lowery. Clarion, $15.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-3586-1-2902

According to Sam the pug, his human owner, 196-year-old Mike (“in naked-monkey-thing years that’s only twenty-eight”), fails to use his hands for their intended purpose, including “petting, scratching behind ears, and opening bags of food.” Though Mike “was fine at opening the food bag most of the time,” Sam tires of his owner’s ineptitude and runs away. After ending up in “jail” (the local shelter), he’s adopted by adolescent Justin Peterson and his scientist parents. Having recently moved, the adult Petersons hope that Sam will help Justin—who often smells like loneliness or longing, per Sam—adjust to his new home. Unfortunately, Sam doesn’t understand why Justin takes him outside so often, or why he gets scolded for defending the home against people like Phoebe, Justin’s classmate, whom Sam believes to be an evil wizard who can enchant people via “magic wand” (a laser pointer). Sam’s diary entries—written in arch first-pooch prose by Daywalt (The Wrong Book) and accompanied by slapstick b&w comics and spot illustrations by Lowery (Pizza Shark)—craft a humorously tender look at the daily life of a pup whose bark is worse than his bite, but whose determination to protect and love his family is fiercer than any threat. Human character skin tones match the white of the page. Ages 8–12. (June)

Reviewed on 03/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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