Table of contents for Vol. 118, No. 22, 8/1/22 in Booklist

I looked up into the night sky the other evening and saw a strange light. It was probably lightning in the distance. But could it have been a UFO sending a signal? A disturbance in the Force? Who knows? I couldn’t linger because I had to help my daughter brush her teeth (it’s a tricky business because she’s six and they’re falling out!). I began to think, here we are on this lonely, beautiful planet, alone in the vast universe (at least as far as we know), but then I remembered that imagination opens new worlds, takes us on new adventures, and enlightens us. Whatever the light was, it stirred excitement and reflection. I thought about subterranean oceans on Ganymede and Europa, lakes on Titan, rovers circumnavigating Mars, purported phosphine…

General Fiction All That’s Left Unsaid. By Tracey Lien. Sept. 2022. 304p. William Morrow, $27.99 (9780063227736); e-book, $14.99 (9780063227750). Growing up, Vietnamese Australian Ky hated being her parents’ translator at the bank, the grocery store, and parent-teacher conferences. But when her younger brother, Denny, a shining example of academic excellence and the apple of her parents’ eye, is brutally murdered, Ky knows she has to be more than a translator: she has to uncover the motive for his senseless killing. Australian debut novelist Lien embeds the reader in a tight-knit Asian community within the small town of Cabramatta, highlighting the cultural distance between recent immigrants and their native-born children. Ky mostly narrates, with Lien allowing witnesses to the crime to step in and explain the events leading up to Denny’s…

The top science fiction, fantasy, and horror books reviewed in Booklist from August 2021 to July 2022 show the full range of the genres’ possibilities, from magical heists to historical horror to giant space-death robots. —Susan Maguire All the Seas of the World. By Guy Gavriel Kay. 2022. Berkley, $28 (9780593441046). In an immersive world resembling fifteenth-century Europe, Rafel and Nadia work together as seafaring merchants and Kay dances into the minds of various flawed characters. August Kitko and the Mechas from Space. By Alex White. 2022. Orbit, $17.99 (9780316430579). When the Vanguards, giant space-death robots, arrive, one goes rogue and pulls jazz musician August Kitko into his chest, while Ardent Violet, a global superstar, tries to save August and the Earth. The Fervor. By Alma Katsu. 2022. Putnam, $27…

Older Readers Abuela, Don’t Forget Me. By Rex Ogle. Sept. 2022. 208p. Norton/Young Readers, $18.95 (9781324019954). 362.592. This emotive memoir in verse serves as a companion to Ogle’s award-winning Free Lunch (2019), in which his abuela, despite being a minor character, provided major compassion, love, and encouragement to him during his most trying times. These poignant and powerful poems, dedicated to her, conjure up both nostalgia and melancholy. As Ogle’s abuela’s memories are affected by her dementia, this collection serves as a way to document and preserve the gratitude and affection the author has for a parental figure who meant so much to him. Through recollections of the smells of her kitchen and the safe haven of her home and vignettes that bring up specific moments from childhood or adolescence,…

As fall creeps closer, so do the big book releases! Keep your eyes peeled for these upcoming titles from best-selling, award-winning authors and illustrators. —Sarah Hunter Anne of Greenville. By Mariko Tamaki. Disney/Melissa de la Cruz, $18.99 (9781368078405). Gr. 9–12. Oct. Best-selling Tamaki offers an updated take on Anne of Green Gables, centering effervescent, disco-loving Japanese American Anne as she finds love and friendship. Garvey in the Dark. By Nikki Grimes. Astra/Wordsong, $17.99 (9781635925265). Gr. 3–7. Oct. Best-selling, critically acclaimed Grimes tells another story in verse from the perspective of the protagonist of Garvey’s Choice, this time exploring the isolation and anxiety of the COVID-19 pandemic. A Rover’s Story. By Jasmine Warga. HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray, $17.99 (9780063113923). Gr. 3–7. Oct. In Newbery Honor–winning Warga’s latest, an intrepid Mars rover named Resilience narrates…

