Table of contents for Vol. 122, No. 7, March 2026 in Booklist

Ibegan as Booklist’s Editor & Publisher in June 2019, and was immediately impressed with the Booklist team. Since then, the team and I, and all of you, have weathered demanding times that brought COVID-19, macroeconomic and fiscal concerns, law enforcement violence, government policy challenges, and so much more. Through it all, it has been an honor to work with my esteemed colleagues and book professionals, who, day in and day out, work with steadfast dedication and commitment to bring you, our cherished readers, the outstanding reviews and features that help you excel. This will be my last Booklist editorial as Booklist’s Publisher and as ALA’s Senior Director of Publishing & Media. I resigned my position at ALA some time ago and my last day will be March 6. I have…

The most reverberating environmental books reviewed in Booklist over the past 12 months weave personal inquiries into fresh perceptions of the wonders and vulnerabilities of the grand web of life. A Billion Butterflies: A Life in Climate and Chaos Theory. By Jagadish Shukla. 2025. 288p. St. Martin’s (9781250289209). Climate scientist Shukla zestfully traces the remarkable trajectory of his life from a village in India to working with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change the year it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Carbon: The Book of Life. By Paul Hawken. 2025. 256p. Viking (9780525427445). Hawken looks closely at the miraculous life force of carbon, a perplexing element that has created all that we know and all that we are, while catalyzing the climate crisis. The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy…

General Fiction All Us Saints. By Katherine Packert Burke. May 2026. 272p. Bloomsbury, $26.99 (9781639738113); e-book (9781639738120). From the author of Still Life (2024) comes a sophomore novel full of grief, self-mythologization, and queer identity. Tormented by the memory of their sibling, “the monster,” a closeted trans girl who murdered her twin sister’s friends in the nineties, the St. Cloud family gathers for a morbid ritual and must contend with the ways they have grown apart (and the ways they’ve never really been together) as they wait for the dawn. Written in two acts, with a dramatis personae and prologue, this story feels more expansive than a night in a single house has any right to be. During an intermission with the now imprisoned “monster,” readers see emotions and events…

Thanks to the mega success of the steamy streaming show Heated Rivalry, hockey romances are having a moment. Based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series, the show follows hockey rivals Shane and Ilya, who find themselves fighting their intense attraction off the ice and dealing with the repercussions of keeping a secret relationship in the competitive world of hockey. There’s a hockey romance for everyone, so strap on your skates and check out these ice-melting love stories. The Au Pair Affair. By Tessa Bailey. 2024. 384p. Avon (9780063308428). Au pair Tallulah Aydin has second thoughts about working for divorced dad and hockey player Burgess Abraham after seeing a video of him busting up an opposing team member on the ice, but soon she has a different concern: Can she keep…

These 10 exceptional titles, reviewed in Booklist between March 2025 and February 2026, offer both straightforward climate science and awe-inspiring accounts of the wonders of our natural world. —Sarah Hunter  An Immense World (Young Readers Edition): How Animals Sense Earth’s Amazing Secrets. By Ed Yong and Annmarie Anderson. Illus. by Rebecca Mills. 2025. 272p. Random/Bright Matter (9780593810880). Gr. 5–8. Acclaimed science writer Yong blends science with personal experiences and conversational writing in this illustrated exploration of the world of animal senses. The Black Mambas: The World’s First All-Woman Anti-Poaching Unit. By Kelly Crull. Illus. by the author. 2025. 40p. Lerner/Millbrook (9798765627259). Gr. 1–4. Crull introduces readers to the first women-led anti-poaching unit in the world as they work in South Africa’s Olifants West Nature Reserve to protect animals from poachers.…

When I was a teenager, two YA novels came out featuring autistic main characters: Francisco X. Stork’s Marcelo in the Real World (2009) and Jodi Picoult’s House Rules (2010). I was quick to check them out from the library, searching for a relatable character. Being autistic felt like something I needed to be ashamed of, in part because the majority of media with autistic characters at the time represented harmful stereotypes or portrayed us as burdens. Connecting with more fictional autistic characters would have helped me develop a sense of pride in my autistic identity sooner, much like reading about cane user Kaz in Six of Crows (2015) allowed me to work through my internalized ableism. In 2016, during one of my earliest jobs in publishing, I came across a…

Adult Nonfiction The Deserving: What the Lives of the Condemned Reveal About American Justice. By Elizabeth Vartkessian. Read by the author. 2026. 9hr. Bloomsbury, DD (9781639731411). Vartkessian takes us through her career as a mitigation specialist, someone who combs through the backgrounds of people sentenced to death row in hopes of finding mitigating information that will see their sentences reduced. She takes an in-depth look at some of the clients she has worked with, providing information about not only their backgrounds but also those of their parents (and sometimes grandparents) in an effort to figure out how they ended up where they did. She also examines how many facets of society, including the justice, education, and healthcare systems, play a hand in these outcomes. Vartkessian narrates the book herself, providing…

