Tabla de contenidos para Vol. 118, No. 12, 2/15/22 en Booklist

Adult Nonfiction Journalism & Publishing Exploring Careers in Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics. By Lucy K. Tsado and Robert Osgood. Feb. 2022. 130p. illus. Rowman & Littlefield, $35 (9781538140611). 005.8. Recent headlines prove that there are ever-widening skill gaps between law enforcement and increasingly sophisticated cybercrime. This straightforward manual hopes to mitigate the discrepancy by providing clear cyber-security-career paths for individuals, counselors, and educational institutions. Written by two authors with considerable experience in both criminal-justice research and practice, the book is filled with charts, graphs, lists, reproducible forms, sample cases, and practical advice laid out in brief, accessible chapters. There’s advice about desired coursework, majors, internships, networking, conferences, and apprenticeships (for both students and institutions). There are helpful hints on how to analyze job postings (interpreting government jargon, KSA—Knowledge, Skills and…

Self-Published Books Showcase These books are recommended by BlueInk Review, a fee-based review service devoted exclusively to self-published books. Every other issue, BlueInk will compile a list of their favorites for Booklist, as a service to librarians hoping to incorporate self-published work into their collections. BlueInk was founded by Patti Thorn, former book review editor of Denver’s Rocky Mountain News, and Patricia Moosbrugger, a literary agent who represents several best-selling authors. The company delivers professional, unbiased reviews of self-published books written by critics drawn largely from major mainstream publications and by editors from prominent publishing houses. Stars reflect the decisions of BlueInk reviewers and editors. Booklist is happy to bring this curated collection of the best in self-publishing for adults and youth to our audience. from Adult The Anderson Letters:…

Youth Fiction Older Readers All the Right Reasons. By Bethany Mangle. Feb. 2022. 304p. Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry, $18.99 (9781534499034). Gr. 9–12. After a bad family-therapy session, Cara posts about her dad’s infidelity on her digital diary—or so she thinks, until waking up in the morning to find it’s gone viral. Suddenly, Cara and her mom are invited onto a new dating show, Second Chance Romance, where contestants are joined by their children, so Cara gets to meet potential siblings while her mom sees some new beaus. The reality show comes with a cash prize, but it’s not all fun and games, as Cara and her mom argue over suitors. And while Cara knows it’s a bad idea, she can’t help falling for Connor, a contestant’s son. Mangle balances…

Booklist Trend Alert Desegregating Magic School by Ronny Khuri The magic-school subgenre was alive and well long before the 1990s, and as we wade into the 2020s, this category is taking on inclusive new life. The best-known magic schools of yore tended to feature one particular kind of hero in a monolithic society, making no room for marginalized characters—or readers. Happily, that is changing. The following bibliography collects recent titles that hold true to the magic-school tropes that so many have come to love, except here, non-white characters are more than tokens, queer identities are actually canon, anyone can be the hero, and you don’t need an invitation to be welcomed into these worlds. Amari and the Night Brothers. By B. B. Alston. 2021. HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray, $17.99 (9780062975164). Gr. 3–7. Amari…

Audio Adult Audio 30 Things I Love about Myself. By Radhika Sanghani. Read by the author. 2022. 10.5hr. Books on Tape, DD, $85.50 (9780593457627). We first meet our protagonist, Nina Mistry, on her thirtieth birthday—in jail. Nina fell into this precarious situation quite by accident, as she is in her pajamas. It is while she is in jail that Nina is casually given a book to help calm her down. The book is all about how to fix your life by loving yourself, which inspires Nina to find thirty things she loves about herself by her next birthday. So begins the real story of how Nina takes her life back and begins to truly love herself, marking the passage of time by Zodiac signs. The book is narrated by the…

Adult Fiction General Fiction The Caretakers. By Amanda Bestor-Siegal. Apr. 2022. 352p. Morrow, $27.99 (9780063138186); e-book, $14.99 (9780063138223). In 2015 Paris, when the city has recently been rocked by terrorist attacks, another tragedy has occurred. Eight-year-old Julien Chauvet has died, and the Chauvets’ au pair, Alena, is arrested. Alena is part of a network of au pairs in Madame Geraldine’s French class, most of whom have come from America, leaving many different lives behind. The novel explores the perspectives of several women in the suburb of Maisons-Larue: Charlotte, Julien’s grieving mother; Lou, a rebel who works for Charlotte’s standoffish neighbor; Holly, who is desperate for friends in France; Charlotte’s sullen teenage daughter, Nathalie; and Madame Geraldine, who knows all the girls intimately. Flashbacks to their lives before the boy’s death…

