apr24-upload

Children's & YAPicture BookChildren's

Look! Look!

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Uma Krishnaswami is an author living in Victoria, British Columbia, while Uma Krishnaswamy is a well-known illustrator in Chennai, India. Their names are not their only similarities: Both have an inventive, inspiring approach that makes potentially complex topics fun, child-friendly and accessible. 

Look! Look! is a companion to the creators’ previous collaboration, Out of the Way! Out of the Way!, in which a boy helps protect a young tree. Their new picture book follows a girl in India whose curiosity sparks a remarkable discovery. In between two dusty fields strewn with garbage, the child notices a gray lump. She calls her friends over to look, and together, the children brush away dirt to uncover large stone slabs. With the help of their families and nearby villagers, the site is cleared, the hole is dug deeper, and eventually a long-forgotten well is revealed. At each step in the process, the simple refrain, “Look, look!” helps punctuate the action and move the story forward. The story comes to fruition when rain arrives, bringing more transformation: “The rain had woken deep, sleeping springs, sending fresh clear water bubbling up into the old well.” 

Krishnaswami’s spare, lyrical text is complemented by Krishnaswamy’s bright, decorative palette of vibrant yellows, greens and earthy ochres. White space is used especially effectively. In one spread, plump gray rain clouds float above a patchwork of fields, while in others, small spot art vignettes provide lots of details to look at and discuss.

The back matter note (unlike many) is written with a child audience in mind. Entitled “The Old Well in This Story,” it explains that the well featured in Look! Look! is one of many ancient wells in India, which are now being rediscovered to help combat increasing drought caused by climate change.

Look! Look!’s spare, lyrical text is complemented by Uma Krishnaswamy’s bright, decorative palette of vibrant yellows, greens and earthy ochres.
Children's & YAMiddle GradeChildren's

Olivetti

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

Allie Millington’s warmly emotional, wryly funny Olivetti is an engaging debut novel about the power of stories. This treasure of a tale offers hope for healing after incredibly hard times. 

It’s been a few years since what 12-year-old Ernest Brindle calls “the Everything That Happened,” which drastically changed his family life. His dad, Felix, disappears into his work; Ernest’s three siblings focus more on hobbies than togetherness; and Ernest memorizes words from his beloved Oxford English Dictionary to soothe his anxiety. He escapes to the roof of Valley View Apartments, where his family used to gather for stargazing, when he’s feeling misunderstood or lonely.

Ernest’s mom, Beatrice, has tried to bring the family closer again, to no avail. Through it all, a dark green typewriter named Olivetti (like the brand) has been silently watching, wishing he could help. “Humans take their mouths for granted,” he thinks. “I would do anything for the chance to say anything.” But it’s typewriter code “to never let what has been typed into us back out.” 

When Beatrice suddenly sells Olivetti to the Heartland Pawn Shop and disappears, Olivetti is as stunned and worried as the rest of the Brindle family. And when Ernest goes to the shop and confesses via typing that he thinks Beatrice fled because of him, Olivetti casts aside the typewriter code and offers his assistance. He’s not the only one: Quinn, the pawnshop owner’s confident daughter, informs Ernest that she’ll help track down his mom, too.

Boy and typewriter take turns narrating the trio’s suspenseful and stressful mission, and Millington uses flashbacks to fill in the contours of the Brindle family’s life and Olivetti’s unusual existence. The author winningly blends magic and realism, poignancy and mystery, as her characters close in on what’s happened to Beatrice, bonding through adversity along the way. Her lovely notion of a typewriter as a repository of secrets and dreams is finely rendered, and she imbues Olivetti’s heavy steel case and clackity keys with compassion and determination. This heartfelt tale movingly explores the beauty and importance of communication—whatever form it may come in—while encouraging readers to welcome the singular joy of finding kindred spirits in unexpected places.

Allie Millington winningly blends magic and realism, poignancy and mystery in Olivetti, a heartfelt tale that movingly explores the importance of communication.
Children's & YAMiddle GradeChildren's

Ultraviolet

Review by Emily Koch

“Who invented love, anyway?” Elio Solis wonders as he starts to see ultraviolet colors whenever his classmate, Camelia, is around. Eighth grade has been full of changes, both inside, where his emotions run wild, and outside, where it seems like all his guy friends talk about is girls. “The hormones were poppin’ / I mean, everyone was down bad!”

