Table of contents for Vol. 118, No. 13, 3/1/22 in Booklist

Adult Nonfiction Philosophy & Psychology Ghosted! Exploring the Haunting Reality of Paranormal Encounters. By Brian Laythe and others. May 2022. 320p. illus. McFarland, paper, $39.95 (9781476685779). 133. Most of us are familiar with ghosts as the restless spirits that rile Ebenezer Scrooge, or fall victim to the Ghostbusters’ proton packs, or fascinate the hosts of the show Ghost Hunters and its various knockoffs. In real-life instances, though, those experiencing paranormal phenomena are left mesmerized and occasionally traumatized. This book’s five authors, all scholars of the paranormal, endeavor to break down individual experiences with phantoms and apparitions, noting 32 psychological and physical characteristics that form their “Haunt Hierarchy.” Are victims of spontaneous encounters also afflicted with “Haunted People Syndrome”? Is someone who bonds with an imaginary friend as a child more…

Adult Fiction General Fiction Adult Assembly Required. By Abbi Waxman. May 2022. 400p. Berkley, paper, $17 (9780593198766). Waxman (I Was Told It Would Get Easier, 2020) has a talent for creating familiar characters who are flawed in all the ways many of us are but didn’t know anyone else was. Her latest takes place in the same L.A. neighborhood where readers met Waxman’s previous protagonists, a few of whom, including Nina Hill, make cameos here. Laura, who recently moved across the country to attend grad school, suffers anxiety, ramped up after a car accident a few years prior. She’s ashamed for anyone to know about it, but she soon discovers that her new friends love her because of her flaws, not in spite of them. And naturally, there’s romance to…

Spotlight Further Reading While Hoot was the first of Hiassen’s five environmental-themed middle-grade books, other novelists have followed his lead. Here are 10 novels that tackle a variety of environmental issues and keep young folk at the fore of the action. Belly Up. By Stuart Gibbs. 2010. Simon & Schuster, $18.99 (9781416987314). Gr. 5–7. Gibbs got his start writing FunJungle mysteries, this being the first. In this zoo-based whodunnit, 12-year-old Teddy investigates the suspicious death of a hippo at a brand-new zoo. The End of the Wild. By Nicole Helget. 2017. Little, Brown, $16.99 (9780316245111). Gr. 3–6. Fern loves wandering in the woods, but they become threatened when a fracking company comes to town. Fern decides to use her STEM-fair project to showcase the useful flora the community would lose…

High-Demand Hot List for Youth Look for reviews of these high-demand titles in forthcoming issues of Booklist. A joyous picture book about summer and a prequel to a blockbuster thriller are just a couple of the big titles we’re looking forward to in the coming months. —Sarah Hunter Bravely. By Maggie Stiefvater. Disney, $19.99 (9781368071345). Gr. 7–12. May. The acclaimed author of Raven Boys brings her fantasy chops to this story of Princess Merida, set years after the events of the hit movie Brave. The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza. By Mac Barnett. Art by Shawn Harris. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen, $15.99 (9780063084087). Gr. 3–7. May. Barnett and Harris, two acclaimed kidlit creators, join forces for this rollicking middlegrade graphic novel about a cat in space. I’d Like to Be the…

Audio Adult The Final Case. By David Guterson. Read by George Newbern. 2022. 7.5hr. Books on Tape, DD, $66.50 (9780593454909). Guterson’s first novel in years is a family story wrapped inside a criminal case surrounding the death of an adopted child. George Newbern narrates our unnamed protagonist, who drives for his elderly father as he litigates his final case as defense for the adoptive parents accused of the crime. Guterson’s writing is beautiful yet restrained, and the story, though compelling, is not the Grishamesque courtroom thriller a synopsis might suggest, but a profoundly insightful examination of the relationships between love, family, vocation, and the changes in each with age. The audio production is excellent, but the reason to experience this book as audio is Newbern. There is not a single…

High-Demand Hot List Look for reviews of these high-demand titles in forthcoming issues of Booklist. We’ve got cookbooks; we’ve got parenting guides; we’ve got dark fantasy; we’ve got light time travel; we’ve got a collection from a master of essays and a novel from a master of horror. In short, we’ve got it all, here on this list of forthcoming big-deal books. —Susan Maguire Bake: My Best Ever Recipes for the Classics. By Paul Hollywood. Bloomsbury, $40 (9781635579291). July. One of the judges of The Great British Baking Show guides readers through the essentials for baking delicious bread, pastries, cakes, and more, based on his years of baking experience. Book of Night. By Holly Black. Tor, $27.99 (9781250812193). May. The first book for adults by beloved YA author Black presents…

