Innholdsfortegnelse for Booklist, Vol. 121, No. 9/10, 1/1 & 1/15/2025 i Booklist

Welcome to the new year! As you’ll see, we’re kicking off 2025 with an issue full of readers’ advisory materials and a look ahead to exciting trends and forthcoming books. In addition to featuring our ever-popular Top 10 and High-Demand Hot Lists, our editors and contributors set the stage for 2025 with read-alikes and other features brimming with exciting recommendations for book groups and middle-grade readers. The themes and titles showcased in Reading and Listening Together (p.12) will pique readers’ interests, along with Spanish Sure Bets for Adult Readers (p.6). In our Youth section, don’t miss the Book Map: The Global Reach of Rick Riordan (p.78) and Talking With: Renee Watson (p.74). In Audio, check out Walking Audiobook Club (p.88) and (this is one of my favorites in the issue)…

Renée Watson is no stranger to making challenging subjects accessible to middle-grade and young-adult readers. In her newest work, All the Blues in the Sky (reviewed on p.72), Watson presents a lyrical novel in verse about processing grief, through the eyes of 13-year-old Sage, who has recently lost her best friend in an devastating accident. I had the opportunity to chat with Watson on grief, novels in verse, and tackling tough topics for middle-grade and young YA readers. Ashley Leffel: In your books you’ve dealt with Black girl joy, race, class, gender, and now grief. Why did you decide to tackle this particular topic? Renée Watson: I wrote All the Blues in the Sky shortly after we were coming out of quarantine and the pandemic, when a lot of people…

Roz and Brightbill have successfully migrated from the pages of Peter Brown’s beloved novel to the big screen. For those showing the movie, here are some related STEM resources and activities to extend the film’s many learning opportunities, ideal for grades 2–6. TECHNOLOGY Roz is a robot programmed to learn from her environment and perform helpful tasks, but human inventions have also been inspired by the natural world. Coding with Basher: Coding with Scratch. By The Coder School. Illus. by Simon Basher. Kingfisher, 2019. How Do Computers Follow Instructions? A Book about Programming. By J. T. Liso. Illus. by Srimalie Bassani. Flowerpot, 2019. Robots: Explore the World of Robotics and AI. By Henny Admoni. Illus. by Amy Grimes. Macmillan/Neon Squid, 2024. Unstoppable: True Stories of Amazing Bionic Animals. By Nancy…

Philosophy & Psychology From the Heart: A Memoir and Meditation on a Vital Organ. By Jeffrey L. Kosky. Feb. 2025. 336p. Columbia Univ., paper, $32 (9780231217651). 158.1. The human heart is a sensational biological pump, a symbol, and the subject of idioms. You might have a “heart of gold,” be “broken-hearted,” experience “a change of heart,” or own a “restless heart.” Kosky, a professor of religion, seems a bit “downhearted” in his reflections on his successful open-heart surgery and apprehension about his future health. In childhood he was diagnosed with congenital aortic insufficiency (a leaky heart valve). At age 50, Kosky developed troubling cardiac symptoms and underwent an aortic valve replacement operation. The surgery reconfigured his priorities and altered his sense of security. He writes, “From now on, my heart…

From topical nonfiction to the story of a café operated by giantcats, these books, reviewed in Booklist from February 15, 2024, through December 1, 2024, offer book groups of all stripes much to discuss. —Susan Maguire Nonfiction Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II. By Elyse Graham. 2024. Ecco, $30 (9780063280847). James Bond has nothing on the librarians and historians who formed the OSS in the early days of WWII; this book is a powerful symphony celebrating these unsung heroes who helped bring down the Nazi state. By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land. By Rebecca Nagle. 2024. Harper, $32 (9780063112049). A thrilling legal exposé scrutinizes one Supreme Court case, which upheld the existence of the…

I get asked about AI translation all the time these days: aren’t I afraid AI is going to take my job? At first, the question would throw me off a bit. Being right of mind, I would never willingly get into a self-driving car or undergo a procedure with an AI surgeon, so why on Earth would I want a life-altering document like a contract to be translated by a machine? What if it makes a mistake and I lose a lot of money or my house or my life? Last September, The Guardian reported on the use of AI translation in interviews with asylum seekers and how these translations get things wrong on matters that have life-and-death consequences. Are you really going to trust a machine over a human?…

Adult Firefly Wedding, v.1. By Oreco Tachibana. Art by the author. Jan. 2025. 216p. VIZ Media, paper, $11.99 (9781974751518). 741.5. In this action romance, a young woman finds herself entangled with a dangerous assassin amid a plot to end her life even more prematurely than the weakened heart destined to kill her. This is a high-octane romance that tears across the page, laced with melancholic foreboding. Satoko, the beautiful daughter of a count, only has one goal: marry well enough to bring honor to her family before her weak heart ends her life. But everything changes when she is kidnapped and an assassin, Shinpei, is ordered to kill her. Desperate to live, Satoko makes an unexpected proposal—marriage. To her relief and horror, Shinpei agrees, and Satoko is now engaged to…

