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Top reviews:
Seek-and-find aficionados who loved or who missed sailing on Nohana’s Penguin Cruise (2025) will want to explore the five stories (as in floors) and 25 stories (as in tales) one per apartment featured in this Japanese import. Endpapers introduce the 50-plus inhabitants: rabbit kits and adults plus two cats two mice a flock of small yellow birds and a smiling green dinosaur. A job or hobby identifies most residents: There are several musicians and three ballet dancers two magicians and a wizard a detective bakers a painter a gardener a bodybuilder a scholar and a bookworm as well as an unnamed rabbit-ghost pianist! The slight storyline centers on one rabbit family with quintuplets as they move in. Readers are invited to follow the varied daily activities of the lagomorphs—and the hilariously incongruous sauropod—as they decorate cook play care for pets and plants practice their professions and nap. On the last six pages the residents orchestrate a joyous rooftop housewarming party welcoming the newcomers with music dancing and food. A couple of the round-limbed stuffielike rabbits are solid gray or tan but most are white a few with brown extremities; some wear accessories but no one is fully clothed. The minutely detailed interiors rendered in a gentle palette invite patient solo scrutiny and narrative invention.
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Accompanied by her mother a girl visits her late grandmother’s garden—a memorial space where they honor Abuela. The young protagonist recalls spending nearly every day with Abuela as a baby and toddler. Since then she and her mother have visited the garden leaving flowers at a headstone. Often the child brings a balloon and twirls with joy as the breeze blows; sometimes she gazes over the fence hoping to see Abuela. But as she grows older she begins to understand why she can’t return to her grandmother’s blue house and hug Abuela again. As the permanence of her grandmother’s absence sinks in the girl reflects on the many ways her Abuela still feels present: in the butterflies that land on her fingers in the playful wind that blows and in the beauty of the flowers. Recio and Lawrence’s gently understated lyrical text reminds readers that loved ones live on in the hearts of those they’ve touched while McCarthy’s richly saturated illustrations capture both the joy of a child exploring nature and the quiet sorrow of a family learning to live with loss. The creators approach a difficult topic with tenderness and understanding offering comfort and connection. The girl and her mother appear Afro-Latine with curly black hair braids and warm brown skin.
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A reader from a young age the author “dreamed of a literary life” and would become a poet writer and educator as an adult. Now living in a Spokane Washington homeowners association community in a home of her own with two children an HOA president husband and a tenure-track job Zeller seems to have a charmed life—no one would ever guess she came from an impoverished background. Born in 1979 at a gas station owned by her parents on the Oregon coast the author recounts her transient childhood describing living in a van squatting in mattress stores overnight and gathering fish and berries by hand for meals. After saving funds from odd jobs and scholarships Zeller attended college in the late 1990s discovering that the childhood she saw as ordinary was a world away from those of the middle- and upper-class students around her. Despite these differences the author found herself “passing” as middle class. (“I knew how to move between formal and informal language registers so no one picked up on my past.”) The author also dissects the ways in which the American education system as a whole favors those from middle- and upper-class cohorts pointing out that the SATs “privilege specific socioeconomic groups races and genders.” In poetic prose Zeller describes a lifelong feeling of never quite fitting in—she discusses feeling like a traitor to her class for changing her social status while being made to feel as though her background made her inferior particularly by her middle-class husband. Reflecting on the challenges she faced both in lower-class and middle-class contexts Zeller compellingly interrogates the privileges she holds and lays bare how fickle those privileges can be.
