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Fond of precision and happiest when she’s in charge, nine-year-old Jessie Treski always says exactly what she means. Her brother in the fifth grade, Evan refers to his sister as “Obsessy Jessie” because of her intensity. Yet, Jessie looks to her big brother as someone “who always [has] the answers and who always [helps] her when she [can’t] figure things out on her own” (134). Furthermore, Evan will often play translator for his sister since Jessie considers feelings a mystery and finds reading people’s facial expressions confusing. These two siblings play the role of protagonists in Jacqueline Davies’ latest book The Bridge Battle. Because Jessie’sRead More →

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Set in Olinda, Brazil, Salt and Sugar is a modern twist on the Romeo and Juliet story by debut author Rebecca Carvalho. Seventeen-year-old Larissa Ramires and Pedro Molina are caught in a multigenerational family feud. Poisoned by rumors and misunderstandings, both teens are competitive and snide with one another. For example, Lari has always been told to “trust neither thin-bottomed frying pans nor Molinas” (7). Beyond the bias of the feud, Grandma has taught Lari that “kitchens are magical places, where everything turns into delicious memories” (83). So, when Grandma dies, Lari is left with a legacy that she doesn’t understand and mildly resents. NeitherRead More →

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Set in 1937, Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland is a fantasy built on how capitalism consumes culture and about the limitations of being a Black person in America. To spin her magical tale, Ireland creates Laura Ann Langston, a seventeen-year-old black girl who is impulsive and craves adventure. Not satisfied with just performing “root magic,” Laura wishes to earn her mage license so that she can open her own treat shop, raveling confections for the likes of J. Paul Getty, Howard Hughes, and Shirley Temple. Not willing to hitch her talent to a Mechomancer, whose constructs are based on the forces used inRead More →

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As the title implies, a reader should be prepared to be confused when reading Katzenjammer by Francesca Zappia. The novel takes the reader down a nightmarish path of distress experienced by the main character, Cat. While it is clear that Cat suffers from depression and bewilderment in a world that makes no sense to her, the reason for that distress is not made clear until the novel’s conclusion. Through Cat, readers encounter a version of school that is unfortunately all too real for some students who experience bullying because of their differences. The dichotomy of us versus them is set out early in the novel.Read More →

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Shaheer Atique is afraid of getting attached to a place because it always ends up in the rearview mirror. His highly talented and ambitious father chases hospital jobs, so Shaheer and his grandfather are always on the move. The trio’s latest stop is Virginia. When quiet and withdrawn Shaheer attends the first day of eighth grade, he encounters several people who tease him, laughing at his hair, which “must be a wig.” Before long, he realizes he is a doppelgänger for Ashar Malik, a defense man on the hockey team. Ashar’s dream is to use his position on The Husky Bladers to get noticed andRead More →

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Don’t open Nadine Brandes’ newest book, Wishtress unless you’re prepared to perform some deep philosophical thinking. Brandes takes her readers on a journey with Myrthe Valling and Bastiaan Duur, one that invites reflection and soul-searching while also testing convictions. When Myrthe cries at age twelve, she learns—with dire consequences—that she is the Wishtress and that each tear she cries has the power to grant a wish. Her oma has known of her granddaughter’s power but has manipulated and oppressed her, using Myrthe as a commodity for personal gain. Myrthe would like to see her power used for social good: wishing for people to have food,Read More →

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Written in a fashion similar to that of a fractured fairy tale, Pride and Premeditation is a tongue-in-cheek retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Although Tirzah Price employs many of the same characters and even opens with a play on Austen’s original line, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a brilliant idea, conceived and executed by a clever young woman, must be claimed by a man” (1), she takes other liberties. While Price makes an effort to stay true to the etiquette and customs of the early nineteenth century, Lizzie Bennet’s ambitions to become a barrister—or even a solicitor—would have been out ofRead More →

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Set in Scotland, Breaking Time by Sasha Alberg tells the story of Klara Spalding and Callum Drummond who are from different times—Callum from 1568; Klara from the present. After saving Callum from death in the Elder Forest, Klara discovers that he is a time-traveler whose best friend was murdered in cold blood by what appeared to be a supernatural entity. Being rooted to empirical observation and the scientific method, Klara trusts science, so the whole notion of time travel puzzles and confuses her. “The beauty and mystery of the universe had always been more than enough magic for her” (91). Now, Klara is confronted withRead More →

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Set in London in 1963, Wildoak by C.C. Harrington features eleven-year-old Margaret Stephens. Maggie stutters, but not whenever she speaks to her pet mouse Wellington or to the injured dove Flute whose wing she has wrapped for healing or to the two snails, Spitfire and Hurricaine, whom she has rescued from the garden. Still, it’s not her gifts that she sees. Maggie sees herself as broken, a child that doesn’t work properly. Some of these fears derive from people’s reactions to her blocking and her inability to get the words out. Her father even threatens to send her to Granville, a special school where rumorRead More →