February 15, 2025: Volume XCIII, No. 4

FEBRUARY 15, 2025 | VOL. XCIII NO. 4

FEATURING 302 Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction, Children’s, and YA Books

INTRODUCING DEBUT NOVELIST ROB FRANKLIN The author of Great Black Hope headlines our special Debuts Issue

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

W HEN YOU’R E IN the business of reviewing books, as we are here at Kirkus Reviews, there are a couple of thrills unique to the job. One is getting your hands on an early copy of a book by a writer you love. Who can resist what used to be called, on BookTwitter, a galleybrag?

I’ll make one now by telling you I received— and am currently devouring—an advanced reading copy of Dream Count (Knopf, March 4), the first novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie since the acclaimed Americanah back in 2013. The illustration of a flame on the cover is no mere metaphor: The book is fire, as the kids say. (Read our starred review on p. 5.)

The other professional thrill is even rarer: Stumbling upon a book by a

complete unknown and experiencing the elation of discovery: Wow, this is really good. That’s how I felt just pages into Great Black Hope (Summit, June 10), the first novel by 31-yearold Brooklyn writer Rob Franklin, who appears on the cover of this, our first-ever Debuts Issue.

Great Black Hope opens at a Hamptons nightspot at the end of summer, as the young, Black, queer protagonist pockets a small amount of cocaine— “f lown in from Medellín, cut with amphetamine in Miami, and offered to him in Southampton by a boy he knew from nights out in the city”—and is arrested moments later and charged with possession.

The narrative follows his trajectory towards trial and self-reckoning in what our starred review calls a

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“captivating novel of dissolution and redemption.” Read my interview with Franklin on p. 14 and add this sensational novel to your reading list for Summer 2025.

Elsewhere in the issue, we speak with another debut author—one with a very different background and a very different book.

Chloe Dalton was a seasoned speechwriter and political adviser in the United Kingdom, where she worked in the Foreign Office, frequently traveling to global hotspots such as Kabul and Ulaanbataar.

But the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic grounded her, and while locked down at her home in the English countryside, she came upon an undefended baby hare—a leveret—while out on a walk. When the vulnerable creature hadn’t moved from the spot hours later, Dalton reluctantly decided to bring it home.

The outcome of this decision is chronicled in her debut memoir, Raising Hare (Pantheon, March 4). Though Dalton never

names the hare and gives it free run of her garden and, eventually, beyond, it always returns to the sanctuary she has provided. I’ve just finished this book and wholeheartedly agree with our starred review, which calls it a “soulful and gracefully written book about an animal’s power to rekindle curiosity.” It’s hard to believe that this subtle and profound memoir is a debut; it belongs on the shelf alongside such treasured animal portraits as Helen Macdonald’s H Is for Hawk and Catherine Raven’s Fox & I. Our conversation with Dalton appears on p. 60.

This pair of knockout debuts is just the beginning of the riches you’ll find in the issue. Our editors have covered the waterfront to assemble it, and we’re confident that the talented writers featured here are just warming up.

TOM BEER K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Illustration by Eric Scot t Ander son

THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL

Contents The Debuts Issue

CHILDREN ’ S

FICT ION 4

Editor’s Note

5

Reviews & News

14 On the Cover: Rob Franklin 27 Booklist: Historical Novels That Will Draw You In

One of the most coveted designations in the book industry, the Kirkus Star marks books of exceptional merit.

OUR FRESH PICK Helping liberals get out of their own way.

Read the review on p. 51

39 Audiobooks 49 On the Podcast: Liz Moore & Jean Hanff Korelitz

PURCHASE BOOKS ONLINE AT KIRKUS .COM

90

Editor’s Note

91

Reviews & News

100

Q&A: Cindy Chang

103 Audiobooks for Middle-Graders

YOUNG ADULT

126

Editor’s Note

127

Reviews & News

134

Q&A: Trisha Tobias

NONFICT ION

141 Booklist: Short Reads for Busy Teens

50

Editor’s Note

INDIE

51

Reviews & News

142

Editor’s Note

60 Profile: Chloe Dalton

143

Reviews

73 Booklist: Delving Into the Five Senses

161 Best Indie Books of February

87 On the Podcast: Catherine Coleman Flowers

ON THE COVER: Rob Franklin, illustration by PS Spencer, based on a photo by Emma Trim.

Background photo by 21AERIALS via iStock.

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K IR KU S R E V IE W S

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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“Taylor’s debut novel examines the workings of a Christian congregation in a small Arkansas town.”

“...a memorable exploration of the morality of this small congregation and the varied people who belong to it.”

“A thoughtful, heartfelt look at an American community that goes beyond stereotypical portrayals.”

—Kirkus Reviews

Co-Chairman HERBERT SIMON

Co-Chairman MARC WINKELMAN

Publisher & CEO MEG LABORDE KUEHN mkuehn@kirkus.com

Editor-in-Chief TOM BEER tbeer@kirkus.com

Chief Marketing Officer SARAH KALINA skalina@kirkus.com

President of Kirkus Indie CHAYA SCHECHNER cschechner@kirkus.com

Publisher Advertising

Fiction Editor LAURIE MUCHNICK lmuchnick@kirkus.com

& Promotions RACHEL WEASE rwease@kirkus.com Indie Advertising & Promotions AMY BAIRD abaird@kirkus.com

Author Consultant RY PICKARD rpickard@kirkus.com Lead Designer KY NOVAK knovak@kirkus.com Magazine Compositor NIKKI RICHARDSON nrichardson@kirkus.com Kirkus Editorial Senior Production Editor ROBIN O’DELL rodell@kirkus.com Kirkus Editorial Senior Production Editor MARINNA CASTILLEJA mcastilleja@kirkus.com Kirkus Editorial Production Editor ASHLEY LITTLE alittle@kirkus.com Copy Editors ELIZABETH J. ASBORNO LORENA CAMPES NANCY MANDEL BILL SIEVER Contributing Writers GREGORY MCNAMEE MICHAEL SCHAUB

Nonfiction Editor JOHN McMURTRIE jmcmurtrie@kirkus.com Young Readers’ Editor LAURA SIMEON lsimeon@kirkus.com Young Readers’ Editor MAHNAZ DAR mdar@kirkus.com Editor at Large MEGAN LABRISE mlabrise@kirkus.com Senior Indie Editor DAVID RAPP drapp@kirkus.com Indie Editor ARTHUR SMITH asmith@kirkus.com Editorial Assistant NINA PALATTELLA npalattella@kirkus.com

Indie Editorial Assistant DAN NOLAN dnolan@kirkus.com Indie Editorial Assistant SASHA CARNEY scarney@kirkus.com Mysteries Editor THOMAS LEITCH

Contributors

Jeffrey Alford, Paul Allen, Stephanie Anderson, Kent Armstrong, Mark Athitakis, Robert Beauregard, Thomas Beheler, Nell Beram, Ty Billman, Elizabeth Bird, Christopher A. Biss-Brown, Elissa Bongiorno, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Melissa Brinn, Jessica Hoptay Brown, Justina Bruns, Ana Cackley, Kevin Canfield, Tobias Carroll, Charles Cassady, Ann Childs, Tamar Cimenian, Morgan Davies, Michael Deagler, Dave DeChristopher, Kathleen Deedy, Elise DeGuiseppi, Amanda Diehl, Steve Donoghue, Anna Drake, Jacob Edwards, Gina Elbert, Lisa Elliott, Chelsea Ennen, Joshua Farrington, Margherita Ferrante, Katie Flanagan, Mia Franz, Ayn Reyes Frazee, Harvey Freedenberg, Jenna Friebel, Nivair H. Gabriel, Laurel Gardner, Jean Gazis, Carol Goldman, Amy Goldschlager, Melinda Greenblatt, Michael Griffith, Tobi Haberstroh, Geoff Hamilton, Sean Hammer, Silvia Lin Hanick, Peter Heck, Loren Hinton, Abigail Hsu, Julie Hubble, Kathleen T. Isaacs, Darlene Ivy, Kristen Jacobson, Wesley Jacques, Danielle Jones, Mikayla Kaber, Jayashree Kamblé, Marcelle Karp, Ivan Kenneally, Colleen King, Katherine King, Stephanie Klose, Lyneea Kmail, Maggie Knapp, Megan Dowd Lambert, Carly Lane, Christopher Lassen, Tom Lavoie, Judith Leitch, Seth Lerer, Elsbeth Lindner, Coeur de Lion, Patricia Lothrop, Wendy Lukehart, Rachel Mack, Kaia MacLeod, Joan Malewitz, Mandy Malone, Collin Marchiando, Michelle H Martin, Kirby McCurtis, Breanna McDaniel, Kathie Meizner, Carrigan Miller, J. Elizabeth Mills, Andrea Moran, Rhett Morgan, Molly Muldoon, Jennifer Nabers, Yesha Naik, Liza Nelson, Mike Newirth, Therese Purcell Nielsen, Katrina Nye, Hannah Onstad, Mike Oppenheim,Emilia Packard, Megan K. Palmer, Derek Parker, Hal Patnott, John Edward Peters, Jim Piechota, Christofer Pierson, William E. Pike, Shira Pilarski, Carolyn Quimby, Judy Quinn, Kristy Raffensberger, Matt Rauscher, Maggie Reagan, Stephanie Reents, Erica Rivera, Amy Robinson, Lizzie Rogers, Gia Ruiz, Lloyd Sachs, Sydney Sampson, Bob Sanchez, Keiko Sanders, Caitlin Savage, Nicole Schrag, Gene Seymour, Jerome Shea, Sadaf Siddique, Leah Silvieus, Linda Simon, Leena Soman, Margot E. Spangenberg, Daneet Steffens, Allie Stevens, Mathangi Subramanian, Jennifer Swanson, Deborah Taylor, Desiree Thomas, Renee Ting, Lenora Todaro, Bijal Vachharajani, Francesca Vultaggio, Wilda Williams, Vanessa Willoughby, Kerry Winfrey, Marion Winik, Bean Yogi

NEW WRITERS RIPE FOR DISCOVERY IT’S ALWAYS A good time to discover a new writer. This season has already seen a number of excellent debuts; here are some that may intrigue you.

33 Place Brugmann by Alice Austen (Grove, Mar. 11): I’m a fan of books set among neighbors, a tie that can take so many forms.

Playwright and filmmaker Austen’s first novel takes place in Brussels in a Beaux Arts apartment building during the years 1939-43, and it opens with a list of the residents attesting that they’re all Belgian citizens “unless otherwise noted and duly registered.”

Among others, there are an architect and an art dealer, a refugee seamstress, various housewives and students. “In an impressive

display of Austen’s storytelling skill, about a dozen of these individuals become point-of-view characters, unfurling an unusually colorful and intelligent, poignant and rich World War II novel,” according to our starred review.

Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley (Crown, Feb. 25): When a woman named Percy Marks meets Joe Morrow in early 2000s Berkeley, they connect over music—he writes it, she has thoughts about it.

When Joe releases an album, and then another, with songs co-written by her, things get complicated, though she didn’t want credit. Our starred review says that Brickley “lovingly evokes the indie scene of the early 21st

century…while deftly crafting the bumpy emotional journey of her insufferably opinionated, touchingly vulnerable heroine.”

The Grand Scheme of Things by Warona Jay (Washington Square Press/ Atria, Feb. 25): Relebogile Naledi Mpho Moruakgomo is a Black woman living in London; she’s acquiesced to British culture by using the nickname “Eddie.” When she can’t find a producer for her first play, she asks her wealthy white friend Hugo Smith to submit it under his name and—surprise, surprise—it becomes a big success. Our starred review says, “There are as many layers here as in a croissant and it’s just as rich, but beware of enjoying it too much—Jay is always

exposing new levels of rancidity in the world.”

Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (Bantam, Jan. 28): Tech executive Kerr debuts with a twisty search for the killer of Trevor Canon, a tech-company founder.

Mackenzie Clyde is told by Roger Hammersmith, her boss—an investor in Trevor’s startup—to help the FBI find the killer, since a recent addendum to Trevor’s will means all his money (including Roger’s investment) will be frozen until his murder is solved.

“This surprising nesting doll of a thriller, in which no one is who they appear to be, layers one story within another within another,” according to our starred review.

Going Home by Tom Lamont (Knopf, Jan. 14): Call it “Two Men, One of Their Fathers, and a Toddler”: When Lia Woods dies unexpectedly, it’s left to her school friend Téo Erskine, who’d been babysitting, to take care of her 2-year-old son, Joel, with help from his ailing father, Vic, and another friend, Ben Mossam, with an assist from their rabbi, Sibyl Challis. “A great premise, a great story, but most of all, great characters,” says our starred review.

Laurie Muchnick is the fiction editor.

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Illustration by Eric Scot t Ander son

LAURIE MUCHNICK

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EDITOR’S PICK was Chuka, a more considerate and less mercurial man who shared both her African homeland and an address in the Washington, D.C., area. Nothing wrong there besides what Chia characterizes as “that exquisite ache of wanting to love a lovely person that you do not love.” As in her previous works of fiction— most recently Americanah (2013)—Adiche makes her prose hum and throb with elegantly wrought and empathetic observations.

This style extends into the stories of three other Nigerian women in Chia’s life. Zikora, her best friend, is a tough-minded attorney accustomed to speaking brutal truths to others but vulnerable to ill-starred love affairs with men she thinks of as “thieves of time,” one of whom leaves her while she’s pregnant, forcing her

Four Nigerian women are poised at emotional crossroads that compel them to scrutinize their lives.

Isolated by the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, Chiamaka, a novelist-­ turned–travel writer sheltering in suburban Maryland, is struggling to stave off boredom and loneliness through regular Zoom calls with family and friends in the U.S., Europe, and her native Nigeria. It’s not enough, and soon this professional tourist resorts to filling the empty spaces of time with mental excursions through the ruins of past love affairs beginning with Darnell, “the Denzel Washington of academia,” whose magnetism created waiting lists for his art history classes and had Chiamaka looking past his personal slights—for a while, anyway. Then there

These Titles Earned the Kirkus Star

5

Dream Count

By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

6

The Boyhood of Cain

By Michael Amherst

42

Once Was Willem

By M.R. Carey

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Dream Count Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi | Knopf | 416 pp. $32.00 | Mar. 4, 2025 | 9780593802724

to raise a child alone— though not without unexpected help. Kadiatou, Chia’s housekeeper, has overcome challenging odds in raising her gifted daughter, Binta, by herself in America, but is the innocent victim of a sordid scandal that jeopardizes her future. And Chia’s cousin, the glamorous, self-­possessed Omelogor, is a formidable presence in Nigerian

44

Unloved

By Peyton Corinne

10

The Second Sun

By P.T. Deutermann

11

Sky Daddy

By Kate Folk

12

Sons and Daughters

By Chaim Grade; trans. by Rose Waldman

20

A Killing Cold

By Kate Alice Marshall

21

Red Dog Farm

By Nathaniel Ian Miller

finance but prone to melancholy, rumination, and regret. In today’s world, when people seem at once too cut off and too much in each other’s business, readers will feel communion with these tense, put-upon, yet resilient women in crisis.

Adichie weaves stories of heartbreak and travail that are timely, touching, and trenchant.

43

Greenteeth

By Molly O’Neill

22

25

Stone Yard Devotional

By Charlotte Wood

Dream State

By Eric Puchner

36

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

By Jesse Q. Sutanto

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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FICTION

Kirkus Star

The Boyhood of Cain Amherst, Michael | Riverhead (208 pp.) $29.00 | Feb. 25, 2025 | 9780593718520

An English boy engages with sex, art, and religion without the guidance of his failing parents.

Daniel’s father is the headmaster of a choir school, a plum position in a small English town and one that will soon evaporate. An illness and financial mismanagement force him into an early retirement and a half-life of ill-advised farming. Daniel’s mother, meanwhile, slumps into a depression that eventually becomes suicidal. In the midst remains the boy (as Amherst calls him), trying to matter-of-factly interpret the adult world. He’s impressed by psychotherapy, which he learns about on TV (“People are just like books—full of hidden meanings that need to be unearthed by an attentive reader”) and becomes indignant that the Anglican Church says he’ll have to become confirmed before receiving communion, so he refuses to do it (“Is this not exactly what Jesus would have done, he asks his parents? His mother does not welcome the comparison”). Daniel’s joys are drawn from Philip, a boy as smart as him but with more charisma and a stable family, and from Mr. Miller, a “young and exciting” art teacher who tutors the two boys in painting while their classmates play.

Mr. Miller’s hipness is thrilling—he prefers Fauvism to John Constable— but it becomes sinister when he

discusses “sex appeal” with a class of preadolescents. The novel’s plain style is contemporary, though Amherst is comfortable with figurative language: A vicar has a “face like a spoon,” the gap between two posh houses is “like a held breath before one makes a choice.” But when Amherst embraces ambiguity, in the moments where Daniel must admit no answer is to be found, the novel contains the same eerie spark that makes the bildungsromans of Hermann Hesse crackle.

A coming-of-adolescence novel that rigorously avoids cliche.

The Women on Platform Two Anthony, Laura | Gallery Books/ Simon & Schuster (336 pp.) | $28.99 March 11, 2025 | 9781668047385

An exciting and tender coming-ofage story about friendship, family, and the forces that shaped Irish women’s reproductive rights.

It’s 2023, and Saoirse has left the house after an argument with her boyfriend about whether or not to have children. Wandering the streets of Dublin, she ducks into the train station when it starts to rain. While sitting on a bench, she notices a photograph dropped by a stylish elderly woman as she hurries to catch her train. Intrigued, Saoirse picks up the photo and follows the woman onto the train, which is headed to Belfast. By the time she returns the picture, the train has started moving, and Saoirse winds up staying on it, listening to the woman, Maura

An English boy engages with sex, art, and religion without guidance.

THE BOYHOOD OF CAIN

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Flynn, tell the story of her friend Bernie and the events leading up to the photo that was taken of them exactly 52 years ago. Maura worked as a shopgirl in Dublin in the late 1960s, and was thrilled when the dashing Dr. Christopher Davenport showed up to her counter at Switzers department store and asked to take her to the pictures.

Soon after they married, however, his charming demeanor gave way to an uncontrollable temper and the perfect life she had imagined for herself quickly turned into a nightmare. Maura’s only lifeline was the other woman in the photograph Saoirse found on the platform: Bernie, a butcher’s wife and devoted yet harried mother of three.

Together the two friends navigated marriage, family, and the struggles of being women in Ireland in the 1960s and ’70s. Bernie and Maura’s lives became intertwined with those of other women, including a dressmaker who altered dresses by day and secretly assisted women who didn’t want to be pregnant in the off hours. They grew both closer to each other and to the dangers that threatened them in their society. Inspired by Maura and Bernie’s story, Saoirse returns to her life in the present day with determination to change it for the better.

An inspiring novel about the liberating paths blazed by Irish women.

Idle Grounds Bamford, Krystelle | Scribner (208 pp.) $26.99 | Feb. 11, 2025 | 9781668070451

First one, then a second child disappears during a strange, threat­ ening family weekend in a New England landscape haunted by unquiet memories.

Glimmering with foreboding, Bamford’s debut is an eerie consideration of family secrets in a sun-dappled setting. The action is confined to a late-1980s summer day in the life of a group of relatives, accompanied by their partners and K IR KU S R E V IE W S

FICTION

children, but the novel also reaches to the backstory as everyone gathers in Frankie’s house to celebrate a birthday. It’s a familiar setting to the family. Nearby is the home where Frankie and her four siblings grew up, and also the burned-out remains of their mother Beezy’s childhood house.

Yet, to the next generation, a group of young cousins, this patch of horse country has suddenly become sinister.

A zipping creature, a glutinous visual effect hanging over the forest, and terrified animals all spook them.

When 3-year-old Abi goes missing, her brother, 12-year-old Travis, heads after her and vanishes, too. This leaves the other children searching the surroundings, hearing voices and seeing visions, reacting with childlike volatility. The parents, meanwhile, ignore them and bicker. The narrative is delivered in the confiding first-­person voice of one of the cousins—­“what you should probably know is that the day was bright and clean”—who’s looking back from adulthood, mixing the events of the day with speculation, suggestion, and glimpses of past familial discord, including some violence. The narrative is sometimes interrupted by “Intermezzos” telling various family stories, all threaded with a strange humor.

The novel casts an atmospheric spell with its surreal episodes and hints of unhappiness, observed from the children’s perspective. Malignity hovers, events and artifacts are left dangling—a missing watch, a painted statuette, a pristine tennis court—and tragedy does eventually arrive. But the story concludes elsewhere, with the now-grown narrator still teasing its dark implications.

One family’s murky hinterland is evoked in modern gothic form.

Curious and original.

For more by Steve Berry, visit Kirkus online.

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Two investigators are asked to do a welfare check on a rock star’s daughter.

NOT WHO WE EXPECTED

The Medici Return Berry, Steve | Grand Central Publishing (416 pp.) $30.00 | Feb. 11, 2025 | 9781538770566

The eternal jostling for power in Rome and the Vatican is juiced by a development that attracts the attention of the Magellan Billet and its foremost alumnus, Cotton Malone.

Eric Gaetano Casaburi, secretary of Italy’s National Freedom Party, anticipates a decisive victory for the party if Sergio Cardinal Ascolani, the Vatican’s secretary of state, will lend his full-throated support. Of course, the Church isn’t supposed to meddle in contemporary politics, but Eric makes an offer he doesn’t think Ascolani can refuse. Five hundred years ago, Giuliano di Lorenzo de’ Medici loaned Pope Julius II ten million florins the Church never repaid. That debt is still legally payable to anyone who proves to be a surviving member of the Medici family, and Eric believes he can prove exactly that. Although Malone, called in to investigate the bona fides of Ascolani’s enemy Jason Cardinal Richter, has already found a fortune hidden in Richter’s apartment, Richter swears that he’s being framed, and the violent deaths of three anonymous functionaries seem to bear him out. So, Malone forges a series of alliances with Richter, with wealthy businesswoman Camilla Baines, and ultimately with an even more surprising party to prevent Ascolani and Thomas Dewberry, a hired assassin who’s both a sociopath

and a devout Catholic, from swaying the upcoming election in return for Eric’s forgiving the ancient debt. An extended closing note shows how inventively Berry mingled history and fiction to weave this tangled web. Readers invested in learning more about the Medicis can be assured that the brief glimpse of them in a prologue set in 1512 is only the beginning.

Perhaps the single most striking feature of this latest dose of intrigue is that its title is intended to be taken literally.

Not Who We Expected Black, Lisa | Kensington (320 pp.) $28.00 | Feb. 25, 2025 | 9781496749680

Two forensic investigators are called on to do a long-distance welfare check on the 19-year-old daughter of a rock star.

Billy Diamond has always been too occupied with his band, Chimera, to spare much attention for his daughter, Devon. But when she and her boyfriend, Carlos, take time off from their studies at Yale to enroll in Today’s Enlightenment, a retreat in rural Nevada, Billy’s concerned. The usually conscientious Devon drops off Billy’s radar, not calling her dad or answering his texts. His concern deepens when he learns that Carlos’ body has been found in the Truckee River, and he summons Rachael Davies of the Locard Institute—“a center for forensic research, training, and investigation”—to his mansion outside D.C., hoping she can make FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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contact with Devon and assure him that his daughter’s all right. Too busy raising her late sister’s toddler son to travel to Reno herself, Rachael asks her younger colleague, Ellie Carr, to take a look. Once she arrives at Today’s Enlightenment, Ellie sees that Devon is far from all right. Galen, who like many charismatic leaders has no last name, seems determined to isolate his followers from their friends and families, leaving them dependent on him alone. Black paces her story carefully, revealing the true menace Devon faces gradually as she keeps readers wondering how far Galen will go. There are many surprises on the way to the big reveal. The backstory of Rachael and her late sister, Isis, packs plenty of punch, as does Ellie’s brave fight to survive the peril her investigation puts her in.

A familiar tale made fresh by deft plotting and well-planted twists.

Battle Mountain Box, C.J. | Putnam (384 pp.) | $32.00 Feb. 25, 2025 | 9780593851050

Unbeknownst to each other, Wyoming Fish and Game Warden Joe Pickett and outlaw falconer Nate Romanowski embark on equally urgent pursuits that converge in a way neither of them suspects.

Nate, who’s been off the grid ever since his wife, Liv, was killed in a fire intended to kill him too in Three-Inch Teeth (2024), has sworn vengeance on murderous conspirator Axel Soledad.

After shooting several of Soledad’s hirelings, he joins forces with his friend and fellow Special Forces vet Geronimo Jones, who’s tracked him down, to chase his quarry deep into the woods. Governor Spencer Rulon, meanwhile, has pressed Joe into service once again to find veteran hunting guide Spike Rankin and his new assistant, Mark Eisele, who just happens to be Rulon’s son-in-law.

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A genre-defying, spooky, and original take on our country’s deep racial trauma.

BEAUTY IN THE BLOOD

Although nobody’s heard from the men for two days, the governor doesn’t want his wife and daughter to know they’re missing, and that means not alerting the media or the local sheriff, who’s no fan of Rulon’s anyway. Readers who’ve already seen Rankin and Eisele overpowered and imprisoned by a mysterious crew they ran into while they were setting up for the elk hunting season will assume that Soledad is behind their kidnapping as well. But Box will keep everyone guessing about exactly how Soledad and the ragtag military cult he’s gathered around him plan to confront the military-industrial complex he’s persuaded them is a clear and present danger. You know you’re in for a wild ride when Joe, saying goodbye to Marybeth, his long-­ suffering wife, promises her, “I’ll do my job and not cross the line.”

Middling for this stellar series, which makes it another must-read, preferably in one sitting.

Beauty in the Blood Carter, Charlotte | Vintage (288 pp.) | $18.00 paper | Feb. 11, 2025 | 9780593467282

A family curse steeped in the trauma of slavery and the Civil War continues to visit carnage on unsuspecting victims into the 21st century.

1865: Five formerly enslaved men and boys run from a Georgia plantation; though the Civil War ended with a Union victory, they know that the South is still a dangerous, potentially fatal

place for them, so they travel by night. 2000: A man meets a beautiful woman in a New York City bar. They have sex and, hours later, his body lies broken 18 stories beneath his hotel window. In her nearby apartment, the woman, Sarah Toomey, finds herself confused, with little memory of the day. Meanwhile, former Rikers Island corrections officer Yvonne Howard is now a pastry chef in Greenwich Village. Bitty Willets, “a frequent guest at Rikers,” shows up at her restaurant one night, begging for help in uncovering what happened to her brother, Crawford—who’d recently died by jumping, or falling, out a hotel window. Yvonne can’t get the request out of her head, so she teams up with Kenneth “Kofi” Collins—a writer she meets through a class he’s teaching at the local library—and his nephew, Bean, but she can’t prevent Bitty’s grisly death in a restaurant bathroom. When the friends uncover a haunting (and maybe haunted?) handmade quilt, they begin to wonder if the murders of two members of this family might not be supernatural in origin. As they investigate, the mysterious Sarah, desired by everyone who meets her, floats in and out of the narrative, falling into a passionate affair with a co-worker that loosens all her inhibitions. This may not be a good thing, because Sarah’s psyche—and her body—may not be completely her own. Carter cuts back and forth from the 21st century to the post–Civil War South and also drops in on 1969, 1987, and a few other years, exploring generations of two families who seem to be both targets and perpetrators of horrific violence and murder.

A genre-defying, spooky, and original take on our country’s deep racial trauma.

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The Anatomy of Magic Cervantes, J.C. | Park Row Books (320 pp.) | $18.99 paper March 11, 2025 | 9780778310822

At a wedding, a workaholic doctor runs into the man who got away.

Lily Estrada is doing well: She has a good life in Los Angeles as chief resident at her hospital and member of a close family of women blessed by the goddess Mayahuel with flower-based magic. When something goes wrong in the operating room, though, she finds herself rushing to her family’s flower farm in Mexico to deal with the feelings she always does her best to ignore. Arriving in time to help with a local wedding, she uses her memory magic to create a gift for the couple and runs into Samuel James, her childhood friend and the only man she’s ever loved—the man who broke her heart 10 years ago before disappearing from her life.

Between Sam’s reappearance, her feelings about work, and problems with her magic that hint at bigger issues, Lily is about to fall apart, but maybe falling apart is the only way to rebuild. Cervantes returns to the world she created in The Enchanted Hacienda (2023), a wonderful vision of a magical flower farm and the strong, passionate women it belongs to. The Estrada family continues to shine, each character independent but important, moving the plot along and giving Lily a soft spot to land.

Second-chance romances must strike a balance of having the original breakup be sad but for good enough

reasons that the reader isn’t upset when the couple gets back together.

In this case, a little more conversation between Lily and Sam would have gone a long way. The last 50 pages feel rushed but, ultimately, the writing and the characters are enough to pull this love story along.

An enchanting if sometimes-­ frustrating tale.

The Vengeful Dead Coates, Darcy | Poisoned Pen (416 pp.) $17.99 paper | Feb. 18, 2025 | 9781728239255

A woman’s ability to see and communicate with the dead puts her in peril again in Australian novelist Coates’ latest.

Keira has fought and defeated powerful forces of evil in the past, but now she faces what may be the hardest battle of her life. She’s been targeted by the hired killers of the Artec corporation, which uses dead people to generate cheap electricity, “human batteries, condemned to writhe and scream and beg, without anyone ever seeing and knowing.” Keira and her friends have recently destroyed one of Artec’s plants and untethered the ghosts who’d been chained up in horrible pain. Living in the town of Blighty, her cottage is hidden in the cemetery, and she has the support of friends Mason and Zoe in her endeavors, but Artec’s getting closer to finding her. A visitor who makes her apprehensive turns out to be a local woman who wants Keira to

A woman’s ability to see and communicate with the dead puts her in peril.

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check her home for ghosts. The place is ghost-free, but in the neglected garden of the house next door she finds ghosts who beg her for help in uncovering their killer, a distraction she must attend to. Keira, Zoe, and Mason’s plans to destroy Artec are aided by Mikhail, an Artec employee who fears for his life because Schaeffer, the ruthless head of the company, is killing off disloyal people, just as he’d killed Keira’s parents. When Mikhail reveals Artec’s new base, a decrepit shopping mall that hides offices buried deep underground, Keira, her friends, and the black cat that lives within her resolve to attack. The result is a horrifying life-and-death battle.

Fans of ghosts and paranormal horror will enjoy this tale, which includes a touch of humor and romance.

The Girls of the Glimmer Factory Coburn, Jennifer | Sourcebooks Landmark (480 pp.) | $17.99 paper Jan. 28, 2025 | 9781728277318

The beliefs of two young German women set them on a harrowing collision course under Nazi reign.

Hannah Kaufman, a member of a Jewish family from Munich that had initially sought refuge in Prague, remains there with her beloved grandfather as the rest of their family travels to safety in Palestine. Instead of having the family reunion they long for, Hannah and her Opa find themselves among the thousands transported to the Theresienstadt camp. Although touted by the Nazi propaganda machine as a model settlement for Jews, the camp in fact subjected its inmates to constant peril, abasement, and surveillance. At the same time Hannah struggles for survival and meaningful resistance, Hilde Kramer-Bischoff, her childhood best FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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friend and a German national, strives to advance her faltering career within the Third Reich. She is childless, a war widow, and still searching for her place in the world after a lifetime of perceived rejection and abandonment. Her efforts at rising within the same propaganda operation that obscured the true nature of life at Theresienstadt result in an unanticipated reunion with her former friend as well as an opportunity for both women to act on behalf of the causes they believe in. Coburn’s extensively researched narrative conveys the full horror of conditions at the camp (cynically purported to be Hitler’s “gift to the Jews”) while highlighting the artistic and cultural accomplishments of the camp’s population.

Hilde’s infatuation with life and advancement within the German war machine is portrayed, believably, as a case study of personal ambition and blind allegiance to a national movement. Family ties, religious belief, and the sustaining power of the arts in the face of oppression are explored in a story of human values tested under the most horrific of circumstances.

An unvarnished portrait of ugliness, bravery, and banal self-interest.

Kirkus Star

The Second Sun Deutermann, P.T. | St. Martin’s (304 pp.) $29.00 | March 18, 2025 | 9781250360977

A World War II Navy captain looks for signs of a Japanese atomic bomb program.

In March 1945, Germany has given up, but the war in the Pacific is far from over. Captain Wolfe Bowen is ordered to check out a surrendered German U-boat that had two Japanese passengers aboard and find out what they’d been doing in the North Atlantic. The sub is a strange one, having a second deck but no 10

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torpedo tubes. In that extra deck is uranium that the German captain will not show Bowen even at gunpoint. Strahlung, the German explains. Radiation. Bowen reports this to his superiors, who clue him in about our Manhattan Project, which is so secret that FDR (who dies within weeks) even keeps it from Vice President Truman. Bowen also learns that the Nazis had been trying to develop an atomic bomb, so is Germany sharing its technology with Japan? That is for Bowen to find out as he travels by submarine through dangerous Japanese waters. Indeed, as U.S. brass had never expected, he witnesses spectacular evidence of the enemy’s nuclear efforts. This news must immediately get to the suddenly President Truman. What if an atomic bomb explodes on our invading troops? In this fictional telling, such a prospect drives Truman to drop U.S. bombs first.

Bowen works closely with Lieutenant Commander Janet Waring, who knows Japanese culture and language. They get along quite well—he’s a big fellow who pumps iron to relieve his stress, then learns that she is happy to relieve his stress in bed. After the bombs, President Truman directs the duo to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki and report back to him how bad it really was.

And how did ordinary people feel about the American victors—was it rage or resignation? What “the Japanese were calling the second sun had bloomed in the early morning sky over Hiroshima” and left human shadows burned into sidewalks.

Survivors looked like the living dead.

All colors disappeared, leaving only black and white. Bowen and Waring are exceptionally good at finding out

what the big shots need to know, and readers will like them both. Whether Japan ever had its own atomic bomb program is unknown, though the author thinks they probably did.

Dramatic history presented in vivid detail.

Junie Eckstine, Erin Crosby | Ballantine (368 pp.) $30.00 | Feb. 4, 2025 | 9780593725115

On the eve of the Civil War, an enslaved Black teen awakens her sister’s ghost and embarks on a dangerous journey to freedom in this debut novel.

For 16-year-old Junie, the cotton plantation of Bellereine in Lowndes County, Alabama, is the only home she’s known. In the summer of 1860, the enslaved teenager spends her days working as a house servant with her bossy cousin, Bess, and tending to the needs of Violet McQueen, the redheaded only daughter of the plantation’s white owners. Junie illicitly wanders the local woods at night, mourning her recently deceased older sister, Minnie. It was Minnie who had tried to curb Junie’s carefree spirit, which was a source of tension among older relatives fearful of drawing unwanted attention from the master. The arrival of the wealthy Taylor siblings from Louisiana suggests the possibility of a match for Violet and exile for Junie as Violet’s maid. To avoid this catastrophe, Junie commits a desperate act that raises Minnie’s ghost from the grave

On the eve of the Civil War, an enslaved Black teen awakens her sister’s ghost.

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and propels Junie down a dangerous path toward liberation. Drawing on her own family’s history as outlined in a note at the end of the book, Eckstine offers a compelling portrait of the psychological, emotional, and social degradations of slavery. If Junie is naive about her status in the novel’s early chapters, she grows determined and resilient as she realizes the true nature of her “friendship” with Violet and the impossibility of her life as an enslaved person on the plantation.

Clunkers (characters “smirk” at least nine times) and anachronistic language (Violet curses like a sailor) occasionally mar the lush prose, but Eckstine is a talented writer to watch.

Featuring a spirited protagonist, this compelling mix of the historical and the supernatural will resonate.

Kirkus Star

Sky Daddy Folk, Kate | Random House (368 pp.) $29.00 | April 8, 2025 | 9780593231494

A surreal tale of one woman’s epic search for a love that can never be returned.

When Linda isn’t working as a content moderator at the tech company Acuity or passing time in the windowless bedroom she rents from a local family, she travels the skies in her beloved airplanes. Linda doesn’t simply love planes—she’s in love with them, referring to each “fine gentleman” fondly by his tail number and admiring not only the planes’ “slender ankles” and “intelligent windscreen[s]” but also their individual personalities. Linda f lies both to experience sexual pleasure and to search for what she sees as her ultimate fulfillment: “for a plane to recognize me as his soulmate mid-f light and, overcome with passion…hurtl[e] us to earth” in a crash. Despite her commitment K IR KU S R E V IE W S

to her goal, Linda is keenly aware that she’s not normal, and works to shield her deepest desires from the people around her. Her life is an isolated one until she’s befriended

by Karina Carvalho, a colleague at Acuity. As Linda’s dream of communion with an airplane remains elusive, she finds herself increasingly wrapped up in her friendship with Karina and experimenting with relationships with human men.

Soon, the pressure of maintaining her lives in the air and on the ground will become too difficult, forcing her to choose which she values most. Folk—following up her memorably weird and innovative story collection, Out There (2022)— displays a masterful command over Linda’s mindset and thought processes in her first-person narration. Though Linda is deeply deluded, she’s selfaware about the unusual nature of her emotions without ever questioning them. And her life is otherwise mundane, characterized by relatable stresses about work, friendship, and the struggle to fit in. This strange combination of tones is often hilarious, but never at Linda’s expense.

An utterly confident and endearing portrait of a woman unlike anyone readers have met before.

Life Hacks for a Little Alien Franklin, Alice | Little, Brown (304 pp.) $29.00 | Feb. 11, 2025 | 9780316576055

In this debut novel, a British girl grows up half believing she’s an actual alien because she views the world so differently than other children.

An unnamed, omniscient narrator tells the 3-year-old girl the story of her life to come. Franklin hits all the notes common in novels about children on the spectrum or having “issues.”

Little Alien, as the narrator calls her, is bullied by other children and

by teachers, reads situations with an eccentric yet oddly insightful literalness, and acts out her frustration with guttural noises. Yet the book’s tone and structure offer unexpected surprises. The narrator addresses the novel directly to Little Alien and also includes numerous footnotes that define terms, suggest further readings, and explain complex concepts to both Little Alien and the reader as the novel evolves into a deep dive into an actual, somewhat academic, ongoing mystery surrounding the Voynich Manuscript, an illustrated codex discovered in 1912 and now residing at Yale’s Beinecke Library.

Dating from the 1400s, the manuscript includes odd pictures and writing in a language no one has yet decoded. At 12, Little Alien happens upon a television interview in which the widow of a Voynich researcher mentions that her husband believed the manuscript was the work of aliens. Little Alien’s interest is piqued. Until now she has suffered through childhood discounted as an oddball at school while coping with her mother’s bouts of mental illness at home (fortunately aided by her sane, loving, understandably anxious father). Discovering the Voynich Manuscript changes her life, giving her not only a sense of direction but a pathway toward friendship and self-acceptance. Along the way she meets a series of unlikely protectors, not least a linguist who sees nothing alien about her new protégé. The writing can be a bit arch, and sometimes repetitive, but these are minor quibbles.

Originality and cerebral playfulness combine with affecting family drama to make a satisfying, lively novel.

For more fiction reviews, visit Kirkus online.

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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Remember This Giardina, Anthony | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (384 pp.) | $29.00 March 4, 2025 | 9780374611347

A playwright and his art historian daughter take divergent paths studying class and creativity.

Giardina’s sixth novel, following Norumbega Park (2012), opens in 2012 as Henry Rando is riding high on the success of a book about nearing 70, How To Be This Age. But a bestseller isn’t assuaging his flickering career in the theater or a sense that he needs to do more with his life. So, he joins a Catholic humanitarian aid group to Haiti, where he gathers play material and stirs up a well-cloaked homosexuality. Meanwhile, his daughter, Miranda, has quit her job at an auction house to write a biography of Anna Soloff, whose stark portraits in the vein of Alice Neel and Lucian Freud had her toiling in obscurity until becoming a high-dollar artist late in life. Through both characters, Giardina explores noblesse oblige, suppressed emotions, and the ways that money tends to muck with true art. (It mucks with Manhattan too: “The neighborhood had become the province of Art,” he writes of Chelsea.

“And money, don’t forget money.”)

For Henry, the fate of his inevitably mediocre Haiti-inspired play prompts him to do more than be a bystander; for Miranda, success means doing right by Soloff’s story while fending off the sense that the biography will do little more than up the artist’s market value. Fitting for a story rooted in upscale New York City with an eye on the past, Giardina writes with a genteel, Cheever-esque grace and charm. The style can be distancing, though, and the story lacks a certain body heat; there’s not a strong sense that, for these well-off characters, a lot is at stake, even when both of them hit a crisis point. Even at a 12

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low boil, though, the novel is a cleareyed study of how a scruffier Manhattan and clearer ethics gave way to a more compromised and machined world.

A muted and melancholy domestic tale.

Kirkus Star

Sons and Daughters Grade, Chaim | Trans. by Rose Waldman | Knopf (704 pp.) | $35.00 March 25, 2025 | 9780394536460

Finally available in English, Grade’s sprawling novel—­originally serialized in the 1960s and ’70s in two New York– based Yiddish news­papers—­ dissects a Jewish family in early 1930s Poland torn apart by religious, cultural, and generational differences.

The head of the family, based in the tiny village of Morehdalye, is hardcore traditionalist Rabbi Sholem Shachne Katzenellenbogen, who sees Yiddish poets—secular freethinkers divorced from the laws and language of the Torah—as the bane of his existence. To his offspring, his rigorous demands tie him to a “dead world.” Escaping his harsh authority, one of his sons studies not the Torah but Kierkegaard in Switzerland, where he secretly marries a non-Jewish woman who won’t allow their son to be circumcised. Another son spends time in America, which his father thinks is “akin to renouncing Judaism,” before becoming a Zionist

radical in the land of Israel. One of the rabbi’s daughters, married to a cold-hearted soul considered “one of the Torah greats,” rejects the subservient role of rebbetzin, while his other daughter rejects a semi-arranged marriage to another rabbi in favor of studying nursing in Lithuania. The recriminations never let up even as Polish youth gangs, embodying the terrors to come (Grade only alludes to the Holocaust), begin terrorizing Jewish merchants. “My greatest enemies are my own family,” laments Sholem Shachne. In sustaining his densely detailed, closed-in, slowly advancing narrative over 700 pages, Grade embraces modernism on an epic scale. He planned a second volume, but died before he could write it—or complete this abruptly ending book. One can only imagine what Volume 2 would have added. But even unfinished, this long-awaited novel is a monumental achievement.

A great Yiddish novelist’s grimly foreboding and fiercely alive final work.

Broken Country Hall, Clare Leslie | Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $28.99 | March 4, 2025 | 9781668078181

Unchecked passion gives rise to tragedy in a small English farming community in the late 1960s.

In 1968, bookish Beth Johnson adores being a farmer’s wife.

Though she is not a poet, as she once dreamed, her life laboring in commune with nature is one “where every single day is a different kind of education.” She feels

A great Yiddish novelist’s grimly foreboding and fiercely alive final work.

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satisfied, especially as she gets to share her moments of rest with her husband, Frank, a reliable and compassionate man, and their close-knit network of family and friends. And yet, there is a seeping wound in their busy life: the loss of their 9-year-old son, Bobby, who died in an accident two years before. When Beth’s first love, Gabriel, unexpectedly moves back to town with his son, Leo, a boy just a bit older than Bobby who is desperately seeking a mother figure, Beth and the reader are blown back to “before”: 1955, before Beth knew what it was to love or to grieve. In addition, Hall intersperses scenes set at a 1969 murder trial so that, though she intentionally obscures the identities of the victim and the suspect until the climax, death crouches over the entire novel. As we watch Beth and Gabriel fall toward one another in two timelines, we are painfully aware that heartbreak is imminent in each. One would think it would be hard to shake this feeling of doom, especially since Hall also makes it clear that Beth will break her commitment to Frank early on, but her prose is so transportive that it’s impossible not to hang on and hold out hope for Beth, Frank, Gabriel, and the people they love. There are several standout scenes, but an especially stunning one comes when Frank’s brother, Jimmy, helps Beth deliver Bobby on the kitchen floor during a violent storm. Indeed, every scene that includes Bobby is touching, especially those that highlight his connection with the land—the characteristic Beth most prizes in Frank and is proud to have found within herself. Crystallized in Beth’s memory as a “boy reaching back to his ancestors through these lumpy green fields, to the sounds and sights, the taste, the touch of a thousand years,” he is without time, like love and loss.

An elegantly written historical novel with a compelling love triangle and a couple of clever twists.

For more suspense novels, visit Kirkus online.

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Two friends from the Dominican Republic struggle to find their way in New York.

LOCA

All the Other Mothers Hate Me Harman, Sarah | Putnam (384 pp.) | $29.00 March 11, 2025 | 9780593851463

A former girl-band singer adrift in her life and career gets drawn into a missing persons case involving the “little shit” who’s been bullying her 10-year-old son in this debut novel.

Florence Grimes isn’t like the other mothers at St. Angeles, the posh London school her son, Dylan, attends.

A divorcée and almost–pop star from Florida, she runs an online balloon delivery service and dreams of making a Mariah Carey–style comeback. Her going-nowhere-fast life suddenly gets turned upside down when Alfie Risby, heir to a frozen food fortune and her son’s tormentor, goes missing during a school field trip. Dylan becomes a major person of interest in the investigation that follows; then Florence discovers Alfie’s backpack in Dylan’s room. Horror mounting, she reads one of Alfie’s notebooks and learns that her son has made threats to kill his classmate. Readers are quickly pulled into the escalating drama by the sharp-tongued Florence, whose observations about the glossy St. Angeles “school mums” and their “anorexic whippet dog[s],” cheating husbands, and endless games of social one-upmanship are as unsparing as they are hilarious. Her commitment to protecting Dylan becomes the catalyst for her evolution into an amateur sleuth who stumbles across secrets so explosive they transform her

and her son’s lives forever. Sly red herrings and surprise reveals are par for the course in this tightly plotted story that, while it satirizes the British obsessions with appearance and class, also celebrates the power of personal redemption through love.

A smart, page-turning suspense novel debut.

Loca Heredia, Alejandro | Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) $28.99 | Feb. 11, 2025 | 9781668050460

Two best friends from the Dominican Republic struggle to find their way in New York at the turn of the millennium.

Sal and Charo, both in their early 20s, are relative newcomers to the city. Charo arrived first, after an uncle living in the United States agreed to adopt her so she could immigrate more easily. As if repaying her debt to him and sending money to her parents back home weren’t hard enough, she’s now a mother. Her daughter’s father means well, but Charo suffocates under the weight of his expectations and those of the Bronx’s Dominican community. Moving to the U.S. was supposed to liberate her, but instead of freedom she’s got nothing but responsibility. Meanwhile, Sal can’t escape the memory of a horrific crime committed against one of his closest friends, the event that propelled him to leave Santo Domingo. As he’s navigating through his identity as a gay Latine man and the anguish of grief, he falls for a man who welcomes him and Charo into his friend group, offering >>> FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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ON THE COVER

ROB FRANKLIN

With his buzzy debut novel set to be published in June, this promising author pauses to reflect on the journey.

BY TOM BEER

ROB FRANKLIN DESCRIBES his debut novel as his “full-minded obsession” for the past four-and-a-half years. He began the book in 2020, while studying at New York University for a Master of Fine Arts degree, after setting aside the draft of an earlier novel set in Berlin.

Great Black Hope, an electric tale of race, class, and misspent youth, was the first acquisition of the newly relaunched Summit Books imprint of Simon & Schuster and will be published, with its own high hopes, in June.

As Great Black Hope opens, 20-something Smith is arrested at a Hamptons nightspot for possession of 0.7 grams of cocaine. Smith is a child of the Black middle class, torn between his family’s aspirations for him and his New York party lifestyle; he’s already reeling from the overdose death of his best friend, Elle England, just weeks earlier. While awaiting trial over the next few months, Smith will endure court-mandated treatment sessions on Zoom, drift through the holidays at his childhood home in Atlanta, and reflect on the life events that brought him to this fraught juncture. Kirkus’ starred review calls it a “captivating novel of dissolution and redemption,” and it comes emblazoned with rapturous blurbs from Kaveh Akbar, Katie Kitamura, and others.

Franklin, 31, grew up in Atlanta, attended Stanford University, and now teaches writing at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He recently joined us on a video call from his apartment in Brooklyn to talk about this highly anticipated debut; our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

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It really wasn’t until I was in my 20s that I took a stab at writing a novel, and I kind of fell backward into it.

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FICTION

Congratulations on the upcoming publication of Great Black Hope—it’s such a good novel. How did you start writing fiction?

I came to writing fiction through poetry.

In high school one of my best friends gave me a collection called Crush by Richard Siken, a book I still really love. In distinction from the canonical poetry we were reading in class, that book was doing something formally and voicewise that was very exciting to me. After that, I started writing poetry that was very heavily informed by Siken—copycat poetry—and publishing in our high school literary magazine. Then in college, I started taking more creative writing classes and ended up minoring in poetry. I took one or two fiction workshops and wrote a couple short stories. It really wasn’t until I was in my 20s that I took a stab at writing a novel, and I kind of fell backward into it.

Emma Trim

Are there other books or writers that were touchstones for you and this novel?

I would say Citizen by Claudia Rankine was massively influential for me. Bluets

by Maggie Nelson. Two nonfiction books, Negroland by Margo Jefferson and White Girls by Hilton Als, for the analysis of identity and power. I was also looking to these New York texts, like Just Kids by Patti Smith, and novels by Bret Easton Ellis and Jay McInerney.

What would you say was one of your biggest challenges in writing Great Black Hope? And something that was a pleasure or a great discovery?

I had initially envisioned that the middle section of the book—the Atlanta section—would be very digressive, kind of essayistic, weaving between narrative prose and essay. Figuring out how to still have that as an element of the book without detracting from the narrative propulsion was really difficult. It was a frustration but also an exciting exercise to figure out how much bell hooks or Frantz Fanon I could bring in without completely halting the momentum of the novel.

What was really a pleasure to write—and came more naturally—was the slightly satirical view of the downtown [New York] club scene.

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Those passages were just really fun. I love a good party scene.

Let’s talk about the protagonist.

His name is David Smith, but he goes by Smith. I was wondering about that decision.

I wanted him to have a common name, a family name that he shares with his father. It figures into the plot because Smith has this [fear] that people are going to hear about his arrest, but he’s insulated by the anonymity of his name.

But I also thought it was in keeping with the character, someone who forged his own path apart from his parents, to take his last name as a first name, which makes it distinct and sort of chic, almost like somebody deciding to go by an alias.

And you get to use that great phrase “the David Smiths,” referring to Smith and his dad collectively.

Yes! Smith is complicated. He’s had a comfortable childhood in many ways, but he’s also not far removed from the hardships that his family experienced historically. One passage has a flashback to his grandmother’s youth in Brazos, Texas, and some of the horrific things that happened to Black people there. How do you want readers to feel about Smith?

Obviously, I want there to be warmth towards him, and a sense of rooting for him as a character. But I didn’t want to make him morally perfect. There can be a tendency, maybe especially for Black writers, or writers from marginalized backgrounds, to create characters that have the moral upper hand. There are a couple of times, say, in Smith’s dynamic with [his white friend] Carolyn, where he feels like he has the moral upper hand and realizes that he can actually be quite cruel when he’s acting on that as an impulse. I did want [readers] to feel like there was some darkness there.

He’s messy, right? How did you decide to open the novel with his arrest for drug possession?

At some point I questioned if Elle’s death could be the start of the novel and then quickly decided that it felt more propulsive

Great Black Hope Franklin, Rob

Summit | 320 pp. | $28.99 June 3, 2025 | 9781668077436

to have the novel be structured around Smith’s court case, starting with the arrest and through to the eventual verdict, with flashbacks that allow us to see the closeness of his friendship with Elle as well as his disorientation in the immediate aftermath of her death. Also, that opening is another party scene. It’s not a fun one, but there’s a sense of movement and energy and a tone that I’m drawn to.

Can you say something about the title and how it came to be?

I found this old Vanity Fair profile of Colin Powell [titled “The Great Black Hope”] from when he was leaving the military and going into politics in the ’90s. People didn’t know which party he was aligned with and would hold up his background as a cipher to figure out where his loyalties lay. That profile is a piece of writing that I really love.

It depicts him as playing the game of the “respectable Negro” very well, very strategically. It seemed interesting to me that this phrase, which has also been applied to people like Condoleezza Rice and Barack Obama, could then be used to describe this upwardly mobile, downwardly spiraling Black 20-something. I put that title on the Google Doc thinking of it mostly as tongue-in-cheek, and it’s only been through the writing, and rewriting, and editing, and hearing how other people read the book that I see where it is also kind of earnest, because we do end on a more hopeful note. It may not be a straightforwardly redemptive arc, but there’s a sense that Smith does recapture hope after these experiences. I like the duality of that title.

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F I C T I O N // I N T H E N E W S

IN THE NEWS

David Lodge

The English author was known for his Campus Trilogy of satirical novels.

David Lodge, the English author who satirized academia in his Campus Trilogy of novels, has died at 89, the Guardian reports.

Lodge was born and raised in London and educated at University College London. He made his literary debut in 1960 with The Picturegoers, which explored the experience of Roman Catholics living in London. He followed that up with the novels Ginger You’re Barmy, The British Museum Is Falling Down, and Out of the Shelter.

In 1975, he published Changing Places, about an academic exchange between a British and an American university. The comic novel would become the first book in his Campus Trilogy, followed by Small World in 1984 and Nice Work in 1988;

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the latter two books were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His other novels included Paradise News, Therapy, Deaf Sentence, and A Man of Parts.

Lodge’s admirers paid tribute to him on social media. On the platform X, novelist Richard Osman wrote, “From Waugh to Pym to Frayn to David Lodge, there are few things better than a great British comic novel, with smarts and heart and truth at its core.

What a wonderful writer. Do start with the Campus Trilogy if you haven’t read him.”

And critic Joe Williams posted, “RIP David Lodge, one of the few British novelists who managed to combine ideas with pleasure.”

—MICHAEL SCHAUB

Colin McPher son/Corbis v ia Get t y Images

David Lodge Dies at 89

For reviews of books

by David Lodge, visit Kirkus online.

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S E E N A N D H E A R D // F I C T I O N

Stephen King’s Radio Station To Keep Broadcasting WKIT-FM in Maine will live on, thanks to two entrepreneurs who bought it from the novelist.

Oli v ia Wong/Get t y Images

Good news for headbangers in Bangor: The Maine rock radio station that Stephen King owned for nearly 20 years will live on after all.

WKIT-FM, which King announced would cease operations, has been purchased by entrepreneurs Greg Hawes and Jeff Solari, the Associated Press reports.

King and his wife, author Tabitha King, bought WKIT in 1995 along with WNSW-AM. WKIT has a mainstream rock format; on a recent morning, the station played songs including “Far Behind” by Candlebox, “Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith, and “When the Levee Breaks” by Led Zeppelin.

King’s ownership of the station was natural— the author is a longtime rock fan and has professed his love for the

Stephen King

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SEEN AND HEARD music of AC/DC, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sex Pistols, and John Mellencamp.

He is himself a musician, having played guitar for the all-author superband Rock Bottom Remainders, which also included, at various times, Amy Tan, Dave Barry, Barbara King­ solver, Scott Turow, and James McBride.

In December King announced on the social platform Threads that WKIT would shut down, writing, “I’m sorry as hell to be closing down WKIT and its sister stations. I held off the suits for as long as I could.”

Hawes and Solari announced in a statement that they had bought the station, which will now be run by the Rock Lobster Radio Group.

“WKIT is the most legendary station in the region,” they said. “It has tremendous history. We couldn’t let it die.”—M.S.

For reviews of Stephen King’s books, visit Kirkus online.

FICTION

An endearingly obsessive fact-checker stumbles around New York.

THE FACT CHECKER

them a refuge in his corner of New York’s queer community. Perhaps if they try, they can and do belong. This is pre-9/11, pre-Bloomberg New York.

Members of the Dominican community still reel from past wars in their home country and the violence in their new one. People outside of New York barely know the island nation exists and are perplexed by folks like Sal and Charo, who look Black to them but speak English by way of Spanish. Marriage equality and PrEP are more than a decade away. This historical context isn’t in the book exactly, but that’s the point—Charo and Sal need to grapple with their individual and collective pasts and the uncertainty of the future. What would the 2000s hold? A good question, but like its protagonists, the book meanders. For readers looking for more of a vibe than a plot, this is a solid debut about working through the confusion of intersectional identities and trauma.

Heredia explores the challenges of urban adulting before it became a verb.

People of Means Johnson, Nancy | Morrow/ HarperCollins (368 pp.) | $30.00 Feb. 11, 2025 | 9780063157514

The daughter of a well-to-do Black family is drawn into the Civil Rights Movement.

Three decades later, her daughter pushes limits and uncovers family secrets.

Johnson’s powerful second novel begins with Freda Gilroy’s first day at Nashville’s Fisk University in 1959. She has instructions from her parents to be 18

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excellent and above reproach. They’ve already identified a medical student, Gerald Vance, to be her future husband.

The Chicago girl is stunned by the racism she experiences in the South, segregation nothing like what she’s seen back home.

Her parents have forbidden her to get involved in protests, but she’s drawn in by Darius Moore, a handsome saxophone player and Civil Rights activist who gives soul-stirring speeches. She’s thrown into a dilemma—her college years are spent resisting her feelings for Darius, hiding her activism, and then weighing which man, and which kind of life, she wants to choose. Three decades later, Freda’s daughter, Tulip, a public relations professional, has defied her parents by dating a working-class man. Key, her boyfriend of two years, is a bus driver.

She is uncomfortable as one of few Black employees at her PR agency and is striving for a promotion. She’s stunned when the police officers who attacked Rodney King are acquitted and feels driven to speak up. In doing so, she learns more about her work, her parents, her lover, and herself. Each of the main characters are sympathetic, even as they make choices that lead to pain for others.

Johnson doesn’t flinch from the terror young activists experienced in the Civil Rights era, and by exploring the parallels in Tulip’s life 30 years later, Johnson emphasizes that while some things change, racism stays the same.

A heart-wrenching story of love, family, racism, and resistance across decades.

For books from the New Yorker, visit Kirkus online.

The Fact Checker Kelley, Austin | Atlantic Monthly (256 pp.) $27.00 | April 15, 2025 | 9780802164100

An endearingly obsessive fact-checker stumbles around New York in search of truth, meaning, and a woman.

From the New Yorker’s iconic headline font to what certainly seem to be the real processes of the magazine’s operation, Kelley’s mostly charming debut is steeped in the lore of his former employer. As it opens, the unnamed narrator has received an assignment to fact-check a story known as “Mandeville/­ Green”—the name of the article’s author plus a one-word “slug” to indicate the topic, in this case the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan: “That’s Greenmarket, one word, capitalized. It’s a trade name used by the Council on the Environment of New York City, a nonprofit that founded the city’s farmers markets in 1976. That’s the kind of thing I check first.” Kelley gets often hilarious mileage out of this type of minutiae; in one memorable scene, the entire office falls silent to listen to a very senior member of the department factcheck a piece on 50 Cent. “‘F-u-c-k-a?’ we heard him say. ‘Is that correct? Motherfucka?’ He pronounced the end ‘aah’ like a child is supposed to when the doctor is looking down his throat.” Our hero gets in over his head while trying to verify a reference to “nefarious practices” at the farmer’s market, during which he meets an intriguing tomato grower named Sylvia, who becomes an obscure object of desire in and of herself.

Most of this novel is wonderful, but there are a few serious caveats. One, there’s an early giveaway of the outcome of one of the narrator’s central quests, which dilutes its interest for the reader. Two, there is K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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a disgusting and totally uncalled-for scene of gore, sure to turn off readers of the vegetarian persuasion.

Somehow, after that nightmarish interlude, nothing seems as funny, and the close is a bit of a fizzle.

This comic novel opens brilliantly but goes a mite awry by the end.

Still, a bravura debut.

Untouchable Lawson, Mike | Atlantic Monthly (320 pp.) $27.00 | Feb. 25, 2025 | 9780802164452

A few words idly scrawled on the back of the U.S. president’s speech to the United Nations propel D.C. fixer Joe DeMarco into his latest round of political intrigue.

The cryptic words strongly suggest, but don’t prove, that Brandon Cartwright—a billionaire playboy who was murdered along with his personal assistant during a home invasion a month after having been indicted, just like Jeffrey Epstein, for trafficking a minor aboard his yacht—asked the president for a pardon, and that the president decided instead that the problem had to be settled “Doyle’s way.” The fact that Eric Doyle is the president’s national security adviser and close personal friend places Porter Hendricks, head of the National Archives, in a pickle. He can’t destroy the document, which has been turned over to the archive by people who didn’t notice the handwritten notes on its reverse, and he can’t make it public, either. So, he secretly shares his discovery with House Minority Leader John Mahoney, and Mahoney, eager to reclaim his position as speaker of the House by putting pressure on the president, orders DeMarco, his unofficial bagman, to “poke around” enough to confirm that Cartwright was blackmailing the president, who responded by ordering Cartwright’s execution. The job looks K IR KU S R E V IE W S

impossible because nobody wants to admit that anything untoward happened, much less talk on the record, and nobody wants to make an enemy of Eric Doyle, much less the president. Of course, that’s what makes DeMarco, DeMarco: He’s repeatedly done the impossible before, and fans will be sure that he’ll do it again. But that’s about all they’ll be sure of in this reliably twisty tale.

No one makes high-level political corruption as blissfully enjoyable as Lawson.

Every Tom, Dick & Harry Lipman, Elinor | Harper/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $27.99 | Feb. 11, 2025 | 9780063322257

An estate-sale manager in a small Massachusetts town stumbles on its worst-kept secret.

When Emma Lewis’ parents ask her to move back to Harrow and take over Estate of Mind—their business staging home sales for estates, downsizers, and others—she steps in with relative ease, having been been sticking price tags on candelabras all her life. Since they’re retiring to Cape Cod, they also offer her their house, and have already arranged a roommate: her father’s friend Frank Crowley, a retired math teacher, recently widowed when his wife was struck by lightning on the golf course. The warm relationship that develops between Frank and Emma as they share the house and soon, the responsibilities of the business, is at the heart of this tale of love and money and love-for-money.

Estate of Mind soon has the opportunity to put on a sale at the infamous house at 1010 Quail Ridge Road, which operated variously as a B&B and a brothel known as Lola’s Ladies. Meanwhile, Frank has begun dating Connie Winooski, a recent widow and mother of the police chief, Luke Winooski. When Luke

and Emma also start seeing each other, sticky situations arise. This book is all about the complications and overlapping romantic alliances that are the leitmotif of small-town drama, and some readers may find it useful to make a character list to keep track of all the names and relationships. For example, who is Theo? Well, he’s former kindergarten teacher Athena’s son; she’s now dating Manny, the disgraced former police chief, who was married to Lola, the “housemother.” Theo himself is dating Rain, aka Francine, the daughter of Frank’s dead wife, Ginger, from her marriage to Stefan.

Lipman seems to be having herself a grand old time with this sort of thing. For the Daily Double, what’s the connection between John-Paul, Uncle Paul, and Paulina? Devoted readers will be ready for the quiz.

Charming if sometimes a little hard to follow.

The Persians Mahloudji, Sanam | Scribner (384 pp.) $28.99 | March 4, 2025 | 9781668015797

What if there was a completely different version of your family’s cherished story?

Mahloudji’s debut novel traces the fortunes of five women of the Valiat family, an Iranian clan proudly descended from Babak Ali Khan Valiat, “The Great Warrior.”

The three generations include Elizabeth, the steely matriarch who remained in post-revolutionary Iran; her daughters, Shirin and Seema, who fled to the U.S. in 1979; and their respective daughters, Niaz, who (ostensibly) chose to remain in Iran, and Bita, a law student in New York.

The complicated and often contentious relationships between and among the women are drawn in detail, with most of the narrative— except for Elizabeth’s FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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story—delivered in each individual woman’s voice. A disturbance in the family’s delicate balance of power occurs when, in a madcap episode during a 2005 vacation in Aspen a year after Seema’s death from cancer, Shirin is charged with attempted prostitution. Shirin’s frantic efforts to maintain her social standing result in a temporary relocation to New York, where her niece, Bita, is questioning her own legacy and path in life. An unanticipated visit from the homeland by Elizabeth and Niaz prompts revelations about the family’s history and the ghostly spirit of Seema recounts her frustrations and apprehensions in her adopted homeland. Used to being perceived (in Iran and in their own minds) as high-rollers and worthy of respect, the Valiat women need to reconcile the realities of their current lives— American indifference to their ancestral importance, diminished circumstances in a radically changed Iran, illness and thwarted ambition, to name just a few—with their beliefs about the family’s history of status and privilege. By turns comic and affecting, the saga of the Valiat women conveys hard truths about women’s lives along with a healthy dose of couture and jewelry.

The glitz never outshines the heart here.

Kirkus Star

A Killing Cold Marshall, Kate Alice | Flatiron Books (304 pp.) $28.99 | Feb. 4, 2025 | 9781250343055

Astonishing secrets come to light at a mountain retreat when a young woman goes to meet her fiance’s family.

In the opening pages of Marshall’s terrific—­ and terrifying—­new thriller, Theodora Scott is on her way meet her fiance’s wealthy family. Having met 20

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and fallen for Connor Dalton at a friend’s party a mere six months earlier, Theo is ready to give love a chance. First, though, she has to navigate meeting his family at Idlewood, their isolated mountain retreat. As a rule, she learns, non– family members are not permitted apart from a handful of employees and a few locals who have special permission during hunting season.

This delicious setup is promisingly sinister enough but, as Theo’s narration continues, it becomes clear that she has secrets of her own to keep: Some of that has to do with her earlier life as a child who was adopted by a fundamentalist religious couple, Beth and Joseph; some of it has to do with anonymous messages she’s been receiving, warning her to stay away from Connor. As the family gathering progresses, Theo survives the domesticity of “pie day” and a grilling by Connor’s sister, mother, and grandmother. Later, she also survives a far less domestic hunting session (and just as much of a grilling) with Connor’s grandfather. But it’s what Theo discovers when she snoops around an abandoned cabin in the family compound that threatens to blow everything she knew—and didn’t know—about herself wide open. Theo has always had vague, dreamlike, and splintered memories of her pre-­a doption life—she was only 4 when she came to live with Beth and Joseph. But when her cabin exploration turns up an old photograph of herself as a child at Idlewild, that’s when Theo’s real-life (read: life-­ threatening) nightmare really begins.

Marshall’s chilling new novel pushes all the right buttons when it comes to inexorable suspense and psychological frights.

The Influencers McLemore, Anna-Marie | Dial Press (448 pp.) $28.00 | April 15, 2025 | 9780593729175

When a social media influencer’s husband is murdered, the prime suspects are her five famous daughters.

May Iverson made a name for herself as Mother May I, creating a social media empire built on relatable tips and her signature closing line, “You’re already a good mom.” But what really endeared her to viewers was her family—five daughters whose every moment she captured on camera. Each child was named after their birth month—January, March, April, June, and July—and each of them played a role in their aspirational family. Now that they’re grown, however, it’s clear that perhaps not all of them actually wanted to be on camera. While June and July followed in May’s footsteps to become influencers, January and April are much more private, and March has disappeared entirely. When their stepfather, August, dies, and May’s mansion is the target of an unsuccessful arson attempt, it looks like someone tried to cover up his murder—but who? May’s children are the prime suspects, and it turns out everyone who’s been watching them since birth has an opinion. In their adult debut, McLemore unravels the mystery through multiple points of view—the sisters, May, and even a Greek chorus of Mother May I viewers, introduced as “we the followers of Mother May I”—like a cross between The Virgin Suicides and Keeping Up With the

Marshall’s chilling novel pushes all the right buttons when it comes to suspense.

A KILLING COLD

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Kardashians. McLemore uncovers the dangerous facade of social media, highlighting how often the children of influencers are mistreated as their parents chase fame. The murder itself, however, doesn’t feel highstakes enough, possibly because August’s character isn’t given enough time on the page. As a result, the mystery sometimes feels tedious instead of thrilling, and the ideas McLemore explores, like class, race (the girls’ father is Mexican), and the hazards of social media are more exciting than solving the puzzle of who killed August.

A fascinating premise with a mystery that never feels truly engaging.

Leo Meyer, Deon | Trans. by K.L. Seegers Atlantic Monthly (464 pp.) | $28.00 Feb. 18, 2025 | 9780802164230

South African detectives Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido, demoted from their elite violent crimes unit in Cape Town and shipped out to a sleepy university town, are awakened by a murder that will connect with the heist of millions of dollars in gold.

The perpetrators of the heist are former members of the South African Special Forces—plus, as their “honey trap,” a hard-edged beauty who worked with one of the plotters in the past and is currently biding time as a wildlife guide. The job goes spectacularly, violently wrong, leaving people dead and wounded and a surviving thief out for vengeance—and a second shot at the bullion. At first, the murder of a local businessman appears to the long-partnered Griessel and Cupido to be an isolated hit job. But the more they dig into the case, the more complicated it becomes, especially after a second victim is killed in the same way as the first—with filler foam sprayed down his throat. Griessel, a K IR KU S R E V IE W S

A young Icelandic man chooses between his home and the wider world.

RED DOG FARM

recovering alcoholic pushing 50, and the several-years-younger Cupido, who’s anxious about his partner’s upcoming wedding, are hopeful that solving the case will get them reappointed to the special unit known as the Hawks. But as the crimes take on South African and international political trappings, Griessel and Cupido’s detective skills may not be enough. As is often the case with Meyer’s sharply divided narratives, readers may find themselves wanting a pair of trifocals to keep all the plotlines straight. (References to past novels are actually footnoted.) The protagonists drop out of the novel for long stretches, but there’s a lot to like in Meyer’s quirky approach, which makes up for all the business related to Griessel’s wedding—including the need to make it to the altar in time—with action-packed scenes.

Meyer’s eighth Griessel and Cupido book makes demands of the reader, but ones that get rewarded.

Kirkus Star

Red Dog Farm Miller, Nathaniel Ian | Little, Brown (272 pp.) $28.00 | March 4, 2025 | 9780316575140

A young Icelandic man chooses between his home and the wider world.

Orri attends the University of Iceland in Reykjavík, but he’s an unfocused and lackluster student, so he finagles permission to take three weeks off from his studies to help his father on

the family’s farm. It’s hard work in a land of plenty: plenty of rain, sleet, snow, and ice. Plenty of muck and mud and bitter cold. Plenty of freezing livestock and cows shitting in their water troughs. Not plenty of topsoil to raise crops on the rocky ground. Orri enjoys the work, but his father, his Pabbi, is a frustrated man who “experienced life as a slow leak.”

Mamma is a first-generation Jewish immigrant and a professor at Bifröst University who doesn’t want the farm life. Meanwhile, Orri meets women online. He has no romantic chances with Rúna, a lesbian who speculates about Orri being her public beard.

And he spends countless cyber hours chatting with Amihan Cruz, a woman of Philippine descent: “There is much for good friends to catch up on when they’ve only just met.” So, the characters all have different interests that may or may not blend together.