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Simi and Rupi Naik are estranged sisters Indian immigrants to the U.S. who find love and salvation through a dramatic sacrifice. Simi has built an enviable life in rural Kentucky with a nursing career that suits her (even if she has to work three jobs to sustain it) and the love of Prem Gupta a good man who can’t wait to make her part of his prosperous and loving clan—all of which she’s terrified of losing because of her past. Bearing the brunt of the troubles that forced them to flee Mumbai older sister Rupi has it much harder. She hasn’t put down roots and wields words like daggers to keep people at bay. The distance between the sisters narrows when Rupi’s boss at an LA tattoo parlor the man who secured her travel visa before stealing her wages dies and his widow steals Rupi’s passport. Robbed of her meager belongings on a cross-country bus a desperate Rupi shows up at Simi’s workplace in the throes of a raging bacterial infection needing help from the sister she hasn’t seen in years. When she faints and later wakes in a hospital bed she’s at risk of being deported to a country in which she may face serious charges. Rupi’s solution is to pressure Simi to get her would-be fiancé Prem to marry her instead and get her a green card. Since Rupi doesn’t believe in love or the sweetness of a guy like Prem she’s demanding something she can’t believe will come to fruition—but Prem agrees. If that sounds heavy it is. Rupi compares her plight to “a true-to-life Hindi soap opera in the middle of small-town southern Kentucky." Alternating between Simi and Rupi’s narratives Dev blunts the darker aspects focusing on the aftermath rather than directly depicting traumatic events allowing that heaviness to coexist alongside Bollywood melodrama and romance.
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Serena Hazel and Emrys along with a talking book named Van Stavern are members of an ancient organization that’s responsible for safeguarding magical items to keep them from those who would use them for evil protecting the public and foiling their dangerous counterpart the Yellow Court. Serena’s own magical relic the Aegis allows her to view magical entities as they really are rather than how they present themselves. This comes in handy when her “spooky sense” alerts her to something being off about Shadowglass a streamer who exerts mysterious power over their followers several of whom have wound up dead. Finding out what’s going on with Shadowglass takes on a greater urgency when Serena’s brother Dom becomes the focus of the streamer’s attention. The characters balance magical assistance with using their own common sense and intuition and the villain is chilling but not too scary for a middle-grade audience. This latest installment will be a hit with series fans but can also be enjoyed by those who haven’t read the earlier books. A shocking reveal at the end promises additional adventures for the Order. Serena is Black and she and Dom have two dads. Emrys and Hazel read white.
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In this engaging account Duke political science professor Smith frames the African American experience through the intriguing lens of evidence. The United States has she writes an entrenched “policy principle and practice of delegitimizing Black testimony” even when verbal textual or even technological evidence proves otherwise. This process she maintains has evolved over four centuries from the rise of racial slavery in the 17th century to the racial reckoning of 2020 and its backlash. “The mere presence of Black folks reminds us of many inconvenient truths” she writes. The author contends that correcting this entrenched ignorance will push the nation onto a better path arguing that “a sustained system of white supremacy depends on the tacit agreement that Black people cannot be believed.” In six chapters she illuminates how a persistent refusal to engage with Black evidence has resulted in violence forced labor economic precarity an unjust legal system a racist medical establishment and startling health disparities across racial lines. Her strongest chapter “Adultify” demonstrates how Black children have not been treated as children and have therefore been subjected to violence punishment and other inappropriate forms of abuse. The author also chronicles the brave participation of children in the Black freedom struggle and highlights the violent price of their resistance shedding contextual light on the “talk” that many Black parents have with their children. Importantly Smith grapples with the aftermath of 2020 including the backlash against diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) and critical race theory (CRT). DEI and CRT efforts she asserts were minimally invasive and flimsy when they were first implemented; politicians and legislators thus “pounced with a vengeance” dismantling initiatives that “quickly became conservative bogeymen.”
