Calvin, a 17-year-old schizophrenic, believes his life is linked to Bill Watterson, the artist behind Calvin and Hobbes. He constantly hears the voice of Hobbes in his head. After a psychotic break, he is hospitalized. Upon his release, he tries to reintegrate into his life but struggles with his condition. He forms a bond with his neighbor Nora as they both deal with their own challenges. Calvin works to understand his illness and determine what is real in his fractured world.

1. November/December 2015 The Horn Book Magazine 75
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2. 76 The Horn Book Magazine November/December 2015 November/December 2015 The Horn Book Magazine 77
the propulsive survival story with the ethical questions young Ben ponders. If his
father (and grandfather) were criminals, Ben wonders, what kind of person does that
make him? “Is it possible to outrun the blood you have inherited, to become some-
body else?” A satisfying story that will pull readers in and get them thinking about
big ideas. dean schneider
Uprooted:
A CanadianWar Story
by Lynne Reid Banks
Intermediate HarperCollins 335 pp.
11/15 Paper ed. 978-0-00-813235-4 $8.99 g
The year is 1940, and ten-year-old Lindy, along with
her mother and a boy cousin, is evacuated from Lon-
don to the safety of the Canadian prairies. Banks herself
was sent to Canada as a child during WWII, and this
memoir-like novel mines the war-evacuation material
to reflect a child’s cultural confusion, loneliness, and
anxiety. It also includes a more adult take on the experi-
ence of that relocation. For example, the evacuees were
largely financially dependent on their host families, and
Banks powerfully conveys the awkwardness of that relationship. The overarching
tension of the story, which covers one year, is sustained by two questions involving
Lindy’s mother. Is the father in the host family becoming too fond of her, and is
she becoming too fond of a helpful man she meets on the train? This adult focus,
combined with some historically improbable attitudes toward native peoples, diffuses
the immediacy of the fall and winter sections, but a summer spent in a cabin in the
woods with porcupine and leech encounters, woodlore, and a rescued pet dog rings
true as an exciting adventure in a beloved new world. sarah ellis
Trail of the Dead [Killer of Enemies]
by Joseph Bruchac
Middle School, High School Tu/Lee & Low 392 pp.
10/15 978-1-62014-261-5 $19.95 g
e-book ed. 978-1-62014-262-2 $8.99
Having escaped from the post-apocalyptic prisonlike
Haven in Killer of Enemies (rev. 1/14), battle-hardened
Lozen leads her band of refugees through the desert
toward Valley Where First Light Paints the Cliffs, the
place where Lozen’s family lived before their capture.
They face many dangers: not only is the desert filled
with genetically modified monsters created in the time
before the Silver Cloud wiped out all electronics on
Earth, but the elite Ones who rule Haven are out to
punish and kill their unwilling subjects, sending a Lakota near-immortal assassin
named Luther Little Wound to hunt Lozen down. Nor is Lozen at peak fighting
Fiction
H A Song for Ella Grey
by David Almond
High School Delacorte 268 pp.
10/15 978-0-553-53359-0 $16.99
Library ed. 978-0-553-53360-6 $19.99 g
e-book ed. 978-0-553-53361-3 $10.99
A celebration of the wonderful madness of youth,
and of the bemusing, soul-confusing power of aes-
thetic experience, lies at the heart of Almond’s lyrical,
contemporary-set take on the myth of Orpheus
and Eurydice. Set on the northeast coast of Britain,
Almond’s story echoes that of the myth: teen Ella
falls in love with Orpheus; they’re wed; Ella dies; and
Orpheus retrieves her from death only to lose her at
the last minute. Almond’s narrator, Ella’s best friend
Claire, takes up her pen to bring her “friend into the world for one last night then
let her go forever,” recalling the spiky conversations, parental disagreements, and
school assignments that are part of her life and Ella’s. But she strives most to convey
the experience of hearing Orpheus’s music, the inchoate yearnings and ecstasy it
evokes in herself and her friends: “It was like being blessed,” she writes. “Like truly
becoming ourselves. Like being loved.” Almond’s prose has always been intense,
sensual, and vivid: here his very subject matter is intensity of feeling with a capital
F. Cumulatively, from one page to the next, physical, emotional, and aesthetic bliss
becomes ever more potent: a foundation for adult awareness, for the joy that lies in
art, nature, and love. deirdre f. baker
On the Run
by Tristan Bancks
Intermediate, Middle School Ferguson/Farrar 229 pp.
11/15 978-0-374-30153-8 $16.99 g
On the run from police after they steal $7.2 million
accidentally deposited into their bank account, twelve-
year-old Ben’s parents leave him and his younger sister
Olive on their own in a creepy old cabin in the middle
of the Australian bush. Ben (who only gradually learns
what his parents have done) sees the irony in what has
happened: his father, who runs a wrecking yard, “was a
wrecker. That’s what he did. He wrecked stuff…Cars,
trucks, motorbikes, Ben’s life, their family. Themselves.
They wrecked themselves and they left Ben and Olive to
deal with the mess.” Ben finds a copy of My Side of the Mountain in the cabin, appro-
priate—and useful—reading since he and Olive are now essentially in the midst of
their own survival drama. Bancks’s third-person narrative works effectively in lacing

3. 78 The Horn Book Magazine November/December 2015 November/December 2015 The Horn Book Magazine 79
H Hereville:
How Mirka Caught a Fish
by Barry Deutsch; illus. by the author; backgrounds by Adrian Wallace; colors by
Jake Richmond
Middle School Amulet/Abrams 141 pp.