Does Orri really want to quit university and follow in Pabbi’s footsteps?

“Because who in their right mind— I’m looking at you, Vikings—would take their first steps onto our steaming black rock and think farmland?” That Orri thinks so is evident from the prologue, so it’s no spoiler. He’s a thoughtful and expressive narrator, who refers to “moments you know you’ll recall in perfect clarity forever, seared across the neurons like a psychic tattoo.” Some of those vivid moments are ankle-deep in muck, and some are of animal slaughter, because “a real working farm isn’t a tourist attraction.” But many more are of friendships, family, and the land itself.

This is Miller’s second novel of the far north, following The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven (2021), and he clearly knows his subject.

An engaging read from start to finish.

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Sprawling and elegant—a novel that feels both old-fashioned and inventive.

D R E A M S TAT E

The Watermark Mills, Sam | Melville House (544 pp.) | $22.99 paper | Feb. 11, 2025 | 9781685891916

A romp across genres encompasses a bookish mystery.

The portentously named Augustus Fate is “one of the most famous and celebrated authors alive today.” He’s also a world-class loon.

Young Jaime Lancia is your standard underachiever, though not for want of trying: At the beginning of Mills’ novel, he’s filled out more than 540 job applications. Landing an interview with Fate may land Jaime a journalism gig, and so he heads to the Welsh countryside to find the great man, who meets him not in the resplendent cape of his author photos but “wearing a navy jumper with holes in it, a pair of brown corduroys and sandals, displaying a row of large, gnarled toes.” Fate is more interested in Jaime’s tale than his own, especially when it comes to Jaime’s yearning for Rachel Levy, so much so that Jaime winds up inventing tales about her to see what Fate will do with them: “The thought of him stealing my lies and weaving them into his prose, confident all the while that he was turning life into art, made me smile.” Well, abracadabra, Fate does him much better, stealing Jaime and Rachel away and locking them into a series of stories, one Dickensian, one a kind of pastiche Gogol, one set in London a generation or so after Jaime’s own day. “My novel is but a refuge from this world,” says one of 22

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several narrators, one of them Rachel, who at one point says, self-referentially, “We’re going to crash.…Funny how panic turns you into a narrator.” David Mitchell did much of this work, crash and all, with considerably more skill in Cloud Atlas, and not all of Mills’ rhetorical flourishes ring true. But her yarn has its moments, and it’s a passable entertainment.

A middling fantasy, with some nice touches for the metamagically-­ inclined bookworm.

People From Oetimu Nesi, Felix | Trans. by Lara Norgaard Archipelago (250 pp.) | $20.00 paper Feb. 11, 2025 | 9781953861986

The residents of Timor struggle with the legacy of their colonial past.

In the opening scene, male residents of the town of Oetimu on the island of Timor, formerly a colony of both the Netherlands and Portugal, gather to watch the finals of the 1998 World Cup. As they grumble over Brazil’s unexpected defeat by France, they’re unaware that a murderous gang holds the wife and children of one of the town’s most prominent residents hostage, awaiting his return. After that ominous introduction, Nesi’s novel, originally published in Indonesia in 2018, devolves mostly into loosely linked accounts of the lives of a handful of characters connected to the town, some in only marginal ways. Among them is Sergeant Ipi, a brutally corrupt police officer who’s

born there when his mother—the daughter of a Portuguese diplomat who was taken prisoner and raped by Indonesian soldiers—stumbles into the town after escaping her captors.

He’s raised by Am Siki, a man distinguished for his storytelling talent, who fought the Japanese when they occupied the island during World War II. On the night of the soccer match, Ipi is anticipating his implausible marriage to Silvy, a beautiful, brilliant young woman with her own history of sexual violence, some of it at the hands of a morally bankrupt priest. Although a translator’s afterword provides some history of the period that culminates in the overthrow of Indonesia’s Suharto regime in 1998, the novel will be hard going for any reader not at least reasonably familiar with these events. A list of acronyms identifies eight political parties or other groups in whose activities various characters participate, but this offers, at best, minimal context to foreign readers. A few scenes in the magical realist style come as a welcome diversion, but despite a handful of startling moments, the novel’s plodding pace robs it of most of its narrative tension until it comes full circle in its final pages.

A promising opening scene devolves into an often confusing journey through contemporary conflicts in Indonesian politics.

Kirkus Star

Dream State Puchner, Eric | Doubleday (448 pp.) $28.00 | Feb. 18, 2025 | 9780385550666

A moving, psychologically acute, formally surprising family saga.

Puchner’s latest unfolds at first like a familiar (though stylish) literary romance. It’s summer 2004.

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Cece, about to marry a promising young doctor named Charlie, has arrived early at her fiance’s family lake house in Salish, Montana, where she makes final wedding preparations alongside their unlikely officiant, Garrett—a Middlebury friend of Charlie’s who, after a tragic death for which he felt responsible, dropped out of college and returned home to Montana to heft baggage at the airport and tend both his psychic wounds and his dying father.

Garrett is an atheist who doesn’t believe in marriage, an environmentalist who works for a polluter, a risk taker, and an incorrigible smartass; he and Cece clash immediately. The reader knows just where this is headed…but the inevitable romantic chaos (which takes place amid a norovirus outbreak that picks off the wedding party one by one) turns out to be not a destination but the starting point for an unusual and captivating family saga that will span 50 years, about half of them in a grim but realistic future of wildfire smoke and vanishing species. Cece and Garrett cross paths with Charlie (and his several wives) at first rarely and awkwardly, but later more regularly and affectionately. The next generation replicates and complicates the dynamic: Cece and Garrett’s daughter, Lana, and Charlie’s son, Jasper, are close friends, and after an adolescent entanglement that founders quickly and ends poorly, Lana—like her father—feels deeply guilty about what she’s done to Jasper, whose life takes a dark turn.

Sprawling and elegant—a novel that feels both old-fashioned and bracingly inventive.

Beta Vulgaris Sarsfield, Margie | Norton (296 pp.) | $18.99 paper | Feb. 11, 2025 | 9781324078739

In this debut novel, a young Brooklyn couple become seasonal sugar beet harvesters in Minnesota to earn some serious scratch.

Recent college graduate Elise is in debt—she can’t even afford her antidepressants—although she doesn’t tell her boyfriend, Tom, nor does he know about her longtime eating disorder. Elise is grateful for the opportunity to make good money with Salt of the Earth Sugar, plus she sees harvest work as “a real life experience. Something they could say they’d done when they got back to Brooklyn, where hardscrabble Steinbeckian authenticity was social currency.” At the campground where she and Tom park their camper, Elise meets “hot and cool” queer girl Cee, another seasonal worker; develops a crush on her; and fears that Tom has done the same.

(Elise’s preoccupation with being cool can be amusing and is presumably intended to play as merely juvenile rather than mockable.) One day, at a nearby church that offers harvesters free meals, Elise sees a sign that reads “The beets can only hurt you if you LISTEN to them!!!!,” and before long she’s hearing a voice in her head that says “Return the dirt.” Sarsfield’s writing is sturdy throughout, and the farm setting and duties are vividly rendered, but the novel doesn’t seem to know where to go with its surreal turns,

A young Brooklyn couple become seasonal sugar beet harvesters in Minnesota.

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which come to include the disappearance of harvest workers. Elise’s self-pity can be tiresome, and her self-destructive tendencies, which include erratic spending, can be wearying, but readers won’t draw any conclusions about Elise that she hasn’t already drawn; she thinks of herself as, quite perfectly, “an expert in egomaniacal self-hatred, the dark art of inventing new and spectacular ways to feel bad.”

A promising and well-written quasi-­ speculative story runs aground under the weight of its protagonist’s self-absorption.

Goddess Complex Sathian, Sanjena | Penguin Press (304 pp.) $29.00 | March 11, 2025 | 9780593489772

A fizzled marriage, baby anxiety, and a peculiar doppelgänger lead a woman on a strange journey.

Sanjana Satyananda, the narrator of Sathian’s second novel, is in disarray.

She’s left her actor husband, Killian Bane, in Goa after confessing that she’d had an abortion. She’s dropped out of her graduate anthropology program at Yale. Her friends’ settling down grates on her, and she’s been booted from her sister’s Connecticut home after having been caught having sex there. And strange DMs are arriving: Why is she being congratulated by a stranger for being pregnant? From this setup, Sathian unspools a wide-ranging, at times hallucinatory yarn that encompasses her protagonist’s frustrations with rigid rules about femininity, motherhood, Indian American social norms, and more. Sanjana’s search for answers leads her back to India, where she attempts to track down Killian (now pursuing a Bollywood career) and his new partner, a lifestyle influencer named Sanjena Sathian (just like the author; note FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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Heady stories about mothers and wives, many of whom are also writers.

ORIGIN STORIES

the ever-so-slight spelling difference from Sanjana). Not for nothing does the novel feature an epigraph from the Gothic classic Rebecca; the novel is rife with doppelgängers, gaslighting, hidden histories, and more, all to the purpose of questioning the behavioral expectations placed on women like Sanjana. (“What made them want to change? What drew all these people to the other realm, the next stage of prescribed adulthood, while I was being left behind?”) It’s a noble goal, with fine set pieces that are both funny and melancholy, but its range is also a problem. The novel veers tonally from page-turning goofiness (mainly featuring a dog whose Instagram Sanjana is tasked with maintaining) to noirish melodrama, in a dense plot the latter pages strain to clarify. The depth of Sanjana’s crisis is clear, but the story’s ever-shifting status obscures her emotional state.

An overdetermined tale of status and sexism.

Origin Stories Vallianatos, Corinna | Graywolf (192 pp.) $17.00 paper | Feb. 4, 2025 | 9781644453216

Heady stories about mothers and wives, many of whom are also writers.

In “Origin Story,” a piece that’s less about looking back than moving forward, the female protagonist muses: “Freedom wasn’t to be found in words but in being alone… thinking thoughts that would not 24

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appear in her stories because they were shameful in their intimacy and small in scope, the product of a lack of imagination or will or knowledge or something methodical that gave rise to what men wrote.” Vallianatos’ second collection is shot through with startling revelations like these. Offering only the thinnest scrim of plot—in one story, a husband contemplates ending an affair while his wife considers embarking on one, though neither character appears to know what the other is planning, while in another a teenage boy suddenly falls in love with his mom’s friend for no reason—these stories reject convention. They end abruptly and sometimes tantalizingly opaquely: In “This Isn’t the Actual Sea,” the narrator’s friend makes a film about an incident involving a poodle that ruptured their friendship. A screening brings them back together without resolving their conflict, and the narrator’s final thought is, “I could hear the poodle barking and smell something coming off [my friend], a stab of deodorant, a sort of unnatural hope and exertion, and I felt then the terror and promise of friendship, the daily encounter with what the other dares to be.” Some readers will surely be put off by Vallianatos’ rejection of “something methodical” while others will thrill to her characters’ intimate, profound revelations: In “Dogwood,” a mother and writer offers, “I love doubt. I’m not sure how I feel about certainty. Certainty is a like a closed door. Doubt leaves a way open.”

Luminous stories that will reward patient readers who don’t care about plot.

Lion Walger, Sonya | New York Review Books (176 pp.) | $15.95 paper Feb. 4, 2025 | 9781681379036

A woman reflects on her mercurial, globe-­ trotting father.

Walger’s autobiographical novel abounds with contradictions, both in the lives it covers and the structure it takes. The first chapter acknowledges that the story told here is only part of its narrator’s life—and that her mother isn’t thrilled by her decision to write about her absent father. “My mother tells me she will never read this,” Walger writes, then shifts the focus first to herself in the present day, where she’s a mother of two during the middle of the pandemic, and then to the circumstances by which her parents met. That story has a lengthy prelude that establishes both the vast geographic scope of this book and the narrator’s father’s penchant for getting in over his head. In this case, it’s with a business deal in Kinshasa, where his “French accent is swamped by his Argentine one and he must repeat himself several times.” The aftermath of that arrangement takes him to Spain and then England, where he and the narrator’s mother marry—with “two continents, two languages, and eight years between them.” The newlyweds move to Argentina, where they brush up against Peronist political agitators.

When the narrator’s mother gets pregnant, the family returns to Britain. Fatherhood doesn’t slow her father’s ambitions or his penchant for dangerous situations, though—over the years he takes an interest in everything from scrap metal to futures trading—the latter accompanied by some small-scale cocaine dealing. The father has a checkered history with families: “He left daughters littered behind him like a careless man might leave expensive K IR KU S R E V IE W S

FICTION

raincoats.” Yet the tone Walger takes here is both empathic and cautionary in its specifics.

A haunted story of a charismatic and deeply flawed man—and the people left in his wake.

Elegy, Southwest Watts, Madeleine | Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $27.99 | Feb. 18, 2025 | 9781668051627

A married couple has life-changing realizations during a road trip across the American Southwest.

Watts’ elegant sophomore novel follows Lewis, who’s from Arizona, and Australian Eloise—a married couple living in New York City—on a convoluted road trip through Nevada, California, Arizona, and Utah. The main purpose of the trip is to allow Eloise to study the Colorado River for her dissertation and give Lewis, who works for a foundation dedicated to land art, an opportunity to check on a project they’d been supporting. Quietly, Eloise also hopes their adventure will help her husband move through the grief of his mother’s death, which has been consuming their lives as he seeks out increasingly unorthodox ways to heal. While traveling across the barren landscape, Eloise begins to wonder if she’s pregnant. She struggles with whether to tell Lewis—who has never felt further away, despite their physical proximity—or if she should give in to her instinct to “continue to suspend [herself ] in the amber of waiting.”

The trip serves as the novel’s throughline while Eloise, the narrator, surfaces past memories and alludes to a very different present. The book is written in the second person as Eloise addresses Lewis, discussing their complicated marriage, love, art, death, climate change, wildfires, and America’s strange, dangerous, and expansive beauty, to name a few.

Watts writes beautifully about grief, loneliness, and memory. One particularly poignant moment happens when Eloise realizes their future child will know their grandmother only through stories. She describes this as “an odd sort of mourning—grieving a future I didn’t know I’d even been so certain of.”

This sorrowful knowing permeates the whole novel, which is less concerned with plot than with cataloging the couple’s relationship.

Whether in love or nature, Watts’ prose artfully renders the mundane and majestic in equal measure.

A quiet and sweeping portrait of a marriage teetering on the edge.

Kirkus Star

Stone Yard Devotional Wood, Charlotte | Riverhead (304 pp.) $28.00 | Feb. 11, 2025 | 9798217047352

A woman abruptly exits her life for a cloistered religious community in this Australian novel that was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize.

The narrator’s initial reasons for visiting the abbey

A woman abruptly exits her life for a cloistered religious community.

are vague: She’s tired; she wants to escape; her marriage is falling apart; she’s still grieving her parents, dead for more than 35 years; she’s disillusioned with her work in the environmental conservation movement. The predictability of the nuns’ rituals turns out to be profoundly restorative. When Part II opens, the narrator has been at the abbey for four years. No one can make sense of her decision—not her husband, not her friends, not her colleagues who see her abdication as a lack of faith in their mission, and least of all the narrator herself, a self-described atheist, who explains, “I came back here one last time and then just… didn’t go home.” A plague of mice—an effect of climate change— the complicated logistics of trying to bring home the body of a murdered nun in the early days of the pandemic, and the return of a problematic figure from the narrator’s past nudge the plot forward, but what’s most gripping about the book isn’t what happens but rather the narrator’s quiet meditation on cruelty and kindness, love and forgiveness, our petty irritations with others and the process of allowing them to drift away. The “stone yard” in the title of Wood’s novel is the name of a neighbor’s sheep paddock. Devotion means love or loyalty; a devotional is a short worship service. Wood threads a contemplative path for believers and nonbelievers alike.

Reading her prose—sanded to deceptive simplicity—feels like spending time with a dear friend.

What if attentiveness and “habitual kindness,” the narrator seems to ask, are bedrocks of a moral life?

A wise, consoling novel for disquieting times.

For more by Charlotte Wood, visit Kirkus online.

S T O N E YA R D D E VO T I O N A L

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Historical Novels That Will Draw You In 4 1

1 The Voyage Home

By Pat Barker

More brilliant work from one of world literature’s greatest writers.

2 Fagin the Thief

By Allison Epstein

Vivid characters populate a riveting narrative.

3 The New Internationals

By David Wright Faladé

Vividly dramatizes issues of race and politics in turbulent postwar Paris.

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5 2

4 The Ghosts of Rome

By Joseph O’Connor

Top-notch storytelling filled with emotion and drama.

5 The Rest Is Memory

For more booklists, visit Kirkus online.

3

By Lily Tuck

A painful, essential, unflinching memento.

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B O O K T O S C R E E N // F I C T I O N

B y rne: Monic a Schipper/ WireImage, Fahy : Tay lor Hill/ WireImage

Book to Screen

Stars of The Good Daughter Series Revealed Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy will star in the Peacock adaptation of Karin Slaughter’s novel.

Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy will star in the Peacock series adaptation

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of Karin Slaughter’s The Good Daughter, Variety reports.

Slaughter’s novel, published in 2017 by Morrow/HarperCollins, follows Charlotte and Samantha Quinn, two sisters who survived a brutal attack on their family nearly three decades earlier. Now both lawyers, the sisters are forced to confront their past when Charlotte witnesses a school shooting.

In a starred review of the novel, a critic for Kirkus said Slaughter “really does make your hair stand on end.”

The series adaptation is directed by Steph Green, who has previously helmed

episodes of television series including Scandal, The Americans, and The Man in the High Castle.

Slaughter, Byrne, and Green are among the series’ executive producers.

Byrne, known for her roles in the series Damages and the films Bridesmaids, Neighbors, and Insidious, will play Samantha, while Fahy, who received an Emmy nomination for her role as Daphne on the series The White Lotus, will star as Charlotte.

Fahy is taking over the role of Charlotte from Jessica Biel, who was initially For a review of The Good Daughter, visit Kirkus online.

slated to star in the series, but has since departed.

Another television adaptation of Slaughter’s work, Will Trent, began its third season in January, with Gina Rodriguez added to the cast.

Slaughter shared the news of Byrne and Fahy’s casting in an Instagram post, writing, “SO thrilled to finally announce the big news!!”

—M.S.

From left, Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy

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A low-simmering puzzle spiced with theatrical gossip and a well-hidden killer.

D E AT H I N T H E D R E S S I N G R O O M

Accidents Happen Batacan, FH | Soho Crime (272 pp.) $25.95 | March 11, 2025 | 9781641295116

Eleven tales of shady shen­ anigans set in the Philippines.

Batacan’s collection is rooted in violence and crimes of all varieties, but is not singularly focused on them.

Many of the stories are astute character studies wrapped in illicit activity. The sardonically noir “Harvest”—which begins with an arresting sentence: “They’re very easy, white men”—follows an equivocal woman’s perspective on the brutal aftermath of a bar seduction. An illuminating sense of place runs through the entire collection. Elderly forensic anthropologist Father Augusto “Gus” Saenz, the Jesuit sleuth in Batacan’s award-winning debut novel, Smaller and Smaller Circles (2002), appears in two stories, unraveling a twisty murder plot involving a young musical genius in “No. 1 Pencil” and probing a more straightforward case of domestic violence in “Comforter of the Afflicted.” “The Gyutou” cheekily follows the odyssey of a chef ’s knife until it lands in the hands of a distressed woman named Samantha, with violent results.

“Promises To Keep” tracks a doomed romance that begins in the Philippines but travels to Europe for its bracing conclusion. In the complex title story, the kidnapping and possible murder of an influential politician’s son is a MacGuffin for a 30

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large-scale portrait of his wealthy parents, their employees, and the isolated boy himself. Batacan never writes the same story twice.

An engrossing collection.

A Mother’s Love Blaedel, Sara | Trans. by Tara Chace Dutton (416 pp.) | $18.00 paper March 11, 2025 | 9780593850541

The first case for a newly created unit of the Danish National Police turns out to contain enough murky depths for a whole series.

Louise Rick’s excitement at heading P13, the new traveling division designed to provide expert assistance to local departments working to solve serious crimes, quickly sours when she sees how few colleagues she’s been assigned to take to Tåsinge Island, where handyman Jack Skovby has found innkeeper Dorthe Hyllested beaten to death; how tight a rein Søren Velin, the architect of P13, intends to keep on her inquiries; and how closely she’s expected to work with Eik, the missing persons officer whom she ran out on when he indicated that despite his proposal, he wasn’t ready to commit to marrying her. The most puzzling clue Louise discovers is a bedroom in Dorthe’s Strammelse Inn fitted out for a young boy even though there’s no boy on the premises and nobody knows of any such boy. After she alerts her friend Camilla Lind, a crime reporter for Morgenavisen, about the case, the two

women begin investigations that are sometimes parallel, sometimes complementary, sometimes pointedly at odds with each other, offering Blaedel plenty of opportunities for crosscutting and cliffhanger chapter endings. Beneath the mystery of the innkeeper’s murder and the resonant characters on the island who serve as confidants, suspects, and accomplices, they’ll find a sex ring, another murder-suicide, a fatal tangle of family loyalties and betrayals, and a powerfully extended meditation on the complicated relations between love and desire.

A new chapter in the heroine’s career reveals the many flavors and the high costs of a mother’s love.

Death in the Dressing Room Brett, Simon | Severn House (192 pp.) $29.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781448314652

Her friend Jude’s trip to nearby Clincham to catch a play ends in yet another sus­picious death for English retiree Carole Seddon.

The play, House/ Home, isn’t up to much. It’s a reprise of a television sitcom in which an older couple rented an outbuilding to a bunch of variously wacky students. The real drama is backstage, as Jude discovers when she pops into the dressing room of Drake Purslow, with whom she worked briefly when she was an actress, and finds him dead, bashed in the head by the trademark first-generation home computer his character, Mr. Whiffen, used on the show. Purslow’s death could possibly have seemed accidental if it weren’t for a bloody footprint indicating that someone had been on the scene before Jude—a footprint that’s carelessly or deliberately wiped out by theater manager Fiona Crampton when she attempts in vain to take Purslow’s pulse.

Returning home, Jude enlists Carole, as usual, in her investigation. Despite K IR KU S R E V IE W S

M Y S T E R Y // F I C T I O N

Carole’s introversion, she finds a way to gather information by volunteering to help digitize the Clincham Theatre’s old records. Along the way, she learns that despite the untimely demises of two members of the original cast of House/ Home, not only have most of the current touring production collaborated on the TV show, but several of them also worked on a stage adaptation of The Woman in White years ago at the Clincham, an episode that holds the key to two mysterious deaths.

A low-simmering puzzle spiced with theatrical gossip and an unusually well-hidden killer.

The Next Deadly Chapter Burns, V.M. | Kensington (272 pp.) | $17.95 paper | Feb. 25, 2025 | 9781496750808

A mystery writer probes the death of a cozy-­ mystery hater.

Addressing a mostly female crowd at the Pontolomas Senior Citizens Center in southern Michigan, Samantha Washington is confronted by a hostile man who interrupts her talk about her recently published Murder at Wickfield Lodge with a diatribe about why women shouldn’t write mysteries. Samantha responds with a brief history of the cozy mystery, complete with an explanation of the genre’s wide appeal. After the misogynist is ejected by Nana Jo, Samantha’s 5-foot-10-inch grandmother, Kai Strongbow—one of the Pontolomas tribal leaders—offers Samantha a weekend stay at the tribe’s Four Feathers resort as compensation. The posh Four Feathers is just the place for Sam to take her future mother-in-law, Dr. Camilia Patterson, for their first rendezvous.

Unfortunately, the icy Dr. Patterson is not impressed with Samantha, although she unbends slightly when she sees the luxurious accommodations. Things go from bad to worse when a dead body turns up in Dr. Patterson’s suite, and then get worse still when Samantha K IR KU S R E V IE W S

recognizes him as her heckler. To prove to Kai Strongbow that his generous offer of hospitality wasn’t a mistake, Samantha sets out to uncover the murderer, taking breaks to work on the next installment of her World War II–era Wickfield Lodge series. Her real-life investigation and her fictional puzzle cross-pollinate, offering a novel insight into some of the processes that go into creating cozy mysteries.

A contemporary cozy, a historical cozy, and a tutorial on cozies all rolled into one.

Clare, who has a long history of solving murders, is determined to research the people involved, at least one of whom is now a famous author and a friend of Madame’s. To add to her stress, she sees Matt having a secret meeting with their nemesis, Cody Wood, whose national chain sells inferior coffee. Several of the clues she unearths from the past lead her to spend time in the rarified air of New York’s rich and famous seeking a killer.

An interesting puzzle infused with Big Apple attitude.

No Roast for the Weary

The Cost

Coyle, Cleo | Berkley (368 pp.) | $29.00 April 1, 2025 | 9780593642283

Cry, Morgan | Severn House (272 pp.) $29.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781448315420

In trying to revive her failing coffee shop, a woman uncovers murders past and present.

Clare Cosi manages the Village Blend, an iconic Greenwich Village coffee shop, with her former mother-in-law, Madame Blanche Dreyfus Allegro DuBois, the original owner, and her ex-husband, Matteo Allegro, who travels the world in search of specialty coffee beans. A new customer, who says to call him Mr. Scrib, spends hours in the upstairs lounge writing in a notebook until he has a manic episode ending in hospitalization. Bent on enticing more customers, the staff comes up with the idea of reviving the use of the lounge as a writing retreat. The Writer’s Block, as it was once known, was a great success until it became the location of an unsolved murder. One evening while Clare is talking to Madame, noises in the alley draw them out—where they see someone attacking Mr. Scrib, apparently seeking his notebook. A furious Clare chases the miscreant, is hit by an electric scooter, and awakens in the arms of her fiance, NYPD Lieutenant Mike Quinn. A hospital wristband reveals that Mr. Scrib is really Jensen Van Dyne, a member of the original writing group from a period Madame does not like to talk about.

The pseudo­ nymous Cry, who also publishes as Gordon Brown, launches a new series by sending a disgraced Scottish ex-cop back to his hometown, where even bigger problems await him.

Two days before his scheduled retirement from the Glasgow police force, Constable Blake Glover planted drugs on dealer Mitch Campbell, convinced he’d finally go down. Instead, Campbell proved his innocence and Glover was cut loose. Now he’s driving a cab for Doddy Robertson’s decrepit taxi service in Fraserburgh, a town of 12,000 his father moved him away from after his cancer-stricken mother, Rhona, died of an overdose of pills her unwitting son became convinced he gave her. Glover’s wallow in guilt and self-pity is disturbed when Terry Lang, a waitress at the pricey Broch House, asks him to investigate the disappearance of her friend Kristina, a Broch House cleaner, indicating that if he agrees, her own grandmother can tell him more about Rhona, who was her best friend. Glover’s not eager to accept this bargain, and when he does, he makes such a hash of questioning Broch House bartender Tomas Ren Kadlinski that Tomas is fired and promptly vanishes himself, but not before throwing out hints that make Glover suspect the place FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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serves as a hub for a criminal ring on a grand scale. A tightly wound skein of police skepticism, job-related misfortunes, and family skeletons ensure that for every step forward, he’ll be forced to take another step or two back.

Fans of Tartan Noir with a taste for appropriately dour heroes will look forward to the coming installments.

Murder, She Wrote: Snowy With a Chance of Murder Fletcher, Jessica & Barbara Early Berkley (304 pp.) | $29.00 March 18, 2025 | 9780593820049

What do a snow sculptor, a petty thief, and a few murders have to do with each other? It’s up to Jessica Fletcher to find out.

Jessica is heading off on a Mystery Lovers Cruise when a fall on icy steps puts her in the hospital. Her dear friend Dr. Seth Hazlitt gives her mixed news. Nothing is broken, but several bad sprains will keep her in a wheelchair for weeks, and if she wants to go home, she must have full-time help. So, Jessica takes on Alice Myers, who’s bright, attentive, a wonderful cook, and a wannabe writer. In the meantime, Cabot Cove Sheriff Mort Metzger is dealing with the murder of a husband, apparently by his vanished wife, and a man stealing food and clothes who’s been nicknamed the Bologna Kid. Jessica’s friends ply her with food and gossip. The author, whose dining room serves as her bedroom till she can walk again, tries to work on her next book and enjoys helping Alice with the fantasy novel she’s trying to write, but the view out her window keeps drawing her attention away. The house across the street has been rented by Rymer (“that’s what he goes by—just Rymer”), a sculptor whose efforts tend toward the pornographic. Whenever word gets out of a new project, crowds assemble to watch him. Rymer turns out to be a bounty hunter, and when he’s 32

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stabbed to death on his front lawn, Mort and Jessica focus on the question of who he was hunting.

Another down-home adventure swimming with red herrings.

A Cold Dose of Murder George, Emily | Kensington (320 pp.) | $17.95 paper | Feb. 25, 2025 | 9781496740526

The owner of a cannabis cafe helps solve the murder of a snarky podcaster.

Chloe Barnes wants nothing more than to build up a healthy clientele for the weed-themed bakery she started in Azalea Bay, California, when her Grandma Rose needed help with the side effects of chemotherapy. So, she reluctantly agrees to be interviewed by podcaster Calista Bryant on the Azalea Bay episode of Starch Nemesis. Calista, who’s normally a tough critic, raves about Baked by Chloe, saving her harshest words for Starr Bright’s health-and-­ wellness cafe, Sprout. When Calista turns up dead and the police suspect Starr, Chloe springs into action to save her fellow entrepreneur. The puzzle is standard shopkeeper cozy fare, with lots of suspects, a romantic side plot, warnings from the police to leave detection to the experts, and a tense confrontation with the killer when those warnings go unheeded. Adding cannabis to the heroine’s signature confections provides a quirky twist, although readers should be cautious when it comes to the two recipes George appends. She obviously knows a lot about the chemistry of cannabis, and those recipes carry a warning that their potency can vary with both the strain of the plant and the consumers’ personal tolerance. Like solving murders, however, creating edibles whose ingredients include psychoactive drugs is probably best left to professionals.

After an edgy start, George settles into a comfortable groove. Unlike cannabis treats, her tales are steady and predictable.

Essence of Foul Play Gerber, Daryl Wood | Kensington (320 pp.) $17.95 paper | March 25, 2025 | 9781496751508

A new spa opens in beautiful Carmel-by-­theSea to excellent reviews and nasty threats.

Opening Aroma Wellness Spa is the fulfillment of a California dream for Emma Brennan.

She’s supported by her grandmother, a librarian she calls Nana Lissa, and cousin Sierra Reade, who runs the spa’s restaurant, but not by her mother, who wanted Emma to follow in her footsteps as a teacher; similarly, among the local residents, there are both well-wishers and critics.

Foremost among the latter is Willow Shafer, a rival of Emma’s since college, whose own local spa emphasizes a different approach to treatment. Even before Aroma Wellness opens, Emma witnesses tension between various town residents, as when Willow oddly accuses tennis-playing socialite Palmer Pilsner of leaving a death threat under her door. Hoping to smooth things over with Willow, Emma gives her a gift basket, but when Willow is fatally bludgeoned by a candlestick from that basket, Emma becomes the prime suspect in her murder. Things may be going well with the spa, which is booked up, but Emma can’t get over being both a suspect in Willow’s death and, soon, the recipient of a death threat of her own—so she decides to do a little investigating. It turns out that a lot of people had reasons for disliking Willow. As the police question the most likely candidates, Emma uses her network of friends to dig up information while trying to maintain her inner peace and her hopes of seeing one of the fairies Nana Lissa assures her are nearby.

A promising spinoff of Gerber’s Fairy Garden Mystery series with many of the same charming characters.

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A semiretired couple learns to love Hawaii while hunting a killer.

WAT E R S O F D E S T R U C T I O N

The Man Who Swore He’d Never Go Home Again Handler, David | Mysterious Press (360 pp.) $17.95 paper | March 18, 2025 | 9781613166130

Stewart Hoag’s first case.

Back in 1982, when his first novel has just catapulted him to fame, Hoagy meets stage and movie actress Merilee Nash, and they instantly fall in love and adopt a basset hound they christen Lulu. Everything’s set for a happily-­ ever-after (though readers familiar with Hoagy’s other cases will know it’s more complicated than that) until Hoagy gets a phone call from Maggie McKenna, his first love back in Oakmont, Connecticut. For years, Maggie’s mother Mary, the town librarian, had leukemia, but her sufferings ended when someone brained her with a paperweight bust of Mark Twain. Mary was such an important mentor to the budding writer that Hoagy feels he has to go back home to pay his respects to her, even though everyone in Oakmont has hated him ever since his father, Montgomery Hoag, closed the brass mill and threw the town, which it had already seriously polluted, into an economic tizzy it’s never recovered from. And it’s not really true, reflects Hoagy, that you can’t go home again: “You can. It’s just a totally unpleasant experience.” He’s in Oakmont just long enough to pick a fight with a pair of drug dealers, enjoy some meat loaf and macaroni with Maggie, get shot and left for dead, and miss Mary’s funeral. Even though Merilee, whom K IR KU S R E V IE W S

everyone recognizes and fawns over, leaves him to do a table reading for David Mamet back in New York, Lulu stays on and ends up fingering, or pawing, the obvious killer. So, as Hoagy acknowledges, it’s Lulu’s first case too.

Overlong and not very mysterious, but a welcome prequel to the hero’s more jaded adventures.

Waters of Destruction Karst, Leslie | Severn House (224 pp.) $29.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781448312184

A semiretired couple learns to love Hawaii while making new friends and hunting a killer.

Valerie Corbin and her wife, Kristen, who’ve recently moved from LA to Hilo, are haunting garage sales for items for their new home, always one step behind a professional picker.

Their friend Sachiko, who manages the front of the house at the Speckled Gecko, is so impressed by the cocktail skills Valerie learned at Chez Charles, her late brother’s place, that she asks Valerie to help out at the Gecko, where Hank the bartender hasn’t shown up for work.

Meanwhile, Kristen agrees to use her carpentry skills to help build a lānai for a neighbor, and both women enjoy their temporary jobs. Valerie learns why Hank is AWOL when his body is found in the beautiful but dangerous Wailuku River.

When the police determine that his death was no accident, they focus on Sachiko, which upsets her partner, Isaac.

He begs Valerie—who’s already helped solve the case of a body found in a lava flow—to clear her name. The

ever-curious Valerie agrees to snoop around at the Gecko in hopes of finding other suspects, and she quickly learns that Hank was not well liked. Since he was a member of a canoe club, Valerie and Kristen visit, get drafted onto the women’s team for a practice session, and learn that the cocky Hank was not beloved of the paddlers either. Now that Valerie has plenty of suspects, she just has to figure out which one is the killer before she’s the next to die.

Immerse yourself in Hawaiian lore and savor the portrayal of the stunning landscapes while enjoying the entertaining mystery.

Glitter in the Dark Lyuzna, Olesya | Mysterious Press (336 pp.) $17.95 paper | April 1, 2025 | 9781613165973

A young but already hard-­ bitten advice columnist seeks to claw her way up the ladder by investigating a brazen kid­ napping that’s struck uncomfortably close to her in 1925 Harlem.

Rookie Photoplay columnist Ginny Dugan and her friend, Photoplay secretary Mary Gliszinszky, have gone to the Eighty-Three club in hope of catching a performance by elusive singer Josephine Hurston. The rumor they’ve heard is accurate: Josephine’s performing with her sweetheart, Billy Calloway, and his Rippling Rhythm band. But nobody warned them that the singer would be snatched from the club under the eyes of Ginny, who’s put in a dangerous spot. Her editor doesn’t see Ginny’s story as a stepping stone to a more prestigious writing position. The only people who take her seriously are the kidnappers, who nearly manage to dispose of her at an early stage. As Mary angles for an audition with the Ziegfeld Follies, the dream of every aspiring New York dancer, Ginny resolves to track down the criminals and present the whole story on her own terms. Although her precocious criminal record indicates FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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her willingness to break taboos, she’ll cross several more bright lines during her quest, from sampling the “pep powder” that’s widely available to juggling the relationships that suddenly pop up with both private detective Jack Crawford, who’s bent on tracking down the cause for seven sudden deaths during recent performances of Rippling Rhythm, and investment banker Charlie Darby, who’s engaged to Ziegfeld dancer Dottie Dugan, Ginny’s sister, housemate, and financial supporter. Lyuzna lays on the period detail and springs surprises just where you don’t expect them.

A colorful period debut that’s clearly laying the groundwork for a series.

The Railway Conspiracy Nee, John Shen Yen & S.J. Rozan Soho Crime (304 pp.) | $27.95 April 1, 2025 | 9781641296601

The theft of a dragon-taming mace leads Judge Dee Ren Jie and his colorful sidekicks to a multinational conspiracy rooted in 1924 London.

Disguising himself as the fantasy villain Springheel Jack, Dee finds recovering the mace from Count Vladimir Voronoff and his Japanese conspirator, Isaki, child’s play, even as his capers bewilder his friends and helpers: Professor Lao She, pickpocket Jimmy Fingers, and Sgt. Hoong.

But returning the mace to the merchant Wu Ze Tian only complicates the problems Dee had hoped to resolve.

Voronoff insists from his prison cell that Madam Wu had given him the mace he’s accused of stealing. Although Madam Wu throws an elaborate party to thank Dee, one of her distinguished guests, leading banker A.G. Stephen, is poisoned shortly afterward; a Communist Party rally Lao attends leads to another murder; and a bombing during the Autumn Moon Festival claims six more lives. Slowly but surely, Dee perceives the outlines of a monstrous plot to overturn 34

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the Russian revolution and reinstall the czar, shore up the power of the Japanese emperor, and, most concerning for Dee, anoint the treacherous military Commander Zhang Zuo Lin, emperor of China. In a new world order in which Dee and his comrades can trust neither rabid Communists nor the equally blinkered nationalists arrayed against them, they must depend on Dee’s storied mental acuity—and their own impressive talents for martial arts combat.

Though readers will know how this history turns out, it’s fascinating to watch the conflict of ritual and revolution.

The Best Enemy Olguín, Sergio | Trans. by Miranda France Bitter Lemon Press (352 pp.) | $16.95 paper | March 25, 2025 | 9781916725096

An intrepid journalist solves an intricate murder mystery while juggling a challenging personal life.

A long prologue introduces Peter Khoury, a 26-year-old doctor whose family had moved from Haifa to London in 1948; he decides to give his life meaning by moving to Gaza, where he works for years at a hospital and falls in love with Azima, a widow with two children. Then the story shifts to Buenos Aires and investigative reporter Verónica Rosenthal as she negotiates her relationships with both her large, intrusive family and her lover, Federico, with whom she’s not sure she wants to stay. This issue is made urgent by an unexpected pregnancy. Like Verónica’s earlier adventures in The Fragility of Bodies (2019), etc., this novel widens the parameters of the mystery genre by making its whodunit one of several plot threads rather than the centerpiece and, perhaps more significantly, addresses political and social issues through the perspective of its dedicated protagonist. A murder does occur—that of Andrés Goicochea, a former colleague of Verónica’s. Her friend Patricia Beltrán, who’s also been shot, is

in intensive care. Verónica rushes to the hospital, her visit igniting her investigative instincts. Barely has her probing begun than there’s a menacing anonymous phone call, a threat to her friends, and another murder. Throughout Verónica’s long, tangled odyssey, Olguín keeps the tension, pace, and stakes high.

And Verónica’s discovery of Goicochea’s investigation into government corruption shrewdly brings the plot circling back to the war-torn Middle East.

A full-bodied cocktail of mystery, history, and current events, passionately told.

To Catch a Spy: The Estate-Approved Sequel to To Catch a Thief by David Dodge ONeill, Mark | Poisoned Pen (368 pp.) $17.99 paper | April 1, 2025 | 9781464225017

The romantic leads of David Dodge’s novel To Catch a Thief (1952)—and Alfred Hitchcock’s film—live again in this authorized sequel, and they’re in more trouble than ever.

Everything you ever knew about John Robie and Francie Stevens was wrong.

Robie, a cat burglar who fought for the Resistance after his release from prison, is allied with French counterespionage chief Count Paul Du Pre. Robie still has moments when he’s tempted to steal things—especially Francie, who’s renounced her love for him because he’s such a taker and taken up herself with unblemished American cultural attache Alex Dandridge. Every time Robie approaches Francie trying to win her back, he’s so consumed by self-doubt that he blushes and stammers like a schoolboy. And no wonder, because Francie’s charmed by her new beau and her invitation to model Paris designer Marcel Julien’s new styles during Riviera Fashion Week despite her complete lack of experience. In fact, her bold flirting with the Prince of Monaco suggests that maybe she’ll turn into Grace Kelly, the much more seasoned model who became K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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Princess Grace. In the course of his work with Paul, Robie stumbles on evidence of an international conspiracy that regrettably demotes Francie’s mother, the shrewd Maude Stevens, to a minor role, and she’s repeatedly upstaged by the Commissaire Lepic, whose bumbling puts him just a step above Inspector Clouseau, and a newly minted crew of musclemen, blackmailers, and assassins.

The fact that debut novelist ONeill is already working on a sequel tells you everything you need to know about how this first installment will turn out.

A perfectly fine mix of action and romantic intrigue for anyone who doesn’t know, or who can forget, Dodge and Hitchcock.

The Ten Worst People in New York Plass, Matt | Crooked Lane (320 pp.) $29.99 | March 18, 2025 | 9798892420990

A television host’s well-publicized list of the 10 worst people in New York turns deadly when someone begins targeting them for execution.

Emil Hertzberg is a hedge fund billionaire suspected of enticing underage women onto his yacht. Carl Bigney is a racist TV commentator. Cardinal Joseph Clement is accused of covering up clerical sexual abuse. Dallas Johncock is a conspiracy maven who trolls the parents of dead children. Apart from being pretty clearly based on real-life figures, they share with half a dozen other worthies the distinction of appearing on the list Ricky Talon has collected of the 10 biggest lowlifes in the city. Talon assures FBI agents Alex Bedford and Pat Coombs that the scoundrels have been voted onto the list by the audience of Talon Tonight, but when they start to die in rapid succession, Bedford and Coombs race to find deeper connections among them. At the same time, London documentary filmmaker Jacob Felle, arriving in New York at the invitation of his brother-inlaw, explorer Floyd Shaw, learns that his K IR KU S R E V IE W S

troubled sister, Elizabeth Felle—who broke off relations with him four years ago—has dissolved her partnership in New Frontiers, an adventurers’ club she founded with Floyd, and left his household as well. Jacob’s search for his elusive sister, who has no patience for bad guys, will begin as a parallel quest to Bedford and Coombs’ investigation of the assassinations before landing him in the soup as their favored suspect. But Plass still has several tricks up his sleeve before he’s ready to bring the killer to book.

Go ahead—indulge your fantasies of wishing some of your favorite villains dead, trusting that all will be well in the end.

One Sharp Stitch Pleiter, Allie | Kensington (256 pp.) $27.00 | March 25, 2025 | 9781496752000

Babysitting her mother’s needlework shop plunges a young woman into a morass of murder.

Now that Shelby Phillips has lost her job as office manager for a graphic design firm, she agrees to manage Nina’s Nimble Needle while her parents leave North Carolina for their dream RV trip. Shelby is sure that Jessica, her perfect older sister, could do it better, but her mom insists she’s the one for the job. Her mom’s friends, known as the NYAGs (for “Not Your Average Grannies”), are eager to help, especially with a trunk show featuring the work of Gina “Kat” Katsaros, a geeky type Shelby knew in high school, who now makes beautiful needlework designs and craft scissors that are “closer to silverware or jewelry than to standard scissors, fashioned as birds or flowers or delicate, ornate shapes.” The new Kat is totally different than she was in school, driving a wildly decorated van, sporting a purple streak in her hair, and giving off a vibe that unsettles Shelby, who’s been told by her mother that Kat would like to take over the Nimble Needle someday. On the morning of the trunk show, Kat is late, and when Shelby

goes looking for her, she finds her dead in the van she uses for sharpening knives, an expensive one in her chest. The police seem to think she had an accident while she was sharpening it, but Shelby has her doubts, especially since the prickly Kat had quite a few enemies, even among her own family members. Kat’s brother has always wanted her van and is happy to have Shelby sell his sister’s valuable designs and scissors so he can score some cash. With help from old and new friends and even her sister, whose perfect life is spiraling out of control, Shelby searches for answers to her many questions about Kat’s death.

Plenty of quirky characters lead up to a surprising denouement in this promising series kickoff.

Written in Stone Shelton, Paige | Minotaur (304 pp.) $28.00 | April 1, 2025 | 9781250336613

A visit to an artist’s studio is both a pleasure and a port into yet another murder case for Delaney Nichols, a Kansas woman living in Scotland.

Moving to Edinburgh has changed Delaney’s life. She loves her work at the Cracked Spine bookshop, her marriage to pub owner Tom, and the friends who’ve helped solve so many murders. Now she’s thrilled to have received a coveted invitation to visit the studio of reclusive artist Ryory Bennigan.

Ryory’s carved stones are inspired by the Picts, who lived in Scotland between the years 300 and 900, and about whom little is known except that they were tattooed and often as redheaded as Delaney. Soon after Delaney and Tom arrive at Ryory’s studio, his zealous assistant, Ani, shows out his previous visitor, who introduces himself as Adam Pace. In quite a coincidence, he turns out to be a professor at Delany’s alma mater, the University of Kansas. When Delaney and Tom enter Ryory’s studio, the heavily tattooed artist gives them a chance to carve some stone of their own, and all FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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goes well until Ani becomes ill and Delaney calls for an ambulance. The chance meeting with Adam Pace soon involves Delaney in questions about his attempts to hawk dinosaur bones and a carved stone he claims is Pictish all over town—and, later, questions about what these activities had to do with his suspicious death. Determined to help Inspector Winters, with whom she has a warm relationship, Delaney gets in touch with a friend at the university who reluctantly admits that the professor created some of the dinosaur bones himself on a 3-D printer. It takes a great deal of digging for Delaney to come up with suspects, but her skills are well honed, and her friends add their own expertise in the search for a killer.

Intriguing information on the Picts adds gravitas to the complex mystery.

Baby, It’s Murder Spillane, Mickey & Max Allan Collins Titan Books (192 pp.) | $28.99 March 4, 2025 | 9781803364599

In his 15th and reportedly final completion of Mike Hammer cases left unfinished at Spillane’s death, Collins immerses Mike in the tribulations of his 17-year-old goddaughter. Yes, really.

After a prologue taking place in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery at the funeral of Velda, Hammer’s secretary, partner, lover, and eventual wife, Mike recalls the days in the 1970s when Velda’s kid sister, Mikki Sterling, went from being a hot high school tennis prospect to losing her matches, losing interest in the sport, and letting her grades slide precipitously. Mark Traynor, Mikki’s tennis coach, can offer no explanation for the crash-up, which Hammer traces to her continued attachment to Brian Ellis, her one-armed bad-boy ex-boyfriend, even as she’s pursuing a hot romance with Garrett Andrew Williams the Second, who boasts all the advantages of wealth and family connections that Brian 36

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lacks. The discovery that Mikki, like every other member of her generation, is using drugs shocks the hard-bitten Hammer a lot more than you might expect. His plans to get her into rehab are upended when he’s kidnapped by two hoodlums and escapes to find Velda beaten into unconsciousness, Mikki vanished, and himself soon framed for murder. Working from “several opening chapters and some plot notes,” Collins rewrites a good deal of the hardest-boiled private eye’s backstory, getting as close as you could expect to showing Hammer as an avenging father figure as he tracks down Mikki and deals out wholesale punishment to her abusers and their accomplices before a return to the present provides a bittersweet ending.

Don’t worry about being overwhelmed by sentimentality: The legendary shamus still kills and maims with the best of them.

The Fourth Girl Staub, Wendy Corsi | Thomas & Mercer (399 pp.) | $16.99 paper March 25, 2025 | 9781662523816

Four friends who separated when one mysteriously disappeared reconnect years later to finally learn the truth.

Back in 1997, four inseparable friends imagined they’d be in each other’s lives forever.

Growing up in the town of Mulberry Bay, New York, each of the girls imagined a different future for herself after high school. Even-tempered, chatty Talia Shaw is heading off to Sarah Lawrence. Beautiful, mischievous Kelly Barrow is determined to break the hearts of wealthy playboys. Midge Kennedy is set on following in her police officer father’s footsteps. And then there’s Caroline Winterfield.

Unlike her older sister, Mary Beth, who’s something of a wild child, Caroline’s always wanted to follow her parents’ rules, even if they are a little rigid and religion-inflected. A

fast-forward from 2000 to the present day finds Talia, Kelly, and Midge estranged from each other. They’ve taken very different paths, and there’s a secret that’s torn the friendship apart.

Could it all come down to the truth about what happened to Caroline on prom night, their last night together?

When Caroline couldn’t be found the next morning, the town mourned her disappearance as a drowning. But at least one of the former friends knows what really happened. As Midge investigates the sudden death of Caroline’s former boyfriend, Gordy, the past may be resurfacing in a way that brings the truth to light.

Distinctive voices add depth and flavor to an otherwise routine storyline.

Kirkus Star

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) Sutanto, Jesse Q. | Berkley (336 pp.) $30.00 | April 1, 2025 | 9780593546246

Flush with confidence from her first case, San Francisco’s most convivial teahouse owner and self-­ described “inter­ mediate murder investigator” leaps into a second with both feet.

Leaving the local police station, where she’s gone to report a phone scammer who’s preyed on her, Vera Wong Zhuzhu notices Millie, a frightened young woman who can’t seem to bring herself to enter the station. Naturally, Vera invites her home for tea, introduces her to the quasi-family into which she’s molded the innocent suspects from her earlier investigation, and gently points out that building superintendent and freelance journalist Oliver Chen would be a particularly good catch.

Millie, it turns out, is concerned about the disappearance of her Chinese Indonesian friend Thomas Smith, whose career as media influencer K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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Xander Lin—which Millie knew nothing about—has been cut short by his drowning. Police officer Selena Gray—who’s the live-in girlfriend of Vera’s son, lawyer Tilly Wong— assumes that the death is accidental, but since Vera’s most comfortable when she’s catching killers, she hunts down Xander’s girlfriend, Aimes (not Amy, just Aimes) and his talent manager, TJ Vasquez, and bombards them with enough mouthwatering dishes and nosey questions to reduce them to tears of gratitude and convince herself that, like Millie and Xander himself, they’re definitely hiding something that smells like murder. So, she launches an unlikely new sideline as a social media personality herself in order to spread her net wider. Rollicking as Vera’s inquiries are, they ultimately lead to a very dark place, covering the emotional gamut from A to Z. A warmhearted valentine to the families built by the heroine—and an exposé of the costs of false families everywhere.

One Death at a Time Waxman, Abbi | Berkley (400 pp.) | $19.00 paper | April 15, 2025 | 9780593816677

A former actress who’s already served time for murder finds her freedom in jeopardy again—and her only ally is her Gen Z sponsor from Alcoholics Anonymous.

Can prison harden a heart you don’t have? Hollywood’s Julia Mann went from It Girl to established actress to inmate to…whatever someone is after they get out of prison. Julia’s 15 years behind bars yielded a law degree and an undying commitment to proving her innocence. But if she can’t clear her own name, at least she can help others.

Whatever motivates her, she’s dedicated to fighting the man, which may mean going up against the K IR KU S R E V IE W S

A former actress who’s already served time finds her freedom in jeopardy again.

O N E D E AT H AT A T I M E

broader system of injustice or, because it’s Hollywood, just one jerk at a time.

Now, having failed to prevent her own conviction for murdering her husband, Jonathan, Julia looks likely to go down for a second time when her former collaborator and renowned enemy Tony Eckenridge is found floating in the pool Julia’s kicking her toes in. Like so many alcoholics, Julia doesn’t remember a thing, so for maybe the first time in her life, she’s beholden to others for help—a recipe for disaster. And the others in question aren’t always sure they want to help her, at least not in the ways she’s asking. Natasha Mason, her sponsor at AA, wants to keep her sober, and Archie Jacobson, her lawyer, wants to keep her out of jail without stirring the pot. But stubborn Julia won’t let a good lead go, and even as she draws closer to fulfilling her star-making film The Codex’s curse, she might be able to discover the truth about Jonathan in her quest to prove her innocence.

Sharp and clever and knows it, just like its heroine.

Fear Stalks the Village White, Ethel | Poisoned Pen (352 pp.) | $15.99 paper | March 11, 2025 | 9781464230493

An anonymous correspondent inundates an English village with poison pen letters in this 1932 mystery.

Ironically, the first recipient is Miss Decima Asprey, the queen of Spout Manor, whose reputation for kindness and

civility is unimpeachable. Even so, the accusations, which she duly reports to the rector, Rev. Simon Blake, leave her neighbors uneasy when they learn about them, as they quickly do. The stakes rise when Julia Corner, a novelist who’s president of the local Temperance Society, is found dead of an overdose of veronal soon after receiving a second letter. The verdict of the coroner’s court is death from misadventure, but that doesn’t alleviate the palpable apprehensions of the villagers, who fear that their slightest infractions will be aired to the public—a fear that’s soon justified when another letter that hits uncomfortably close to the mark provokes two suicides. Vivian Sheriff, daughter of the local squire, is especially worried that warped reports about her earlier romance with a soldier killed in the Great War will dash all hopes of her engagement to Major Blair. Since no one is willing to report anything to the police, the rector, noting that their shared home is such a peaceful place that “no one leaves the village, except to die,” calls on his friend Ignatius Brown, who’s had some luck with investigations in the past, and it’s Brown who pierces the surprisingly dense layers of deception to identify the culprit.

Even readers who find White’s decorous tale less than terrifying will be treated to a well-nigh unguessable solution.

For more mysteries, visit Kirkus online.

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Everything Old Is New Again These audiobook editions should send readers back to three classic novels.

BY CONNIE OGLE

headlines would be reporting devastation,” Stevenson tells us, referencing a condition that could also describe what happens to the characters.

Grace is to be married to the son of the house; Caro becomes the object of affection for hopeless astronomer Ted Tice. But happiness aligns only briefly throughout their lives: Caro falls for someone else, and so it goes over the course of 30 years, attraction and power ebbing and flowing, twisting the hearts of even the seemingly content Grace; her bureaucrat husband, Christian; and the unscrupulous playwright Paul Ivory, whose arrogance will

material, but as Eugene’s reality begins to unravel, Godfrey downplays the cartoonish nature of the book and balances it with a welcome vocal steadiness.

Actor Matt Bomer reads the latest audio version of James Baldwin’s 1956 novel, Giovanni’s Room (Random House Audio, 6 hours and 4 minutes), with what seems like an intimate understanding of David, an outwardly bland American expat in Paris who has hidden his true self so deeply he can barely connect with it. David is engaged, but while his fiancee, Hella, travels in Spain, he embarks on an affair with the working-class Giovanni, an Italian immigrant.

Reading James Baldwin’s novels—especially Giovanni’s Room, which is told from a white perspective—always produces a brief shock, reminding you how ahead of his time the revolutionary author was. Experiencing this audio version of Baldwin’s examination of sexuality, power, privilege, and class is no different. The story is frank and painful, its tragedy hitting home via Bomer’s understated interpretation.

His calm and measured reading only highlights the turmoil David hides in his untrustworthy heart.

Connie Ogle is a writer in Florida.

Headphones: Juk ka A alho/Unsplash

FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1980 and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction, Shirley Hazzard’s extraordinary The Transit of Venus (Spiegel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks, 15 hours and 29 minutes) has never been recorded as an audiobook before. This inaugural version is beautifully read by British actor Juliet Stevenson, whose performance resonates with the dry, knowing wit required to take on Hazzard’s masterpiece.

The novel opens during a storm in rural 1950s England, where Australian sisters Caroline and Grace Bell have emigrated. “By nightfall the

one day receive a brutal comeuppance. Stevenson conquers the accents and nuances so thoroughly that, although the book is long, you’ll hate to hear it end.

Harry Crews’ classic 1988 novel, The Knockout Artist (Penguin Audio, 8 hours and 44 minutes), is finally available on audio, with a foreword by crime writer S.A. Cosby that puts Crews’ blend of storytelling prowess and hardscrabble realism into sharp perspective. This is helpful: the profane and politically incorrect language could easily wound modern sensibilities.

The story follows Eugene Talmadge Biggs from Bacon County, Georgia, a boxer who has discovered an aptitude for knocking himself out. This talent brings him to the seediest spots in New Orleans, where he winds up the object of interest for a young woman writing a dissertation and a businessman with a disturbing alter ego, both of whom change the course of Eugene’s life.

The book is jammed with colorful characters and sleazy situations, and reading it with an over-the-top Southern drawl might seem natural. But narrator Matt Godfrey shows surprising restraint, and this approach works. At first, his voice seems too sedate for the

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IN THE NEWS

Andrew Pyper

Author Andrew Pyper Dies at 56 The Canadian writer was known for his popular thrillers and horror novels.

Carlos Osorio/ Toronto St ar v ia Get t y Images

Canadian author Andrew Pyper has died at 56, the CBC reports.

Pyper, a native of Stratford, Ontario, was educated at McGill University, where he studied literature, and at the University of Toronto, where he earned a law degree.

He made his literary debut in 1996 with the short story collection Kiss Me, following that up with Lost Girls, published in Canada in 1999 and the U.S. in 2000. A critic for Kirkus praised the novel as “savvy, stylish, and very entertaining.”

Several other books followed, including The Trade Mission, The Wildfire Season, The Demonologist, and The Damned. His most recent novel, William, written under the pen name Mason Coile, was published last September; the book is being adapted for a

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film to be directed by Justin Dyck.

Pyper’s admirers paid tribute to him on social media. On the platform X, singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith wrote, “Sad to hear of the passing of brilliant Canadian novelist Andrew Pyper. As a fan of scary stories he wrote some truly terrifying novels. I met him a couple of times here in Stratford (his hometown) and he had some great advice for me when I was trying to write my novel.”

And author Benjamin Percy posted, “January is cruel, and @andrewpyper will be missed. We shared some drinks and meals and stage time over the years, while staying in occasional correspondence, and he always impressed me with his talent, sure, but also his class and graciousness.”—M.S. For reviews of Andrew Pyper’s books, visit Kirkus online.

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A Drop of Corruption Bennett, Robert Jackson | Del Rey (480 pp.) $30.00 | April 1, 2025 | 9780593723821

Things are not what they seem in a place where leviathans roam the land and plots against the empire flourish.

Part fantasy, part procedural, the second installment in Bennett’s Shadow of the Leviathan series—following The Tainted Cup (2024)—finds Dinios Kol, the much put upon assistant to investigator Ana Dolabra (rhymes with abracadabra), investigating a murder on the far edges of the Empire of Khanum. Ana is “a woman so brilliant [that] she lives most of her days blindfolded and rarely leaves her rooms, for fear that common life shall overwhelm her mind.” That leaves it up to Din to try to piece together what happened to an unfortunate servant of the empire whose body is turning up in bits and pieces—understandable, perhaps, since the man worked for the tax division of the imperial treasury, “here to confer with the king of Yarrow on high imperial business,” as a local flatfoot, Malo, tells him. It’s a grisly affair, all severed hands and disembowelment, “as if all the organs had been scooped out by a giant spoon,” and Din has a sensitive tummy. That drop of corruption in the title has nothing to do with the fact that when Ana arrives on the scene she feasts on a pile of raw shellfish. No, the corruption has to do with the ability of the Empire’s folks to alter bodies with all manner of tools and potions and such, and when they concoct a plan to inject “ossuary moss” into bone marrow to keep Din and his fellow “engravers” from going bonkers, Ana’s antennae go up—and even more so when the aforementioned king turns up “dead as a fucking boiled scallop.”

Red herrings—some in various stages of rot—abound as Ana, Din, and Malo sort out all the nefarious doings.

A grand entertainment, as ever with Bennett’s richly imaginative yarns.

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Kirkus Star

Once Was Willem Carey, M.R. | Orbit (320 pp.) | $18.99 paper March 4, 2025 | 9780316505024

Set in a fantasy version of early-­ 12th-­century England, this novel is an unholy and holy brew of Seven Samurai, “The Monkey’s Paw,” Frankenstein, and a reimagined Judeo-Christian cosmology.

In the village of Cosham, farming couple Jon and Margaret Turling are consumed by grief for their 12-yearold son, Willem, who died of a fever.

Desperate, they seek the help of a sorcerer, Cain Caradoc, who agrees to raise their son from the dead in exchange for a sliver of his soul.

Unfortunately, Willem has been dead for a year, and what rises from the grave is not exactly pretty…and is not welcome in Cosham. The intelligent, uncannily strong, but malformed being with Willem’s face and memories takes on the name Once-Was-Willem and begins a new life in the deep forest, making friends with the other strange creatures he encounters. Meanwhile, Cain Caradoc settles in the fortress of a local bandit lord, built atop an immense power source: the sleeping skeleton of Yaldabaoth the angel.

Seeking to harness this vast power for himself and gain the immortality he’s always dreamed of having, Caradoc prepares to make a significant sacrifice of children’s souls, which he intends to glean from Cosham. The desperate villagers appeal to Once-Was-Willem and his new friends for aid, attempting (mostly without success) to swallow their fear and distrust of these monstrous beings—feelings which are mutual. Author Carey demonstrates again that he contains multitudes, jumping from subgenre to subgenre. Also as always, he uses a fantastical setting to consider

societal and moral quandaries; in this instance, he explores complex issues of compassion and forgiveness in the wake of (literally) murderous prejudice and intolerance. Despite the story’s high body count, its take on those issues is weirdly optimistic and heartwarming.

A dark and hopeful fable with obvious contemporary resonance.

The Ragpicker King Clare, Cassandra | Del Rey (560 pp.) $32.00 | March 4, 2025 | 9780525620020

Kel Saren adds more threads to his tangled web of secrets in this follow-up to Sword Catcher (2023).

Kel takes the protection of Prince Conor very seriously. As Sword Catcher, he’s more than just a bodyguard; he’s part spy, part body double, and part confidante for the man with whom he grew up. But as he investigates the possibility of a traitor in Conor’s inner circle, Kel is forced to keep secrets for Conor’s own good until he can be sure whom they can trust. Meanwhile, after the disastrous events of Conor’s first engagement in Sword Catcher, the prince has a newfound dedication to his role and tries to navigate an advantageous new match for himself, this time with the beautiful Princess Anjelika, who is more than she seems. Conor is keeping his own secrets, namely that he has enlisted Lin Caster to tend to his ailing father, King Markus, who’s suffering from a strange ailment that means he must be kept hidden from his subjects lest they know their king has possibly gone mad. As Lin investigates the truth behind the king’s malady, she and Conor struggle to deny their growing—and forbidden—romantic feelings for each other. The second novel in an epic fantasy series is notoriously hard to pull off, and the colorful world K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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established in Sword Catcher does dip into soap-opera territory here.

But a little swooning in a fantasy adventure story never hurt anyone, and even at a hefty 500-plus pages, the story never drags for a moment.

Lin’s chapters remain a high point, with Clare drawing from her own Jewish heritage as the inspiration for many aspects of Lin’s Ashkar community and faith. And luckily for readers, Clare turns every table she can find in the final pages.

This series provides the perfect escape from reality.

The Adjudicator Daitch, Susan | Green City Books | $19.95 paper | Feb. 25, 2025 | 9781963101058

In a not-too-distant future where the state regulates its citizens’ genetics, a closeted empath gets called upon to investigate a death that challenges the infallibility of a totalitarian system.

Zedi Loew is an anomaly in a world where parents design their children and the state-run corporate enterprises grow babies in labs. Unlike these perfect offspring, she has the ability to feel the sensations of anyone around her—the result of “a premotor cortex gone kablooey”—making Zedi a target in a society that persecutes genetic deviants. Her job as an Adjudicator, a private investigator who looks for possible fraud in cases involving mental or physical deformities, allows her to remain undetected, especially when she assumes identities to go undercover. When Zedi is given a case involving the suicide of a young boy named Clayton and his strange relationship with a girl who “suffered the world as [he should] have…and vice versa,” she goes on a hunt to find Clayton’s mother for questioning.

That trail takes her through surreal landscapes where people, including her own mother, find comfort in sleeping pills called Dormazin. The K IR KU S R E V IE W S

An unlikely trio sets out on an epic quest to defeat an ancient evil.

GREENTEETH

closer she gets to the truth of why she has been given this assignment, the more Zedi realizes that her investigation is less about gene editing gone wrong and more about ways DNA manipulation can potentially alter human consciousness and give manipulators the power to control entire populations. Blending SF with suspense and interweaving science with speculation, Daitch’s novel offers readers a glimpse into a future that is as alien as it is disturbingly familiar.

An engrossing story that grapples with dystopian possibilities lying at the intersection of ethics and technology.

Kirkus Star

Greenteeth O’Neill, Molly | Orbit (320 pp.) | $18.99 paper | Feb. 25, 2025 | 9780316584241

An unlikely trio sets out on an epic quest to defeat an ancient evil in O’Neill’s debut.

Jenny Greenteeth isn’t a hag, thank you very much, she’s a Jenny! Jennies are water-dwelling magical creatures who all have green skin; long, sharp teeth; and the name “Jenny Greenteeth.” Our Jenny lives in the lake at Chipping Appleby and is quite content keeping her lake neat, eating small creatures, and keeping to herself. But when Temperance Crump is tossed into the lake, sentenced to death for being a witch, Jenny decides to rescue her rather than eat her. Jenny takes Temperance to a hidden cave where she

dries out and, after getting over her alarm at meeting a fae creature, tells Jenny her story. Temperance was living happily as the village “cunning woman” when a new parson came to town. This parson whipped up witch fever in the townspeople, and it didn’t take much for them to chain her up and toss her in the lake for her “crimes.” Jenny, who has a daughter of her own (“Little Jenny,” of course), sympathizes with Temperance’s despair at being separated from her husband and two small children and offers to help her cast a spell that will make the whole village forget she was ever a witch, much less executed for her craft. A hobgoblin named Brackus helps Jenny and Temperance find what they need for the spell, but when Temperance attempts to cast it, they learn that the new parson is actually an ancient evil, the Erl King, who could threaten all the magical and mortal creatures of Great Britain.

The three of them set off on a noble quest to defeat the Erl King, and on their way, they meet all manner of enchanting and magical creatures and places. But best of all, O’Neill’s story of friendship, family, and perseverance is so sweetly written that even her finely drawn fairy world and excellent plotting take a backseat to the growing bonds among her unlikely heroes.

Full of magic, but even more heart.

For more science fiction and fantasy, visit Kirkus online.

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Kirkus Star

Unloved Corinne, Peyton | Atria (464 pp.) | $18.99 paper | Feb. 4, 2025 | 9781668068489

A hockey player falls in love with his tutor.

Matt “Freddy” Fredderic is the life of the party at Waterfell University. He’s a starter on the hockey team and can have any girl on campus—but he’s also in danger of failing out if he can’t improve his grades in math and biology. His ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia make him eligible for university tutoring services, and Ro Shariff is his newly assigned tutor. Ro had a crush on Freddy freshman year but convinced herself that she’s over it now, in her senior year. She’s been in an on-again, off-again relationship with a guy named Tyler for the past two years, but he’s manipulative, borderline abusive, and probably cheating on her. Ro is desperate for love and affection and still suffers from bouts of intense homesickness. She and Freddy develop a tentative friendship even though they couldn’t be more different on the surface—he’s a popular, gregarious athlete to her quiet, introverted academic. Ro sees beyond Freddy’s persona as a dumb jock, while he recognizes that she feels lonely and like an outsider.

When Freddy swoops in to rescue Ro after an ugly disagreement with Tyler, the two admit that their feelings for each other are more romantic than friendly. Corinne’s second novel is an emotional powerhouse. Ro and Freddy share everything with each other: fears of not being good enough for their friends, details of their harmful previous romantic relationships, and the deep feelings of grief related to illness and loss of parents. They have to learn to trust themselves and each other in the midst of the pressures that come with transitioning from college to adulthood. Their evolution from friends to lovers is a classic slow burn, and it 44

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makes for an angsty and deeply affecting read.

Deeply moving and emotional.

Fan Service Danan, Rosie | Berkley (448 pp.) | $19.00 paper | March 11, 2025 | 9780593437162

When an actor who once played a werewolf starts to turn into one for real, he seeks out his former biggest fan for help.

Devin Ashwood made a name for himself as the lead heartthrob on The Arcane Files, a long-running supernatural detective show, but since it ended, the now 42-year-old has struggled to find his next gig. When he wakes up outside one day, naked and with no memory of the night before, and then a video of him howling and growing fangs and claws goes viral, the public thinks it’s a pathetic PR ploy, but Devin knows it was real. His transformation appears to be mirroring the lore from his series, so when he discovers a thorough fan archive website, he figures the moderator is the closest thing to an expert he’ll find and reaches out to her for help. As an outcast teenager in Florida, bisexual Alex Lawson became obsessed with The Arcane Files and made lifelong friends through the fandom. She met Devin at a convention once, and though some mean remarks she overheard him make about her (“A freak like that? Poor thing’s gonna die alone”) made her think he was an asshole, they also spurred her to embrace being a weirdo.

Now 34 and covered in tattoos and piercings, she still sticks out in her small town, where she works as a vet tech. She’s reluctant to help Devin at first, but then they start to understand each other better than anyone else ever has…and their sexual desires continue to grow stronger. The paranormal elements in this story are fun, and Devin’s wolfishness makes the spicy scenes extra delicious. These are flawed characters and the ways they become

better because of their relationship is endearing, but it might take some time for readers to warm up to them. Several side plots make the story feel bloated, but they add to the characterization.

Both playful and thoughtful, with extra appeal to readers involved in fandoms.

The Usual Family Mayhem Dimon, HelenKay | Avon/HarperCollins (368 pp.) | $18.99 paper March 11, 2025 | 9780063240582

A woman suspects her elderly relatives may be murderers.

At 26, Kasey Nottingham is still struggling to find the right career. She dropped out of law school and has been fired from several jobs, but a friend helped her land her current gig at a business incubator in Washington, D.C. In a moment of panic at a pitch meeting, Kasey recommends investing in Mags’ Desserts, a pie company in Winston-­ Salem, North Carolina. What Kasey fails to disclose is that Mags is her grandmother. The company is co-owned

by Mags’ long-term lover, Celia; the two women founded it after they were both left in financial straits by their former husbands. Kasey knows their emotional attachment to the business makes them highly unlikely to sell. Her bosses send her to North Carolina to investigate the opportunity, leaving Kasey feeling trapped in a web of her own lies. If her boss discovers the truth, she’ll be fired, and if Mags and Celia learn the truth, she’ll disappoint them. Once she’s back home in Winston-Salem, Kasey tangles with Jackson Quaid, Celia’s nephew.

Kasey has had a crush on Jackson since she was a teenager, but he’s always treated her as an annoyance. When Kasey starts to suspect that Mags and Celia are helping desperate women kill their husbands with poisoned pies, Jackson is the only person she can turn to for help. Kasey is an interesting character with a dynamic and K IR KU S R E V IE W S

R O M A N C E // F I C T I O N

An excellent Victorian romance that uses love to illuminate the darkest places.