Classics Corner Classics Corner highlights new recordings of classic titles. Good Omens. By Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Read by a full cast. 2021. 12.4hr. HarperAudio, CD, $28.99 (9780062896957). Longtime fans of and newcomers alike will be delighted by this full-cast performance of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s classic. Full of absurd humor and a cast of wonderfully bizarre characters, Good Omens feels like it was made for audio. Crowley (devil) and Aziraphale (angel) are supposed to be on opposite sides of the ongoing war between heaven and hell, but after 6,000 years, they’ve forgotten about that. Until Armageddon arrives and they find themselves scrambling to keep up. Over a dozen narrators give pitchperfect performances, expertly voicing precocious twelve-year-olds, elderly witch hunters, impatient demons, suburban fathers, and one extremely competent…

Spotlight Top 10 Environment & Sustainability Books To combat climate change, we need both facts and hope, and the most illuminating and encouraging books about the environment and the path to sustainability offer both in addressing forests, endangered species, recycling, and human nature. —Donna Seaman The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times. By Jane Goodall and others. 2021. Macmillan/Celadon, $28 (9781250784094). Without minimizing the daunting challenges of the climate crisis, world-renowned humanist and environmental advocate Goodall shares enthralling experiences and reasons to be hopeful. Can I Recycle This? A Guide to Better Recycling and How to Reduce Single-Use Plastics. By Jennie Romer. 2021. Penguin, $22 (9780143135678). Recycling expert Romer covers the specifics of what to recycle, what happens to recycled items, and what environmental impacts result. The…

Top 10 Poetry Books for Youth These outstanding works of poetry for youth, reviewed in Booklist over the last five years, include thematic collections, creative approaches to form, and inspirational takes on Black history. —Ronny Khuri Bookjoy, Wordjoy. By Pat Mora. Illus. by Raúl Colón. 2018. Lee & Low, $18.95 (9781620142868). PreS–Gr. 2. Two stellar vets combine to pair inventive, fun, adventuresome poems with exciting, exuberant art. Mora writes about her love of poetry and wordplay, emphasizing that each person is unique, so their wordplay will be as well. Cast Away: Poems for Our Time. By Naomi Shihab Nye. 2020. Greenwillow, $16.99 (9780062907691). Gr. 3–6. In this poignant collection, Young People’s Poet Laureate Nye challenges readers to consider their definition of trash and leaves them with a consciousness of Earth’s…

Another Look at HOOT by Julia Smith Twenty years ago, Carl Hiaasen wrote his first book for children, an eco-mystery called Hoot, which would go on to win a Newbery Honor. I loved Hoot when it came out, but when pressed to recall what it was about, I could only remember its broadest strokes: a boy in Florida tries to save cute, burrowing owls. This is, indeed, at the book’s heart, but upon re-reading the novel I was struck by several other things that make it a story that more than holds up to the test of time. It’s mystery-driven, not message-driven. Because Hoot has become such a staple of environmental kidlit, it was a refreshing surprise to (re)discover that it’s not laced with messaging about conservation or animal protection.…

Youth Fiction Older Readers Blaine for the Win. By Robbie Couch. Apr. 2022. 336p. Simon & Schuster, $19.99 (9781534497467). Gr. 9–12. When rich, ambitious Joey, who is determined to become the first gay U.S. president, dumps 16-year-old white artist Blaine for not being serious enough, the dumpee is devastated and determines to win Joey back by running for president himself—of the senior class, that is. Helping him are his best friend and campaign captain Trish, who is Black; her girlfriend Camilla; and Danny Nguyen, a Vietnamese American teen who is bi and with whom Joey has a meetcute over an aloe vera plant (don’t ask). Things quickly become complicated: Blaine, who has no political experience and is an unknown at school (he prefers painting murals on local storefronts) is definitely…

Podcast Connection Life, I Swear: Intimate Stories from Black Women on Identity, Healing, and Self-Trust. By Chloe Dulce Louvouezo. Read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt. 2021. 5.5hr. HarperAudio, DD, $20.99 (9780063139107). Challenging trials and tribulations in life’s journey can lead women places where disappointments can bruise and permanently scar the healthiest mind in a traumatic fashion. Chloe Dulce Louvouezo, host of the podcast Life, I Swear, created a safe, judgment-free zone for extraordinary women of color to share with her their most personal and infrequently discussed struggles and offer an antidote that could lead to their self-healing and wholeness. Abbott-Pratt is compelling and authentic as she reads content curated directly from the podcast, making the journeys of these phenomenal women navigating love, loss, motherhood, sexual assault, self-identity, and lack of inclusion relatable.…

Video Watch Spotlight on the Environment & Sustainability The Magnitude of All Things. 2021. 85min. Grasshopper, DVD, $375. As filmmaker Jennifer Abbot watches her sister fighting breast cancer, she draws parallels to the devastation of global warming: like greenhouse gases, cancer cells destroy without warning, leaving the hosts overwhelmed and depressed. Abbot travels across the world talking to Indigenous peoples who mourn the loss of their environment. In Canada they point to the melting ice; in Australia the land is being destroyed by mining. In the Amazon there are fires; on marine islands the seas are flooding homes; in Sweden a young woman speaks out. Advocates (sometimes subtitled) talk about the need for truth and taking responsibility for our actions. Hope is necessary, they say, but even more important is…