Youth Nonfiction Older Readers Domestic Extremism: How Big Is the Threat? By Hal Marcovitz. Mar. 2022. 64p. illus. ReferencePoint, lib. ed., $31.95 (9781678202361); e-book, $43.29 (9781678202378). Gr. 7–10. 364. This succinct overview examines the history and rise of extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan and the newer Oath Keepers, Goyim Defense League, Proud Boys, Hammerskin Nation, Boogaloo Bois, No White Guilt, Three Percenters, Rise Above Nation, and Wolverine Watchmen. Marcovitz defines extremism and explains the ideology of the alternate right; these concepts are also clearly differentiated from the beliefs of non-radical conservatives and liberals in American politics. Chapters are devoted to explaining the rise of extremist groups, how they grow their ranks through the spread of conspiracy theories on social media platforms, and what drives people to join them.…

Spotlight Top 10 Novels for Tweens Finding books for kids moving between reading levels can be a challenge. Whether you have middle readers reading up or older readers reading down, these books, reviewed from April 15, 2021, to February 1, 2022, navigate that gray space between middle grade and YA in form and in content. You’ll find ideal picks among them for kids swimming in those transitional waters. —Maggie Reagan Ain’t Burned All the Bright. By Jason Reynolds. Illus. by Jason Griffin. 2022. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy, $19.99 (9781534439467). Gr. 7–12. In a mash-up of words and art, three distinct contemporary story parts, called “Breaths,” express the feelings of an unnamed Black boy coming of age through our anguishing times. Dead Wednesday. By Jerry Spinelli. 2021. Knopf, $17.99 (9780593306673). Gr. 6–9. Each…

Spotlight Top 10 Middle-Grade Novels Where Kids Save the Day For this year’s Top 10, pulled from books reviewed in Booklist between April 15, 2021, and February 1, 2022, we zeroed in on tales where kids come to the rescue, demonstrating the range of meanings behind the word hero. —Julia Smith The Beatryce Prophecy. By Kate DiCamillo. Illus. by Sophie Blackall. 2021. Candlewick, $19.99 (9781536213614). Gr. 3–6. When Beatryce, a girl with no memory, appears at a monastery, Father Edik believes she may be destined to unseat the land’s unkind king. A medieval adventure rich with friendship, storytelling, and light feminist overtones. Born behind Bars. By Padma Venkatraman. 2021. Penguin/Nancy Paulsen, $17.99 (9780593112472). Gr. 4–7. Born in an Indian prison, Kabir suddenly finds himself cast out by the new warden.…

Spring 2022 Youth Preview by Taylor Crossley and Sarah Hunter This announcement section offers readers a selected preview of notable new titles for young adult, middle-grade, and young readers. All titles will be published in the spring or summer 2022 season. Young Adult Nonfiction African Migrations. By Hakim Adi. Hachette/Wayland, paper, $13.99 (9781526318169). Gr. 6–10. May. All about Anime and Manga (series). ReferencePoint. Individual titles, $31.95. Four-title set price, $127.80. Gr. 6–12. Spring. Atlas of Endangered Animals. By Radek Maly. Illus. by Pavla Dvorska and Pavel Dvorsky. Albatros, paper, $24.99 (9788000061276). Gr. 6–12. Mar. Days of Infamy: How a Century of Bigotry Led to Japanese American Internment. By Lawrence Goldstone. Scholastic/Focus, $19.99 (9781338722468). Gr. 7–12. June. The Electromagnetic Spectrum (series). Enslow. Individual titles, lib. ed., $34.60. Six-title set price, $207.60.…

Booklist Backlist Tales of Dementia By Terry Hong Gerda Saunders, who wrote Memory’s Last Breath (2017), an exquisitely bittersweet record chronicling her experiences with dementia, is one of my most beloved friends. We have books in common, in that we find great solace and escape in the (well-)written word. Inspired by our last visit together, here’s a list of illuminating memoirs and novels, in prose and graphic works, about the mysteries of dementia. Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant. By Roz Chast. Art by the author. 2014. Bloomsbury. Cartoonist Chast’s 93-year-old mother falls from a ladder, and the rest becomes graphic history. Chast’s father sinks into dementia without his anchor, leaving Chast to navigate the resulting “sheer lunacy.” Chast runs the gamut of emotions and reactions from guilt to…