THE L ADY SPARKS A FL AME

entertaining narrative voice. The book is charming, but the intended audience and genre are unclear. Kasey’s romance with Jackson is a subplot at best, and the cozy mystery aspects are wrapped up by long stretches of exposition rather than active sleuthing. The strong thematic exploration of how women can take control of their lives is undermined by Kasey’s inability to be honest with the family matriarchs.

A lively and engaging narrative voice is the star of this cozy romance-mystery.

The Lady Sparks a Flame Everett, Elizabeth | Berkley (384 pp.) | $19.00 paper | March 25, 2025 | 9780593550489

A merchant’s son melts the heart of London’s Ice Queen.

After Lady Phoebe Hunt was exiled to America for her participation in a revo­ lutionary plot, she thought nothing would bring her back to London, and she was happy to live in relative anonymity as a private detective overseas. After her abusive father dies, however, she’s forced to return to sell as much of their estate as necessary to support her mother and sister. The hasty auctions bring her back into contact with Sam Fenley, a merchant’s son whose clever investments have allowed him to build a mercantile and real estate empire, despite being routinely snubbed by the ton. And though Sam is struck

by Phoebe’s beauty and intelligence, he knew her first as a “villainess of majestic proportions,” and her sangfroid defines their interactions to start. Years of abuse and cruelty have made her prone to K IR KU S R E V IE W S

bouts of rage and lashing out, even at those she cares for. His steadfast kindness starts to thaw her somewhat, but even as they begin to flirt and their private moments become steamier, any moments of connection are immediately followed by ice. The past still haunts Phoebe, and even Sam’s patience and growing devotion may not be able to help her imagine a different future.

Against a restless backdrop of England in 1845, roiled by debates over the Corn Laws and suffrage, Everett has once again created a complex heroine many readers will identify with. This is the second volume of Everett’s Damsels of Discovery series, itself a spinoff of the Secret Scientists of London series, and fans will be delighted to see cameos from many beloved characters at Athena’s Retreat, but the book can be read on its own as well. The story handles Phoebe’s history of self-harm with compassion and is direct and honest about the impact that years of family trauma have had on her mental health and her relationships. Though even some intimate scenes are overshadowed by Phoebe’s internal struggles, Everett balances the darker elements of the story with the happy ending expected by romance readers, and though the pacing falters somewhat at the end, readers will be quite satisfied by the final page.

An excellent Victorian romance that uses love to illuminate the darkest places.

For more by Elizabeth Everett, visit Kirkus online.

The Devil’s Charm Frampton, Megan | Avon/HarperCollins (368 pp.) | $9.99 paper Feb. 25, 2025 | 9780063389205

A practical lady is unexpectedly charmed by a louche lord.

Lady Diantha Courtenay spends her days following the rules and being practical—it’s the only way to balance out the impulsive and often irrational behavior of her parents, who since Halley’s Comet appeared in the sky more than 20 years ago, have pledged to do whatever they please. But she’s made an exception tonight, staying up late to attend a dear friend’s wedding, where she finds herself attracted to a man who looks like “the embodiment of a fallen angel in a painting”—and decides to kiss him even after realizing he’s the son of her father’s mortal enemy. For Lord Lucian Eldridge, second son of the Duke of Waxford, the encounter is not unusual; as the spare, he feels it’s his duty to enjoy life to the fullest, so a secret kiss with a beautiful woman is nothing new.

But the next morning, as Diantha resolves to return to her practical self, Lucian learns that his older brother has had a hunting accident in Scotland, and while his overbearing father heads up there, Lucian will need to become more involved with the family’s affairs. This horrifies Lucian, though he’s intrigued to discover that those affairs include resolving a long-standing lawsuit between his family and Diantha’s, something the two will have to work on closely together. Due to their intense attraction, they find it hard to focus on the task at hand, and a steamy bout or two of “system-cleansing” at locations like the British Museum serve only to make them even more confused about who they are becoming, both on their own and together, and what the future might hold. Frampton is in fine form at the start of her new Heirs and Spares series, fleshing out the opposites-attract story with witty dialogue and complex FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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characters. The instant chemistry between Lucian and Diantha catalyzes both to finally consider extracting themselves from their very different families, and accordingly the plot focuses on their individual development as much as their burgeoning relationship. Readers looking for a well-constructed, satisfying historical romance will be pleased.

A strong start to a new Victorian romance series.

Flirting Lessons Guillory, Jasmine | Berkley (368 pp.) $29.00 | April 8, 2025 | 9780593100905

A crash course in learning how to flirt leads to real feelings for two women.

Avery Jensen thinks that when people look at her, they see someone too fearful to try anything new; she never knows how to make a strong impression on anyone she has even the slightest romantic interest in. There’s no way Avery will be able to break out of her comfort zone without help, but luckily for her, she’s just met someone who can teach her how to put her best foot forward—and even flirt a little, while she’s at it. Taylor Cameron has a reputation for being a love-’emand-leave-’em type, and it’s well earned.

In fact, right before she runs into Avery, Taylor made a bet with a friend that she can make it to Labor Day without sleeping with anyone. Offering to give Avery flirting lessons is the perfect way for Taylor to keep herself too distracted to end up in bed with someone she wouldn’t be able to commit to anyway.

The only problem is that Avery has to practice flirting with other people, and as their lessons continue, Taylor soon realizes that she has a crush on the very woman she thought she could keep at a distance, while Avery’s attraction to Taylor only deepens as the weeks go on.

Guillory’s latest marks the first romance she’s written for two female characters, and while the premise is frankly 46

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irresistible—there’s a reason courtship lessons have become such a tried-andtrue trope in the genre—the surrounding components don’t come together. Alternating points of view within chapters would be less confusing if Avery and Taylor had unique perspectives, but they’re not written distinctly enough until well into the book. Also, there isn’t enough space devoted to a deeper exploration of what an exclusive relationship would mean for both parties—especially Taylor, whose commitment-phobia is a defining trait—making for a resolution that doesn’t feel as satisfying as it could have.

This flirty romance fails to leave a lingering impression.

Can’t Help Faking in Love Hedge, Swati | Dell (272 pp.) | $18.00 paper Feb. 11, 2025 | 9780593722930

Fake dating turns real for a pair of 20-somethings in Bangalore.

Rich girl Harsha Godbole is trying to make it as a photographer in India’s Silicon Valley without her wealthy parents’ help. But when her movie-industry-raised cousin announces her wedding, Harsha lies about her newly single status to save face. Her solution is to pay her local barista to pretend to be her boyfriend for the festivities. Veer Kannan has put his dreams of being an actor on hold so he can support his family with a regular paycheck. Initially taken aback

by Harsha’s offer, he accepts so he’ll be able to fund his brother’s MBA degree.

Hegde places both aspiring artists in an economically elite section of Indian society—people who drink cappuccinos, eat charcuterie, wear designer brands, fly across the country and abroad, and drop bucketloads of money on lavish weddings. While Veer is less privileged, he has enough to be culturally fluent in Harsha’s circles.

Setting the story in this milieu appears to be an attempt to make an Indian

romance legible to an American audience. The fake-dating plot doesn’t make much sense, since demanding that an unmarried woman have a boyfriend is the opposite of what an Indian family would do, even today. If one overlooks the weakness of the premise, the hurried nods to anticaste and queer politics, and choices like giving a South Indian protagonist the Punjabi name “Veer,” some scenes of the couple’s growing connections are pleasant to read.

If you want a familiar romance recipe presented in an Indian khichdi style.

Never Gamble Your Heart Lovise, Lindsay | Forever (384 pp.) | $17.99 paper | Feb. 4, 2025 | 9781538740552

A mathematical genius and a casino owner gamble on each other.

Jasper Jones isn’t quite sure about the spinster in oversized spectacles sent over by Perdita’s Governess Agency, but he’ll have to make do with her for now. As the owner of Rockford’s, London’s most infamous gaming hell, he was busy even before becoming the guardian of his teenage niece, Cecelia, and he needs the help. But Miss Francis “Frankie” Turner isn’t actually there to be a governess; though Perdita’s is a legitimate agency, she’s arrived at Jasper’s house to fulfill its other mission, which is to spy on wrongdoers of the ton. If it was up to her, she’d devote all her time to solving complicated math problems, but after her sister goes missing, she agrees to look into Jasper, as it seems that whatever happened to her sister is related to a larger conspiracy based at Rockford’s. It doesn’t take long for Jasper to realize something is unusual, and oddly desirable, about Frankie—his first hint is when it appears that she’s taught Cecelia how to count cards while playing Vingt et Un. But rather than banish Frankie when he learns about her mission (and her extraordinary mathematical ability), K IR KU S R E V IE W S

R O M A N C E // F I C T I O N

Score’s latest romance brings humor, heat, and plenty of hijinks.

STORY OF MY LIFE

he decides to support her, and both eagerly agree to work together, not realizing they’re gambling their hearts in the process. Lovise’s second Secret Society of Governess Spies book expands the world introduced in Never Blow a Kiss (2024), and builds on its strengths.

Because Jasper and Frankie begin working together fairly early, their closeness develops quickly, so the suspense comes from other parts of the plot. Though the criminal shenanigans and their resolution require an extraordinary suspension of disbelief, the misogynist viewpoint behind the nefariousness does not, so readers will likely be willing to overlook the contemporary feeling of this historical romance. Thanks to the chemistry between the well-written, neurodiverse bluestocking heroine and her fake rake, fans of the first book will find much to enjoy, and this one stands alone well enough to attract new readers as well.

An enjoyable Victorian romance threaded with mystery.

Story of My Life Score, Lucy | Bloom Books (528 pp.) | $18.99 paper | March 11, 2025 | 9781728297057

A heartbroken romance author travels to smalltown Pennsylvania in hopes of curing her writer’s block and finding her own happy ending.

Since Hazel Hart’s marriage ended two years ago, she hasn’t been able to write one believable word about happily-ever-afters. And unfortunately for Hazel, she’s in the business of crafting HEAs that make her millions K IR KU S R E V IE W S

of fans swoon and come back for more.

Stuck in a spiral of writer’s block and trash TV, Hazel is months overdue on the deadline for the latest book in her bestselling Spring Gate series—something Zoey Moody, her best friend and literary agent, seldom fails to let her forget. But when Hazel receives an eviction notice from her ex-husband and her publisher threatens to drop her, she decides it’s time to get her mojo back.

Inspiration leads Hazel and Zoey from New York City to the quaint town of Story Lake, Pennsylvania, where Hazel spontaneously purchases a historic fixer-upper known as the Heart House that she’d read about in a newspaper article. She hopes to meet and write about Campbell Bishop, the handsomely rugged contractor who’d done some work on her new home in the past.

Hazel and Zoey soon realize that their Hallmark-fantasy town is a bit eccentric, and Hazel experiences her first “meet-­ disaster” (the opposite of a “meet-cute”) with none other than the man she’s cast as her hero. Between Campbell and his brothers, Levi and Gage, and the town’s wacky locals, there’s enough material for Hazel’s new romance series to practically write itself. And hooking up with Campbell Bishop definitely counts as research, as long as it’s completely casual…but where’s the happily-ever-­ after in being friends with benefits?

Score’s latest is funny and flirtatious, and readers will be charmed by Story Lake’s kooky but lovable townsfolk— even as the book doesn’t skimp on spice and sexual tension. No need to be disappointed when the book’s over: The Campbell brothers are an easy setup for a Story Lake trilogy, and Score drops hints about Zoey and Gage’s future in an author’s note.

Score’s latest romance brings humor, heat, and plenty of hijinks.

The Launch Date Slator, Annabelle | Avon/HarperCollins (416 pp.) $18.99 paper | Feb. 11, 2025 | 9780063383623

Two workplace rivals fight for a promotion while researching first-date activities for their company’s next big app.

Grace Hastings feels as if she’s clawed her way to the role of marketing manager for a London dating app called Fate, struggling with imposter syndrome every step of the way. Meanwhile, she writes off her workplace rival Eric Bancroft’s effortless rise as a result of his popularity, family name, and good looks. When the upcoming launch of a new kind of dating app forces them together—and with a promotion dangling for one of them—Grace and Eric set aside their frequent jabs for the sake of their research and hopefully a successful launch. The new app has an unusual focus on in-person experiences, pairing up compatible users and sending them on curated dates. But before it can launch, Grace and Eric are asked to assess each experience—from hikes to cooking classes to yoga—as if they were two people going on the date themselves. Grace is a frustrating character; though she frequently tells herself that she’s worked hard to get where she is and deserves her position, outwardly she acts like a doormat. Her boss frequently takes advantage of her, and it’s only through Eric’s encouragement that she gains confidence and begins setting boundaries. Her journey would have felt more impactful if she’d mustered the courage to stand up for herself rather than relying on a love interest to be the catalyst for change.

The opposites-attract romance is cute, albeit a bit slow until nearly the end of the book. The litany of inventive dates is what propels the book forward, as the reader looks forward to seeing what sort of adventure Eric and Grace will be subject to next.

A playful setup, but surprisingly lackluster in the romance department.

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Fully Booked

ALSO MENTIONED ON THIS EPISODE:

Discussing the art of mystery, recorded live at the Texas Book Festival. BY MEGAN LABRISE

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

EPISODE 406: JEAN HANFF KORELITZ & LIZ MOORE

Long Bright River by Liz Moore A Visit From the Goon Squad

by Jennifer Egan Someone Like Us by Dinaw Mengestu Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg Earth to Moon by Moon Unit Zappa It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

Zenith Man by McCracken Poston Jr. From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall by David Singer Shakey Town Express by Justin Arnold The Boy Who Learned To Live by D.N. Moore

Korelit z: Michael Avedon, Moore: Maggie Casey

A Life Lived on Three Con­ tinents by Hanay Kang Angell Fully Booked is produced

by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.

To listen to the episode, visit Kirkus online.

K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Jean Hanff Korelitz

Liz Moore

The Sequel

The God of the Woods

Celadon Books | 304 pp. | $29.00 Oct. 1, 2024 | 9781250875471

Riverhead | 496 pp. | $30.00 July 2, 2024 | 9780593418918

On this special episode of Fully Booked, recorded live at the Texas Book Festival last November, I’m excited to share the rollicking conversation I had with New York Times–bestselling authors Jean Hanff Korelitz and Liz Moore on a featured panel entitled “The Art of Mystery.” We assembled in the main auditorium of the Texas State Capitol for a deep dive into their highly decorated novels, The Sequel and The God of the Woods.

In The Sequel (Celadon Books, 2024)—a follow-up to Korelitz’s ingenious thriller The Plot (2021)—­ a “less-than-grief-stricken widow follows in her novelist husband’s bestselling footsteps but finds that someone knows more about her than is safe—for either of them,” Kirkus writes in a starred review.

“Wicked entertainment.”

“Many years after her older brother, Bear, went missing, Barbara Van Laar vanishes from the same

sleepaway camp he did, leading to dark, bitter truths about her wealthy family,” Kirkus writes in a starred review of The God of the Woods (Riverhead, 2024). “‘Don’t go into the woods’ takes on unsettling new meaning in Moore’s blend of domestic drama and crime novel.”

Moore, Korelitz, and I begin with a medical maxim that, curiously, appears in both of their novels (“When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras”). They tell us whether “author” was considered a viable profession in their families of origin, share a bit about the mysteries at the heart of their novels, and have a few choice words for anyone (including me) who reads The Plot without first reading The Sequel.

We discuss building a mystery, family secrets, propulsion, and suspense. We wrap up with what they’re reading and what they’re working on.

Korelitz, Jean Hanff

Moore, Liz

Editor-at-large Megan Labrise hosts the Fully Booked podcast.

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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Nonfiction

JOHN McMURTRIE

EACH OF US, if we are lucky, has transformative experiences in our lives that make us more sensitive to our surroundings.

For Chloe Dalton, such an awakening came after she crossed paths with a baby hare—a leveret—in rural England. The surprise encounter with the palm-size creature, which soon grew into a playful and prancing marvel that lived with Dalton, inspired her to write a book about the experience.

Our starred review of Raising Hare (Pantheon, March 4) calls the memoir “a soulful and gracefully written book about an animal’s power to rekindle curiosity.”

Raising Hare is Dalton’s first book, and here’s hoping she writes more. A political adviser and foreign policy expert, she’s a gifted observer with a poetic sensibility, as when she describes the leveret’s mouth—“a tiny sooty line… curved down at both sides as if the leveret were already slightly disappointed by life.”

When walking across a field near her home—in a region that’s being transformed by mechanized farming that is killing many of the hares— she startles a group of the long-legged animals that, she writes, “ran and leapt, cresting the tops of the grass with a 50

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

smooth flowing motion, dolphins of the meadow.”

Raising Hare is one of several new debut nonfiction books that stand out from the crowd. Another is Jack Lohmann’s White Light: The Elemental Role of Phosphorus— In Our Cells, in Our Food, and in Our World (Pantheon, March 18). Like Dalton, Lohmann—a native Virginian who lives in Scotland—takes a close look at the world around him, specifically an abundant and seemingly banal substance. “Our bodies are living remnants of the past,” he writes lyrically of phos­ phorus, “the element of life” that originated in molten lava and makes up about 1% of our bodies. Phosphorus can also be lethal: It has been so heavily used in industrial farming that it is polluting much of the world while reducing diversity and nutrients in crops.

There are lighter books, too, amid the debuts. In her essay collection, We’ve Decided To Go in a Different Direction (Gallery Books/ Simon & Schuster, April 1), Tess Sanchez examines Hollywood from the rarely seen perspective of a casting director. She writes about her humble roots in retail sales and meeting her future husband, actor Max Greenfield: “Max explained he was a dramatic film actor, edgy and brooding, and not interested in TV. My initial reaction to this: (1) Pardon moi while I barf, and (2) Perfect! Our professional lives will never intersect because I work in the shallow land of television, and I love it!”

Another debut author from the world of TV comes from Felipe Torres Medina, a writer for The Late Show With

Stephen Colbert. As its title suggests, America, Let Me In: A Choose Your Immigration Story (Abrams Image, March 11) draws hilarious inspiration from a choose-­your-­ own-­­adventure gamebook.

Torres Medina writes, “I know what you’re thinking: Jokes? Isn’t immigration this big, scary thing that makes the people on the news turn red, like a boiled ham having a heart attack? Yes. But isn’t facing daunting, horrible things with optimism and positivity America’s whole deal? It certainly was Benjamin Franklin’s whole deal. That and French prostitutes.” Our starred review praises the book as “funny, empathetic, and formally inventive.” Franklin just might have agreed.

John McMurtrie is the nonfiction editor.

K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Illustration by Eric Scot t Ander son

STANDING OUT FROM THE CROWD

NONFICTION

EDITOR’S PICK Helping liberals get out of their own way.

Klein, a New York Times columnist, and Thompson, an Atlantic staffer, lean to the left, but they aren’t interrogating the usual suspects. Aware that many conservatives have no interest in their opinions, the authors target their own side’s “pathologies.”

Why do red states greenlight the kind of renewable energy projects that often languish in blue states?

Why does liberal California have the nation’s most severe homelessness and housing affordability crises?

One big reason: Liberal leadership has ensnared itself in a web of well-intentioned yet often onerous “goals, standards, and rules.” This “procedural kludge,” partially shaped by lawyers who

These Titles Earned the Kirkus Star

K IR KU S R E V IE W S

pioneered a “democracy by lawsuit” strategy in the 1960s, threatens to stymie key breakthroughs.

Consider the anti-pollution laws passed after World War II. In the decades since, homeowners’ groups in liberal locales have cited such statutes in lawsuits meant to stop new affordable housing. Today, these laws “block the clean energy projects” required to tackle climate change. Nuclear energy is “inarguably safer” than the fossil fuel variety, but because Washington doesn’t always “properly weigh risk,” it almost never builds new reactors. Meanwhile, technologies that may cure disease or slash the carbon footprint of cement production benefit from government support, but

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Eminent Jews

By David Denby America, América

By Greg Grandin

Abundance Klein, Ezra and Derek Thompson Avid Reader Press | 320 pages | $30.00 March 18, 2025 | 9781668023488

too often the grant process “rewards caution and punishes outsider thinking.” The authors call this style of governing “everything-bagel liberalism,” so named because of its many government mandates.

Instead, they envision “a politics of abundance” that would remake travel, work, and health. This won’t happen without “changing

The 10

By E.A. Hanks The Last American Road Trip

By Sarah Kendzior

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Abundance

By Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson

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Mothers and Other Fictional Characters

By Nicole Graev Lipson

the processes that make building and inventing so hard.” It’s time, then, to scrutinize everything from municipal zoning regulations to the paperwork requirements for scientists getting federal funding. The authors’ debut as a duo is very smart and eminently useful.

Cogent, well-timed ideas for meeting today’s biggest challenges.

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Crumb

By Dan Nadel

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80

The Jew Who Would Be King

By Adam Rovner

Red Scare

By Clay Risen

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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NONFICTION

Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality Archer, Deborah N. | Norton (272 pp.) $29.99 | April 15, 2025 | 9781324092131

A review of the racial consequences of passenger transportation policy in the United States.

Archer, a law professor at New York University and the president of the American Civil Liberties Union, illustrates the oft-told story of the government’s complicity in racial discrimination and segregation with a focus on highway construction, street planning, and mass transit. “In the history of the United States,” she asserts, “transportation infrastructure is, and always has been, a political act.” Bluntly put, it is “white supremacy by another means.”

With racial inequality endemic to America, it is no surprise that interstate highways in cities divide Black from white communities, streets are arranged to prevent Black people from driving into white neighborhoods, punitive policing disproportionately targets Black motorists and pedestrians, bus transit is highly racialized, sidewalks are fewer and poorly maintained in Black neighborhoods, and regional rail lines mainly serve white commuters. Archer deploys numerous examples from cities such as Birmingham and Indianapolis to describe the racial consequences of transportation policy while highlighting court decisions that have either reinforced racism or left it unchanged.

Of particular concern are Supreme Court rulings that require a finding of intent, rather than overwhelming statistical evidence, to demonstrate racial injustice. Only a single chapter, however, is devoted to a serious legal analysis. Archer calls for a reparative approach that compensates for prior disadvantages and proposes mandatory Racial Equity Impact Assessments for all policy initiatives. Little is said about 52

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how this would work. Nevertheless, Archer deftly documents the detrimental effects of transportation policy on Black mobility and does so while acknowledging governmental policies (such as mortgage redlining) that have also contributed to Black inequality.

Given her legal activism, one wishes that she had more critically attended to transportation politics and, by doing so, elaborated a path toward a just transportation policy agenda.

According to Archer, Black America is still at the back of the bus.

Enough: Climbing Toward a True Self on Mount Everest Arnot Reid, Melissa | Crown (304 pp.) $30.00 | April 1, 2025 | 9780593594087

A trailblazing female mountaineer examines the interior work behind the scenes of her success and notoriety.

In 2016, Arnot Reid became the first American woman to successfully summit and descend Mount Everest without using supplemental oxygen. It was her sixth summit of the mountain, with three additional attempts over the preceding eight years; that no other American woman beat her to that milestone over the years of her attempts demonstrates the author’s singularity. More than 25,000 feet above sea level is not an obvious place to confront a sense of failure. Yet in the opening chapter of her memoir, Arnot Reid discloses the pervasive self-doubt that has shadowed her accomplishments. Over the course of her text, she returns to feelings of insecurity and envy, rooted in childhood pain and exacerbated by the rarity of being a female climber and guide. Tales of physical discomfort and interior drive yield space to the psychological obstacles that the author works to overcome; even the idea to attempt to summit Everest without oxygen comes almost from left field, and some of her inspirational feats are

relegated to her footnotes. The details of Arnot Reid’s restlessness remain fuzzy; she communicates the weight of her desperation without fully explaining it, and the string of romantic relationships that anchor the narrative for Arnot Reid’s interior journey serve not only to obscure her excellence and dedication, but also to undermine her insistence on distinguishing her climbing success from her romantic entanglements. But as she sketches the shape of a void between who she is and who she longs to be, one cannot help but cheer her on in crossing that divide in fits and starts and wrestling repeatedly with the idea of where—and to whom—she belongs.

An endearing memoir about how to seize hard-fought freedom to become the best version of yourself.

The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders Aziza, Sarah | Catapult (400 pp.) $29.00 | April 22, 2025 | 9781646222438

Battling illness while excavating her family’s traumatic past.

In 2019, Palestinian American writer Aziza checked herself into a psychiatric ward in New York City in order to address a case of anorexia so severe that, at intake, her doctor told her that she was lucky to be alive. After successfully completing the treatment, she entered an outpatient program where she relapsed, months before the pandemic began. In the claustrophobia of lockdown, she felt trapped and panicked, depending on her husband for a level of support she struggled to accept. “I see myself anchored in my body,” she writes. “Locked inside a life I want to love but cannot understand.”

Although quarantine made recovery feel impossible, it also gave Aziza time to explore her complex relationship with her deceased Palestinian grandmother, whom she called Sittoo, and K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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A call to see the Constitution as “a living, breathing document.”

WE HOLD THESE “TRUTHS”

the Gazan homeland that Sittoo was forced to flee long before the author was born. Between her childhood diaries, her father’s memories of his mother, her own memories of traveling and working in Palestine, and a short foray into psilocybin-aided therapy, Aziza pieces together the ancestral trauma that, combined with her gender, forms the psychological basis of her eating disorder. Lyrical, vulnerable, and insightful, this formally inventive, deeply researched memoir masterfully weaves the author’s struggle with anorexia with the history of her family and their multigenerational relationship with their Palestinian homeland. The author’s description of her relationship with her husband is particularly poignant in its honesty and circumspection, providing a devastating picture of what it means to be sick around those we love.

A graceful memoir about anorexia, family, and displacement.

The Dazzling Paget Sisters: Identical Twins at the Heart of the 20th Century Bankes, Ariane | McNally Editions (304 pp.) | $19.00 paper April 29, 2025 | 9781961341357

Sisters’ loves.

Identical twins Celia and Mamaine Paget are the focus of an engaging memoir

by Celia’s daughter, who draws on archival sources to create a warm, sensitive portrait of two extraordinary women. The twins grew up in the K IR KU S R E V IE W S

English countryside under the care of a doting father, widowed when their mother died a week after their birth in 1916. His death when the girls were 11 made them wards of their “imperious and insensitive”—and extremely wealthy—uncle. Sent to boarding schools that they hated, and a Swiss finishing school that they loved, they reluctantly “came out” as debutantes in 1935. Beautiful and vivacious, they aspired to much more than being socialites. In 1937, when they came into an inheritance left by their father, they set themselves up in a London flat and immersed themselves in “a new circle of friends, a different set of values, the wide-open possibility of freedom—to be themselves, to fly in the face of stifling convention, to establish their independence at last.” Not surprisingly—they were strikingly beautiful—they attracted a host of admirers: Celia’s included literary critic Edmund Wilson, philosopher Freddie Ayer, and George Orwell; Mamaine met Arthur Koestler at a party thrown by Cyril Connolly in January 1944 when she was 28 and he, 40. The volatile, hard-drinking Koestler, “the quintessential European, deracinated, almost stateless, a Jewish firebrand,” was the celebrated author of Darkness at Noon. Their often tempestuous liaison lasted six years, during which Mamaine had a passionate affair with Albert Camus.

She and Koestler married in 1950 and separated, finally, a year later. Both sisters suffered from lung problems, to which Mamaine succumbed in 1954; Celia died in 2002, leaving her daughter the rich trove of letters, diaries, and photographs that she has judiciously mined.

A captivating dual biography.

We Hold These “Truths”: How To Spot the Myths That Are Holding America Back Burgat, Casey | Authors Equity (384 pp.) $18.00 paper | Feb. 4, 2025 | 9798893310184

An exploration— and explosion—­of some of the presumed foundational tenets of the republic.

The Founding Fathers, writes political scientist and erstwhile Capitol Hill staffer Burgat, were unanimous about only two things: The new U.S. would not be a monarchy, and George Washington would be president. “Everything else required compromise and adaptation.”

That’s forgotten in a time when “originalism” rules and the Constitution is ruled as a near-sacred, inalterable document. Nonsense, Burgat holds: “If we see the Constitution as a living, breathing document, we serve our country so much better.” One extraconstitutional ploy was the notion of executive privilege, which presidents since Washington have invoked for various reasons; contributor Alyssa Farah Griffin quips that the Emancipation Proclamation was one such order, even though it wasn’t billed so.

Washington famously warned against divisive political parties, yet, as contributor Lilliana Mason notes, “When politics get contentious, we put party loyalty over truth.” A couple of U.S. representatives, Steve Israel and Derek Kilmer, weigh in on the canard that congresspeople do nothing but fundraise: Kilmer calls his daily rounds “a cyclone of a schedule that barely leaves time for sleeping or eating, let alone fundraising.” Fundraising and money come into the picture, of course, but Stephen I. Vladeck, dissecting the current Supreme Court, argues against the notion that the court is corrupt— and indeed, that the court is supposed to be apolitical, as it never has been.

Money buys access, granted—and maybe a few vacations for Supreme Court justices, which we wouldn’t know FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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about without a vigorous Fourth Estate.

On that note, a standout piece in Burgat’s collection comes from journalist Matt Fuller, who wryly observes, “If I lie, if I make something up, my career is over. I’ll never work in journalism again. If a politician lies, it’s just another Tuesday.”

A bracing and often entertaining corrective to some misinformation about the way things work.

Wages for Housework: The Feminist Fight Against Unpaid Labor Callaci, Emily | Seal Press (288 pp.) $30.00 | March 18, 2025 | 9781541603516

Looking back to the early days of a feminist movement.

Callaci, a historian at the University of Wisconsin-­ Madison, chronicles the evolution of Wages for Housework, a radical and misunderstood feminist movement, by sharing her story as well as those of other women who have influenced the campaign.

Selma James, Mariarosa Dalla Costa, and Wilmette Brown were key role models in the movement; Callaci relates anecdotes about them and includes interviews with activists who supported the movement. The author explains how her view of housework began to change when she started having kids. Faced with grueling daily responsibilities as a working mother, she turned to feminist writings, archives, and history books, which is how she came upon Wages for Housework, begun in 1972. A global effort to change how a household operates, Wages for Housework, Callaci writes, “starts with the premise that capitalism extracts wealth not only from workers, but also from the unpaid work of creating and sustaining workers.” James, a housewife and activist and one of the movement’s most prolific supporters, “did not see feminism as separate from the struggle of working-class people against 54

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capitalism, but a radical expansion of it.” Reframing housework as an essential part of a functioning society rather than considering it an obstacle to productivity effectively challenged the centuries-old notion that women are naturally suited to housework. The movement gained traction, but some were critical, saying that “it shoved women back into the home, right as they were trying to break free of it.”

Callaci asks readers to reconsider the movement, imagining and fighting for a world that truly values women.

A thought-provoking criticism of global capitalism and its effects on women.

A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis Carstensen, Jeanne | One Signal/ Atria (288 pp.) | $28.99 March 25, 2025 | 9781668083147

An up-close look at an ongoing calamity.

Syria’s civil war and America’s debacles in Afghanistan and Iraq have forced millions to flee their homes; 35% of these are children. Many refugees attempt to reach Europe. In response, Western nations have hardened their hearts, built walls, and reinforced border guards, but desperate families keep trying. Journalist Carstensen follows four subjects in her searing first book: an Afghan bank official traveling with his wife and two children, a 13-year-old Afghan girl who flees with her parents and three siblings, a school counselor, and a young female artist from Syria.

Immigration opponents maintain that these are the dregs of society. In fact, poor people rarely emigrate. It’s too expensive. For example, the Afghan bank official pays smugglers $25,000 to convey his family to Europe. Simply crossing a few miles of ocean from Turkey to a Greek island costs

thousands. Carstensen describes their miserable journey driven by rapacious, penny-pinching smugglers. The final leg to safety involves crossing five miles to Lesvos, a Greek island, on fragile rubber rafts or broken-down boats. In 2015 refugees began arriving—cold, wet, exhausted, often as bodies washed up on the shore. Greece’s government was hostile and remains so; U.N. and international aid groups responded slowly, but Carstensen emphasizes a minority of islanders, local fishermen, and foreign volunteers who rescued many and provided food, shelter, and medical care so well that the island was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. She focuses on Oct. 28, 2015, when smugglers crammed 300 refugees into a decrepit hulk that fell to pieces halfway across. Despite heroic rescue efforts, about 80 died, more of them children because they spent hours in cold water and are more susceptible to hypothermia. Carstensen’s four subjects survived, but not their families.

A vivid snapshot of a broken asylum system.

Authority: Essays Chu, Andrea Long | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (288 pp.) | $30.00 April 8, 2025 | 9780374600334

A critic wields a sharp scalpel.

Pulitzer Prize–­ winning critic Chu has collected 25 of her essays—including book and television reviews, autobiography, and reflections on the work of the critic—written between 2018 and 2023, all except two published in the literary journal n+1 and in New York magazine. Chu sees criticism “as a genre of assertive prose,” and certainly her stance is nothing less than assertive, uncompromising, and sometimes snarky. Poet and memoirist Maggie Nelson’s essay collection On Freedom, for example, strikes Chu as representing the kind of mediocrity pervasive in academic writing. Nelson’s approach, K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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Praying, reading the Bible, and sneaking off to church.

A CHANGE OF HABIT

Chu writes, is “to present six or seven academics on a topic and then say of one, ‘I like this.’” She deems Curtis Sittenfeld’s novel Rodham “nothing but a large commemorative stamp, dependent wholly in use and function on the reader’s willingness to lick it.” Yellowstone is, simply, not a good show; neither is Phantom of the Opera, or anything else conjured by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Her identity as a trans woman informs “On Liking Women,” which she calls her first “proper essay” and “Pink,” about her vaginoplasty. In a postscript to her scathing critique of a memoir by Joey Soloway, creator of the series Transparent (she calls the book “incompetent, defensive, and astonishingly clueless”), Chu concedes, “It is a vicious piece, which I would distinguish from a cruel one. Viciousness is the attack dog who has not eaten in three days; cruelty is the person calmly holding the leash. These days I aim for cruelty.” But she aims not simply to wound: “The only criticism worth doing, for my money, is not the kind that claims to improve society in general; it is, as the late John Berger once wrote, the kind that helps to destroy this particular one.”

Acerbic social and cultural critique.

Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand Chu, Jeff | Convergent (336 pp.) | $26.00 March 25, 2025 | 9780593727362

A gentle and poignant memoir of spiritual calling found on a community farm.

Striking out from the “hustle and din” of New York, Chu finds context, connection, and growth in the burgeoning K IR KU S R E V IE W S

farm program at Princeton Theological Seminary. Made up of insightful and gently meandering vignettes, this memoir from the author of Does Jesus Really Love Me? (2013) explores the process of growing into a greater calling through slowing down and reflecting on the environments around us and those from which we have come. Chu sees in the freshly turned soil the basis for crop growth, which is itself teeming with a vibrant ecosystem, from microbes to insects, all of which collaborate to create its nutritive properties. Delving into the soils that we come from—our families, cultures, communities—we can only humbly let go of the idea that we alone shape our path; rather, our roots and those around us “are inescapably interdependent with the world.” At the seminary’s farm program, called the Farminary, Chu finds a community bent not on reaping the fruit of the land but on examining the growing conditions of life on the farm, from crops and livestock to the emotional and spiritual lives of fellow seminarians. The author blends subtle and rich descriptions of his colleagues with descriptions of the casual interactions with nature—egrets in a pond, earthworms tilling through the compost pile, how our cultural associations shape our connection to different produce—to form a wandering path through the farm’s seasons.

The author paints an emotional and personal reflection on his own path to the seminary—one that was once drawn taut between the religious principles of his parents and his personal growth and marriage to his husband. The question that recurs and will land for readers is how we support a holistic environment to sustain our spiritual lives.

Sustenance for the soul found while diving hands into the dirt.

A Change of Habit: Leaving Behind My Husband, Career, and Everything I Owned To Become a Nun Clare, Sister Monica | Crown (336 pp.) $30.00 | April 29, 2025 | 9780593727119

A journey home.

From the time she was a child and saw the movie The Nun’s Story, the author longed to become a nun, to be part of a close community dedicated to God and good works. Although her mother wasn’t a churchgoer, with her religious grandmother, she attended a Baptist congregation—a “serene, sweet place” compared to her chaotic and abusive home. In her candid debut memoir, Claudette Powell, now Sister Monica Clare, recounts growing up in poverty and fear. Her father, addicted to amphetamines, erupted in violent rages, beating her mother and threatening to kill her. The family moved frequently, and the young Claudette felt like an outsider in every new school—as well as from the Southern expectations of womanhood. She felt pressed into an ill-fitting image to be “beautiful, smart, obedient and then have a job, a husband, and children.” She wanted to serve God. Even in college (she got a partial scholarship to New York University), even as she became a standup comic and performed with an improv group, even working in New York and Los Angeles, she followed a secret spiritual path, praying, reading the Bible, and sneaking off to church. A dismal marriage to a cold, narcissistic man made her desperately unhappy, but for years she felt unable to extricate herself. Finally, she managed to turn her life around: In 2000 she was confirmed in the Episcopal Church and, in 2012, was received as a postulant at the Community of St. John Baptist. As Sister Monica, she was challenged by rules, traditions, and unspoken codes of behavior; being evaluated every six months stirred up deep feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. Her memoir FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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is a testimony of both her steadfast commitment to God and her long, hard struggle to conquer her own demons.

A forthright tale of pain and healing.

Lustful Appetites: An Intimate History of Good Food and Wicked Sex Cleves, Rachel Hope | Polity (288 pp.) $35.00 | Feb. 5, 2025 | 9781509553631

An exploration of the intimate intersection of food and illicit sexual desire.

“Good food held little importance at the tables of my childhood,” writes historian Cleves, who has since overcome those overlooked meal presentations to produce a rousing study of gastronomy and carnal appetite.

The author has spent a decade making impressive use of historical archival information, scientific research experiments, blogs, films, books, ancient Chinese poetry, and modern multimedia to present a lush and fascinating chronicle of cuisine. Her text incorporates key discussions involving the Puritan hypothesis linking alimentary appetites with gluttony and illicit sexual behavior, the emerging restaurant industry in late-18th-century France (locales that were often favored by sex workers and adulterers), and how a preference for food became identity markers for bohemian and queer cultures and sexual outlaws of the late 19th and 20th centuries. She traces the interwoven legacy of the first French restaurant, its “sexual disreputability” upon arriving on U.S. shores, its association with sex work, the advent of the waitress, and the sexual aphrodisiac symbolism of “archetypal seduction food” like oysters, crawfish, partridges, eggs, tomatoes, beets, chocolate, and, naturally, strawberries.

Cleves highlights reproving Puritan ministers and leaders, such as Seventh-Day Adventist Church founder and prophet Ellen White, who developed cautionary theories in the late 1800s about the correlation between “bad 56

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eating” and “sexual sin.” In that same era and beyond, bohemian culture emerged alongside a landslide of queer communities exhibiting a “passion for the table” and for gourmet cooking. Having spent time immersed in European culture, Cleves cleverly integrates a discussion on international epicureanism into the book’s second half, which celebrates the arrival of the “foodie” in the late 1900s, detaching the term from its former association with sexual immorality, and on how the term “food porn” became synonymous with eating with both the eyes and the mouth. While Cleves sadly attests that some of the stigmas surrounding cuisine and intimacy remain intact, food will always be, for many, an “instrument of seduction.”

A remarkably toothsome and vastly informative gastronomic journey.

After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe But Not Abortion Cohen, David S. & Carole Joffe Beacon Press (240 pp.) | $29.95 March 25, 2025 | 9780807017661

The aftermath of Roe v. Wade.

Cohen and Joffe, both academics, document the stories of 24 people who were directly affected by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. Focusing on three intervals in 2022—before Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, immediately after the ruling, and six months later—the authors evoke a sense of urgency while providing evidence of the injustices that people endured as a result of Dobbs. Citing their previous book, Obstacle Course: The Everyday Struggle to Get an Abortion in America, the authors write, “Two of the most consequential barriers people faced were traveling long distances to a clinic and paying for the abortion.” Those barriers, after Dobbs, are only more significant. “In the year following

Dobbs,” they write, “the average travel distance to get to an abortion provider jumped from twenty-five to eighty-six miles, almost 3.5 times more.” They relate one harrowing story that made national headlines: the ordeal of a 10-year-old girl who was raped in Ohio—and had to travel to Indiana to get an abortion. Travel is only one expense. Patients also have to cover the cost of child care, and they lose money when they miss work. “American voters have been crystal clear about their outrage that Roe was overturned,” the authors emphasize. Writing before the 2024 election, they conclude, “A Republican victory for the presidency, especially if it is matched by victories in both the House and Senate, could be disastrous for abortion care in the United States.”

Harsh truths paired with a hopeful call to action.

The Social Genome: The New Science of Nature and Nurture Conley, Dalton | Norton (336 pp.) $29.99 | March 18, 2025 | 9781324092636

Figuring out who we are—and who we will become.

Belief in the superiority of people like you can be deeply satisfying. Nazism gave that a bad reputation, but it revived with the 1994 bestseller The Bell Curve, whose authors maintained that people achieve if they inherit abilities that nonachievers and minorities lack.

Princeton University professor Conley, author of You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist, delivers a compelling update on the steady stream of books that have disproved The Bell Curve’s science, although its thesis remains popular.

Philosophers for millennia have maintained that humans are born a blank slate—devoid of knowledge—so everything we know comes from K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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experience: nurture. Charles Darwin complicated matters by contending that natural selection fixed many traits at birth. It’s complicated; readers must pay attention as the author, a “biosociologist” who measures people’s genes as well as their environment, explains concepts such as a polygenic index and passive gene-environmental correlation, but the rewards are substantial.

“Today,” Conley writes, “we can predict a US child’s (or embryo’s) adult height, how far he or she will go in school, and whether that child will be overweight as an adult—all from a cheek swab, finger prick, or vial of saliva.” As usual, common sense is wrong. Few doubt that parents exert the dominant influence on how children turn out.

Genetic analysis reduces this to 10% or less. Bachelor’s degree holders, over a lifetime, earn $1.5 million more than high school graduates and live 6 to 10 years longer. But they also come from wealthier families with more two-parent households and more educated parents. “Blank-slaters won’t like the fact that even the effects of the environment are partly driven by genes. Hereditarians, on the other hand, won’t appreciate that genes aren’t deterministic but part of a messy social process.” Your environment affects how your genes play out.

The latest on nature versus nurture may unsettle readers at the extremes but will entertain them all.

Women of War: The Italian Assassins, Spies, and Couriers Who Fought the Nazis Cope, Suzanne | Dutton (352 pp.) $32.00 | April 29, 2025 | 9780593476000

Risking their lives for their country.

Journalist and New York University writing professor Cope, a granddaughter of Italian immigrants, portrays the defiance of the Italian Resistance through the lives of K IR KU S R E V IE W S

four intrepid women. Each in her 20s when Fascism took hold in Italy, Carla Capponi, Teresa Mattei, Anita Malavasi, and Bianca Guidetti Serra were among tens of thousands of women who took part in armed resistance and hundreds of thousands of other women who provided material support. Drawing on memoirs, interviews, and personal testimonies along with historical and archival sources, Cope focuses on two crucial years, beginning in the spring of 1943, during which Italy surrendered to the Allies, Germany occupied the country, and the Resistance became increasingly militant. In concise chapters, she recounts the events of the war month by month: in Rome, where Carla’s residence served as a safe house, welcoming those who knew the password; in Florence, where Teresa, the daughter of longtime anti-Fascists, lived with her family; in Turin, where Bianca had grown up in a comfortable middle-class neighborhood; and in the small northern city of Reggio Emilia, surrounded by farmland, where Anita lived. As Resistance fighters amassed in the hills and mountains around central and northern Italy, the women brought them clothing, food, and arms. They wrote, printed, and disseminated manifestos and calls for strikes. They carried bombs. The risks were great: arrest, torture, rape, execution. They put not only their own lives, but those of their families, in danger. But they felt they had no choice. Like the others, Carla realized “there was no turning back to her previous life where she would stare out the window, waiting for the war to end. Instead, she would be on the front lines, fighting for her beloved city and a different, free future.”

An inspiring, illuminating group biography.

The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters Coyle, Diane | Princeton Univ.

Press (320 pp.) | $29.95 April 1, 2025 | 9780691179025

Or, what we talk about when we talk about GDP. Coyle, a published scholar of economic history and statistics, opens with a provocation: How do we measure the “beneficial effects of the ultrasound therapy” used to clear away brain cells implicated in Parkinson’s disease? By most measures, this is a cost, but how does one account for the possible positive effects on patients who are able to return to work? How do we factor in the cost of carbon in producing a good? How do we measure productivity in terms of time—possibly a more revealing metric than mere dollar value?

For that matter, what do we mean when we use the word “value,” anyway? Coyle holds that standard measures such as GDP and the more comprehensive SNA (System of National Accounts) work from invalid assumptions: They presuppose that natural resources are limitless and free, and they do consider externalities—the cost to the environment of a coal-fired plant, say. As for the digital world, with all its abstract characteristics, well, Coyle observes, “This is a new era, and a new statistical framework w ­ ill be needed.” Just what that new statistical framework might encompass is the brief of this book, which will prove as clear as a slurry-filled stream to anyone without grounding in economics and its

Endangering their lives—and those of their families—to fight Fascists in Italy.

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mathematics. For those who have the background, though, Coyle offers useful notes for future research on matters such as how to more accurately measure the effects of inflation (which tend to be exaggerated), how to incorporate a “hedonic adjustment”—the index of how much pleasure owning or using something might bring—into the raw numbers, and how better to use statistics to give governments better guidance, since “the purpose of statistics is to enable the state to govern well.”

A slog for noneconomists, but revelatory to anyone who’s tracking the numbers.

The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World Dalrymple, William | Bloomsbury (496 pp.) $32.99 | April 29, 2025 | 9781639734146

A historian argues for the vital impact of India on the ancient world.

In his latest book, the esteemed author of The Anarchy (2019) and other titles makes a case for the “centrality of the Indian subcontinent as one of the two ancient economic and cultural hubs of Asia.” Because the 19th-century concept of the “Silk Road”—the overland trade route from China to the Mediterranean—is so universally recognized, the influence of India, to the south, is often overlooked, says Dalrymple. The Scottish historian, who lives in India, posits that the “regularity and predictability of [Asian monsoon] winds…have allowed millennia of Indian sailors to raise their sails and propel themselves at speed across the oceans that surround them; then, when the winds reverse, safely back again.” With them, they brought pepper, spices, ivory, cotton, gems, teak, and sandalwood—all in great demand in the Roman Empire.

The resulting trade vastly enriched Indian coffers, subsidizing artistic output. This “Golden Road” then ferried Indian religious beliefs and culture eastward to 58

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China and Southeast Asia, where the “spectacular” temple complexes of Borobudur in Java (Buddhist) and Angkor Wat in Cambodia (Hindu) are evidence of the “ever-widening Indosphere where ideas and forms and stories first dreamed up in South Asia were being discussed, appreciated, adopted and adapted very far from home.” Perhaps the most influential of all exports, according to the author, are mathematical concepts such as zero, fostered by thinkers like Aryabhata (476-550) and Brahmagupta (c. 598-c.

668), which made their way to the Arab world and then to Spain and the West.

The ancient world, too, was a global village. Although the book is dense with far-flung names, dates, places, and ideas, Dalrymple’s writing is always animated, enlivened by color plates that allow readers to readily envision the sights evoked here.

A passionate tribute to the glories— and influence—of ancient India.

Muybridge Delisle, Guy | Trans. by Helge Dascher & Rob Aspinall | Drawn & Quarterly (216 pp.) $24.95 | April 29, 2025 | 9781770467729

Getting off the ground.

Eadweard Muybridge led a cinematic life. The English photographer journeyed throughout the American West and Central America, heavy equipment in tow. For years, he toiled away at photographic techniques that led to patents. Most dramatically, he fatally shot his wife’s lover. And so it is fitting that he is the subject of a graphic novel whose suspense-filled panels zip by, adding up to an engrossing account of the “father of motion pictures.” Delisle, a Canadian cartoonist whose globe-spanning books include Jerusalem: Chronicles From the Holy City (2011) and Pyongyang (2003), begins his sweeping narrative with an adventure-hungry Muybridge departing London for America in 1850.

Ten years of bookselling in New York and San Francisco lose their appeal, however, and in heading back east, he

barely survives a stagecoach accident that puts him in a coma for nine days. After six years of recovery in England, he returns to San Francisco, determined to make it in the burgeoning field of photography. He succeeds. His grand landscape portraits bring him attention, as does his “Flying Studio,” a horsedrawn darkroom he rides around town.

Here begins the story that makes the eccentric famous: Leland Stanford, the railroad magnate (and future university co-founder, along with his wife, Jane), hires the photographer to prove that a horse leaves the ground when galloping.

Six years later, after much experimenting—ultimately achieving a shutter speed of one-thousandth of a second— Muybridge has the answer. A lot of this history is well known, but Delisle succinctly relates it in lively images done in a muted, old-timey palette. Guiding readers through the early days of photography and cinema, he shows how Muybridge, determined and intense— his brow furrowed, his hair wild, his beard long and pointy—led the way for future artists to make their own work come alive with the magic of movement.

A playful and immersive portrait of a man who stopped time.

Kirkus Star

Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer Denby, David | Henry Holt (400 pp.) $32.00 | April 8, 2025 | 9781250193407

Homage to gifted disruptors.

New Yorker staff writer Denby celebrates the “cultural achievement of postwar American Jews” by profiling four prominent figures: Mel Brooks (b. 1926), Betty Friedan (1921-2006), Leonard Bernstein (19181990), and Norman Mailer (1923-2007).

“Unruly Jews,” as he calls them, they had in common “a bounding unapologetic egotism marked, at the same time, by a generous temperament and a stern sense of K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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obligation.” They had in common, as well, being the subjects of cartoonist David Levine, whose unmistakable caricatures illustrate the book. Denby feels a connection to his subjects both because of his own Jewish background and because of what they represent—a “powerful shadow existence…the full development of lives I have not lived, cannot live.”

Drawing on memoirs, biographies, interviews, archival sources, and histories, Denby creates vivid portraits of his feisty quartet. He captures Brooks’ raunchy humor, Friedan’s uncompromising intensity, Mailer’s wildness, and Bernstein’s prodigious cultural, intellectual, and sensual appetites. At a time when antisemitism was waning, they didn’t try to hide their identity as Jews, but to redefine it. Mailer, for one, escaped the image of the “‘nice Jewish boy’ by inventing the bad Jewish boy.” Friedan folded in the “ethical passions” she inherited from Jewish traditions with “the traditions of left-wing protest in the thirties (anti-fascist and pro-labor), much of it created by Jews.” Each was zealous, ambitious, and bold. “In different ways,” Denby writes, “they liberated the Jewish body, releasing the unconscious of the Jewish middle class, ending the constrictions and avoidances that the immigrants and their children, so eager to succeed in America, imposed on themselves.”

Although they were hardly alone among a generation of laudable Jewish intellectuals and entertainers, Denby makes a persuasive case for their singular eminence.

Richly detailed and thoroughly entertaining.

Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritance Dunthorne, Joe | Scribner (240 pp.) $27.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781982180751

A descendant charts a Jewish family’s unusual course through the years of the Third Reich.

In 1938, Adolf Hitler ordered that the Munich synagogue be K IR KU S R E V IE W S

demolished, and its rubble was bulldozed into the Isar river. Years later, writes English novelist Dunthorne, workmen noticed that the “rubble buried in the riverbed was unusually ornate” and began the long course of excavating it to restore the building. It’s a perfect metaphor for his book, which, among many other storylines, charts his Jewish great-grandfather’s problematic career as a chemical manufacturer who promoted the received wisdom of the day that thorium and other radioactive elements constituted “a miracle cure and the source of mysterious powers,” used as ingredients in things as various as toothpaste, energy drinks, and even lingerie. Great-grandfather Siegfried also made poisonous gases, some quite diabolical: One penetrated a gas mask and prompted retching, driving the wearer to take off the mask and inhale still more deadly components. Siegfried’s laboratory was in Oranienburg, a center not just of scientific research but also of the SS, the chemical plant next door to a concentration camp, and a production facility that made uranium oxide for the secret Nazi atomic bomb project.

Siegfried and his family left for Turkey when anti-Jewish laws were promulgated, but in exile he still worked for the chemical firm, one of whose poisonous gases was used against Kurds in eastern Turkey, killing some 13,160 civilians around the town of Dersim, which, Dunthorne writes, “has led to rumors that the Nazis saw Dersim as a proof of concept.” That Siegfried was aware of the implications of his work may have led, after he emigrated to the U.S., to a mental breakdown. Dunthorne’s winding story embraces other family members whose histories were less freighted with guilt, but Siegfried’s lies at its heart as a cautionary tale of accommodating evil.

A thoughtful, troubling addition to the literature of the Holocaust.

I Am a Part of Infinity: The Spiritual Journey of Albert Einstein Fox, Kieran | Basic Books (320 pp.) $30.00 | April 1, 2025 | 9781541603578

Albert Einstein’s nonscientific ideas also hold an irresistible fascination.

The greatest scientist of modern times was not shy about discussing his personal philosophy; an occasional author has taken the bait, and Fox, a physician-scientist, adds an earnest, often revealing account in his first book. Einstein divided religious history into three phases. Fear dominated the first, with malevolent, unpredictable gods that humans tried to please with sacrifices. The second phase led to social and moral religions in which a humanized God “protects, disposes, rewards, and punishes.” All familiar creeds fall into this phase.

While that was certainly an improvement, Einstein disagrees with theologians who proclaim this the climax of religious evolution. He denounced their “fairytales about creation,” emphasis on blind faith, failure to live up to their lofty ideals, and contempt for rival religions and free thought. Einstein promoted a third phase, which he called “cosmic religion,” in which individuals move beyond submission to an omniscient god or prophet to glory in an immense, rational, harmonious >>>

How Einstein denounced “fairytales about creation” and promoted a “cosmic religion.”

I AM A PART OF INFINIT Y

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N O N F I C T I O N // P R O F I L E

THE KIRKUS PROFILE: CHLOE DALTON A veteran political adviser and speechwriter finds her own voice in a soulful debut memoir.

THE BIO ON CHLOE Dalton’s Instagram feed cuts straight to the chase: “I met a hare and wrote a book.” Yet as she set out on a chilly walk four winters ago, the author of Raising Hare: A Memoir had no such plans.

Trudging into the fields outside her home in the English countryside, she was otherwise preoccupied. “I barely noticed the landscape around me. My gaze was thoroughly overseas,” says Dalton, a foreign policy adviser and writer. “I would stomp around the fields just a bit cold and irritated, thinking about my work and focused on returning to London.”

Back in the city, Dalton’s suitcase was often half-packed for trips undertaken on a few hours’ notice. Working with public figures and politicians such as former Conservative Party leader William Hague, Dalton’s team addressed war, human rights, and crises in places such as Kabul and Ulaanbaatar. Yet by February 2021, a year into the Covid-19 pandemic, Dalton had been displaced to her renovated barn as work unfolded virtually.

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track that led from her home: a tiny brown leveret, or baby hare, sporting a distinctive white mark on its forehead, “like a minute dab of paint.” No wider than Dalton’s palm, the creature sat with its paws pressed together and ears pinned back. It was still there when Dalton returned hours later.

So begins the tender and quietly riveting tale that eventually became her debut memoir. While Dalton had written reams of copy for other people, from speeches to editorials, a memoir was not on her radar. “I always felt I would achieve more in the context of the people I was writing for and with rather than in my own life,” Dalton says during a recent Zoom call. “I didn’t aspire to be an author.”

At first, Dalton simply tried to keep the wild leveret alive. In between feeding it oats, she took a deep dive into the habits of “rare and secretive” hares (usually called jackrabbits in the U.S.), sending away for any hare-­ centric books she could find. Some focused wholly on cooking hares, and rabbits tended to dominate both Google searches and Leporidae-focused literature. Yet rabbits differ from hares

in myriad ways, from size (rabbits are smaller) to speed (hares are faster) to nesting (rabbits burrow, while hares nest above ground).

“It was an animal that was completely outside my frame of reference.

Everything about it was baffling and new,” she says of the leveret. As she read about the animal’s meticulous grooming habits and sensitivity to both smell and noise, the leveret often rested on a cushion near Dalton’s shoulder. Dalton began tiptoeing around her home during the day, keen not to disturb her “sensitive house guest,” who mostly slept during daylight hours.

As the animal grew larger and found its way into Dalton’s garden, she began observing its behaviors there, sometimes drawing diagrams.

“Before, I’d always thought that drama and interest was in forces of war and history and conflict,” says Dalton. “There is so much drama to be found in a small garden, if you know where to look.”

Dalton began jotting down her observations on the day that the then four-month-old leveret leapt atop and K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Andrew Par sons

BY CORIN HIRSCH

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eventually over her garden wall, one of several high-stakes scenes that keep the reader in suspense. Could the leveret survive its many threats? Would it disappear into the wild forever?

About a year after Dalton’s first encounter with “hare” (whom she never named), she was wrapping up a meeting with literary agent Caroline Michel on another issue when Dalton casually mentioned the unusual goings-on at home. “I said, ‘It was lovely meeting you, and one day I’d love to tell you about a story I might like to write.’” To Dalton’s surprise, Michel asked her to tell her on the spot. “I said it as an almost offhand comment, but it must have been percolating in my mind that I was having this extraordinary experience.

Nine out of 10 people would have been far too busy and rushing onto the next thing, and they’d already given me an hour. She gave me that extra time, listened to me, and encouraged me to write. I feel very grateful.”

Dalton initially approached the book as she would her political writing: in longhand, jotted down in a notebook. She drew on her notes, diagrams, and immersive research, as well as the ongoing presence of the leveret, now a full-grown hare. “I had the great advantage that the hare was still with me. I tried to avoid touching her, but I could see her paws, her gestures, [the] fur in her face as it changed,” she says. “I think if I had written the book after the hare had gone, I wouldn’t have been able to write about it with the same immediacy. I wrote this book with a living, breathing wild hare stretched out on her flank a few meters from my desk.”

Dalton turned out a draft in about six months. She found it challenging, at first, to shift her mindset. “I was used to writing 800 words, the length of an op-ed, and to feel like I had said everything on the subject that I wanted to say,” says Dalton. Her editor encouraged her to let the story breathe. “In politics, a single word can make all of the difference. I was always expected to write about other people in their voices. It was different when I did it for myself.”

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Since publication last September in the U.K., Raising Hare has garnered much praise; among other accolades, it was shortlisted for the 2024 Book of the Year by the bookstore chain Waterstones. The book has its U.S. release next month; in a starred review, a Kirkus critic calls it a “soulful and gracefully written book about an animal’s power to rekindle curiosity.”

While Raising Hare is rich with poetic detail and palpable affection, the book also explores the myriad threats hares face: foxes, buzzards, hunters, cars, and the churning blades of ploughs. (The creature’s numbers have plunged 80% over the last century.) By the book’s conclusion, many readers have likely, and unexpectedly, become hare advocates. Dalton’s Instagram feed, @chloedaltonuk, is an ongoing homage to hares, including the eponymous hare of the title— sporting a fluffy winter coat, falling

asleep on a duvet, or bobbing its nose up and down.

“There’s this beautiful irony that a creature who is silent and totally wild helped me to find my own voice,” Dalton says. “To write a story under my own name is a huge step for me and a joyful experience.”

While the author doesn’t yet have plans for another book, she seems open to it. “Part of the incredible gift and experience that this hare has given me is the possibility of telling her story, and being able to consider a life as a writer,” Dalton says. The creature has also helped her slow down, look more closely, and reexamine the “nervous tension and impatience” that suffused her life as a political adviser. “It was a revelation to me on so many levels that there was this opportunity to change lying in a place I would have never thought to look for it.”

Corin Hirsch is a writer in Vermont.

There’s this beautiful irony that a creature who is totally silent and wild helped me to find my own voice.

Raising Hare: A Memoir Dalton, Chloe

Pantheon | 224 pp. | $27.00 March 4, 2025 | 9780593701843

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IN THE NEWS Joseph Monninger

Author Joseph Monninger Dies at 71

Steer for th Press

He wrote about his lung cancer diagnosis in a memoir, Goodbye to Clocks Ticking.

Joseph Monninger, the author of more than 30 books, has died at 71, publisher Steerforth Press announced in a news release.

Monninger first started publishing books in the early

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1980s, after serving in the Peace Corps for two years. His early works include The Family Man, The Summer Hunt, and New Jersey.

He later turned his attention to books for younger readers and to works of nonfiction, such as Home Waters: Fishing With an Old Friend, A Barn in New England: Making a Home on Three

Acres, and Two Ton: One Fight, One Night: Tony Galento v. Joe Louis.

In 2021, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He wrote about his diagnosis in a 2023 memoir, Goodbye to Clocks Ticking: How We Live While Dying. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called the book “a poignant, instructive account of reckoning with a terminal illness.”

“Goodbye to Clocks Ticking drove home for me the simple fact that we are all dying, every minute of every day, in ways that have enriched my existence immeasurably,” Steerforth Press senior editor Chip Fleischer said in a statement. “I will be forever grateful for his example, and for his friendship.”—M.S.

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universe in which their destiny is to ponder its laws. This philosophy lacks a personal god or divine laws—and has little mass appeal. As Fox writes, “even now, prominent unbelievers like Richard Dawkins argue that Einstein’s pantheism is nothing more than ‘sexed-up atheism.’” On the rare occasion that Einstein explained himself to the general public (a 1930 article in the New York Times Magazine, a conference on science and religion a decade later), responses were hostile.

Fox, though, backs his case that Einstein’s beliefs have a long, honorable history, offering first-rate summaries of the philosophies of, among others, Pythagoras, Plato, Lao-Tzu, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Mahatma Gandhi.

“With an elegant simplicity,” he writes, “Einstein’s spirituality integrates the many interests of a versatile mind and the varied experiences of an extraordinary life. Whether we agree with his message or not, the cosmic religion represents the concentrated wisdom of a well-examined life.”

A thoughtful study of a brilliant mind’s approach to the divine.

Presidents at War: How World War II Shaped a Generation of Presidents, From Eisenhower and JFK Through Reagan and Bush Gillon, Steven M. | Dutton (528 pp.) $35.00 | Feb. 11, 2025 | 9780593183137

Political historian Gillon considers the effects of World War II on a gene­ ration of presidents.

It was “the defining event of their lives”: When the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, seven future presidents—Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush—resolved to take part in some way or another. Eisenhower was a career soldier who had never commanded a unit in combat: It was his cheerful 64

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network building, coupled with a sharply analytical mind, that brought him to the forefront as a war planner and leader. Nixon, Eisenhower’s vice president, was as ever cynical: He knew that military service would be a ticket to a political future and got a rear-echelon assignment in the Navy. More daring but with the same recognition of political utility, JFK famously commanded a PT boat, becoming a decorated war hero—though, Gillon writes, JFK almost torpedoed his own career because of an affair with a woman suspected of being a Nazi spy. LBJ and Bush took to the skies, the former as an analyst, the second as a fighter pilot, also much decorated. (Gillon suggests that Johnson received an undeserved Silver Star at Douglas MacArthur’s bequest “to consummate their agreement that Johnson would be his advocate” in Congress.) Ford trained pilots on the ground in physical education. Reagan didn’t want to fight, didn’t want to give up a shot at being a movie star—and when it was clear that he was just a B-list actor with a safe commission that didn’t take him beyond California, he turned to politics. World War II shaped the political outlook of all these presidents, from Nixon’s endless grievances to JFK’s careful strategizing (and a few dirty tricks) and “bland good guy” Reagan’s hail-fellow-well-met approach to politics.

War is hell—but also, this history shows, a good way to get elected.

Kirkus Star

America, América: A New History of the New World Grandin, Greg | Penguin Press (768 pp.) $35.00 | April 22, 2025 | 9780593831250

Five centuries of persecution and resistance.

In the 150 years after Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Americas, the Indigenous population dropped by roughly 90%, writes

Grandin, a historian who has written perceptive books about corporate and governmental iniquity, among them Fordlandia and The Empire of Necessity.

Native people were enslaved, felled by disease, disemboweled with swords.

According to the book’s conscience—­ 16th-century Spanish priest Bartolomé de las Casas, an early and outspoken critic of violent colonialism—his countrymen blithely tortured Indigenous children. English colonists committed countless atrocities of their own, and while Grandin describes these and subsequent evils in necessary detail, he’s primarily interested in the intellectual, political, and moral battles over what it means to be American. Many in Mexico and countries to its south, who’d “thought themselves Americans,” he writes, seem to have first found their self-­ definition challenged in the 1820s by an American diplomat who didn’t want Mexico calling itself Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Against this backdrop of contested identity, Grandin’s sweeping narrative leaves no major event unexplored, chronicling the horrors of slavery in the U.S., wars against Spanish colonialism in South America, and the CIA’s reckless meddling in Latin America. Grandin also spotlights lesser-known developments, such as the resentment stoked by the Marshall Plan, which rebuilt postwar Europe, in part with resources extracted from Latin America. The book’s most fertile throughline concerns willful moral blindness that caused incalculable suffering—and, conversely, principled opposition to invasion and exploitation. As early as the 16th century, Grandin writes, Spain’s subjugation of Indigenous people inspired England’s repression of the Irish. Later, God-fearing Americans considered it benevolent to give human beings as gifts to respected elders. More recently, Grandin details, Latin America’s intellectual movements—­in literature, history, economics—­proved immensely influential in their “persistent opposition to intervention and conquest.”

An authoritative history of the debates and brutality that made our world.

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Kirkus Star

The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road Hanks, E.A. | Gallery Books/ Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) | $29.99 April 8, 2025 | 9781982131296

Sometimes spark­ ling, sometimes somber narrative of a sojourn along America’s southernmost interstate highway.

Hanks is the daughter of actor Tom and his first wife, Susan Dillingham, who divorced when their daughter was 5, after which they split custody, he in Hollywood and she in Sacramento. There Susan descended into mental illness, but pulled herself together long enough to take her daughter to Florida along “the 10,” L.A.-speak for Interstate 10, “in a Winnebago that lumbered along the asphalt with a rolling gait that felt nautical, as if we were crossing oceans instead of the vast expanses of the South.” Twenty-odd years after her mother’s death, Hanks borrowed a van from her father that he called the “Shit Box” to do the trip again, solo save for a brief spell with a rescued pit bull that she had to surrender in one of the most touching moments of this heartfelt, yearning narrative. Her first stop is in Phoenix, where she speaks with young locals. “Nearly every one makes some mention of how much they like that Phoenix is not cool,” she says. The vastness of the desert across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas offers a striking contrast to the make-believe Disneyland world she adores: “When you grow up with the beloved, fake version of something, seeing the real deal can be a bit of a shock.” Each stop along the way from L.A. to Florida brings a history lesson (usually grim, with murder, lynching, and death among the themes, as well as a few grisly stats on the carnage wrought by semitrucks in highway accidents) and personal revelations, often grim themselves, but always with an element of self-discovery.

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Her galloping return trip closes on a poetic note: “Getting off the 10 feels like stepping down from a long watch through a dark, if starlit night.”

A lively, lovely take on an old standby, the road trip as a journey within.

Close to Home: The Wonders of Nature Just Outside Your Door Hanson, Thor | Basic Books (304 pp.) $30.00 | March 11, 2025 | 9781541601246

Exploring the wild world behind his house.

Conservation biologist Hanson lives in the Pacific Northwest, so most of his property is a temperate rain forest, but its rich biome serves him well.

Author of The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History, he writes that readers who assume a backyard consists of weeds, shrubbery, rodents, local birds, and bugs are in for a surprise. Evolution, ecology, and biological novelties proceed at their usual pace when humans settle nearby. Plenty of exotica live among us.

Eighty percent of the small things on this planet and quite a few larger ones have yet to be named, and amateurs discover most of them. An ordinary bed sheet, brightly lit, attracts a torrent of moths including the occasional unknown. Over a hundred thousand households plant the same species of sunflower in their backyards and then take notes on the bees that visit. It was only after 1980 that scientists discovered a distinct habitat in forest canopies. Assisted by a local tree

surgeon, Hanson struggles high up a backyard Douglas Fir and discovers an unnerving new environment. In the opposite direction, any patch of ground holds as much life below the surface as above, so soil may be the richest biome on the planet. Or perhaps it’s the world after dark; a Google search produces 235 million hits for “diurnal biology” versus a mere 12 million for “nocturnal biology.” Humans are more afraid of darkness than guns. This is not likely to change any time soon, as the author bumps around with a flashlight, fending off a territorial owl that represents a genuine danger.

Far from the first natural history of the backyard, but a good one.

A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine Hedges, Chris | Seven Stories (224 pp.) $18.95 paper | March 4, 2025 | 9781644214855

A furious attack on the Israeli state.

“Israel was founded largely on lies,” proclaims Hedges, including, by his lights, “the lie that it was Arab armies that started the 1948 war that saw Israel seize seventy-eight percent of historic Palestine.” The author and former New York Times journalist adds, “The Israeli public is infected with racism,” so much so that it tolerates “Israeli’s lebensraum master plan for Gaza,” a term fraught with echoes of Nazi “living space” expansionism, very much intended. And the vicious Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israeli

Any patch of ground holds as much life below the surface as above.

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Taking issue with AI “Gloomers” who favor official oversight.

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civilians, among them attendees at a rock concert? Well, it “included atrocities,” Hedges allows, and Hamas, with a master plan of its own, may have enshrined the destruction of Israel in its foundational document, but even so, “Hamas is not, despite what Israel and Washington say, a terrorist organization.” However, Israel is, in Hedges’ view, alternately a member of a “cabal” of arms dealers “dedicated to permanent war” and a puppet master controlling the U.S. Congress, media, and academia through a combination of bribes and bullying. There is no doubt that Israel’s invasion of Gaza has been brutal, leading to a catastrophic loss of life.

Many of Hedges’ hyperbolic accusations, though, long predate the war in Gaza, old tropes freshened by new broadside-of-the-barn charges: Columbia is “a Potemkin university,” both Americans and Israelis are “infected with the same white supremacy,” the Palestinian Authority is “a hated colonial police force,” and so forth.

If you’re looking for nuance, you won’t find it here.

Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right With Our AI Future Hoffman, Reid & Greg Beato Authors Equity (288 pp.) | $32.00 Jan. 28, 2025 | 9798893310108

Going against the “Gloomers” and “Doomers.”

Reid, the co-founder of LinkedIn, and Beato, a tech and culture writer, aim to dispel the public’s concerns about ceding control to AI systems and to establish trust in AI companies and 66

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their methods by showing “what could possibly go right” in AI development.

Attempting to persuade readers that industry regulation is undemocratic and inhibits progress, the authors promulgate industry-friendly ideas such as permissionless innovation, iterative development, and risk tolerance. They take issue with AI “Gloomers,” who favor official oversight. They examine the historical context of technological adoption, using examples like the automobile, the power loom, and the printing press to illustrate how new technologies can transform societies.

