In a world of magic doors to escape your world and scribing spells that can kill, Maeve has quietly lived by a false name and without her parents for almost half of her life. Never staying in one place for very long became a way of survival — if people found out who her father was, she too would be killed. Maeve’s father was a scriptomancer, specially trained in the art of magical messages to be couriered to other worlds. While most believe he unleashed a vine that poisons on contact and decimated most in his society, including himself, Maeve knows her father would not use his magic in dark ways. Her life’s mission is to clear his name, and her path to do so involves becoming a scriptomancer, too. Emily Taylor’s world-building is divine, with descriptive details that enhance the pace. Maeve is wickedly smart, which pairs well with her sarcastically supportive crush of a boy, Tristan. Got readers who say they don’t like fantasy? Give them this!

Herve Bourhis’s fifty year pop culture chronicle of all things British would be the perfect gift for an ex-pat living abroad, a Briton on the homefront or those of us who feel weirdly drawn to the English way. Covering the years 1962-2022, Bourhis graphic novel format gives the first full page to that year’s musical influencer for each year and the subsequent three pages become a patchwork quilt of pictures and text in primary colors of blue, red, yellow, black, white, and peachy-pink that relaying an array of British influence. Almost all musicians are names most people would recognize: The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Sex Pistols, The Beegees, The Cure, Pet Shop Boys, Oasis, Amy Winehouse, Radiohead, Adele, Dua Lipa. On page 2 of each year’s focus, musical influences as well as worldly influences on musicians are highlighted as well as 5 more British albums for that year. Page 3 is a patchwork of British factoids for the year that are runners-up to the winner of the biggest British influencer taking center-stage on page 4. For example, in 2021 the winner was Astra Zeneca because of its creation of the anti-covid vaccine “Vaxzevria”. Herve’ Bourhis handi-work with in sketching really make the book pop. They are so spot on and yet so British at the same time, ending so apropro with “God save the King” as the final kiss to this passion project he undertook during the covid pandemic when he couldn’t make his bi-yearly trips to England that he had enjoyed for close to thirty years.

Students of traditional American Literature courses are presented with letters and diary entries of the colonial period and perhaps the study of The Crucible, the latter of which always gave them pause. To the Bone will illicit the same response. It is based on the factual account of a Virginia colony during “The Starving Time” from 1609-1610. Ellis, a servant to a gentleman named Henry Collins and his pregnant wife, takes readers through the fall and winter, as she struggles with the expectations put upon her — to not be wicked by only doing what Mr. Collins asks, including not wanting Jane romantically. It is also the story of Powhatan’s Confederacy becoming frustrated by the English invaders. A harsh, and at times gruesome, life, Ellis hopes to find her father, if only she could leave the fort. She builds tenacity in dealing with physical and mental torture get her further than most of the colonists, but will she survive the winter? Alena Bruzas writing is curt. Short sentences in short paragraphs echo the tight grip Ellis fought against. Realistic fiction readers will likely enjoy this historical fiction account if the worst aspects of survival and humanity don’t shock them away. More likely, it will keep them reading all the way through the author’s note at the end.

Catie Carlson’s senior year was going to be a well-deserved success.  Her family had struggled since her dad passed away.  Then her stepmother, whom she loves, decided that their best option was to move to Salt Lake City, Utah to temporarily live with her sister’s Morman family.  In addition to abiding by strict rules, Catie needed to get a job.  Luckily, she lands a job that she loves and begins a friendship with a co-worker that drives the narrative.  She’ll teach him how to get the girl crush he’s had for years while he’ll teach her how to speak Mandarin, which is her father’s native tongue.  As Catie tries to figure out who she is in this new city, she constructs a small web of lies along the way.  While stressful for Catie, a reader knows from the beginning where this is going to end up.  In fact, the final ending happens so fast, it is as if an editor emailed the author to wrap it up quickly.  The beautiful cover will sell this book, and most readers will make a quick read of it.  This is an additional purchase for school and public libraries.   

Justine was born with a birth defect that required major surgery and years of painful therapies to stretch one of her legs. The trauma that remains has shaped her current choices as a nineteen-year-old now going by the name Elisabeth. Self-worth, trust of others, and fear of the future are all themes every young adult contemplates as the enter the world on their own.  But Elisabeth still sees herself as horribly broken, not worthy of success and love.  Instead of going to college, she escapes to a small Wisconsin community, living the life of a recluse.  When a once-in-a lifetime snowstorm hits, the local sheriff does a wellness-check to make sure Elisabeth has the supplies she needs.  His presence is the best medicine Elisabeth could receive.  Alternating between her childhood and now, readers will witness a young woman who is trying to figure out who she wants to be after her trauma. Has she been deceived by others to make her into the woman she is today, or is she deceiving herself?  With cover recommendations from John Green and Markus Zusak, Allison Sweet Grants debut novel will be well-read in high school and public libraries. 