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Lia arrives at Anhame a crafthall for honing anar—the craft of people with “higher senses.” Lia is a fifth-level anar meaning she has healing abilities. She can also see others’ inner soulforms which represent people’s true nature (some take the shapes of animals). That alone puts her on the same level as Anhame’s masters but Lia still hopes the crafthall will help “transform her powers from a conscious exertion into effortless proficiency.” She becomes an apprentice to the teacher Maethin who suggests she stay mum about her anar prowess but he’s not afraid of her abilities as Lia’s former master had seemingly been. That same master told Lia that her soulform was corrupt and evil making her reluctant to meld (connect with another anar) lest it prove deadly. Other potential dangers haunt Anhame such as a mysterious “figure” watching Lia. This first installment of the author’s series has very little action despite clear signs of various menaces and the setting’s complicated history. Schofield instead uses this novel to meticulously develop an extensive cast including the protagonist’s fellow students the Nine (Anhame’s masters) and Lia herself. The powerful young hero is refreshingly humble and doesn’t trust easily. She makes several intriguing connections with others; the most rewarding is her relationship with Maethin who treats her with warmth and respect. Details about the supporting cast suggest the larger world of this planned pentalogy; not all crafts for example are magical (there are also jewelers and musicians). Every page showcases the author’s luminescent prose: “Trees shaped themselves out of the night as great soft shadows…The eastern sky shaded into pink bringing gleams of colour to the monochrome predawn world.” A few key revelations most notably that of Lia’s soulform help pave the way for sequels.
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The titular pair have settled into second grade but worrywart Shermy has plenty to contend with from a substitute teacher who doesn’t follow the class schedule to anxieties about Shake’s possible upcoming move. Short sections organized by month from December through February contrast Shermy’s orderly nature and “fizzy and loud” Shake’s more laid-back one. On a visit to the animal shelter for instance Shake bonds with a boisterous pooch named Bruno while Shermy relates to quiet uncertain Wally. Larson emphasizes that friendship requires effort and empathy and is often more about appreciating differences than being the same. Low on drama this gently told book is episodic in nature though a few storylines pop up. When the students in Shermy and Shake’s class write letters to their favorite authors everyone but Shermy receives a message back; Shermy adopts Wally who proves both a big responsibility a source of joy and eventually the cause of friction between the two pals. With loving insight and support from his family Shermy navigates winter and learns a thing or two about friendship and feelings. Shermy presents East Asian; Shake is cued white.
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While enjoying an early spring day in Arendelle Queen Anna her true love Kristoff and snowman Olaf witness rocks falling from the nearby mountains and the townspeople running for cover. As the queen Anna knows it is her responsibility to keep her people safe from harm—even if that means taking a perilous journey into the mountains to discover the cause of the crisis. Aided by a local mountaineer named Nils Anna and a small team ascend the nearby mountains searching for answers. It’s not just falling debris that’s an issue—villagers living in the mountains lament to Anna that animals and local flora are disappearing too. Anna may be separated from her sister Elsa but the siblings have magical ways of communicating; Elsa’s encouragement—she assures Anna that she has always had the power and drive to “move mountains”—gives Anna just the confidence boost and spark she needs to keep going. She resolves to discover the source of the falling rocks and boulders and to find some potential solutions that will benefit the people living in Arendelle along with the flora and fauna that live in the mountains. In this rousing adventure featuring well-loved characters Cleary delivers a story celebrating resilience drive and conservation efforts. The illustrations are bright and clear retaining the classic style fans of the movies adore. (Mixed into the story are entries from Anna’s journal text-heavy pages with just one or two illustrations.) The story’s messages (we don’t always understand the future consequences of our actions; we must keep conservation and nature in mind when making decisions) are clear but they’re not emphasized too heavy-handedly. Young readers are sure to enjoy Anna’s tale as she learns to take responsibility seriously and discovers that she can achieve whatever she puts her mind to. Includes a glossary.
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One month after Samhain Younwity Hidden Institute of Witchcraft is still afflicted by the dark spell Lilith cast on school grounds and even the Coven can’t fix things. The recently formed magical fissure is causing significant tremors and weird occurrences like monsoons in the dining hall. Abigail and her friend Noreen continue to be bullied and blamed for what happened on Samhain and Abigail is determined to clear their names. She and her friends sneak out to try a spell to close the fissure but she’s interrupted before she can complete it. Unfortunately Abigail makes things worse; thanks to the unfinished spell a student ends up lost in the gap in the ground. Abigail who’s been experiencing visions of the past sets out to uncover the institute’s history and secrets in hopes of finding a solution. This entertaining graphic novel explores relationships identity and the enduring legacy of the past. The pacing is strong until the end which feels rushed. Boo’s text offers important context about both Abigail’s and the school’s backgrounds which is supported by the spooky world evoked by her dramatic evocatively colored illustrations that make strong use of light and shadow. In this world which is diverse across multiple dimensions Abigail appears to be white.