However, the authors don’t entirely prove their case. They frequently make comparisons that are an oversimp­ lification of a complex issue, such as when they write: “Regulation is one way we try to compel certainty, but no regulation can completely eliminate the risk of some unfortunate thing happening.” The authors compare the regulation of Large Language Models (LLMs) used in AI to laws against robbery and professional licensing for doctors and lawyers: “Laws that make robbery a crime aren’t a guarantee that you won’t ever get mugged—they’re simply a policy designed to reduce that possibility.”

But these are vastly different domains with distinct risks and regulatory challenges. The authors’ writing suffers from logical fallacies—hyperbole, hasty generalizations, and false dichotomies. At times, the book reads as if it were written by AI—meaning the arguments sound plausible, but may suffer from a biased feedback loop that could have occurred during one of their “endless conversations… with Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini,” which Beato cites using “while drafting this book.” These problems render the book largely sophomoric.

A defense of AI weakened by poor arguments and little critical analysis.

Warbody: A Marine Sniper and the Hidden Violence of Modern Warfare Howe, Joshua & Alexander Lemons Norton (304 pp.) | $29.99 March 11, 2025 | 9781324066330

Powerful collaborative account of a Marine sniper’s journey through the wilderness of war’s toxicity.

This synthesis of combat memoir and environmental polemic follows an equally unorthodox structure, alternating chapters by co-authors Howe, an associate professor of history and environmental studies at Reed College, and Lemons, who “served four tours in Iraq and Kuwait and then came home and became seriously and mysteriously ill” following his 2009 honorable discharge. Howe argues, “Alexander Lemons’s wartime experience exposed him to a crazy cocktail of potentially toxic substances” and traumas. They first met in 2012, with Lemons’ path to graduate studies derailed by spiraling illness, then began working together on this project in 2018, refining an approach they term “historical anatomy.” Howe explains, “Together, we use Alex’s story to rethink the violence we associate with war” but also “include the slow violence of toxic exposures and lasting trauma.” From an athletics-focused Mormon background, Lemons reflects, “I enlisted because I grew up in a family of caretakers.” He believed in the sniper’s exacting standards: “In the logic of the Marine Corps, becoming a sniper was…the one combat job that keeps more Marines safer than any other.”

His wartime vignettes are hypnotically brutal, as he attempts to unearth the invisible or intentionally overlooked environmental hazards, from burning trash pits to exposure to heavy metals and depleted uranium, omnipresent in modern warfare. Yet once discharged, Lemons faced a grueling 10-year odyssey through both the VA and integrated medicine to grapple with debilitating conditions brought on by these exposures, alongside PTSD. Their unusual approach K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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can be unwieldy, but it’s engaging; as Howe concludes, “mitigating exposures for both Marines and civilians also requires new forms of strategic thinking about warfare itself.”

Unflinching examination of the hidden costs of American-style war.

The Explorer’s Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map Hutchinson, Alex | Mariner Books (304 pp.) $32.50 | March 25, 2025 | 9780063269767

Looking at why humans roam.

Hutchinson is both a runner and a writer. Although his 2018 book, Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, sold well, he found himself ignoring opportunities to exploit the success. Then, perhaps influenced by a modest bank balance, he wondered why his attention kept wandering. He had discovered philosophy’s ancient explore-exploit dilemma. You can exploit the resources you have or explore in search of an outcome that’s uncertain but may be better. You can’t do both.

Business books belabor this point, but Hutchinson delivers a rare focus on individuals. He reviews three clues suggesting that we are natural-born explorers. Anthropological clues help reveal how humans spread across the earth. Biological clues help explain how exploration has affected our genes and vice versa. The third clue is neurological: a new theory of the brain called predictive processing. Taken together, they make an ingenious and convincing case that we find it rewarding to seek out the unknown. We push into new territories even when we’re comfortable where we are. Other animals don’t do this. While there is no smoking-gun “explorer’s gene,” many gene variants exist that encourage novelty seeking. Neuroscientists discovered that the brain does not simply receive information from the senses; it K IR KU S R E V IE W S

generates signals about what it expects to happen. This “predictive processing” saves work (brains evolved for survival, not accuracy), and the brain usually predicts correctly. It doesn’t like surprises.

Fortunately for the reader, Hutchinson’s broad definition of his subject allows him to dip heavily into behavioral psychology, gambling, business, aging, evolution, and urban planning, all of which feed our yearning to make the future better, provided the risks aren’t too great. The latter half of the book delivers insights into even less tangible forms: creativity, art, research, play.

Good science behind the urge to travel or stay put.

The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir Jones, Martha S. | Basic Books (320 pp.) $30.00 | March 4, 2025 | 9781541601000

How generations of a biracial family found their lives shaped—and distorted—by the color line.

A light-skinned African American, New York native Jones had a life-changing epiphany in college when a fellow student implied that she was “not [Black] enough.” It was then she realized that her racially ambiguous appearance “unsettled, perplexed, and even provoked.” In this book that began as a quest in her 20s to understand her family roots and took her to Kentucky and North Carolina, the Johns Hopkins history professor examines how perceptions of color affected different generations of men and women in her family. For some, like the light-skinned grandfather who led a historically Black women’s college, living close to the color line caused painful misunderstandings and a “theft” of identity. Historians writing about him called him white, on the basis of photographs rather than background, which included a formerly enslaved mother and free person of color father.

Those in her family who chose to intermarry faced some combination of

legal and social discrimination. A white great-great-grandmother from the pre–Civil War era who chose to marry a man of color not only “gave up her past” but also lived in fear of facing penalties for breaking federal anti-miscegenation laws. Jones’ own white mother married her Black father in 1950s Jim Crow America. The difficulties the couple experienced included obstacles buying a home together and social isolation. The price Jones paid as the pair’s biracial child was to be defined as a legal ambiguity along the same color line that had so bedeviled her ancestors. Eloquent, candid, and meticulously researched, this book will appeal to both lovers of family memoir and scholars of Black history.

A deftly woven multigenerational tapestry that celebrates the complexity of African American history and identity.

Kirkus Star

The Last American Road Trip Kendzior, Sarah | Flatiron Books (320 pp.) $29.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781250879882

A journalist and her family trundle along America’s blue highways.

“There are no red states or blue states,” writes journalist and commentator Kendzior. “There are only purple states, purple like a bruise, and people trying to survive in a broken-promise land.” In her own purple state of Missouri, Kendzior makes a stand for ordinary people and her “love for day-to-day American life” while looking at some of their extraordinary accomplishments, from siring the writer who would become Mark Twain to building the St. Louis Arch honoring Lewis and Clark’s expedition. She digs deeper, unearthing lawsuits and grand engineering schemes along the Mississippi in which the likes of Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee took part before the Civil War. Her road trips are motivated by wanting to lend specific gravity to the historical past, to be sure, but also by her curious children, now FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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teenagers, who over the years have become historians unto themselves, understanding the truly good things about America while sensing that the known future is going to be tough, a time of climate chaos and political unrest. Although Kendzior holds that “America is a diverse nation held together by disillusionment, not by binary categories that correspond to state lines,” she does allow that some places are less diverse than others: Branson, Missouri, for instance, an exemplar of generica that lies in Taney County, “named for Roger Taney, the Supreme Court justice who deemed Dred Scott less than human.” Most elegiac of all are Kendzior’s travels along Route 66, that historic mother road that will turn 100 in 2026 and is now rutted, boarded up, pulled onto the interstate in one detour after another, and generally depressing: “Route 66 is America,” she writes, “and America is falling apart.”

A graceful—and righteously angry— travelogue through a troubled land.

Expect Great Things!: How the Katharine Gibbs School Revolutionized the American Workplace for Women Krefft, Vanda | Algonquin (320 pp.) $29.00 | March 4, 2025 | 9781643753171

A boon for working women.

Author and journalist Krefft draws on school records, personal papers, oral histories, and published material for a lively history of the famed Katharine Gibbs School, which empowered

young women to reinvent their role in the working world. Besides perfecting secretarial skills, Gibbs students learned “how to walk, talk, dress, and behave so they belonged among the swells.” Katharine Gibbs (1863-1934) was a 40-year-old widow with two young sons when she faced dire financial straits: When her husband died suddenly, without a will, inheritance law left her with nothing.

Despairing of finding a job, she decided to become an entrepreneur and open a secretarial school. With a six-week secretarial studies course at Simmons College in Boston as preparation, she founded the Katharine Gibbs School of Secretarial and Executive Training for Educated Women, with branches in Providence, Boston, and New York. Admission standards were high, dress codes unbending (hats, white gloves, trim suits), and the curriculum rigorous—“a combination of skillset boot camp and C-suite finishing school,” with visiting instructors from Harvard, Columbia, Brown, MIT, and Wellesley. Krefft creates succinct biographies of many Gibbs students, examining their motivations for enrolling and their subsequent careers. Loretta Swit, for example, went to Gibbs to have a fallback in case her dream of becoming an actress didn’t pan out. Among her jobs after graduation was as personal secretary to newspaper columnist Elsa Maxwell. Others found positions in government, the military, and the entertainment industry. One helped create Wonder Woman; some launched careers as authors. By the late 1960s, though, the school seemed out of date, as women’s aspirations changed. By 2011, it closed permanently, after more than five decades of

Looking back at a school that empowered women to reinvent their role in the working world.

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offering its students a much-desired path to independence.

A fresh contribution to women’s history.

Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight To End Slavery Kreitner, Richard | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (416 pp.) | $32.00 April 1, 2025 | 9780374608453

Historical examination of a dilemma facing 19th-century Jewish immigrants to the U.S.: Did assimilation require supporting slavery?

As Kreitner observes in opening, many Jews in both the North and the South supported slavery as biblically endorsed, with one New York rabbi asking abolitionists, “Does it not strike you that you are guilty of something very little short of blasphemy?” It did not help that many abolitionists were also fervent evangelists who sought to convert as well as liberate, some of whom “called for altering the Constitution to make America an officially Christian nation.” Kreitner follows the lives of six representative figures, three of them rabbis. Of them, one was opposed to abolition, one wanted Jews to stay out of the argument for their own security, and one was wholeheartedly opposed to slavery.

Adding to these are three secular Jews, not especially religious, who took different paths: one a veteran of the European revolutions who came to America in 1848 and fought with John Brown in Bloody Kansas; a socialist named Ernestine Rose, who combined her opposition to slavery with a strong denunciation of “women’s subjugation”; and, best known of all, Judah Benjamin, the slave-owning Louisiana senator who became the most powerful member of Jefferson Davis’ cabinet but who, Kreitner notes, is also “conspicuously absent from the Lost Cause pantheon.” Though it is difficult to K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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generalize from so small a sample, Kreitner makes clear that each was sincere in his or her beliefs: The antislavery rabbi David Einhorn, for instance, held that “Jews fortunate enough to have found refuge in the United States should work to make it better, for everyone,” while Benjamin sought to protect his financial interests even as he recognized that sooner or later the South would have to abandon slavery—and who wisely fled the country at the Civil War’s end.

A welcome contribution to the literature of slavery, the Civil War, and American immigration.

The Magic Books: A Medieval History of Enchantment in 20 Extraordinary Manuscripts Lawrence-Mathers, Anne Yale Univ. (368 pp.) | $38.00 March 11, 2025 | 9780300244434

Illuminating past beliefs.

We often associate medieval Europe with dogmatic Christianity, but Lawrence-Mathers, a professor of history at University of Reading, in Britain, paints a broader picture. There was a great interest in magic as well, within a Christian framework, she argues. She investigates the subject through 20 illuminated books, providing a wealth of beautiful images. Most of the books were created for royal clients and courts from the 9th to 16th centuries. “Medieval magic was not confined to the powerless and the poor,” the author writes. “This contradicts the long-held view that belief in magic is inherently irrational, and can only be the product of superstition or ignorance.” Predicting the future through astrology was a common purpose of the magic books, whose detailed charts explained the movement of planets through the zodiac signs and how they should be interpreted. There were also instructions for K IR KU S R E V IE W S

discerning a person’s future by reading their palm, directions for the best timing of major events, and recipes for a variety of extraordinary potions. Lawrence-Mathers notes that this was all taken very seriously, with magicians undergoing rigorous training. People of the time saw no contradiction between Christian faith and magic. In fact, astrology was seen as a way to discern God’s will, as written in the heavens. Some magic was meant to protect against satanic evil. There was the “official” magic of the courts and the darker sorcery that was tied to witches, which led to persecutions and purges. Royal personages themselves probably did not use magic, but there are plenty of cases of kings and nobles acting on magical advice. It adds up to a fascinating story in a handsome volume. As a bonus, the bibliography shows how digitized versions of the books can be accessed.

A learned and affectionate study of hidden knowledge.

The Sexual Evolution: How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships Lents, Nathan H. | Mariner Books (336 pp.) $32.00 | Feb. 4, 2025 | 9780063375444

Boldly venturing where few cultural warriors dare go: to biological fact.

This book is about more than modern relationships; it’s about modern debates over who is male or female and why many people say they’re not the gender they were assigned at birth. An evolutionary biologist at John Jay College, Lents takes a compassionate and rational approach to these subjects, explaining that much of the misunderstanding surrounding them comes from the imprecise language we use to talk about sex and gender. Lents sheds light on the comparative biology and ethnology behind the most controversial aspects of human reproduction: the

universality of masturbation and promiscuity among mammals and other animals; the forms “gay” sex takes among species, ranging from bedbugs to seabirds to those “sluttiest creatures,” the socially peaceful bonobos; the chemical and microbiological processes underlying the reasons embryos develop into babies that present as one sex at birth while feeling like another sex trapped inside their body as they get older. “When an organ doesn’t form in the typical way,” Lents writes about “intersex” embryos, “we usually call this a ‘defect’ or an error….­[A]na­tom­ical tweaks are the raw material for evolution’s creative potential. They are not errors or defects. They are simply variations.” Variation is the watchword in this informative and often very funny book. Lents, a gay married man with adopted children, has some stake in these debates, and he isn’t shy about sharing his thoughts on the dangerous impact of religion and conservative cultural values on people who vary from the statistical norm. People with those views may be scandalized by Lents’ arguments, but they would do well to read this strong case against their positions.

Destined to be a go-to source in future sex and gender debates.

Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service Lewis, Michael, ed. | Riverhead (272 pp.) $30.00 | March 18, 2025 | 9798217047802

Deep state, shmeep state: a spirited rebuttal to the canard that federal civil servants are nest-featherers up to no good.

“The fact is that federal employees go to work every day with the explicit job description of making the lives of everyday Americans better.” So writes W. Kamau Bell, one of the writers drawn into this Washington Post FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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project to explore the federal workforce and the things its members do in their daily labors. As volume editor Lewis notes, the Post series, although about eight times larger than the usual feature, saw a fourfold increase in readership—perhaps not so surprising, given that D.C. is a company town, but noteworthy in that the series painstakingly showed readers the myriad ways in which government is not the demonized bugaboo of Reagan and Trump supporters. What do the people of the Department of Agriculture do? Lewis asks and answers: “They preserve rural America from extinction, among other things.” Lewis, best known for his 2003 book Moneyball, profiles a mine inspector at the Department of Labor who, committed to making mining safer, developed protocols and technologies such as the “stability factor” to do just that, even though “industry executives…made it clear…that they viewed safety as a subject for wimps and losers.” The National Cemetery Administration, writes Casey Cep, may be unknown, but its 2,300-odd employees “bury more than 140,000 veterans and their family members each year” while tending the graves of more than 4 million veterans. Dave Eggers visits the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is quietly asking questions about life in the universe, sending out spacecraft and monitoring the heavens while employing some of the best minds in the world—about a third of them women. All the contributions similarly press the point that the government’s work is useful—and no one else but government workers are likely to do it.

Compelling arguments against ideologues bent on dismantling the government.

Kirkus Star

Mothers and Other Fictional Characters: A Memoir in Essays Lipson, Nicole Graev | Chronicle Prism (248 pp.) | $17.95 paper March 4, 2025 | 9781797228563

Intimate essays on contemporary womanhood.

Award-winning essayist, journalist, and critic Lipson, a 44-year-old mother of three, makes an impressive book debut with a gathering of 12 deeply thoughtful essays on the transitions, joys, and challenges that have marked her life. Anchored by topics such as motherhood and daughterhood, friendship and marriage, beauty, aging, and gender stereotypes, the essays cohere into a revealing memoir. Often, Lipson finds wisdom—or at least comfort—in fictional depictions of women. “There are books that seem to glide into our lives at a particular time as if by design,” she writes, “finishing thoughts just partially formed in our minds.” Kate Chopin’s The Awakening was one, with college freshman Lipson connecting with the sexual stirrings of Chopin’s transgressive Edna.

As a mother, confused by her oldest daughter’s apparently fluid gender identity, Lipson found enlightenment in Shakespeare’s cross-dressing Rosalind from As You Like It and Virginia Woolf’s Orlando.

She finds solace in Alice Munro’s depiction of motherhood as a “heroic journey,” in which mothers are thinking beings.

Lipson is candid about the tensions and worries generated by mothering: She feels unsettled, for example, about letting her son play with guns, part of a larger concern about the cultural messages he’s learning about manhood. A loving wife in a happy

In praise of public servants and their daily labors.

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marriage, still, she acknowledges a gnawing desire for solitude. Sometimes, she wonders “if marriage, with its contractual origins, can ever fully transcend the transactional. In a marriage, it can feel as if something is always owed, because it’s entirely impossible, despite the gauzy hopes we pin on matrimony, for two people to fulfill each other’s every need.”

With empathy and grace, Lipson unravels the tangle of “illusory standards” that weigh on any marriage and any woman’s sense of self.

Deftly crafted essays likely to resonate with grateful readers.

Lower Than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity MacCulloch, Diarmaid | Viking (752 pp.) $40.00 | April 15, 2025 | 9781984878670

Wide-ranging study of human sexuality in the Christian context.

Noted church historian MacCulloch presents a lengthy and thorough study of the role of sex throughout Christian history. “Sex” is perhaps a limiting term, in that MacCulloch explores gender, marriage, family, celibacy, feminism, and so much else that is directly and indirectly connected to the term “sex.” The author begins by explaining how the Christian faith grew into its own identity, both informed by and in opposition to Judaism, and how a theology of sex and gender roles developed in early centuries. It did not take long for Christian leaders to conclude that sexual activity was an impediment to personal holiness, and this opinion (which has its own complex origins) soon overtook Christendom’s worldview. By the time of the Crusades, a celibate clergy held a hierarchical mantel of holiness and power over lesser, married laity. The Protestant Reformation and then the Enlightenment would revolutionize these views in some ways, but a male-dominated church remained the norm, no matter what its views on sex and K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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marriage. As culture became increasingly secular from the 18th century onward, changes occurred not only in allowed or normative sexual activity but also in the role of women, continuing on into modern times. MacCulloch admirably covers both Eastern churches and the more dominant Roman Catholic and Protestant viewpoints, but either way in many cases his history of sex also mirrors a history of Europe. As such, he notes that views on, and theologies of, sex have been extraordinarily varied and even contradictory through time and across geography. MacCulloch is to be commended for largely avoiding the salacious and titillating; quite the opposite, his treatment of sexual history is decorous to a fault.

Well written and thoroughly researched, this comprehensive volume unveils a fascinating history.

The Wonder Boy: Luka Dončić and the Curse of Greatness MacMahon, Tim | Grand Central Publishing (368 pp.) | $30.00 March 25, 2025 | 9781538740712

The rise of a basketball prodigy.

Dončić, the high-scoring Dallas Mavericks guard, has been performing under abundant scrutiny for half his life. He was 13 when he left home in Slovenia to play in Spain, and within five years, he was “the most accomplished European teen prospect ever,” writes MacMahon. The ESPN reporter capably captures Dončić’s precocious self-assurance. As an older player put it, Dončić “doesn’t feel pressure” when it’s time to take a big shot. Beginning his NBA career in 2018, when he was 19, Dončić delighted in taking 30-foot jumpers in “defiance” of his new coaches—“a source of great comedy” to his teammates. MacMahon focuses on the Mavericks’ efforts to acquire players to complement Dončić’s talents, lest he sign with another team K IR KU S R E V IE W S

when he becomes a free agent or demand a trade while still under contract. Such is “the reality of the modern-day NBA” in the “player-empowerment era,” MacMahon writes. Frequently awestruck by Dončić’s talents, MacMahon notes that he’s earned a reputation for failing to stay in shape and constantly whining about referees’ calls. As the narrative draws closer to the present, alas, MacMahon’s workmanlike accounts of relatively recent games—these rely heavily on stats and trivial accomplishments, like Dončić notching “the fourth ever 50-point performance” on Christmas—offer little that’ll be new to fans. And beyond some anecdotes about the birth of Dončić’s first child and his love of junk food and video games, readers won’t learn much about him away from the hardwood.

MacMahon notes that Dončić, in his travels, has learned four languages, but the author is less interested in the intellectual agility that this implies than he is in recycling stale pre- and postgame bromides about the player’s desire to win.

A competent look at a hoop star loses steam in crunch time.

Vera Miles: The Hitchcock Blonde Who Got Away McKittrick, Christopher | Univ. Press of Kentucky (320 pp.) | $29.95 March 25, 2025 | 9781985902190

The prolific career of a hard-­ working actress.

Vera Miles is best known for three movies she made with celebrated directors John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock: The Searchers, Psycho, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. She also appeared in nearly 200 television shows during a busy 50-year career. Author and journalist McKittrick recounts her life and work in detail, from her “fairly typical” youth in Kansas in the 1940s to her retirement in 1992. In 1948, as third runner-up in the Miss America pageant, Vera Ralston was offered a contract from RKO at $500 a week (roughly $6,500 today). Her career

start was rocky: After she quickly married Bob Miles, a driver for Howard Hughes, RKO’s volatile owner, an angry Hughes fired his driver, and soon her contract was sold to Fox. McKittrick documents the ups and downs of her career: directors who cast her, actors she performed with, critics’ assessments, and plot summaries. As Miles became increasingly famous, reports of her personal life filled gossip columns, including divorces, four marriages, and four pregnancies. Family life, McKittrick asserts, was central to her. She wanted “primarily to make a living for herself and her children. Professional respect and stardom would be welcome benefits to that end goal but not her motivating factors.”

Still, stardom did come her way, particularly when Hitchcock put her under personal contract. With Grace Kelly giving up acting to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco, Hitchcock needed another sophisticated blonde, and Miles filled the bill. He was disgruntled when she had to withdraw from the starring role in Vertigo when she became pregnant. Although Mc­Kittrick’s sources don’t reveal much of Miles’ inner life, he nevertheless offers a comprehensive filmography.

A respectful, well-informed biography.

The World After Gaza: A History Mishra, Pankaj | Penguin Press (304 pp.) $28.00 | Feb. 11, 2025 | 9798217058891

Against selective readings of history—and the horrors they enable.

Mishra, who has employed his crystalline prose in novels and nonfiction alike, methodically unpacks the “extensive moral breakdown” that preceded what he describes as “the blithe slaughter of innocents in Gaza.” As for the slaughter of Oct. 7, 2023, he says Israel’s leaders did not “shrink from exploiting” the cold-blooded attack.

Formative travel and extensive research upended Mishra’s formerly “languid view of Zionism as >>> FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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Delving Into the Five Senses 4 For more booklists, visit Kirkus online.

5

1 How the World Eats

By Julian Baggini

A provocative, intelligent survey of the many complexities, moral and practical, of bringing food to our plates.

2 Muybridge

By Guy Delisle

A playful and immersive portrait of a man who stopped time.

1

4 Natural History of Silence

By Jérôme Sueur

A lively and learned celebration of sonic environments.

3 The Forgotten Sense

5 The Loves of My Life

With intelligence and wit, a researcher raises our sensitivity to smell.

An irreverent and unapologetically provocative scrapbook of an aging author’s sex life.

By Jonas Olofsson

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By Edmund White

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Brandy Will Publish a Memoir This Fall The singer and actor will tell the story of her life and career in an as-yet-untitled book.

Brandy will tell the story of her life and career in a new memoir, People magazine reports.

Hanover Square will publish the singer and actor’s memoir, as yet untitled, in the fall. The press describes the book as “a raw, intimate portrait of her life, charting her growth to stardom from Mississippi churches to Hollywood spotlights.”

Brandy was born in Mississippi and raised in California and released her first album, Brandy, in 1994, when she was 15.

Seven more studio albums would follow, most recently Christmas With Brandy in 2023.

She made her acting debut in 1993 with the

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SEEN AND HEARD

television series Thea and gained fame as the star of Moesha, the hit sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2001. Her film roles include I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, The Perfect Match, and The Front Room.

In her book, Hanover Square says, Brandy “reveals the real story behind her life in the spotlight, the stratospheric highs and the unimaginable lows, the groundbreaking moments and the relatable journey she had to take to discover her authentic self—as a woman, a mother, an artist—as Brandy.”

Brandy announced her book on Instagram, where she posted, “Writing my memoir was one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences of my life. I allowed myself the space to be fearless and vulnerable to reveal some of my most intimate moments. For the first time, I am sharing my story—honest, unfiltered and not through the lens of media or critics.”

Her memoir is slated for publication on Oct. 7.

—M.S.

Brandy For some great memoirs, visit Kirkus online.

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S E E N A N D H E A R D // N O N F I C T I O N

SEEN AND HEARD Patrick Radden Keefe Moonlights as a Model The Say Nothing author appeared in an Instagram post for J. Crew.

Alber t Llop/NurPhoto v ia Get t y Images

Even if you’re a prize-­ winning author and one of the country’s most respected journalists, it’s always good to have a fallback career.

Just ask Say Nothing and Empire of Pain author Patrick Radden Keefe. The writer recently took a turn in front of the camera in a photo shoot for J. Crew, the New York Times reports.

Keefe, who won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Say Nothing and the Baillie Gifford Prize for Empire of Pain, appeared in an Instagram post for J. Crew, the 41-year-old clothing

Patrick Radden Keefe For reviews of Patrick Radden Keefe’s books, visit Kirkus online.

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retailer known for its preppy looks.

In the photos, Keefe wears a variety of outfits, including a plaid jacket over a blue polo shirt and a trench coat over a suit and tie. In some photos, he is clutching a cup of coffee; in others, a copy of the New Yorker magazine, where some of his best-known articles have appeared.

Keefe told the Times that he got the gig after an acquaintance, brand consultant Chris Black, suggested him to the retailer.

“They couldn’t get Daniel Craig, and they were like, all right, who’s next on our list?”

Keefe said.

The author, whose most recent book, Rogues, was published in 2022, said he does not intend to leave the literary life behind in favor of a career on the catwalk.

“I’m gonna hold on to my day job,” he said.

—M.S.

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The man who ushered in an acid-washed wave of irreverent adult comics.

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vindication and shield of the eternally persecuted.” A frequent contributor to respected political magazines by the early 2000s, he tried to publish his reporting about “the brutality and squalor of Israel’s occupation,” which he witnessed in the West Bank in 2008. But, he says, he encountered “pre-censorship in even liberal periodicals.” This, Mishra believes, was informed by the publications’ fear of being labeled antisemitic—the result of a decades-long effort by various political actors to establish the Holocaust as “the sacred core of Israeli nationalism.” Soon after World War II, he finds, scholars worried that the Holocaust was being forgotten.

But with the 1961 prosecution of Adolf Eichmann, it was front-page news once more. This was followed, in 1967 and 1973, by wars that Israel won despite appearing “existentially threatened by its Arab enemies.”

Thereafter, American politicians, stung by defeat in Vietnam, saw “an apparently invincible Israel as a valuable proxy in the Middle East.”

Meanwhile, the sentimentalization of the Holocaust in popular novels and Hollywood films dovetailed with the Israeli nationalist position that “those who have been or expect to be victims should pre-emptively crush their perceived enemies.” At heart, this is an exhaustively sourced plea for historical literacy that opens up what Mishra calls “a broader vista of human fraternity and solidarity” and recognizes that across the globe, people victimized by “historical mass crimes of genocide, slavery and racist imperialism” wonder why “their own holocausts…have not been much regarded in history.”

A clear-eyed look at the Holocaust as justification for Israel’s wars.

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Kirkus Star

Crumb: A Cartoonist’s Life Nadel, Dan | Scribner (480 pp.) $35.00 | April 15, 2025 | 9781982144005

An intimate biography of legendary cartoonist Robert Crumb.

Far out, era defining, and often deeply problematic, Crumb’s comics captured the zeitgeist of the ’60s and ’70s counterculture and continue to inspire legions of artists today. Emerging from a traumatic youth with unfiltered sexual hang-ups and a love of prewar comics, Crumb grew to be an unlikely hero of the scene. His characters like Fritz the Cat and the bearded guru Mr. Natural ushered in an acid-washed wave of irreverent adult comics that, biographer Nadel (It’s Life as I See It, 2011, etc.) explains, built an audience across “overlapping cultures: stoned hippies who spotted a fellow traveler, intellectuals who could see its meta-layers, and comics fans who respected the drawing and verve.” A collaborative champion, Crumb published anthologies like Zap and Weirdo, in which he used his star power to support the work of other contributors. Drawn in virtuosic inky crosshatch, his brazen comics are at once stunning and troubling to read, often teeming with misogyny and sexual deviance. But Nadel explains Crumb is “willing and compelled to expose his darkest impulses to exemplify the male id; he risks being shunned to demonstrate the viciousness of racism.

He demands we pay attention no matter the cost.” Crumb’s great success can be

traced to the palpable trust between Nadel and his subject: Nadel warmly channels present-day Crumb’s elder remembrances throughout the biography in a way that enlightens the text with an unsuspecting maturity. “Robert imposed just one condition on this book,” Nadel writes in his foreword, “that I be honest about his faults, look closely at his compulsions, and examine the racially and sexually charged aspects of his work.” A tall order, as much of Crumb’s seminal oeuvre is built on his own perverted fantasies, but Nadel deftly contextualizes the artist’s salacious output within a finely rendered record of the artist’s private life and within an electric chronicle of the underground comics wave.

Essential history for art and comics aficionados.

The Cherokees: In War and at Peace, 1670–1840 Narrett, David | Belknap/Harvard Univ. (600 pp.) $35.00 | April 1, 2025 | 9780674258204

How an Indigenous people resisted, adapted, and endured during an era of colonization.

Unlike most previous studies of the Cherokee, which have tended to focus on the first half of the 19th century, this thorough and insightful history emphasizes the period from early contact with Europeans to the end of the 18th century. The book acknowledges the challenges in telling this story given the enormous gaps in the historical record, especially from a Cherokee perspective, and the untrustworthiness of European and American accounts, especially English translations of Cherokee speech. Nevertheless, the narrative that emerges here draws attention to a people’s vigorous, creative, and long-standing agency in affirming a sense of collective identity. As Narrett explains, “This book is not simply about what Europeans ‘did’ to ‘Indians’ as victims of colonialism. It concerns the K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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changing and often tumultuous relations between Native peoples as they variously fought, made peace, or allied with one another in the light of new and often unprecedented challenges.” Particularly well documented here is the role played

by Cherokee women in negotiating those challenges: “Cherokee diplomacy was not simply a matter of what came top-down or was decided by headmen in conferences with colonial and later U.S. officials. Cherokee women sustained community not only in daily tasks but by making their voices heard and taking risks in the political-social sphere.” Also effective are the author’s descriptions of the complexities of political negotiations with settler populations, the role of slavery in Cherokee culture, and the evolution of self-definition that emerged in response to the pressures of colonization. The concluding section of the work ably traces connections to the present-day Cherokee and to the endurance of “ideals of communal harmony, spiritual connectedness to nature, and the capacity to negotiate differences among themselves.”

An informed, astute investigation of Cherokee survivance.

Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope Nguyen, Amanda | AUWA/MCD (224 pp.) $24.00 | March 4, 2025 | 9780374615918

A survivor of rape and childhood abuse chronicles her healing and her activism.

Nguyen arrived as a freshman at Harvard in 2009 under unusual circumstances— she had flown directly from the emergency room in California, where she was treated for injuries inflicted by her abusive father. When he flew to Boston an injunction was issued to prevent him from stepping on campus.

But her safe space of four years was shattered in October 2013 when she was raped by a classmate. Her memoir excludes almost all details of the event K IR KU S R E V IE W S

and its perpetrator, which seems odd since headings like “3 Hours Until the Rape” appear to lead up to an account.

A friend asks her what she’s going to wear to a party, a question she says reverberated in her head for years, but we never find out the answer. Since she doesn’t explicitly state that she’s going to omit further details, one is surprised to reach the end of the book without ever learning more. What we do hear about is the incredible frustration she suffered trying to stop the state from destroying the evidence in her rape kit after a six-month waiting period, a fraught battle that drove her all the way to Congress, where she spearheaded the passage of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act in 2016. The sometimes outrageous machinations this required are narrated in granular detail.

Interwoven with it is an extended fantasy/adventure sequence where characters named 5, 15, 22, and 30—the author’s selves at these ages—go on a quest through the phases of grief (Denial, Anger, etc.), processing sorrowful memories and family history to arrive at healing. Meanwhile, there’s another curious omission. Since the whole purpose of preserving the rape kit evidence is to prosecute the rapist, it is perplexing that we hear nothing about whether any case ever went forward or is planned.

A troubling account of the obstacles our system places in the path of rape survivors.

The Scientist and the Serial Killer: The Search for Houston’s Lost Boys Olsen, Lise | Random House (464 pp.) $32.00 | April 1, 2025 | 9780593595688

A forensic anthropologist’s quest to identify long-lost victims of a sadistic sex killer known as the Candyman.

Between 1970 and August 1973, before a young accomplice emptied a .22-caliber

revolver into him, ending his life and career, Dean Corll buried more than two dozen bodies in eastern Texas. It has taken local officials decades to reconstruct a timeline and map of the spree and identify the remains of many young men found in various sites around the state; their work is not complete and may never be.

Investigative reporter Olsen interweaves details of Corll’s life, his crimes, and the original investigation with the story of her main source, Dr. Sharon Derrick of the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office, who was only a teen when the murders occurred. It’s a big, messy, complicated story that has taken officials like Derrick decades to tell. Derrick has had to correct errors of previous investigators and fill in details left out of the incomplete confessions of Wayne Henley and David Brooks, two neighborhood teens whom Corll enticed into his service: He gave them gifts of stolen cars and plenty of drugs, and they reciprocated, plying him with victims and occasionally helping him kill them and dispose of the bodies. Olsen’s narrative jumps haphazardly back and forth in time between the original crimes and Derrick’s and other investigators’ breakthroughs, pausing along the way to add historic and local color. It can be daunting to keep the details straight, which makes the textbook-like sidebars, maps, and tables welcome. Corll actually did drive around the working-class Houston Heights neighborhood where most of his victims lived, handing out candy to schoolchildren from his family’s business. He remains mostly a mysterious blank in these pages.

A satisfying read for true-crime aficionados.

For more true crime, visit Kirkus online.

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Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover To Expose America’s Nazis Payne, Scott with Michelle Shephard | Atria (288 pp.) | $28.99 March 25, 2025 | 9781668032909

An FBI agent recounts his years infiltrating white supremacist groups.

Being an undercover agent, writes Payne, isn’t much like the Hollywood depiction, though there’s truth in the method-actor part of the gig: the need to become someone else. The agent/actor is out there mostly alone, without day-to-day support.

“Undercover work,” he writes, “can get pretty lonely at times. You never really get used to it.” Joining the FBI after working as a vice and narcotics investigator for a South Carolina county sheriff, Payne, brawny and tough, was put to work infiltrating biker groups in the Northeast, busting corrupt cops caught up in the drug trade and the like before going deep undercover to track down violent supremacists. This wasn’t the Ku Klux Klan, Payne writes, who are “basically your grandpa’s white supremacists,” but groups such as the Base, modeled after Al Qaeda (which means “the base” in Arabic), whose members are committed to the violent overthrow of the government. Largely disaffected rural people who are lightly educated and heavily armed, they call themselves “accelerationists,” buying into the theory that once the U.S. is overrun by lawless immigrants and the feckless Democrats do nothing about it, “society will decline, and the country will burn,” and the (white) nation will clamor for deliverance. Dubbed “the Hillbilly Donnie Brasco” and trained by the real “Brasco” himself (Joe Pistone), Payne runs with some ugly types to do his job—for one, a woman who takes him on to do home invasions and tells him, “If you need someone tortured, I like torture.” The work, he writes in his tough-as-nails account, became even more pressing after the deadly 2017 white nationalist 78

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Going deep undercover to track down heavily armed supremacists.

CODE NAME: PALE HORSE

rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Now retired, he intimates that there’s plenty more to be done to curb supremacist radicalism, now in the ascendant.

An eye-opening look at the small but eminently dangerous radical rightwing fringe out there in the shadows.

The Rose Book Phaidon Editors | Phaidon (248 pp.) $49.95 | April 2, 2025 | 9781838668808

A festival of roses.

With more than 200 color images and five essays, this sumptuous volume celebrates an iconic flower.

Introduced by Kristine Paulus, collection development librarian at the New York Botanical Garden, essays include fashion historian Amy de La Haye’s overview of roses in clothing design; a piece by Victoria Gaiger, editor at Rakesprogress magazine, examining the use of roses in perfumes; and floral designer Shane Connolly’s consideration of the language of a flower long associated with goddesses of love. Rose, Gaiger discovered, the favorite scent of Marie Antoinette, later became a prominent note in Paul Poiret’s La Rose de Rosine and Chanel’s famous No. 5. Although the red rose has endured as a symbol of affection—notably, of course, on Valentine’s Day—Connolly reveals that roses of other hues send subtle messages, too. Michael Marriott, chairman of the Historic Roses Group, offers a glossary of rose types—damasks and floribundas, ramblers and rugosas, among many others. The blossom Sappho called “the queen of flowers” originated more than 30 million years

ago and contains more than 150 wild species and tens of thousands of cultivars. Beloved by Greeks, Romans, and throughout the ancient world, the rose inspired festivals that still continue. Among the book’s images is a fragile gold and glass floral wreath dated to the third or second century B.C.E. Featured, as well, are delicate botanical drawings and paintings by a wide range of artists, including Vincent van Gogh, William Morris, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Gustav Klimt, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Salvador Dalí. Fashion plates display the creations of designers such as Christian Dior, Elsa Schiaparelli, Charles Worth, and Alexander McQueen. Not least, Ian Hamilton Finlay’s screenprint on tile takes as its motif Gertrude Stein’s famous line of poetry, “A rose is a rose is a rose.”

Perhaps it’s all that needs saying.

A beautifully produced homage.

Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster Polgar, Susan | Grand Central Publishing (352 pp.) | $30.00 March 11, 2025 | 9781538757291

The allure of chess.

Hungarian-born chess grandmaster Polgar, winner of the world’s six most prestigious chess crowns, recounts a triumphant career that began when she was 3. Excited by a chess set she discovered in a beat-up cabinet, she was eager to learn how to play with the enticing new toys. Her father incorporated chess into her homeschooling, teaching her moves for one piece at a K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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time, gradually building up to openings and strategies. Clearly a prodigy, Polgar entered her first tournament when she was 4½, winning against older girls. In 1979, at age 10, she became the youngest person to earn official rating through the International Chess Federation. Although Hungary repeatedly refused to grant her a passport to leave the communist Eastern Bloc, publicity about her prowess soon led the government to relent. Competing internationally, she rapidly ascended in stature. In 1983, she ranked among the top 10 female players in the world.

Polgar’s two younger sisters also became enamored of chess, proving to be talented as well: At the 1988 Olympiad, the three staged a “gold medal coup.” Besides striving to win, Polgar also devoted herself to publicizing chess and attracting new players. As a young mother in New York, she set up a chess school in her neighborhood; she took a position as a coach at Texas Tech University and Webster University in St. Louis, where, in November 2023, she was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame. Throughout her career, Polgar rose above considerable challenges: from those who believed that women shouldn’t compete against men; from political threats to her and her family; from bitter animosity from a woman champion; and from virulent antisemitism at home and abroad. The game sustained her.

A champion’s engaging memoir.

The Rebel Romanov: Julie of Saxe-Coburg, the Empress Russia Never Had Rappaport, Helen | St. Martin’s (336 pp.) $32.00 | April 15, 2025 | 9781250273123

A woman caught in the whirlwind of history.

British historian Rappaport continues her studies of the Romanovs with a detailed biography of Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1781-1860), an aunt of Queen Victoria. Because Julie destroyed a K IR KU S R E V IE W S

great deal of her correspondence, and a journal she apparently kept has never come to light, much of her life, Rappaport admits, “remains hidden from us.” Nevertheless, Rappaport’s extensive knowledge of Russian and European history and culture allows her to create an informative chronology of a woman who was at times manipulated, victimized, despondent, and defiant. At 14, the German princess was betrothed to Konstantin Romanov, the impulsive, erratic, often violent grandson of Catherine the Great. Both Catherine and Julie’s mother, Duchess Auguste, favored the marriage, which marked an important political alliance and, for the financially strapped Coburgs, hoped-for access to Romanov wealth. Rappaport chronicles the arduous 40-day trip from Coburg to St. Petersburg, when Auguste brought three daughters for Konstantin and Catherine to choose among: When Konstantin finally made his selection, Auguste returned home confident that she had enacted a “glittering dynastic coup.” Soon, however, Konstantin’s rages, cruelty, and philandering led Julie to despair.

Seeking any excuse to leave Russia, she finally succeeded in 1801, on the pretense of visiting her ailing mother.

Although she vowed never to return, her family insisted she do so, fearful of severing ties to wealth. As Rappaport makes clear, Julie surely was not alone among women used as pawns in political machinations by “vultures of royal ambition,” but her eventual divorce from Konstantin, in 1820, granted by her sympathetic brother-inlaw Tsar Alexander, was a rare occurrence. Rappaport reveals Julie’s affairs, two illegitimate pregnancies, and sustaining friendships: a life weathered within a context of war, assassination, disease, and betrayal.

A brisk rendering of tumultuous times.

For more on Russian history, visit Kirkus online.

On Elton John: An Opinionated Guide Restall, Matthew | Oxford Univ. (208 pp.) $29.99 | March 25, 2025 | 9780197684825

An admiring overview of Elton John’s musical career.

Restall, who has written on Latin American history as well as popular music, focuses not so much on John’s biography as on his songs and their popularity. The book emphasizes the undeniably impressive superlatives John has amassed during his career: the No. 1 hits, the album sales, the record-breaking concert tours. Although this may seem a superficial way to measure a performer’s impact, Restall points out that John himself is a “consummate chart-watcher,” always keeping an eye on his sales. The author states up front that he is not a musicologist and doesn’t try to dig into whatever musical elements contribute to John’s success. Each of the 10 chapters puts the spotlight on one song and on one person who illuminates “the larger pop cultural context” of John’s career. Some are fellow musicians—David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, Rod Stewart, and, not surprisingly, John’s lyricist partner, Bernie Taupin. Others are drawn from the broader arena—Princess Diana, tennis great Billie Jean King, and John’s husband, David Furnish. These pairings are often illuminating, although the two chapters on Bowie (and other mentions elsewhere in the book) tend to treat Bowie’s career as a series of cynical self-promotions in contrast to John’s supposedly less calculated trajectory. Of course, given that Restall is a self-described fan of the singer, a certain degree of adulation is to be expected. And overall, the book gives an interesting perspective on the course of rock and pop music over the past half-century, with notable insights into how the public’s attitude toward gay performers has evolved. Especially recommended for Elton John fans.

An opinionated, well-documented treatment of one of the most successful entertainers of the modern era.

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Kirkus Star

Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America Risen, Clay | Scribner (480 pp.) | $31.00 March 18, 2025 | 9781982141806

A sweeping history of the campaign to suppress liberal dissent via blacklisting and harassment.

As Risen, whose histories have ranged from whiskey to the Rough Riders, writes, “There is a lineage to the American hard right of today” in the Red Scare of old. In fear that communists were everywhere in American society, police agencies went overboard to prove it, usually to no effect.

For example, Risen writes, the FBI conducted 4.76 million background checks and investigated 26,236 individuals who held or applied for government jobs in the late 1940s and early 1950s, suspecting them of espionage. “Most were eventually cleared, but 6,828 people resigned or withdrew their applications, and 560 were fired. Not a single spy was ever discovered by the program.” Just so, while the House Un-American Activities Committee made news every day, as well as making household names of Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon, little evidence of spying and Soviet subterfuge ever emerged. In his deftly written history, Risen attributes the rise of anti-communist paranoia to an atmosphere of isolationism and conspiracy theory—there’s that lineage to today—as well as to an anti-labor movement that expelled leftists from the union rank and file and leadership alike; the postwar right

also militated against gay rights and civil rights for Black Americans, and the “conservative turn that followed put a brutal end to those small hopes.” In his wide-ranging account, Risen portrays blacklisted Hollywood screenwriters, notes the rise of militaristic toys such as little green Army men, examines anti-communism in popular culture (with Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer mowing down 40 communists, crowing, “I shot them in cold blood and enjoyed every minute of it”), and closing with the pointed thought that the Red Scare was the product of fringe politics that somehow took center stage in American life.

An exemplary work of political and cultural history that invites a gimlet-eyed look at our own time.

The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About Robbins, Mel | Hay House (336 pp.) $29.99 | Dec. 24, 2024 | 9781401971366

A sensible self-help guide that counsels giving other people leeway to do as they will while taking care of oneself.

It’s not indifference that drives Robbins to counsel letting go of things beyond one’s control, but instead acknowledgment that, as Buddhists say, “suffering comes from resisting reality.”

The reality of the world is that everyone wants to rule it: We crave control, but that control is illusory, and people will for the most part do whatever they want.

Thousands resigned, hundreds were fired, but “not a single spy was ever discovered.”

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Let them, Robbins counsels in her frequently voiced mantra: “When you stop managing everyone else,” she holds, “you’ll realize you have a lot more power than you thought—you’ve just unknowingly been giving it away.” Neither is it indifference to stop caring what others think, Robbins suggests, but you can of course model such good behavior that you don’t deserve another’s negative opinion. Some of Robbins’ advice is easy enough to adopt, such as her inspired “5 Second Rule,” counting backward from 5 before launching into an activity that one might not want to do, like paying the bills. Other strategies require of readers the patience of a saint, as when, instead of raising a stink when a fellow airplane passenger refuses to cover his mouth as he coughs and wheezes, she covers her mouth and nose with a scarf and puts on headphones. “Problem solved,” she writes, adding that the corollary to Let them is Let me, as in Let me adjust my behavior to cover what I can actually control. Robbins tours through a host of situations, from breaking up with a bad friend to interrogating yourself about why you’re upset about something, with sometimes surprising answers that often boil down to simple solutions, such as “Stop choosing to chase people who clearly do not want to be with you.”

A truly helpful treatise on seeing others as they are, and letting that be.

Kirkus Star

The Jew Who Would Be King: A True Story of Shipwreck, Survival, and Scandal in Victorian Africa Rovner, Adam | Univ. of California (344 pp.) $32.95 | April 15, 2025 | 9780520403000

Delving into a little-­k nown odyssey.

This engaging history tells the story of Nathaniel Isaacs (1808-1872), a British Jewish adventurer whose exploits, writes Rovner, “can be seen as a cross between K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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an orphaned hero from a Charles Dickens novel…and a character from an H. Rider Haggard African adventure.”

Isaacs was born to a merchant family in London. He traveled to the island of St. Helena, where Napoleon was in exile, to join his relatives in their commercial work. He sailed to southern Africa, where he served in the court and the armed forces of King Shaka Zulu. He worked in East Africa, building a successful business in Sierra Leone.

Eventually, he fell afoul of the British administration and wound up back in England. This book relies in part on Isaacs’ memoir, rich with brilliantly limned characters, scenes of epic depravity, and moral judgments. Much of that may be made up, but Rovner, author of In the Shadow of Zion, gets behind its fantasy to excavate the complex history of race relations, colonial expansion, and Jewish identity.

At the heart of the book is a story about changing notions of race and religion.

Were Jews believed to be related to Africans? What role did Jews play in “the great game” of African exploitation and the slave trade? On Matakong Island, off the coast of Guinea, Isaacs tested the limits of power. He became a “culture broker, mediating between Indigenous and colonial interests.” He established his own private army.

Readers watch Isaacs’ descent into slave-trading turpitude, “until finally the serpent’s egg of unrestrained power hatched within his soul, and he brutalized the bodies of those who sought little more than scraps of clothing, a bowl of rice, a morsel of meat.” Good and evil blur in this story, and Rovner’s evocative writing and scrupulous scholarship reveal a world that will be new, even to those familiar with colonial history.

A dazzling work of research, written with the flair of a novel.

For more by Adam Rovner, visit Kirkus online.

The Six: The Untold Story of the Titanic’s Chinese Survivors Schwankert, Steven | Pegasus (272 pp.) $28.95 | April 1, 2025 | 9781639368679

The little-known story of how six Chinese men survived the Titanic.

This book is a follow-up to a documentary that Schwankert made about this amazing tale of survival at sea. He begins with Fong Wing Sun from Taishan, China, on Xiachuan Island.

Along with many other Chinese young men, he would travel to Hong Kong, then to Europe. Schwankert discusses the major shipping lines, including the White Star Line, the men who ran them, and the ships they built, including the Titanic in 1909—the “largest and most luxurious ship in the world.” Eight third-class Chinese passengers, all working seamen, were listed on the ship’s April 1912 maiden voyage, ranging in age from 24 to 38. Fong is listed as Fang Lang, 26, but Schwankert believes he was 18. All were staying in a London boardinghouse.

There were 900 crew members and 1,300 passengers. Schwankert conjectures what life was like for them on board. Fang, Lee Ling, and Len Lam knew each other, hoping to become merchants in America.

At 11:40 p.m. the Titanic struck an iceberg. The men would have gone to the boat deck hoping to find a lifeboat, but there weren’t enough for everyone.

Cheong Foo made it to one, so did Ah Lam, Chang Chip, Lee Bing, and Ling Hee in Collapsible Lifeboat C. Lee Ling and Len Lam did not survive.

Fang was rescued from the water. The six survivors—among 712—reunited on the deck of the Carpathia. That they lived was “almost incredible.” But history didn’t treat the “stowaways” well and Schwankert goes into great detail to reinstate their “tarnished” reputations, describe what happened to them afterward, and tell the story behind his documentary.

A much-needed tribute to the Titanic’s Chinese passengers.

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Yoko: A Biography Sheff, David | Simon & Schuster (368 pp.) $30.00 | March 25, 2025 | 9781982188245

Inside the complex world of an artist who was much more than a Beatle wife.

Veteran journalist and memoirist Sheff (Beautiful Boy, 2008) confesses early that he is friends with Yoko Ono, the performance artist, musician, and famous widow of John Lennon; he met the couple in 1980, at age 24, to conduct a wide-ranging interview for Playboy and quickly bonded with them.

That doesn’t mean he eschews unpleasant elements of her history. She maintained a heroin addiction with Lennon for a time, had an expensive interest in numerologists and astrologers who chiseled her, and all but pretended that her longtime post-Lennon partner, Sam Havadtoy, didn’t exist. But the book is mainly intended as a defense of Ono: Sheff frames her as an accomplished artist well before she met Lennon at a London gallery, demolishes the false and often bigoted argument that she broke up the Beatles, and reassesses her work as a musician, which is often dismissed as shrill and tuneless. Throughout, a theme of bravery persists: She left the comfort of her well-off family in Japan and quit school to work as an independent performance artist. (Her most famous work is “Cut Piece,” in which audience members were invited to cut off pieces of her clothing as she sat still.) Moreover, she spent decades trying to locate her daughter (with her first husband), who had joined a cult and vanished. (Lennon moved with her to America in large part to make that search easier.) Much of the book’s latter sections, following Lennon’s murder in 1980, betray a friend’s effort at hagiography, praising her music and later accomplishments with little detail or context. But the best of the book reveals Ono as an emotionally sensitive and charmingly provocative artist who, FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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in Lennon, found an ideal muse. “We saw each other’s loneliness,” she said.

A compromised biography that still sheds light on a divisive figure.

Valley of Forgetting: Alzheimer’s Families and the Search for a Cure Smith, Jennie Erin | Riverhead (384 pp.) $30.00 | April 1, 2025 | 9780525536079

The quest for a cure for Alzheimer’s in a perhaps unlikely venue.

Gabriel García Márquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude detailed a number of genetic consequences of isolation, with hinterland families manifesting odd physical characteristics. The same isolation, Colombian researchers hypothesize, accounts for the pronounced presence of hereditary dementia there. As science writer Smith observes, there was the possibility that the Colombian countryside harbored “many potential triggers of dementia, including chemicals used in mining and agriculture.” Yet the fact that so many families had members with early-onset dementia, often setting in before age 50 and even younger, suggested a genetic cause—and one early discovery was that “every sick person had had a sick parent.” In a time of civil war and narco kings, medical research in Colombia was a fraught proposition, with investigators including one hero of the piece, a doctor named Francisco Lopera Restrepo, taking shelter abroad for a time as colleagues and students were kidnapped and murdered. When things calmed down, foreign scientists arrived to

study the phenomenon alongside homegrown researchers, isolating genes and eventually helping establish clear patterns of inheritance—and, interestingly, also accumulating proof that trauma of some sort often proved a trigger in setting off a patient’s decline.

Frustratingly, drugs used in extensive trials did not prove efficacious at first, though Big Pharma kept an eye open for the possibilities of a market in Colombia, “a common, and frequently criticized, practice among pharmaceutical firms working in the developing world: testing expensive therapies in poor populations, then passing the costs on to strapped healthcare systems.” The quest continues: As Smith writes in closing, the Colombian institute called Neurociencias has been an important pioneer in identifying numerous genetic mutations that may in time yield keys to treatment.

Solid medical reportage with a hopeful conclusion that science may soon bring a cure for a devastating disease.

The Art of Uncertainty: How To Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk, and Luck Spiegelhalter, David | Norton (336 pp.) $32.99 | March 4, 2025 | 9781324106111

Probability with a twist.

Spiegelhalter, professor of statistics at Cambridge University and bestselling author of The Art of Statistics, emphasizes that he will deliver facts about uncertainty, avoiding matters of debate such as the best Beatle song, what to wear this evening, or the existence of God. Statistics, rules, and even equations come

Many families had members with early-onset dementia, suggesting a genetic cause.

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thick and fast, but few readers will miss his warning: Never trust words to express uncertainty. Many times this century, governments have raised the terrorism threat level, warning that an attack is “likely.” The number of attacks that followed—zero. Few agree on the meaning of “unlikely, possible, likely, probable, rare, and so on,” but a number is straightforward. Having set the scene and perhaps delivered more information than readers want to know, Spiegelhalter provides his expert opinion on simple subjects that turn out to be not so simple. Coincidences turn out to be common. Another long chapter discusses luck, which one expert called “the operation of chance, taken personally.” Still another points out that most people who die in car accidents are wearing seat belts, yet belts remain lifesaving. This is proved by Bayes’ theorem, which demonstrates how additional facts can make sense of nonsense. Random numbers are essential in many fields outside of statistics, but they’re extremely difficult to achieve; most readers can’t produce them. He concludes with a long discussion of making decisions and managing risks—perhaps his most practical chapters. Readers should not expect strategy for winning at Las Vegas or the office election pool. Spiegelhalter admits frankly that many concepts are tough going, and readers whose mathematics classes include a taste of statistics will have an easier time.

A satisfying look at the nature of uncertainty.

These Strange New Minds: How AI Learned To Talk and What It Means Summerfield, Christopher | Viking (384 pp.) $32.00 | March 11, 2025 | 9780593831717

A closeup look at the large language models that have radically changed computer technology.

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this intriguing book. It meant that humans no longer had a monopoly on cooperation, knowledge generation and sharing, and conceptualization.

Summerfield, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Oxford and a staff research scientist at Google DeepMind, is well placed to explain the origins and nature of the large language models (or LLMs) that have taken AI systems to a more advanced level. He is wary of this new generation, concerned that they are developing faster than the means of human control. While acknowledging that LLMs can be very useful at organizing and providing information, the author provides plenty of examples of dangers they could unleash, including fake legal cases or stock market crashes. Developers have tried to prevent these risks by providing more context for AI responses, but that raises the issue of AI systems reflecting the biases of the programmers. The fact that LLM-informed systems can communicate with each other also means that some things occur without human involvement. Does all this mean that the systems “think?” Summerfield’s conclusion: Whatever they’re doing looks a lot like it. The key problem is that we are plunging ahead with ever-smarter systems without understanding their impact, and Summerfield thus calls for coordinated research into the field from developers, regulators, and governments. “The era we have just entered—where AI can speak, both to us and to each other—is a watershed moment,” Summerfield writes. “We don’t yet understand what it will mean for humanity, but it’s going to be exciting—and slightly terrifying— to find out.”

A clear-minded, accessible examination of how AI systems work.

For more on artificial intelligence, visit Kirkus online.

Into the Ice: The Northwest Passage, the Polar Sun, and a 175-Year-Old Mystery Synnott, Mark | Dutton (384 pp.) $32.00 | April 15, 2025 | 9780593471524

High Arctic sea exploits in expert hands.

Adventure writer Synnott wanted to sail the Northwest Passage across northern Canada and write a book about it. He knew that every attempt in the 19th century had failed, and hundreds died; Roald Amundsen achieved it first, in 1906.

Global warming has converted the voyage into a garden-variety extreme adventure à la climbing Mount Everest, although many more have made the climb. Author of The Impossible Climb and The Third Pole, Synnott took the essential first step: raising the money. The magic words “Sir John Franklin” produced it. Sir John sailed into the passage in 1845 with two British ships and 128 men, then vanished. Rescue missions and missions to learn what happened remain a British and North American obsession. More men have died in those excursions than in the original voyage. Franklin’s ships were discovered only a decade ago, and artifacts continue to turn up along with some of the men’s bones, but most of the crew are unaccounted for. The jackpot would be to find Sir John’s grave or details of the expedition’s fate, such as a ship’s log. After recruiting a few friends (and a National Geographic filmmaker) and fitting up his ship, Synnott headed north. He writes, “Could I sail a forty-year-old fiberglass boat from Maine to Alaska—a voyage of some seven thousand miles—and live to tell my own tale?” His account alternates between his voyage and Franklin’s, with a steady stream of follow-up expeditions mixed in. Despite global warning and 21st-century technology, sailing the Northwest Passage remains a brutal experience. Several crew opted to go home, and the ship barely escaped disaster.

Good history and a compelling extreme adventure.

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A Better Ending: A Brother’s Twenty-Year Quest To Uncover the Truth About His Sister’s Death Thomson, James Whitfield Avid Reader Press (304 pp.) | $28.99 March 25, 2025 | 9781668062869

A whodunit that hits close to home.

Novelist Thomson began work on this book about the death of his younger sister, Eileen, in 2001, more than two decades after her alleged suicide in September 1974.

While attempting to fictionalize the tragedy, he had a sudden realization: There was no reason to believe the official story that, feeling remorse over an affair and guilt over two miscarriages, Eileen had shot herself in the heart during a heated argument with her husband, Vic, a police officer. One discordant fact about the incident gnawed at him: His parents had received a hopeful letter from Eileen, written and sent on the day of her death, giving no indication that she was feeling suicidal.

Deciding he was writing about his own long-suppressed doubts about the case, Thomson hired a private investigator in Los Angeles (the death occurred 60 miles east, in San Bernardino) to try to get at the truth. What they find in the record and interviews of surviving witnesses shakes Thomson to his core.

He begins to question not only the facts he had long trusted but also the flaws in his own character that made him trust those facts for so long. He sees parallels in his own history—alcoholism, adultery, domestic violence—echoing in Eileen’s tragically short life. These ruminations and doubts give this memoir a depth lacking in many true-crime stories. Parts of the book closely resemble that genre in tone and atmosphere and leave the reader guessing up to the climatic confrontation between Thomson and his former brother-in-law at a Seattle restaurant in 2004. The tortured, philosophical self-examination can sometimes feel like FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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another book entirely, but it’s essential to the book’s arguments about the nature of truth and the dread of uncertainty.

A sometimes uneven but ultimately provocative read.

It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time Vilanch, Bruce | Chicago Review Press (256 pp.) $28.99 | March 4, 2025 | 9780914091929

Veteran scriptwriter and comic Vilanch delivers a rueful memoir of life in the trenches.

“Nothing ever happens if you don’t say yes, even if…it seems like a bad idea at the time,” writes Vilanch at the end of a meandering catalog of onscreen disasters, some so improbable that it’s amazing they made it past the cutting-room floor. Take a sitcom with Charo, the cuchi-cuchi Spanish “force of nature” who played a mean flamenco guitar (taught to her by none other than Andrés Segovia) and who put her brilliance under a bushel: “The biggest thing about Charo is her brain, topped only by her good nature,” Vilanch confides. Even so, someone cooked up the notion that she should be married to a Marine sergeant and create bilingual/bicultural havoc at every turn. It didn’t fly, but the writers did cook up a variety show for Charo that, though a ratings hit, was a one-off. Other flops pepper his pages, most of them in the variety vein, and not all of them his fault: He reckons that the film version of Mommie Dearest “holds pride of place in the bad idea hall of fame.” Still, Vilanch owns up to many stinkers of his own (he promises a follow-up volume on the good ideas). There’s nice dish along the way on the likes of Paul Lynde (“effeminate, bitchy, slightly mincy, he was more like the guncle no one talked about”), Betty White (“as sexually charged a personality as you’ve ever seen”), and his own ’70s-era cohort of TV folks before and behind the camera 84

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(“Everybody, or almost everybody of a certain generation—Osmonds excepted—was somewhat baked some of the time.”). His central question remains, too: “Why was there a Star Wars holiday special, you might ask.”

A well-written treat for fans of show-biz gossip.

The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto: A Fifteen-Year Quest To Unmask the Secret Genius Behind Crypto Wallace, Benjamin | Crown (352 pp.) $32.00 | March 18, 2025 | 9780593594025

A shadowy genius, a global search, and a confusion of possibilities.

Everyone loves a mystery, and mysteries involving secret riches and tantalizing clues are even better.

Wallace, author of The Billionaire’s Vinegar (2008), tries to unravel the strange case of Satoshi Nakamoto, the reclusive and pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin and the holder of a huge amount of it. It started with a research paper published under that name in 2008, and many people in the technology community have become obsessed with the search for its author.

There was a vague trail of notes and comments, and then, as Bitcoin was becoming viable as a new form of currency, only silence. The army of Nakamotologists—yes, that is what they are called—generated plenty of theories about Nakamoto’s identity, based on coding methods, writing style, and even initials. There was speculation that Elon Musk was Nakamoto (which Musk denies) and that the Bitcoin idea came from a government intelligence agency. Some Nakamotologists thought that the underlying code was brilliant; others saw it as old-fashioned and clumsy.

Wallace carefully examines the popular candidates, but none of them completely matches the known

information. Various people came forward saying that they were Nakamoto, but their claims were debunked.

Wallace has a good time chasing all this around and meeting a host of eccentric characters, and along the way he explains how Bitcoin actually works.

His own thesis is that Nakamoto was really a team of specialists, each making contributions. There is sense in the approach, yet all the people mentioned denied it. One way or another, Bitcoin is here to stay, and Nakamoto just might remain unknown.

An enjoyable romp through the tech sector in search of Bitcoin’s founder.

Together We Roared: Alongside Tiger for His Epic Twelve-Year, Thirteen-Majors Run Williams, Steve & Evin Priest Morrow/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $30.00 | April 1, 2025 | 9780063418707

Up close and personal with golf history.

As told to golf journalist Priest, Williams recounts his 12 years caddying for Woods, from 1999 to 2011, a historic run of 13 majors and more than 80 other wins. After Woods dropped his previous caddie, he called Williams to see if he’d be interested.

Williams told Priest he saw Woods as a “nice guy with a sense of humor.” At their first tournament, the New Zealander learned he had to deal with security officers, wear Nike apparel, and be his gatekeeper. After 68 days, they finally won, in Germany. After they won the Memorial Tournament, Williams tells Priest he felt like this “would be a lasting relationship.” He was now appreciating Woods’ generosity and loyalty and talks about how financially generous Woods was to him. He describes Woods as a “meticulous and ruthless plodder” with an “astonishing” work ethic.

They won their first major together, K IR KU S R E V IE W S

NONFICTION

the PGA. Williams kept detailed notebooks about Tiger’s game, like his impressive three-putt avoidance for 248 consecutive holes. Williams calls 2000, when Tiger switched to a new ball, “perhaps the greatest year of golf that has ever been played.” In that year his win at the British Open at St. Andrews gave Woods a grand slam and record-setting score. Afterward, Williams joyfully drank from the claret jug. He offers up some golf gossip, like there was “no love lost” between Woods and fellow pro Vijay Singh, and Woods and Phil Mickelson weren’t friends. Williams provides lots of insider info on many rounds, tournaments, and shots, the stress he often felt, and the feelings of accomplishment working and winning with one of the game’s greatest until after Woods’ sex scandal and their resulting “messy split in 2011.”

A breezy story golf fans will enjoy.

China’s Quest for Military Supremacy Wuthnow, Joel & Phillip C. Saunders | Polity (288 pp.) | $69.95 March 17, 2025 | 9781509556939

How the world’s largest army got its act together.

Wuthnow and Saunders, of the Institute for National Strategic Studies, emphasize that just as the 2008 Olympics marked China’s emergence as a global heavyweight, the recent military demonstrations against Taiwan symbolize a new era for the People’s Liberation Army. It’s stronger, more modern, and more confident today, yet there remain intrinsic flaws that neither technology nor money will solve. American soldiers swear allegiance to the Constitution, the PLA to the Communist Party. Almost all officers and many lower ranks are Party members, and political indoctrination takes up a major part of their time even after basic training. Mao K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Zedong’s word was law until his death in 1976, when, following the disastrous Cultural Revolution, his successors aimed to clean up the mess he left. Few deny their success, which included reforming the PLA, although that remains a work in progress. The authors remind readers that authoritarian states must pay especially close attention to their military, whose professionals, like soldiers everywhere, look down on civilians. They add that, during its early decades, the military budget was not a top priority, and the PLA continued its tradition of raising money by commercial activity, which institutionalized a great deal of corruption. They recount 50 years of efforts to modernize as well as shrink the army and rein in the three negative consequences of party-army relations—autonomy, corruption, and ideological divergence. They conclude that it has been largely successful, although the PLA remains a quasi-independent self-policing organization.

Along the way, readers will learn more Chinese acronyms, Chinese bureaucratic maneuvering, technical details, and scholarly military minutiae than they want to know, but they will also receive genuine insights into the transformation of this former shambling empire into a global superpower and rival.

Important if unsettling.

James Baldwin: The Life Album Zaborowska, Magdalena J. Yale Univ. (312 pp.) | $28.00 March 25, 2025 | 9780300262209

A tribute to an influential queer Black trailblazer.

Part of Yale University Press’ Black Lives series, academic and Baldwin authority Zaborowska’s gracefully impassioned biography of the queer author and activist’s life and legacy focuses on his intimate social and

professional intercourse, his travels, and the evolution of his sexuality. Formatted like an album on vinyl, the book intensively explores Baldwin’s private life through a succession of record “sides” and “tracks.” She makes great use of archival information on Baldwin, his emerging humanistic philosophy, as well as the diversity of his distinguished literary oeuvre, the expanse and importance of his home in France until his death, and a trove of unpublished writings that spin a fresh perspective on her subject’s artistic evolution and how he lived life outside of the public eye.

Through the lens of Black queer humanism, which Zaborowska believes has the power to “connect Baldwin’s time to ours,” she pinpoints and highlights the episodes and formative influences occurring in Baldwin’s domestic life. These influences include his upbringing in Harlem; many impressionable early educators; his beloved mother’s presence; his pious stepfather’s brutality; various sexuality, identity, and gender struggles; and political lessons learned from Black feminists. All of these were artistically channeled into the creation of his essays, novels, and confessional notes that formed the heft and enduring impact of his legacy. Readers seeking a linear biographical timeline of Baldwin’s artistic and personal life will not find it here, but will instead delightfully discover Baldwin’s existence brilliantly and honorably “remixed” by Zaborowska.

Her book vividly celebrates the “auto-ethnographical repetition” and “cyclical, achronological narrative style” of Baldwin’s timeless writings and enthusiastically reassembles his personal life by spotlighting the intimate, intensive, formative moments that shaped him as a queer Black artist and a man.

A creatively conceived appreciation for a decorated life and its far-flung influences on race, queer culture, and art.

For more on James Baldwin, visit Kirkus online.

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

85

Pick up something you can’t put down.

Love And Wonder

Magical Missions – The New Chosen Ones

Dr. Greta Archbold

Jaime Enrique Gutierrez Perez

By accident Daisy meets an old flame and, instead of flying

Tina from Sirigia embarks on a journey with her

to Dallas as planned to meet Jake, she ends up in New York.

childhood friend, Cezanne of Terrania, and a fallen

Will Daisy and Jake still be in love?

noble, Rodion Dragao. They unite across Multiria,

$17.99 paperback

gathering allies for the New Chosen Ones.

979-8-3694-9268-0

$32.99 paperback

also available in hardcover & ebook

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also available in hardcover & ebook www.xlibris.com.au

Power Of The Mind Know Yourself

A Better Place

Your Hidden Unconscious-Mind

A Stretch2Smart Book

Dr. Anthony Emmett

Mary Jane Zakas

This book delves into an exploration of our consciousness,

Colorful illustrations follow William, Roberta, and their pets.

dissecting its operational layers and energy dynamics.

A creek visit, fishing on the lake, and an auction present

Through this examination, we gain insights into harnessing

challenges as the unexpected unfolds and good decisions

the extraordinary mechanism bestowed upon us.

are made.

$17.99 paperback

$27.95 paperback

979-8-3694-9435-6

978-1-4808-9057-2

also available in hardcover & ebook

also available in hardcover & ebook

www.xlibris.com.au

www.archwaypublishing.com

Saga of The Light Striper

To the City

The Reframing of a New World

A Stretch2Smart Book

5LFN 6WXHPSÀ H

Mary Jane Zakas

Hanfivans grapple with society’s fate, balancing external and

This children’s book follows a couple as they go to the

internal forces. The imminent arrival of the goddess Kuykki

city to spend some time shopping and having fun.

brings uncertainty. While lacking magic, truth and faith hold

However, a shortcut to a scenic route takes them on an

potential for a transformative new world.

unexpected adventure.

$48.99 paperback

$23.95 paperback

978-1-6632-5215-9

978-1-4808-4385-1

also available in ebook

also available in hardcover & ebook

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Sport: A Stage For Life

To Love Is To Serve

How To Connect With The Touchstones Of Elite

Dalton Hope Hamilton

Performance And Personal Fulfillment

This book tells the journey through the life of a man whose

Cristiana Pinciroli

road to success was paved with disappointments and

Two elite athletes with a passion for high performance and

setbacks, with love and compassion, with self-determination

realizing human potential use scientific data and examples

and an impeccable character.

from sport to guide you along a journey of happiness,

$33.00 paperback

success and fulfillment.