11/15 978-1-4197-0800-8 $17.95
Mirka is stuck babysitting her pesky six-year-old half-
sister Layele while the rest of the family is away from
their all-Hasidic community. Fruma, Mirka’s step-
mother, leaves strict orders to stay out of the woods,
where bizarre magic always seems to happen (Hereville:
How Mirka Got Her Sword, rev. 11/10; Hereville: How
Mirka Met a Meteorite, rev. 11/12) and where Fruma
saw “things” when she was Mirka’s age. Of course,
Mirka does go into the woods, dragging Layele with
her, and before long she’s wheedled the troll from the
first book out of a hair elastic with time-travel capa-
bilities (the illustrations denote the time travelers by
superimposing them onto the landscape in transpar-
ent purple and white). The girls encounter a wishing
fish, the same one who lost a battle of wits with a young Fruma (then called Fran
and dressed in “madernish” garb) and who now has a wicked plan to gain power
by controlling and kidnapping Layele. Though the expressive and often humorous
illustrations in this graphic novel do much to convey each scene’s tone and highlight
important characters and objects, words make the world go ’round here. (Check out
Mirka’s punctuation-marked skirt!) Speech bubbles wind in and out of the variably
sized panels, and the eventual solution involves verbal gymnastics as much as heroics
and compassion. shoshana flax
The GirlWho Could Not Dream
by Sarah Beth Durst
Intermediate Houghton 380 pp.
11/15 978-0-544-46497-1 $16.99 g
Sophie can’t dream, so she’s never experienced the sort
of nightmares that plague her classmates Ethan and
Madison. Her parents run a secret shop beneath their
cozy bookstore, selling dreams of every sort. One night
she steals one and discovers that she has the dangerous
power to bring dream-creatures into the waking world.
When the mysterious Mr. Nightmare kidnaps her
parents and two kids from town—children whose bad
dreams Sophie has been collecting for resale—it’s up to
Sophie, Ethan, and a few fantastical friends to find them
without alerting the sinister Nightwatch agency to their
secret. The human characters in this nicely compact
strength—her spirit is afflicted with something her Apache-Chiricahua ancestors
called Enemy Sickness, or post-traumatic stress. Although the narrative objective in
this sequel is slightly more diffuse than that of its razor-sharp predecessor, the sar-
donic protagonist is as magnetic, the peril is as intense, and the invention is as fresh
as ever as Bruchac develops his dystopian world in new and intriguing directions.
Native American legends, including those about irascible trickster Coyote, enrich
the tale while familiarizing readers with contexts such as the circumstances under
which traditional tales are told and their continued resilience in the face of cultural
erasure. An author’s note adds even more detail. Bruchac’s exhilarating story leaves
him with plenty of momentum heading into the projected final book of the trilogy.
anita l. burkam
H Flop to theTop!
by Eleanor Davis and Drew Weing; illus. by the
authors
Primary TOON 38 pp.
9/15 978-1-935179-89-4 $12.95
Wanda is a superstar—in her own mind. Oblivious to
her family’s dismay, she forces everyone within arm’s
reach to endure invasive photos, rude orders, and
diva-like dismissals. After posting a selfie taken with her
droll and droopy-faced dog, Wilbur, she scores millions
of online likes. Hordes of admirers fill her street, and
Wanda receives her fandom, only to be swiftly snubbed
by the crowd. They want “FLOPPY DOG!” Wilbur is swept away to party with the
celebrity du jour, Sassy Cat, and Wanda, jealous, tails the duo. The blinged-out dog
is offered a contract to leave his “old life behind,” but instead decides to devour the
document after a heartfelt apology (of sorts) by Wanda. Wife-and-husband team
Davis and Weing share author-illustrator duties (“Can you tell who drew what? They
bet you can’t!”) for this expertly paced—and funny and topical—early-reader comic.
The digitally rendered art is a departure from the pen-and-ink cartooning of Davis’s
Stinky (a 2009 Geisel honoree) and more closely related to her Matisse-like work for
adults. It is infused with so much warmth, color, and whimsy that young readers will
gladly see this book through to its pleasing reversal of fortune. patrick gall
Barry Deutsch on Hereville:
Shoshana Flax: We hear more about the madernish world in this third installment. What
do you think the neighbors think of Hereville?
Barry Deutsch: I can honestly say no one’s ever asked me that before! The people in the
next town over are pretty suspicious of Hereville. There are a lot of weird rumors flying
around, as you’d expect. (The Hereville folks tend to be pretty insular.) But in real life, one
of my neighbors has become a big Hereville fan! We sometimes talk about it on the bus.

4. 80 The Horn Book Magazine November/December 2015 November/December 2015 The Horn Book Magazine 81
transfusion of his blood, which miraculously heals her wounds. Lily is plunged into
the world of the City’s unseen, inhuman inhabitants, the Eldritche, at a danger-
ous time when young girls are disappearing and monsters are at large; an ancient
prophecy concerning Lily and Regan is coming to pass. The historically distinct City
of London, surrounded by an ancient Roman wall and gates, is a perfect setting
for Inglis’s credible blending of the mythological and modern and her appealingly
extraordinary protagonists. A deft hacker, Lily follows leads for the missing girls into
dangerous situations, from which Regan, Guardian of the Gates, rescues her more
than once. Slowly unraveling mystery, fast-paced action, and preternatural romance
will leave readers eager for the clearly projected sequel. lauren adams
Instructions for the End of theWorld
by Jamie Kain
High School St. Martin’s Griffin 214 pp.
12/15 978-1-250-04786-1 $18.99 g
e-book ed. 978-1-250-04785-4 $9.99
Nicole’s father is a survivalist—an ex-military man who
believes that self-sufficiency, discipline, and wilderness
skills are the surest protection from a dangerous world.
Although Nicole doesn’t share her father’s alarmist
dogma, she’s comfortable in the woods by his side, learn-
ing to hunt and following his unbending rules. Then
Dad decides to leave the grid altogether, moving the
family to a ramshackle forest homestead. When Mom, a
Khmer Rouge refugee who has fully assimilated to suburban life, balks and runs off,
Dad goes after her, leaving Nicole and her younger sister Izzy behind and putting
Nicole’s survival skills to an abrupt and unfair test. Nicole can barely manage the
house’s upkeep, but getting along with fourteen-year-old Izzy proves an even bigger
challenge. Nicole worries about Izzy’s involvement with free-spirited teens living at
the nearby commune; at the same time, a brooding, Thoreau-worshipping commune
dweller named Wolf stirs up her own rebellious yearnings. Most chapters feature
multiple narrators, and some voices are stronger than others: Izzy comes off as a
caricature of a young teen at times, while Wolf’s interior musings can seem too wise
for his years. Nicole’s voice, however, provides a steady through line. Her struggle to
reconcile her upbringing with the increasingly apparent costs of isolation is genuine
and compelling. jessica tackett macdonald
H Calvin
by Martine Leavitt
High School Ferguson/Farrar 182 pp.