Graphicnovels for middle-grade readers continue to flourish, and as these 10 titles, reviewed in Booklist between July 2024 and December 2024, demonstrate, there’s an impressive array of genres and topics to satisfy a wide range of readers. —Sarah Hunter Boy vs. Shark. By Paul Gilligan. Art by the author. 2024. Tundra, $20.99 (9781774880449). Gr. 5–8. Paul watches Jaws to impress his best bud, but it leaves him with overwhelming anxiety not only about sharks but about the future of their friendship. Buckle Up. By Lawrence Lindell. Art by the author. 2024. Random/RH Graphic, $21.99 (9780593479797). Gr. 3–6. Navigating life with newly divorced parents, Lonnie frequently finds himself trapped in the car, but the conversations started there lead to better family understanding. Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat.…

Older Readers All Better Now. By Neal Shusterman. Feb. 2025. 528p. Simon & Schuster, $21.99 (9781534432758). Gr. 9–12. Shusterman, known well for the Scythe and Unwind series, shows what post-pandemic narratives might look like in this contemporary dystopia. The world is once again in the throes of another global pandemic—Crown Royale. Some succumb to the virus and pass on. The remaining survivors, however, are afflicted with noxious serenity and blocked inhibitions. The narrative follows three teens whose experiences with the virus are as disparate as their lives, which eventually intertwine. Mariel is independent, pragmatic, and living out of her car. Rón is the insecure, restless son of a tech billionaire. Morgan, cunning and driven, is given the opportunity of a lifetime to concoct a vaccine. The ensemble contends with privilege,…

These top 10 fantastical middle-grade novels, reviewed in Booklist between February 15, 2024, and December 1, 2024, showcase the genre’s breadth, covering everything from classical adventure to modern mystery. A Game of Noctis. By Deva Fagan. 2024. Atheneum, $17.99 (9781665930192). Gr. 4–7. Desperate to save her grandfather, Pia joins a band of misfits in order to compete in the ultimate competition, Noctis, which pits them against Lady Death herself. The House with a Dragon in It. By Nick Lake. Illus. by Emily Gravett. 2024. Simon & Schuster, $18.99 (9781665955683). Gr. 3–5. When a sinkhole appears in her foster family’s living room, Summer finds herself face to face with an ancient dragon and caught up in a magical adventure. Impossible Creatures. By Katherine Rundell. Illus. by Ashley Mackenzie. 2024. Knopf, $19.99…

Adult Fiction The Collaborators. By Michael Idov. Read by Santino Fontana. 2024. 8.5hr. Simon & Schuster Audio, DD (9781797186450). This short and enjoyable international spy romp sees the path of ’90s-music-loving CIA agent Ari Falk, operating in the former Soviet bloc, cross with Maya Chou, an L.A.-based heiress whose father’s death raises suspicions. The book is set in 2021 and has the added twist of including some COVID-19 tropes (nothing central to the story, just a part of background life.) This one has it all in terms of spy novels: international settings, intrigue, and shoot-outs, and things do get spicy between Falk and Chou. The narration is strong, marred only by the reader’s use of (brace yourself) “JIF” instead of “GIF.” Otherwise, it is well-paced with a recognizable panoply of…

This edition of our High-Demand Hot List showcases lots of big April books as well as a few that look a little farther into the future, from rom-coms to speculative novels and from memoirs and nonfiction to a historical fiction novel by a best-selling writer of legal thrillers. —Susan Maguire Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. By V. E. Schwab. Tor, $29.99 (9781250320520). Jun. The latest from Schwab (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, 2020; The Fragile Threads of Power, 2023) promises to be a genre-defying powerhouse, following three young women in three different time lines whose lives entangle in unexpected ways. Great Big Beautiful Life. By Emily Henry. Berkley, $29 (9780593441299). Apr. In best-selling Henry’s latest rom-com, an octogenarian former tabloid princess is ready to tell all in…

General Fiction The American No. By Rupert Everett. Feb. 2025. 320p. Atria, $28.99 (9781668076453); $14.99 (9781668076477). An American no, in Everett’s parlance, is that unique entertainment-industry rejection bathed in the insincere language of acceptance. A project pitch is greeted with open arms and closed minds and wallets. Enthusiasm dies when the office door closes. Actor, versatile writer, and documentarian Everett is no stranger to these occurrences and bases this collection’s stories on the dismissals he has endured. The promise of love and remembrance is celebrated in such sweeping tales as “The Last Rites” and “Ten-Pound Pom.” The indignities and vagaries of fame and the pursuit of fortune are skewered in the campy “Cuddles and Associates.” Oscar Wilde gets his due in “Sebastian Melmoth,” as does Marcel Proust in “The End…

