Kali Wallace’s City of Islands transports readers to a world of ancient rock cities where the ocean-dwelling founders once harnessed magic that controlled earth and stone, sky and sea.

Twice orphaned Mara longs to be part of that magic. She dives to the depths of the ocean seeking treasure for a mage known as the Lady of the Tides.

One day while diving, Mara sings an old spell song and hears bones calling back to her. She finds skeletons of rare hybrid creatures suspended deep below the ocean surface. When she presents these prized remains to the Lady of the Tides, the mage challenges her with a dangerous but alluring opportunity. Mara must travel to a place called Winter Blade in order to discover the secrets of the Lord of the Muck, the powerful mage inhabiting the treacherous isle. If Mara succeeds, she’ll become the Lady’s apprentice and fulfill her dream to learn magic.

As Mara struggles through the dark depths of the tunnels beneath Winter Blade, she’s captured by the evil Muck. She must escape the mage’s dungeon and save herself and her friends, Izzy and Fish Hook, from being tortured and killed. But with seas full of mages, pirates and sea serpents, how will the seemingly ordinary Mara succeed?

While struggling to free herself and her friends, Mara is forced to question her past: How did her parents really die? Was her stepmother the loving caretaker she seemed?

Wallace uses fantastical creatures, mystical spell songs and lyrical prose to spin a complex tale that doesn’t disappoint. Young readers will long for more stories like this spellbinding saga of the sea.

We’ve all heard news reports about refugees fleeing their homes for any number of reasons in search of a better life. And for most of us, once the news report ends, so do our thoughts about their lives. But Illegal does something special—it forces readers to stop and consider the humanity of the people who are so often portrayed as mere statistics.

Twelve-year-old Ebo is determined to make it out of his poor village in Ghana. His older sister and brother have already fled, so Ebo decides to slip away and risk everything to cross the Sahara Desert and the unforgiving sea in hopes of making it to Europe. More of Ebo’s history is revealed through flashbacks as the narrative jumps between his current situation—floating helplessly on a slowly deflating life raft—and the pivotal moments of his life in Ghana.

With Illegal, writers Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl) and Andrew Donkin—along with award-winning illustrator Giovanni Rigano—have created a gripping account of a 21st-century refugee’s experience. This vivid, powerful graphic novel, drawn from original interviews with undocumented immigrants, asks the reader to take in someone else’s plight, and then leaves them with a new sense of empathy, understanding and compassion.

This article was originally published in the August 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

When facing the deep mysteries of life, many cling to beliefs they’ve acquired secondhand, but not Toaff, the precocious gray squirrel at the heart of Newbery Medalist Cynthia Voigt’s absorbing new novel, Toaff’s Way.

Why do dogs bark? Why do gray and red squirrels fear and hate one another? Brimming with questions and unbridled energy, Toaff bounds into the world to seek his answers firsthand. Whether Toaff is learning the language of dogs or delighting in the songs that human mothers sing to their babies, every day brings a new revelation. On his journey, Toaff learns that the fears that keep most of his peers huddled in their dens are largely illusory. Of course, Toaff’s insatiable curiosity lands him in some rather tight spots, and more often than not, it also makes an outcast of him. But in the end, his curiosity and genuine openness allow him to wiggle out of danger.

Both intriguing and enlightening, Voigt’s squirrel-eye view of the world shows us how even the most mundane things can be revelatory. A hymn to inquisitiveness, independent thinking and experiential learning in an age of “alternative facts” and “fake news,” Toaff’s Way should be required reading.

This article was originally published in the August 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

From the author of the Thickety series comes this chilling tale of sneaky witches and captured children.

Late one night, a boy named Alex heads out into the darkened hallways of his apartment building. His objective is to get to the basement and destroy his “nightbooks” in the furnace. He calls them this because he has spent countless hours recording his scariest nightmares and spooky stories in their pages. Alex prizes his imagination, but it’s also the thing that sets him apart from his peers. And when you’re a kid, being different isn’t always a good thing. Alex hopes that destroying his stories will help him fit in, but what he doesn’t expect is a detour that will lead him into the heart of the scariest story he’s ever faced.