11/15 978-0-374-38073-1 $17.99 g
Seventeen-year-old Calvin has recently been diagnosed as schizophrenic. Calvin
believes that his life is inextricably linked to Bill Watterson, the famously reclusive
artist behind the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes—a belief reinforced by the constant
presence of the voice of tiger Hobbes in his consciousness. This is coupled with
domestic fantasy have to use their own cunning and bravery to stop the villains
from doing great evil with the very dreams Sophie wishes she could experience. Her
dream-friends Monster and the delightfully arrogant unicorn Glitterhoof keep the
story merry with their precocious quips, but the adventure does take some turns
through dark and perilous territory. While working with Ethan, and trying to rescue
mean-queen Madison, Sophie comes to realize that everyone, asleep or awake, has
his or her own troubles to combat. sarah berman
Either the Beginning or the End of theWorld
by Terry Farish
High School Carolrhoda Lab 192 pp.
10/15 978-1-4677-7483-3 $18.99
e-book ed. 978-1-4677-8813-7 $18.99
Sofie, nearly seventeen, lives in coastal New Hampshire
with her fisherman father. She’s Scottish on her father’s
side and Cambodian on her mother’s, though she rejects
her Cambodian heritage (“I am not Cambodian…I have
no past. I have no ancestors…I make myself from scratch
every day”), angry at her mother for abandoning them
when Sofie was a child. Early in the book, Sofie meets
Lucas, a troubled young medic recently returned from
Afghanistan, whom her father demands she steer clear
of. But then her dad heads south for a better winter catch; Sofie and Luke begin a
tentative relationship; and Sofie is forced to confront her fractured heritage when her
(pregnant) mother and grandmother move back in. This story is about a search for
emotional and cultural identity and, equally, about the effects of war and trauma.
Sofie witnesses horrific pain in Luke’s PTSD and in her grandmother’s stories about
atrocities in Khmer Rouge–ruled Cambodia; and by learning the intricacies of
human suffering, Sofie undergoes an empathetic awakening. Farish writes the first-
person narration in unadorned prose, focusing on raw emotions and the details of
the frigid wintertime setting. An intensely melancholy tone permeates it all, but, as
the fitting title suggests, what appears to be an ending (of a life, of a relationship)
could, from another perspective, be the start of some-
thing hopeful. katrina hedeen
City of Halves
by Lucy Inglis
Middle School, High School Chicken House/Scholastic 361 pp.
11/15 978-0-545-82958-8 $17.99 g
e-book ed. 978-0-545-83054-6 $17.99
While on reconnaissance for her lawyer father in the City
of London, sixteen-year-old Lily is viciously attacked
by a two-headed dog and discovers the existence of the
other half of the City she thought she’d known all her
life. Tall, “eerily beautiful” Regan saves her life with a

5. 82 The Horn Book Magazine November/December 2015 November/December 2015 The Horn Book Magazine 83
H Written and Drawn by Henrietta
by Liniers; illus. by the author
Primary TOON 62 pp.
9/15 978-1-935179-90-0 $12.95
Spanish ed. 978-1-935179-91-7 $12.95
Henrietta’s mom gives her a box of brand-new colored
pencils, and she’s off, creating a nail-bitingly thrill-
ing story (“The Monster with Three Heads and Two
Hats”) about a girl named Emily and the monster who
comes out of her wardrobe one night. The monster,
though it looks scary, turns out to be friendly (“Good
evening little miss!”) and in search of a hat for its third
head. Emily joins in the quest, entering her suddenly
“HUUUUGE,” labyrinthine wardrobe and braving a
truly terrifying monster (“the monster with one head
and three hats!”) before emerging victorious. Liniers
works magic here, and not just with the Narnia-like
wardrobe. Emily’s adventure is drawn with colored
pencils—brightly colored, messy, dramatic scrawls;
contrastingly neat, contained panels in pen-and-ink and watercolor show Henrietta
drawing the story and commenting on its progress. Liniers paces both elements
superbly, keeping the focus on the exciting monster tale but interjecting the quieter
panels at just the right moments. This is also a clever explication of the creative
process: as she draws, Henrietta sometimes looks at the story objectively from the
outside (“Those three little dots really add… / …SUSPENSE!”); at other times she’s
swept up in the excitement of her own creation (“I’m drawing really fast ’cause I
want to see what happens next”). For emergent readers, this will require some sophis-
tication, with words like chaos and labyrinth and hat-o-logy and even Phrygian; the
hand-lettering may also present a challenge, but it’s one well worth meeting. A Span-
ish version, Escrito y dibujado por Enriqueta, is also available. martha v. parravano
Rules for 50/50 Chances
by Kate McGovern
High School Farrar 344 pp.
11/15 978-0-374-30158-3 $17.99 g
Rose’s mom has advanced Huntington’s disease. Caleb’s
mom and little sisters have sickle cell disease. The two
teens meet at the annual Walk for Rare Genes fund-
raiser, and their immediate attraction soon develops
into something more meaningful. But Rose has rules
about where she invests her time and energy, imposed
because of her mother’s illness and Rose’s own as-yet-
unknown Huntington’s status (there’s a fifty percent
chance that she has the gene triggering the terminal
disease). Rose sees school and her serious ballet train-
some odd coincidences: his name; the fact that he was
born on the day of the final Calvin and Hobbes strip;
and that, just as in the comic strip, the girl next door
is named Susie. Calvin is convinced that if Watterson
draws a final cartoon of his character at age seventeen
without the stuffed tiger, Hobbes will disappear from
Calvin’s mind and Calvin will be cured). On a pilgrim-
age to find Watterson, Calvin sets off across frozen
Lake Erie during the dead of winter, and Susie insists
on accompanying him. Their ill-fated journey ends in
a harrowing rescue, but along the way Calvin and Susie
examine (sweetly and humorously) their relationship,
ponder the big existential questions of life, and navigate
the perils of iced-over Lake Erie as they make their way
toward Cleveland and their unlikely meet-up with Watterson. Written as a letter
to Watterson (to fulfill a make-up English assignment), the first-person narrative
eschews quotation marks and dialogue tags, further blurring the lines between real
life and what’s in Calvin’s head. This is a shorter, more accessible, not-as-dark treat-
ment of teenage mental illness than Shusterman’s Challenger Deep (rev. 3/15), but
just as memorable. jonathan hunt
Not If I SeeYou First
by Eric Lindstrom
High School Poppy/Little, Brown 311 pp.