Philosophy & Psychology Growing Up with Addiction: How Adult Children of Addicts Can Heal Family Trauma, C-PTSD, and Codependency. By Tian Dayton. Mar. 2026. 288p. Sounds True, paper, $19.99 (9781649634245); e-book (9781649634252). 155.6. Addiction is a family disease, and children who have lived through parents’ addictions have their own scars, says psychologist Dayton. To preserve peace in the household, children are often forced to hide their own feelings and assume roles, such as caretaking and distraction. Memories of parents’ actions can trigger bodily reactions in adult children of addicts (ACAs). These traumas can especially resurface and cause the body to react when the wounded children become parents themselves. Dayton offers exercises, including guided journaling and role-playing, to bring these hidden issues to the forefront. The author, herself a child of…

The most artistic and resonant poetry collections reviewed in Booklist over the past 12 months introduce readers to new poets and tried-and-true poets at the peak of their powers. They have all found lyrical ways to address difficult subjects, from personal trauma to war, with candor, beauty, profound emotion, and striking perceptions. Burn Me Back. By Peggy Robles-Alvarado. 2025. 160p. Four Way (9781961897663). Puertorriqueña Dominican poet and performer Robles-Alvarado brings her punchy, powerful voice to the page in a collection that cracks open wounds of sexual violence, confronts family alcoholism, and moves toward recovery in sensual, intimate lyrics. Ecstasy. By Alex Dimitrov. 2025. 116p. Knopf (9780593802922). The latest collection from Dimitrov, winner of the Stanley Kunitz Prize, is alight with desire, trysts, and humor. Set in New York and Miami,…

Terry Tempest Williams is a writer, teacher, and activist of passionate and courageous attunement, compassion, candor, artistry, and ethics. Her deep knowledge of and concern for the living world have shaped her more than 20 books, which include Refuge, Finding Beauty in a Broken World, When Women were Birds, and Erosion. We were so thrilled to speak with Williams about her newest, The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary, a Top 10 Books on the Environment & Sustainability title, and a gorgeous work of profound generosity and revelation. Donna Seaman: The Glorians came to you in a dream, which you immediately wrote down in a notebook, following a practice your grandmother taught you.  Terry Tempest Williams: My grandmother begins this book and really in many ways infiltrates every sentence, because…

Adult Anxietyland. By Gemma Correll. Art by the author. Apr. 2026. 448p. Gallery, $33 (9781668004159). 741.5. What if your anxiety was a theme park? In this introspective and illuminating graphic novel, Correll’s is. As she reckons with the worsening effects of the severe anxiety she has dealt with most of her life, her past and internal monologues correlate to an expansive carnival of distortions, rides no one wants to take, and impossible games, told in monochromatic orange. After a particularly rough incident culminating in an ER trip, present-day Correll, contrasted in monochromatic blue, decides to try an intensive outpatient therapy program. As she works through the program, she slowly learns (and shares with readers) healthier coping mechanisms and strategies for living with the carnival of nightmares that her anxiety and…

The field of YA graphic novels is vast and varied, as exemplified by these top 10 titles, reviewed in Booklist between March 2025 and February 2026, which offer romance, fantasy, friendship stories, and one incisive look at teens fighting back against book bans. —Sarah Hunter Angelica and the Bear Prince. By Trung Le Nguyen. Art by the author. 2025. 224p. Random/RH Graphic (9780593125472). Gr. 7–12. After starting an internship at the local theater, Jelly finds herself in a deepening relationship (via DM) with the unknown actor within the costume of the titular lead of The Bear Prince. Fall in Love, You False Angels, v.1. By Coco Uzuki. Art by the author. 2025. 176p. Kodansha (9798888773772). Gr. 9–12. This hilarious, heart-pounding romance follows two seemingly perfect teens who gradually drop their…

These 10 titles, all debuts reviewed between March 2025 and February 2026, come from a vast array of new voices demonstrating a remarkable grip on YA fiction, even as newbies to the game. —Kelly Ferreira All the Noise at Once. By DeAndra Davis. 2025. 384p. Atheneum (9781665952651). Gr. 9–12. Black and autistic Aiden wants nothing more than to play football with his quarterback brother, Brandon, but an incident with the police challenges the brothers’ dynamic in this heartfelt story about connection and collective action. The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood and Boyfriends. By Jamie D’Amato. 2025. 336p. St. Martin’s/Wednesday (9781250321206). Gr. 9–12. After human Cole catches newly turned vampire Brennan in the midst of blood larceny, they fall for each other, even as a human-killing vampire stalks campus. Last Chance…