Older Readers Beguiled. By Cyla Panin. Aug. 2022. 384p. Abrams/Amulet, $18.99 (9781419752674). Gr. 9–12. This Celtic-inspired fantasy features 17-year-old Ella, a teenage weaver who learned her craft from her late father, who died in prison due to outstanding debts. Ella is only scraping by, so she strikes a dangerous bargain with the Bean-Nighe, who agrees to fix her loom and make all her deepest wishes come true. Her craft restored, Ella can make the cloth she needs to survive, only now her fabrics are imbued with magic. When handsome Callum catches sight of her delicate and powerful work, he promises to pay her richly—but he has an agenda of his own. As the story progresses, the Celtic folklore elements fall more toward the background as themes of poverty, struggle, and…

Eternally Yours. Ed. by Patrice Caldwell. Sept. 2022. 416p. Viking, $18.99 (9780593206874). Gr. 8–10. Promising “15 stories of paranormal love,” this collection has something for every fantasy romantic, even down to the demons and ghouls. The standouts here are Adib Khorram’s “Kiss the Boy,” a sweet merfolk romance between mer Dylan and his (possibly) one true love; Kat Cho’s “Pierce My Soul,” which feels like a mash-up of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Sookie Stackhouse novels and finds grieving Anna set on capturing a vampire until she finds out childhood friend Kai has become one; and Casey McQuiston’s funny twist on the Bloody Mary story, “Bloody, Lovely,” in which soccer star Dylan is haunted by—and is possibly falling for—the legendary ghost girl. And Blue Bloods series completists will be…

Adult Be My Baby. By Ronnie Spector and Vince Waldron. Read by Rosie Perez. 2022. 10.5hr. Macmillan Audio, DD (9781250841100). Booming drums and horns kick off this compelling audio presentation of Spector’s (1943–2022) candid memoir, first published in 1990, reissued with a 2021 postscript. With her indefatigable energy, Rosie Perez emerges as the perfect choice to read this emotional roller-coaster ride of an account. Spector begins with her childhood in Spanish Harlem, where she develops a love for listening to and then performing pop/rock music. Perez beautifully channels the singer’s giddy euphoria when taking the stage. As Ronnie falls for music producer Phil Spector, Perez conveys her bliss when describing their budding relationship. Happiness turns to horror when Ronnie discovers the man she adores is psychologically abusive. After she escapes…

Emotional literacy can be tough to achieve (even for adults!), but with approachable visual metaphors, picture books are helping kids grasp big feelings. In these pages, sometimes amorphous shapes swallow kids right up. These blobby figures reflect not only the weightiness of emotions but also the sometimes-confusing way they emerge, and in every case, recognizing their presence makes them far less intimidating. Me and My Fear. By Francesca Sanna. Illus. by the author. 2018. Flying Eye. PreS–Gr. 1. A translucent, marshmallowy figure envelops a girl and keeps her from being to able to approach her classmates, but once she starts feeling less afraid, the creature shrinks. Ruby Finds a Worry. By Tom Percival. Illus. by the author. 2019. Bloomsbury. K–Gr. 3. A bright yellow, scribbly shape follows Ruby and gets…

Journalism&Publishing Death of the Daily News: How Citizen Gatekeepers Can Save Local Journalism. By Andrew Conte. Sept. 2022. 176p. Univ. of Pittsburgh, $26 (9780822947196). 070.89. As the newspaper industry has generally been reluctant to report on its own tragic collapse over the past 20 years, authors like Conte, founder of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University, are left to report on the devastation. He does this broadly by sharing industry figures (one-fourth of papers in the U.S. shutting down since 2004, ad revenues dropping from $49 billion to $14 billion annually), while specifically focusing on, as one example, the McKeesport (PA) Daily News, which closed in 2015 after 119 years in business, and the damage that closure has wrought on McKeesport and nearby communities. Conte exposes the…

Including everything from literal monsters to those lurking inside us and magical tea to apocalyptic end-times, this year’s batch of science fiction, fantasy, and horror is an exemplary one. All titles were reviewed in Booklist between August 2021 and July 2022. —Julia Smith Alone out Here. By Riley Redgate. 2022. Disney/Hyperion, $18.99 (9781368064729). Gr. 9–12. It’s 2072, and the only people to escape a cataclysmic volcanic eruption on Earth are a group of teens touring a spaceship. Leigh Chen, First Daughter of the U.S., quickly takes charge of the shell-shocked teens as they grapple with the magnitude of their situation. Dust & Grim. By Chuck Wendig. 2021. Little, Brown, $16.99 (9780316706230). Gr. 5–8. Wendig blends fantasy, horror, and humor in his middle-grade debut, which sees 13-year-old Molly learn some disconcerting…