12/15 978-0-316-25985-9 $18.00 g
e-book ed. 978-0-316-25981-1 $9.99
Blind since being injured in a car accident when she was
seven, high school junior Parker Grant has created a set
of rules to help sighted people interact with her. Such
as: “Rule #11. Don’t be weird. Seriously, other than hav-
ing my eyes closed all the time, I’m just like you only
smarter.” Now that another high school has merged
with hers, there’s a new group of students who need to
learn The Rules; unfortunately, Parker didn’t expect one
of them to be Scott, her ex-boyfriend and unforgivable breaker of Rule #1 (“Don’t
deceive me. Ever. Especially using my blindness. Especially in public”). Parker
juggles her complicated feelings for Scott while dating a new guy, feeling distanced
from her best friend, and trying out for the track team—all, of course, experiences
teens who can see might face as well. In fact, the strength of this debut novel is that
Parker’s blindness isn’t her defining characteristic. Parker instead presents her chal-
lenges matter-of-factly, with a relentless need for independence and a killer sense
of humor, which falters only occasionally, as when, in the story’s most wrenching
moments, she grieves for her recently deceased father. This is a nuanced, compassion-
ate portrait of what it’s like to live with a disability and of a girl who’s much more
than her limitations. rachel l. smith

6. 84 The Horn Book Magazine November/December 2015 November/December 2015 The Horn Book Magazine 85
tough exterior hides a sensitive soul and whose abusive
father has made his life miserable. Together the teens
train Wally and become a sort-of couple, with Clair
not quite sure how she feels about Danny, despite
the good times they share working with the dog they
both care deeply about. Then Danny is arrested, and
Wally’s safety is threatened. Clair makes a simultane-
ously heartbreaking and hopeful decision about Wally’s
future that will have animal lovers in (mostly happy)
tears. In Monninger’s affecting but never mawk-
ish story, the main characters are fully realized, as is
Clair’s single dad, a biker whose Harley-loving ways
come to the rescue in a scene both comic and tender.
jennifer m. brabander
A History of Glitter and Blood
by Hannah Moskowitz
High School Chronicle 274 pp.
8/15 978-1-4521-2942-6 $18.99 g
“Once upon a time there were four fairies in the city who hadn’t been maimed.
The second youngest, the only girl, was Beckan Moloy.” Until recently, fairies had
existed in relative peace with gnomes—gnomes occasionally devouring a fairy, fairies
considering it fair exchange for gnomes’ manual labor—in the ancient fairy city of
Ferrum. The arrival of creatures called tightropers, come to “save” fairies from the
gnomes, has thrown that delicate balance into chaos, resulting in out-and-out war.
Beckan stays behind with Josha, Cricket, and Scrap (the other three young, still-
whole fairies) after the rest of the fairies abandon Fer-
rum. The friends must prostitute themselves to gnomes
in exchange for desperately needed food; this danger-
ous arrangement results in Beckan’s uneasy alliance
with gnome prince Tier and his fiancée Rig. She also
befriends Piccolo, a tightroper boy who dreams of unity
among races. Beckan’s story is initially presented by a
third-person, seemingly omniscient narrator—revealed
early on to be Scrap, trying to record and make sense
of what’s happening around him. His increasingly emo-
tional (and by his own admission, mostly invented and
therefore unreliable) account alternates past and present
tense, with sketches and other ephemera interspersed.
This complex narrative structure suits the friends’ con-
fusing circumstances as they begin to question who are
the oppressors and who the oppressed in Ferrum. Reminiscent of Holly Black and
Laini Taylor, this gritty fantasy/war story is also an exploration of love in many forms
(including same-sex romantic relationships, presented with refreshing matter-of-
factness) and creating a family of choice. katie bircher
ing as good uses of her time. But a boyfriend? That’s just irresponsible. Rose spends
much of the novel locked in paralyzing indecision about whether or not to be tested
for the gene, and what the results will mean for her future plans: college, a dance
career, a relationship. In Caleb, Rose finds a devoted, supportive friend, and later
boyfriend—but also one who doesn’t hesitate to call her on her crap, whether it’s
for her ongoing pity party or her utter cluelessness about racial injustice (Rose is
white, Caleb is African American). At times, Rose’s angst can be wearing, but her
realistically confused and complex anger and grief about her mother’s decline adds
poignancy. Readers will stick with Rose through her dilemma—and her decision—
rooting for her to make the choice that’s right for her. katie bircher
Izzy Barr, Running Star [Franklin School Friends]
by Claudia Mills; illus. by Rob Shepperson
Primary Ferguson/Farrar 136 pp.
4/15 978-0-374-33578-6 $15.99
e-book ed. 978-0-374-33579-3 $9.99
This third installment in the chapter book series (Kelsey Green, Reading Queen, rev.
5/13; Annika Riz, Math Whiz, rev. 5/14) focuses on Izzy Barr, one of those girls who
make the phrase “run like a girl” a compliment instead of an insult. Due to Izzy’s
love of running and dedication to practice, she is the fastest runner in the third
grade—except when classmate Skipper beats her. Not
only has Skipper just gotten some fancy track shoes, but
her dad is their P.E. teacher and the coach for Franklin
School’s Fitness Club, which trains students for the
citywide 10K race. Izzy desperately wants to beat her
rival, first at the upcoming school field day and then
at the 10K. The story’s other major tension involves
Izzy’s jealous feelings whenever her dad attends one of
her half-brother’s athletic events instead of hers. Mills
presents and resolves problems in a winning story, and
Shepperson’s depiction of Izzy as African American
adds some welcome diversity to this group of friends.
jennifer m. brabander
Whippoorwill
by Joseph Monninger
Middle School, High School Houghton 275 pp.