The adults in his life are giving Elio mixed messages about how to be a man: His dad tells him that the Solis way is to be macho and “suck it up,” while his mom is trying to teach him feminist values. Then betrayal strikes, and suddenly the only color Elio can see is red.

Award-winning author Aida Salazar’s previous middle grade novel-in-verse about puberty, The Moon Within, featured a Latina girl. In a letter to the reader, Salazar reveals that Ultraviolet came about because her tween son and his friend asked her to write a similar story that reflected their experiences with “puberty, first crushes, gender and rites of passages” as cisgender Latino boys. And she delivers.

Salazar’s verse is captivating, with the imagery of the text heightening when Elio’s emotions rise. Maintaining a conversational tone sprinkled with mentions of farts and boogers to entertain, she also loads in similes like “A collision of feelings / blisters me / like molten lava” to illustrate the dual nature of being an awkward but thoughtful young person. Goofy pop-culture references, such as a video game called “Mindcrack” (referencing Minecraft), and an alpha male-type social media influencer who is never named, are easily recognizable. 

Commenting on topics that range from patriarchy to colonialism, the internet to peer pressure, and first loves to heartbreaks, Salazar delivers a fully intersectional look at what it means to try to embody masculinity without toxicity. She filled a gap she saw in middle grade literature, and countless readers will see themselves in the pages, regardless of race or gender, but especially Latino boys. 

Commenting on topics that range from patriarchy to colonialism, the internet to peer pressure, and first loves to heartbreaks, Aida Salazar delivers a fully intersectional look at what it means to try to embody masculinity without toxicity.
Children's & YAMiddle GradeChildren's

Louder Than Hunger

Review by Sara Beth West

Louder Than Hunger is the middle grade debut of John Schu, a 2011 Library Journal Mover and Shaker who has long served as a trusted celebrator of great books for young readers. Readers are assured this novel-in-verse is something special by the foreword by Newbery Medal winner Kate DiCamillo, which insists, “Reading Jake’s story will change you.”

Eighth-grader Jake has an eating disorder. But at the book’s opening, all readers know is the year (1996) and a few of Jake’s favorite things, which include Home Alone, Broadway musicals, and spending time with his grandma. Soon, though, it becomes clear that Jake is struggling, after he writes about The Voice, which tells Jake to exercise more and eat less. The Voice makes Jake think he is “repulsive” and is “louder than the hunger in my stomach.” Before long, Jake isn’t able to hide what’s happening under his baggy overalls and sweatshirts, and he is admitted to Whispering Pines, an adolescent inpatient facility with a department devoted to eating disorders.

Jake is resistant to treatment at first, refusing to participate and even leaving at one point only to find he has to return. Learning his beloved grandma has cancer makes everything that much harder, but after lots of time, support and persistent efforts from caregivers including art therapist Pedro (whose colorful socks grab Jake’s attention) and psychiatrist Dr. Parker, Jake starts to find his way out of the hole in which The Voice has trapped him. Jake’s story, while realistic, is never graphic, and even younger readers will be able to appreciate this important perspective on experiences that are not often discussed. Discovering that Jake’s story is very much also Schu’s personal story adds another dimension to a story that is a vital addition to any bookshelf.

Even younger readers will be able to appreciate Louder Than Hunger’s important perspective on experiences that are not often discussed. John Schu’s middle grade debut has a place as a vital addition to any bookshelf.
Children's & YAPicture BookChildren's

Next Stop

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

When Debbie Fong took a bus tour with her family at age 8, an illuminated underground waterfall struck her fancy—and ultimately inspired the magical Cessarine Lake central to her wonderful graphic novel debut, Next Stop.

The Ignatz nominee and illustrator of the bestselling How to Be a Person has carefully crafted a contemplative tale that invites readers along on middle schooler Pia Xing’s weeklong summer bus trip across the desert. Her dad meant to come along, but a broken leg strands him at home. No worries, though: Pia’s a smart, trustworthy kid, and the tour guide, Caroline, is a family friend. 