Change of Plans. By Sarah Dessen. 368p. Simon & Schuster (9798347108770). Gr. 7–12. May. A trip with her mother to an old vacation home leads Finley to reconnect with her roots, unravel family secrets, and discover a new direction for her life post–high school. Clock Hands. By Marieke Nijkamp. Art by Sylvia Bi. 288p. Greenwillow (9780063027138). Gr. 8–12. Apr. In this stand-alone companion to 2023’s graphic novel Ink Girls, poor aspiring metalworker Vale becomes apprentice to a man set on building their city’s first astronomical clock. Fourteen Ways of Looking at Jellyfish. By Carole Boston Weatherford. Illus. by Bagram Ibatoulline. 32p. Candlewick (9781536235074). Gr. 1–3. May. Award-winning poet Weatherford lyrically explores jellyfish through 14 beautifully illustrated poems that encompass science as well as myth. Holloway. By Elana K. Arnold. 352p.…

Crux.  By Gabriel Tallent. Read by Elaine Wang. 2026. 12.5hr. Books on Tape, DD (9798217163496). Tallent has hit his stride with his sophomore novel, tenderly crafting a gritty but sanguine coming-of-age story. Wang’s androgynous voice is a perfect fit, rendering the complex and unforgettable characters nearly palpable. Her tone encapsulates the novel’s atmosphere: full of desperation, potential, and foreboding. Protagonists Tamma and Dan, 17-year-old dirt-bag rock climbers living in the southern Mojave desert, are bound by a shared past and a dream for the future, spending every spare moment climbing together. Hard done by, scrappy, and unapologetically queer, Tamarisk Callahan is a force of nature whose colorful vocabulary and unbridled spirit come alive through audio. Dan, upright and high-achieving, is bridled by the consequences of his brilliant mother’s fall from…

The leprechaun did it,” might provide a unique resolution to a mystery. This mythical Irish creature sows the seeds of chaos in a body of folklore rich in danger, darkness, menace, and humor. Irish crime fiction offers a wide variety of tales and voices that promises much the same. Dirty Laundry. By Disha Bose. 2023. 304p. Ballantine (9780593497388). A clique of mothers in a small village mourns the murder of their queen bee, a successful Instagram influencer. In reality, her death provided each of them something to gain, making for a delicious domestic thriller. Elegy for April. By Benjamin Black. 2010. 304p. Holt (9780805090918). The third and arguably best book in the Quirke series by John Banville, writing as Benjamin Black, is set in foggy 1950s Dublin, where pathologist Quirke…

The Pulitzer is well-represented in this month’s Hot List, withfinalists and winners coming out with highly anticipated new books, alongside a thriller, a romance, a memoir, and a return to a Gen-X classic. —Susan Maguire Country People. By Daniel Mason. Random, $29 (9798217197453). Jul. The Pulitzer Prize–nominated author of North Woods (2023) is back with the tale of a devoted husband and father who jumps at the chance to re-embrace life when his wife accepts a job at a rural Vermont college. Men in Love. By Irvine Welsh. Pegasus, $28.95 (9798897101504). Jul. For many Gen-X readers, Trainspotting—both Welsh’s novel and Danny Boyle’s film adaptation—defined a generation, and they will rejoice that Welsh is returning with a prequel, as Renton, Sick Boy, Spud, and Begbie search for love as the 1980s…

Amazon: A River’s Journey from the Andes to the Atlantic. By Thomas Peschak. Mar. 2026. 256p. illus. National Geographic, $50(9781426224454). 551.48. Award-winning photographer Peschak, who’s shot oceans extensively for the National Geographic Society and other organizations, turned inland to record the 4,000-mile length of the Amazon River over 33 months—from 19,000-foot-high meltwater streams all the way to the river’s mouth, lugging 1,200 pounds of equipment, including “nine Nikon cameras, four underwater housings, 20 lenses, 10 lights, two drones, and more batteries and chargers than you can possibly imagine.” His work culminated in the October 2024 National Geographic, an issue solely devoted to Peschak’s Amazon expedition. While the photographer bemoans the destruction of the river’s ecosystem from damming, gold mining, and other human causes, these photos, collected in coffee-table format, prefer…