As manga sections continue to grow throughout libraries, one potential programming option for promoting the section is to host book clubs focusing on manga, and for readers who might be intimidated by the length of many manga series, single-volume titles are a great entry point. Here are some suggestions for single-volume manga for a variety of age groups (in ascending grade-range order), as well as some discussion topics to inspire good conversations. Hana-chan and the Shape of the World. By Ryotaro Ueda. Art by the author. Yen. Gr. 4–10. Hana is precocious and gets into many misadventures with her friends while a typhoon is raging over her town. She continuously finds herself in dire situations but miraculously escapes them through the ingenuity of her friends. The short stories in this…

Older Readers Earthrise: The Story of the Photograph That Changed the Way We See Our Planet. By Leonard S. Marcus. Mar. 2025. 160p. illus. Farrar, $21.99 (9780374392116). Gr. 7–10. 629.454. Earthrise, a color photograph taken on December 24, 1968, is one of the most powerful, memorable photos in human history. The photographer, Bill Anders, was one of three astronauts circling the moon during NASA’s Apollo 8 mission. Anders’ background was in nuclear engineering rather than the arts, but the three Apollo 8 crew members were the first people ever to see Earth while circling the moon, and the sight of the planet moved them. Today the photo continues to move people with its view of Earth rising above the moon’s horizon. Many credit the photo with inspiring the environmental movement…

Are You a Friend of Dorothy? The True Story of an Imaginary Woman and the Real People She Helped. By Kyle Lukoff. Illus. by Levi Hastings. Simon & Schuster, $19.99 (9781665931663). PreS–Gr. 3. Apr. Acclaimed author Lukoff turns to nonfiction in this account of the covert ways LGBTQ-IA people connected to find safety and acceptance in the mid twentieth century. A Day at the Beach. By Gary D. Schmidt and Ron Koertge. Illus. by Yaoyao Ma Van As. Clarion, $18.99 (9780063380929). Gr. 3–6. Apr. Two middle-grade powerhouses join forces in this all-in-one-day novel about a group of kids whose lives intersect during a visit to the Jersey shore. Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown. By Candace Fleming. Random/Anne Schwartz, $19.99 (9780593480069). Gr. 9–12. Apr.…

A World Worth Saving is not a middle-grade novel that offers answers. Much as protagonist A Izenson, a 14-year-old Ashkenazi Jewish trans boy, wishes for them, this is a story compelled to ask questions instead. Nearly 40 percent of trans youth live in states where there are laws banning gender affirming care, and through fantasy, Lukoff explores the impact of these laws and other relevant topics. Save Our Sons and Daughters (SOSAD)—that’s the name of the anti-trans conversion therapy group that A is forced to attend every week by his parents. Since he came out to them, he’s been going by his first initial, A, as he tries to discover the perfect name. But his parents, among many others, have become obsessed with a so-called transgender craze that they’re desperate to…

Novels exploring the the tween experience, capturing precious but oft-challenging times riddled with new, big feelings, have gained admirable traction over the past few years, finding their ground in the nebulous space between middle-grade and young adult titles. These great novels—all reviewed in Booklist between February 15, 2024, and December 1, 2024—speak well to that enigmatic realm. The Bletchley Riddle. By Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin. 2024. Viking, $18.99 (9780593527542). Gr. 5–8. Powerhouses Sepetys and Shenkin collaborate on this WWII novel, in which 14-year-old Lizzie joins her 19-year-old brother in London, and the pair becomes enmeshed in efforts to break Germany’s Enigma codes while searching for their missing American mother. Boy 2.0. By Tracey Baptiste. 2024. Little, Brown, $16.99 (9781643753812). Gr. 7–10. Serial foster kid Win “Coal” Keegan’s world turns…

This year’s list of discussable titles on audio is heavy on short stories and full casts—two elements that can make an audiobook listener out of the most devoted print reader. Dearborn. By Ghassan Zeineddine. Read by Sarab Kamoo and Qarie Marshall. 2023. 7.5hr. Dreamscape, DD, $24.99 (9781666646351). A debut short-story collection provides many avenues for viewing varied lives in Dearborn, Michigan’s Muslim community. Two narrators display excellent accent work. Exodus: The Shanghai Jews. By Kate McAll. Performed by a full cast. 2023. 1.5hr. L.A. Theatre Works, DD (9781682661796). This full-cast stage play portrays Jewish sojourners as they seek freedom, leaving listeners with a feeling that they have seen through a window into the hearty souls of these survivors. Five-Star Stranger. By Kat Tang. Read by Julian Cihi. 2024. 7hr. Simon…

This year’s Voice of Choice, André Santana, was “plummeted into audiobooks” by a friend’s recommendation of Rin Chupeco’s The Bone Witch in 2019. The dive was so deep, just a few years later, in 2024, he performed in more than 70 titles. Santana says, “The fortune of getting fantastic books has really helped me along in my career and I see myself doing this for decades to come.” André Santana: The first book I ever narrated was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. I spent months communicating with the publisher and the author. I listened to interviews to craft the character based on the author’s unique accent, and I had a disastrously difficult few nights trying to edit the entire title by hand. I loved the book and…