9/15 978-0-544-53123-9 $17.99
As in previous novels, including Baby (rev. 1/08), Hippie Chick (rev. 11/08), and
Finding Somewhere (2011), Monninger tells a moving tale of a life-changing relation-
ship between a human and an animal. Here, the animal is a dog, Wally, whose owner
has tied him to a post outside in the freezing-cold Vermont winter. Sixteen-year-old
neighbor Clair can hardly bear to listen to the lonely dog’s pitiful whining and sets
out to free him—only to have him drag her on a wild run through the woods. She
finds an unexpected ally in the dog-owner’s seventeen-year-old son, Danny, whose

7. 86 The Horn Book Magazine November/December 2015 November/December 2015 The Horn Book Magazine 87
documents. Throughout, Myers confronts head-on the racial realities of the pre–
Emancipation Proclamation era: an acquaintance is kidnapped and sold into slavery;
Juba must constantly reiterate his own humanity and his integrity as artist in the
face of the insulting “darky” entertainer jobs he is offered. Appended are an epilogue
clarifying fact from fiction, a timeline, and a note about Myers’s research methods
written by his wife, Constance Myers. katie bircher
H Dark Shimmer
by Donna Jo Napoli
High School Lamb/Random 358 pp.
9/15 978-0-385-74655-7 $16.99
Library ed. 978-0-385-90892-4 $19.99
e-book ed. 978-0-375-98917-9 $10.99
Napoli’s latest fairy-tale revisioning is set amongst the
beautiful homes and mysterious waters of fifteenth-
century Venice. Dolce grew up on a tiny island
believing that she was a monster: larger than every-
one else, awkward, and ugly. Her mother’s love and
her apprenticeship to a mirror-maker were the only
solaces in an otherwise lonely world. After Mamma’s
death, Dolce leaves home and is taken in by Marin
and Bianca, a kind father and daughter who introduce
her to Venetian high society, where she is considered beautiful. Though Dolce, soon
married to Marin, loves her stepdaughter, Bianca, the girl’s increasing beauty starts to
fill her with dread. Through loneliness, obsession, and the strange “dark shimmers”
that sometimes overtake her mind, she finds herself changing from a loving wife and
stepmother into “The Wicked One.” This is elegantly detailed historical fiction with
characters whose anguish cuts straight to the heart. Dolce’s journey from monster to
stepmother to monster again, including all of her wonder and fear, is related through
Napoli’s characteristic lush prose. Whenever the point of view shifts from Dolce’s
struggle against herself to Bianca’s compassionate perspective (or that of her seven
small and loyal rescuers), it becomes clear that not all wicked stepmothers were born
with evil in their hearts, but that some betrayals go past redemption nonetheless.
sarah berman
TheWrinkled Crown
by Anne Nesbet
Intermediate, Middle School Harper/Harper Collins 384 pp.
11/15 978-0-06-210429-8 $17.99 g
e-book ed. 978-0-06-210432-8 $9.99
In Linnet’s village surrounded by enchanted, wrinkled hills, girls mustn’t touch the
traditional stringed instrument, the lourka, before they’re twelve. But Linny (full
of “music fire”) has more than touched a lourka; she’s built one for herself. On her
twelfth birthday, she expects to die for her transgression. Instead, it’s her friend Sayra
who begins to fade into the unreachable realm called Away. Searching for a cure for
H Dumplin’
by Julie Murphy
High School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 375 pp.
9/15 978-0-06-232718-5 $17.99
“I’m fat. It’s not a cuss word. It’s not an insult. At least
it’s not when I say it.” Clover City, Texas, resident Wil-
lowdean “Will” Dickson has always been comfortable
with who she is: a cashier at Harpy’s Burgers & Dogs,
a Dolly Parton fan, and a fat girl. But the attention
of Bo, a co-worker she has a crush on, makes her feel
self-conscious; her insecurities only increase when she
decides to enter the town’s famous Miss Teen Blue
Bonnet beauty pageant to honor her deceased aunt.
Plus, her pageant-director mom is less than thrilled she’s
participating, and Will’s fighting with her best friend. On the other hand, Will has
the support of three other misfit pageant contestants; an encouraging drag queen;
and the guy she’s sort-of dating instead of Bo. Genuine, romantic, and with a dash
of Texan charm, this is a novel that celebrates being who you are while also acknowl-
edging that it’s incredibly difficult to do. And Will, who triumphs without losing
an ounce—either in weight or attitude—is a relatable messenger. As she takes the
stage on pageant night, wearing a swimsuit, she is at once vulnerable and coura-
geous. “I may be uncomfortable,” she acknowledges, “but I refuse to be ashamed.”
rachel l. smith
Juba!
by Walter Dean Myers
Middle School, High School Amistad/HarperCollins 202 pp.
10/15 978-0-06-211271-2 $17.99 g
e-book ed. 978-0-06-211274-3 $10.99
Myers’s posthumously published novel draws on
the historical record to imagine the life of legendary
African American dancer William Henry Lane (approx.
1825–1854), better known as Juba. Juba first makes
a name for himself in his late teens, performing in
and organizing a successful integrated dance gala in
New York City’s Five Points neighborhood. A chance
encounter with Charles Dickens (who lauds Juba’s
dancing in his book American Notes) opens the door to
a tour of Great Britain with Gil Pell’s minstrel group, The Serenaders. Knowing that
audiences will expect him to “coon it up,” Juba has misgivings; Pell convinces him,
insisting he wants the show to portray authentic African American music and dance.
Juba receives acclaim and meets his future wife, Sarah, but his success and happiness
are short-lived: he falls ill and dies alone in a Liverpool workhouse at age thirty, seek-
ing opportunities to perform right up to the end. Interspersed into Juba’s personable
first-person narration are reproductions of period maps, photos, and primary source

8. 88 The Horn Book Magazine November/December 2015 November/December 2015 The Horn Book Magazine 89
uge in a dilapidated, abandoned school being renovated
into a boarding house by quirky octogenarian Hildy
Baxter. Ren enjoys poking around the mysterious old
building and soon meets Hugh, a younger boy with a
penchant for spying. It turns out that Hildy is in search
of treasure—a stash of pearls collected during Fortune’s
button-making heyday (before the supply of mus-
sel- and clam shells dried up and the button factories
closed). It was intended to be Hildy’s nest egg, hidden
by her brother before he died in battle in the Korean
War. The mystery is a satisfying one, filled with dead
ends, scary moments, and surprising plot twists. How-
ever, it’s the relationships between the characters that
make this story memorable. Hildy holds her dwindling
town together, even when things seem to be falling apart; on the brink of young
adulthood, Ren learns to face her own fortune with reflection and grace. And one
thing is for sure: buttons will never look quite so insignificant again. The author’s
historical note rounds out this story in a satisfying way. robin smith
H All American Boys
by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
High School Dlouhy/Atheneum 316 pp.