Readers will visit 24 species of shells and 24 species of snakes over the course of a single day around the world.  Shell Day: A Story of 24 Hours and 24 Molluscan Lives.  By Helen Scales. Illus. by Aaron John Gregory. May 2026. 208p. Univ. of Chicago, $18 (9780226840529); e-book (9780226840536). 594. Marine biologist Scales (What the Wild Sea Can Be, 2024) takes readers from the Svalbard archipelago to the South Pacific in her study of various “molluscan lives.” Mollusks, as she explains in an engaging preface, are animals that live on land and sea (there are at least 200,000 species alive today), and secrete an exoskeleton which we know as shells. Scales’ witty narrative draws not only from biology but also geology and climate science as well as art…

Primarily content aimed at young adults, light novels are a rapidly growing medium both in terms of translated content from Japan and regarding interest from patrons. Encompassing a wide range of genres, these fast-paced novels with manga style illustrations are written in direct prose that’s heavy with dialogue and action. Light novels are quick reads for busy students (and salaried workers) who may not have time for the density and complexity of Japanese literary prose. Here’s a sampling of high-interest light novels for manga readers looking for deeper dives or readers looking for short, digestible texts that move at a rapid pace. 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! v. 1. By Touko Amekawa. Illus. by Hinoki Kino. Tr. by Julie Goniwich. 2022.…

Middle Readers Books Good Enough for You: The Storied Life of Ursula Nordstrom, Editor of Extraordinary Children’s Books. By Nancy Hudgins. Illus. by Aura Lewis. Mar. 2026. 192p. Abrams, $19.99 (9781419775673). Gr. 4–7. 928. This entertaining and informative biography of legendary children’s editor Ursula Nordstrom reveals her life through the lens of the many classic children’s books she championed and the authors she nurtured. When New York– born Nordstrom began working at Harper & Brothers, she was determined to “publish books good enough for children.” Nordstrom opposed the prevalent view that children’s books should just be fairy and folktales; she believed that books for children should be realistic and “meet them where they are.” Much is revealed about Nordstrom (a private person) through her enduring professional relationships with the authors she…

For the second time in its 26-year history, the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature goes to an incredible anthology—Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories. Editor Cynthia Leitich Smith collaborated with 16 remarkable Native voices, weaving together a vast array of young Native experiences, centering the power of community and connection. I had the absolute delight of connecting with Smith to ask about the inner machinations of this deserving project. Kelly Ferreira: This work is quite the feat of joyful collaboration. What drew you to work with the authors in this collection? Cynthia Leitich Smith: Joy is fuel for perseverance and the groundwork for growth. Both are a big part of the story behind the anthology stories. Native people are the original storytellers of this continent, but…

Middle Readers Bat and the Case of the Yips. By Elana K. Arnold. Illus. by Charles Santoso. Mar. 2026. 208p. Clarion, $18.99 (9780063385184). Gr. 2–5. In his fifth appearance, autistic fourthgrader Bat struggles with weekend trips to his dad’s apartment. Dad can’t seem to remember that Bat needs quiet time to unwind, and he doesn’t allow Bat’s pet skunk, Thor, to visit. However, a deal is struck when Bat accepts Dad’s offer to play on his baseball team in exchange for getting to bring Thor over. But when Bat finds the arrangement is not to his liking, will a fake case of “the yips” help with his problem or make things worse? Illustrated with engaging line drawings, the latest in Arnold’s series explores the delicate maneuvering that takes place between…

Wuthering Heights. By Emily Brontë. Read by Alison Larkin and Andrew Wincott. 2025. 14.5hr. Alison Larkin Presents, DD (9798295379345). Narrator Larkin beautifully delivers this beloved classic with an added student guide to provide context behind Emily Brontë’s only novel. The mysterious orphan Heathcliff is brought to Wuthering Heights to live with the Earnshaws. He bonds immediately with Catherine, but despite their shared feelings, she marries the wealthy Linton. Devastated, Heathcliff disappears. Years later, he returns and exacts his revenge. Larkin connects emotionally with each character, delivering scathing disdain in one scene and tortured heartbreak in another. She adopts a variety of accents across the United Kingdom, immersing listeners in the isolated Yorkshire moors. Bonus segments at the beginning and end imagine how author Emily Brontë might explain to her readers…

Maggie Smith’s newest poetry collection, A Suit or a Suitcase, which publishes this month, is rich with a grounded, loamy truth in conversation with the pristine divinity one can find in the small, everydayness of life. Booklist audio editor Heather Booth asked Smith, also host of The Slowdown podcast in partnership with The Poetry Foundation and American Public Media, how listening to poetry connects with her work as a poet sharing her work aloud. Heather Booth: It’s often said that poetry is meant to be heard; your podcast, The Slowdown, and your new narration of A Suit or a Suitcase are two ways we get to hear poetry that is either from or meaningful to you. How do you interact differently with poems heard than with poems read? Maggie Smith:…