Captured by a witch, Alex must tell her a scary story each night, and these stories provide an extra layer of fun and thrills, while never venturing so dark in tone as to be too intense for younger readers. At its core, J.A. White’s Nightbooks is a testament to the power of storytelling and friendship. The steady development of Alex’s friendship with his fellow captives is touching and well-paced, and the multifaceted characterization of the villain is refreshing. With a good blend of fast-paced fantasy and poignant emotion, Nightbooks is sure to please almost any reader, and it might even give them a few tips on how to craft their own stories along the way.

This article was originally published in the August 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In Cindy Baldwin’s big-hearted debut novel, Where the Watermelons Grow, everything seems to be going wrong for 12-year-old Della Kelly. There’s currently a summer drought in her town of Maryville, North Carolina, which is bad news for the Kelly family farm―even their beloved watermelons are dying on the vine. But what worries Della the most is the fact that her mother’s schizophrenia is flaring up for the first time in four years, leaving her unable to function, much less care for Della’s 16-month-old sister, Mylie.

Della can’t help feeling that her mother’s illness is her fault, since her symptoms appeared soon after Della was born. Feeling that it’s up to her to not only to help, but cure, her mother, she seeks out Tabitha Quigley, a local beekeeper whose family’s honey seems to hold magical cures. But Miss Tabitha doesn’t offer the cure that Della yearns for, leaving her feeling more isolated and helpless than ever.

Baldwin’s portrait of a strong, loving family facing a mental health crisis is nuanced, sensitive and believable. Although Della can’t bear to confide her worries in her best friend, both she and her father slowly realize they can’t keep their problems to themselves.

One of the great strengths of this book is that Baldwin offers plenty of hope but no easy fixes. Della learns invaluable lessons and realizes she has strengths she never imagined along with supportive family and friends who are ready to help. And most of all she learns that “No sickness in the world could make my mama’s love for us less real.”

Where the Watermelons Grow is a spot-on, insightful novel about a preteen learning to live with and accept a parent’s mental illness.

In Samantha M. Clark’s debut, a young boy awakens on the shore of a deserted island: He knows that he’s not safe and has nowhere to take shelter, but he can’t recall his name or how he arrived. He’s also not aware that a silent narrator is watching and awaiting his every move. Hoping to find safety, and perhaps even rescuers, the boy sets out on a journey along the island’s surrounding line of trees. With only a blanket for armor, he pretends to be a knight as he tries to protect some of the island’s small creatures and outrun a scary, green-eyed wolf. But a bullying voice inside the boy’s head constantly reminds him that he’s just a coward and constantly chides, how can a coward be a knight, protect others or even save himself?

The mysterious island slowly seems to provide the boy with clues to his identity, such as his mother’s singing, visions of his little brother, fabric scraps and pink tiles. Piecing together his past is a puzzle for the boy and readers alike. In the process, his journey across the island becomes a modern-day allegory of the powers of fear, resilience and hope. It’s not until the haunting end that the boy, and readers, finally learns how he came to the island and a difficult choice he must make regarding his fate. While The Boy, the Boat, and the Beast can be a quick read, this debut novel should be savored for its atmospheric setting, ominous tension and the beautiful way it brings light to the darker parts of childhood.

It’s not too hard to sell a kid on some fast-paced science fiction a la Star Wars—even in book form—but to get a kid hooked on a novel that involves hard math and science, well that’s a different thing altogether. Award-winning author Christopher Edge has a knack for blending the world of science and fiction into what feels like a whole new genre. The Jamie Drake Equation is his second foray into this field, and it does not disappoint.