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Ever since the Great Betrayal light in the Kingdom of Wildfel has slowly been consumed by shadow and darkness. Twelve-year-old master thief Finn who was orphaned at a young age wants to flee with his younger sister Lydia before the light disappears completely. He and his best friend Adrion have an idea: They’ll catch and sell auerflies insects with gold-veined wings and earn enough to start over elsewhere. Their plan falls apart but they meet Ehrit a strange older teen who claims to know how to find the legendary Lake of Light. The trio join him and a few other misfits on a thrilling search for the lake. Along the way they encounter things they never imagined existed both dangerous and beautiful: light-eating snakes a waterfall made of starlight and mirror spiders that produce silver. The danger-filled journey changes everything Finn thought he knew about the world—and about himself. Murphy’s middle-grade debut is a fantasy adventure series opener that’s full of excitement action twists and explorations of the darkness of the world and of humans. The group’s journey centers on trust friendship and finding one’s path in life. Finn and Adrion have golden-brown skin freckled Lydia has light brown skin and Ehrit has dark brown skin like other Florians.
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No sooner does 10-year-old Tick spot the black sails of the offshore Drenish fleet than he knows it’s time to ride for King’s Keep the mountain fortress that has always protected the people of Ellia from invaders. On a mission that turns extra urgent after he discovers evidence of a traitor at the Keep he sweeps up his 5-year-old brother cherubic blond Leaf and they’re off on his scarred old dappled gray mare Pebble—a scene-stealing steed who repeatedly saves their bacon by being not only uncommonly brave and fast but at least as smart as any human in the tale. Montgomery slips many brushes with danger into his headlong plot but the fugitives escape them all a little too easily for the suspense to be any more than momentary. So direct and uncomplicated is the entire storyline in fact that even less analytical readers are unlikely to be really surprised when Tick humble and true saves the day and uncovers a hidden family secret. Most characters are cued white.
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On a spring day in 2001 a couple brought their 6-year-old granddaughter Haley on a hike with friends to Cave Mountain in Arkansas’ Buffalo National River Wilderness. As author Hale (The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore 2011) relates this was followed was the largest manhunt in the state’s history. Days after being found by locals Haley told of another young girl who kept her company while lost in the thick foliage of the Ozarks. Unbeknownst to the family at the time another girl had gone missing in those woods nearly 30 years earlier when a small cult fled to the mountain in fear of a foretold apocalypse. What begin as intriguing true-crime tales shift into a psychological deconstruction and a philosophical journey attempting to understand the power that religion—specifically Christianity—possesses to influence one’s perception of themselves and reality. Those close to the events as well as many online onlookers insist that an angel or ghost of the missing girl helped Haley survive. Although Haley herself doesn’t label her encounter as one thing or another the author suggests that the power—and insistence—of one’s own belief holds its own kind of power: “A ghost haunts not when it manifests visibly right before our eyes rattling chains and moaning our names but when it evades us when it stays just out of sight when we think we just saw it flit past a window.” Thus begins a spiraling account overflowing with repetitive backtracking and tangential crossroads. Digging through mounds of internal reflection on his own relationship with organized religion as well as interviews of those connected to the cult Hale eventually concludes “As in all things Christianity’s power lies in narrative and the Christian who believes and has always believed has no story arc. It is the prodigal son not the faithful one who needs redemption. Doubt is the essence of faith.” Readers looking for a story thick with deeper ruminations underneath an intriguing true-crime narrative will be satisfied if not a bit glassy-eyed by the final page.