If you love magic, romance, thrill and adventure, The Notorious Virtues is for you. The heir to a country with great wealth and prestige, Nora will discover that her mother’s death wasn’t accidental. Counsins August and Lotte also have bloodlines to the throne and reasons for wanting it. To determine the future leader, a battle of magic ensues. Alwyn Hamilton alternates between each girls’ points of view and readers should become very familiar with each character as the tension builds. The depth of detail in the magic itself could be its selling point but cliffhanger chapter endings will propel readers quickly. Even after 497 pages, waiting for the sequel will be hard for many. Recommended for all libraries.

Lily Anderson’s Killer House Party has all the trappings of the funny Scary Movie franchise, and don’t take with word “trappings” lightly. Arden is the perfect high school graduate — a 4.3 GPA, a good group of diverse friends and a boy toy she isn’t dependent upon. So what could go wrong in her life? How about divorcing real estate parents who are spent her college fund and believe she can just become a real estate agent like them? Arden’s solution–throw a killer house party in in the town’s haunted mansion that her parents recently listed. Charging a small fee to attend this alternative to the sober grad night at her school, Arden’s friends think the night is going well until one of them mysteriously disappears, and the house comes alive. Ghosts of previous occupants will reach their hands through walls to pull them into the house forevermore. Slicing and dicing might occur. Zombie trances overcome. But Arden will not fall victim to another of her parent’s bad decisions. A few laugh-out-loud oh-my’s at trying to make scary stories scary will either be appreciated by the genre-seeker or land this book back into the return bid early. If you are a funny, not-so-horror movie connoissouer, you might just get trapped up in Killer House Party. Added bonus is the red solo cup cover that will definitely help circulations in a high school library.

Bridge Across the Sky by Freeman NG provides forgotten history and edgy insight into Chinese immigration and what it was like through the eyes of a teenager as it follows Tai Go, his father and grandfather as they travel to the United States in search of a better life in the 1920s. The rude reality of racism confronts Tai Go before he even sets foot in America, as he has a false identity to use when he arrives at Angel Island Immigration Station, the Ellis Island of the west coast. This book provides a perspective on the treatment that Chinese immigrants went through for endless months of processing. The vulnerability the author has in his book is compliments of the verse format — it connects narrative with the personal feel of poetry. I recommend this book to readers of all ages. There’s hope in a natural wonderings in the opposite sex and a particular girl that keeps catching his attention. There’s the tragedy of suicide as a means to control the situation that was out of their control — no confidence in really gaining entry to “Gold Mountain” — dashing those hopes a reality check, The format makes it a simple read for younger readers, but without prior knowledge of the Chinese Exclusion Act as well as life’s coming-of-age awakenings to racism that is still prevalent today, young readers might not be the best to see the interconnection of the primary source poem fragments at the beginning of each chapter and their connection to the tone as a whole. Bridge Across the Sky is a historical fiction would pair nicely with 10th/11th U.S. History classes.  

In Jamison Shea’s sequel to I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me, our main character, Laure is overly frustrated with her life situation — being a vessel for the Wicked Dark, in I Am the Dark That Answers When You Call. Laure is not a mortal. She knows she has special powers that tend to harm more than help people. She clearly likes this edginess, this ability to control others, since she lost control of other things in her life including friendships and a future career in ballet in the previous book. But little does Laure know the true background to why she’s really in the situation she’s in — not just the pact with Acheron — which explains her deep down anger from the trauma of being abandoned by her mother. Laure will jump back and forth between her above ground Parisian world, which will still include ballet here and there, and the catacombs of Elysium as it decays and threatens her life, which is confusing at times. Ghosts will haunt her. Friends will turn on her. Readers may root for her to survive only to see her commit acts of horror that made this reader shake her head on multiple occasions wondering how this story got published. The mix of a romance into this graphic horror writing felt forced. There’s no suspense. This is an additional purchase if a student asks for it and there’s budget to spend but overall this readers would no recommend it.

Rules for Rule Breaking is a right-at-home teen novel. Despite Winter Park and Bobby Bae’s similarities—the obvious one being Korean-Americans stuck in North Carolina, or the not-so-obvious, but wildly fierce academic rivalry they share—the two are discordant. Reluctantly following their parents’ wishes, Winter and Bobby must spend their summer visiting East Coast colleges; on their journey they get a taste of growing up, growing together, and growing comfortable in being uncomfortable. The dialogue and relationship between the pair, and the small cast of characters, is realistic to the high school experience, and incredibly natural. Talia Tucker is impressive with how honest she crafts the dialogue, how its cadence and terminology ebb and flow in an in-tune manner. However, the story is too often lost in this strength and unfortunately fails to achieve the poignancy and depth that novels which utilize more narrative, show-not-tell, elements excel at. Additionally, college-hopefuls may find the book repetitive due to its contents being heavily centered on the stressful situation they’re already in. Overall, teenagers will see themselves in Rules for Rule Breaking, which features all of the messy relationships, aspirations, and young love that mingle in their high school hallways: it’s a comfortable read.