Preteen Jamie Drake is proud of his astronaut father, but the time his dad spends away on training and space missions is starting to wear on Jamie and his family. His dad’s latest mission, while exciting, is his most dangerous as he will venture out of the space station to launch signals into faraway galaxies. Jamie isn’t sure there is intelligent life beyond our planet until he accidentally downloads a message from a distant alien race to his phone. As his family starts to drift apart and his dad faces an unforeseen danger, Jamie finds it is up to him to learn what he can from the aliens and help bring his dad home.

Thrilling, smart and surprisingly poignant, The Jamie Drake Equation will leave young readers with a hunger to know more about the universe and our planet’s place in it. Highly recommended for readers of all ages.

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through 8th level Catholic school.

Have you ever been so intrigued by a painting that you long to step inside? Then pick up Wendy McLeod MacKnight’s The Frame-Up, which takes readers into the surprising interior world of the paintings at the Beaverbrook Gallery in New Brunswick, Canada.

Twelve-year-old Sargent Singer is a talented young artist, and his estranged father, the gallery’s director, invites Sargent to spend the summer with him. At the Beaverbrook Gallery, Sargent is captivated by the 1915 portrait of a luminous, 13-year-old girl named Mona Dunn. But one day, he catches Mona in a new pose—sticking her tongue out at some rowdy boys— and his world turns upside down.

Sargent longs to get to know Mona and her secret life inside the painting. The two begin speaking and soon become close friends, spending time together both inside and outside of the frame Mona calls home. As Sargent learns more about the gallery, the mystery deepens, with shady characters emerging. The gallery begins to struggle financially, and Sargent’s father pins his hopes on a wealthy donor, but Sargent and Mona both suspect the prospective donor is up to no good, and soon they join forces to investigate. They discover that the paintings are in peril, and, worst of all, Sargent will leave at summer’s end. And while he will grow up, Mona will remain frozen in time.

With an endearing ending sure to surprise readers, The Frame-Up is an inventive and intelligent novel that will charm art lovers and neophytes alike.

Andromeda—just call her Annie, please!—is a preteen from Brooklyn who has a loyal best friend named Millie, an annoying big brother, freckles and an unusually good memory.

When Annie’s family is forced to move to the tiny burg of Clover Gap, she’s not thrilled about a lot of things. She has a lot of questions: Did she cause their move? Will she lose her best friend? Will she fit in at her new school?

Clover Gap is nothing like Brooklyn, and as Annie navigates her new house and new school, she details her thoughts, likes, dislikes, wishes, rumors, conversations, apologies and more in list form. Surprisingly, this makes for a very readable format for the stream-of-consciousness wonderings of a preteen brain.

Clover Gap turns out to be not so bad, but it’s truly a growth experience for Annie as she realizes that the more life changes, the more things stay the same.

For a story mostly written in list form, the reader learns surprisingly a lot about Annie. Kristin Mahoney utilizes a clever format that will draw in both reluctant readers as well as young girls like Annie, who are just trying to find their way in the world.

In her charming debut novel, Mae Respicio brings young readers into the warm and loving Filipino community of Lucinda Bulosan-Nelson, a determined San Francisco middle school student with an unusual dream.

Lou wants a circular saw for her 13th birthday, and she wants to build her own house: “The idea started off as a daydream, a dare to myself: What if I made something no other girl has?”

And Lou has just about all she needs as she inherited a plot of land from her late father. She has a growing set of construction skills; she’s already making sets for Barrio Fiesta, a neighborhood fundraiser for the Filipino American Community Senior Center. And thanks to her woodworking teacher, Mr. Keller, she’s learning about tools, drafting and innovative architectural designs, including tiny houses. But Lou’s ambitious plans, and her budding friendship with classmate Jack, might all come to nothing if her mom gets a job out of state, and if no money can be found to pay the back taxes on Lou’s new land.

In Lou, emerging Filipina American author Respicio has created a likable, believable girl who is eager to embrace STEAM thinking and innovation, but who appreciates and treasures her family and traditions at the same time. As Lou confronts a block of wood, she reflects on what she might make of it: “Really, I’m just aiming for the start of something. Right now it feels good. It feels like possibilities.”