Caroline’s plucky daughter, Sam, immediately befriends Pia, and the other travelers are kind and quirky. They share their hopes for what their visit to Cessarine Lake—known for “mak[ing] IMPOSSIBLE things happen”—will bring them, but Pia can’t bring herself to join the conversation. It’s only been a year since a tragic accident plunged her family into grief, and nine months since they moved to a new town for a fresh start. Pia’s mom blames her for what happened, and Pia’s dad is exhausted by his efforts to console his wife while protecting Pia. Perhaps, she hopes, the lake can help her assuage her family’s pain.

Each day of the trip reveals a new array of cleverly conceived tour-stop wonders, including a chicken-shaped hotel, a cactus petting zoo and a watermelon so huge it casts a shadow over the tour bus. Fong’s illustrations are witty and detailed with a strong eye for color. Sepia-toned flashbacks add context to Pia’s present-day emotions, and vividly kooky set pieces become increasingly peculiar the closer the bus gets to its mystical destination. Might magic be afoot after all?

Next Stop is an immersive, empathetic tale of an important journey that sensitively explores grief and loss even as it celebrates friendship and new experiences. Charming and interesting back matter that reveals more about the author’s creative process and her background (including that childhood bus trip!) nicely rounds out a top-notch reading experience.

Next Stop is an immersive, empathetic tale of an important journey that sensitively explores grief and loss even as it celebrates friendship and new experiences.
Audio

The Fury

Review by Norah Piehl

Alex Michaelides has crafted a superb psychological thriller in The Fury (8 hours), combining classic whodunit elements with contemporary storytelling techniques. Glamorous American actress Lana Farrar invites a small circle of friends (and frenemies) to her private Greek island for a getaway. This includes playwright and consummate hanger-on Elliot Chase, who narrates the story. After one of their number turns up dead, Elliot reveals ever more secrets and lies—including some of his own. Alex Jennings’ reading, with its measured pace and conversational, almost confessional tone, perfectly captures Elliot’s personality, as well as the varied voices of the small cast of characters. Listeners will be loath to press pause on this entirely unpredictable tale.

Read our review of the print edition of The Fury.

Listeners will be loath to press pause on this entirely unpredictable tale of a Greek island getaway gone wrong.
Audio

Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov

Review by Deborah Mason

With over 200 short stories by Anton Chekhov to choose from, translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky did a fine job of selecting 30 stories that represent the major stages of his career to include in Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov (20.5 hours). Pevear and Volokhonsky, who also translated War and Peace and Doctor Zhivago, are faithful to the rhythm of Chekhov’s prose, making the stories as pleasurable to hear as to read.

Jim Frangione’s reading is sympathetic to Chekhov’s interest in objective observation. His narrative tone is precise and nonjudgmental, laying out clearly the everyday choices that lead Chekhov’s characters to madness, death or isolation. He convincingly endows each character’s voice with the emotion—fear, lust, boredom—that makes these destructive choices inevitable. “Sleepy,” “Ward No. 6” and “The Fiancée” are particularly good examples of Frangione’s technique of creating audible juxtapositions that reflect Chekhov’s subtle and compassionate view of human folly.

Jim Frangione convincingly endows each of Anton Chekhov’s character’s voices with the emotion—fear, lust, boredom—that makes their destructive choices inevitable.
Audio

The Bullet Swallower

Review by Tami Orendain

The Bullet Swallower (10 hours) is a sweeping western dripping with magical realism. The novel recounts the checkered history of the Sonoro family, focusing on two men: Antonio, a thief seeking revenge for his brother’s death in the late 1800s, and Jaime, a 1964 performer whose image is threatened by a book that claims to expose his family history.

The story of the Sonoros sits between reality and fantasy, and Lee Osorio’s narration helps create a world that feels surreal. His tone manages to sustain a wistful seriousness that both captures the fantastic and respects the very real conflicts of colonialism and trauma. The book jumps across times, places and moods, but Osorio’s tone remains steady, making it easy to fall into the rhythm of this otherworldly story.

The Bullet Swallower is a luxurious audiobook, brimming with memorable imagery that’s bound to stay with listeners for a long time.

Read our starred review of the print edition of The Bullet Swallower.

The Bullet Swallower is a luxurious audiobook, brimming with memorable imagery that’s bound to stay with listeners for a long time.

Sign Up

Stay on top of new releases: Sign up for our newsletter to receive reading recommendations in your favorite genres.

Sign up now

Trending Features

All Features