978-1-6632-5920-2

$28.99 paperback

also available in ebook

978-1-6632-3367-7

www.iuniverse.com

also available in hardcover & ebook www.iuniverse.com

Real Authors, Real Impact

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P O D C A S T // N O N F I C T I O N

Fully Booked

The powerful essays of Holy Ground explore science, faith, progress, and hope. BY MEGAN LABRISE

EPISODE 408: CATHERINE COLEMAN FLOWERS

EDITORS’ PICKS:

To Walk the Sky: How Iroquois Steel Workers Helped Build Towering Cities by Patricia Morris Buckley, illus. by E.B. Lewis (Heartdrum) Aflame: Learning From Silence

by Pico Iyer (Riverhead) How To Sleep at Night by Elizabeth Harris (Morrow/ HarperCollins) THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

The Investors’ Advocate by Payson Y. Hunter The New Cadets by Marjorie Burns, illus. by Carolyn Wilhelm Under the Sky by Sig. Alexander Six Moons, Seven Gods by Robert A. Walker Fully Booked is produced

by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.

Amanda Pit t

To listen to the episode, visit Kirkus online.

K IR KU S R E V IE W S

On this episode of Fully Booked, environmental and climate justice activist Catherine Coleman Flowers joins us to discuss Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope (Spiegel & Grau, Jan. 28), an essay collection Kirkus calls “a passionate and thoughtful exploration of social injustice” (starred review).

Flowers is the founding director of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (formerly the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise).

Her debut memoir, Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret, was published in 2020. The same year, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for her work identifying and ameliorating inadequate wastewater treatment systems in rural communities. She grew up in Lowndes County, Alabama, and lives in Montgomery.

Here’s a bit from our starred review of Holy Ground: “Flowers…writes with passion and gracefulness about her life and experiences as an advocate for the rural poor. While she is best known for her work to secure safe water and sanitation for people living near toxic conditions, Flowers recounts a varied and fascinating career of advocacy for marginalized communities, full of encounters with politicians and other notable figures. Flowers includes pointed analyses of reproductive liberty, the neglect of the rural poor, the cowardice of politicians, and the avarice of the wealthy, along with absorbing personal reflections on the power of religious faith, community, food, and the pain of personal loss. She is unapologetically progressive in her political commitments, heaping withering scorn on the Tennessee legislators who censured Black legislators for speaking out against gun violence after the Covenant School shootings and on the Republicans who rushed to restrict reproductive freedom

Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope Flowers, Catherine Coleman Spiegel & Grau | 240 pp. | $28.00 Jan. 28, 2025 | 9781954118683

after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v.

Wade. Yet she includes surprising sympathetic assessments of staunch conservatives such as Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, and Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville, suggesting that sensitivity to the plight of the rural poor—a group often forgotten by urban progressives—can cross ideological divides.”

I begin by asking Flowers what she considers to be her life’s work. We talk about the terrific surprise of receiving a MacArthur Fellowship, and the work of two of her fellow Fellows (Jason Reynolds and J. Drew Lanham). We discuss the intertwined nature of science and spirituality, and we hold forth on a variety of topics including the lack of adequate wastewater treatment infrastructure in rural communities, the story of Judas Iscariot, political polarization, gun control, Operation Paperclip, cancel culture, the necessity of bipartisan collaboration, and the transformative power of hope.

Then editors Mahnaz Dar, John McMurtrie, and Laurie Muchnick share their top picks in books for the week.

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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S E E N A N D H E A R D // N O N F I C T I O N

PhotoQuest/Get t y Images

Overdue Library Book Returned After 72 Years A man returned Igor Stravinsky’s auto­ biography to the New York Public Library well past its due date.

If you’ve got an overdue library book sitting on your nightstand, making you feel guilty for your laziness,

K IR KU S R E V IE W S

here’s something that might make you feel better.

A man recently returned a book to the New York Public Library’s Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library—72 years after it was due, Patch reports.

The book in question was Igor Stravinsky’s Stravinsky: An Autobiography, which the legendary Russian composer published in 1936. The book was checked out in 1952 by the man’s mother, who was studying music education at Hunter College.

Gothamist reports that when the book was returned, a library clerk immediately called Billy Parrott, the library’s director.

“We routinely get stuff… from the ’80s or the ’90s but

rarely stuff from [the] mid-century,” Parrott said.

The library had made an attempt to reclaim the book in 1953, 10 months after it was originally checked out. They requested the book be brought back and asked for a fine of $3.25—about $38.40 in today’s dollars.

No late fee was assessed on the Stravinsky autobiography this time, however—the New York Public Library did away with them more than three years ago.

Igor Stravinsky in 1951

SEEN AND HEARD “If someone gets a late fee, they might not come back, and ultimately, we want people to use our materials,” Parrott told Patch. “And nothing says ‘This book was loved’ like its fully stamped due date card.”—M.S. For a review of Stravinsky: An Autobiography, visit Kirkus online.

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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Children's

MAHNAZ DAR

FEW MOMENTS ARE as exhilarating as finishing a truly exceptional book by a debut author. I still remember reading Drew Daywalt’s The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) and Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give (2017) and wondering what other captivating tales these writers had in store.

Watching new authors hone their talents, take risks, and evolve is one of the most satisfying elements of my job. This year, several children’s book authors are making illustrious debuts. I can’t wait for young people to get their hands on these books, and I’m just as eager to see what paths these artists chart in the years to come.

Angie Kang’s first picture book, Our Lake (Kokila, March 4), centers on two siblings as they go for a swim. Though Brother leaps into the water enthusiasti­ cally, his younger sibling hangs back, afraid, before finally jumping in, with Brother’s support. Memo­ ries of their dad loom. Kang never explicitly states what’s happened to Father, but this is clearly a tale of loss—and a nuanced one at that. Joy and melancholy mingle as the children recall happier 90

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

times and learn how to move on while still honoring Father.

Author Kesi Augustine and illustrator Mokshini are both making impressive debuts with Faith Takes the Train (Harper/Harper­ Collins, March 11).

Accompanied by Mama, a Black child named Faith rides the New York City subway home. Most passengers look away when a man—whom Faith and Mama recognize as their old neighbor Isaiah, who’s fallen on hard times—asks if anyone can spare some change, but Faith offers him a sandwich. The artwork pulses with movement as a newly energized Faith waves goodbye to the grateful Isaiah, shimmies to the music performed by buskers, and mulls other ways to help him. With respect and empathy,

Augustine and Mokshini demonstrate the transfor­ mative power of a single act of kindness.

Several first-time mid­ dle-grade authors are making names for them­ selves, too. Jung-soon Go’s Okchundang Candy (Levine Querido, March 4), translated from Korean by Aerin Park, is a far cry from the more upbeat graphic memoirs familiar to many young readers in the U.S. Go reflects on the deaths of her grandparents: Grandpa’s decision to hide his lung cancer from the rest of the family, and Grandma’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis soon after. Her spare yet exqui­ sitely crafted text and her artwork, rendered in pencil, imbue her story with a searing intimacy. Details such as Grandma’s inconti­ nence offer an unflinchingly honest view of the aging

process, but one that’s threaded with love and tenderness, too.

With The Peach Thief (Candlewick, March 4), Linda Joan Smith proves that she’s a historical fiction writer worth watching. Set in Victorian England, the tale follows a 13-year-old orphan named Scilla who disguises herself as a boy and sneaks onto the Earl of Havermore’s estate in the hopes of stealing a sumptu­ ous peach. Instead, she’s caught and put to work on the estate garden—an opportunity that turns out to be far more rewarding than she initially antici­ pated. Smith’s writing is immersive; readers will root for Scilla and fear for her, too, lest her employers discover that she’s a girl.

Mahnaz Dar is a young readers’ editor.

K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Illustration by Eric Scot t Ander son

THRILLING DISCOVERIES FOR YOUNG READERS

CHILDREN'S

EDITOR’S PICK Sharpson offers so-fish-­ ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas.

The title says it all. Our unseen narrator is just fine with other animals: mammals. Reptiles. Even birds. But fish? Don’t trust them! First off, the rules always seem to change with fish. Some live in fresh water; some reside in salt water. Some have gills, while others have lungs. You can never see what they’re up to, since they hang out underwater, and they’re always eating those poor, innocent crabs. Soon, the narrator introduces readers

These Titles Earned the Kirkus Star

to Jeff, a vacant-­eyed yellow fish—but don’t be fooled!

Jeff’s “the craftiest fish of all.” All fish are, apparently, hellbent on world domina­ tion, the narrator warns.

“DON’T TRUST FISH!” Finally, at the tail end, we get a sly glimpse of our unreliable narrator. Readers needn’t be ichthyologists to appreciate Sharpson’s meticulous comic timing. (“Ships always sink at sea.

They never sink on land.

Isn’t that strange?”) His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between

93

The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice

By Amy Alznauer; illus. by Anna Bron

97

Brianna Banana, Helper of the Day

By Lana Button; illus. by Suharu Ogawa

99

108

The Doomsday Detectives

By Cindy Jenson-Elliott; illus. by Theo Nicole Lorenz

110

Everybelly

By Thao Lam

Don’t Trust Fish Sharpson, Neil | Illus. by Dan Santat Dial Books | 40 pp. | $18.99 April 8, 2025 | 9780593616673

extreme realism and goofy hilarity. He also fills the book with his own clever gags (such as an image of Gilligan’s Island ’s S.S. Minnow going down and a

117

We Need To Talk About Divorce

By Kate Scharff; illus. by Annika Le Large

118

Head Full of Clouds

By Joanne Schwartz; illus. by Afsaneh Sanei

bottle of sauce labeled “Surly Chik’n Srir’racha’r”).

A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on. (Picture book. 4-7)

91

Don’t Trust Fish

By Neil Sharpson; illus. by Dan Santat

120

Midnight Motorbike

By Maureen Shay Tajsar; illus. by Ishita Jain

121

We Are the Scrappy Ones

By Rebekah Taussig; illus.

by Kirbi Fagan

124

His Fairytale Life

By Jane Yolen; illus. by Brooke Boynton-Hughes

JIM!

By Jerrold Connors

K IR KU S R E V IE W S

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

91

CHILDREN'S

Certain to have youngsters observing the natural world with wonder.

WAIT LIKE A SEED

Woods & Words: The Story of Poet Mary Oliver Ackerman, Sara Holly | Illus. by Naoko Stoop Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $19.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781665921855

Mary Oliver’s lifelong dedication to poetry was fueled by her natu­ ral surroundings.

Mary escapes to the woods as a child, “alone except for the poets she had tucked in her knapsack.”

She fills notebooks, wearing pencils “down to splinters.” While Oliver’s young adulthood receives scant attention, Ackerman doesn’t shy away from introducing Molly Malone Cook, the poet’s partner of 40 years, with whom she settles in Provincetown, Massachu­ setts. Words and pictures synchronize to show how deeply Oliver connected with nature to find her poems. “There were always poems if you paid attention. / She found one burrowing under / a damp, / mysterious / layer of leaves.” Stoop depicts a crouched Oliver encountering a mole, the subject of a resultant poem.

Oliver forages for both words and food: “For poems, yes, but also… / she saw how the woods were full of supper / to bring back to the boathouse she and Molly called home.” Here Stoop includes a charming page of labeled shellfish, mushrooms, and berries. Successive spreads explore the publishing job Oliver took when money was short, her road to publication, her awards, and her wide readership. Notably, Ackerman high­ lights Oliver’s insistence on unadorned speech: “Mary believed poems were for everyone, / best served plain. / …and readers tucked her words / in their knapsacks and loved them.” Pleasing 92

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

illustrations teem with flora and fauna, including the couple’s dogs.

A well-crafted, admiring introduction to a deservedly revered American poet. (author’s note, selected sources) (Picture-book biography. 4-8)

Wait Like a Seed Alladin, Erin | Illus. by Tara Anderson Pajama Press (32 pp.) | $18.95 April 29, 2025 | 9781772783384

Children watch the growth of a milkweed plant and admire the butterflies it attracts.

In quatrains, with the first and third lines repeated, Alladin’s poem describes the life cycle of a milkweed plant from seed through root, sprout, leaves, bud, flower, pod, and back to seed again. This steady progression is interrupted when the pods open with a “pop,” and the wind disperses the seeds. The narrative begins with two light-skinned kids enjoying the spring rain and ends with them playing in the snow that covers the ground in winter, an appropriate reminder of the cycle of seasons in much of North America. The relatively simple vocabulary would be appropriate for burgeoning readers. Anderson’s illustrations, done in colored pencils and pastels, depict the children following the progress of the milkweed shoot, enjoying the flower and the monarch butterflies attracted to it, and admiring the seed’s release and flight. The left-hand side of each spread includes green line drawings documenting the plant’s progress; the right-hand side features a full-page image. Of the many titles available on milkweeds and

monarchs, this is one of the most accessible for youngsters reading on their own. Two end spreads illustrate the life cycles of the milkweed plant and monarch butterfly, while older readers and adults will appreciate the extensive backmatter, including a glossary, facts, information on the monarch’s migra­ tion, and selected reading.

Useful and enlightening—and certain to have youngsters observing the natural world with wonder. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

Amoya Blackwood Is Brave Allick, Chantaie | Illus. by Aaron Marin Tundra Books (40 pp.) | $18.99 April 15, 2025 | 9781774881590

A child rallies after hearing criticism from unsuppor­ tive adults.

Amoya Blackwood, a Black girl with two long braids and a lively personality, raises her hand in class, makes her friends giggle, sings too loudly and a little off-key in choir, and, though she’s not the most talented dancer, moves with wild abandon. Amoya “always took up space.”

But one day, several adults tell her to be quieter, calmer, and less of a show-off.

She internalizes their disapproval, hiding her “magical light” and literally shrinking in size until she’s smaller than her grandmother’s cat. “Fearless and free” Gran, who’s long been Amoya’s role model, notices and gently reassures Amoya, helping her realize that she can’t let others determine who she is. Notably, the grown-ups who have prompted Amoya’s shrinkage are also Black—per­ haps a warning that adults from one’s own community can sometimes do the most emotional damage. Marin’s childlike artwork, created with acrylic paint, water-soluble crayons, and digital editing, emphasizes the similarities between Amoya and Gran through their colorful, patterned clothing and their mutual love of roller skating. Though one pep talk is rarely enough to restore a child’s self-image, Allick effectively shows K IR KU S R E V IE W S

CHILDREN'S

the positive role that a trusted adult can play in a child’s life.

A worthwhile, feel-good story of a girl whose intergenerational relationship makes all the difference.

(Picture book. 4-7)

Pencil & Eraser: Lost and Frown!

Alvarado, Jenny | Putnam (80 pp.) $12.99 | May 6, 2025 | 9780593699812 Series: Pencil & Eraser, 2

Teamwork triumphs for these clashing but complementary characters in their second outing.

Sheer excitement propels longlashed, perennially enthusiastic Pencil right out of brownskinned Stella’s backpack and onto the sidewalk. Today is Stella’s karate class, and Pencil can’t wait. Nobly, the squat, saturnine, but soft-hearted Eraser jumps to join Pencil. As their unaware owner disappears in the distance, Pencil gives an anguished cry that will elicit smiles from knowing adult readers: “STELLAAA!” Luckily, Eraser has a map, and Pencil airily dismisses the pair’s second problem: Where on the map are they? Pencil does worry when some squirrels offer to help—squirrels love to make things out of wood. The two make an abrupt exit from the squirrels’ home (“Ninja jump!”), and Pencil begs to take a detour into the arcade. Pencil accidentally gets Eraser stuck in a claw machine, but Eraser makes it out unharmed. Finally they reach the dojo in time to applaud Stella and to follow Pencil’s elaborate plan to return to Stella’s backpack. These slight but easy-reading adventures, with subtle but effective characterization, fill four brief chapters, with some joke breaks that Eraser concedes are “kinda funny.”

Cartoon graphics have minimal backgrounds, and final pages outline steps to draw them.

Another engaging adventure following tiny but intrepid heroes as they surmount minor mishaps.

(Early graphic fiction. 5-8) K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Time for Bed, Little Owls!: An Interactive Bedtime Book Alves, Katja | Illus. by Andrea Stegmaier Trans. by Polly Lawson | Floris (32 pp.) $18.99 | May 20, 2025 | 9781782509110

Readers must help lull young birds to sleep in this German import.

An unseen narrator intro­ duces 10 owlets as they balance atop a long tree branch. Various accessories perched on heads or tucked under wings help differentiate the siblings, along with some distinguishing physical charac­ teristics. Mama Owl has left a note explaining that she must leave on an errand and requesting readers’ help putting the owlets to bed. But the little ones aren’t ready to go to sleep, so the narrator prompts readers to show the owls how to hop and flap their wings—straight into dreamland.

Instead, the owls hide! It’s now up to readers to find them. A string of tasks follows as the owls caper through the warm, cozy roost; readers must count, clap, shush, and, finally, yawn. By the time Mama Owl returns, all 10 fledglings are asleep (mostly). Mama Owl peers directly at readers, saying good night to them as well. Young­ sters will have no trouble following suit; the interactive elements are well balanced by Alves’ soothing tone and Stegmaier’s cozy depiction of the owls’ home. Parents hoping to encourage independent sleep in their own owlets should note that though the 10 start out in their own beds, all end up snuggling close to Mama.

Bedtime cues from this woodland flock will have little ones snoozing, too. (Picture book. 3-6)

For more bedtime books, visit Kirkus online.

Kirkus Star

The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice: How To Discover a Shape Alznauer, Amy | Illus. by Anna Bron Candlewick (48 pp.) | $18.99 March 4, 2025 | 9781536229479

The story of an amateur mathe­ matician who joined professional ones in a long quest to solve a geometric puzzle.

A brainy, hands-on child who saw patterns all around her, Marjorie Rice (nee Jeuck, 1923-2017) grew up fascinated by both geometry and art. As an adult, she read one of her son’s science magazines and learned that while all three- and four-sided geometric figures could be tessellated (or tiled together) endlessly without gaps, the same could be said of only a scant handful of pentagons. Notwithstand­ ing her lack of formal training, Marjorie attempted to find other pentagons and succeeded, by invent­ ing a systematic method that the author describes in detail. Alznauer wisely suggests that, worthy as her discovery was, even more laudable was the fact that she was motivated not by profit or prestige but, like all true “amateurs,” by love for the challenge and the beauty of the results. Bron reflects the latter in illustrations that incorporate most (or perhaps all) of the 15 possible tessellating pentagons into floors and backgrounds, into floral displays painted by Rice herself, and into views of her animated, slightly disheveled figure busily engaged in the daily business of running a household while thinking, envisioning, and sketching out ideas.

Alznauer’s cogent, absorbing text captures Marjorie’s excitement and offers easily understood explanations of the math involved.

Inspiration and validation for amateurs of all sorts, beautifully presented. (author’s note, bibliography, more information on shapes) (Picture-book biography. 7-9) FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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CHILDREN'S

Odder: An Otter’s Story Applegate, Katherine | Illus. by Charles Santoso | Feiwel & Friends (40 pp.) $18.99 | April 29, 2025 | 9781250323590

Applegate and Santoso’s novel in verse about a rehabilitated otter is adapted for a picture-book audience.

Separated from her mother at a young age and found by “tall, tailless animals,” young Odder— so named by her fellow otters for her restless, curious nature—is taken to an aquarium, where she learns essential skills before being released back into the ocean. There, she makes friends who play and snuggle with her and show her where all the best mussels are, but Odder never loses her trust in humans, to her new pals’ dismay. After being attacked by a shark, Odder is rescued again. Her injuries are too severe; she’ll now have to live out her days at the aquarium. After she recovers from her wounds, Odder is given a job at which she eventually excels: teaching life skills to other rescued young otter pups.

Rendered in digital brush strokes, Santoso’s illustrations are realistic yet sweet, capturing the otters’ delightful activities in soothing blues and browns.

While Applegate doesn’t shy away from hard realities, she imbues the narrative with a sense of hope that will reassure sensitive readers, especially as Odder helps foster other young pups.

Information on marine biology is well integrated; young readers will emerge eager to learn more. Odder’s rehabilita­ tors vary in skin tone. An author’s note describes the real-life otters, rehabili­ tated at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, that inspired Odder’s tale.

Certain to enrapture young animal lovers. (photo) (Picture book. 4-8)

Black Boy, Rise Barnes, Brynne | Illus. by Bryan Collier Chronicle Books (48 pp.) | $17.99 April 1, 2025 | 9781797200736

A tribute to Black boyhood and Langston Hughes’ poetry.

As a child scales a jungle gym, an unseen narrator asks who told him he could leap, climb, or laugh. “Get out of those clouds. / Don’t set your sights so high.” Intertextual references to Hughes’ poems punctuate the verse, but the narrator tells the boy that Hughes’ exhortations weren’t meant for him. He should stick to dribbling, dunking, and tackling; he should stay quiet, “head down.” After telling the boy what he can’t or shouldn’t do and be—echoing mainstream American society’s treatment of Black boys—the narrative voice turns more uplifting, telling the boy that he’s a delight to his ancestors.

Collier’s rich, moving collage illustra­ tions emphasize the boy’s active nature while also depicting him as the culmination of generations of struggle.

Four African women, each holding a pineapple (symbols of welcome), stand at the threshold of their respective homes, and the faces of Black adults— perhaps ancestors or guardians—appear on the trunk of the tree the boy climbs.

Translucent blue marbles float on several double-page spreads, suggesting the power of the boy’s imagination.

Collier’s luscious illustrations will appeal to readers, but the negative beginning may confuse them, while the frequent allusions to texts that most

A straightforward and effectively drawn tale of youngsters making amends.

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children will be unfamiliar with will limit their interest in this book.

The verse is too lofty for its young audience, though the visuals offer a uniquely gorgeous portrayal of Black boy joy. (Picture book. 7-10)

Finding Forgiveness Bartolj, Marta | Chronicle Books (72 pp.) $17.99 | March 11, 2025 | 9781797223964

In this wordless picture book, a conflict between friends sets them on a winding path to reconciliation.

The young protagonist catches and cages a lovely little bluebird. The child’s friend visits and, while feeding the bird, accidentally lets it fly away. The protagonist angrily stomps off.

Walking through town, the child notices other disputes and their resolutions. A kid tramples through a flower bed and then helps the owner replant. A dog gets loose and inter­ rupts a picnic; its owner helps clean up the mess and joins the picnic-goers.

Eventually, the protagonist’s heart softens. Following a good night’s sleep, the child forgives the contrite friend’s honest mistake, and together they find a resolution that pleases them both and gives the bluebird— who’s since returned—the freedom to fly as well. Bartolj depicts an idyllic vision of small-town life, filled with playgrounds, ponds, and pets.

Speckled scenery, soft lines, and muted brushwork add to the aura of calm. The whole book is infused with a deep sense of community—families walk together, kids play in groups, and even ducks and other birds fly in pairs. Life, mistakes and all, is best lived together, Bartolj suggests. The protagonist is blond and lightskinned, the friend is darker-skinned and dark-haired, and their neighbor­ hood is diverse.

A straightforward and effectively and affectionately drawn tale of youngsters making amends. (Picture book. 3-8)

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CHILDREN'S

Mother Goose ditties are upended by a frenetic weasel.

POP! GOES THE NURSERY RHYME

POP! Goes the Nursery Rhyme Bird, Betsy | Illus. by Andrea Tsurumi Union Square Kids (48 pp.) | $18.99 March 18, 2025 | 9781454960461

Mother Goose ditties are upended by a frenetic weasel.

The digital compositions accompanying each verse unfold on a double spread. Mary (an adult sheep) and her ever-present lamb ride a bicycle in tandem; Jack and Jill—a fox and a coatimundi—race up a hill of sand castles. Every final line (“The lamb was sure to…” “And Jill went…”) is completed—and transformed—after a page turn, as the antagonist bursts onto the scene with a “POP! GOES THE WEASEL.” A secretary bird (perhaps a nod to the author’s last name) appears on the title page; much like other protago­ nists of recent interrupting stories, this character can tolerate only so many intrusions. The bird comments on and corrects the wily behavior. After the weasel pops into the gym, where a buff, rodent Miss Muffet drops her dumbbells and bowl, the bird asserts: “GAK! Curdled curds everywhere! Wasted whey! Why, why, why?” Tsurumi employs a pastel palette and cartoon conventions—motion lines, flying objects in diagonal formations, and constantly changing facial expressions— for comic effect. The final scenario (“One, Two, Buckle My Shoe”) stretches out for several quiet pages, deftly building suspense toward the anticipated outcome. While the physical comedy will make for an intensely funny read-aloud, the book will be best appreciated by children who have absorbed the original rhymes and are in on the changes.

K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Catnip for adults who like to perform their picture books to giggles and guffaws. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)

Beasts Bjerkeland, Ingvild | Trans. by Rosie Hedger | Levine Querido (128 pp.) $17.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781646145133

In this Norwegian import, a teenage boy tries to keep his sister alive after a harrowing out­ break of monsters.

For months, 13-year-old Abdi’s life has been an increasingly horrific nightmare, ever since the day the terrifying two-legged beasts mysteriously emerged (no one knows from where) and began their violent attacks. The food and medicine supplies have dwindled to nothing, and just about everyone Abdi knows is dead, including he and his 5-year-old sister Alva’s mother. As they run through the woods and across farmland, trying to evade the monsters both human and beast that would do them harm, Abdi has one goal in mind—keep Alva alive long enough to get to the port in Djupevik and then across the North Sea to the U.K.’s Fair Isle, where their ornithologist father is hopefully waiting for them. This proves much easier said than done. A breathless series of illnesses, near misses, and brutal losses—with barely a moment’s rest—keeps readers hurtling through. Though the narrative’s brevity prevents deep characterizations, Abdi’s perspective is gripping, and the vagueness of detail and backstory adds to the suspense.

While older readers more familiar with dystopian fiction may find some of the

twists less surprising, younger readers will be rapt; all will find the pervasive air of distress that permeates the tale palpable. Physical descriptors are minimal.

Dark and achingly upsetting; highly appealing for a great many horror readers, new and old. (Horror. 10-18)

Dreams to Ashes: The 1871 Los Angeles Chinatown Massacre Blackburne, Livia | Illus. by Nicole Xu Carolrhoda (40 pp.) | $19.99 March 4, 2025 | 9798765627228

A recounting of the 1871 riot that left 18 Chinese immigrants dead in Los Angeles.

Using fire as a metaphor, Black­ burne asks readers to consider the causes and effects of flashpoints in history before exploring the factors that led to this massacre. Her account begins decades earlier, when, due to war and disaster, thousands of Chinese men migrated to California in hopes of making a fortune in gold before returning home. When “gold proved elusive,” they sought other jobs.

By 1871, 172 of these men had formed a settlement in Los Angeles; the author focuses on three in particular: a doctor named Gene Tong, musician Tong Won, and cook Wing Chee. Blackburne poetically juxtaposes descriptions of these men (“Immigrants. Humans”) with the buildup of xenophobia (“Aliens.

Rats. Barbarians”). Words and violence continued to escalate until “a spark” of a gunfight feud ignited the fuel of hate. A mob looted stores and killed 18 people, including the three men introduced earlier. As the narrative wraps up, Blackburne considers the injustice perpetrated and the hypocrisy of newspapers that condemned the deaths but that had fanned the flames of racism; she ends on a hopeful note as she ponders how a country can learn from its past. Questions posed to readers throughout allow space for reflection, while Xu’s art, created with ink and FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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Photoshop, illustrates the action and the emotion with varied compositions.

Deftly brings to light a lesser-known horror in the context of America’s history of racism against Chinese immigrants. (historical note, photographs, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 7-12)

Mariam’s Dream: The Story of Mariam al-Shaar and Her Food Truck of Hope Boukarim, Leila | Illus. by Sona Avedikian Chronicle Books (44 pp.) | $17.99 April 1, 2025 | 9781797222332

The catering company Soufra is born when a Palestinian refugee dreams of a way to empower women.

Mariam al-Shaar was born in Lebanon, but she isn’t a citizen—she is a genera­ tional refugee, born to Palestinian parents. She and the others who live in their Beirut camp have little work, little say, and little hope. But Mariam dreams of more. Together with the women of her community, she decides to create a kitchen where people can come to cook meals from their home countries and earn a living. As her business grows, so do Mariam’s ambitions of owning a food truck, but the challenges she faces as a refugee with few rights feel as imposing as the walls that surround her. Unbroken and unintimidated, Mariam fights for two years for the legal right to share the food of Soufra outside her camp. Though Boukarim doesn’t entirely clarify how Mariam succeeds, her account is a stirring one, demonstrating that one person can truly make a difference with the power of perseverance. Avedikian’s digitally created illustrations are colorful and full of movement, capturing the forward momentum of Mariam’s aspirations for a better future for those around her. An author’s note, information about refugees and refugee camps, and a bibliography offer readers the opportunity to learn more, while a beautiful visual food glossary spotlights the featured dishes.

Uplifting and highly inspirational.

(Informational picture book. 4-8)

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Self-control doesn’t come easily to Brianna, but maybe a new friend will?

B R I A N N A B A N A N A , H E L P E R O F T H E DAY

Sundays Are for Feasts Boukarim, Leila | Illus. by Ruaida Mannaa | Groundwood (36 pp.) $19.99 | Feb. 4, 2025 | 9781773069074

Yasmine attempts to make hummus.

In Yasmine’s “summer home across the ocean,” domed red roofs spread to the horizon, and the air smells sumptuous—after all, “Sundays are for feasts.” Yasmine is excited to help prepare for the big family gathering, until Jiddo (Arabic for Grandfather) gives Yasmine the job of making hummus. The child’s never done that before. Plus, Yasmine, who didn’t grow up here like Baba (Yasmine’s father) did, can’t speak Arabic as well as the rest of the family. What if everyone is disap­ pointed? The family’s kind, smiling faces and their cozy home, rendered in soft colors and round shapes, balance Yasmine’s anxiety with a sense of peace and comfort. Savory-looking chickpeas, garlic, tahini, and lemon will spark yummy memories for readers familiar with this traditional blend, but they’re also easy to recognize for newcomers.

Yasmine’s nervousness when the hummus doesn’t come out just like Baba’s will resonate with many children who haven’t grown up in their parents’ homelands, but Baba’s empowering reassurance (“It’s yours. Hummus à la Yasmine!”) affirms the value of the protagonist’s unique contribution.

While it might be difficult for a hummus purist to accept the backmat­ ter’s breezy suggestion to add new flavors like pesto, this supportive family could charm anyone into a cheerful cry of “sahtein!” (Arabic for “bon appétit”).

Though the setting isn’t specified, in her author’s note Boukarim mentions that she was born in Lebanon.

A winsome ode to Middle Eastern food and families. (glossary, hummus recipe) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pine Cone Regrown: How One Species Thrives After Fire Boxer, Elisa | Illus. by Kevin Howdeshell & Kristen Howdeshell | Sleeping Bear Press (32 pp.) | $18.99 | March 15, 2025 9781534112964

A new generation of lodgepole pines rises in a burnedover forest.

“Peering down / on the beings below,” Boxer writes anthropo­ morphically, a pine cone hangs for 40 years out of harm’s way, until a wildfire’s heat melts the resin that glues it together, and seeds are released to shower down to the ash-covered ground. “It wasn’t an end,” she concludes. “From the fire, / life / unfolds. / Green / and new / and ready / to begin.” As she explains in a reflective afterword, lodgepole pines are just one of several fire-dependent types of flora and fauna, reminding readers that we find our strength through adversity; like that pine cone, “we might find we were made for this very moment.” In the illustra­ tions, small woodland creatures nest in branches or browse beneath them until a red tide of flames sweeps in. A season or so later, the ground is green again, and in a final scene, the smiling animals are back, going about their business amid piney seedlings. As a very basic introduc­ tion to serotinous trees (that is, those that can delay reproducing until certain K IR KU S R E V IE W S

CHILDREN'S

specified conditions are met), this will do. But she uses the term serotinous without fully defining it; to judge from that rather oblique closing note, the author seems to have something more metaphorical in mind anyway. Even older audiences may be left wondering just what “moment” she means, though.

Narrowly focused until the end and then suddenly too wide. (Informational picture book. 5-7)

Artists Who Changed Entertainment Buckley Jr., James & Ellen Labrecque Illus. by Steffi Walthall | Sourcebooks eXplore (128 pp.) | $16.99 | May 6, 2025 9781728275093 | Series: Fearless Firsts

Profiles of over 50 performers, artists, and innovators who broke barriers or beat the odds to succeed.

Showing a canny sense of what young readers might really be looking for in role model material, the authors salute Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift, for instance, as much for the eye-watering amounts of money they make as for their spectacular onstage and on-camera brilliance.

Readers may not recognize all the selected subjects, but Buckley and Labrecque offer a laudably inclusive view. They spotlight artists who have shifted the entertainment landscape, among them the first Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award winners or nominees identified as Muslim, Black, transgender, Asian, Asian American, Latino, deaf, gay, or Native American, as well as other performers living with disabilities such as cerebral palsy or Down syndrome. The range of endeavors is also very broad, going beyond acting and singing to encom­ pass fields from cinematography to writing and video game design, as well as sculpture (Edmonia Lewis) and illustration (Jerry Pinkney). “The future of entertainment is bright,” the authors write. “It will only get brighter K IR KU S R E V IE W S

if more diverse performers are given the opportunity to shine their light.”

Specific biographical information in the alphabetically arranged entries tends to be thin, but both the entries and Walthall’s portraits of sturdy, smiling figures exuding confidence offer inspiration galore.

A populous gallery, broadly diverse and brimming with talent. (timelines, index by field, further reading) (Collective biography. 9-12)

Your Brilliant Brain: A Playful Poke Around the Most Marvelous, Mysterious Thing in the Known Universe: Your Beautiful Brain Bunting, Philip | Hardie Grant Books (32 pp.) $18.99 | April 8, 2025 | 9781761214950

An informal tour of the major bits and bobs that do the “thinky thing” in our heads and elsewhere.

There’s a lot going on in that “squidgy, pink lump of matter sitting snug inside your skull,” and Bunting makes a brave bid to connect it all, from smell to sleep to specific cranial organs and sites. He gives googly eyes to his racially diverse cast of humans, as well as cartoon images of the brain and its individual parts (and the occasional hamster or kitty). Bunting roams from the “gristly ice-cream cone” brain stem to the far reaches of the peripheral nervous system, touching on senses, facial expressions, types of memory, feelings, stages of sleep, and other mental functions and activities.

Along with nods to what we have yet to learn about all of these things, such as why we sleep and why many people sneeze when they look toward the sun, he also tucks in good advice about how to keep brains safe and active before closing with the wholesome observation that there’s no such thing as a “normal” brain, since each is one of a kind.

Solidly informative and laced with whimsical visual touches.

(Informational picture book. 7-10)

Kirkus Star

Brianna Banana, Helper of the Day Button, Lana | Illus. by Suharu Ogawa Orca (96 pp.) | $8.95 paper | Feb. 11, 2025 9781459840010 | Series: Orca Echoes

Self-control doesn’t come easily to Brianna, but maybe a new friend will?

More than anything in this world, Brianna Ross longs to be Helper of the Day in her third grade class. Trouble is…well, trouble. Teased on a regular basis (“Brianna Banana” is the mean nickname other kids give her for being tall and blond), she has great difficulty controlling her emotions, paying attention, and not acting out.

She sincerely believes that if she’s Helper of the Day, other kids in her class might play with her. When new transfer student Rumi is named Helper of the Day, however, Brianna finds herself standing up for the quiet, easily overwhelmed girl. With her poor choices and hair-trigger temper, Brianna could give Jack Gantos’ Joey Pigza a run for his money in the self-restraint (or lack thereof ) department. Button attempts a tough balancing act: keeping her protagonist sympathetic in spite of her many mistakes and crafting a nuanced, wholly believable character within a relatively short page count.

She triumphs: Readers will root for Brianna, while perhaps understand­ ing why she has so few friends.

Brianna has distinct spunk and turns of phrase worth noting (after mentioning that her dad left the family and her grandpa died, she says, “In my family the boys are gone, and the girls live on Princess Street”).

In Ogawa’s pleasing black-and-white art, Brianna presents as white, while her classmates are diverse.

A flawed but sympathetic character worthy of readers’ love.

(Chapter book. 6-9)

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What’s in the Walls?

By turns creepy and humorous; horror fans will devour this one. (Horror. 8-12)

Champagne, Julie | Illus. by Geneviève Bigué | Trans. by David Warriner | Orca (96 pp.) | $12.95 paper | Feb. 11, 2025 9781459839861 | Series: Orca Shivers, 3

Superworld: Destructo World

In this French import, a young boy uncovers a terrifying infestation in his school.

Alone in the gym, 10-year-old Zack hears a curious scratching sound as he’s putting away the floor hockey equipment. Zack’s used to odd noises—St. Joseph’s is more than a century old, after all—but this one is different. His best friend, Henry, agrees that the sound is definitely not normal, but gym teacher Mrs. Clark and school custodian Mr. Lucas don’t seem concerned. Henry’s older sister, Justine, suggests that the boys have encountered Marcel, the school ghost.

A mysterious incident with a bin of trash the next morning spurs Zack to further action, and he ropes Henry into participating in what he thinks will be a quick ghost hunt to confirm his supernatural theories. Unfortu­ nately, he discovers a much more earthly problem—and, as it turns out, Mr. Lucas knows more than he’s letting on. As other evidence comes to light, Zack and company try to find a way to prove to the adults that something dangerous is afoot before it’s too late. The slightly silly and dramatic tone pairs well with the abundant and action-packed art for a squirm-inducing, very quick story that will delight readers. Physical descrip­ tions are minimal, but characters vary in skin tone in Bigué’s illustrations.

Cheney, Carrie | Illus. by Yarrow Cheney | Random House (416 pp.) $18.99 | April 22, 2025 | 9780593375419 Series: Superworld, 2

Z-Team rises once again to face Dr. Destructo in a climactic spankdown.

Falling back on tried-and-true themes of friendship and family ties, the Cheneys finish off their duology in an extended, exhilarating rush of comic-­ book violence. Events in the opener have left the archvillain powerful enough to transform Superopolis into Destructo World and drive its superhero residents into hiding. Consumed with guilt for letting it happen and shocked to find even his own school suddenly changed into a Villain Academy where bullies rule, uniquely un-super Noah resolves to get his gang of protective super friends back together for an assault on the villainous headquarters, Dr. Destructo’s Center for Peace Through World Domination. As hordes of minions armed with switching cannons that change superheroes into (for example) super sock-puppets and super-chickens await, ready to “kick some hero sit-­ biscuits,” the odds look steep. Still, after many a narrow squeak and high-tech mega blast, plus some unexpected help from both family members and an army of weaponized senior citizens, the day is saved. Cue the hugs! The illustrator crams much of the space around nearly

Charming, funny, strange, and sad. A better bio of Jim could hardly exist.

JIM!

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every page of narrative with crowds or close-up views of soft-focus, matte-­ surfaced 3D figures, mostly in battle armor or dramatic costumes. Noah is light-skinned; the supporting super cast contains some racial diversity.

Rousing enough to get readers off their sit-biscuits. (Illustrated adventure. 9-12)

The Magician Next Door Chivers Khoo, Rachel | Illus. by Alice McKinley | Candlewick (208 pp.) $16.99 | April 15, 2025 | 9781536241976

A homesick girl helps a stranded magician.

Callie is grieving both her mother, who died three years ago, and everything she left back in London after her father moved them to the mountains of Northern Ireland. Her life is further upended when a house mysteriously crash-lands in her garden before turning invisible. The house’s desperate owner, magician Winnifred Potts, asks Callie for help. Winnifred was using a magic substance known as Wanderdust to move her home, but something went wrong, and the Wanderdust scattered.

Winnifred can’t leave her house, so Callie must look for the Wanderdust.

She enlists her new friend Sam, but before they can start searching, they discover the cause of the disaster: Callie’s homesickness was so severe that it repelled the magic, jeopardizing both Winnifred and her house. After the guilt-ridden Callie attempts to use Winnifred’s magic to return to London, her efforts only make the situation more dire. But Callie’s sudden revelations about friendship and home help her as she decides to put things right, leading to a disappointingly rushed climax.

Though the fantastical elements are intriguing, they feel overshadowed by the heavy-handed moral (“Home isn’t a place…Home is the people”). Playful illustrations are interspersed thought­ fully, breaking up the text for younger K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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readers. Callie and Sam are lightskinned, while Winnifred has box braids and is depicted with darker skin.

Whimsical but message-heavy. (magician catalog excerpt, drizzleberry pie recipe) (Fantasy. 7-10)

Rosie’s Garden Coates, Olivia | Illus. by Samantha McLelland | EK Books (32 pp.) $19.99 | April 8, 2025 | 9781921497056

A small environ­ mentalist has an outsize impact.

Bespectacled Rosie digs and digs in a little garden in empty urban Lot 33, which draws various neighbors, among them violinist Annika; acrobatic, rainbow-chasing Chad; seed-collecting Mr Dellagatti, who thanks Rosie every day for filling his bucket; and Esmeralda, the worm-hunting chicken. Without warning, a fence suddenly goes up, blocking access to the garden: The “Big Boss of a booming city company” has bought the plot, and construction begins. Next to some “enormous engines,” Rosie feels “small and helpless.” A huge glass-and-steel tower quickly engulfs the lot. But when Rosie marches inside, unimpeded, she discovers that the Big Boss is a lovely and surprisingly understanding woman named Poppy. Over tea, the two instantly hatch a plan. Rosie becomes project manager for the installation of a rooftop garden, where Chad, Annika, Mr Dellagatti, and Esmeralda can resume their activities.

The happy ending is delightful, though it feels unearned. And while Rosie’s friends help run the new garden, it’s Rosie alone who decides to meet with Poppy—a missed opportunity to spotlight community organizing. Casual rhymes add to the smooth and simple prose. A subdued palette lets Rosie’s red hair shine, McLelland presents some unusual perspectives, and fun details are interspersed throughout the attractive backgrounds. Rosie is pale-skinned, K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Poppy is brown-skinned, and the community is diverse.

A sweet though unrealistically sunny take on urban development.

(Picture book. 3-6)

Ghost Town Colossal, Eric | Abrams Fanfare (256 pp.) $24.99 | March 25, 2025 | 9781419745843

Mysterious power outages lead a group of young investigators to the discovery that their small town is positively thronged with ghosts. But why?

Though feeling angry and mutinous at the imminent prospect of having to leave her familiar town and friends behind to move away and attend an exclusive science academy, 11-year-old Lily Cole is determined to make her last summer in Crater, New York, a memorable one. And so it turns out to be. Lily and her close-knit circle timidly venture into an old, aban­ doned mansion and unleash a veritable tide of spectral encounters and visions, revealing that something’s not only preventing all the town’s deceased residents (including animals) from passing on, but also threatening the living residents, too. In his cleanly drawn panels, Colossal depicts plenty of dramatic ectoplasmic wisps and whirls both menacing and benign. He also has his preteens, as they work toward a solution to the mystery, set up a ghost-removal service. Entertain­ ingly animated by snarky squabbles and punctuated by moments of pop-eyed terror, the cast makes its way past tests of wit and courage to the revelation of a culprit more tragically obsessed than malign. Following a suspenseful climax, a tidy finish resolves both the ghost problem and Lily’s, too. Lily presents Black, and her group of friends is racially diverse.

Spooky fun woven around themes of growth and handling change.

(Graphic paranormal. 9-12)

Kirkus Star

JIM!: Six True Stories About One Great Artist: James Marshall Connors, Jerrold | Dial Books (80 pp.) $20.99 | May 20, 2025 | 9780593859346

Beloved children’s book creator James Marshall receives his due.

How well do today’s kids know Marshall’s work? If their knowledge is insuffi­ cient, then Connors aims to rectify the situation! Similar to one of Marshall’s George and Martha books, this volume is divided into six short stories. Connors encapsu­ lates the life and work of Marshall, referred to here as James or Jim—his path to publication, his school visits, and his death from AIDS in 1992.

The major players in Jim’s life are depicted as Marshall-esque animals: Jim is a fox, his friends and fellow authors Maurice Sendak and Arnold Lobel are a bulldog and a pig (respectively), and Jim’s longtime romantic partner, Billy, is a cat.

With its witty invented dialogue, the book falls squarely into the “informational fiction” category of biography, reminding readers that the greatest truths are often told through the eyes of fiction. Connors knows his subject well, each tale highlighting a universal truth through the lens of Marshall’s life; the final chapter, which finds Jim in the hospital surrounded by loved ones, brings this rich and affection­ ate tribute to a conclusion that’s simultaneously uplifting and heartbreaking as Jim muses on his legacy. The book is rife with Marshall in-jokes (delightful touches include the alternate names for Viola Swamp from Miss Nelson Is Missing!), and Connors’ animated, thick-lined cartoon illustrations are reminiscent of Marshall’s own.

Charming, funny, strange, and sad.

A better bio of Jim could hardly exist. (timeline) (Picture-book biography. 5-8) FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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C H I L D R E N ' S // Q & A

THE KIRKUS Q&A: CINDY CHANG A debut graphic novelist tackles complicated family dynamics and powerful emotions.

IN HOW TO DR AW A SECRET, Taiwanese American sixth grader Cindy lives in the Bay Area with Ma and older sisters Jess and Em. Their father used to live with them, too, until he moved back to Taiwan—supposedly for work—four years earlier. The girls must conceal his absence, but as time goes by, Cindy’s confusion and longing for a “perfect” family grow. An art contest themed “What Family Means to Me”—and an unex­ pected trip to Taiwan for a funeral—lead Cindy to discover the real reason her father left their family.

In this semi-autobiographical graphic novel, debut author/illustrator Cindy Chang portrays, with sensitivity and nuance, the emotional pain of a family going through tumultuous change; the character of the 12-year-old protagonist, grappling with the messy and complicated truth, rings especially true. Kirkus spoke with Chang on Zoom from her home in the Bay Area; our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

I was struck by how accurately the book portrays a young person’s emotional life. You really capture the complicated feeling of holding on to a family secret. I understand this story was inspired by events in your own life.

How did you remember things so accurately?

I definitely fictionalized some aspects, but the story is based on real events and real feelings.

[My family] secret was something I’d never really talked about with anyone.

So a lot of this still felt very 100

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present because I didn’t fully process it until I started recovering and working on some of these memories. I also kept a lot of diaries at that time, so I referenced those to relive the feelings and real, raw thoughts I’d had.

Have your family members read this? Did you talk to them while you were writing it?

When I first started working on it, I told them, “Hey, this is going to be a thing. I’m happy to chat more and get your support

or see if you’re OK with it.”

But [while] I was working on it, I didn’t actually involve them that much. I wanted to figure out what the story was meant to be and how to work on it from my own perspective.

I did share it with them afterward. Part of what I wanted to do with the book was to create space and open dialogue, especially for this topic that we haven’t talked about often as a family. It’s been fun to have some of those conversations together.

What compelled you to start writing about this topic in the first place?

I’d been exploring ideas for a graphic novel or a book, but I was just playing around with different concepts. Then, around 2019, I went to a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference,

and that was a life-changing experience. Author Meg Medina gave a talk about following your roots down to when you were a kid—to think of the hard questions you had but didn’t really know how to answer, and to just really remember what life was like. So often, as adults, it’s easy to look back with a different lens.

We look back on childhood sometimes thinking, Oh, it was fine. But this exercise was about really sitting and asking yourself, What feelings and questions did I have?

For me, when I think back to childhood, these events were a big topic for me at that time, and I felt I really wanted to poke at that. Also, the graphic novel medium has so much potential and power for telling a story like this that I wanted to explore that further.

K IR KU S R E V IE W S

TerrificShot Studio Photography

BY CHRISTINE GROSS-LOH

Q & A // C H I L D R E N ' S

How has your experience been as a debut author? Has anything surprised you?

It was definitely a bit daunting and challenging at times; some things can be opaque until you know the industry better. For me, some of the challenge was learning that whole [business] aspect of publishing, plus the actual craft of putting together this kind of story. One thing in particular [that was] unexpected was figuring out the time that it takes— the sheer amount of time to write the book and [create] all the drawings. It took four years to actually put it all together. That part, no one can really tell you, and you can’t know until you’re fully in it. I had to figure out how

to make it work with my schedule and life.

What was one of your favorite things about writing this book?

I loved working on the [characters’] emotions— being able to just make a little flick of an eyebrow and change the emotion by really getting the expression right. I hope people enjoy that aspect.

For people who are just starting out writing about their lives, it can sometimes be hard to trust that you don’t have to put your whole story out there for readers to understand what you’re trying to say.

What would you say to a new author who wants to

express their own story in a way that readers will be able to understand?

I certainly struggled with all this during the process; it’s especially hard when it’s something rooted in a very personal topic that’s important to you. At first I thought, I’ve got to get the facts straight so that people will really know what happened. But I think the work actually lies in the puzzle of going back and doing deep character work.

It’s in understanding who these people are, really getting into their heads and trying to understand their motivations and fears—using that framework, going back to the root of what the actual feelings were, and making

The story is pretty specific, but hopefully it will resonate with readers who have complicated families.

How To Draw a Secret Chang, Cindy

Allida/HarperCollins | 272 pp. | $15.99 paper | Feb. 4, 2025 | 9780358659655

K IR KU S R E V IE W S

sure they’ve come out. As long as [those feelings] come through, I think it’s OK for the rest of the story not to adhere to the exact timeline. This [approach] also gave me a way to create some distance between the story and what actually happened.

How did your education degree enhance your understanding of young children? What sort of readers do you hope to reach?

I think I was writing this book for myself as a child, for kids like me struggling with something difficult, something they don’t really understand—kids going through divorce or things like that. If they’re also kids of immigrants, then additional cultural differences are involved where they’re straddling two worlds. The story is pretty specific, but hopefully it has some universal ideas that will resonate with readers who have complicated families or family secrets and are trying to move toward healthier ways of expressing that.

I think there’s also an increasing sense among young people that you must have a perfect image. In Asian culture, there are norms about not losing face, about being obedient.

So maybe another takeaway is that you don’t always have to be that buttoned-up, perfect outward image.

Sharing the truth and the messy way things are can actually create more connection with the people around you.

Christine Gross-Loh is the author of Parenting Without Borders and The Path.

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Fantasies That Whisk Listeners Away These imaginative stories and top-notch productions will transport young people.

BY KIRBY McCURTIS

The print edition of Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell received rave reviews (including a Kirkus star), and the audio version (Listening Library, 8 hours and 55 minutes) deserves the same.

From the moment British actor Samuel West reads “It was a very fine day, until something tried to eat him”—and then dramatically pauses—listeners will be hooked. The story follows two children, Christo­ pher Forrester and Mal Arvorian, as they venture on a most dangerous journey to

bring The Curse of Eelgrass Bog

by Mary Averling (Listening Library, 7 hours and 41 minutes) to life. Twelve-yearold Kess Pedrock is lonely. Her parents are away on a science expedition, and her only friend is a talking demon stuck in a jar. When a new girl arrives in town, Kess joins her in trying to uncover the secrets of Eelgrass Bog. The world­ building is excellent, and the deft unraveling of each secret makes the audiobook a memorable experience.

Nekia Renee Martin’s performance is undoubtedly dynamic in The Secret Library

by Kekla Magoon (Listening Library, 9 hours and 56 minutes). Delilah’s mom wants her to grow up to be a respectable businesswoman so that she can one day take over the vast family business, but Dally wants to truly experi­ ence being a kid. When a letter from her grandfather leads her to the titular library of secrets, Dally decides to go on an adventure. With Martin’s narration, 11-yearold Dally is both naïve and brave, spoiled and willing to risk it all, and isolated and gregarious. The pacing is magnificent, and the plentiful time-traveling action will keep listeners engaged until the last second.

Kirby McCurtis is director of location services at Multnomah County Library in Oregon.

Headphones: Juk ka A alho/Unsplash

AS A LIBRARIAN, I have eclectic tastes in audiobooks. But my favorites to recommend to young people have one thing in common—the ability to transport the listener into the story. This is particularly challenging for fantasy novels, because listeners must use their imaginations to join a new world and believe in that world enough that they become a part of it. Four of my favorite recent audiobooks for middle-graders are fantasy novels whose story and production overwhelmed me in the best possible ways.

discover why the world’s magic is disappearing. Mal and Christopher are joined by four others on their quest, and West creates authentic, distinct voices for each character. Thanks to the vivid descriptions, listeners can imagine what each of the places and memorable creatures look like, but the audiobook also comes with a downloadable bestiary PDF with drawings of each beast.

The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science (Hachette Audio, 4 hours and 54 minutes) is written and narrated by actor Kate McKinnon, and it’s an absolute delight. This adventure tale is about three sisters, their infamous and eccentric new teacher, Millicent Quibb, and a race to save the town from an evil cabal of mad scientists.

Despite numerous pleas to the listener to “see the PDF” for pictures, this silly middle-grade debut stands on its own in audio format. McKinnon’s hilarious tongue-in-cheek delivery matches the material well—maybe even better than just reading the text. As she trails off with footnotes, jokes, poems, and plenty of fourthwall breaking, I wonder if readers miss something when they can’t hear every one of McKinnon’s accents or songs sung in the most disagreeable pitch ever.

Narrator Kimberly Woods perfectly balances the whimsical and the creepy to

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A sophisticated look at the process of grief.

MY BROTHER

the realization that science is also about taking risks and thinking outside the box—sound guidance for burgeoning scientists. Mo presents Black, Muriel appears East Asian, and their class is diverse.

Sweet and engaging. (Picture book. 5-7)

My Path

The Biggest Smallest Thing

Curll, Jana | Nosy Crow (32 pp.) $18.99 | May 6, 2025 | 9798887772134

de Waal, Sara | Illus. by Ana Stretcu Annick Press (40 pp.) | $18.99 April 8, 2025 | 9781773219455

A tiny snail contemplates the journey that is life.

A purple snail with a bright yellow shell peeks out from a log at sunrise. “I know it’s time to start my day and get on my path.” The intrepid narrator looks directly at readers with eager eyes and explains, “You can join me on my path if you want to. Let’s see where it takes us.” Through pebbled ground (“Some­ times I have to go very slowly and very carefully”), across a dense forest (“Sometimes my path is empty and lonely”), and once even interrupted by a cliff’s edge (“Sometimes my path seems to end very suddenly. This is unex­ pected. But I make a decision”), the snail moves assuredly forward. Showcas­ ing life’s unexpected twists and turns, the gastropod imparts life lessons along the way. When a wide river looms, the protagonist shares some sage advice: “It’s ok to ask for help.” The yellow shell is a spot of hope as the snail moves across the pages in this tale that’s equal parts introspective and heartening. The smudgy illustrations match the meditative mood. The very young likely won’t understand all of the snail’s guidance, but they’ll be calmed and buoyed by the rhythm just the same.

A thoughtful road map for us all.

(Picture book. 4-7)

For more empowering picture books, visit Kirkus online.

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A young boy broadens his assumptions during his school’s Scinti­ llating Science Symposium.

Aspiring chemist Mo is excited about the prospect of a trophy and a week at science camp for the student who best demon­ strates a solution to this challenge: “What is something big you can make with something small?”Mo assesses the competition: a skilled musician, a fast runner, a child adept at melodious nose-blowing, and a girl who can devour a Popsicle in just three bites. And then there’s Muriel, a whimsical artist who wants to be a cat when she grows up. Mo, “a serious scientist” who holds himself to high standards, believes he’s a lock to win. At the symposium, Mo unveils his project—a volcano—but oh no! He’s misplaced a key ingredi­ ent. His class shows exemplary kindness, but Mo sulks as Muriel shows the other students her project: She leads them out the door as she draws a purple chalk line down the street. Her surprising take on the challenge charms the class—and offers Mo the opportunity to rectify his volcano. Mo expresses his gratitude, which leads smoothly to backmatter that displays the science behind some of the children’s demonstrations. Endearing, simple art combines with the gently humorous text to create an appropri­ ate STEM read-aloud for primary grade students. Mo slowly comes to

My Brother Djupvik, Laura | Illus. by Øyvind Torseter | Trans. by Martin Aitken Elsewhere Editions (56 pp.) | $18.95 March 11, 2025 | 9781962770026

Loss lingers in the air.

After having a strange dream, a young girl asks her somber father to go out with her on the fjord. Though he’s reluctant, they sail onto the water and set out their fishing lines.

To their shock, they catch an elongated, emaciated boy, who appears to be the girl’s recently deceased brother. After taking him back home and tending to him, the father and the young narrator get to celebrate one more night with their son and brother. The next morning, the boy walks back out to the sea; the surviving members of the family are now able to continue living their lives, though they’ll always have their memories. Originally pub­ lished in Norway, this is a meditative musing on grief and the different journeys people take along the way.

Torseter’s spare yet detailed illustra­ tions effectively match the mood of the family. Earlier scenes featuring heavy crosshatching and a washedout palette give way to spreads full of color that fill the page, showing that life eventually goes on, even after loss. Djupvik’s straightforward text captures the emotions felt while one is deep in mourning. All characters have skin the white of the page.

A sophisticated look at the process of grief. (author’s and illustrator’s notes) (Picture book. 6-9) K IR KU S R E V IE W S

CHILDREN'S

Survival of the Fittest: Who’s Got the Best Medicine?

Cookies and Crescents: An Eid Story

Tender, heartfelt, and sympathetic.

(Picture book. 4-8)

Donnelly, Rebecca | Illus. by Misa Saburi | Henry Holt (112 pp.) | $16.99 April 22, 2025 | 9781250805287 Series: Survival of the Fittest, 2

Dutka, Nada Shawish | Illus. by Zelma Firdauzia | Abrams (32 pp.) | $18.99 March 4, 2025 | 9781419773327

The See-You-Soon Spice Box

Another episode of the game show where toothy judges mull pitches from animals with features that, this time, just might inspire advances or improvements in medical tech­ niques or technology.

The literal “shark tank” hears from one of its own in this second round as Great White swaggers onstage to talk up the potential of hospital walls made of antibacterial denticles like the ones coating its sandpapery skin. The competition is fierce, though, with a Darwin’s bark spider touting a range of specialized silks including one that may promote healing in severed nerves, a coconut octopus showing off suckers that could be adapted to make bandages that stay on when wet, and several other creatures with similarly enticing features—all trying to sell themselves, along with their notional products, by offering background details about their species and habits. Wordless panels between and during the presentations offer funny sight gags and the animal audience’s sometimes underwhelming reactions. Of course, there can be only one winner, announced with suitable drama. But readers intrigued by the pitches and the judges’ questions will find expanded explanations of every entry at the end, with leads to further informa­ tion online. Human presence is minimal, though characters of color do appear.

Toothsome fare for young venture naturalists. (Graphic nonfiction. 8-11)

A Muslim child learns that fresh beginnings can bring new ways to celebrate old traditions.

Reem lives in a bustling, tightknit urban neighborhood; the young narrator adores the community’s Eid traditions, including Mama’s delicious, buttery cookies. But Reem and Mama are moving away just before Eid, and the child is crushed. “Al harakah barakah, Reem.

Movement is a blessing,” says Mama. Even with a bigger kitchen to bake in, Reem isn’t so sure. Sensing Reem’s melancholy, Mama suggests they make a batch of cookies together in their new home. Reem finds almost all the ingredients—but wait, where are the walnuts? The cookies won’t be the same! Mama comforts the emotionally overwhelmed Reem with her own story of moving as a child and with advice that taking old traditions somewhere new can make them even better. Reem embraces change, adapting Mama’s recipe with delectable results, and finds someone with whom to start a new tradition: spotting the crescent moon that signifies the start of Eid. Drawing from her own experiences, Dutka gently delivers a compassionate tale of resilience and introspective growth, emphasizing the adage that “home is where you make it.” Firdauzia’s digitally created illustrations, dominated by purples, blues, and greens, focus on facial expressions and body language to convey Reem’s roller coaster of emotions. Reem and Mama have light brown skin. An author’s note offers a sweet message of hope, followed by a recipe for ma’amoul, the story’s unnamed Eid cookie.

Toothsome fare for young venture naturalists.

SURVIVAL OF THE FIT TEST

K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Ehrenberg, Pamela | Illus. by Gabby Grant | Kar-Ben (32 pp.) | $18.99 March 4, 2025 | 9798765627440

A meaningful ritual brings young Silas and Great-Grandma Faye closer together.

According to observant Jewish tradition, Havdalah signifies the formal end of Shabbat on Saturday night and its “separation” from the other days of the week. (Havdalah means “separation” in Hebrew.) On one of their weekly video calls, GreatGrandma Faye tells Silas how much she loves Havdalah; she suggests that the two of them perform the ceremony virtually until they can meet in person again. Great-Grandma Faye shows Silas a spice box—a very important item used in the ceremony—made by GreatGrandpa long ago. Inspired, Silas creates his own version from a lidded plastic cup, which he fills with cinnamon, his favorite spice, and shows it to GreatGrandma Faye on their next call. When Great-Grandma Faye finally arrives, the family observes Havdalah with both boxes. Children will appreciate Silas and Great-Grandma Faye’s loving intergenerational relationship and their up-to-date communication style; readers will smile as the two sign off with variations on the phrase “See you soon” (“See you soon, Harvest Moon!”

“See you soon, Green Balloon!”).

Great-Grandma Faye’s clear yet whimsically child-friendly explanation of Havdalah (“the in-between-est part of the week”) will resonate with youngsters. Muted illustrations depict a loving, light-skinned family amid cozy settings; some background characters are brown-skinned.

A gentle demonstration of how familial bonds—and traditions—can endure even over vast physical distances. (about Havdalah, making a spice box for Havdalah) (Picture book. 4-7) FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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So Many Books!

Fliess, Sue & Ann Marie Stephens | Illus. by Alexandra Colombo | Whitman (32 pp.) $18.99 | April 10, 2025 | 9780807532331

Lots of page-turning fun: a book that demands repeat visits.

SO MANY BOOKS!

Oh, the books you’ll read!

This exuberant rhyming ode to reading is primed to get kids excited about the wonders awaiting them between the pages of a book. As the authors wisely point out, books are perfect anytime, anywhere—and they’re for everyone. Readers are encouraged to give books as gifts, to share them with friends and family, and even to write and illustrate their own books. Savor them at bedtime, too. There are even options for the youngest kids—board books with flaps to lift and mirrors adorning the pages so that tiny listeners can admire and make faces at themselves. Just like readers, books vary in appearance and type—long, short, hard, soft, and everything in between. And who says books must only be read? Some books even help us sing. Best of all, you don’t have to buy books: Public libraries offer them for free! Return what you finish, then borrow more—as often as you like. What’s a better deal than that? If this book doesn’t turn kids into ardent readers, nothing will.

Besides the bouncy, jubilant verses, the energetic illustrations will do the trick, brimming with ebullient colors and featuring a cast of spirited readers, diverse in terms of both race and age.

Lots of page-turning fun for everyone: a book that demands repeat visits.

(Picture book. 4-7)

Lulu Is a Rhinoceros Flom, Jason with Allison Flom | Illus. by Sophie Corrigan | Greystone Kids (40 pp.) $18.95 | April 29, 2025 | 9781778403002

A little dog longs to unleash her true self.

Lulu may appear to be a tan-andwhite bulldog, but she knows who she really is deep down.

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While on the outside she has “soft, fuzzy fur” and a “little nub” of a tail, inside she has “thick gray rhino skin” and a “tail that whips and twirls.” She also knows what she’s missing: a rhino’s horn. Lulu searches for a substitute on her walks through New York City. Could an ice cream cone do the trick? A sock? She happily settles for the next best thing: a banana peel! Or she would, until it’s stolen by a wayward pigeon. In her haste to retrieve it, Lulu enters Central Park and finds herself in an unexpected but perfect spot—the rhino enclosure at the Central Park Zoo. This mildly amusing story meanders from plot point to plot point, following a manic puggie dream girl whose commitment to being herself is commendable but less than compelling. In the final pages, Lulu meets Flom Flom, a tickbird who tells her that “every rhino has a tickbird, and every tickbird has a rhino”—a meet-cute that explains nothing. Without information on the symbiotic relationship between rhinos and tickbirds, many will be mystified. The illustrations try their best but leave Lulu in an uncanny valley between cartoony and realistic.

who you look up to and admire.” They support the young Native narrator through everyday life, whether the child is learning to ride a bike or attending a social justice rally. Their encouragement takes many forms: “When they tease and joke, you know how much they care. When they give you a pep talk, you sit up straighter, realizing they believe in you.”

The author emphasizes Indigenous aunties, whose wisdom, love, and advocacy demonstrate the depth of their ferocity.

The aunties in this story vary in skin tone and age, but all “are a force of nature” who show up for the protagonist in big and small ways. Littlebird’s (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) digital illustra­ tions lend the narrative a comic book–style exuberance, underscoring the joyful love between the main character and the aunties. Backmatter includes an author’s note praising the aunties in Goodluck’s life. Aunties fill so many important roles, though their contributions aren’t always acknowledged; this sunny homage acknowledges crucial figures in many children’s kindred networks.

Sweet but unsatisfying. (authors’ note) (Picture book. 4-8)

The magic and power of aunties are on affectionate display in this tender tale. (Picture book. 4-7)

Fierce Aunties!

Rosie Frost: Ice on Fire

Goodluck, Laurel | Illus. by Steph Littlebird | Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $19.99 | April 15, 2025 | 9781665948968

Halliwell-Horner, Geri | Philomel (464 pp.) | $18.99 | April 8, 2025 9780593624005 | Series: Rosie Frost, 2

An ode to the women who celebrate and care for their people.

As Goodluck (Mandan/Hidatsa/ Tsimshian) makes clear, these honored relatives extend far beyond biological family. “They can be a family member or a favorite teacher, coach, or friend in the community. Fierce Aunties are women

Heverbridge School is back in session, and Rosie Frost has new mysteries to solve and enemies to face.

Last term, Rosie, who’s nearly 14 and presents white, won the coveted Falcon Queen games at her new school on Bloodstone Island, K IR KU S R E V IE W S

CHILDREN'S

which boasts a diverse population of students and teachers, many of whom are descendants of Tudor-era nobility. Her victory gave her notoriety, but the extra attention isn’t always welcome. She feels frustration and rage while facing one hurdle after another, even as she tries to discover the truth behind her mother’s mysterious recent death. Meanwhile, a science competition is underway, but the rich scientist who’s visiting the school has a project that’s putting everyone at risk.

With mutant animals roaming the island, black holes appearing in the sky, and a murderer on the loose, Rosie needs the help of her friends more than ever—but she isn’t always sure whom to trust. Continuing the lightly fantastical, science-forward, historically connected, girl-power themes of the first book, this second series entry has a bloated beginning with the introduction of new issues and characters. But the dynamic latter half features captivating action and adventure as the peril amps up, and Rosie comes closer to finding the answers she seeks. A touch of romance and surprising new alliances contribute to the character development. The ending satisfyingly wraps up the primary conflicts but leaves room for future stories.

Despite a sluggish start, this magical school series continues to enchant. (map, glossary, family tree) (Fantasy. 10-14)

Rachel Carson’s WonderFilled World: How the Scientist, Writer, and Nature Lover Changed the Environmental Movement Hannigan, Kate | Illus. by Katie Hickey Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers (40 pp.) | $18.99 March 11, 2025 | 9781662680571

A soaring tribute to the perceptive naturalist and writer who jump-started the modern environ­ mental movement.

While tracing Rachel Carson’s all-too-brief life from early woodland walks with her mother, K IR KU S R E V IE W S

dog, and notebook to later fame as a bestselling nature writer with an unsurpassed ability to communicate her observations and concerns to wide audiences, Hannigan repeatedly appeals to readers to follow her example by using each of their senses in turn to see, hear, smell, feel, and taste the natural wonders that are all around. Finishing her final book, Silent Spring, became a race against time. Although she didn’t live to see the effect the book has had on successive generations (“It ignited a revolution,” the author writes, before going on to list some of the major legislative acts it prompted), some sense of its importance comes out in the historical note at the end. Substantial quoted passages from several of Carson’s works that ably capture her eloquent style are tucked into Hickey’s equally lyrical views of the young naturalist taking nature walks alone or with her young grandnephew (later co-author) Roger, wading in shallows, or sitting at her writing desk generating images of ocean wildlife in splashy floods. Her environmental concerns have only grown more cogent with time.

Vivid and perceptive. (timeline, bibliography, information on DDT, glossary, suggested activities) (Picture-book biography. 7-9)

Wonder Wings: Guess Who’s Flying Hirsch, Rebecca E. | Illus. by Sally Soweol Han | Abrams (40 pp.) $19.99 | April 15, 2025 | 9781419769252 Series: Nature Riddles and Rhymes

Soaring rhymes celebrate wings of many sorts as an equally diverse cast of bright-eyed young children look on.

“Small wings, big wings, near and far. / Can you guess whose wings these are?”

Offering tantalizing hints about each example until a page turn reveals the answer, Hirsch writes of honeybees and katydids, hummingbirds and mallards— but also expands her topic well beyond bugs and birds to encompass winged

things from maple seeds to pterosaurs and jet planes. As she explains in a substantial afterword, each uses wings in distinctive ways. Penguin chicks don’t fly, for instance, but steer with their flippers as they toboggan down ice slopes on their bellies, and butterflies flap in a figure-­ eight pattern, clapping their wings to create a propulsive puff of air. Individual readers and listening audiences alike will come away understanding the structural differences between the wings of bats and birds, not to mention how lift can be created by both wing curvature and by the “tiny tornado” that forms over the flat surface of a maple “whirlybird.” Han mixes brightly hued close-ups of flora and fauna with views of small children immersed in peaceful natural settings, being strapped into their seats, or, in one fetching scene, donning wings them­ selves to flit cheerily about.

A nicely balanced combination of guessing game and scientific facts. (selected sources) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Warriors Graphic Novel: The Prophecies Begin Hunter, Erin | Adapt. by Natalie Riess & Sara Goetter | Illus. by Natalie Riess & Sara Goetter | HarperAlley (272 pp.) | $15.99 paper | April 8, 2025 | 9780063203907 Series: Warriors Graphic Novel, 2

Fireheart struggles with new responsibili­ ties as treachery and natural disasters threaten ThunderClan in this second volume of the graphic recasting of the initial Warriors series.

Encompassing events from middle volumes Forest of Secrets (2003) and Rising Storm (2004), this episode features flood, fire, learning opportunities, and a treacherous coup attempt as Fireheart advances up ThunderClan’s hierarchy while taking his kittypet sister Princess’s first born, Cloudkit, away from the Twolegplace to train as a warrior.

Fireheart is easy enough to pick out in FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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the illustrations because he has a distinctive mark on his brow, but even readers who’ve read and reread the original novels may have trouble keeping the rest of the characters in the teeming feline cast apart—particularly since the illustrators admit to adding a few extras to fill out crowd scenes. Still, the switch to a graphic format from the original prose allows the wordless training and action sequences to speed the plot along.