And in just that way, The House That Lou Built feels like the start of a wonderful career for the talented Mae Respicio.

Twelve-year-old Claudia Dalton panics when her dad mysteriously disappears, until he sends a postcard saying that he “needs a little time to think some things over” while he visits an old friend. Then he starts sending Claudia a series of mysterious clues in the form of jigsaw puzzle pieces. Claudia works hard to solve each one, hoping the solution will bring her dad home.

Dad, it turns out, has picked a thoroughly unusual way to reveal to his family that he’s gay, but the setup works brilliantly in The Jigsaw Jungle, Kristin Levine’s compelling portrayal of a family in the midst of transition. Levine knows exactly how such a transition feels, as her own husband and the father of their two daughters came out in 2012.

Adding to the excellence of Levine’s tightly drawn plot is the fact that this story is told in scrapbook form—as a series of emails, phone conversations, receipts, flyers and transcripts of old home movies—compiled by Claudia, who’s just trying to make sense of everything.

The Jigsaw Jungle has a wonderful cast of likable and believable supporting characters as well, each with their own issues. Claudia’s grandfather, Papa, is a recent widower, while her new friend Luis is a child of divorce. Levine’s novel adeptly shows how acceptance and change, as hard as they may be, are vital foundations for love. “I decided I’ll just have to get used to the pieces I’ve been given, even if they don’t form the picture I had imagined they would,” Claudia explains.

The Jigsaw Jungle is a triumph of a book, portraying sensitive family dynamics in a loving, engaging way.

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In Jo Watson Hackl’s Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe, young Cricket is motivated—with magical thinking and pure determination—to make things right with her mother, who left the family after Cricket’s grandmother died. In a moment of courage, Cricket takes advantage of being left behind in a supermarket and runs away from her aunt and bratty cousins. With a real cricket as a traveling companion, Cricket takes off for the woods to hole up for a little over a week, hoping and waiting for her mother’s reappearance on the anniversary of her grandmother’s death.

Equipped with supplies from the grocery store and her father’s survival manual, Cricket has some successes and major pitfalls in her outdoor adventure. She believes that if she can find the special “bird room” that her mother so often described, everything can be put right. While Cricket discovers clues that lead her closer to the bird room, more is revealed about Cricket and her mother’s relationship. Readers slowly realize Cricket’s mother has mental health issues, which form the cornerstone of this touching middle grade novel.

Hackl’s cheerful protagonist confronts difficult situations and issues with resolve and aplomb during her journey toward maturity.

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

BookPage Children's Top Pick, July 2018

Eleven-year-old Dorothy, better known as Donut, knows what she likes—taxidermy, poker and geography—and what she doesn’t—the prospect of having to leave her beloved Vermont woods for a new life in stuffy, crowded Boston.

The year is 1927, and Donut, whose mother died in childbirth, has been perfectly content in the life she’s led with her engineer father and the eccentric characters who occupy her remote corner of Vermont. But now, after her father’s death in a car accident, Donut is terrified of what a future with her Aunt Agnes might look like, hundreds of miles away from everything and everyone she knows and loves.

Desperate to avoid attending the girls’ school run by her aunt, Donut hatches a plan to take her dad’s innovative, collapsible boat and hide away in an abandoned cabin in the Vermont woods. But when a crisis strikes, Donut must reassess not only her own independence but also the meaning of family—and what it means to rely on one another.

For more than 20 years, debut novelist Daphne Kalmar was a teacher who loved introducing her students to the natural world. Her affection for the animals and landscapes of Vermont’s northern kingdom is apparent throughout A Stitch in Time, but what will really win over readers is her novel’s heroine. With her big heart and an openness to adventure, Donut is an affecting blend of toughness, vulnerability and fearlessness. A Stitch in Time would make a wonderful read-aloud and provides an opportunity for parents and children to talk about grief, love and self-reliance.

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.