9/15 978-1-4814-6333-1 $17.99
e-book ed. 978-1-4814-6335-5 $9.99
Teens Rashad (who is African American) and Quinn (who is white) are high school
classmates and not much more—neither even knows the other’s name. But when a
quick stop at the corner store for a bag of chips on a Friday night suddenly escalates
into a terrifying scene of police brutality, the two boys are linked and altered by the
violence—Rashad as its victim and Quinn as its witness. During the week follow-
ing the incident, and in alternating voices, the teens narrate events as Rashad deals
with his injuries and the unwanted limelight as the latest black victim in the news;
and as Quinn tries to understand how a cop he considers family could be capable of
such unprovoked rage, and where his loyalties are now
supposed to lie. Faced with an all-too-common issue,
both narrators must navigate opposing views from their
friends and families to decide for themselves whether to
get involved or walk away. Written with sharp humor
and devastating honesty, this nuanced, thoughtful novel
recalls the work of Walter Dean Myers and is worthy
of his legacy. Reynolds and Kiely explore issues of rac-
ism, power, and justice with a diverse (ethnically and
philosophically) cast of characters and two remark-
able protagonists forced to grapple with the layered
complexities of growing up in a racially tense America.
anastasia m. collins
Sayra before she’s gone for good, Linny and her lummoxy
friend Elias travel out of their magic land into countries
polarized by cultural rigidity—where mathematical preci-
sion, applied science, and artisanal craft contend against
one another, and peace is threatened by weapons that do
“something terrible to the structure of the world.” Nes-
bet’s fable (which gestures toward a sequel) explores the
relationship of science, logic, and imagination, forging
ahead with eventfulness and visual richness. A cozy, per-
sonable narrative voice punctuates the drama with light
humor: “You really should know someone well before
you talked about drowning him,” the narrator exclaims
to the reader; or “sometimes hiding is the right solution,
and sometimes a girl just has to run like the wind and
hope she’s faster than the angry people after her.” deirdre f. baker
The Bamboo Sword
by Margi Preus
Intermediate, Middle School Amulet/Abrams 340 pp.
9/15 978-1-4197-0807-7 $16.95
A dozen or so years on from the events chronicled in
Heart of a Samurai (rev. 9/10), American ships under
the command of Robert Perry have arrived in Japan,
determined to force the isolated country to open itself to
trade. Preus retells the world-changing effects of Perry’s
gunboat diplomacy through the eyes of two boys: Yoshi,
an abused servant who longs to be a samurai, and Jack,
cabin boy and powder monkey on Perry’s ship. Bolstered
by chapter-heading epigraphs, period illustration, and
rich appended material, the book is solidly historical but
allows its young heroes to remain at the center of what
never forgets to be an adventure story. Acquaintanceship with Heart of a Samurai
is not required, but fans of that book will cheer to see its protagonist, the histori-
cal figure Manjiro, play a key part in the boys’ story as well as the history, using his
own adventure with the Americans to bring the two proud countries to agreement.
roger sutton
Finding Fortune
by Delia Ray
Intermediate, Middle School Ferguson/Farrar 280 pp.
11/15 978-0-374-30065-4 $16.99 g
e-book ed. 978-0-374-30067-8 $9.99
Seventh grader Ren’s world is a mess. Her father moved out shortly before being
deployed to Afghanistan, and her mother seems to be running around with another
guy. So Ren runs away, if only to the nearby “ghost town” of Fortune. She finds ref-

9. 90 The Horn Book Magazine November/December 2015 November/December 2015 The Horn Book Magazine 91
H TheWolfWilder
by Katherine Rundell
Intermediate Simon 232 pp.
8/15 978-1-4814-1942-0 $16.99
e-book ed. 978-1-4814-1944-4 $10.99
Feodora and her mother, Marina, are “wolf
wilders” in early-twentieth-century Russia:
when aristocrats tire of their pet wolves (a status
symbol thought to bring good luck), the girl and
her mother reverse the wolves’ forced domestica-
tion, teaching the animals how to survive in the
wild despite the tsar’s orders to destroy them.
When the tsar’s Imperial Army, at the command
of bloodthirsty General Rakov, arrests Feo’s
mother for treason and burns down their house,
Feo—with the help of a young soldier, Ilya (who
has the heart of a dancer, not a fighter), and
her three wolf companions—makes her way to
Saint Petersburg to orchestrate Marina’s escape.
At first concerned only with herself and her
family (human and wolf), prickly Feo has her
eyes opened to the suffering of others by teenage
revolutionary Alexei, who enlists her little band
in fighting back against Rakov and the tsar. There are enough folkloric elements
to make the tale’s more implausible events (it’s awfully easy for Feo and company
to make their way past the guards into the city) feel like part of a grander tapestry:
when the children breach the prison, for example, their triumph is transcendent. At
the end, Rakov gets his comeuppance in appropriately gory (though offstage) fash-
ion; Ilya finds his footing; and Feo realizes you don’t need to keep your teeth bared
when you’re part of a pack. elissa gershowitz
H Orbiting Jupiter
by Gary D. Schmidt
Middle School Clarion 185 pp.