The artwork also offers vivid visual renditions of pouncing on crunchy fresh-kill and gory, savage battles with other cats that underscore the feral violence of life in the wild—not to mention packing cats, cats, and more cats into the panels. The fetching interplay between irrepressible Cloudkit and his patient, serious mentor stands out, as does the heroic protagonist’s progress toward coming into his own.

The expert, artful transition of the classic series to a new format continues. (map, character sheets, alternate cover sketches) (Graphic animal fantasy. 11-13)

Marjory’s River of Grass: Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Fierce Protector of the Everglades James, Josie | Christy Ottaviano Books (40 pp.) $18.99 | April 15, 2025 | 9780316446914

This picture-­ book biography of Marjory Stoneman Douglas leans into her passion for Florida’s Everglades.

A Minnesotan by birth, Douglas arrived in Florida in 1915 as a college graduate, joining her estranged journal­ ist father at the Miami Herald. There, she fell in love with the Everglades and used her writing skills to draw attention to their importance and to advocate for their preservation. Seeing this ambition become reality took decades of per­ sistence and incremental success. James’ text, set in small, businesslike type on her backgrounds, leads readers on a jerky path through Douglas’ long life (she died at 108). They meet many of the 108

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

influential men in her life—her editor, her fellow activists—but not the husband whose surname she adopted.

That is but one omission that readers may note in this elliptical text. Most notable is the stark absence of the Miccosukee and the Seminole; while the text waxes lyrical about the flora and fauna, it is silent about the human residents of the Everglades. Information is too frequently conveyed in awkward, expository, and unsourced dialogue; James’ digital artwork often has a distinctly uncanny-valley effect. She places her white subject, usually clad in hat and pearls, amid a variety of swampy settings. Backmatter offers an author’s note, information on water resources, a bibliography, and source notes.

Douglas’ life and work were important; this attempt to celebrate them falls short. (list of relevant organizations) (Picture-book biography. 7-9)

Kirkus Star

The Doomsday Detectives: How Walter and Luis Alvarez Solved the Mystery of Dinosaur Extinction Jenson-Elliott, Cindy | Illus. by Theo Nicole Lorenz | Tu Books (224 pp.) $21.95 | March 11, 2025 | 9781643791098

A look at a father-and-son team’s journey to discover the scientific reasons why dinosaurs went extinct.

The book opens with dynamic black-and-white illustrations that dramatically depict the thriving flora and fauna of the Creta­ ceous Period, including dinosaurs, plants, and microscopic life. But what happened to the dinosaurs? Luis and Walter Alvarez, Cuban American father-and-son scientists, set out to solve this mystery. In 1980, they published a paper in Science magazine describing their hypothesis that an “extraterrestrial impact somewhere on Earth” led to the dinosaurs’ extinction. Strong, descriptive

writing interspersed with engaging graphic novel panels together support the explanation of complex scientific concepts, including plate tectonics, historical evidence in rocks, and how evidence from outer space and the ocean connects to Earth’s geologic time scale.

The Alvarezes spent years gathering proof to support their hypothesis, but the book shows how scientific theories are often controversial and even divisive.

Informative sidebars highlight the diverse group of scientists who contrib­ uted to solving the mystery of extinction.

But as is often the case, one finding leads to many more questions: “In science, no one has the last word.” The book closes by introducing contemporary scientists who are researching the doomsday event. Packed with explana­ tions of scientific terminology and methods of operation, this detailed and compelling book is a superb guide for curious STEM-­focused readers.

An outstanding resource that depicts the winding and complex journey of scientific exploration. (guide to scientific practices, glossary, source notes, endnotes, index, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 10-13)

Just One Wave Jonker, Travis | Abrams (48 pp.) $18.99 | April 15, 2025 | 9781419773716

Liam’s sea­ sonal demands are modest.

In winter, the young narrator longed for Just One Flake (2023). Now that it’s a perfect summer beach day, Liam hopes for “just one wave.” The shore offers sun, sand, and sea gulls, but—“Oh no”—not the faintest swell.

Liam is willing to wait—and WAIT— but some problems can’t be solved, even with patience and perseverance.

Scattering a flock of sea gulls doesn’t produce surf, nor does an attempt at sneaking up on the sea and scaring it.

Finally, Liam builds a sand castle and taunts the sea: “Come and get it!” But it’s baby sister Sonja who reduces the ramparts to rubble. Now it’s already K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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“Time to go!” Suddenly Liam has an idea. Climbing the castle ruins, the youngster cannonballs into the water, creating a big wave that breaks over Sonja, who, after a moment’s uncer­ tainty, is thrilled. Liam may not have enjoyed any waves today, but the child rejoices at having provided Sonja with her first wave. Upon leaving, calm as the water itself, Liam waves at the sea from the car window, with the hopeful thought “until next summer.” Like the earlier book, this tale features deceptively simple, expressive, flat illustrations with heavy, wavering outlines and touches of soft color. Its plot is positive, unpredict­ able, and engaging; realistic, relatable dialogue and clear lettering make this a good option for burgeoning readers.

Liam and Sonja are tan-skinned.

A satisfying tale that sees its protagonist striving once more for a single iconic experience. (Picture book. 4-8)

The Bird Thief Keating, Rachel | Illus. by Naomi Bennet Cadno/Graffeg (220 pp.) | $15.99 paper March 6, 2025 | 9781802586848

A family holiday goes awry when a British girl discovers some­ thing threatening goldfinches.

Twelve-year-old Erin’s mother has struggled with depression ever since Aunty Sophie, Mum’s beloved sister, passed away. Erin herself battles fairly severe OCD; her symptoms— including compulsively checking things and counting—can be isolating. An ordinary summer trip to stay in a “static caravan” near a place in the countryside

that was special to Mum and Aunty Sophie leads Erin to meet Bess, a mean-spirited yet magnetic girl.

Following Bess’ lead, Erin ventures beyond the fence enclosing the caravan park and into the forest. When she climbs a tree to look at a goldfinch’s nest and falls, the goldfinches, fantastically, do more than heal her—they pass on some of their bird nature. Erin experi­ ences a shift in her sense of time, develops the ability to fly, and can understand the speech of a particular goldfinch who strongly resembles her most precious childhood comfort object, Fable, a cuddly toy goldfinch. As Bess and the real Fable lead Erin to realize that something sinister is happening to the goldfinches, they find themselves in the crosshairs of a dangerous situation.

The plot covers a lot of ground quickly, and though her abilities are mysterious, Erin is a compelling character whose OCD is part of her but does not define her. Well-placed illustrations appear at powerful emotional moments (final art not seen). Main characters present white.

A well-rounded and magical story that explores nature and mental health.

(Fiction. 10-14)

That’s My Truck!: A Good Inside Story About Hitting Kennedy, Becky | Illus. by Joanie Stone Feiwel & Friends (32 pp.) | $19.99 April 1, 2025 | 9781250326959

Charlie is all set for a day of fun, but when he notices his little sister, Pia, playing with his new fire truck, he sees red.

In an attempt to get his favorite toy back, Charlie hits Pia. Mom defuses

A well-rounded and magical story that explores nature and mental health.

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the situation by speaking gently to him about his emotions: “You’re a good kid having a hard time. And I’m here. I’m right here with you.” There’s no mention of a timeout, no yelling.

Instead, Mom takes a more empa­ thetic approach, one espoused by Kennedy, a clinical psychologist, online parenting coach, and founder of the Good Inside website and app.

Now branching out into the realm of children’s books, the author seeks to help youngsters effectively deal with their feelings. This story seems targeted more to parents than to kids, however. The narration and dialogue are didactic and clunky, and the story lacks tension, humor, or other elements likely to appeal to children.

The backmatter, which includes questions and answers that flesh out the Good Inside philosophy, will be useful to caregivers, but ultimately the book feels like a marketing tool to extend Kennedy’s reach. In the simple, somewhat static illustrations, Pia and Charlie have light-tan skin, while Mom is lighter-skinned.

A purpose-driven tale about grappling with big emotions; unlikely to entice kids, but potentially useful to caregivers. (Picture book. 3-6)

Rose Weaves a Garden Kheiriyeh, Rashin | Anne Schwartz/ Random (40 pp.) | $18.99 April 22, 2025 | 9780593705100

Seven-year-old Rose and her beloved grandfa­ ther make a Persian rug.

Brown-skinned Rose and Baba joon live in a “city so old, they call it ancient,” marked by gilded minarets.

Each morning, Baba joon makes rugs at a factory; in the afternoon, he makes rugs for friends and family. Rose wants to learn, too, so Baba joon shows her how. After they dye yarn using poppies, saffron, roses, and indigo, Baba joon teaches Rose to weave on the loom, tying one of the many thousands of knots that FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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make up a rug. Like the rugs that he makes using a machine at the factory, the ones he creates at home by hand have elegant, intricate floral patterns—but these are even more kaleidoscopic. When Baba joon falls ill, Rose continues working on their rug on her own, channeling his expertise as her own skills develop. When they dance together on their finished rug, which features an image of them both in a garden, it’s a triumph of intergenerational connection.

This tribute to an ancient craft that continues into the present demonstrates that a handmade object is truly irreplaceable. Inspired by Kheiriyeh’s childhood in Iran, the art is saturated with both pigment and feeling. Rose’s family brims with warmth and creativ­ ity; readers will revel in the opportunity to spend time with them.

A loving familial tale with deep roots. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Star

Everybelly Lam, Thao | Groundwood (40 pp.) $19.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781773067643

Take a dip in a pool where every­ one is welcome.

A brownskinned child is gearing up to take a belly flop from the diving board. Along the way, the young narrator encounters members of the community, including Mr. Mendoza, who “is really quiet except on Sundays,” and Mr. St. Clair, who can’t swim (“but wow, does he sparkle” in his bathing suit). Since the child is only about as tall as most adults’ waists, readers generally don’t see other characters’ full faces, but their bodies—including their bellies— are on full, glorious display. Through cut-paper collage illustrations, Lam spotlights a noteworthy diversity; the bodies feature belly rolls, stomachs that hang over the waists of brightly colored shorts, six-pack abdomens, cellulite, stretch marks, vitiligo, freckles, scars (including some that appear to be from top surgery), insulin pumps, prosthetic limbs, and tattoos. Lam’s text brims 110

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with a childlike wonder that hints at the protagonist’s mischievousness (“Mr. Popov lives below us. He loves it when I tap dance. He always keeps time with his broom”). The characters vary in skin tone and ability, and the protagonist’s matter-of-fact, accepting attitude about everyone’s bodies is laudable—as is the gently integrated lesson on bodily autonomy (“But do not—and I mean DO NOT—stick your hands in other people’s bellies. Trust me, my cat taught me that the hard way”).

A unique, joyful celebration of bellies, bodies, and beauty. (Picture book. 5-8)

Mrs. Nobody

compromise as Alice points out that she has good ideas, too, which leads to more imaginative play. Lee’s under­ stated prose pairs well with Lafrance’s whimsical, dreamy art. Mrs. Nobody’s free-flowing tresses and gown are artfully rendered with soft textures and nature motifs, dotted with pops of color. She transforms with her moods— her hair becomes tornadolike when she rages, while she resembles a delicate pink flower when she’s in a more relaxed state of mind. The result is a tale told with a light touch that will nevertheless empower readers to stand up for themselves. Alice and Mrs. Nobody present East Asian.

Infused with a fantastical flair, a doorway to helping kids learn to establish boundaries. (Picture book. 5-8)

Lee, Y.S. | Illus. by Marie Lafrance Groundwood (32 pp.) | $19.99 April 1, 2025 | 9781773068367

A young girl asserts herself when her wayward imaginary friend refuses to listen.

Alice loves playing with Mrs. Nobody, who has the best ideas. Mrs. Nobody draws on the walls, gobbles toothpaste, and makes confetti out of “some old paper that was just lying around in a wallet.” But Mrs. Nobody isn’t always the best listener. When Alice points out that it’s her turn to take on a coveted role during a game of make-believe, Mrs. Nobody screams in anger before disappearing. Alice feels lonely, but Mrs. Nobody returns the next day. Alice is overjoyed, but when she again refuses to acquiesce to her friend, the furious Mrs. Nobody takes the form of a fiery dragon. “I have to be the boss,” Mrs. Nobody says. “My ideas are the best.” The two reach a

Big Enough Linke, Regina | Little, Brown (40 pp.) $18.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9780316531153

A Chinese boy “so small he often [gets] lost” must bring his family’s ox home from the fields on his own.

Ah-Fu sets off with Grandfather’s parting advice echoing in his mind: “Just don’t try to ride him…You’re not big enough to hold on yet.” The warnings compound as Ah-Fu encounters a flock of swallows and a frog with conflicting advice of their own: “Don’t try to lead him by the horns.” “Don’t try to herd him from behind.” Like Grandfather, the animals tell the boy he isn’t big enough to handle a stubborn, tempera­ mental ox. When Ah-Fu finally comes face to face with the enormous ox, he is overwhelmed and flees in terror. As night falls, though, the timid ox finds

A girl asserts herself when her wayward imaginary friend refuses to listen.

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Ah-Fu and asks for his help getting home. Soon, Ah-Fu realizes that he’s big enough to break the rules set by others to find his own way forward. The illustrations, painted digitally using traditional Chinese techniques, are by turns realistic and minimalist, then fantastical and lush, capturing an agrarian countryside filtered through the unbridled imagination of youth. This tale of quiet persistence, enhanced by the ox’s impressively expressive eyebrows, will strike a chord with young readers looking for their own burst of courage.

the directions exactly. The winning illustrations, rendered in watercolors and digitally, are charming, portraying a loving, brown-skinned family whose eldest child is attempting to get some shut-eye. While the text consists solely of directives, Orlando’s busy spreads flesh out the story, depicting raucous sibling and pet antics.

How To Catch Some Zzzs

Long, Kim | Illus. by Nicole Miles Running Press Kids (144 pp.) | $17.99 May 6, 2025 | 9780762485758

A gentle adventure for big dreamers in small bodies. (Picture book. 4-8)

Lloyd, Megan Wagner | Illus. by Jade Orlando | Chronicle Books (40 pp.) $17.99 | May 13, 2025 | 9781452168371

What to do if kids’ “Zzzs” go AWOL? This trusty handbook is exactly what fretful children (and their parents) need to ensure a good night’s rest. First things first. “Zzzs can’t resist a good bedtime routine.” Little ones should wash thoroughly, because “Zzzs adore soapy scents.” What follows is more standard but important advice. Select a pair of pajamas, gather “emergency supplies” (a flashlight and water bottle), remember to include cherished stuffed and real animals, give loved ones a good night kiss, listen to plenty of bedtime stories (“Zzzs can’t get enough” of them), make a wish before nestling under the covers, and turn off the lights (“It’s okay—really. Morning will be here before you know it”). The final steps?

Cuddle a plush pal close, relax, think good thoughts, and use those emergency supplies. Now it’s time to pay a visit to dreamland. The book concludes with a great YAWN…and what do you know?

Here come the Zzzs! This adorable, comforting offering is guaranteed to make bedtime less stressful for children and parents alike. Kids will want to hear it repeatedly—and may aim to follow K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Kids will savor this very sweet addition to the getting-ready-for-­ bedtime canon. (Picture book. 4-7)

Catching Cryptids: The Scientific Search for Mysterious Creatures

A handy guide to high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech tools for tracking down Mongolian death worms and simi­ larly elusive crea­ tures worldwide.

“Animals, it turns out, are really good at hiding.” Grouping select cryptids by type—sea and lake monsters, those that are wolflike, batlike, or apelike, and so forth—Long pairs summary reports of sightings and general descriptions of each creature with descriptions of gear and techniques that readers may use to verify that the animals actually exist. Recent advances in technology have expanded the tool kit considerably, so in addition to relying on standbys like radar, sonar, and trained dogs, researchers can analyze DNA floating in water and even air, break down recordings of ambient sounds in forests and other habitats, and employ nearly silent aerial or deep-sea drones. These technologies can also be used to track down actual as well as legendary fauna, of course, as the author points out with examples of species that have wrongly turned out to be considered extinct, along with suggestions for careers in biology from zoologist to wildlife computer scientist. Still, the stars of the show here are the cryptids. They’re seldom more than vague shapes in Miles’

understated illustrations, and Bigfoot doesn’t even make the cut. At times, the author’s skepticism about many of the others shows through. Nevertheless, there are frights and marvels aplenty left for believers. “Adventure awaits,” she writes, “so let the search begin!”

Stimulating fare for both outdoor and armchair cryptid hunters. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-11)

Lady of the Lines: How Maria Reiche Saved the Nazca Lines by Sweeping the Desert MacColl, Michaela | Illus. by Elisa Chavarri | Astra Young Readers (48 pp.) $18.99 | April 8, 2025 | 9781662620096

A German scientist devotes her life to uncovering and protecting the Nazca Lines in Peru.

With a bundle of brooms and an obsession, Maria Reiche orchestrated the preservation of “the Lines,” which she first encountered in 1941, when an American anthropologist showed her aerial photographs of them. The series of giant figures, among them a monkey the size of a soccer field and a spider “as big as four buses laid end to end,” were etched deeply into the Nazca Desert centuries ago. The Lines remained mostly hidden by sand and dust until Reiche began sweeping them. She worked daily for years under the hot sun, cataloguing the figures and photograph­ ing them from a helicopter, and she advocated for their protection from exploitation. Her efforts took a toll on her health, but she remained engaged by their mystery: How were they made?

Why were they so big? MacColl’s descriptions are accompanied by quotes from Reiche. In 1994 the area was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but the origins of the Nazca Lines remain a mystery, as MacColl details in the extensive backmatter. The engaging narrative is part process story and part biography; Reiche’s unwavering commitment is nicely reflected by FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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Chavarri’s depiction of her work from a variety of perspectives—close up as the Lines emerge, from above as a figure becomes clear, and then as a sky filled with constellations (Reiche theorized that the Lines were star maps).

An inspiring portrait of scientific dedication. (author’s note, archival photographs, timeline, selected bibliography, further resources) (Informational picture book. 7-10)

A Time of Legends: The Story of Two Fearless Wolves―And One Rebel McIntyre, Rick & David A. Poulsen | Illus. by John Potter | Greystone Kids (120 pp.) $18.95 | April 15, 2025 | 9781778401930 Series: Chronicles of the Yellowstone Wolves

Character portraits of three wolves— two heroic, one not so much.

Leaving out inessential detail and (aside from occasional personal comments in boldface) nearly all human presence, McIntyre turns narratives from his Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone series into still absorbing but more quickly paced studies. He and co-author Poulsen focus on a mated pair, dubbed Wolf 21 and Wolf 42, highlight­ ing their close relationship and the way they cared for their pack over a period of years. The authors go on to tell a more nuanced tale of Wolf 302, a sneaky, unreliable Lothario who only began to show signs of a reformed character after many years of reprehensible behavior.

Other wolves move in and out of view in the meantime. Some wolves do get names, an inconsistency that only makes keeping track of who’s who harder; for all the winningly immersive descriptions of typical behaviors and changes within the pack, anthropomorphism takes command both in language—302 is described as a “punk rocker”—and in feelings and values on display. These traits range from courage, playfulness, parental care, and loyalty to acts less plausibly ascribed to kindness, altruism, 112

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A heartwarming charmer. Readers will root for this horse all the way.

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depression, and a desire for revenge. Still, though the authors attempt to present much of the four-legged cast as good and bad examples for two-legged readers, there’s enough vividly narrated natural history to please lovers of wolves or of wild animals in general. Spot art is included; final art not seen.

Absorbing reading, if sometimes bearing down on moral lessons.

(Informational fiction. 11-13)

Dreaming of a Quinceañera Méndez, Yamile Saied | Illus. by Christine Almeda | Orchard/Scholastic (32 pp.) $18.99 | April 15, 2025 | 9781338894950

Ellie’s big sister, Isabella, is about to celebrate her quinceañera.

The milestone is a special event marking a girl’s 15th birthday and her transition into womanhood, observed in Spain, Latin America, and the Philippines. Although Isabella is 10 years older than Ellie, the two are best friends. Both sisters are excited about the quinceañera, but Isabella confides that she’s also nervous.

As Isabella is whisked away to get ready for the celebration, Ellie is left behind, eager to help prepare for the party but struggling to find a job she can do at her age—flower arranging proves too difficult, and the cake is far too delicate for Ellie to help decorate. When the party begins, Ellie is awestruck by her sister’s elegance, although Isabella’s busy schedule keeps them apart. Unexpect­ edly, in a touching moment, Isabella publicly expresses her love for Ellie and invites her to share a special dance, making the evening unforgettable. This

well-crafted narrative weaves together themes of sisterly love and the commu­ nity’s role in celebrating a young person’s coming of age. The customs and traditions of the quinceañera shine in this warm family tale, and children who are much younger than their big siblings will relate to Ellie’s earnest desire to be included in the festivities.

Dominated by pinks and reds, the illustrations are suffused with a soft glow. The family is Latine.

A heartfelt celebration of sisterhood and culture, seen through the eyes of an enthusiastic younger sibling. (information on quinceañeras) (Picture book. 5-8)

Inventions To Count On Miroballi, Dana Marie | Illus. by Sawyer Cloud | Abrams Appleseed (40 pp.) $18.99 | April 15, 2025 | 9781419769962

Rhymed salutes to 10 common creations patented

by Black inventors.

Young audiences will recognize at least some of the inventions Miroballi celebrates, such as automatic elevator doors and ice cream scoops with built-in scrapers, but their inventors’ names are shuffled off here to narrow, easy-to-miss vertical sidebars, and the single descriptive couplet she provides for each entry is only a little skimpier than the terse paragraphs of explanation at the end. Cloud doesn’t do much to fill in the details; scenes of an extended Black family engaged in domestic tasks and gathering for a birthday party add a warm, homey atmosphere, but except for that scoop (shown in use at an ice cream parlor), the original inventions aren’t depicted until the endpapers and, in the story K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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itself, are generally represented only by images of modern, very different versions. Still, the author’s closing observation that these men and women are worth celebrating for the way they pressed on in the face of systemic discrimination and other obstacles is well taken, brought home by the nod to Alice H. Parker, who patented a gas-fired home heating system in 1919 but is otherwise so obscure that her thumbnail portrait is just a generic silhouette.

An effective pep talk, but thin on specifics. (selected sources, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Today My Brain Is a Dinosaur Mora, Kyla & Jedidiah Mora | Illus. by Mette Engell | Sleeping Bear Press (32 pp.) $18.99 | March 15, 2025 | 9781534113541 Series: Own Voices, Own Stories

A boy learns to cope with his neurodivergence.

When the young narrator needs to be quiet, his brain is a roaring T. rex.

When he needs to wash the dishes, his brain is a submarine diving into the depths of an imaginary ocean. Sometimes, even though he knows it’s wrong, his brain is a raging bull that scares his friends. And after all that, his brain is a hurricane of self-loath­ ing as he wonders why he can’t just behave. Though attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder isn’t named in the text, many children with ADHD will see themselves reflected here. The authors validate the feeling of being overwhelmed by a brain you can’t control, while also encouraging young readers to use their neurodivergence to their advantage instead of trying to change who they are; the young boy channels his big emotions into constructive pursuits, such as standing up for those in need and researching things he’s passionate about.

And when that becomes too hard, the authors advise kids to reach out to loved ones. Though this is a vital message, the writing unfortunately does not measure up. The rhyme scheme is frequently awkward, as are the phrasing and meter.

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The cartoonish art is at its best when depicting the boy’s thoughts whirling around him. The boy’s family is depicted with varying shades of brown.

Clumsy text conveys a crucial takeaway about neurodivergence.

(Picture book. 4-7)

The Playmakers Morris, Chad & Shelly Brown | Illus. by Garth Bruner | Shadow Mountain (256 pp.) $18.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781639933839

An Ohio boy puts together his own basketball team of mismatched seventh graders.

When best friends Jax and Nic are cut from the middle school basketball team, Jax impulsively tells their coach, “We’ll make our own team. And we’ll be better than yours.” Luke, who’s 6 feet, 3 inches tall, is more interested in acting than basketball, but he doesn’t get a part in the school play. Jax recruits Luke as a player in exchange for taking part in a theater competition with him. Eventually, the team members connect with intelligent, precocious, and lonely classmate Miley, who wants to improve her sports statistics skills: Helping the team improve their play would give her great college application material. The story is told through Jax’s, Luke’s, and Miley’s alternating first-person points of view.

Miley’s entries appear as doodle-filled graphic journal entries. Full of drama, miscalculations, and turnovers, this story explores a fun scenario in which a bunch of kids with different interests and skills work together for a common purpose.

Unfortunately, the innocent fun is undermined by racialized portrayals of two teammates in the otherwise largely white-presenting cast. Nic is cued Black, and his father is in jail, while teammate Koa, who’s cued Pasifika, is repeatedly described in an othering way that references his “bush of curly hair” and the nickname “Animal” (from his old school); he’s also “been through some stuff” that’s similar to Nic’s trauma.

A heartfelt mix of basketball, theater, math, and friendship that’s marred by stereotypical representation. (Fiction. 8-12)

Brave Old Blue Muske, Colleen | Illus. by Christopher Thornock | Sleeping Bear Press (32 pp.) $18.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781534113213

An old horse gets a brand-new lease on life.

Old Blue arrives at a horse rescue farm.

Alone and uncertain, he’s wary of his surround­ ings. A red-haired, pale-skinned young girl named Bobby welcomes him; he responds softly to her kind overtures and receives gentle scratches, fresh carrots, and a new blanket.

Bobby also gives him a warm bath.

Old Blue meets other horses who live at the farm: They whinny their welcomes, and he responds in kind.

Then he and Bobby rest together.

Old Blue begins to feel better, but when a strong wind blows, he’s “alarmed. Unsettled. Afraid.” When Bobby assures him he’s safe, her words “soothe his troubled thoughts.”

Gradually, Old Blue feels stronger and more courageous. Nighttime finds him snuggled in “deep soft straw” in a cozy stall. After Bobby promises to see him tomorrow, smiling Old Blue realizes he’s “home at last.” Readers may realize—though it’s never stated explicitly—that Old Blue’s former life was likely difficult; he may have suffered neglect, abandonment, and even abuse. Though very gently written, this understated story expertly captures the horse’s deep-seated anxiety and guardedness. Children will be heartened to realize that Old Blue will be treated with the loving attention he and all animals deserve.

The illustrations are rendered in a very muted palette, mostly softly applied browns and tans, suggesting serenity.

A heartwarming charmer. Readers will root for this horse all the way. (a message from the author) (Picture book. 5-8) FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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Mai’s Áo Dài Nguyen, Thai & Monique Truong | Illus. by Dung Ho | Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum (40 pp.) $18.99 | Jan. 7, 2025 | 9781665917346

A child of Vietnamese descent fantasizes about the perfect outfit for Tết.

One night, Mai dreams about being a big “STAAAAAAR” and fielding questions on the red carpet.

Mai’s literal dream dress is a sparkly silver ballroom gown with a sweetheart cut.

After waking up, the child is eager to tell Ba all about it, but first it’s time to get ready. It’s the first day of Tết, or Lunar New Year, and the family plans to celebrate at Mai’s grandmother’s house. Though Mai loves visiting Bà Nội, the child balks at donning the áo dài, a Vietnamese outfit consisting of a tunic worn over trousers.

“Stars wear dresses and gowns,” Mai tells Ba. But Ba shows Mai the family photo album, explaining that Bà Nội had her own sewing school in Vietnam and that her students lovingly dubbed her the “Queen of Áo Dài.” To keep their traditions alive when the family emigrated, Bà Nội continued to make áo dài for her loved ones, and the children learned to sew them as an expression of love. Finally, with a newfound appreciation for the garment, Mai greets Bà Nội with a hug, clad in a customized áo dài made by Ba. Told entirely through naturally expressed and well-paced dialogue and accompanied by vividly textured illustrations, this is a loving tale of a family finding a creative way to reshape a beloved tradition.

Thoughtful and joyful. (glossary, “let’s design our own áo dài” activity) (Picture book. 5-8)

Is That My Hat? Payne, Kevin | Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (32 pp.) | $12.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781728277981

What’s on your head?

Mole wants a hat, but the chapeaux our hero tries on aren’t cutting it. Some are 114

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A winsome tale that charts the ups and downs of friendship with aplomb.

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sized wrong, while others, such as a jingly jester’s cap, a fruit-laden number, and a witch’s hat, are just unsuitable. Mole looks around. There’s something! It’s not a hat, though, just a bunny’s fluffy blue tail.

Then, up in a tree, Mole spies another possibility, but the dragon mom who laid what’s actually a huge, bright egg in a nest begs to differ. Finally, Mole decides to make a hat. Using found materials and with a little snip here and a little snip there, Mole crafts a flowery showstopper that any milliner would be proud of. Now Mole wants a scarf to wear with the new creation. A coiled green snake looks on—readers will be quick to warn Mole not to try it on! This comical, simply written story will elicit giggles as it makes the important point that our greatest happiness derives from our own initiative, creativity, and diligent efforts. Adults should encourage children to discuss and illustrate their ideas for hats and scarves that endearing, expressive Mole might like.

Set against white backdrops, the colorful, humorous illustrations were sketched on paper and finished digitally.

This story’s creator pulled riotous tricks out of his hat to create this entertaining charmer. (Picture book. 4-7)

Don’t Lose Mr. Cuddles: Life Lessons From Chip the Dog Petty, Dev | Illus. by Mike Boldt Doubleday (32 pp.) | $18.99 May 6, 2025 | 9780593900758 Series: Life Lessons From Chip the Dog

Chip the dog offers further important guidance for readers of all species to chew on.

Like life, “dogness can be complicated.” So, Chip observes, it’s vital

to have a “special someone” with whom to share one’s hopes and dreams—in this case, a purple plush bunny companion named Mr. Cuddles. While it’s OK to lose balls or bones, which can be replaced, the bunny’s disappearance touches off a histrionic descent into guilt and despair. And no, a replacement plushie offered by Chip’s olive-skinned human family won’t butter the biscuit.

“Ignore ALL my advice!” the despairing doggy wails, referencing Petty and Boldt’s previous installments in the series. “Eat bees, eat fire, trust cats. Just don’t lose Mr. Cuddles!” Readers will feel for this devastated, drooping pooch, at least until anguish gives way to suspicion when a household search turns up a trail of kitty treat crumbs and unfurled toilet paper. Could the culprit be a certain…cat? Uh-oh. That the ensuing denouement leads not to violence but to a glad reunion and a cozy general snuggle suggests that Chip is a worthy model for conflict resolution while testifying to the fact that our hero really is a “smart dog.”

Fetching tips for personal and domestic harmony. (Picture book. 5-8)

Earl & Worm #1: The Bad Idea and Other Stories Pizzoli, Greg | Knopf (72 pp.) | $10.99 April 1, 2025 | 9780593649664 Series: Earl & Worm, 1

An odd-couple pair for new readers to befriend.

Right out of the gate, Pizzoli tells readers that “Earl and Worm have been friends for a long, long time.”

Given that Earl is a bird and Worm is, K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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well, a worm, this reassurance seems crucial, though Pizzoli’s illustrations give the anthropomorphic creatures roughly equal physical statures. But it’s not Worm’s vulnerability as potential prey to Earl that initially makes them unlikely friends; instead, the narrative establishes Worm as grouchy, set in her ways, and unwelcoming of her new neighbor when he moves in next door.

Granted, Earl is something of an early bird, making a racket in the morning, and that’s just one reason that, try as he might, he can’t seem to catch Worm in a good mood. Over the course of three gently humorous short stories, however, affable, patient Earl wins Worm over, and she comes to appreciate his friendship. Throughout, cartoon illustrations excel in conveying Earl’s consistently charming disposition and Worm’s grumpy, mischievous, and ultimately happy mood. She’s the one who changes throughout the course of the tales, thanks to Earl’s good-natured, persistent overtures and grace.

A winsome tale that charts the ups and downs of friendship with aplomb.

(Early reader. 5-7)

Bold Words From Black Men: Insights and Reflections From 50 Notable Trailblazers Who Influenced the World (The Bold Words Series) Pizzoli, Tamara | Illus. by Desire Cesar “El’Cesart” Ngabo | Denene Millner Books/ Simon & Schuster (112 pp.) | $21.99 | April 8, 2025 | 9781665930642 | Series: Bold Words

Pearls of wisdom from Black men from various walks of life.

In this compan­ ion to Bold Words From Black Women (2022), illustrated by Monica Ahanonu, Pizzoli curates quotes from people from various walks of life, among them actors, musicians, filmmakers, scientists, athletes, civil rights leaders, and more. In her introduction, she explains that she selected the quotes with her teenage son in mind; these are “words of affirmation, K IR KU S R E V IE W S

power, resilience, truth, beauty, love, whimsy, wonder, success, faith, spirit, and purpose.” Emphasizing transitions, “especially those that young Black boys and men experience,” she seeks to uplift readers. Appropriately, many quotes will encourage young people to mull the direction of their lives. “What is in your life’s blueprint?” asks Martin Luther King Jr. “What you do now and what you decide at this age may well deter­ mine which way your life shall go.”

Kendrick Lamar instructs readers to “speak on self; reflection of self first.

That’s where the initial change will start from.” Several quotes remind young people to consider those around them.

“A life is not important except in the impact that it has on others,” as Jackie Robinson said. Each well-chosen quote is nicely paired with a digital portrait rendered in vivid color and bold strokes, along with brief biographical informa­ tion and some context on the words.

A handsome and useful volume that will resonate with many young people.

(Nonfiction. 10-adult)

It Started With a P Pomales, Brittany | Illus. by Andrew Joyner Flamingo Books (32 pp.) | $18.99 April 8, 2025 | 9780593690833

Small misunder­ standings can lead to big kerfuffles!

In a fancy, colorful castle, a young king named Liam awakens from a dream in which his birthday was ruined—by something starting with the letter P! Liam can’t remember exactly what, so he instructs his beleaguered adviser, Cedric, to rid the kingdom of everything that begins with P. This task seems achievable at first, but things soon get out of hand. The pepperoni pizza must go, along with the presents, not to mention pants and people…even Liam’s sister, the princess. Piling everyone into paddle boats and sending them on their way, Liam believes all is well, sitting in his throne, in his…uh-oh—PALACE! Liam, too, must leave, until he comes to

a very practical solution all on his own and finds a way to enjoy his birthday just the way he wanted…well, almost. In this slight, somewhat amusing tale, all P words are set in bold. The characters are flat; King Liam doesn’t seem to learn his lesson or evolve. The story is didactic; its sole purpose appears to be teaching children P words. The cartoonish illustrations are dominated by greens, yellows, and reds, bringing to life a kingdom apparently plentiful with P-related vocabulary—piranhas in the moat, the royal goat (named Percival) housed outside the castle. Liam and Cedric are light-skinned; other characters are diverse.

Be picky, skip this one. (Picture book. 5-7)

The Anxious Exile of Sara Salt Prendergast, Gabrielle | Orca (192 pp.) | $14.95 paper | March 11, 2025 | 9781459838895

A young girl learns to express herself in this epistolary novel.

Ten-year-old Sara Salt has anxiety and selective mutism.

Her baby brother, Oliver, was born premature and is still in the NICU, her mother is recovering from the birth and dealing with postpartum depression, and her stepfather is working to support them. Amid the chaos, Sara is sent to stay with her adult half sister, Abby, in Toronto. To grapple with her big feelings, Sara writes letters to Oliver. She begins to learn about the issues facing unhoused people as she helps Abby build a transitional housing community. Sara discovers that she doesn’t need to speak to make a difference as she starts writing letters, not only to her brother, but to the mayor, the police, the librarian, and her neighbors. This charming and engaging book has much to teach readers about anxiety disorders, homelessness, and family, but Sara’s narrative voice never feels didactic. Most of the lessons are cleverly worked into the story as she FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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explains things to Oliver or processes them for herself, which makes the educational moments feel authentic.

Many readers will relate to Sara, whether they share the same experiences or they just struggle to make themselves heard.

Sara reads white; Abby’s maternal grandmother is Chinese.

A sweet, touching story of a young girl forging connections and coming into her own. (Fiction. 8-12)

The Expedition Rangström, Tuvalisa | Illus. by Klara Bartilsson | Trans. by Saskia Vogel Transit Children’s Editions (40 pp.) $19.95 | April 15, 2025 | 9798893380019

In this Swedish import, an intrepid narrator undertakes a journey through the human body.

Accompanied by a reptilian cook, a diminutive doctor in a hooded white jumpsuit, and an “old lady,” the explorer recounts travels from an initial camp to eventual points north.

Accompanied by various guides, they paddle by boat across the stomach’s rivers, then through the small intestine’s tunnels of emerald green water. The microvilli there are characterized as a dense forest of trees dipping down to drink. The party waits in the appendix for a train that takes them to the lungs, where a great windstorm results in the doctor breaking a leg. (He and their ill guide eventually depart early.) Horses transport the group over the “Endless Muscle Mountains,” through pulsing nerve forests. Exiting the circulatory system’s red river, they reach the heart, its beats thunderous. The group scales

the perilous skeletal system. (There, everyone receives mail!) After their final camp at an eye, the lady and the cook decide to depart, leaving only the narrator to discover the wonders of the brain. Bartilsson’s amusing, intricate illustrations amplify the journey’s surreal, preposterous nature; some will be perplexed, but others will be delighted. Muscles are stylized, sinewy red and black undulations, while the brain, far from the explorer’s expecta­ tions of “legendary gray meadows,” pulses colorfully with…well, every­ thing under the sun. Most humans are light-skinned; some characters appear more fancifully hued.

A unique mashup of biology and super-abundant whimsy that will charm fans of the strange and unusual. (Picture book. 4-8)

Giant Baby!

Rosenberg, Liz | Illus. by Eva Byrne Marble Press (32 pp.) | $18.99 March 25, 2025 | 9781958325247

Babies grow so fast!

After Ezra’s parents tuck him in, his mother notes wistfully, “Our baby is getting so big.”

While his parents sleep, Ezra climbs out of his crib and grows immense. He strolls outside, following the moon, which resembles a “big cup of milk.” Astounded neighbors watch as Ezra plays with cars and splashes in fountains, then chases a terrified dog. Depicted in a 90-degree book turn, Ezra cries when he realizes he’s all alone in the big city (landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty establish the setting as New York). His parents

An intrepid narrator undertakes a journey through the human body.

THE EXPEDITION

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awaken, attuned to their infant’s wailing. Hearing them, Ezra stomps homeward. Mom locates her glasses and slippers as Ezra heads down his block, races up the stairs, and climbs into his crib. His parents dash toward his room—gratefully discovering their “sleeping” child. After they leave, Ezra peers at the moon, then really sleeps, dreaming of milk. Readers may chuckle at the specter of a Godzilla-size infant lording it over the neighborhood, but will youngsters old enough to follow this story relate to an infant protago­ nist? The story feels aimed more at adults musing on their own little ones’ growth; they’ll especially relate to Ezra’s father’s words: “He’ll always be our baby.” The witty illustrations, created with watercolor and digital methods, feature a wide-eyed, pajama-wearing, pale-skinned Ezra and parents and diverse background characters.

Fun imagery, though the story will strike a stronger chord with caregivers than with little ones. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kittybunkport Rothman, Scott | Illus. by Zachariah OHora | Viking (32 pp.) | $18.99 May 6, 2025 | 9780593622063

Best friends living in Kittybunkport, a village inhabited entirely by felines, must summon their courage.

Chowder and Crackles are lobster catchers who depend on the supposedly haunted nearby lighthouse to guide their boats safely home. When the lighthouse goes dark, the two are chosen from among all the other “scaredy-cats” to investigate. They reluctantly set out. The lighthouse appears just as frightening as they expect, and their worst fears come true when they spot a ghost—a lobster ghost! But wait, it’s just another lobster hunter, a dog from Bark Harbor who needs help install­ ing a large light bulb. The tale is just dark enough to give young readers a K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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delighted shiver, but they’ll quickly catch on to the humor of the quirky feline duo and their fantastical adventure. The two cats speak in an obviously well-practiced pattern—the clearly terrified Chowder won’t admit to being afraid (“I wouldn’t say I’m super-scared”), while Crackles is far more candid (“I would. That’s exactly what I would say”). Each strange event is immediately revealed to be benign, and the outcome is assuredly happy. OHora’s signature, highly stylized depictions of the cats with their large heads and huge glowing eyes, set against dark, often eerie backgrounds, work perfectly with this goofy tale. The town names are puns of real Maine towns, and OHora zeroes in on details sure to delight New Englanders, such as the thick sweaters the felines wear.

Highly imaginative, hilarious fun.

(Picture book. 4-8)

The Tontine Caper Salerni, Dianne K. | Illus. by Matt Schu | Holiday House (208 pp.) $18.99 | April 22, 2025 | 9780823458103

Mysteries abound in this tale set at a fully booked inn at the beginning of the 20th century.

For the past five years, 11-year-old Nico Lombardi, the child of an Italian immi­ grant, has lived and worked at the Precipice Inn in Pennsylvania. When he was 6, he and his artist grandfather (his only guardian) visited the inn; his grandfather died unexpectedly, leaving the newly orphaned Nico with only a few of his paintings and a debt to the innkeeper that has continued to grow.

But change is in the air as three elderly final subscribers to a tontine (a type of financial arrangement) arrive at the inn with their families. The tontine is worth $150,000, and the trio are meeting to decide if they should split the funds now or continue to hold out until only one survivor remains to take K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Empathetic and nuanced— required reading for young people navigating divorce.

W E N E E D T O TA L K A B O U T D I VO R C E

it all, per the tontine’s rules. But everyone has secrets, and it’s only a matter of time before the truth comes out. This fast-paced, humorous caper features witty, descriptive chapter titles and spot art, including character profiles sprinkled in, making for an accessible, entertaining tale. The distinct, eccentric characters—some lovable, some loathsome, and some in the middle—are all intriguing as readers catch glimpses into what they’re each scheming. The historical setting is necessary for some plot points, but mostly this reads like a modern or timeless story focused on the characters and their antics.

Characters are cued white.

Charming, droll, and widely appealing. (map, quizzes) (Historical mystery. 8-12)

Kirkus Star

We Need To Talk About Divorce: An IMPORTANT Book About Separation, Stepfamilies, and Feeling Heard Scharff, Kate | Illus. by Annika Le Large Neon Squid/Macmillan (64 pp.) $14.99 | March 4, 2025 | 9781684494484 Series: We Need To Talk About

Dealing with divorce isn’t easy, but this work offers some helpful guidance.

Scharff, an experienced psychotherapist, has arranged the book in roughly chronological order, discussing how young people might feel when they first learn their parents are separating and defining the term divorce

before covering topics such as new living arrangements and the possibility of their parents dating again. Each brief section includes bright, cartoon-style images of children and adults. Le Large’s visual metaphors—a child literally being ping-ponged between two parents; kids walking a tightrope— help clarify Scharff’s sound explanations, often leavening the topic with humor. The illustrations depict families engaging in conversations, with realistic but compassionate dialogue conveyed through speech bubbles.

Laudably, Scharff’s tone is positive and nonjudgmental; though she notes that readers will feel angry or upset, she writes that in the long run, young people may be even happier. She stresses that young people aren’t at fault and that they needn’t take sides in their parents’ conflict. The author acknowl­ edges that every situation is different and that families have various options for moving forward. Images of young people working through their doubts to achieve a stable home life will reassure readers. While kids are the target audience, teens and even parents will find Scharff’s words of wisdom valuable. Characters depicted are diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, and culture, allowing many readers to see themselves in these pages.

Optimistic, empathetic, and nuanced—in short, required reading for young people navigating divorce.

(Nonfiction. 8-14)

For more in the We Need To Talk About series, visit Kirkus online.

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Little Blue Truck and Racer Red Schertle, Alice | Illus. by Jill McElmurry Clarion/HarperCollins (32 pp.) | $19.99 March 25, 2025 | 9780063387843 Series: Little Blue Truck

In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is chal­ lenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.

Blue agrees, and the race is on.

Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads.

Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”

A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.

(Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Star

Head Full of Clouds Schwartz, Joanne | Illus. by Afsaneh Sanei | Tundra Books (40 pp.) | $18.99 March 18, 2025 | 9781774881613

Dreams have the power to take you places you’ve never been before.

A pale-skinned child wakes up one morning with “a little leftover piece of a dream floating around.” As the day begins, the protagonist’s senses are heightened, and the youngster notices little details of everyday life.

Ripples in the puddles from the previous night’s storm become oceans teeming with life. The taste of an apple is so delicious that the child writes a poem in its honor. A vast network of sidewalk cracks contain “roots winding down, down into the earth below,” and “a fiddler plays a tune” whose “music is carried along on the breeze.” The embrace of a trusted friend completes the child’s day, making the youngster feel one with the surroundings and a part of a greater whole. Schwartz’s lyrical text effectively uses second-­ person narration to place readers firmly in the driver’s seat, empower­ ing them to notice quotidian details.

Sanei’s digitally finished, acrylic gouache and colored pencil illustra­ tions beautifully capture the feeling of trying to recall fragments of one’s dreams as they swiftly vanish from memory. As the story progresses, the art becomes less and less surreal, but the emotions behind these nighttime visions remain. Together, they

A grounded yet dreamy look at how we occupy our place in this vast world.

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portray a setting where one’s presence is small but mighty: “You’re one little bit in this great, wide world.”

A grounded yet dreamy look at how we occupy our place in this vast world.

(Picture book. 5-8)

That’s Not Funny, David!

Shannon, David | Orchard/Scholastic (32 pp.) $18.99 | March 4, 2025 | 9781546123187

The circular-­ headed, triangular-­ toothed protago­ nist of Shannon’s Calde­cott Honor–­winning No, David!

(1998) returns to prove once and for all that humor is subjective.

An author’s note at the book’s beginning observes that, for kids, the line between funny and not funny is meant to be constantly tested. Enter David. Written entirely in admonish­ ments by authority figures such as parents and teachers, the book stresses that David makes mischief not for the sake of being a nuisance, but more because it amuses him deeply (even if he’s the only one who’s amused). He might blow bubbles in his drink one moment or perform a cannonball in a crowded pool the next. The narrators—generally unseen, though readers catch glimpses of adults’ hands and legs—protest, “That’s not funny!” or “You always go too far!” Still, David can’t seem to stop himself, which sometimes leads to painful conse­ quences, like getting his head stuck between the bars on a porch or inadvertently wedging a peanut up his nose. A final admittance by a caregiver that sometimes David is funny (“What am I going to do with you?”) caps everything off warmly.

While there’s little to distinguish this from previous David books, Shannon still knows how to appeal to readers.

In the energetic, highly expressive art, David is tan-skinned; the supporting cast is diverse.

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More of the same from a kid who does what he does so well.

(Picture book. 3-6)

Alice Alone Shaw, Jessica | Illus. by Olga Herrera Amicus Ink (32 pp.) | $18.99 March 4, 2025 | 9798889880141

Being alone is fun—until it isn’t.

Alice is “right in the middle” of a rambunctious brood of four older brothers and four younger sisters. Her mom sometimes calls her by the wrong name; sometimes, her dad miscounts his offspring. Sometimes, Alice feels lost in the crowd. Her brothers do “older-kid things,” and her sisters get away with “younger-kid things.” Alice does “middle-kid things”—painting polka dots on her pants, dancing, and singing—but she feels invisible in her bustling home. One day, she takes off by herself. It’s “glorious!” to be “just Alice, all on her own,” and do what she wants. Eventually, though, the thrill of being alone wears off. It’s not as great as she’d imagined; what she needs is a big family hug. But suppose she’s been forgotten? No worries.

Alice’s entire overjoyed family, having missed her terribly, finds her, and Alice realizes she’s dearly loved and right where she belongs—“back in the marvelous, murky middle!” This emotionally satisfying story will reassure children with multiple siblings that they’re vital to their family’s happy dynamic. Alternatively, kids with few or no siblings will receive validation that they’re equally valuable, for love is present in families of any size. This tale also addresses children’s desire for independence— regardless of family size—and assures kids they’ll always be heartily welcomed back. The cheery, energetic illustrations depict a warm, active household. Alice is tan-skinned; her family members vary in skin tone.

A cozy, relatable family story.

(Picture book. 4-7) K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend Shea, Bob | Abrams (40 pp.) | $19.99 March 25, 2025 | 9781419771552

Two turtles form a unique bond over a shared special interest.

As the title humorously suggests, this picture book features a turtle in a bear costume. The suit is yellow and rotund, not unlike the form of a certain fabled bear with a particular taste for honey. The turtle cuts a comical figure—a little green ovoid face inhabiting the suit’s mouth, right about where a tongue should be. The suit’s hollow black interior frames a dramatic range of facial emotions.

Bearsuit Turtle soon encounters a regular turtle who’s unconvinced that our hero is in fact a bear. So Bearsuit Turtle attempts to prove it as the other turtle lists skills that all bears have: climbing trees (the protagonist clambers up before quickly crashing to the ground), hibernating (a feat our hero manages for approximately two seconds), and foraging for food (in this case, ice cream—every bear’s favorite!). The turtles’ back-and-forth approaches increasingly absurd heights until our hero finally drops the cha­ rade—and the bear outfit. Shea employs his signature style, with characters rendered from simple shapes and a few rough-hewn lines communicating facial expressions perfectly. The pals amble through a brightly colored woodland speckled with pointy trees, blobby clouds, and the occasional tweety bird.

The text is ideal for reading aloud and laughing along with, while the visual gag builds into a sweet relationship.

An amiable romp, funny to look at and fun to read. (Picture book. 3-7)

For more by Bob Shea, visit Kirkus online.

My Mother’s Invisible Shield Stephens, R.A. | Illus. by Jasmine Berry | Wombat Books (32 pp.) $19.99 | April 2, 2025 | 9781761111945

A cheeky child attempts to sneak up on Mama.

“My mother has an invisible shield. I’ve tested it,” declares a f loppy-haired child, who then proceeds to illustrate the many ways in which that hypothesis has been proven. This mom is ready for anything her child throws at her (sometimes literally), whether the youngster is attempting to filch some fruit or give her a scare.

Throughout, a younger sibling looks on in curiosity. There’s no penetrating her force field, despite what appears to be extensive attempts and research. One thing, however, will always get through her defenses: A plaintive “Mama?” with outstretched arms removes barriers and results in a piggyback ride. Though the concept is cute and certainly relatable (parents having eyes in the back of their heads), this book misses the mark on several levels. It’s unclear what the child is hoping to achieve. Is the protagonist just playing or seeking deeper attention? The ending feels out of step with the other, more playful scenarios. The rhyme scheme is clunky both in tempo and in not-quite-there rhymes such as coming/something, resulting in an uneven read-aloud.

The pictures are colorful and bright but don’t always match the words, causing confusion. Incon­ sistent details such as the family cat being both inside and outside the house within a single scene are distracting. Mama and the child have tan skin; the younger sibling has lighter skin.

An awkward rhyme scheme and incongruous illustrations pull focus from a relatable snapshot of childhood. (Picture book. 3-7) FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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A visual feast sure to have readers finding magic in the mundane.

MIDNIGHT MOTORBIKE

After the Shelter Sturgis, Brenda Reeves | Illus. by Amy Everson | Whitman (32 pp.) | $18.99 April 10, 2025 | 9780807504307

A young family makes a new life with support from their caring community.

“It’s worth the climb,” Lily’s mother says as they open the door to their new apartment on the third floor of a walk-up. Though their home is just a few blocks from their old one, in many ways, it’s been a long journey; Mom and Lily have transitioned from a shelter for unhoused people to their own place. They’re supported by friends at the shelter, a social worker, and a kind neighbor who offers to watch Lily on weekends while Mom works to build a better life for them.

The story celebrates their new opportunities—like Lily’s excitement about Mom cooking lasagna in their own kitchen—but also acknowledges the bittersweet emotions of leaving behind shelter friends, particularly Lily’s BFF, Madeline. Visits to the shelter offer comfort and continuity, showing how Lily and Mom maintain meaningful connections while expanding their world with a new day care and friends for Lily and college for Mom. Sensitively illustrated by Everson in purples, blues, and cheerful yellows (Lily’s favorite color!) that add joy to the narrative, this simple yet heartfelt tale balances realism with optimism. An author’s note with facts about homelessness provides valuable context, making this a poignant and much-needed story for children and their caretakers 120

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alike. Lily and Mom are brownskinned; their community is diverse.

A warm and hopeful offering that speaks to both the challenges and joys of starting over. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Star

Midnight Motorbike Tajsar, Maureen Shay | Illus. by Ishita Jain Neal Porter/Holiday House (40 pp.) $18.99 | April 8, 2025 | 9780823456628

An Indian mother and child zoom off on a nocturnal motorbike ride.

On a hot night Amma alerts the young narrator to the croaking frogs and chirping geckos. She tells the child that the night stretches beyond their banyan grove and red earth canyon all the way to the ocean. They take off on Amma’s motorbike, with its headlights lighting up “flashes of snake eyes and bougainvillea.” As they drive past villages to the city, they are enveloped by the smells of “steaming silver-cupped chai” and “spicy potato-stuffed masala dosas.”

Text and art paint vivid pictures: an old man braiding jasmine blossoms and stars on a garland; the protago­ nist tracing patterns of the night sky.

They pass a silk shop and silent temples until they reach the Bay of Bengal. There, the child rests, curled up against Amma. The dreamlike visuals complement the lyrical text, engaging readers’ senses and showcas­ ing the gentle, loving relationship between mother and child. Bold pinks, yellows, and blues shine,

contrasting beautifully with the characters’ dark skin tones and the backdrop of deep night. Verdant forests, bright city nights, and swirling stars evoke motion as these seemingly ordinary spaces take on wondrous qualities by night. In an author’s note, Tajsar mentions drawing inspiration from rides with her own mother in Tamil Nadu.

A visual feast sure to have readers finding magic in the mundane. (illustrator’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)

Otter Carries On Tatsukawa, Maya | Henry Holt (40 pp.) $18.99 | Feb. 4, 2025 | 9781250903938

Can Otter manage without help?

A colorful array of rocks rest on a round and reddish otter’s stomach as the little animal bobs up and down on the waves. Puffin offers to help carry the heavy load, and fellow otters express concern, but Otter retorts, “I know what I’m doing.” Suddenly a storm arrives, and Otter is blown about as lightning crashes above. The others urge Otter to let go of some rocks, but the protagonist stubbornly clutches them. Tatsukawa relies on her signature multimedia illustration style, which many will recall from Mole Is Not Alone (2023). Here, she divides most spreads into two parts: sky and water. At one point, both these aspects of Otter’s world merge as the protagonist is blown out to sea, lost and adrift. It isn’t until several whales swim by and offer assistance that Otter realizes it’s OK to ask for help. An ocean of tiny details, depicted in a soft palette of grays, blues, and greens, will reward young readers developing visual literacy skills.

Though the lesson imparted is sound, the text, told entirely through dialogue, may not resonate as deeply as the art.

The resolution is somewhat abrupt, and picture-book readers may have trouble understanding why Otter was so reluctant to ask for help to begin with.

Visually immersive, though the storytelling may leave young readers cold. (Picture book. 3-5)

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Kirkus Star

We Are the Scrappy Ones Taussig, Rebekah | Illus. by Kirbi Fagan Carolrhoda (32 pp.) | $19.99 April 1, 2025 | 9781728487700

Taussig assures disabled readers that they’re a vital part of “a world that wasn’t built with us in mind.”

As racially diverse children and adults with myriad physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities play, learn, and love, the author lyrically celebrates their resilience and resourcefulness: “We live, we adapt, we defy.”

Disabled people are not burdens, but burdened by a world “starved for creativity and flexibility.” Impor­ tantly, Taussig acknowledges that navigating such a world can be “exhausting” and encourages readers to rest. Though many youngsters may feel alone, the author explains, “There were revolutionaries thinking of you before you were born,” including advocates Judy Heumann, Haben Girma, and Alice Wong.

Taussig promises, “You will always be worth fighting for.” She also highlights readers’ power to enrich, and even change, the world. With unique ways of moving and being, “We hold the clues for a thousand new games.” While readers may feel out of place at times, Taussig reassures them, “Darling, we are the very blueprints of Home”—a reference to accessible design. But above all, “We are always enough, just as we are.” In Fagan’s luminous, star-spangled scenes, people using wheelchairs, white canes, communi­ cation devices, and more radiate joy and community, countering

assumptions about disabled people (such as “loss leaves no space for laughter”) and reminding readers that they’re “as dazzling as a sky full of stars.” Backmatter includes further information on the advocates mentioned and invites readers to research others, such as Ed Roberts.

Warm, poetic, and affirming. (author’s and illustrator’s notes) (Picture book. 4-10)

Kaya Morgan’s Crowning Achievement Tew, Jill | Freedom Fire/Disney (288 pp.) $18.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781368104685

A rising seventh grader in Atlanta makes a bid to be the first Black Renaissance Faire queen.

Kaya Morgan has been visiting the Renaissance Faire since she was 4. Daddy supported her dream of someday becoming Queen Kaya, but he died two years ago. Kaya has decided to participate in the Faire’s Apprentice Camp with her friend Tyler, but Mama and Kev, Kaya’s brother, don’t really like the Faire, and they’re worried that she may not be treated equitably. Kaya’s plans to become queen hit a snag when the program director, Zach, assigns her the role of court jester. She’s dis­ heartened until she learns about her father’s experiences at the Faire from Uncle Paul, her godfather. He encourages her but warns her that before becoming an archer, Daddy was a jester, too, and she might face a fight to achieve her dreams in this mostly white space. Kaya is deter­ mined, but she unwittingly becomes

An insightful tale about reimagining old stories.

K AYA M O R G A N ’ S C R O W N I N G AC H I E V E M E N T

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part of an exploitative diversity marketing campaign for the Faire, and her sudden visibility puts her at odds with the other campers.

Ultimately, Kaya learns that being queen is about building good relationships and that she can summon the courage to define and be herself in a system that’s designed to encourage homogeneity, messages that will resonate with many readers.

The gaslighting and microaggres­ sions Kaya experiences are nuanced and compelling. Japanese American Tyler experiences his own race-­ related challenges.

An original, insightful tale about reimagining old stories and expanding previously homogeneous spaces. (glossary) (Fiction. 9-13)

Seasons on the Farm Tornetto, Chelsea | Illus. by Karen Bunting Sleeping Bear Press (32 pp.) | $18.99 March 15, 2025 | 9781534113060

A farm hums with activity all year round.

Farmers and their families are never idle, no matter the season. They must keep an eye on the weather so they know when to till the soil, what and when to plant, and when to harvest their crops. They must also closely monitor soil conditions and plant­ ings. They take care of farm animals, who are themselves busy caring for their young; the geese even honk to announce “signs of autumn on the farm.” This delightful book, expressed in sprightly rhymes, bursts with vivid seasonal colors as it offers glimpses of bustling activities outside and inside the farmhouse, not to mention some specialized equipment, vehicles, and buildings, including those that house various wonderful creatures of all sizes that call a farm home. These farmers shear sheep, bake apple pie, move bales of hay, and pay the bills. The richly colored illustrations—some presented as insets or vignettes—provide good FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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hints about the seasons under discussion: bare winter trees, bright green spring leaves, and deep orange fall pumpkins. The human family varies in skin tone.

Children will appreciate this charming, insightful book at any season of the year. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-7)

The book offers a good takeaway: Get acquainted with people before believing negative things said about them by others, who may not even know them. The appealing water­ color-and-ink illustrations combine humor, charm, and pathos.

A lighthearted tale with an important, pointed message. (Picture book. 5-8)

The Terrakeet

Safe Harbor

van der Borgh, Jo | Illus. by Jo Beasley Candlewick (32 pp.) | $18.99 April 29, 2025 | 9781536235890

Venkatraman, Padma | Nancy Paulsen Books (176 pp.) | $17.99 Jan. 21, 2025 | 9780593112502

What’s a creature with an undeserved bad rap to do?

The Finlocks, a peaceful, pink-skinned, island-dwelling family, spend their time “lomfing” (lounging) and fishing, cooking, and eating “fronds” (little fish). Content with their predictable lifestyle, they never leave home and hope never to encounter the terrifying Terrakeet, an enormous, feathered, fanged beast—whom they’ve never seen but who’s purported to “feast on morgish treats of meat and bones,” after which he roars. (Kids will appreciate this sound, which resounds over several pages in huge black capitals.)

One day, when no fronds can be caught, the youngest Finlock leaves home and smells something. Emerg­ ing from the woods, he sees the Terrakeet cooking! Bees suddenly swarm the beast, who weeps with fear. Fortunately, the bees, disliking the Terrakeet’s fire, fly off, allowing the pair to meet. The Terrakeet invites the child to dine. The boy is amazed by his host’s congeniality; this creature isn’t frightening at all.

Back home, he tells his family “not to say bad things about the Terra­ keet,” his new friend. This entertaining Australian import, expressed in peppy rhymes, incorpo­ rates several humorous invented words, reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s work; one actually is Carroll’s— galumphing, from “Jabberwocky.”

A novel in verse centered on a young girl who moves from India to Rhode Island in the wake of her parents’ divorce.

Geetha finds herself bullied by her schoolmates for her clothes and her accent and missing everything about home: her extended family, her music tutor, her dog, and, above all, her father.

Meanwhile, her mother, grappling with depression, worries about making ends meet and building a new life in America. Still, playing her flute anchors Geetha amid the turmoil. When she discovers an injured harp seal pup on the beach, she and her new friend Miguel (who’s of Mexican descent) alert the authorities, who rescue the animal and bring him to a sanctuary. The experience brings her closer to Miguel—a child of divorce like her.

As Geetha and Miguel visit the pup, whom they name Santo, Geetha’s inspired to learn more about seals and the plight they face due to climate change. At times, the verse falls a bit flat, though Geetha’s

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emotions ring true, as do the little moments that remind Geetha that she’s an outsider. The story comes to vivid life as Geetha draws parallels between herself and Santo—both feeling lost and adrift—and orga­ nizes a cleanup of the beach.

Venkatraman closes with an espe­ cially poignant author’s note in which she discusses her own experi­ ence as a woman of color in STEM. A tender coming-of-age tale with special resonance for nature lovers.

(Verse novel. 9-12)

We’re in This Together: Leo’s Lunch Box Warnock, Raphael G. | Illus. by TeMika Grooms | Philomel (40 pp.) | $19.99 April 15, 2025 | 9780593691526

In Senator Warnock’s latest picture book, a magical lunchbox helps a young Black child learn lessons about sharing.

For the fourth time this week, Leo’s mother has packed him a baloney sandwich for lunch. “For now, it’s all we can afford,” she tells him. The ridicule he faces at school because of it—­ especially from big-mouthed bullies like Pete—leaves an even worse taste in his mouth. Full-color, digital brushstrokes illustrate a racially diverse school that unfortunately suffers from widespread food insecu­ rity. Leo’s family is struggling, but so is his classmate Andy, who brings just bread and butter for his lunch.

Leo’s literal prayers are soon answered by his mother’s new job and by the glowing secondhand lunchbox she gives him. At school

A lighthearted tale with an important, pointed message.

THE TERRAKEET

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the next day, the lunchbox gives way to a reimagined biblical parable. Just as Jesus multiplied loaves of bread and fish, Leo’s admirable instincts to share every slice of pizza, orange, and drop of juice that appears from his lunchbox are rewarded as the food mysteriously replicates. All the kids (including Andy and Pete) are fed by not just the supernatural feat, but also by Leo’s kindness. While many will appreciate the biblical allusion, this earnest exploration of child hunger feels ill-conceived. Many readers will be put off by the resolution, which seems to suggest that positive thoughts and children’s willingness to share are enough to solve a systemic issue like this one.

Andy and Pete present white.

A well-meaning but anodyne look at food insecurity. (note to readers) (Picture book. 4-8)

Love, Dad: Inspiring Notes From Fathers to Kids Warsh, Joel & Andrew Gardner | Illus. by David Cooper | Random House (40 pp.) $14.99 | April 8, 2025 | 9780593572160

Warsh and Gardner celebrate the joy of fatherhood and share the wishes that dads have for their children.

What do fathers want to teach their kids? The authors have col­ lected advice from 18 dads to create a book filled with inspiration. With each page turn, readers receive a pearl of wisdom, accompanied by illustrations that burst with vitality.

“I hope you love big—and I hope the biggest love you have is for yourself.”

“I hope you have a life filled with dreams that come true!” Fathers and children, diverse in terms of race and ability, lovingly interact and explore their world. The adults are attentive and caring; the kids are enthusiastic and engaged. One dad helps two children clean up a beach. Another does yoga while his child rides on his back. Others simply hug their K IR KU S R E V IE W S

A useful primer to help youngsters make sense of overwhelming feelings.

FEELINGS ARE LIKE FARTS

children. The images celebrate curiosity and community. With expressive eyes and smiling faces, these men are present while the kids gleefully cavort, their mouths open and limbs spread. At times, the guidance swings toward cheesiness, and occasionally it feels a bit clunky (“I hope you become a leader in rebuilding and nurturing the natural resources of our planet”), but readers will find it welcoming; this book will make a wonderful gift for new dads and may even provide guidance when an ideal father isn’t handy.

Father definitely knows best—­ sweet and inspiring. (list of contributors) (Picture book. 3-8)

Our Food Grows White, Sarah M. | Illus. by Tessa Gibbs The Collective Book Studio (32 pp.) $16.95 | April 1, 2025 | 9781685557775

How does food make it to our plates?

Starting with some apparently plastic-packaged products in a grocery store—including one processed item and canned peas— White aims to remind supermarket regulars that much of our food actually comes from plants. She focuses on five fruits and vegetables: strawberries, tomatoes, peas, corn, and asparagus. The text is spare and minimally informative. Collagelike art pares its subjects to the basics as smart, flat designs in a shadowless world. White’s goal of showing children where our food comes from is an important one. Unfortunately, the food pictured looks exactly like

the objects in a wood or plastic food playset, with high-design toddler tableware. Just as unreal are the plants themselves, divorced from actual earthy beds (soil is just a texture-less coffee background).

Though the pictures would make great market posters, Jordan’s How Does Our Food Grow? (2023), for a wider age range, offers so much more detail, information, and realistic settings. The characters are diverse: A brown-skinned tot in boots tends to a tomato plant, sturdy brown hands grasp an asparagus spear, and a lighter-skinned adult and child show the scale of an asparagus fern.

A stylish but slight reminder to look at the origins of our fruits and veggies.

(Picture book. 2-4)

Feelings Are Like Farts Willard, Christopher & Tara Wosiski | Illus.

by Toshiki Nakamura | Henry Holt (32 pp.) $18.99 | April 8, 2025 | 9781250903075

Emotions and flatulence are a lot more similar than you might think.

“Farts and feelings. Every­ one has them!”

But don’t worry—“just like your farts, your feelings will pass!” The silliness of the book’s subject matter makes it a clear attention-grabber, playing into children’s general interest in all things scatological.

Though funny, many of the compar­ isons are also rather insightful: “You might wish they were private, but they don’t always come out that way.” “If you pay attention to your body, it might tell you what is coming.” The authors also offer FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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useful advice: Talk to someone you trust if your farts or feelings hurt, refrain from holding them in for too long, and find a safe place to let them out. The softly rendered illustrations are tactfully done—no potty humor here. The images are mostly in shades of gray; Nakamura uses color sparingly and to great effect, playing up the pink on characters’ cheeks or for bright, squiggly lines signaling an outburst.

Children of varying skin tones and ethnicities are represented. Some scenarios may require an adult to help explain the connection between emotions and farts.

An unconventional but useful primer to help youngsters make sense of overwhelming feelings.

(Picture book. 5-7)

Will the Pigeon Graduate?

Willems, Mo | Union Square Kids (40 pp.) $18.99 | March 4, 2025 | 9781454960430

Success comes at last for the bright-eyed Pigeon.

A clever, tongue-in-cheek ersatz colophon reveals that this graduate has been awarded a “Master of Ornery-thology, Bachelor of Arts of Persuasion with a Minor in Major Freak-outs (summa cum loudly).”

Fans will be glad that the Pigeon’s tireless, abundant optimism is finally being ceremoniously recog­ nized. On the cover, the Pigeon wears a mortarboard at a jaunty angle, commenting, “I have the hat!”

Of course, dressing the part is essential. But also, “I did the work. I paid attention to the little details. I

took some BIG steps.” The Pigeon encountered obstacles (not shown, but many memorable ones will come to mind for the Pigeon’s followers).

And the Pigeon is plagued by worries familiar to many students who are about to graduate: “WHAT WILL HAPPEN THEN?!? What will I do? Who will I be?” The Pigeon appears in every frame, in close-ups and in poses variously thoughtful, confident, or slightly distressed. Our hero’s simple big eyes and wings are, as ever, remark­ ably expressive. “Oop!” In one scene, while walking off the dais, diploma in wing, the Pigeon comes to what seems like the edge of a chasm. At last, our hero takes flight with other graduates. Willems’ popular characters Gerald and Piggie are there to look on admiringly.

An earnest graduation gift: sweet for lifelong fans, cheerfully encouraging for striving, future graduates. (Picture book. 3-7)

Ins and Outs Withey, Elizabeth | Illus. by Salini Perera | Orca (32 pp.) | $21.95 March 11, 2025 | 9781459838352

Intriguing stories, told using just two little words.

With its minimal text, this book invites the toddler and preschool set to make inferences about what’s going on in its immersive artwork. The opening illustration, labeled “IN,” shows a light-skinned child asleep in a bed as a cat slumbers at the youngster’s feet. The following

Sweet for lifelong fans, cheerfully encouraging for future graduates.

W I L L T H E P I G E O N G R A D UAT E ?

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image, labeled “OUT,” shows the same cat outside of the bedroom window, climbing a tree. While many other pages are fairly literal, others are more nuanced. A brownskinned child with a cochlear implant sits alone on a swing, away from the crowd (“OUT”). On the next page (“IN”), the child rides in a pickup truck, smiling with an upbeat-looking adult. Given how spare the text is, the illustrations do some heavy lifting. In one scene, a Dalmatian chows down on some crayons (“IN”); the next page portrays the dog’s multicolored droppings (“OUT”). An especially enticing image depicts several joyful children inside a parachute, awash with the glow of the nylon panels.

Perera’s textured, collagelike illustra­ tions communicate much without exposition; children will look, linger, and even elaborate on what they see.

This book lands solidly at the intersection of developmentally appropriate and quality storytelling.

The characters are diverse.

Visually engaging and relevant to little readers. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Star

His Fairytale Life: A Book About Hans Christian Andersen Yolen, Jane | Illus. by Brooke Boynton-Hughes Neal Porter/Holiday House (32 pp.) $18.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9780823451036

One luminary of children’s literature pens a picture-­ book biography about another.

Once called “the Hans Christian Andersen of American children’s literature” by Newsweek magazine, Yolen honors that great Danish author of literary fairy tales.