Facts, fictions, fictions that might be facts: all part of a balanced reading diet. Order up! —Annie Bostrom Anon Pls. By DeuxMoi. Morrow, $27.99 (9780063257801). Nov. They say write what you know, and anonymous celebrity gossip Instagrammer @DeuxMoi’s debut novel is about an anonymous celebrity gossip Instagrammer. The Atlas Paradox. By Olivie Blake, $27.99 (9781250855091). Oct. The Atlas Six (2021) was a verified TikTok sensation. Fans are anxiously awaiting book two of the projected trilogy about a secret society of magicians. A Dangerous Business. By Jane Smiley. Knopf, $28 (9780525520337). Dec. In California, 1851, a widow and her best friend set out to investigate the murders of fellow sex workers in this historical mystery from Pulitzer Prize–winner Smiley. Bet on Black: The Good News about Being Black in America Today.…

The top 10 science fiction, fantasy, and horror first novels reviewed in Booklist from August 2020 to July 2021 showcase fresh new voices exploring near-future worlds, body horror, and folkloric reimaginings. —Susan Maguire 40. By Alan Heathcock. 2022. MCD, $27 (9780374100230). In a near-future America devastated by climate change and famine and ruled by a religious fanatic, a mortally wounded U.S. soldier wakes up with wings, and she uses her newfound miracle status to save her sister from insurgents. The Ballad of Perilous Graves. By Alex Jennings. 2022. Redhook, $28 (9780759557192). In Nola, the magical mirror city of New Orleans, the grandfather of “Perry” Graves is abducted as songs are hunted down and killed and a storm threatens both cities. The Book Eaters. By Sunyi Dean. 2022. Tor, $26.99 (9781250810182).…

Older Readers The Door of No Return. By Kwame Alexander. Sept. 2022. 432p. Little, Brown, $17.99 (9780316441865). Gr. 6–9. Kofi lives a simple life, but it is a life he loves. He’s 11, just on the cusp of becoming a man, and he finds that there are things he must tackle before coming of age: proving his strength by beating his cousin at a swimming match, speaking up so that the girl he likes knows that he admires her, and learning what the elders really mean by their coded language. When Kofi’s brother accidentally kills a neighboring chief’s nephew in a wrestling match, Kofi instinctively knows that everything in the world is going to change; he just doesn’t realize how much. Alexander weaves a breathtaking tale that is ripe with…

At the start of Rogers’ startling new collection is an epigraph from an academic essay titled “Reading History: Cherokee History through a Cherokee Lens” that examines what the Cherokee language and perspective reveal about past and intergenerational trauma and its impact on present-day health and social concerns. “Cherokee speakers,” a selection of this epigraph states, “view the world as a large room that one enters by one door at birth and exits by another at death … behaviors that people engage in today are witnessed by their ancestors … the events that affected their ancestors are also visible here in the room.” At once precisely contained and wildly expansive, this is a collection that doesn’t push boundaries so much as claw at them and then pull back. A pair of…

Science fiction, fantasy, and horror are incredibly popular genres, but there are so many subcategories, genre-blends, and niche themes that one reader’s golden thread might be another’s pile of straw. If your middle-grade, tween, and YA readers are craving a little more specificity, here are a handful of subgenres we’ve noticed spiking in the past several years Apocalypse (but Make It Funny) Absurdity reigns in these comical novels that approach the catastrophic end of the world with wry comedy, sharp wit, and madcap high jinks. Eat Your Heart Out. By Kelly deVos. 2021. Razorbill, $17.99 (9780593204825). Gr. 8–11. While forced to attend a weight-loss camp, Vivian stumbles upon thin, fast, hungry zombies in a novel that skewers fatphobia and unpicks genre conventions. It’s the End of the World and I’m…