10/15 978-0-544-46222-9 $17.99
Jack’s new foster brother, Joseph, has a troubled past. The fourteen-year-old attacked
a teacher, was subsequently incarcerated at a juvenile detention center, and has a
baby daughter named Jupiter whom he’s never seen. At school, Joseph has a rough
time, with students and educators alike picking on him, but he grows to love the
daily routine of farm life. As Jack (a sixth grader) and his parents gradually peel away
Joseph’s cold veneer, it seems as if their family may be complete. But it soon becomes
clear that things will never be simple, as Joseph’s single-minded desire to parent his
daughter leads to strife. Then Joseph’s father comes violently back into the picture,
with tragic results. The ending is bittersweet but as satisfying as a two-box-of-tissues
tearjerker can possibly be (in the realm of juvenile fiction, Schmidt is the master of
An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes
by Randy Ribay
High School Merit Press 240 pp.
10/15 978-1-4405-8814-3 $17.99
e-book ed. 978-1-4405-8815-0 $12.99
[Books by Horn Book reviewers are not reviewed;
we provide notice of publication and descriptive
comment.] Archie, Mari, Dante, and Sam have been
friends since sixth grade, when they first started
playing Dungeons & Dragons together. Now high-
school seniors (and still D&D players), the four
embark on a cross-country road trip to help Sam try
to win back his longtime girlfriend. Mari and Dante
are black, Archie is white, Sam is Filipino; “We just
need an Indian chief and a cop,” quips Archie, whose
dad just came out as gay. (Dante is, too, but not quite out of the closet.) Ribay sets
up his characters’ dilemmas in alternating third-person sections for the first half of
the book, leading to the road trip scenes in which the friends’ copious issues are
unpacked. elissa gershowitz
Beastly Bones [Jackaby]
by William Ritter
Middle School Algonquin 296 pp.
9/15 978-1-61620-354-2 $17.95
Spring 1892 in New England’s bustling (fictional)
town of New Fiddleham finds British transplant
Abigail Rook still acting as assistant to paranormal
detective R. F. Jackaby (Jackaby, rev. 11/14). It’s a
job that requires “a somewhat flexible relationship
with reality.” Case in point: a client’s cat has turned
into a mackerel, and she’s now mama to a litter of
kitten-fish hybrids. The investigation soon takes
a darker turn when the pet owner is found mur-
dered, her body bearing a single puncture wound.
Could the killer be a vampire? Much too obvious a
hypothesis, thinks Jackaby; he’s “not ruling out the
Russian strigoi or Chinese jiang-shi. This is a country
of immigrants, after all.” Jackaby’s sense of humor,
ever droll and capricious, shines once again in this
sequel. The storytelling is just as solid and absorbing,
too, even with quite the crowd—shape-shifters, rival
paleontologists, an avid hunter, a livestock-pillaging predator, an intrepid journal-
ist—and there’s a bit of romance as well. It all keeps Jackaby and Abigail busy. Very
busy. And deliberately so, it seems—making for a tantalizing setup for book three.
tanya d. auger

10. 92 The Horn Book Magazine November/December 2015 November/December 2015 The Horn Book Magazine 93
H The Odds of Getting Even
by Sheila Turnage
Intermediate Dawson/Penguin 344 pp.
10/15 978-0-8037-3961-1 $16.99 g
Small Southern towns are seldom what they seem,
and Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, is no excep-
tion. Boasting a population of 148, it’s the site of a
string of felonies including murder, bank robbery,
and kidnapping. Throw in a ghost, and the per capita
offenses are enough for sixth-grade sleuths Dale, Mo,
and Harm to form the Desperado Detective Agency.
When Dale’s father, Macon, is accused of breaking
out of jail (see Three Times Lucky, rev. 7/12, and The
Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, rev. 1/14, for the back-
stories to his incarceration and other events in this
novel), the Desperados, particularly Mo, have to decide if they want to be successful
detectives or staunch friends. Does Mo, as de facto head of the group, follow her
gut and hunt down Macon, or does she relinquish power to Dale and support his
conviction that his father is innocent? Friendship prevails in this fine novel, with a
number of unobtrusive acts of kindness flourishing throughout. There’s a complexity
to the characters, from mean-as-a-snake Macon to drop-dead handsome Lavender,
all carefully developed throughout the series, creating a terrific read with a hint of at
least one more volume to come. betty carter
Zeroes
by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti
High School Simon Pulse 546 pp.
9/15 978-1-4814-4336-4 $19.99
e-book ed. 978-1-4814-4338-8 $10.99
Each of the five teens in “the Zeroes” has a unique supernatural ability; Thibault, for
instance, is impossible for people to remember or even notice without serious effort.
Leader Nate (“Bellwether”) gives the Zeroes code
names—Thibault’s is “Anonymous”—and runs simu-
lated training missions (training for what, exactly, is
not immediately clear, and never really becomes so).
An opportunity for a real mission arises when a Zero
gets himself into serious trouble: Ethan (“Scam”) uses
his preternaturally persuasive voice first to obtain a
duffel bag full of cash, and then again in an ill-
advised attempt to outmaneuver some bank robbers.
The Zeroes jailbreak Ethan, who’s being questioned
by the police, and in the process they cross paths
with Kelsie, another gifted teen. At five-hundred-plus
pages, with six main characters’ stories to follow (the
third-person chapters rotate perspective), this series
the emotional gut-punch). The heartbreak unfolds
organically and—in an impressive show of authorial
restraint—succinctly. Jack’s narrative voice reads like
a pithier Doug Swieteck (from Schmidt’s Okay for
Now, rev. 5/11), but there is definitely more than
a passing resemblance between the two characters
(and Jack’s gym teacher is the aforementioned Doug’s
older brother). Schmidt is at his most dynamic in his
sensory descriptions (ice-skating on a pond at night:
“the feel of the skates roughing and sliding over the
ice, the way your knees know what to do…the heat
on your toes, the cold on your eyes and the cold in
your mouth”). And so what if Jack and Joseph aren’t
the most realistic of teenagers? The boys’ big hearts
and the sadness of Joseph’s story will grab readers
nonetheless. sam bloom
A Bitter Magic
by Roderick Townley
Intermediate, Middle School Knopf 296 pp.
