The global slave trade backgrounds Solange Burrell’s fantastical coming-of-age novel "Yeseni and the Daughter of Peace", about what it truly means to act in favor of the greater good. In eighteenth-century West Africa, sixteen-year-old... Read More

In Kelly Ann Jacobson’s retelling of Pinocchio, "Lies of a Toymaker", a girl embraces heroism and self-discovery. Paige is the daughter of a traveling toymaker who’s always on the move. Her loyalty to her mother keeps her secluded... Read More

Moving to a cottage in the countryside unsettles a boy in Maggie O’Farrell’s fantasy story "The Boy Who Lost His Spark". Jem misses the city. He struggles with school: A learning disability is hinted at, and he’s prone to... Read More

In Brandon Mull’s exciting fantasy novel The Gorgon’s Fury, adventurers work to save a magical kingdom. Newel and Doren are satyr cousins who are determined to win the annual Satyr Games. In addition to their competitive foes Barrett... Read More

Geopolitical and magical intrigue entangle in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s intricate fantasy novel "Days of Shattered Faith". As a new aide to Gil, Pallesand’s diplomat in Usmai, Loret seconds her superior in a duel with Lor’s diplomat.... Read More

In Natalia Theodoridou’s haunting novel "Sour Cherry", women are entrapped by the gluttonous monstrosities of their sons and husbands. To elucidate her husband’s abuse, a mother tells her child a story about a cursed lord. She begins... Read More

Natasha Pulley’s novel "The Hymn to Dionysus" explores a classical struggle between order and chaos through a slow-burn romance that bridges ideologies. After failing to protect a godly passenger on his legion’s ship, Phaidros, a... Read More

Activist children at an environmentalist school face challenges to their developing ideals in the busy adventure novel "Knights Unite". In Laurel Colless’s splashy mystery novel "Knights Unite", precocious children fight to protect the... Read More