Contemporary readers may know only a handful of Andersen’s hundreds of stories—those about “an Ugly Duckling, the Snow K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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Queen, a mermaid who loved a prince, a princess who could feel a pea under twenty mattresses”—but Yolen pays tribute to his legacy, which has unquestionably influ­ enced her own career. As she references those enduring tales in the context of his greater body of work, Yolen sensitively recounts how Andersen’s story—“more like a fairy tale than a life”—was marked by hardship, ambition, creativity, and longing. The beauty of her writing astounds, perhaps especially at the breathtaking line that he “lived the single long sentence of his life till its end,” the double meaning of the word sentence searing in its poi­ gnancy. Throughout, Boynton-­ Hughes’ illustrations rise to meet Yolen’s achievement, with myriad references to Andersen’s stories embedded like easter eggs for readers to find in her detailed but never cluttered spreads. She especially excels at delineating real and imaginary vistas as she depicts Andersen’s life, his stories, and his memories and imaginings through layered, inviting compositions.

A treasure. (more about Andersen, further reading) (Picture-book biography. 4-8)

Ready, Set, Mango!

Young, Tamla T. | Illus. by Raz Latif Owlkids Books (32 pp.) | $18.95 April 15, 2025 | 9781771475488

Cousins and on-again, off-again BFFs Tee and Dee compete over everything—even the gross stuff.

The girls will be spending their summer vacation on the tropical island where their aunt lives. Their rivalry reignites as soon as they arrive. When Auntie decides to make fruit smoothies, the two besties are tasked with collecting mangoes from the nearby trees. The simple job quickly turns into a contest. “I’m going to find the perfect mangoes,” K IR KU S R E V IE W S

By turns goofy and gross—a tale of fun surprises and deepened connections.

R E A DY, S E T, M A N G O !

declares Tee. “My mangoes are going to be the best,” replies Dee. And off they go, darting through the grove of trees, finding most of the golden offerings unsatisfactory. When the cousins notice something sparkly on the ground, collecting these “beauti­ ful pebbles” swiftly becomes their new focus. Their game turns into another heated debate before the girls finally realize that their friendship is ultimately what matters most. The revelation that the pebbles are in fact goat poop brings this lively summer outing to a hilariously charming conclusion; both girls gaze in horror as the horned culprit munches on discarded mangoes. The cousins’ warm, picturesque island community is illustrated in bright colors. Latif ’s cartoonish images feature motion lines and exaggerated facial expressions, while Young’s dialogue rings true. All characters present Black.

By turns goofy and gross—a tale of fun surprises and deepened connections. (Picture book. 4-8)

Smithy and Me Zoells, Darcy Day | Clavis (32 pp.) $19.95 | April 22, 2025 | 9781605379746

A rambunc­ tious but well-­meaning child and dog make mess after mess.

As the evening unfolds, the young narrator provides deadpan comments focused on the little terrier’s likes and dislikes (“Smithy doesn’t like to share, but he

loves tug of war because…he always wins”), while the illustrations depict the unspoken consequences of their activities (after the pair playfully fight over a toy, they knock over a vase and a table). Smithy joins the child in getting ready for bed, but he fears ghosts and the dark (a bedclothes tussle generates a pillow-feather storm). Each time the two get into mischief, the protagonist’s preternatu­ rally patient, busy mother hears suspicious sounds from the next room and calls, “What’s going on in there?”

The narrator’s answer is always a meek “Nothing.” When Mom sees the chaos, her saintly response is merely a quiet “Oh dear” or “Oh my” and a promise to tidy up. The roomful of feathers proves the last straw, however: Mom is just “too tired tonight” either to clean up or to read the usual story. But as the light flicks off, the child calls her back for a warm wordless hug. In the final spread, narrator and dog enjoy a story while Mom curls up alongside them, asleep. This extended joke will amuse and warm the heart; overworked parents will see themselves in exhausted Mom. Zoells’ understated prose is accompanied by clear, clever, and delicately colored fine-line drawings depicting the humans as brown-skinned.

A humorous, all-too-familiar portrayal of bedtime hijinks. (Picture book. 4-8) For more books for animal lovers, visit Kirkus online.

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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Young Adult DEBUTS TO LOOK FOR THERE’S SOMETHING

Hamptons billionaire leaves his fortune—and his magic—to whomever emerges victorious from a dayslong, clue-filled game by solving his foretold murder.

Cash-strapped Mullory isn’t the only contestant who’s desperate to win.

A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson (Harper/ HarperCollins, Jan. 7): In this imaginative alternate-­ history fantasy set in interwar England, literary translator Williamson, whose grandmother spoke Welsh and English, explores multilingualism and political oppression. Aspiring Draconic Translator Vivien Featherswallow recognizes that in “the gap between languages” lies “a secret invisible to those who only have one language with which to navigate the world.”

The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King by Harry

April 15): University English instructor Davis brings her personal experience of neurodiversity to this nuanced story about the complexities of navigating a largely white Florida community as a Black boy.

Aiden, who’s autistic, is excited to play on the football team with his older brother, Brandon, but a moment of tragedy disrupts the siblings’ dreams.

This Moth Saw Brightness

by A.A. Vacharat (Dutton, May 27): This original, off beat novel by Vacharat, an illustrator and web developer, introduces ‘Wayne “D” Le, a high school senior whose mother, who has OCD, left him and his dad. D joins a nutrition study at Johns Hopkins University, hoping to impress his distant father, but he discovers something fishy is going on.

Laura Simeon is a young readers’ editor.

Illustration by Eric Scot t Ander son

irresistibly enticing about a debut. Readers can’t help wondering whether they might find their new favorite author.

Did the author get lucky and break through early, or has it taken years of disappointment and perseverance? It can be a long road to traditional publication, and the author’s work doesn’t end on launch day. If you’re a new author trying to establish yourself, the hurdles—logistical and sometimes political—are particularly intimidating. Let’s celebrate these noteworthy, thought-provoking 2025 debuts and wish their authors much success to come.

Mystery Royale by Kaitlyn Cavalancia (Disney-Hyperion, Jan. 7): Cavalancia, an orthodontist who has branched out into writing fiction, debuts with this suspenseful mystery with a magical twist. A reclusive

Trevaldwyn (Wednesday Books, Jan. 28): British actor, screenwriter, and comedian Trevaldwyn turns his hand to novels with this cheeky, uproarious account of Patrick, who’s in search of his first boyfriend: “Boyfriend Checklist: Very, very hot (will make sure to tell people this doesn’t matter, though).”

When two new boys join the school drama club, the scene is set for love and intrigue.

You Belong Here by Sara Phoebe Miller, illustrated by Morgan Beem (First Second, March 4): Miller, a comic-­book editor, debuts with a heartfelt coming-ofage story illustrated in soothing, contemplative shades of blue by Beem.

Long Island senior Essie’s inner tumult leads her to question both what she wants and what her family expects even as she grapples with her brother’s addiction, a breakup, and an important audition that she bombs.

All the Noise at Once by DeAndra Davis (Atheneum,

LAURA SIMEON

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Y O U N G A D U LT

EDITOR’S PICK In an alternate historical Japan, two siblings are sent from their home on a mission to uncover an island’s secrets.

Hakai Hyo, Thirty-Third Hellmaker in her family line, is cursed with bearing “unluck” and passing it on to others, while Mansaku, her older brother, hosts the spirit of a nagigama, or weapon, within him. When Hyo makes a deal with the demon who killed everyone in their village, Hyo and Mansaku must travel to Onogoro, a Special Cultural Zone and the only island where Ukoku’s gods still live. Upon their arrival, they’re drawn into a

These Titles Earned the Kirkus Star

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slow-burn murder mystery as well as Hyo’s first special commission as a hellmaker.

Caught between the demands of humans, different levels of gods, and their own need to find the truth, Hyo and Mansaku become increasingly aware that Hyo must listen to her hellmakers’ en, or the “fateful connection pulling threads taut.” Ghosh’s debut novel features lush, vivid descriptions, while her black-and-white illustrations, which evoke traditional Japanese wood engravings and ink and watercolor paintings, bring the characters to life with striking power. The story

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Death in the Jungle

By Candace Fleming

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Hyo the Hellmaker

By Mina Ikemoto Ghosh

Hyo the Hellmaker Ghosh, Mina Ikemoto | Scholastic | 544 pp. $27.99 | $18.99 paper | April 15, 2025 9781546152668 | 9781546152644 paper

takes its time, carefully establishing the worldbuilding and large cast of characters before plunging into the gripping second half. The weaving together of Japanese history and

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Run Away With Me

By Brian Selznick

mythology gives this story a fresh feel.

A bold and immersive work combining prose and art to form a compelling adventure. (map, glossary, author’s note) (Fantasy mystery. 14-18)

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This Moth Saw Brightness

By A.A. Vacharat

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Right Beside You

By Tucker Shaw For some great Black History Month reads, visit Kirkus online.

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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Bad Influence Ahn, Claire | Viking (288 pp.) | $19.99 April 29, 2025 | 9780593403167

A Korean American microinfluencer must choose between profit and personal values.

Sixteen-yearold Charlotte Goh entered the world of online influencing as a way to relieve her family’s financial strain.

Wanting to spare her younger sister, Jojo, from the money-related arguments between her appa and umma that she grew up with, Charlotte turned to social media, hoping to leverage an audience for sponsorships.

At a fashion preview in New York, she confronts some white girls over their racist comments about Audrey Sena, a popular Asian American influencer, and makes them apologize. When Audrey credits Charlotte with defending her in an Instagram post about the incident, Charlotte’s follower count immediately explodes.

Charlotte’s new friendship with Audrey has other perks too, including joining Audrey’s social circle and going on dates with a handsome actor.

A generous sponsorship opportunity soon lands in Charlotte’s lap, but there’s a catch: Other influencers are boycotting the company for stealing the work of Asian designers. This fast-moving story examines themes of authenticity and representation as Charlotte navigates the contradiction between an influencer’s curated social media presence and their audience’s expectations of honesty and genuine connection. Charlotte’s home life as an eldest child shouldering her parents’ emotional and financial burdens is vividly drawn and contrasts sharply with the carefree, trendy lifestyles of her more affluent influencer friends.

An absorbing, empathetic story that explores personal ethics and peeks behind the curtains of online perfectionism. (Fiction. 13-18)

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Examines the intersection of queerness and Catholicism with compassion.

MESSY PERFECT

Messy Perfect

Where Shadows Meet

Boteju, Tanya | Quill Tree Books/ HarperCollins (400 pp.) | $19.99 April 1, 2025 | 9780063358492

Caldwell, Patrice | Wednesday Books (320 pp.) $20.00 | April 1, 2025 | 9781250815347

To support her former best friend at their Catholic high school, a closeted queer teen in Canada starts a club for LGBTQ+ students.

Cassie Perera and Ben Yang were best friends until sixth grade when, in a moment of fear and panic and hoping to deflect the homophobic bullying of racist classmates at their Catholic school, Cassie betrayed Ben. They see each other for the first time in years at the start of 11th grade when Ben, back from the National Ballet School in Toronto, arrives at St. Luke’s.

Cassie is determined to atone for her actions. After Cassie meets the diverse members of a local public school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, she decides that forming an underground partnership to create a safe space for queer kids at St. Luke’s is the perfect way to show Ben that she’s changed.

But navigating school, church, her Sri Lankan immigrant parents’ expectations, and the confusing mess of feelings for girls that she’s tried to push away for years tests her anxious desire to be perfect. Fast-paced and heartfelt, Boteju’s latest examines the intersection of queerness and Catholicism with nuance and compassion while demonstrating the need for safe spaces in schools so that kids can be themselves.

A sweet, emotional read affirming those who struggle to find a place within religions that profess to hate who they are. (Fiction. 13-18)

A prophet and a vampire princess embark on a treach­ erous journey.

Thousands of years ago, the daughter of a human woman and a mighty god married a princess from the Heavenly Realms. To steal the crown, the princess killed her father, but as he lay dying, the king, who was the God of the Sun and Creation, cursed his daughter, turning her into a vampire.

The vampire queen is now long dead but not forgotten—her tyranny has shaped history. For Najja, a 19-yearold yamaja who can see a person’s death, vampires are far removed from her life in a tower surrounded by the Kutmenian Sea. But when she learns about a vision involving Leyla, princess of the vampire Nation of Mnara, Najja leaves home to save her.

Together, they travel to the island of the dead, hoping to uncover the truth about their shared fates. The young women didn’t count on their growing attraction—or an enemy waiting in the shadows. Caldwell’s YA debut blends lush fantasy and high-stakes romance and features dynamic Black leads fighting against the stifling constraints of duty and honor.

Although the historical backstory takes up too much of the work, the layered worldbuilding is intriguing and enticingly crafted, weaving original mythology and first-person action. The ending successfully teases the next installment of this duology.

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A thrilling and inventive take on familiar vampire lore, enhanced by the plight of star-crossed lovers. (author’s note with content warning, family tree, the bloodlines of Mnara) (Fantasy. 14-18)

Toxic Summer Charm, Derek | Oni Press (120 pp.) | $19.99 paper | April 22, 2025 | 9781637156445

Two boys who are ready to dive into a summer of partying instead find themselves in over their heads, cleaning up a beach polluted by a mysterious toxic sludge.

Leo promises Ben a wild summer full of hunky “unsupervised perverted beach maniacs,” but when they arrive in Port Dorian, the beach is closed.

Instead of lifeguarding and partying, they’re stuck cleaning up the rotting sea life littering the shore. One glimpse of a cute boy gives them hope that maybe the hotties are just “hiding away like hermit crabs.” If they can clean up the beach fast enough, maybe they can save their “sexy summer.” However, their summer soon turns from stinky to suspicious when they drag a man with glowing eyes out of the water. The danger escalates when tentacled creatures emerge from the waves and start possessing the locals. The illustrations’ dramatic color palette effectively conveys the atmosphere and foreshadows the shift in tone as the story veers into a supernatural mystery. The art is vivid, dynamic, and emotionally expressive, but the characters as written lack depth and development and are insufficiently differentiated, so the buildup of romantic potential loses wind. Apart from some background characters, most of the cast is depicted with pale or lightly tanned skin.

Although the plot moves at a fast pace and has suspenseful appeal, overall the story is underwhelming.

A visually appealing but shallow romp. (character designs, cover gallery) (Graphic fantasy. 16-18) K IR KU S R E V IE W S

The Blue Line Letters

Brielle and Bear: Vol. 1

Christiansen, Steven | Ooligan Press (119 pp.) $16.95 paper | April 8, 2025 | 9781947845589

Doku, Salomey | Random House Graphic (176 pp.) | $24.99 April 22, 2025 | 9780593711170 Series: Once Upon a Time University, 1

In a series of letters to his teacher, a boy chronicles his daily commutes as he rides the length of the Portland, Oregon, metro area train line.

Seventeen-­yearold Ty Clark, who’s white, has a few responsibilities in the coming weeks: He has an internship at the Washington County Land Use Department and for English class must read Jane Eyre and write about what he learned over the summer. His commute on the Blue Line MAX train is 90 minutes each way, and he makes use of his time by writing daily letters to Ms. Warne. Ty gives each letter the name of a train stop—“Gresham City Hall, Day 3”—and he discusses the various people he observes and events that occur during his travels. The most notable regulars he sees are Janie, a girl from school whom he gets to know on the train and develops a crush on, and the mysterious man people call the Prophet, who offers words of advice to the passengers. Ty’s letters are studies of the human condition offering some interesting reflections more than tension-filled vignettes that drive the narrative forward. The resulting work stumbles a bit even as it focuses on Ty’s minimal character arc. Descriptions of the setting are specific enough to be recognizable to readers who know Portland yet universal enough to engage those who don’t.

An observant story that patient readers may enjoy. (song lyrics) (Fiction. 13-18)

For another book about a boy figuring out life, visit Kirkus online.

Brielle knows all the rules of the fairy tale, but will Bear follow them?

Brielle Da Rosa, a Portuguese British self-proclaimed fairy-tale expert, attends the aptly named Once Upon a Time University. While she’s working at a bookshop, she literally runs into Atohi “Bear” Yonas, an American who’s “Hispanic/mixed” and a star rugby player. They’re instantly smitten, and after a series of encounters, they’re finally brought together—but various challenges arise, calling into question whether the relationship will last. Doku uses text boxes throughout the graphic novel to list fairy-tale rules (“A good fairy tale isn’t complete without…a good villain”) and introduce side characters (“Pavão Castelo: Socialite and most popular boy on campus”).

She also includes some thoughtful discussion around triggers. The art is beautifully executed, with the seasons and color palette changing in tandem. Although Brielle has vitiligo, the illustration style makes it difficult to notice; readers may only realize she has this condition because it’s explicitly mentioned. It can become hard to track the subplots because insufficient time is given to building any attachment to the story’s numerous side characters.

Some hopeless romantics will be satisfied by this sweet and simple tale, although it lacks the emotional punch for readers seeking something with substance.

A fluffy fairy tale that’s enjoyable but not particularly memorable. (artist’s note, character designs, location designs, visual development, process notes, Bear’s journal, the cast) (Graphic romance. 12-18) FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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Messi Mania: The Ultimate Story of the World’s Greatest Soccer Star Echegaray, Luis Miguel | Holler/Quarto (176 pp.) $15.99 | March 4, 2025 | 9781836001201

A fulsome tribute to the soccer superstar, with select career highlights.

In rapid montage style, sports presenter and writer Echegaray slips back and forth in time to trumpet Messi’s 2023 arrival in the U.S. and retrace his long, storied career from a first match at age five in his home city of Rosario, Argentina, until October, 2024, when he was playing for Inter Miami. The author slips in frequent asides on topics including Messi’s style of play, his charity work, appreciative comments from other soccer stars, and what it was like as a fan and journalist to interview him. The hero worship comes out as much in panegyrics on Messi’s character as in tallies of his on-pitch accomplishments. Along with repeatedly linking his subject to terms like humble and introvert, Echegaray holds him up as a role model: a hardworking immigrant who overcame a growth hormone deficiency in childhood and has made good with help from coaches and his devoted family. And lest any reader fail to draw proper lessons from his example, the author makes them explicit: “When you fail, that’s when you’re at your strongest because you have the chance to get up and try again. And that’s the true meaning of character.” Frequent

on-field photos and flurries of specific match notes supply light doses of game action.

Tasty fare for readers inclined to hail the coming of soccer’s “Messi-ah.” (references, picture credits) (Biography. 12-16)

Sọmadịna Emezi, Akwaeke | Knopf (304 pp.) $19.99 | April 15, 2025 | 9780593309070

A 15-year-old fights internal and external obstacles to save her brother after he’s kidnapped.

Sọmadịna and her twin brother, Jayaike, know that they’re not like the other young people in their town. Instead of maturing like the others, their bodies “shot up like maize stalks, tall and thin and smooth,” and the expected gifts of magic from “the primordial mother” god, Ala, at first didn’t bloom in them. When their gifts finally do come, the power the twins carry is greater than anyone imagined, and it attracts the attention of a mysterious hunter who spirits Jayaike away, spurring Sọmadịna, who has never before left their island, to chase them, pushing the boundaries of her nerves. The story, set in a West African–influenced world populated

by Black characters, is crafted with careful attention to the details of its magic—for instance, led by older sister Nkadi, a dịbịa (or master of medicine and intercessor for Ala), Sọmadịna is able to travel by “folding” the land to create magical shortcuts. However, the development of the characters and

With her absorbing writing, Fleming leads readers to understand what Jones did.

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their relationships is less comprehensive. The world Emezi builds is tantalizing, but the opportunities to explore it are fleeting as readers are carried along in a rushed coming-ofage journey. Still, themes of moral duality and self-determination in the face of the unknowable spirituality of humans and their gods will reel readers in for the ride.

Magic is packed into every corner of this lush if unevenly developed tale.

(Fantasy. 14-18)

The Family I’m In Flake, Sharon G. | Scholastic (288 pp.) $18.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781338573206

A Black teen perseveres in his search for love and acceptance despite insecurities and a strained paternal relationship.

John “JohnJohn” McIntyre is looking forward to attending junior prom with Ashley, the cute girl from his book club, and to a chill summer practicing archery, playing video games, and hanging with friends.

But things aren’t going his way. His relationship with Ashley is off to a slow start. His best friend, Caleb, is busy working at his lawn-mowing business, helping to support his family while his dad recovers from an aneurysm. And John-John’s dad seems determined to remind him of how he’s failed to live up to expectations. John-John just wants to figure out who he should be. But to do so he must face his anger and hurt towards his dad, grapple with his feelings of inadequacy about being short and dark-skinned, and reckon with societal messages around masculinity.

This companion novel to The Skin I’m In (1998) and The Life I’m In (2021) reunites fans with beloved characters, including Maleeka, Charlese, and Miss Saunders. Readers will find much to appreciate about John-John’s meandering journey, which doesn’t spell out lessons but trusts them to reflect independently. John-John’s central K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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relationships are well developed and poignantly described, and Flake renders his growing pains on the road to maturity in an authentic and accessible voice that will make readers root for him.

A thought-provoking portrayal of growing up and defining yourself as a young man. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Star

Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown

of others were murdered). With her trademark precision, absorbing writing, and meticulous research, Fleming leads readers to understand not only what Jones did but how. Her heart-stopping, heart-wrenching work with its substantive backmatter draws heavily on survivors’ memories, both from her own interviews and archival transcripts, and shows how cults strip their victims of autonomy.

Extraordinary and illuminating.

(Nonfiction. 12-18)

Playin’ Hard

Fleming, Candace | Anne Schwartz/ Random (368 pp.) | $19.99 April 29, 2025 | 9780593480069

Grandison, Whitney D. | Wattpad Books (416 pp.) | $12.99 paper | April 8, 2025 9781998854325

An account of the pathology and charm of Jim Jones, who led 918 people to their deaths in the Guyanese jungle in 1978.

Neglected young Jimmy learned the art of manipulation early—pathos and compliments could earn him a meal from mothers in his small Indiana town.

He studied both local preachers and Adolf Hitler to learn persuasive oratory skills and was fascinated by death and power. Marrying in 1949 at age 18, he worked in a Methodist church before hitting the revival circuit as a fraudulent faith healer until he’d attracted enough attention to start his own church. At first, Jones seemed to be a powerful force for good—encouraging full racial integration and providing church members with material as well as spiritual assistance. As his Peoples Temple grew, he began preaching socialism, coercing members to obey nonsensical commands, and convincing them that nuclear annihilation was imminent. He relocated to California and then Guyana, where, despite his heavy drug use, dismissal of the Christian “sky god,” and assumption of the mantle of “earth God,” he held enough sway over his followers to cause their deaths, many by suicide (hundreds

Cree Jacobs never thought she’d be friends with a member of the Ballers Club, until she got to know DeAndre Parker.

Seventeen-­yearold Cree isn’t impressed by the Ballers Club, a group of four boys who have looks, style, and athletic prowess and run the hallways of Moorehead High in Akron, Ohio. They’re known for wooing girls—and then dumping them. Cree doesn’t understand their appeal until she encounters DeAndre, a former NBA player’s son who doesn’t believe in love or happily ever after but seems different from the other Ballers.

After an Honors English class discussion in which they disagree about what love is, the two become friends—but can they resist turning their friendship into something more?

This teen romance is narrated in DeAndre’s and Cree’s alternating first-person perspectives. The story centers on a group of boys who have “wealth, status, and a sprinkle of tattoos” and who frequent a strip club, and a girl who speaks her mind and is called a feminazi by the boy she later falls for. The stilted dialogue is at times cringey (“I’m not aimin’ to win a Pulitzer, but I’m a real dude, and you, you’re a real chick, so let’s get together

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and write something real”), and the story leans into the misguided narrative that the right girl can make a wandering boy settle down. Main characters are Black.

Tired gender stereotypes make this romance feel outdated.

(Romance. 14-18)

The Wild Dark Harbour, Katherine | Bloomsbury (384 pp.) $12.99 paper | March 11, 2025 | 9781547613779

This sequel returns readers to the jet-setting world of The Dark Fable (2024).

Evie Wilder and the criminal crew of the renowned La Fable Sombre, including core members Dev, Queenie, and Mad, navigate rainy streets, engage in rooftop conversations, and gather in a graffiti-covered castle, all in pursuit of the talismans that will bring the answers they seek. With Ciaran released from the Wild Dark’s icy-cold grip and the arrival of a unicorn who travels via pentacle, the light-fingered crew go after Pandora’s jar and the Tiger’s Heart gem. They steal, trade, and lose and steal back items, hoping to later barter them to the Basilisk, a dangerous murderer. Evie keeps a protective eye on her teenage siblings, Ezra and Juliet, and reunites with Jason, who’s returned from the Wild Dark a changed person. French phrases, colorfully dyed hair, frequent espressos, and a torrid kiss or two cue the cosmopolitan nature of LFS. The gang members outwit and outfight rivals, following the high-adrenaline lifestyle Evie has come to crave.

Unfortunately, events often come together surprisingly neatly, magical talents conveniently match the characters’ needs, and priceless objects seem too easily stolen. The story allows ample space for atmospheric descriptions of clothing, settings, and furnishings. Most main characters read white; Liverpudlian Dev has dark FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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brown skin. The cast is diverse in gender identity and sexuality.

Dark and lovely on its shimmering surface but with a thinnish plot reliant on luck and coincidence. (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)

Lies of a Toymaker Jacobson, Kelly Ann | Three Rooms Press (286 pp.) | $16.00 paper April 8, 2025 | 9781953103512

A Pinocchio-­ tinged Fae portal fantasy.

Eighteen-yearold Italian American Paige Vitaly lives a nomadic lifestyle in a caravan with her toymaker mother, Petta. After their most recent move to Petta’s hometown of Wintroster, Virginia, Paige stumbles on a secret about her family that leads her to the Land of Toys, which has been ravaged by Deathsprites. Even as Paige confronts her destiny in fighting to protect the Fae and the Flare, their source of magical power, her story is interspersed with chapters following an ensemble cast of other characters, some friends and some foes. Most of the chapters are written in the third person, but the Fairy Prince’s chapters are inexplicably in the second person. Some of the chapters follow a doctor who has a “madness” that manifests as his hearing voices; this potentially ableist aspect of his characterization isn’t developed in a way that feels organic or necessary. The monsters in the Land of Toys are patched together from parts of slaughtered toys: Jacobson throws some characters and a handful of scenes inspired by Carlo Collodi’s classic into an epic battle that is largely unexplained. There are two queer romances between underdeveloped characters; although most of the queer characters are accepted, one has homophobic parents and an arc that sees no resolution.

Baffling worldbuilding and poorly drawn characters mar this retelling.

(Fantasy. 14-18)

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If We Were a Movie

All the Hidden Monsters

Jamal, Zakiya N. | Harper/ HarperCollins (320 pp.) | $19.99 April 22, 2025 | 9780063359949

Jordan, Amie | Illus. by Colin Verdi Chicken House/Scholastic (352 pp.) $19.99 | March 4, 2025 | 9781546136613

A Black high school senior on Long Island falls for her archnemesis.

Despite her mom and best friends insisting she should relax and enjoy the summer, Rochelle Coleman is determined to get her first job in order to round out her college application. She’s obsessed with attending the same Ivy League school as her ma and late dad. Rochelle is willing to do anything to get in—even rebuffing her childhood friend, Afro-Latine Amira Rodriguez, whose social butterfly personality feels too distracting. When Rochelle lands a job at Horizon Cinema, the local Black-owned theater, she’s surprised to learn that Amira not only works there but will be her boss.

Rochelle’s prickly, competitive personality causes her to clash with her new coworkers and inadvertently hurt Amira’s feelings.

But when a series of mishaps lead to the revelation that the Horizon is in financial trouble, the teen crew comes together to save the theater and find the culprit behind the pranks. All the while, Rochelle is trying to understand her growing feelings for Amira. The story contains several popular tropes, including an opposites-­ attract romance and a small-town business rescue, but it’s lacking in nuance and rich character development. The process of solving the mystery isn’t suspenseful and the guilty party’s identity feels obvious.

The novel’s diverse cast of primary and secondary characters is both welcome and refreshing, however.

A werewolf and a warlock team up to solve a super­ natural murder in this trilogy opener by debut author Jordan.

When Sage goes to check on Lucy, her fellow werewolf friend, she finds dangerous, enigmatic warlock Oren in Lucy’s Manchester, England, apartment.

He’s investigating her brutal murder to determine if it’s an Upside, or human, crime, or a Downside, or supernatural, one that would fall in his jurisdiction. Though Oren feels something about the crime scene is off, it’s Sage who discovers the supernatural link. Roderick, Oren’s captain in the Arcānum (paranormal police), knows Sage—she’s applied many times, but the Arcānum only hires warlocks. Still, he gives her Lucy’s case as a trial, forcing solitary Oren to take her on as a temporary partner. The slow-burn first third of the book introduces the secret supernatural society while the investigation unfolds and the characters’ interactions reveal Sage’s survivor’s guilt–induced motivations and peel back Oren’s prickly layers.

The immersive worldbuilding mitigates the slow initial pace and Oren’s not-so-pleasant personality until the heroes begin to thaw toward each other in a rewarding development. Once the murder mystery plot picks up steam and complexity, the narrative tension builds until the climax, which is a mixed bag—the solution to the mystery is nifty but comes via a villain’s monologue and relies on a foundation of side characters’ work rather than the protagonists’ efforts. Most characters present white.

Enjoyable enough but predictable and lacking in depth. (Romance. 14-18)

For another romance about teens saving a small business, visit Kirkus online.

Vivid characters and worldbuilding will leave readers eager for the sequel. (Paranormal thriller. 14-18)

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Vivid characters and worldbuilding will leave readers eager for the sequel.

ALL THE HIDDEN MONSTERS

Skin

Low Orbit

Kelly, Deborah | Rhiza Edge (128 pp.) $11.99 paper | April 8, 2025 | 9781761112454

Lee, Kazimir | Top Shelf Productions (336 pp.) $24.99 paper | April 29, 2025 | 9781603095525

An Australian girl grows in understanding after surgery alters her appearance.

Fourteen-yearold Lexus “Lexie” Collins is looking forward to spending the upcoming two weeks of vacation hanging out with her best friend, Jess, and preparing for the New South Wales public speaking finals when she notices a new freckle on her usually clear skin. Her mother insists that she see a doctor, and Lexie learns that she has a spitzoid nevus, a mole that’s a type of pre-melanoma and must be removed from her cheek immediately.

The resulting incision makes Lexie feel self-conscious, to the point where she avoids Jess and even considers dropping out of the speech competition. But when she gets to know schoolmate Moira Carpenter, who’s confident and friendly despite severe eczema that makes her a target of bullies, Lexie comes to understand that who people are on the inside is more important than how they look. At the beginning of the book, Lexie has judgmental thoughts about a teacher’s makeup and tacitly agrees with other girls’ cruel assessment of Moira’s appearance, but her experiences help her develop kindness and empathy. This short, accessible novel may appeal to readers struggling with issues of body image and appearance.

Queer teens navigate their relationships to family, each other, and themselves.

Malaysian American Azar Sharif, a Muslim girl from Brooklyn, just moved to Ashford, Vermont, for her mother’s job. Her father has stayed behind to sell their apartment.

Through proximity, she becomes friends with Tristan Wathe, who’s white and nonbinary and the child of Azar’s family’s landlord. Tristan shows Azar how to get around town and becomes someone she can talk to about the secret she’s keeping from her mother—her own queer identity.

The two teens bond over difficult situations with their respective parents. When Azar ends up hospitalized following a serious accident and has a big fight with her mother, she goes upstairs to stay with Tristan and their dad, Shannon, a science fiction author. There, despite Tristan’s dad’s issues, she finds connection and acceptance. Throughout, Azar reads Shannon’s epic novel; text excerpts from it are differentiated from the dialogue by a different font and interspersed between scenes. These interludes can be jarring because the passages from the novel don’t directly connect to Azar’s story arc and the small snippets don’t give a full enough sense of why Azar loves the work. The illustrations are clear and focused on the characters’ faces and emotions.

The muted color palette used

An engaging reluctant reader–friendly novel with a clear character arc.

(Fiction. 12-18) K IR KU S R E V IE W S

throughout emphasizes the pervasive feelings of loneliness.

An uneven but moving journey of self-acceptance. (Graphic fiction. 14-18)

The Shadow Bride Mahurin, Shelby | Harper/HarperCollins (624 pp.) | $21.99 | March 25, 2025 9780063258808 | Series: The Scarlet Veil, 2

When the veil between life and death is torn, threatening everything and everyone she loves, Célie is determined to take “till death do us part” as a challenge, her role as Bride of Death notwithstanding, in this sequel to The Scarlet Veil (2023).

Célie’s life has very abruptly gone to hell in a handbasket. She’s been turned into a vampire and abandoned by the mysterious and infuriatingly alluring man who turned her. Fearful of hurting her friends, she can’t eat or sleep, and she loathes herself and what she’s become. Célie is also being haunted by her late sister, Filippa. The dead are walking, something is going wrong with magic, and Death himself has manifested in corporeal form to claim his due. Only Célie can mend what’s been broken—but at what cost? This sequel picks up without much time spent reorienting readers to plot points or character dynamics.

As in the first book, the drama spools on for too long, only properly picking up momentum about two-thirds of the way through the book. What starts as a slow-burn romance soon becomes quite the opposite, and although the stakes are generally higher than before and there are some very touching moments, the narrative never quite comes together in a satisfying way, and the worldbuilding and characters feel shallow and lack sufficient context. Most characters are light-skinned.

Intriguing but convoluted and underdeveloped. (Paranormal. 16-18) FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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THE KIRKUS Q&A: TRISHA TOBIAS In her debut YA novel, Tobias shows teen readers a different side of Jamaica.

MOST PEOPLE IMAGINE tropical drinks and white sand beaches when they think of Jamaica, but Trisha Tobias’ Honeysuckle and Bone paints a different picture of the Caribbean island. The novel centers on 18-year-old Carina, a Jamaican American fleeing from her past in New York to a rambling manor in the hills of Jamaica. Carina has been hired as an au pair by the wealthy Hall family, whose patriarch, Ian, is running for prime minister. Carina spends her days watching over the two young children, Jada and Luis, but at night, she’s haunted by a ghost (or duppy), who, for some reason, wants her gone. The book follows Carina as she tries to identify who (or what) is after her. In the process, she becomes entangled in the Halls’ dangerous family drama while trying to avoid falling in love with Aaron, the handsome gardener, or exposing her own dark secret In a starred review, Kirkus calls Honeysuckle and Bone “a deliciously dark and mysterious debut.” Tobias recently spoke to Kirkus by phone about her first book; our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The novel weaves together themes of horror, romance, teenage friendships, and Jamaican folklore. Was it inspired by any real-life events?

The idea for the book originally came to me about a year after my father passed away. My dad’s passing was really disorienting, and I was looking for ways to ground myself. One way I did that was by turning to my mother, who’s Jamaican. I asked her to tell me about her childhood on the island.

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also noticed that the two of us were tackling the grief of losing my father a little bit differently. She was treating my father as if he were a duppy, like he was still here in the house, which reminded me of the stories she used to tell me growing up. This period also culminated in many questions I was asking myself about identity, regrets in life, how we relate to each other, and how we deal with difficult, challenging themes.

Debut YA authors often identify closely with their protagonists. Carina is a

young adult trying to figure out who she is and how to define herself on her own terms. Do you see yourself in her?

There are definitely some things that Carina and I have in common. The biggest thing is her question mark around her identity as a Jamaican American. That’s definitely a shared experience. The world and the life in Jamaica my mom had described to me over the years felt very foreign to me, a suburban kid from Long Island. There’s some embarrassment that starts to develop when trying to engage with that culture and identity. I felt shame about all the stuff I didn’t know. So this was me working out some of the stuff I was feeling. Carina has been very instrumental in me being able to talk through and work through those things.

One of the novel’s themes is breaking generational cycles and how girls are often held to different standards than boys regarding dating and relationships. What changes still need to be made about relationship double standards?

There’s such strong policing around women and their bodies and their morality. Men don’t have to suffer in the same way, because we just culturally anticipate and expect that men are going to make mistakes. Women are not supposed to have feelings, make mistakes, or anything like that. It’s very unfortunate that the women in this book who made the decisions they made and had the relationships they had were ultimately punished. It’s such a common story, and there’s absolutely a double standard. It was also K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Ashev ille Headshots

BY MARIETTE WILLIAMS

Q & A // Y O U N G A D U LT

played out by my conversations with my mom about growing up in Jamaica.

Culturally, there are behaviors Jamaican men—quote, unquote—get away with. And it’s not that different from how things are here in the States.

There’s this idea that boys will be boys, and if you’re a girl and you do anything even similar to that, you will be shamed.

In the book, you also acknowledge some of the stereotypes around Jamaica, like Bob Marley, marijuana, and the hats with the fake dreads. In what ways does this book provide a more nuanced perspective on the place?

The story is told from Carina’s point of view; she’s a semi-outsider, which allows for a more complex view of the island.

She has that almost-­ touristy perspective coming in, but she also has some [experience] interacting with the culture via her parents in a way that a wholly American character may not. Carina’s mother has seeded a lot of negative feelings about Jamaica, but Carina doesn’t understand what could possibly be so bad about this world, and she has this kind of fantastical view of it, which is very relatable to a lot of people who haven’t been to Jamaica or have no connection to the island. There’s this image of it as paradise—that it’s all good, that nothing can go wrong here, and that everyone’s really chill. But Carina has some background on the island, which allows her to be a little more aware of when things start to get spooky.

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You also write about the extreme class divide that exists in Jamaica. Why was it important for you to write about this?

Carina is figuring out her place between being American and Jamaican

and feeling like neither is quite enough. She’s also in this really interesting in-between place of being an American working as an au pair for this wealthy Jamaican family. Her friends in Jamaica are at

Carina is figuring out her place between being American and Jamaican and feeling like neither is quite enough.

Honeysuckle and Bone Tobias, Trisha

Sweet July/Zando | 320 pp. | $19.99 Jan. 14, 2025 | 9781638931027

the bottom of the social hierarchy, and they have their own lives outside of what’s happening at Blackbead House. I wanted to explore how starkly different their lives are compared to what is happening with the Hall family, and how Carina goes back and forth between those two worlds.

She’s not from this wealthy world back home, either, so she’s walking into all this wealth and excess.

Carina is living in this elite space that she doesn’t have access to back home, and she’s trying to figure out how she fits into all of these different spaces.

You’ve done interviews where you’ve talked about the importance of representation, including often-overlooked perspectives. What does this book offer young Black readers?

I hope readers understand they don’t have to be this perfect person who fits a perfect mold. It sometimes feels like for people of color there’s this standard that you’re being held to that’s exceptionally high and that makes you feel like you can’t make mistakes. The characters in the novel are flawed, and I’m hoping [readers] understand, especially through Carina’s story, that you can mess up and come back. I love Carina; she’s a mess but learns through her mistakes. We’re not perfect and should not be expected to be perfect. I think the message is to keep showing up and keep making mistakes.

Mariette Williams is a writer in South Florida.

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The Second Verse

sympathetic and engaging characters, the interior lives of the other cast members remain opaque.

Mazibuko, Onke | Catalyst Press (416 pp.) | $17.99 paper April 8, 2025 | 9781960803214

A Black South African teenager navigates mental health challenges as he tries to define his own version of masculinity.

Bokang Damane’s essay on suicide for Ms. Hargreaves’ class—he was assigned to write about “a project to address any social issue”—raises concerns about his mental health and brings him to the attention of deputy principal Mr. Knowles. Bokang defends his argument that “suicide can be used to generate income to solve problems,” which leads to worried intervention by the adults in his life. But his mother is stretched thin between her job and caring for Bokang’s younger siblings, Israel and Sizwekazi. Their lawyer father drinks, gambles, and is frequently absent.

Bokang, whose ma is Sotho and tata is Xhosa, self-medicates with weed, which contributes to his nightmares and inspires more entries in his Suicide Manifesto. Bokang’s mental health begins to negatively affect his friendships, and his downward spiral accelerates when he falls for Nokwanda, a neighborhood girl. When she goes to the high school graduation dance at her school with someone else, Bokang ends up in a state of crisis that ultimately leads him to a better understanding of his father and himself. The disjointed character development and pacing unfortunately interfere with this densely packed story’s interesting premise.

While Israel and Sizwekazi are

An unevenly executed narrative.

(Fiction. 15-18)

Embergold Nelson, Rachelle | Enclave Escape (352 pp.) $24.99 | March 18, 2025 | 9798886051865

A girl confronts the truth about her family’s history and unexpectedly finds love.

Gilde has spent her life isolated in the marshes, living in dread of the dragon that hunts her and her father.

The marshland is the only place that can protect them from the water-fearing dragon’s fire, and with her weak heart, Gilde has never dared to leave. But everything changes when she comes of age at 16, and her father reveals he’s found a way to best the dragon. The plot kicks into high gear as Gilde embarks on a journey she knows will change her life forever—but she discovers that not everything is as it seems. After Gilde experiences a terrible betrayal, she finds herself trapped in a castle in the mountains that contains secrets. Her only companion is the dragon, who tells her, “You’re not a prisoner. I rescued you.” But the line between captor and savior blurs as Gilde uncovers more about her tangled world and history.

Nelson’s strong plot redeems the occasionally stilted first-person narration and convoluted magic system. Readers will be engaged by the frequent twists and cliffhangers even as Gilde discovers who she is and what she’s willing to

Vivid drawings not only establish the setting but capture the mood of longing.

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fight for. Nelson wraps up her wellpaced adventure and sweet romance with a satisfying conclusion that leaves room for a sequel. Major characters are implied white.

An entertaining tale that explores a twist on the maiden-stealing dragon storyline. (Fantasy. 12-18)

Camila Núñez’s Year of Disasters Pérez, Miriam Zoila | Page Street (352 pp.) $18.99 | March 18, 2025 | 9798890032195

Camila Núñez, a Cuban American teen from North Carolina, faces what might be her worst year ever.

An ominous tarot card reading, her parents’ crumbling marriage, and a recent heartbreak might all be too much for Camila. Her annual summer in Miami was meant to consist of family time with her abuelos and self-care using tools suggested by her therapist.

While playing third wheel to her prima Mirta and Mirta’s latest boyfriend, Juanito, Camila develops an unexpected friendship that turns into a secret summer romance with Sonia, Juanito’s sister. But Sonia breaks her heart just before Camila turns 16. Camila writes an optimistic letter to her future self, but the results of best friend Cindy’s birthday tarot reading lead to a surge in Camila’s anxiety, and she is left wondering when the misfortunes she believes were predicted by the Hanged Man, the Three of Swords, the Seven of Cups, and the Justice card will manifest.

Between the pain of breaking up, her parents’ trial separation, and her anxiety flaring into anger, Camila, who has a caring heart, empathy, and tendency to worry about others, lashes out at people close to her. In their debut novel, Pérez delves into anxiety, body shaming, familial dynamics around queerness, and teenage relationships. The thoughtful exploration of mental health, self-­preservation, and developing interpersonal skills shows Camila’s anxiety while making clear her inner resilience. The intertwining of K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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English and Spanish will feel familiar to many readers.

Compelling, relatable, and skillfully crafted. (Fiction. 13-18)

Disappointingly underdeveloped.

(Romance. 14-17)

Kirkus Star

All the Stars Align

Run Away With Me

Schreiber, Gretchen | Wednesday Books (352 pp.) | $20.00 April 1, 2025 | 9781250892188

Selznick, Brian | Scholastic (320 pp.) $24.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781339035529

A teen is torn between a friend and the boy she’s destined to be with.

Eighteen-yearold Piper Hadley doesn’t feel like she belongs in her family. The Hadley women share a Blessing from Fate: the ability to instantly identify true love. But Piper’s mother contradicted the Blessing by divorcing Piper’s father, something her family finds unacceptable. Piper worries that her genetic disability— which left her with scoliosis, a missing finger, and only one kidney—caused her parents’ divorce and indirectly ruined the Blessing. To gain matriarch Aunt Helena’s favor and someday take over the family jewelry store, Piper must get her parents back together and cement her own fate by kissing her one true love. When Fate tells her that handsome Forest MacIntosh is her person, Piper seeks dating tips from her estranged best friend, Leo…and in the process falls for Leo, too. If she makes the wrong choice, will her aunts ostracize her? The relationships between Piper and her parents are movingly portrayed, realistically illustrating the complex feelings surrounding divorce and its aftermath. Unfortunately, the rest of the story falls flat. While Piper’s desire to fit in with her family is sympathetic, her expository narration blunts the emotional impact. Her respective love interests feel two-dimensional, weakening the romantic tension, and Leo and Forest’s objectifying “game of tug-of-war” over Piper strikes a jarring note. Most characters read white; Piper and some secondary characters are cued queer.

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For one summer, two boys immerse themselves in stories and each other as they discover Rome and fall in love.

Danny and his mother never stay anywhere long.

Her work as a book conservator drags him from one city to another, so nowhere feels like home. While his mom works, Danny, a white-­presenting American who’s unable to speak Italian, is left to wander through Rome alone. Lonely and restless on the empty, rainy streets, Danny is lured by a mysterious voice and a hand-drawn map attached to a sculpture to discover an obelisk on the back of a marble elephant. There he meets Angelo, an Italian boy with dark curly hair and a mind racing with wild ideas. At first, Danny isn’t sure what to make of this boy who claims he’s nearly 3000 years old, but Angelo’s secrets and stories awaken new life inside Danny. For the first time he feels seen, and he knows Angelo needs someone to see him too.

Their adventures unlock Rome—and Danny’s heart. The book opens and closes with two-page spreads featuring Selznick’s vivid line drawings which not only establish the setting but capture the mood of loneliness and longing. Much like Rome itself, Danny and Angelo’s story, revealed in poetic prose, is layered in stories and history, each one essential to the whole. The characters are quirky, imaginative, and enigmatic; their curiosity and desire are as infectious as Roman fever.

Kirkus Star

Right Beside You Shaw, Tucker | Henry Holt (336 pp.) $19.99 | April 29, 2025 | 9781250327109

A queer teenager toggles between eras in this time-fluid love story.

Eighteen-yearold Eddie is new to New York City.

He’s there tending to Cookie, his 99-year-old great-aunt who lives in Greenwich Village. Her home is an homage to the past: Photos from her youth adorn the walls, as well as portraits of glamorous movie stars, like Bette Davis and Tallulah Bankhead. Eddie’s responsibilities include taking photos with Cookie’s vintage Polaroid camera of her favorite haunts, picking up opera cakes and alstroemerias, and having a glass of sherry with Cookie at precisely 4:00 p.m.

All of this is manageable. What’s not manageable is Eddie’s anxiety. As he explores the city, he meets Theo, the bakery apprentice who makes said opera cakes. But Eddie is unable to move forward with his feelings of attraction. He also meets Francis, a boy from the 1920s.

As Eddie slips between then and now, he’s able to fully be himself with Francis; their love story is sweet, hot, and revelatory. But is it real? Is Eddie’s seeming ability to travel through time actually something else?

This story is a love letter to New York, an exploration of identity, and the passing down of a legacy of queer stories from one generation to another. Eddie’s visions are left open for readers’ interpretation, but his search for where he belongs is very clear, resplendent in how vividly Shaw conveys it. Most characters are cued white.

Deeply moving and thoroughly engrossing. (Fiction. 14-18)

For another queer romance with fantastical elements, visit Kirkus online.

Intricate and wondrous. (bibliography) (Romance. 14-18)

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An appealing introduction to voices and stories that need to be heard.

OURS TO TELL

Blackblood Sullivan, Kree | Tiny Ghost Press (284 pp.) $24.99 | April 1, 2025 | 9781915585257

A street-smart 19-year-old fears losing the only home and family she’s ever known.

Following the mysterious murder of her adoptive father, Averard, quick-witted Armina smuggles magical artifacts across the Arachnida Federation as captain of the Blackblood, the truck she and ex-girlfriend Valaina call home.

Armina, who has a prosthetic leg, suspects that Averard died at the hands of the Huntsmen, an authoritarian force consisting of soldiers who drink the blood of mages to gain strength and power. When Canto, a mage who uses they/them pronouns, stows away in the Blackblood in an effort to escape the Huntsmen, Armina risks her own and Valaina’s safety to deliver Canto to a life of relative safety and freedom in Crotalus City, the Federation’s largest settlement. Meanwhile, Renn, a Huntsman who prefers archival work in the Huntsmen’s library, is sent on a mission to capture Armina (who’s wanted for her illegal smuggling activities) and bring her to Perishing, the Huntsmen’s headquarters. The story’s alternating viewpoints provide readers with comprehensive, powerful storytelling that captures the dynamic voices of Armina, Canto, and Renn.

The fast-paced action scenes include graphic details of combat, and the thorough worldbuilding sets the stage for debut author Sullivan’s exploration of themes such as discovering one’s own identity and finding family and 138

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allies among unlikely companions.

Characters are varied in skin tone.

A riveting story of redemption.

(Fantasy. 15-adult)

What Wakes the Bells Tesch, Elle | Feiwel & Friends (336 pp.) $19.99 | March 11, 2025 | 9781250322807

When an ancient evil descends on her city, one girl considers the sacrifices required to thwart it.

The city of Vaiwyn is alive; the streets are its veins, and its heart beats like a clock. Mina Strauss’ family has a long history of protecting both the sentient city and its inhabitants. The city’s five Vesper Bells were forged by the Lost Alchemist generations ago to hold back a great evil—if a bell tolled 13 times, that evil would be revived. A Strauss stands guard at each bell, cutting the clappers that grow back every night.

Mina inherited her bell earlier than anticipated when her beloved father died of the Talus Pox. Now she contends with the weight of that responsibility—and her cold, distant mother’s persistent disapproval. Mina finds solace with Max, the boy she’s slowly been falling in love with, and she’s with him the night her bell tolls 13 times and unleashes terror upon Vaiwyn. Mina is desperate to save the people she loves from imminent destruction, but there’s more to Vaiwyn’s history—and her own— than she knows. Despite strong prose, the exposition-heavy beginning and a few overly telegraphed plot twists hamper the narrative’s pacing. Still, readers will likely be drawn to the

original concept, complicated family dynamics, and well-articulated depth of demisexual Mina’s developing relationship with Max. Most characters read white.

Though this debut feels unevenly paced, the writing is strong, and the author shows promise. (content warnings) (Fantasy. 13-17)

Kirkus Star

This Moth Saw Brightness Vacharat, A.A. | Dutton (320 pp.) $19.99 | May 27, 2025 | 9780593698600

Baltimore teen ‘Wayne Le, who goes by “D” for the invisible letter that begins his name, knows he’s a disappointment.

After D’s mother abruptly left the family eight years ago, he began sliding down the slippery slope of apathy. Now the high school senior’s relationship with his father is stilted, his grades are terrible, and his crush on classmate Jane Gallagher is going nowhere because he can’t bring himself to initiate a conversation. When D, who’s cued Vietnamese on his father’s side and whose mother is coded white, is invited by Johns Hopkins University to participate in an important research study, the thought of finally making his father proud convinces him to agree to take part. Soon after, he’s approached by Jane, who’s autistic and a fellow study participant, with an offer to meet periodically to discuss their thoughts about the study.

Their conversations take a conspiratorial turn after Jane and D make some startling discoveries with the help of Kermit Shah, entrepreneurial tech whiz and D’s best friend. At the same time, D faces a difficult decision presented by an email from his long-absent mother, asking to visit him. This funny, insightful debut about mental illness, identity, and a person’s capacity to change packs a surprising emotional punch. Bold stylistic choices—wry footnotes, the inclusion of documents referenced in the story, a brief K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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interjection by the author—add an interactive element to D’s humorous and self-deprecating first-person narration.

Superb. (Fiction. 13-18)

Hey, Mary!

Wheeler, Andrew | Illus. by Rye Hickman | Oni Press (128 pp.) | $17.99 paper | April 15, 2025 | 9781637156384

A pious teen contemplates what it means to be both Catholic and gay.

Beneath the beatific gaze of a portrait of a martyr who’s reminiscent of St. Sebastian, Mark Dudyk—a “good Catholic” boy—realizes that he might be gay.

Thrust into a crisis of faith, he goes searching for clarity and instead discovers the complicated relationship between Catholicism and queerness. He consults with others who have been in his place, like Jojo, a Filipino lapsed Catholic with a flair for the dramatic, who educates Mark on often-unexplored queer interpretations of certain Bible stories.

Mark conjures up imaginary conversations with Catholic historical figures who explain how they defied the social norms of their time. In some cases, Mark finds open-minded views towards LGBTQ+ issues in the church, particularly in Father Teo, an understanding and tolerant young priest. In other instances, his research forces him to confront harsh truths about the church and its history of oppression that terrify him: Must he turn his back on his faith in order to be his authentic self? The text is informative in ways that at times pull readers out of the story, but this expository content will educate and provide comfort to devout young readers who are struggling with their sexual or gender identity. A full-spectrum color palette highlights the diversity of the community surrounding light-skinned, blue-eyed, blond-haired Mark.

An earnest exploration of the rocky terrain between queerness and faith.

(Graphic fiction. 13-18) K IR KU S R E V IE W S

The Premonitions Club Womack, Gwendolyn | CamCat Books (256 pp.) $19.99 | April 22, 2025 | 9780744311266

A mysterious stash of old letters containing psychics’ predictions leads a group of teens into adventure.

Liv Hall is on a mission. Her grandfather has died, and before the lawyers come to clear out his house in Hyde Park, New York, she wants to go through his belongings. If it requires the help of cute neighbor Forester Torres; Nebony Price, his ex-girlfriend; and Jaxon Coleson, Liv’s crush, so be it. The gang, including Liv’s childhood friend Winnie Scott, discover boxes hidden in the attic, marked “DO NOT OPEN.” They’re all from the Premonitions Bureau, a paranormal research organization that closed in 1993. Inside they find 25 years’ worth of letters from psychics containing thousands of predictions, some of which came true. This discovery places the teens on the radar of dangerous people with a strong interest in obtaining the letters.

Thriller author Womack’s YA debut is a rollicking, secret-filled ride. Liv and Jaxon’s budding relationship is thoughtfully developed even as Jaxon comes to terms with his psychic powers and Liv discovers hers. The plot, which unfolds through multiple points of view, is twisty and engaging. Readers will enjoy guessing what happens next as the teens race to change the future, and the reveals are surprising but well supported. Larger questions of fate, governmental control, and the consequences of psychic powers give the story weight and meaning. The minimally described characters largely present white.

An entertaining and thoughtful page-turner with a dash of romance.

(Paranormal. 13-18)

For another story blending the paranormal with social commentary, visit Kirkus online.

Ours To Tell: Reclaiming Indigenous Stories Yellowhorn, Eldon & Kathy Lowinger Annick Press (140 pp.) | $14.99 paper April 29, 2025 | 9781773219547

A concise yet comprehensive book that balances the historical and contemporary stories of Indigenous people.

“The stories people tell about us matter,” Yellowhorn (Piikani Nation) and Lowinger write in their introduction. They follow broad and inclusive definitions of stories and of storytellers, including, in addition to authors of various types, an anthropologist, a diarist, a comic book creator, fabric and bead artists, and those who bore witness in courtrooms. Within each section, the profiles cover diverse figures, such as popular Mohawk poet Pauline Johnson (1861-1913), who performed her poetry on stage and challenged racist and sexist limitations, and acclaimed contemporary writer Tommy Orange (Cheyenne and Arapaho), whose writing makes “urban Indigenous people visible.” The authors showcase Indigenous people as part of the present day, and their focus extends across the Americas, with people representing the Maya, Sioux, Métis, and Inupiaq, among others. In the process, they tell a more complete story of Indigenous existence than readers typically encounter. Throughout the book, images showing art, letters, portraits, and historical artifacts add to the visual appeal. Sidebars add context on topics such as “Urban Indigeneity” and “Mapping Our Story,” as well as offering mini biographical sketches.

While celebrating individuals and communities, the authors don’t sugarcoat difficult information, like the trauma of boarding schools and poverty.

The straightforward writing style makes this work accessible and welcoming.

An appealing introduction to voices and stories that need to be heard. (note about language and terms, sources and resources, image credits, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16) FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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2

Short Reads for Busy Teens 1 Exploring Careers in AI

1 4

3

By John Allen

A thought-provoking and useful look at AI jobs and their future.

6

2 Blood Gone Cold

By Katy Grant

A fast-paced and accessible thriller.

3 Rhino’s Run

By Robert Lipsyte

A jumbo package of provocative contemporary issues centered on an appealing protagonist.

4 Ghost Queen

By Mahtab Narsimhan

An entertaining ghostly romp that will draw in reluctant readers.

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5 Walking on Eggshells

By Jennifer Phillips

A compassionate, heart-wrenching depiction of teenage mental illness.

6 Ravencave

5 For more booklists, visit Kirkus online.

By Marcus Sedgwick

Gently spooky suspense grounded in social themes that will engage reluctant readers.

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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Indie

CHAYA SCHECHNER

INNOVATIVE PROBLEM-­

solvers aren’t always young, behoodied visionaries. The authors of the below starred titles have spent years within their fields honing, developing, and organizing their ideas, and now their debuts are ready for readers. These three editor’s picks tackle big topics—climate collapse, people-centric management styles, and designing everyday digital systems— and offer their solutions based on both original thinking and experience.

Complete climate collapse seems inevitable, particularly with the Trump administration’s drill-baby-drill attitude and developed nations’ woefully inadequate response to climate change.

But in his debut, Climate Opportunities Knocking at Your Door, William Mebane suggests ways to make an impact. His book, a collection of pieces previously published in Wall Street International Magazine, tells a “story of transformation—a story that proves that even in the face of daunting challenges, the power of human ingenuity and collaboration is essential.” Our starred 142

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review says, “Readers skeptical of the industrialized world’s ability to reach ‘net zero’ goals by target dates like 2050 will emerge from this book not only immeasurably better informed about every aspect of the challenge, but also invigorated to take it on.…A knowledgeable and ultimately upbeat look at mitigating climate change.”

Ideas about leadership have shifted in tone from the social Darwinism of the 1980s. Co-authors Judith M. von Seldeneck and Aileen K. Alexander compare and contrast their management styles in their debut, Deliberately Different: Fifty Years. Two Generations. Leading in a Changing World. The work, a conversation between the two authors, outlines their evolving management styles. Our starred review says, “Von Seldeneck…lived through the turmoil of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement; Alexander was on active duty in the United States Army during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and entered a very different corporate world than that of her co-writer, one in

which many glass ceilings for women had already been shattered. ‘If our stories prove anything,’ they write, ‘it’s that there is no single right way to lead,’ and yet the two authors agree on many commonalities of good leadership. ‘If you don’t leverage your position and power to do the maximum amount of good for the maximum number of people…you’re ignoring one of your greatest assets—and a crucial component of true leadership.’”

While a more accurate title might be Digital Design Systems That Scale rather than Design That Scales, author Dan Mall makes a great case for designing not only better, more user-friendly digital systems, but designing them to be as lean and adaptable as possible. Mall

also provides a blueprint for creating and implementing such systems. He points to one of the most recognizable examples in the world—Google—and notes how it’s able to perform multiple tasks, like searches, email, and documents, consistently and at scale. “Mall describes the ways such system designs are typically constructed and how they usually go awry,” says our starred review. “He grounds his discussions of the various design system expressions in both annotated research and real-world examples.…­A lively and paradigm-­ challenging evaluation of what makes good system designs work at any scale.”

Chaya Schechner is the president of Kirkus Indie.

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Illustration by Eric Scot t Ander son

BIG PROBLEMS, SMART SOLUTIONS

INDIE

EDITOR’S PICK A doctor explores a world of treatments beyond pharmaceuticals and surgery in this searching investigation of wellness.

Kalaichandran, a pediatrician and journalist, starts by revisiting her travails working at an Ontario hospital where, she says, the hostility of senior staff caused her to develop anxiety, depression, and high cholesterol levels.

The ordeal prompted her to research connections between mental and physical healing and embark on a tour of alternate therapies. The journey took her to a yoga training retreat in Mexico; a mass hypnosis session, which opened insights into the placebo effect (fake surgeries can be as effective as real ones in alleviating orthopedic pain and disability, she reports); new foods (she adopted the Mediterranean and

These Titles Earned the Kirkus Star

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Portfolio Diets and light fasting); and a trip on MDMA—ecstasy—to see whether psychedelics really do alleviate intractable mental problems. (As advertised, the experience showed her “a side to our existence that felt sublime and…connected to the larger universe,” she writes.) Kalaichandran also probes darker aspects of the medical profession that contribute to the unhappiness of doctors. These include residents’ sleep deprivation from 24-hour shifts (the practice was popularized by a cocaine-­ addicted surgeon, she notes), toxic hospital office politics, and bullying campaigns conducted by powerful doctors against underlings because of personal grudges, racism, and sexism—a dynamic that she credits with causing her own mental health issues. Kalaichandran presents a clear,

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The Body Is a Temporary Gathering Place

By Andrew Bertaina

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Nauset Light

By Mary E. Daubenspeck & Timothy H. Daubenspeck

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The Age of Humachines

By Michael D.B. Harvey

On Healing Kalaichandran, Amitha | Heliotrope Books 374 pp. | $34.00 | $24.00 paper | Dec. 30, 2024 9781956474558 | 9781956474534 paper

nuanced account of the science behind the unconventional ideas she explored amid an intricate analysis of social and psychological determinants of disease, drawing on observations of her own patients. Beyond the lucid exposition of studies and theories, there’s an evocative, spiritual richness in her prose, as when, for example, she analyzes the importance of accepting the inevitable through a plangent

recollection of a patient dying of cancer: “And so, Priya had passed away, as a slow withering out of this world, while her mother fought her own resistance around letting go among the machines and cords and fluorescent lights of a small ICU room.” The result is a fascinating, hopeful meditation on sickness and recovery.

An engrossing, inspirational call for a medicine that takes the soul as seriously as the body.

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On Healing

By Amitha Kalaichandran

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King James Virgin

By Elizabeth Hatton

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INDIE

A rambling but funny and moving set of works.

T H E B O DY I S A T E M P O R A RY G AT H E R I N G P L AC E

A Symptom of Love Aiseman, Emma | Self (404 pp.) | $12.99 paper | Oct. 22, 2024 | 9798991775809

A scientist has her rule against relationships put to the ultimate test in Aiseman’s sharp-witted romance.

Eleanor “Ellie” Benjamin is on the cusp of realizing her dream of moving from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Washington, D.C., to work at the Gene and Epigenetic Research Institute. There, she will pursue advanced work in epigenetics with professor Jim Harrington, her direct supervisor, and Andrew A. Kowalski, her collaborator. On a layover in Madrid, Ellie’s frantic dash to find a phone charger ends with her falling into the lap of a stranger named Aiden. He is handsome, friendly, and irresistible; however, Ellie has sworn off relationships since breaking up with her “mythological ex” Oren Hason, a well-known drummer.

Despite Ellie and Aiden’s obvious attraction, Ellie tells her new roommate Alannah, “I don’t want to get emotionally involved.” On Ellie’s first day at GERI, she is shocked to discover that “Aiden” is really her colleague Andrew Aiden Kowalski.

They agree to keep their relationship strictly professional until a conference in San Diego gives them the opportunity to stage a fake romance for the benefit of Ellie’s ex, Oren, who is playing a concert in the city.

When a social media post leads to a barrage of publicity and a sexual harassment charge against Aiden, Ellie must decide whether it is time for her and Aiden to reveal their true feelings for each other. The first installment of Aiseman’s GERI Labs series is a sparkling romance with appealing protagonists and well-drawn supporting characters. Ellie Benjamin and Aiden Kowalski are engaging leads whose growing 144

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attraction is emphasized by lively banter (“‘Rule number two,’ he says, ‘No seduction until we figure this thing out.’ ‘Oh, come on, that’s the best part.’”) The vibrant supporting characters include Alannah Meyser, Ellie’s roommate and peer at GERI, and Oren Hason, the “mythological ex” who is not as self-­centered as he appears.

Aiseman’s briskly paced narrative deftly balances Ellie and Aiden’s love story with their personal and professional concerns as they navigate the ethics of a romance between co-workers.

A bright and entertaining start to a promising new series.

Kirkus Star

The Body Is a Temporary Gathering Place Bertaina, Andrew | Autofocus Books (184 pp.) $20.00 paper | May 28, 2024 | 9781957392301

Bertaina’s collection of essays dances gracefully between offbeat humor and existential dread.

“The tea is never warm at these gatherings of porcelain dolls and stuffed bears named Apples,” writes Bertaina of his daughter’s imaginary tea parties in “A Field of White.” Concise and funny, this early story nicely lays out some of this collection’s recurring themes: childhood, parenthood, art and its effects, and a nagging sense of dissatisfaction with just about everything. The essays flow easily in the first section of this offering; they‘re full of stray observations and wry humor, but there’s something darker and existentially troubling in his sharp turns of phrase. Car rides tend to generate thoughts about the specter of death, and, while watching his children, he can’t help but

reflect on how “the difference between breathing and not breathing feels so slim when we are young.” In “Time Passes: On Unfinished Things,” the author explores time itself—not in terms of quantum mechanics, but rather in terms of how one wastes it on sports, video games, or reflections on religion. The second section brings a bit more structure to Bertaina’s diverging thoughts with subsections in “On Trains” that address childhood, weddings, Europe, and relativity. The subsequent “On Eating Animals” allows him to explore some of his darkest and most absurd ideas as he imagines a father who’s roasted the family pet: “Dog is meat like any other….You have not done a terrible thing. You have just done a thing amongst many other things.” A sense of melancholy and doom returns in the standout essays “On Being 35” and “On Showering and Mortality,” before Bertaina faces down an existential crisis head-on, comparing himself to Mad Men’s lost and lonely Don Draper as he comes to the realization that “adult life was a sham.”

Some readers of this collection may feel that Bertaina’s essays are unstructured; one only gets vague impressions of the narrative of his life in references to travels in Europe, a divorce, and a move from California to Washington, D.C. However, the works all circle back to his primary themes and deliver one stunning moment after another. His impressive range allows him to easily land caustic jokes about despising people who reference California’s “dry heat” while also producing grand, poetic moments reflected in the collection’s title: “I want the quiet compression of things before there was any space,” he writes, “before there was any time, only these billions and billions of moments, unborn.”

Whether his musings are melodious or detached, Bertaina is most impressive when writing about youth and parenthood. Again and again, he returns to how his kids allow him to tap into moments of humor, absurdity, and profundity. In “Home Burial,” for example, Bertaina watches his children tear around his apartment with abandon and feels the powerful force that they exert on him: “so radically have they altered the shape of my days, the contours of my self.”

A rambling but funny and moving set of works with impressive range and depth.

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INDIE

Listen to Me: The Women of the Bible Speak Out Biddle, Cordelia Frances | Vine Leaves Press (188 pp.) | $14.99 paper Jan. 28, 2025 | 9783988321275

Women of the Bible offer new perspectives on their well-known stories in Biddle’s collection, which challenges some of Christianity’s most deeply held beliefs.

Constructed like a play—complete with a cast list (including God, a nonbinary figure often referred to as “The Lord God Almighty” or simply “TLGA”) and set directions (“Scenic design of the reader’s choice. God provides minimal suggestions”)—this feminist recounting of famous tales from Scripture features a different woman’s point of view in each chapter. Using modern language, Biddle reexamines familiar events from new angles. Eve, for example, laments her status as the origin of sin, and Ruth struggles with guilt over the actions of her descendant, King David. The stories touch on many relatable issues while tackling the past, as when Eve laments that her sons, Cain and Abel, were “Two little boys who grew up to become angry men.” God makes an occasional appearance, at one point washing mounds of dishes left by humanity and “scraping away mound after towering mound of rage and cruelty and violence.” Biddle doesn’t hold back in her portrayal of the women’s rightful rage and indignation. She effectively shows how each character feels the consequences of the roles in which she’s been cast, from Mrs. Lot’s questioning of the incest in Sodom and Gomorrah (“The girls are the seducers? They’re the ones who groom the old farts? They’re the ones in control?!

Give me a fucking break!”) to Queen Vashti and Lottie debating choices, culpability, and womanhood. These accounts and conversations ultimately make readers consider the flaws of the traditional tales they’ve been told. Biddle’s flippant tone sometimes becomes a bit exhausting, and the work might have benefited from slightly less snark on K IR KU S R E V IE W S

occasion. However, the book’s unapologetic frankness is delightful.

A sharp-witted takedown of the male-centered biblical narrative and an inspiring, impassioned battle cry for sisterhood.

Ukraine at Any Price: A War Against the West Chowdhury, Fazle | Fabrezan & Phillipe (370 pp.) | $29.95 | $17.95 paper | Aug. 31, 2024 9798894805092 | 9798895466964 paper

Chowdhury, an analyst at the Global Policy Institute, surveys the geopolitical implications of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

During a 2004 visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, the author notes, he was struck by the number of citizens who believed that their nation’s “future lay with the West and not Russia.” Yet, as he traveled into the countryside, he found a more nuanced story, encountering a minority Russian-speaking population who supported Russia; some even had family members working in Moscow. The author draws on his intimate familiarity with Ukrainian and Russian perspectives to make a convincing case for the strategic value of a Ukrainian victory to global stability. He argues that Ukraine represents a “bulwark against potential Russian escalations” as far west as Poland and Germany, and also addresses the humanitarian crisis spawned by the ongoing war in which Ukrainian civilians “face the daily realities of Russian aggression,” including bombings and abductions. The book notes the advantages of sustained Ukrainian support from Western nations, but also asserts that mere financial and military aid may not be enough, noting how the Russian government has navigated sanctions to find “new life” by undercutting oil prices. Chowdhury is pragmatic in his approach; for example, he recognizes the impact of the recent U.S. presidential election and offers an astute analysis of how the European Union could leverage a Russian victory to strengthen economic,

military, and political ties with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. As the author of multiple books on geopolitical history and contemporary world affairs, Chowdhury offers a scholarly evaluation of the conflict, backed by more than two dozen pages of research endnotes. His learned analysis is enhanced by an engaging writing style that will appeal to general audiences; in addition, the book’s narrative overview of Ukrainian-Russian relations provides important historical context for readers unfamiliar with the region. If the war represents, as the author compellingly suggests, “the deepest crisis in Russian-Western relations since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis,” then this is a solid introductory book on its history and implications.

A timely, well-researched case for the necessity of Ukrainian victory.

The Legend of Valentine Collins, Sheldon | Hutchinson & Collins Publishing (350 pp.) | $26.99 Jan. 21, 2025 | 9798991362405

Screenwriter Collins’ debut novel tells the origin story of the legendary St. Valentine.

In the year 268, a handsome 26-­ year-old soldier, Valentinus Romanus, known as “Valentine,” saves the empress from an Alemanni attack. After the battle, he reminisces about his first love, a girl whom he knew as Rose, while drunkenly sleeping with Serena, the wife of a Roman magistrate. From the beginning, Valentine is a romantic and a deep thinker with strong morals, which results in him helping a beautiful maiden named Agatha—who turns out to be none other than his long-lost love. Things quickly become even more complicated. After a battle injury, Valentine is taken by Marius, his friend and fellow soldier, to a villa in Arretium to recover. There, he becomes fascinated by the physician of the villa, Deodatus, and his wife, Charu; he’s soon Deodatus’ apprentice and learns of the FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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doctor’s practice of marrying Christian couples in secret. Collins’ novel tries to make sense of the historical sources for what might have been the life story of the original Valentine; a long list of those he consulted appears at the back of the book, displaying his commitment to documentation. His book also portrays the treacherous ambition of Roman leadership and their persecution of Christianity.