11/15 978-0-449-81649-3 $16.99
Library ed. 978-0-449-81650-9 $19.99 g
e-book ed. 978-0-449-81651-6 $10.99
When Cisley’s beautiful magician’s-assistant mother,
Marina, vanishes during Uncle Asa’s magic show, Cis-
ley and Uncle Asa return alone to their illusion-filled
glass-castle home, where Cisley—with the help of a
servant boy, Cole—searches Marina’s private rooms
for clues to her disappearance. But Uncle Asa disap-
proves of Cisley’s friendships with Cole and a Roma
girl, Anna, and forbids Cisley to leave the castle, forc-
ing her instead to use her newfound magical abilities
to help him create a black rose—the one thing
rumored to have the power to bring Marina back.
Cisley’s relationships—with her uncle; with Miss
Porlock, the “poor relation” who chaperones her;
with Cole and Anna; and with the local painter she
believes may be her father—initially appear to be ran-
dom affiliations, but as Cisley works to strengthen each connection, she distinguishes
herself from her self-absorbed mother and unpicks the snarled tangle of evidence
that leads her—finally—to the truth behind Marina’s disappearance. Disorientingly
bizarre elements (Cisley’s talking pet lobster, for example) leave readers off-kilter for
much of this very idiosyncratic book, but the plot has the internal cohesion to tie up
its own loose ends, repaying readers’ initial bewilderment with a gratifyingly wound-
up finish. anita l. burkam

11. 94 The Horn Book Magazine November/December 2015 November/December 2015 The Horn Book Magazine 95
Fiction ends at bottom of page 95
opener occasionally struggles to maintain its pace,
although curiosity about the various characters and
how their storylines relate—prior to the introduction of
the Zeroes as a team—will keep pages turning. There’s
plenty of time to flesh out each of the teens’ individual
motivations, their unusual abilities, and the repercus-
sions of using these powers carelessly: with great power
comes great…you know. katie bircher
H The Emperor of Any Place
by Tim Wynne-Jones
High School Candlewick 328 pp.
10/15 978-0-7636-6973-7 $17.99
“So much of grief is unlearning,” observes Wynne-Jones
in this perceptive and multi-layered page-turner. When Evan’s single father, Clifford,
dies suddenly, the high-schooler must work through his own grief while dealing
with Clifford’s estranged father Griff, a military man who Clifford had claimed was
a murderer. Griff’s also a control freak and is somehow tied to the strange book that
was sent to Clifford just before he died. As Evan reads the book—the translated
journal of a WWII Japanese soldier stranded on a mystical island with an American
Marine plane-crash survivor—he experiences a strange sense of déjà-vu. Wynne-
Jones skillfully weaves the World War II journal into Evan’s own story, building
suspense and keeping Griff’s part in the proceedings just obscure enough to create
a cracking mystery. The author’s conversational tone provides occasional comic
relief when things start to get too sinister, and the immediacy of his writing leads
to some evocative descriptive passages (such as when Evan and his father listen to
Miles Davis: “A night breeze stole into the room and was doing a slow dance under
the jazz. Evan could feel it on the back of his neck, the sweat on him cooling. He
shivered”). There’s a whole lot going on here: Evan’s and Griff’s shared heartbreak,
exhibited in very different ways, and their own increasingly complicated relationship;
the stark contrast between the mainly nondescript “Any Place” of Evan’s suburban
Ontario and the horror of the desert island; and the unlikely friendship between
enemy soldiers in the story-within-a-story. All these seemingly disparate parts
come together in fascinating ways, resulting in an affecting and unforgettable read.
sam bloom
Secret Coders
by Gene LuenYang; illus. by Mike Holmes
Intermediate First Second/Roaring Brook 92 pp.
9/15 978-1-62672-276-7 $17.99
Paper ed. 978-1-62672-075-6 $9.99
Creepy birds, locked doors, a crazy janitor. Stately Academy looks more like a
haunted house than a school—at least to twelve-year-old newcomer and narrator
Hopper. But she soon finds a like-minded ally in basketball star Eni. With a crucial
assist from Hopper’s earrings (which are shaped like 7s), Eni discovers that Stately’s
strange birds are actually robots whose eyes display
binary numbers. Nosing around campus, Hopper and
Eni then find a programmable turtle robot and pages
of code. A cliffhanger ending (which comes a bit too
soon) leaves the new friends—and readers—facing a
do-or-die programming challenge. It’s an inspired—and
inspiring—mash-up of computer science and mystery,
thanks in part to well-thought-out explanations and,
even more importantly, visuals. It’s notable that Hopper
is a girl; playing against type, she’s a hot-headed rookie
coder partnered with the even-keeled, more tech-savvy
Eni. At key moments, Hopper pauses the action and
pulls readers into the graphic novel, asking them, for
example, to use their new binary know-how to figure out a lock’s combination. It’s
a clever gambit that gets readers invested both in the programming concepts and in
the storyline. Convincing kids that coding “truly is magic” is Yang’s and Holmes’s
agenda here, and their series opener certainly does the trick. An author’s note is
appended. tanya d. auger
H Everything, Everything
by NicolaYoon; illus. by DavidYoon
High School Delacorte 311 pp.
9/15 978-0-553-49664-2 $18.99
Library ed. 978-0-553-49665-9 $21.99
e-book ed. 978-0-553-49666-6 $10.99
Yoon’s debut novel adds a twist to the time-honored
genre of a terminally ill teen seizing his or her final days:
for Maddie—who is suffering from Severe Combined
Immunodeficiency and, “allergic to the world,” hasn’t
left her house in seventeen years—it’s living to the fullest
that will kill her. Maddie is resigned to her sequestered
existence of online classes, voracious reading, and human
contact with only her devoted mother and a sympathetic
home nurse, until fellow teen Olly—isolated in his own
way by an abusive father and frequent relocation—moves
in next door. He and Maddie begin a secret friendship
that blossoms into romance, then escalates into euphoria
and then disaster when the couple runs away to Hawaii.
The amalgamation of brief narrative chapters, emails, chat transcripts, sketches, and
other visually distinct ephemera lends a jagged immediacy to this unconventional
love story, and the minimalist intensity of Yoon’s prose is well suited to the unfil-
tered wonder with which Maddie experiences the world outside her bubble. With
its assured twists, matter-of-fact presentation of a biracial protagonist, and sensi-
tive depiction of loneliness in many different forms, Everything, Everything offers
a thoughtful exploration of how we define life and living, while still delivering a
breathless romance. claire e. gross