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In 200 C.E. Britannia is barely recovering from a brutal civil war and in Glevum today’s Gloucester people who hold power must take special care not to disturb the status quo. Junio is a well-known mosaic maker whose patron Marcus is a powerful man who still must be careful in the new regime. When a gossipy woman tells Junio of the plague killing people he makes some purchases in town and returns to his family home where he settles in for a difficult period. Food and other necessities are in short supply and people are starving. While he’s foraging Junio meets Marcus who’s returned to his villa with news that the plague has died down. Marcus wants Junio to take on two very different tasks: Do mosaic work on a small public shrine for a man named Appius Limpnus Corvinus and also spy on the man since he himself is rumored to be a spy for Emperor Severus who’s distrustful of Britannia. On his way into town Junio comes upon the bodies of what at first appear to be two peasants. He recognizes one of them as Craithaw a miller and the other as Appius Limpnus most likely murdered. Junio’s solved many murders in his time but looking into these deaths will be a dangerous undertaking for both himself and Marcus. Finding a link between Craithaw and Appius Limpnus is only the beginning of his problems.
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David a comic memoirist (No One Asked for This) and indie filmmaker (I Love You Forever) structures her latest collection of essays around the final year of her 20s beginning with a pretend 30th birthday party she throws herself when she turns 29 just so she can get used to the idea of turning 30 and ending with the awkward birthday party she throws herself when she actually turns 30. David a self-avowed nepo baby—her father is comedian Larry David—has a gift for one-liners. “What if we both started trying to lucid dream?” she suggests to a boyfriend who is insistent that they pursue a shared hobby. She also can string out the flimsiest of premises—a gym specifically designed for influencers to take selfies for example—into a much longer and more entertaining essay than one would expect. A couple of the essays exhibit a surprising maturity: “Romantic Advice to Ruin Your Life By” for example savagely deconstructs statements like “Don’t settle” and “When you know you know” in favor of the down-to-earth “Find one person who has let’s say 75 percent of what you want in a partner.” Many more of them however focus on preoccupation with social media and an attendant urge to look closely in the mirror with predictably unsatisfying results. One or two of these go a long way; half a volume of them is a lot. Some of them even taking into consideration David’s exaggeratedly self-deprecating stance are actively uncomfortable to read including one about a summer spent on Martha’s Vineyard radically attempting to improve her appearance for the sake of a guy who shows only the most casual and occasional interest in her.
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Meg the narrator is the first wife; Jenny is the second; and Amelia the most recent. Even though Meg hated Jenny for the two years the woman was married to Mark putting paid to Meg’s 11-year marriage she still answers a phone call from her successor who wants to tell her all the bad things Mark did and the lies he told. In fact Meg falls in love with Jenny when she says she wants to kill Mark. Because they have no experience in the murder department they decide to pick out some morally repugnant people and kill them as practice. They cut down the list of bad seeds until they decide on Terry as the first target. Surprisingly their efforts turn into a lucrative business for there are many wealthy people who want someone dead. But they do have standards and they turn down many clients when they decide that the victim’s death would not be good for humanity. Buying the coffee shop where they first met as a base for themselves and the business they set about turning a bloodthirsty Amelia against Mark though they don’t make her a full partner. It takes four years of murders and planning before they come up with a plan that will make Mark suffer both physically and mentally. Along the way Meg and Jenny’s relationship has its ups and downs and they both come to distrust Amelia. A moment of betrayal leads to an uncertain future.
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Social psychologist Steele (Whistling Vivaldi 2010) draws on a wide range of experiments he and other scientists have conducted—as well as his own experience growing up in Chicago in the ’40s and ’50s in a biracial family—to analyze with care and compassion the pressures of living in a diverse society and to propose solutions that both individuals and institutions can implement. Living with others of different “racial ethnic gender and sexual orientation identities” can Steele writes create a condition he labels “churn”: an “anxious ruminative” state that is the result of “the threat of being judged and treated badly based on negative feelings or stereotypes about our identities.” It’s a state of mind that has been proven to make students function less successfully and adults push back against engaging with those with different identities. Broadly he suggests that even the smallest gestures toward increasing trust pay off in reducing churn and offers evidence that this trust is most effective when it starts from the individual with the most power. It’s easier to build trust he says “than it is to rid people of lifelong prejudices.” More specifically he suggests a strategy of three goals: seeing welcoming and supporting. Many of the examples Steele gives come from the world of education but he also includes some from industry including the success of 3M in building diversity. From a practical point of view Steele’s recommendations show the benefits of lending a helping hand to all students who need one not just those who fall into certain categories since “targeting programs at certain groups could stigmatize those groups and alienate other students.”