Roman general Claudius’ path to becoming Emperor remains compelling, especially in how it contrasts with Valentine’s more heroic character.

Although readers may find the political machinations to be a bit difficult to follow, the novel is full of well-paced drama that will keep them hooked to the end. In particular, the romance between Agatha and Valentine will surely warm hearts: “As they were illuminated by the moon’s glow, their kiss felt like the culmination of their shared history, a perfect union where every moment of their lives had led to this one.”

A complex and ambitious adventure for lovers of ancient historical romance.

The Naked Sailor Coutts, Norman | Atmosphere Press (436 pp.) $29.99 | $19.99 paper | April 8, 2025 9798891325159 | 9798891324916 paper

An introspective Canadian writer embarks on a three-month journey on the South China Sea in this travel memoir.

Coutts’ book opens with a playful exploration of the term naked, exploring literal and metaphorical definitions which are later woven throughout the narrative.

The most prevalent definition is “with no qualification or concealment: the naked facts,” as the author admits his inexperience in sailing and travel when he embarked on his journey in 2009. Despite his trepidation, he agreed to go on a three-month sailing trip in the South China Sea from Thailand to the Philippines with two compatriots, Rob and John, on a small yacht named Bob-theboat. (The author notes that some names 146

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in the book have been changed.) Rob, Coutts’ childhood friend, owned the boat, and the author portrays him as a carefree, adventurous foil to his own wariness, introspection, and inexperience, and to John’s overbearing meticulousness. The crew’s journey began in Bangkok, where the author witnessed the area’s historical and cultural vibrance, but also, he says, the dark realities of the red-light district in the Patpong region. The crew later travels to Phuket to set sail, and the sea proves to be as unpredictable as the turbulent weather; they also face threats of piracy, and the men’s personalities clash in the boat’s confined space. By the end of the narrative, the author reflects on his personal growth, often attributed to his navigation of cultural disparities, global inequality, and difficult sea travel. Coutts’ tone throughout the book is often incredulous (“What about pirates, sharks, tropical diseases, typhoons and tsunamis?

Isn’t it unbearably hot? And what did I know about motoring yachts?”), but his sweeping, dramatic descriptions of Southeast Asia make for a diverting read.

Similarly, the author’s ruminations on his experiences and how they affected his sense of self are compelling. However, readers seeking a fresh take on the travel memoir may be a bit disappointed, particularly by its familiar interpretations of cultural differences between Southeast Asia and North America.

An often engaging fish-out-of-water story that follows a well-trod path to self-discovery.

Kirkus Star

Nauset Light: A Personal Legacy Daubenspeck, Mary E. & Timothy H. Daubenspeck | Keeper’s House Press (242 pp.) $29.95 paper | June 18, 2024 | 9798218416430

An updated edition of the diary of a fabled light station’s caretaker.

Mary Daubenspeck, for years the owner of Cape Cod’s iconic Nauset Light

Keeper’s House and caretaker of the Light Station, died in 2001 after having negotiated the survival of these historic landmarks and their transfer to the Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) and the Nauset Light Preservation Society. In these pages, her brother Tim presents both the diary that she kept from the time she and her husband purchased the Keeper’s House in 1982 until her death and the diary’s extensions that bring the story to 2024, when the Daubenspeck family left their private residence and turned over the properties to the CCNS (it’s a version of a personal journal, in other words, that includes the author’s obituary). Mary Daubenspeck shepherded her family’s home through good times and bad, including, most notably, the onslaught of the Atlantic Ocean, which led to the lighthouse being moved inland some distance in November of 1996. Through 200 pages filled with color photos of the lighthouse and the Keeper’s House, readers follow Mary Daubenspeck’s journal entries as she delights in family, deals with bureaucracy, and keeps one eye on the increasingly raucous forces of nature. In fact, several of her most enjoyable entries revolve in large part around nature, whether she’s noticing the “icy velvet black sky” at night or reflecting on the incessant pounding of the surf. Naturally, the book’s chief preoccupation (perhaps to the reader’s detriment) is the author’s obsession with passing her land on to responsible new hands. “I will make myself into anything (curator, concessioner, etc.) I have to in order to keep my house in my family’s rightful private ownership,” she writes in October of 1996. “Anything, that is, but a fool.” The author’s flinty personality memorably fills these pages.

An engrossing and historically inval­ uable record of the end of Nauset Light Keeper’s House’s private ownership.

For more Indie content, visit Kirkus online.

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One Night Standard Dodd, E.F. | Sugar Beaver Books (390 pp.) $16.95 paper | Nov. 1, 2024 | 9798986288086

In Dodd’s romance novel, a commitment-­ wary mermaid performer and a real estate developer with a rakish repu­ tation meet in Vegas and then fake a relationship to aid their careers.

After hauling a bulky suitcase off the carousel at the Las Vegas airport, 32-year-old redhead Coral Triton barrels into 39-year-old “blond Adonis” businessman Jameson “Jamie” Standard, who’s heading toward his limo driver.

The couple banter, and as she walks off, a huge bottle of personal lubricant falls out of her suitcase; Coral, who regularly dons a mermaid costume, notes that it’s “crucial for that tight tail squeeze.” This flirtatious meet-cute is conveyed in alternating “Coral” and “Jamie” point-of-view chapters, as is the rest of the novel. The couple are both staying at the L’Atelier hotel; they meet again there and have a one-night stand that Coral labels “amazing” in a note she leaves behind. However, the narrative has already tipped readers off that Coral and Jamie are destined for further encounters: She’s been hired by the L’Atelier’s manager to perform in and help craft an aquarium show, and he’s a Boston-based real estate developer visiting his sister Jocelyn, who’s coincidentally Coral’s new boss. He’s there to wait out the reaction to a recently published “Modern Day Rakes” article in Boston Commons magazine, which features him and could jeopardize his deal with an upright Boston Brahmin client. While

in costume, Coral interacts with bedazzled observer Jamie, and the resulting social media buzz gives Jocelyn the idea that they should pretend to have a relationship to publicize the hotel and improve Jamie’s image.

Dodd showcases plenty of hot lovemaking sequences in this second novel in a series about bachelors from a Boston-based real estate development firm. Jamie’s impressive pleasure-her-first gymnastics are particularly celebrated, with Coral marveling at one point at how he’s “the man who’d pulled some sort of ninja sex move to land on his knees while staying between mine.” The novel also effectively highlights the role that social media plays in modern life. Coral naturally leverages it to promote her made-for-Instagram career, and the slightly older, less social media– inclined Jamie is initially rather bemused to find himself tagged as “#brunchdaddy” and “#PrinceEricOnTheProwl.” He stars in his own YouTube video near the end of the novel in what turns out to be his best move of all. Dodd gives this novel’s attractive couple plenty of appealing emotional dimension. Jamie realizes that the “moment [he’d] started wondering how to be a better man, [he] met a woman who wasn’t the least bit interested in changing [his] ways.” Coral’s skittishness regarding relationships is effectively detailed and dramatized as being the result of a difficult childhood; the novel even includes a memorable detour to visit Coral’s mother, a boyfriend-obsessed woman who can’t seem to resist disparaging her daughter.

Although the novel has many surface charms—including riffs on professional mermaid travails, such as dealing with weird fans called “merverts”—romance fans will relish the substantive adult relationship that forms between the two undeniably appealing main characters.

A sexy, splashy love story with sweet depths.

Effectively highlights the role that social media plays in modern life.

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An Ambush of Years Enfield, J.A. | Wayzgoose Press (300 pp.) $14.99 paper | Oct. 15, 2024 | 9781961953222 Series: Time Alleys, 1

A “time alley” transports a 10-year-old Chicago boy to Victorian London in Enfield’s series debut.

One late summer evening in Chicago after a family picnic, 10-year-old Mick Conway, unable to fall asleep, slowly becomes aware of an eerie, enticing sound, and then a growing, shimmering light, “a mix of blues swirling like juices in a blender.” Suddenly, he’s inside it, spinning, floating, banging around through one world after another, from desert to winter forest, completely disoriented. Just when he fears the harrowing experience may never end, the “time alley” drops him onto a rainy cobblestone street where three other oddly dressed children greet him by warning him not to say his name or where he’s from. The place is London, and it’s 1853; Alison, Dolly, and Leech are Forsyth Institute students on patrol. Though it seems like an ordinary Victorian boarding school from the outside, the Forsyth Institute’s real purpose is to research how the time alleys work while rescuing children who “drop in” and teaching them to pass as ordinary Victorians. Every student and teacher at the Institute has also “dropped” from the future, having experienced a one-way trip that can only be taken before age 12. (Both the time alleys and the streets of London can be mortally dangerous, and there are strict rules about sharing information about the future for fear of changing it.) Though devastated to learn that he can’t go home, Mick (now nicknamed Gunner) gamely carries on, trying to adjust to the era’s formal manners, heavy clothing, and lack of electricity or modern plumbing. He soon discovers that he is able to see the details of time alleys more clearly than FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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A warmhearted, relatable tale.

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the others, and he starts to suspect something sinister is going on: The time alleys are becoming more and more erratic, and a suspicious hooded figure roams the Forsyth building at night. Despite the risks, Mick and his new friends secretly begin to investigate, only to uncover even more frightening possibilities.

Enfield’s writing is excellent, studded with vivid descriptions—the London sky seems “a damp rag, all smoke and dirty clouds”; a man’s shoes shine “like they had their own spotlights”; a tone-deaf singer is “enthusiastically attacking the melody”; and the telegraph is “steampunk texting.”

Mick is observant, perceptive, and plucky, doing the best he can and maintaining a sense of humor in a situation that presents almost endless difficulties. The other students and faculty also display well-developed personalities: Alison’s outward confidence masks deep sadness; Leech is always ready with a sarcastic quip; Dolly is insightful and fond of sweets; the librarian, Miss Emmet, is understanding and helpful; the headmistress is stern and intimidating. There is a great deal of background and scene-setting detailing the Institute’s customs (it dates back to the 1500s) and the features of time alleys, which take specific forms such as stirrings, whirlpools, glow-orbs, fairy paths, and fawkes, all of varying colors, sizes, and durations. There are occasional instances of foreshadowing before the main action gets going; things pick up in the second half, but the outcome feels somewhat rushed and incomplete, leaving the reader with more questions than answers. Nevertheless, the intriguing premise, relatable characters, and remaining mysteries will have readers eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.

An engaging YA fantasy/SF series debut.

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The New Men Enfield, Jon | Wayzgoose Press (288 pp.) $14.99 paper | June 10, 2014 | 9781938757129

In Enfield’s historical novel, Henry Ford’s motor company is an exemplar of good and evil, idealism and cynicism.

Tony Grams, born to poverty in Sardinia as Antonio Gramazio, immigrates to the United States with his family and gets an office job with the Ford Motor Company in 1913. Ford was known for its “Five Dollar Day” policy, which was a good salary for the time; it came about because annual employment turnover on the assembly lines was an unsupportable 380%. The five-dollar-per-day pay scheme largely solved that, but new hires had to become what the company called“new men” to qualify—men of sobriety who were looking to achieve the American dream. Tony’s job with the firm’s Educational Department is to enforce and encourage this concept by monitoring the lives of the new workers, who were mostly immigrants and Black men from the American South, and their families—including visiting their homes and rifling through their financial records. In addition, the workers had to contend with opposition from nativists and racists. Things come to a head when a Black family moves into a white-only neighborhood and confronts violence from the locals; in addition, the courts try to portray the victims as perpetrators. Ford’s Five Dollar Day may seem an obscure subject for a novel, but it serves well to tell the tale of a good man with good intentions annealed in the fires of experience, emerging sadder but wiser. Tony proves to be a witty narrator

(as when he describes his sister Angela as someone who “seemed to regard misery as a blessing that ought to be shared”) and a philosopher (as when he opines that some people “would rather be hated than ignored. This, I think, explains religion”). Tony eventually winds up in Los Angeles, which is portrayed as a golden, palmy dream where he looks back on the past while living in “ruthless sunshine,” and some readers may realize that the ancient Greeks would have understood this tale all too well.

A skillful novel that draws profound lessons from American business history.

What Is Kind?

Figueroa, B.B. | Self (36 pp.) | $12.99 paper Oct. 31, 2024 | 9798988718239

Felicity Fox learns the meaning of kindness in her first few days at school.

Felicity Fox can’t wait to make new friends and play with all sorts of toys in Miss Barb’s class. Peter Porcupine needs the same triangular block Felicity does to make a castle during playtime, and she snatches it away from him meanly. Miss Barb admonishes her for her lack of kindness, prompting Felicity to ask her mother what “kind” means. The next day, Felicity yells at her classmate for sitting in her spot and is again chided by her teacher. She seeks advice on kindness from Mrs. Squirrel, the mail critter, and again later from Mr. Owl after she’s rude to Roscoe Raccoon at snack time.

“Now Felicity was feeling even more confused. No one seemed to give her the same answer.” It isn’t until Sammy Skunk arrives in the classroom that Felicity truly understands what it means to be kind. This second title by Figueroa, after her debut Gerald the Shaggy Unicorn (2023), is a great pick for encouraging social-emotional learning. Felicity, a nuanced character who doesn’t learn all at once, takes time to grow and consolidate information.

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adults pondering kindness in a thoughtful pose alongside the text.

A warmhearted, relatable tale for teaching both how to be kind and how to grow as a person.

The Sanhedrin Chronicles Gold, J.S. | Histria Books (420 pp.) | $17.95 paper | Nov. 19, 2024 | 9781961511880

In Gold’s debut novel, a young man must come to terms with his Jewish identity as he finds his place in New York City’s hidden world of demons and secret religious orders.

Arthur Rose, born Aaron, is a college student at Excelsior State University who loves heavy metal and epic adventure stories and pines for his ex-girlfriend. He also deeply resents his Jewish background and has dyed his hair blond and changed his first name to craft a new identity. At a young age, his mother was murdered by a skinhead, and he was sent by his Hasidic father to live with his uncle.

Arthur’s estrangement from his Jewish heritage runs deep: “As far as he sees it, the only thing bequeathed to Arthur’s people is the title of loser in a battle that doesn’t end.” When his father dies, however, the young man is involuntarily given “the Sight so that [he] may gaze beyond flesh and through spirit” and inducted into Sanhedrin, a secret organization of Jewish mages charged with protecting the world from evil spiritual forces. Before long, a powerful, sluglike demon named Igrat appears, intent on resurrecting her even more powerful demonic spouse, and Arthur is thrust into a high-stakes adventure in which his desire to use physical violence to protect those he loves clashes with the Sanhedrin’s opposition to killing. Gold’s novel boasts an impressive suite of characters, and the Sanhedrin members present a range of approaches to Jewish practice.

The worldbuilding is elaborate and engaging, setting the stage for what K IR KU S R E V IE W S

could easily become a compelling and gritty fantasy series. Although some of the pacing is a bit uneven—some of Arthur’s many interior passages drag a bit—the narrative gradually reveals characters’ backstories in surprising ways. There’s much ground here that’s been covered in other stories, but Gold (and even Arthur himself) are clearly aware of the genre’s conventions. The novel is at its strongest when it explores whether and how the stories of the Jewish people map onto the classic tale of the hero’s journey.

An exciting and magical Jewish urban fantasy novel.

The Shochet Vol. 2: A Memoir of Jewish Life in Ukraine and Crimea Goldenshteyn, Pinkhes-Dov | Trans. by Michoel Rotenfeld | Academic Studies Press (500 pp.) | $41.93 paper Dec. 10, 2024 | 9798887196138

The second volume of the memoir of a kosher animal slaughterer, accompanied by historical researcher Rotenfeld’s commentary.

The first volume of Ukrainian-born Goldenshteyn’s life story offered a unique glimpse into late 19th and early 20th century Jewish history. Although Goldenshteyn (1848-1930), a Hasidic Jew, doesn’t rank among the leading intellectuals or theologians of his day, his work as a shochet, with specialized training in slaughtering animals in accordance with Jewish dietary laws, provides a unique perspective on turn-of-the-century Judaism from a devout, working-class perspective.

Originally written in Yiddish, Goldenshteyn’s memoir has been carefully translated into English by Rotenfeld, who offers readers ample footnotes that help to contextualize the work. Picking up where the first volume left off, this book begins after Goldenshteyn’s meandering journey through Eastern Europe, including Ukraine and the

Crimea, and his arrival in Palestine in 1913, where he would live for 17 years.

Like many Zionists, his faith included both religious piety and political engagement. Although the history of Zionism is well known, what stands out in this remembrance is the author’s perspective as a rank-and-file observer of Zionist organizations. Religion, of course, also takes center stage, as the shochet approached life’s difficulties with an earnest belief in God’s divine plan: “I struggled to earn my daily bread,” he writes, adding, “but I accepted these difficulties with love.” Written chronologically, the book’s timeline often blends multiple themes into single chapters.

One, for instance, discusses the marriage of his niece and the writing of a Torah.

This stream-of-consciousness approach can be disorienting at times, but it also offers a wealth of details and the thoughts of a transnational Jewish man on topics that range from observations on the Ottoman Empire during World War I to complexities in the lives of Jewish families dispersed throughout Europe.

Goldenshteyn’s dizzying prose style is tempered by Rotenfeld’s useful analysis.

However, because this edition picks up immediately where the first ends, newcomers may become lost in the intricacies of characters, events, and references. The lack of a contextualizing introduction gives this volume an abrupt beginning, but it concludes with more than 200 pages of appendices, comprised of family trees and genealogies, primary source documents, and a glossary of Jewish names, geographic locations, and transliteration schemes. This is clearly not a work designed to be standalone, but the concluding edition of a two-book set.

Rotenfeld’s background as the director of Touro University Library’s collection of archival Jewish diasporic material offers readers an unparallel intellectual resource regarding the nuances of early 20th century Jewish history. The book’s learned footnotes make an otherwise arcane memoir, full of references to long-dead Jewish figures, obscure family members, and antiquated terminology, accessible to a general audience. It also includes dozens of photographs, diagrams, maps, and other images, and more scholarly minded readers will FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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appreciate the 12-page bibliography and discussion of the translation methodology. Working closely with Goldenshteyn’s descendants, Rotenfeld also provides readers with supplementary information on the lives of the shochet’s children and those of extended family members mentioned throughout, providing closure on storylines that postdate the narrative.

A fitting conclusion to a well-­ researched and meticulously edited memoir translation.

Golda’s Hutch Goldstein, Robert Steven | Deft Heft Books (304 pp.) | $15.99 paper | March 11, 2025 9780988811638

In Goldstein’s erotic novel, three couples confront their true feelings about love and loyalty—and pain and pleasure.

Mild-­mannered, introspective Craig Schumacher is an executive at a large company in San Francisco in the late 1990s. His colleagues consider him closer to a priest than a manager, due to his strict vegetarianism, daily yoga, and extreme patience. No one would guess that his reveries often drift to fantasies of bondage and domination; indeed, Craig and his wife, Shoshana, have a relationship that may well shock Craig’s co-workers. When his terse and aggressive direct report, Byron Dorn, observes Shoshana meeting multiple men at a townhouse outside the city, he becomes preoccupied with learning more about the couple’s dirty secrets. Seeing a golden opportunity for advancement, his ambitious wife, Adelle, encourages his spying. Meanwhile, the outspoken, witty Nigel Silver has earned Craig’s respect at work; a plum promotion gets him invited to Byron’s dinner parties, where Nigel’s enigmatic wife, Justine, discusses her work as a mortuary cosmetologist and reveals her attraction to dead bodies. This leads an excited Shoshana to believe that she’s finally found a kinky kindred spirit among all the bland corporate wives. As passions and intrigue develop, the three couples 150

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uncover new revelations about one another and about themselves. Over the course of the novel, Goldstein’s precise, elegant prose cleverly takes its time revealing his characters’ secret desires, building suspense for fun to come; Craig muses early on, for instance, that a corporate retreat “unshackled his derisive dark side,” hinting playfully at transgressive twists.

Each chapter is structured around what the couples are eating in a given scene, but the real sustenance of the story is the careful attention the author pays to each person’s idiosyncrasies (and in what amount) to six robust, detailed character studies. The dialogue can often feel a bit stale—especially between the conniving Byron and Adelle; however, when readers are alone with each character’s thoughts, the author serves up something delicious.

A scintillating take on marital and workplace dramas with compelling characters and devilish surprises.

Kirkus Star

The Age of Humachines: Big Tech and the Battle for Humanity’s Future Harvey, Michael D.B. | Steady State Press (434 pp.) | $19.95 paper Nov. 30, 2024 | 9798990015616

A complex, multipart agenda for a future in which humans retain their humanity.

Harvey kicks off his latest book, a follow-up to 2019’s impressive Utopia in the Anthropocene, with a seemingly simple question: What does it mean to be a human on planet Earth? The question, which every society in human history has faced, has become incredibly complicated in the present era by both an ever-­ worsening climate crisis and the hyperaccelerated technological development that Harvey describes as “the biggest psychological experiment in human history…unregulated, unsupervised and unfolding before our very eyes.” He naturally sees these two vectors

as inherently opposed to each other, with climate change leading to large portions of the global South soon becoming uninhabitable for humans, and the technological change leading to a merging of human and machine (“humachination”) that will usher in a new dystopian era the author refers to as the Technocene. Harvey draws on his own background as both an entrepreneur and an organizational psychologist (“the technology of being human, so to speak”) in order to provide alternatives to what he describes as the “fusion of lightly regulated technology and free market capitalism.” In a series of topic-oriented and well-researched chapters, he puts forward a practical vision for steps we can take to avoid the Technocene, from implementing antimonopoly legislation and reforestation policies to restructuring livestock farming, which uses three-­ quarters of the world’s farmland while providing less than 20% of the world’s caloric consumption (and a sixth of its carbon emissions).

The main strength of Harvey’s book is its comparative lack of naïveté. He’s aware of both the seeming outlandishness of his propositions and the essentially unbeatable corporate, governmental, and social forces arrayed against their implementation.

This renders his book far more of a thought-provoking treatise than an actual plan for action. His suggestion of the one solution to the threats of humachi­nation, for instance, is a “permanent moratorium on all advanced AI,” which he readily concedes may require that “all computer programming will have to be confined to relatively simple, highly transparent usages.” Since this kind of adaptation could only be brought about by the physical destruction of all human civilization in something like a catastrophic asteroid strike, and since societies will absolutely never adopt it willingly under any circumstances imaginable, this change and the bulk of Harvey’s other projections quickly begin to feel very utopian indeed. “Egalitarianism can be a tough discipline,” he writes in the understatement of the century, “in that it involves the constant containment K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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A luminous, richly textured portrait of family and faith.

KING JAMES VIRGIN

of selfish desires.” And it’s in his stout opposition to those selfish desires that Harvey achieves his book’s most stirring narrative thread. At its heart, this book is less about the mechanics of reimagining political, social, scientific, and organizational institutions and more about reimagining “the psychology of the Ecocene, a state in which ecological and egalitarian values become the bedrock of everyday lived experience.” Quite apart from his book’s formidable research grounding, it’s Harvey’s faith in the improvability of humankind, particularly at this dark moment in history, that feels both quixotic and inspiring. Like any good utopian dream.

An intensely intriguing if seemingly unreachable vision of a new future for the world.

Kirkus Star

King James Virgin: A Holiness Memoir Hatton, Elizabeth | Elizabeth Correnti (242 pp.) | $12.99 paper | Oct. 5, 2024 9781736402610

In this warmhearted memoir, a woman looks back on an Appalachian girlhood colored by the tug of war between her fundamentalist religion and her yearning for glamor.

Hatton recaps her early years growing up in 1960s Jackson County, Kentucky, in a working-class family— her father worked in a rubber factory, her mother was a housewife—and the pious congregation of the Big Hill Free K IR KU S R E V IE W S

Pentecostal Holiness Church. Much of the book covers ordinary events in a child’s life at the time: the author’s first day at school and her separation anxiety giving way to joy at her first reading lesson; a stint in the hospital with rheumatic fever that left her with a heart murmur; processing the assassination of President Kennedy, which some in her family mourned and others viewed with grim satisfaction because of his suspect Catholicism; and family rituals, from the yearly slaughtering of pigs to the weekly oyster stew feast. Hatton also profiles her enormous extended family, including her philandering grandpa, who died in a car crash beside a woman who was not his wife. She steeps readers in her church meetings, which featured energetic hymns and dancing, speaking in tongues, and prophesying whenever the spirit moved worshippers. The congregation was a straight-laced group that called themselves the Saints, strictly adhered to the “King James Virgin” of the Bible, as one member called it, and prohibited drinking, smoking, fancy clothes, and putting on airs. This troubled Hatton because she daydreamed about growing up to marry a rich man, live in a mansion, and wear the latest fashions and jewelry, like her idol Jackie Kennedy—an ambition that moved her to shoplift a forbidden lipstick from a dime store.

Hatton’s reminiscences paint an engrossing panorama of tightknit communities that embraced but also confined people. Her writing is wittily alive to class tensions—her mother used the term “Higher-Ups” to denote those with the money and status to look down on them—and the mordantly humorous mark they leave on hillbilly self-awareness. Her Pentecostal church is the

antithesis of the Higher-Ups culture of hierarchy and decorum, thriving instead on the self-taught religiosity of its blue-collar pastors and the wild enthusiasms of their flock, which Hatton captures with an electrifying immediacy (“When the Holy Ghost came over him, Brother Junior’s dancing was potentially dangerous to anything in his path….[He] sailed over two rows of seats as effortlessly as a whitetail deer clearing a fence…and sprinted back and forth down the center aisle, pumping his fists above his head as he hollered, ‘Thank you, Jesus!

Thank you, Jesus!’”). This material could have turned into kitsch, but Hatton avoids that by plumbing the complex inner lives of her relatives in evocative prose that teases out conflicted personalities and dark familial antagonisms in sharp detail. (Hatton writes of her Aunt Edythe’s nervous breakdown: “She muttered to herself and seemed frustrated by what she heard. Mommy tried brightly and a little too loudly to engage her in the women’s brave and desperate conversation. Aunt Edythe briefly made eye contact with her, silently communicating such intense annoyance and hatred that Mommy was unnerved.”) The result is a colorful, touching recreation of small-town life.

A luminous, richly textured portrait of family and faith, beautifully written and vividly remembered.

Killing Buddhas: An Eden Ridge Story Heath, Craig Allen | Nine Pines Press (390 pp.) $11.99 paper | Oct. 18, 2024 | 9798986620466 Series: The Eden Ridge Stories, 2

A New Ager must solve the death of his flawed guru in Heath’s latest murder mystery, the second in a series.

Alan Wright runs a spiritual center in the California mountain town of Eden Ridge. The House of the Universal Message is the culmination of three FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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decades of Alan’s study of the teachings of the charismatic British guru Branden Frank, who has accepted Alan’s invitation to visit the center. At first, it seems a dream come true— even if Frank turns out to be a bit more of a womanizer and child support–dodger than Alan had anticipated. After all, as Frank himself says, “If we think of someone else as the Buddha, as a saint, we are deluded.” The dream quickly devolves into nightmare when Frank is found dead on the side of the road beneath the House. Police suspect foul play, but who could be responsible? The grandfather of one of the children Frank refuses to acknowledge or the man who offers a noncredible confession to the murder?

Alan, who has solved a murder in the past, takes up the mystery with the help of The Little Red Hens, a five-woman fledgling detective agency that meets at the House. But not only is the local police chief out to get him and close the center, Alan must also tangle with an online conspiracy group called NotAGod that claims he’s a Satanist who abuses children. Heath’s polyphonic prose captures the many comic misunderstandings between the New Agers and reactionary squares who populate Eden Ridge. “For almost two hundred years, Eden Ridge has been a decent place to live,” the chief rails against Alan and his friend, spa owner Hank Tate. “Hard-working, God-­ fearing, tax-paying people live here.

Then that goddamn crazy nudist, Tate, turned the hotel and springs into a refuge for drug-addled sex freaks.” It’s clear that Heath loves Eden Ridge, and the care with which he builds out the citizens and their intersecting arcs adds depth to this mystery.

An engrossing comic murder mystery set in a California spa town.

Half-Built Houses Keller, E P | Self (323 pp.) | $8.13 paper Aug. 1, 2012 | 9798345031001

Keller offers a legal procedural centered on a murder on a snowy morning in Canada.

It’s 2010, and 25-year-old Charley Ewanuschuk lives in the basement of a partially built home in Calgary, making what little money he can as a day laborer.

Early one morning, he sees a sports car from his shelter, stuck in the snow. A woman named Natalie Peterson stumbles out of the vehicle, pursued by a man who soon catches her and drags her out of sight.

Later, the man flees, and Charley finds Natalie, in the snow, dead; when a tow truck comes, Charley panics and hides.

Due to his proximity to the crime, Charley becomes the top suspect in Natalie’s murder; the actual perpetrator appears to be Jason Young, “the only son of a wealthy, powerful family.” Jason, it turns out, had brought Natalie back to his home and kept her there, after she’d performed as a stripper at a bachelor party. Charley seeks the assistance of young lawyer Brian Cox, who’s skeptical of Charley’s story; however, he learns that the apparent drifter’s background is more complex than he thought.

Right from the get-go, Keller makes readers aware of all aspects of the crime—or so it seems. This includes not only what Charley sees, but also Jason’s actions, including his call to his rich father for help; the narrative even includes Natalie’s perspective.

Although information is often repeated (“Looks like someone’s been squatting in the basement,” one policeman explains to another, although readers already know this), this narrative strategy often shows

An eye-opening satire that’s as cheeky as it is unsparing.

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how Natalie’s death isn’t as simple as it initially appears. Later, as a trial ensues and more evidence enters the picture, everything slowly comes into focus while keeping readers engaged. By the end, Brian finds himself “not knowing if the justice system had failed or worked.”

A seemingly straightforward crime story that becomes more enticing as it goes on.

Sexy Life, Hello Kicherer, Michelle | Banana Pitch Press (114 pp.) | $13.00 paper March 6, 2025 | 9798991307123

In Kicherer’s debut novella, a woman balances her dual jobs acting as a nanny to twin babies and sexting for a porn star.

After she’s caught in a compromising situation, California teacher Jane is unceremoniously fired. She then applies for the “types of jobs that [won’t] check a record.” Fortunately, she finds one—a couple (including a popular writer of airport novels) takes her on as nanny to their 10-month-olds Franny and Zooey. Then, Jane gets a reply to another application; porn actor Lola hires her to communicate with her fans, engaging in generally salacious cyberchats as “Lola” to persuade clients to pay for premium content. That’s something Jane can do during Franny and Zooey’s naptime.

While these unfiltered online conversations are relatively new territory for Jane, she’s an unexpected natural at sexting.

Certainly, she doesn’t want the twins’ mothers knowing what she does during some of her nannying hours, but she soon comes to the frightening realization that someone may have caught on to her surreptitious side-gig. Kicherer deftly satirizes modern pornography and porn addiction—Jane easily handles multiple chats using generic responses that don’t dissipate the mesmerized clients’ sexual energy. Jane finds the activity “curious,” but it gradually turns into a routine, and she doesn’t really consider the implications of the X-rated written content until K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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later. The author’s concise and often irreverent prose pulls no punches—the cyberchats engage in topics that will make some readers blush and others cringe. At the same time, the story deftly contrasts these pornographic conversations with Jane caring for two infant twins who are oblivious to all that she’s typing on her laptop. A darker aspect of the porn job slowly and effectively creeps in; interacting with faceless usernames may seem harmless, but there’s a chance one of these individuals knows too much.

The ending, which suits the overall tone, won’t likely be forgotten.

An eye-opening satire that’s as cheeky as it is unsparing.

The Bulgarian Bartender Kulak, Daryl | Lulu.com (251 pp.) | $19.98 paper | Aug. 23, 2024 | 9781304213860

The first installment in Kulak’s new series is a thriller revolving around three female best friends and their attempt to rescue one of their own who becomes entangled with a sex trafficking ring.

Angie Hunter, Tiffany Knight, and Kaylee McDouglas have been close friends ever since childhood. Having grown up in Mount Miffsberg, the trio are still living in the town—and not exactly living the dream. Angie is a welder who moonlights teaching martial arts; Kaylee works at a sewage treatment plant, and Tiffany is a self-described “worthless stripper.” When Kaylee announces to her friends that she is engaged to a shady businessman from Bulgaria—and that she is traveling to the Balkans to meet her new fiance’s parents—Angie and Tiff know immediately that something isn’t right. After Kaylee’s text messages stop shortly after she arrives in Bulgaria, her two friends realize that she’s in danger. They don’t know where she is—or if she is even alive at all—so they travel to Bulgaria to investigate. Not knowing the language makes their mission difficult, but they K IR KU S R E V IE W S

befriend some locals—Og, a handsome bartender, and Dueza, a transgender woman with an intimate knowledge of the Bulgarian Mafia. They begin to piece together the tidbits of information.

Kaylee’s fiance, it seems, is the head of a criminal organization that abducts women from all over the world and forces them into a life of sexual trafficking.

A healthy suspension of disbelief is needed here; the welder and her stripper friend take on and defeat, on numerous occasions, members of the Bulgarian Mafia. The fight scenes, however, are well choreographed and believable, to an extent: “As soon as [Angie] had disabled his punching arm, she moved her quiet attention to his forward knee and kicked right through the tender cartilage, yielding a monstrous howl from the man.

Elbow gone, knee gone. Not much he could do now except crumple to the floor.

As he dropped, Angie pinched hard at the side of his neck until he fully passed out.”

The humor is also a plus, making for some laugh-out-loud sequences. In one fight sequence, for example, Tiffany’s bout of explosive diarrhea helps to save the day: “Tiff couldn’t hold it any longer.

She bent forward to let her colon relieve itself onto the lower half of Igor’s expensive suit.” But the real strengths here are twofold—the emotional connection and power of the three friends’ relationships and the thematic gravity of international sex trafficking.

Kulak could’ve easily included gratuitous sex scenes to underscore the horrors of sexual slavery but, rightfully so, he only alludes to the brutality. The way the abductors treat women as objects, particularly American women, is terrifying enough: “We take America’s riches. The bitches are the riches.” The storyline does have minor issues, however, aside from the highly unlikely issue of two people going up against an entire crime syndicate. The overall ending concerning the three friends is a foregone conclusion—although the author does include a tantalizing twist that savvily leaves the door open for a natural sequel—and the description of Mount Miffsberg is underwhelming. The depiction of a rural American town could’ve had much more thematic impact, but it’s only superficially explored.

Well-developed female leads and loads of action and adventure make this a page-turning, if slightly predictable, read.

Sodomy Gods Lauterstein, David | Unbound Edition Press (330 pp.) | $29.09 paper Sept. 17, 2024 | 9798989233380

A young gay man finds love and business success in this feisty remembrance.

Lauterstein recaps his salad days in Manhattan in the 1990s when, in his early 20s, he came out and eventually co-founded the fashion company Nasty Pig, for which he’s still CEO. Much of the book chronicles his romance with Fred Kearney, a clothing patternmaker and company co-founder. As the author recalls in these pages, theirs was a loving, committed, but not exclusive relationship that left room for Lauterstein’s explorations of New York’s sexual demimonde, including an orgy at a bathhouse, a paddling session with a dom, and immersion in the exuberant scene at gay clubs like the Roxy, Sound Factory, and leather bar The Lure. Entwined with the story of the author’s sexual awakening is the tale of Nasty Pig’s creation: Lauterstein and Kearney started by making diffraction goggles that split light into rainbow hues, selling them to ketamine-­ addled kids at dance clubs; from there they branched out into clothing with a “unique blend of streetwear and fetish,” with items like “a highlighter-yellow rubber tank top with electric green insets, and…matching booty shorts with a reverse applique NASTYPIG sewn straight across the ass.”

It’s a classic startup saga of wild dreams, moxie, and hard work, as the partners scrounged for financing, spent endless hours cutting and sewing, and forged ahead with seat-of-the-pants improvisations: “That’s not a fashion show…That’s just us getting people high and you walking around in three tank tops.”

Lauterstein’s fizzy, atmospheric portrait of gay New York balances accounts of graphic FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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sex with expressions of anxiety about the AIDS epidemic and plangent sorrow at the loss of friends. His punchy prose veers between out-loud-and-proud militance (“Being gay meant I loved dick—a lot—and I was going to wear my status as a faggot on my sleeve”) and hymns to the mystical significance of homosexuality (“My gayness was a ticket to freedom from the oppression of the binary that had been hoisted upon humanity”). The result is a giddy, openhearted love letter to gay life in the city.

A brash and entertaining queer memoir, full of erotic and commercial energy.

Ivan, Boris and Me Leonie, Suze | Fidessa Literary (217 pp.) $23.99 | $19.99 paper | May 5, 2024 9789083370170 | 9789083370118 paper

A woman attempts to reign in her trickster friend in Leonie’s debut novel.

Since childhood, Elodie Ginsberg has been preoccupied with the circus. The 25-year-old illustrator is happiest when painting trapezists and acrobats. She spends each day in conversation with her mysterious friend Boris—a chaotic, childlike clown who’s been her constant companion since kindergarten. Although Boris seems to understand Elodie in a way that her hard-to-please mother never has, he also creates problems of his own. In the book’s opening chapter, for instance, Elodie must rescue Boris from a nearby pond, where he nearly drowns attempting a Harry Houdini–inspired escape trick. Things change when someone new moves into the house next door: a handsome, if standoffish, former professional cyclist named Ivan Lennard. Elodie is excited to have another relatively young person in the mostly elderly neighborhood—she inherited her house from her grandmother—and after an initial, unsuccessful attempt to befriend Ivan, Elodie shows up at his door with lasagna and a mango cake to welcome him to the cul-de-sac. She thinks she can break through Ivan’s shell, but it seems that Boris 154

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is bent on sabotaging things with his antics. Can Elodie overcome the intrusive Boris to forge a lasting human connection?

Over the course of this novel, Leonie writes with a buoyant, offbeat prose style that effectively evokes the carnivalesque reality in which Elodie and Boris dwell.

Here, for instance, Elodie is overwhelmed upon winning second place in an art competition: “I think someone’s talking to me, but I feel like I’m under water and have a tail instead of feet and gills where my ears used to be. I can’t process what they say, and I waddle. Eventually someone presses a sash, a check, and a gift card for a craft store in my hands.” Readers who can tolerate the deliberately maddening Boris will find much to enjoy in this mercurial novel, which shrouds an affecting tale of loneliness and longing in lively whimsy.

A stylish parable about the disconnect between inner and outer worlds.

Tennis Players as Works of Art Linebarger, David | Atmosphere Press (284 pp.) $30.50 | $23.99 paper | Dec. 3, 2024 9798891324831 | 9798891324671 paper

Linebarger presents an eclectic collection of artworks that highlights the power and grace of tennis.

Over a seven-­ year period, the author compiled a remarkable assemblage of creative pieces by a wide range of artists—paintings, photographs, and images of sculptures that represented the athletic dynamism of tennis as a sport. Many are representations of famed tennis players doing what they do best, showcasing a blend of power and choreographic precision. As Linebarger writes of Roger Federer: “Tennis not how it’s played, but how we imagine the gods might play it. The serve, the forehand, the one-handed back-hand drive. Grace, beauty, fluidity, perfection.” Each of the dozens of pieces here are accompanied by the author’s commentary, and just as often composed in a soaring, lyrical manner.

The artistic styles cover a broad spectrum that includes meticulously realistic studies and more impressionistic renditions, such as Scott Kish’s interpretation of Andre Agassi. Cat Lee’s vision of Elena Rybakina is playfully cartoonish, and Mark Shorter’s version of Margaret Court is almost abstract, departing the realm of the obviously figurative. In one of the more humorous paintings, Nial Smith places Andy Murray at the center of a commercial poster for the movie Gladiator (2000).

The book also effectively highlights the experiences of such players as Arthur Ashe, who faced racial prejudice, and Billie Jean King, who battled misogyny.

One can’t help but wish Linebarger began the collection with a prefatory note of some kind, explaining the nature of the project more thoroughly; instead, readers are left to piece that together on their own. However, this is a minor quibble, as the art itself is vivid and diverse, and the commentaries on each piece are consistently illuminating. Overall, it’s a captivating gathering.

An engrossing set of works of athletic beauty.

The Russian Manolakas, Dale E. | Kallias Publishing (300 pp.) | $18.99 Dec. 22, 2021 | 9781628050295

In Manolakas’ third legal thriller in a series, a Russian mob boss and property developer tries to threaten and murder his way into owning a historic part of Los Angeles.

Corporate lawyer George Rand has a successful career, a family, and an estate in LA’s Hancock Park neighborhood.

However, he’s also a secret gambler and has convinced his friends, family members, and clients to allow him to control their finances. Unfortunately for him, one of his clients is Jaska Yermakov, a major player in the Russian mob who wants his money—and Rand doesn’t have it. Yermakov is a property developer K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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who’s muscled his way into convincing LA politicians and a judge to decide an eminent domain case in his favor. He wants to take over Brentwood Glen, a valuable parcel of land, and the residents are suing the city in a class action, represented by Sophia Christopoulos, a successful lawyer “dedicated to helping… the hurt and the helpless.” The judge rules for the city, and then he promptly commits suicide. Enter Mary Keefe, a law clerk at the appellate court. She’s miserable after a decade of “ghostwriting for political appointees,” so she jumps at the chance when Sophia hires her to work on the appeal. Meanwhile, Yermakov threatens Rand and makes clear that the lawyer must become a judge—one who always decides cases in the mobster’s favor. As the stakes rise, Mary finds herself fleeing the wrath of a ruthless killer. Manolakas’ thriller is part of a series that focuses on Sophia’s lawyering adventures, but this complex novel also pays close attention to a variety of other principal characters, which keeps the action moving quickly. The mob-related crimes are chilling, but just as compelling are the legal issues at hand as the eminent domain fight plays out. Aside from Yermakov, who’s a rather standard-­ issue villain, the characterizations are three-dimensional, and the legal and political issues are similarly complex. In Manolakas’ LA, every judicial decision is the result of a cynical personal or political maneuver, which makes the heroes work harder to achieve something like justice.

A violent and well-told tale of corruption.

Sandcastles and Rainbows Myers, Christopher D. | Self (276 pp.) $21.99 | $17.99 paper | Oct. 21, 2024 9798343895100 | 9798227901668 paper

In this debut SF romance, two bodiless, immortal entities roaming the universe must repeatedly rediscover each other when their race decides to limit itself to a planet-bound mortal K IR KU S R E V IE W S

existence and fleeting memories.

Myers’ novel posits that a vast population of billions of elemental minds—life forms of “the Ethereal Universe”—explores the cosmos, occasionally entering the bodies of biological beings, usually primates, to enjoy physical sensations and emotions. Among the entities who indulge themselves are passionate mates Falin and Xin. Another of their species proposes a recreational challenge: The Ethereal spirits will migrate en masse into mortal creatures, shedding memories of eternal existence and limiting themselves to animal perceptions. Then, they must deduce the way back to their true Ethereal nature. Everyone thoughtlessly joins this “game,” and Falin and Xin bid farewell in what is assumed a temporary separation.

The action moves to an Earthlike planet, home to assorted, largely flawed communities. Scott Daniels (Falin) matures in a totalitarian, socialist dictatorship, with everybody genetically engineered to serve the monolithic Corporation. Scott, naturally curious, voices skepticism about the establishment and suffers the loss of his fast-track career and his lover, Denise, a Corporation-indoctrinated woman. Scott vagabonds his way through assorted nation states, searching for a mythic Tower wherein answers supposedly await perennial questions (“Who am I? What am I? How did I get here? Where did I come from? Where am I going?”).

Meanwhile, he’s brutalized in a militaristic culture coveting conscripts for its “fake war” and imprisoned for 15 years by a Roman Catholic–style inquisition whose faith he criticizes. He also finds romance— usually ill-fated—with girlfriends who seem to present facets of Xin until he finally partners with a woman named Audrey. Unevenly paced, with sometimes years of narrative flitting by in a few sentences, this metaphysical, allegorical odyssey skillfully grafts the New Agey romanticism of Richard Bach (The Bridge Across Forever, 1984) onto a Swiftian (light

on the satire) tour of assorted dysfunctional societies that exposes their Western civilization–type foibles. Will transcendental true love prevail over petty nationalism, greed, dogma, and so forth? Things do wrap up by the end of the engaging story, but readers keen on the love fantasia should know the book is heralded as the first installment of a two-part saga.

An engrossing tale of reincarnated super-beings in search of meaning and love.

Jeremy, the English Garden Snail Pattison, Dary | Illus. by Olga Gonina Mims House Books (32 pp.) | $25.99 $11.99 paper | Feb. 4, 2025 | 9781629442556 9781629442563 paper

This seventh installment of Pattison’s middle-grade science series follows the true story of a geneticist investigating the hereditary potential of a rare type of garden snail.

In 2016, in southwest London, a scientist happened upon a garden snail whose shell coiled right-to-left (from innermost point to out) rather than following the left-to-right spiral that is almost ubiquitous in that species of snail.

He sent the snail to geneticist Angus Davison, who saw an opportunity to conduct research on asymmetrical heredity. Was the left-coiling shell an inherited trait, or the product of environment or accident? Davison decided to breed the snail and study its offspring.

However, because snails are asymmetrical, they can only breed with other snails of the same shell orientation; to conduct his experiment, Davison would need to find another super-rare snail with a left-coiling shell. To achieve this, he launched the

Clear, informative, and quite fascinating.

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#snaillove “citizen science” campaign, naming the gastropod Jeremy (after British politician Jeremy Corbyn) and entreating the public to help find a compatible mate.

Worldwide, over 1.9 billion people were reached by the #snaillove campaign. The project uncovered two prospective partners: “Lefty,” from Ipswich, England, and “Tomeu,” from Majorca, Spain. (“The two left-coiled garden snails were sent to Angus’s laboratory by snail mail.”)

Pattison narrates with straightforward, well-considered prose, drawing the reader into the wonders of Jeremy’s story and collaborating with illustrator Gonina to ensure that the relevant scientific concepts are easy to comprehend. (For example, human and snail asymmetry are shown by way of diagrams that compare the skewing of the snail’s shell and the off-center placement of the human heart.) The book’s layout is bright and busy, offering a variety of textures and colors (with a particular emphasis on newborn blues and pinks), as well as images of snails exploring the pages with long-necked, lovable enthusiasm. Inquiring young minds will find much here to inspire them.

Clear, informative, and quite fascinating.

Tokyo Tempos Pronko, Michael | Raked Gravel Press (238 pp.) $21.99 paper | Dec. 20, 2024 | 9781942410348

With this latest memoir, Pronko muses on life in Japan’s singular capital city.

Sometimes it takes the eye of an outsider to capture what is unique about a place.

Pronko, an American literature professor at Meiji Gakuin University, has lived in Tokyo for decades and has written extensively about its many faces. “Words pointing at Tokyo are not Tokyo, granted,” writes Pronko in his preface.

“But words can…reveal life’s delightful and intriguing parts. Words are a way to see inside Tokyo.” With these essays, he touches on common associations with the massive city: its labyrinthian train system, its culture of photography, the views of 156

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Mount Fuji (which Pronko has from his apartment, even if he has “to lean over the edge of the balcony or hoist myself up on my rickety cinderblock garden wall”). He also explores less familiar territory, like the delicacy of deep-fried fish bones served in sake, the cathartic process of having his tatami mats collected for refurbishing, and the toads that appear everywhere in the city in the spring alongside the cherry blossoms. Pronko ponders the growing popularity of the Christmas tree among Tokyoites and offers several essays about his work at the university, where his students have helped shape his understanding of love, death, and language in Japan. Pronko approaches his topics with humility and loving curiosity, less an expert than simply one of the millions cycling like blood cells through the city’s veins. “I don’t think anyone could claim to know Tokyo completely,” he writes. “It’s not that I saw Tokyo completely,” he clarifies of his ongoing attempts to capture the city’s rhythms. “It’s that I tried to experience it fully.” Pronko succeeds in imbuing Tokyo with serene magic, and readers may feel compelled to book plane tickets upon completing this volume.

They may also simply feel inspired to take a walk in their own city and take in details they’ve never noticed before.

An immigrant’s keen reflection on life in a vast metropolis.

Squish & Squeam’s Daily Routines Rand, Dee | Illus. by Imani Maco Self (26 pp.) | $16.79 | Oct. 14, 2024 9798218405496

Rand’s musical characters turn their daily routines into a performance in this children’s picture book with illustrations by Maco.

Squish and Squeam are adorable twin sloths who love to sing. The story follows a day in the life of the siblings and their mother, featuring daily routines told through song. Beginning with “Good morning, good morning / get ready to

start your day. / Good morning, good morning, / Let’s get up to play!” and ending with “Bedtime… bedtime… / let’s sing a sleepy song. / Bedtime… bedtime… / Sweet dreams / all night long,” the characters have a fun and unique song for nearly every occasion, including breakfast, bathtime, and playtime. The book was inspired by the author’s own children, according to the dedication, and it offers a realistic but consistently endearing look at an average day for youngsters. The story itself is basic, but its slow pace and repetition will likely work well to calm young readers. Maco’s full-color cartoon illustrations are colorful and eye-catching, and they’re sure to draw the attention of preschoolers. Overall, the cute, fuzzy characters and easy-to-follow plot will make it an ideal bedtime story.

An enjoyable and colorful tale that may have young readers wishing for musical accompaniment.

Remember Her Name Regan, Lisa | Bookouture (378 pp.) $11.99 paper | Sept. 12, 2024 | 9781835259702

In Regan’s latest mystery, an investigation involving a missing child connects to one of Denton Police Det. Josie Quinn’s first murder cases.

The narrative begins with a memory from 15 years ago from when rookie cop Josie became ill at a grisly crime scene involving the Cook family. The story then cuts to the present where Josie, now a seasoned detective, deals with a new case. A baby, Gracie Tate, is found abandoned in a stroller at a park, along with a bloodied diaper bag, a Polaroid photo of muddy rocks,and no sign of her mother, Cleo, who called 911 and left her phone behind: “She didn’t say anything on the call. There was nothing but dead air,” says Josie’s colleague. Police question Cleo’s husband, Remy, who lacks a solid alibi, which leads Josie and her team to strongly consider foul play. Witness accounts describe Cleo being forced into a white Hyundai automobile, and Josie and K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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her fellow cops theorize that the Polaroid could be a deliberate message. Through interviews and analysis, Josie begins piecing together Cleo’s movements before her disappearance; the investigation takes a stark turn when a body is found stabbed to death in a secluded location. Before long, Josie identifies parallels between that murder and the Cook family homicides.

Then the killer begins targeting other people involved in the Cook case— including Josie and her family. Overall, Regan delivers an engaging murder mystery and thriller. Although the primary murder plot will draw in many genre fans on its own, the supporting characters also make the crimes and their consequences feel engagingly real. The narrative pacing is so fast that readers may feel as if they’re making discoveries in real time, right alongside the characters.

Despite being the 21st book in a long-running series, newcomers to the sometimes-grim world of Det. Josie Quinn are sure to find it accessible.

A fine thriller that delivers the mystery and intrigue that series fans have come to expect.

An Alcoholic’s Collateral Damage Sanborn, G. Michael | ReadersMagnet (302 pp.) | $16.12 paper July 20, 2021 | 9781955603065

A memoir about life with a troubled mother and other family difficulties.

Author Sanborn was born in Vermont in 1952.

This memoir spans his early youth through his college years. During that time, he and his immediate family lived in several different places—“We had moved seven times and attended five different schools in four years.” It was difficult for Sanborn to make lasting friendships, and his father eventually abandoned the family, leaving the author and his siblings at the mercy of their erratic mother, who struggled with alcoholism (“The only way she would be sober is if she ran out of K IR KU S R E V IE W S

money”). Sanborn recalls that he “daydreamed a lot, escaping the unpleasant reality.” Although time spent on his grandparents’ farm offered some respite, his grandfather could dispense “degrading criticism” over the smallest mistake. Even with such challenges, Sanborn eventually made it into Saint Michael’s College. Each chapter chronicles a period in the author’s life, like the time his younger brother attempted to flee a doctor’s visit, and analyzes the episodes with the benefit of hindsight. For example, in one chapter, “Earliest, Preschool Early Years,” Sanborn reflects that his understanding of his early life “was distorted through the interpretations and demands of my mother.” The memoir is similarly raw throughout. The author recalls, for instance, how his mother liked to watch TV on a chair that was “dirty with urine.” There are episodes of rural brutality, such as when he euthanizes a dog by shooting it between the eyes, then watches it fall into “death throws.” While the rawness packs a punch, some of the takeaways feel like unnecessary truisms (“Though alcoholism skips generations, the effects are prevalent across generations”).

But such comments don’t take away from the work’s impact. If scenes like Sanborn, as a young boy, eating peanut-butter– and-margarine sandwiches daily to stretch the family’s welfare check don’t evoke the reader’s sympathy, there are plenty of other gut-wrenching moments.

An unflinchingly honest account of growing up in domestic chaos.

Edda Green Sarda, Peter | Highway 99 Press (228 pp.) $12.95 paper | Nov. 29, 2024 | 9783982266596

Sarda presents a thriller set in the lively streets of Hamburg, Germany, where revolution and murder push an antihero to her limits.

Edda Green, hardened by her past as a Bundeswehr bomb disposal expert, is defined by her duality; she has an unrelenting drive, tempered by vulnerability born of loss. Her

prosthetic hand, a grim souvenir of a Kandahar explosion, becomes a powerful symbol of her resilience and adaptability in a world that offers no safety. Released from prison under the control of the BKA (Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office), Edda’s defiance adds complexity to her role as she turns a covert mission assignment into a personal crusade. Her relentless pursuit of her blood-brother’s killers reveals her fierce loyalty, but also a troubling willingness to embrace risk. The bond between Edda and her mission partner, Indigo, while intensely magnetic, effectively captures the fragility of trust in a volatile world. Indigo’s hacking brilliance and Edda’s physical grit form a bond that’s as dangerous as it is compelling, both to their enemies and to themselves. Over the course of the novel, Sarda’s prose further enhances this dynamic with crackling dialogue and moments of emotional intensity (“Indigo misread her twisted smile. ‘I really care about you, Edda.

Really’”), making their relationship a cornerstone of the narrative. The backdrop of Hamburg, with its World War II–era ruins and rebellious streets, amplifies the tension and reflects the narrative’s dark, unrelenting tone. Sarda’s attention to detail makes the city pulsate with life, with its characters—from revolutionaries to detectives—inhabiting a space that feels both chaotic and meticulously realized. It draws readers into a noir world where every interaction crackles with danger and consequence.

A gritty and explosive tale of resilience and rebellion set in a vividly drawn urban battleground.

The Flat Woman Saunders, Vanessa | Fiction Collective 2 (159 pp.) | $18.95 paper Nov. 12, 2024 | 9781573662086

In Saunders’ speculative novel, a girl with unusual abilities comes of age in a misogynist society after her mother is jailed for “seagull terrorism.”

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The story opens with the young, unnamed protagonist suffering from a spontaneous skin rash sprouting bird feathers; such strange physical transformations, which she calls “leaky boundaries,” trouble her throughout her life. At one point, she feels goldfish suddenly appear in her stomach; at another, she vomits staples while at work.

When she was little, her mother, Shirley Jones, was hauled away by authoritarian “blue-uniforms”; she’s one of many women who’ve been accused of poisoning birds as a terrorist act, sometimes causing them to act violently—though it becomes clear that the real reason that animals are acting so strangely is due to massive pollution, caused, in part, by the manufacture of “POP’S COLA.” As a young woman, the protagonist becomes involved with an unnamed, self-centered musician; when he gets a job with a group of Elvis impersonators, she follows him to desolate High Plains, Nevada, where their relationship deteriorates. At its best, Saunders’ tense prose calls to mind the experimental work of Renee Gladman, and her worldbuilding recalls J.G. Ballard, as when a band of protestors joyfully documents the death of a cow on their cell phones: “What are you filming? the woman asks…Decay, they say, not looking up.” The imagery is simultaneously off-kilter and razor-sharp (“The reporter’s voice cuts into the girl’s ears like steel whorls. Stepping outside, she can taste the sea, its blue relief, and hear the rattling of animals in the bushes”), which makes the main character’s journey consistently compelling and dreamlike.

The society in which the protagonist lives, which detests women and cracks down on even mild dissent, is sketched with little subtlety at times (one protestor’s sign states, “EXCLUSIVELY BLAMING WOMEN IS A CRIME ITSELF”), but it feels grimly familiar. The novel’s insights into toxic masculinity are especially cogent; the cultish, all-male “All-Elvis enclave” is initially amusing, but its corrupting influence on the main character’s boyfriend—who shows increasing contempt for her, and for all women, as the narrative progresses— gives the joke a jagged edge.

A thoughtful and affecting dystopian parable.

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Liar Queen Solomon, M.T. | Golden Scales Publishing (346 pp.) | $13.99 paper Feb. 4, 2025 | 9798991530309

In Solomon’s fantasy novel, a queen must protect her throne and kingdom from her daunting, vengeful sister.

Mara, the Sword Queen, rules over the vast empire of the Jeweled Realm. She fears very little—and certainly not a visiting prince from the eastern kingdom of Ursa. However, Prince Boden brings alarming news: A powerful witch wants to join forces with his kingdom, and she claims to be Mara’s younger sister. Mara, however, earned her throne with a ritualistic duel to the death, allegedly striking Iris down seven years ago, when each was a teenager. The reappearance of the sibling whom Mara obviously spared creates a complicated situation, as people in the Jeweled Realm now view the “Liar Queen” as a traitor and are out for blood.

Even worse, a conflict with Iris ends with Mara losing her Sacred Sword, which she feels “helpless” without. She teams up with Boden and grows to trust him as they search for aid from inhabitants of an archipelago down south. All the while, Mara must decide what she’ll do when she’s face-to-face with Iris again. An exceptional cast drives Solomon’s narrative, starting with the ambivalent Mara, a highly skilled warrior who’s also “tired of bloodshed.” Although Boden is a potential romantic interest, it’s the differences between him and Mara that add interest to their many scenes together; Mara, for example, doesn’t believe in his religion, is accustomed to wealth that his kingdom doesn’t have, and tires of his unrelenting cheeriness. Their interactions consistently move the story along as they travel by land and at sea and meet up with assorted locals; these vibrantly sketched individuals include a woman living in an isolated cabin, a warrior willing to sacrifice herself for others, and a number of people who may turn on the main players.

A worthwhile and invigorating fantasy journey.

Better From Within: 7 Steps to a Wise Brain Strupp, Phyllis | Illus. by Jana Myers $24.95 paper | Jan. 7, 2025 | 9780974672762

Strupp offers a multistep plan for keeping one’s brain healthy later in life.

In her latest work of nonfiction, the author, a self-­described brain coach, primarily aims to help readers aged 40 to 60 craft their own personal AI (“auto­biographical intelligence”) to stave off Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of mental deterioration associated with age.

The key to her multistep approach is storytelling, which she views as crucial to mental health; she even adapts the Cartesian motto “I think, therefore I am” into “I narrate, therefore I am.” She contends that one’s personal story is like a rope made of words—a braided “mindDNA” that determines how that person will age. “Mental health,” she writes, “is a flawed concept that should be replaced by story health.” Strupp proposes seven steps for improving such health: “Reclaim,” “Reframe” (“By shaping the words you say to yourself about yourself…you can strengthen your mindDNA”), “Review,” “Renew” (which addressees the physical replacement rate of the body’s cells), “Redirect,” “Reset” (“the afternoon of life requires heroic action to strengthen the story rope”), and, finally, “Rejoice.”

Each of these key elements can be strengthened, she says, by its own mental “tool,” such as the “Inner Compass Tool” in the “Reclaim” chapter, and she explains how to use each one. To illustrate the use of the tools in narrative terms, Strupp uses a fictional character named Grace, a recently laid-off, 46-year-old single mother raising her 11-year-old daughter. The book includes numerous, full-color illustrations

by Myers to clarify its points.

The author makes the wise tactical decision to open her book on a personal note, describing how, during her own “afternoon of life”—when she seemed to have most of her lifetime goals—she still felt unfulfilled: “This acute, painful feeling—what I call a soul-ache—pushed K IR KU S R E V IE W S

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me to seek what mattered most in life,” she writes. “I felt the need to make sense of my life: the good, the bad, and the ugly.”

Cliches such as these appear throughout the book, and some aspects of the work feel oversimplified—especially regarding the biological factors of degenerative conditions that can’t simply be avoided by maintaining an active mind. However, the stories that she draws from her own experiences as a consultant, as well as the generalized precepts she inserts into the tale of Grace and her own family, paint an appealingly optimistic picture. The concept of “SuperAgers,” who work hard to enable their brain to outlast their body, underscores this combination of perfectibility and communal connection. The author notes, for instance, that counteracting the dopamine rush that accompanies over-indulgence involves a different, more powerful brain chemical—oxytocin, whose effect, she says, is strengthened by “activities people have been doing for millennia”: “dancing, empathy, eye contact, giggling, hugs, play, sex, singing.”

Many elements of Strupp’s upbeat book embrace the notion of holistic personal effectiveness, urging people in their later years to look on the challenges of aging as potentially beatable.

A well-designed and optimistic framework for staying sharp while growing older.

Your Year of Wonders Tasler, Nick | Beaver’s Pond Press (104 pp.) $19.95 paper | Jan. 7, 2025 | 9781643435466

Tasler, an organizational psychologist, offers a motivational book on maximizing change.

The author offers a unique perspective on personal and professional growth.

His simple framework asserts that “Change happens.

You grow. Then you win”; he blends social science with storytelling to reinforce these theories and offers examples from the careers of leaders such as IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Tasler observes that people K IR KU S R E V IE W S

who’ve reached a certain level of success find themselves at a crossroads: They either cling too closely to their survival instincts and avoid change, or they embrace a growth mindset and evolve. He explains how one can leverage the “spring fever effect,” in which the anticipation of a win triggers a greater dopamine release than the win itself, and explores the “power of a nudge,” such as a mentor’s encouragement, to push one toward new opportunities. The book urges readers to shift from “fragile optimism” (a belief in one specific positive outcome) to “agile optimism” (a belief that one will gain insights leading to any number of desirable outcomes). It also intriguingly questions the role of resilience, noting that “bouncing back to our original form isn’t the optimal response to change.” His “push-and-love approach” encourages leaders to challenge their team members while also reassuring them that they’re capable of more. Similarly, in times of change, rather than infuse subordinates with fear (via “jump-or-fry ultimatums”), leaders can inspire creativity through “dream-and-fly suggestions.” Some readers may find the “Change→Grow→­ Win” scenario to be overly optimistic, as it assumes people immediately have enough agency to instigate change and will ultimately come out on top.

Still, throughout this book, Tasler offers creative conceptualizations of self-­improvement, such as contrasting “chameleon resilience” (a survival instinct in which someone returns to the status quo after change) versus transformative “caterpillar resilience.”

Overall, his advice is simple and practical, and he offers several insightful exercises, such as considering one’s current situation from a future perspective or writing about oneself in the third person to alter common self-perceptions.

An often invigorating guide to pursuing change with confidence.

For more Indie content, visit Kirkus online.

Mugshots Thomas, Jordan| Illus. by Chris Matthews Mad Cave Studios (152 pp.) | $17.99 paper Feb. 4, 2025 | 9781545815915

A gangster returns home to England to save his niece in Thomas’ graphic novel crime saga.

Late at night on the streets of Brighton, England, a young woman named Grace is attacked by an unknown assailant, who’s directed to do so by an older man in a car. She’s quite familiar with her city’s seedy underworld, and she lands some good blows against the driver but is eventually abducted. Grace has been dating Ian Woods, the son of local crime kingpin Harry Woods; Grace’s uncle, John Bannan, had dealings with the Woods that forced him out of town years earlier. Now he’s back and ready to settle old scores, and with the help of his longtime friend, Matty, he starts brawling his way through the city. Back at the Woods’ camp, no one is happy to see John’s sudden reappearance; his arrival on the scene coincides with the Woods’ dangerous deal with a group of Albanian sex smugglers, which is threatening their empire. It isn’t long before John and Matty get pulled into the fray. Thomas’ sharp writing offers plenty of suspense, while also layering in rich history. Every character hints at deeper stories and festering betrayals, which makes this graphic novel feel realistic and gritty. Characters speak in the hard-­ boiled manner that one expects from a pulp-­inspired story: “I never wanted to be a bastard. it’s just all I’ve ever been good at,” John narrates early on. Secondary characters keep the narrative fresh, and Matthews’ retro illustrations fit the tone perfectly; his clever use of blue, orange, and black hues give even expositional scenes a sense of cinematic movement and scope. The ending feels a bit rushed as it ties all the different plot threads together, but there’s at least one great surprise that readers may not see coming, and plenty of exciting action sequences throughout.

A classic crime story with lively twists and engaging illustrations.

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Reclaim Your Mind: Seven Strategies to Enjoy Tech Mindfully Vidyarthi, Jay | Still Ape Press (200 pp.) | Feb. 25, 2025

Vidyarthi presents a self-help book about transforming one’s relationship with technology.

Drawing on personal experience, scientific research, and mindfulness techniques, the author aims to empower readers to reclaim their attention from digital distractions while still enjoying tech’s benefits. In the “attention economy,” the author says, companies are scrambling to buy and sell one’s sense of focus, which has a major impact on one’s mental health and well-being.

However, people may opt out of this situation, he says, by using his seven strategies. First, Vidyarthi suggests becoming aware of when, how, and why one engages with technology. Next, he says, one must dismantle false narratives around tech that lead to compulsive tech use, such as how social media provides validation through likes and comments.

His vision of redesigning one’s digital environment involves turning off nonessential notifications, moving apps off one’s home screen, and setting time limits on certain platforms. Vidyarthi also recommends nurturing genuine connections instead of performative interactions in online and real-world settings. Boundaries regarding tech (such as just watching one show per day) invite people to emphasize quality over quantity, he writes, and creating a ritual helps them enjoy it more. Rejecting false urgency and slowing one’s pace are also key, he says. Finally, Vidyarthi advocates for choosing digital products that truly serve the user’s needs, rather than just hook their attention. Overall, this is a well-crafted and timely guide for navigating challenges of the digital age.

He dedicates a surprising—yet necessary—amount of text to the effects of tech use, and how people use it to “escape discomfort and placate 160

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emotional needs.” He shares personal anecdotes, as well, effectively joining readers in the struggle for a balanced relationship with tech. By providing readers with small, realistic steps, such as disabling autofill passwords, he allows even the most tech-dependent person to create some breathing room in their life.

However, more exploration of societal factors for tech use might have broadened its scope.

A gentle, well-organized how-to guide to interacting with tech in a healthier way.

The Hoarded Life Williams, Sharon H. | Self (270 pp.) $9.99 paper | Dec. 10, 2024 | 9798344443300

In Williams’ mystery, a retired couple living a quiet life are thrust into a missing persons investigation when their young neighbor disappears.

Retirees Milt and Annie Abernathy have lived in suburban Lovering, New Hampshire, for years, where Milt once served as the town’s fire chief. Specifically, they’ve made their home on idyllic Honeysuckle Lane—a block with friendly families and communal Sunday potlucks. Now, though, many of the kids have grown and moved away, and the block is mostly home to older folks. One exception is the mansion at the end of the lane, owned by mysterious, standoffish businessman Victor Caldwell and his 13-year-old stepdaughter, Lila. Victor is a conceited braggart, but Lila is rather shy, and her only real friend in the neighborhood is Milt, who’s also her piano teacher. When Lila goes missing one morning, everyone on Honeysuckle Lane gets involved in the search, and police learn that Milt was the last person to see her. He was giving her a scheduled piano lesson, but the town’s police detective, Polly Reynolds, is curious about him. Milt insists to his wife that he knows nothing of Lila’s disappearance, but he still wants to keep the cops from snooping around. The Abernathys, as it happens, are dedicated hoarders, and

Milt doesn’t want the neighborhood to know. Indeed, their house is so packed with junk that they can hardly find room to sit and eat. As Milt prepares to continue looking for Lila, he hints to Annie that he has a major secret that he’ll soon reveal. However, the same night, Milt’s heart gives out and he dies, leaving Annie alone in their crowded home to grieve his death and try to solve the mystery.

The premise of Williams’ debut novel is a classic one, and readers will enjoy settling into its missing-person mystery and learning the secrets of Milt and the rest of the residents of the close-knit community. Some will find aspects of the story to be familiar from other cozy whodunits, but Williams manages to keep readers guessing, and she shows a special knack for creating surprising characters, most notably in the revelations about Milt and Annie and the packed-in detritus of their home.

There are occasional stumbles in dialogue—“Money talks in this town,” Victor tells Det. Reynolds at one point, “and mine tends to scream”—but for the most part, Williams’ prose is swift enough to carry the day, and readers will particularly enjoy some of Polly’s poetic witticisms: “‘Everyone has to be somewhere,’ she whispered…‘We just have to figure out where ‘somewhere’ is.’” Although the novel is conventional in many ways, there are still enough twists and turns here to satisfy the inclinations of most mystery fans. Also, the tranquil New England setting, as it’s thrown into chaos and turmoil, may put many readers in mind of Stephen King’s version of Maine. Williams doesn’t aim to frighten readers like that horror master, but she will similarly enthrall them.

A traditional but compelling investigative tale featuring small-town characters with ulterior motives and guarded secrets.

For more Indie content, visit Kirkus online.

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B O O K L I S T // I N D I E

Best Indie Books of February

1

4

2

1 Jewel of the Wissahickon

By Bill Konstant & Glenn Mason; ed.

by Lucy Noland

5

A captivating coffee-table study of a small, vibrant Eden, pairing lush visuals with engrossing writing.

2 All the Moonlight on Earth

By Jesse Muehlbauer

A superior SF thriller with universally relatable moods of loss, regret, and longing.

3 Big Lake Troubles

4 Painting Wonder

By Katie Wray Schon

An accessible and inspiring mini-biography, delightfully illustrated.

By Jeffrey D. Boldt

5 An American Nurse in Paris

A satisfying sequel and one of the best legal thrillers of the year.

Rousing historical fiction with a feminist bent.

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3

By John F. Andrews

6 Industrial Policy for the United States

By Marc Fasteau & Ian Fletcher

6 For more booklists, visit Kirkus online.

A stimulating call for government action to restore America’s standing as an industrial powerhouse.

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Don’t miss our award nominees of 2024!

Named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2024

Nominated for 6 awards!

Nominated for 5 awards!

Kirkus Reviews

Shelf Awareness

Nominated for 5 awards!

Nominated for 5 awards!

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