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In 1858 11-year-old Nemesio Guilló heir to a successful Cuban sugar factory was sent by his parents to the U.S. to study. Baseball was just taking hold in America and Nemesio was captivated by the game. Uncomfortable with the violence of bullfighting—introduced by the Spanish who had colonized Cuba—Nemesio believed that baseball captured the spirit of the Cuban people: Teams were even and there was no unnecessary cruelty. When Nemesio returned home he brought a baseball bat with him—and a deep passion for the game. In 1868 he formed the country’s first baseball team and the sport rapidly spread across the island but the Spanish colonizers viewed baseball as a threat to their rule. By 1895 after years of oppression the Cuban people could no longer live under Spanish rule and revolution began. With an assist from the United States the revolution ended with Cuban independence in 1902—and baseball was the new country’s national sport. Oliveras relies on upbeat straightforward text and snazzy cartoonish illustrations to intwine the story of a pioneering athlete with an account of a nation’s burgeoning independence. Spanish words are incorporated throughout and backmatter offers further context on both Guilló and the history of Cuba.
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Englishwoman Emma Blackstone lost her husband in the war and her family to the Spanish flu. Her in-laws religious Jews who were furious that their son married a gentile refused to help till Kitty her actress sister-in-law hired her as a companion. Movie star Camille de la Rose as she’s known in Hollywood has scores of lovers including the studio head. But her true loves are her three adorable Pekingese whom Emma cares for in addition to rewriting movie scripts keeping Kitty on schedule and helping her juggle her lovers. Kitty is currently feuding with Darlene Golden her co-star in a historical epic that’s being filmed in New York. Emma is constantly pestered by the author who’s appalled by the changes made to his book. Although Emma still mourns her husband she’s recently formed a relationship with cameraman Zal Rokatansky whose Jewish mother would not be pleased. When Kitty gets a letter with a marriage proposal from Clark Dexter that includes an offer of $50000 divorce in a week and all expenses paid she’s tempted to accept despite a warning from a famous director that Clark is dangerous. Ensconced at the Plaza Hotel the cast members travel to a studio in Queens and a rented mansion on Long Island for the shoot and spend their nights partying in New York’s finest clubs alongside gangsters Broadway stars like the Marx Brothers and wealthy young men like Clark Dexter. Then Mila Darlene’s stand-in is found shot dead in the Palace Theatre and everyone initially thinks the victim is Darlene. Emma who’s already solved several murders finds plenty of suspects among the smugglers using the mansion to hide booze and both stars’ jealous lovers.
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A narrator referred to once in a text as Iv. looks out the train window as he leaves the Croatian coastline behind. An intellectual he’s long been part of a minority “constantly invoking a better tomorrow as the majority zeroed in on the shitty today.” Europe is in crisis and the Balkans under pressure; when the train stops for track repairs passengers immediately blame “the fucking migrants.” As in Sajko’s earlier work the characters here are firmly caught within their historical moment. Both Iv. and his translator girlfriend watch their work dry up while their expenses rise. Iv. relives a traumatizing disaster he witnessed when police fired on unarmed migrants suffocating in a train car. After that he stopped writing falling into a depression. As in Love Novel (2024) Sajko writes in long breathless sentences and each chapter is comprised of a single one. As the train moves on the narrator reflects on his violent alcoholic father; his estranged older brother who drained their mother’s savings; their mother forced to leave home for employment in Germany; and his tough rural boyhood: “My father was cursed just as we were cursed simply because we were boys and nothing good could ever come of us.” We learn about the woman he loved and failed though she remains to the end opaque; their love story is the least compelling of Sajko’s narrative threads and Iv. more antihero than victim of fate. He contemplates loss—of people hopes ideals—and displacement. “The tragedy of war” he tells us “is ultimately the tragedy of travel mapping out with agonising precision the passage from human to inhuman.”
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