D is detective daring to venture into ODDITY WOODS, by Kay Davault (YA Graphic Novel) #A2Z

Apr4
Teen girl holding a glowing magnifying glass points to her right, followed by a teen boy in glasses grasping an electronic device, with a ghostly dog floating behind them as they run away from a spooky building and red-eyed creature - book cover of Oddity Woods, graphic novel by Kay Davault.

Dad suddenly missing,
town police won’t help…
teen detective has her first case!

“Deep in the woods, a ghost train appears, then steals your soul if you ride it.” (pg. 38) – made-up story to keep kids away from the deep forest or how The Conductor kidnapped her dad?

Three weeks since receiving a strange transmission sent Dad from their remote cabin to the woods, and Marietta knows it’s time to go find him, armed with his magical magnifying glass.

Rebuffed by local police, the 13 year old heads into the woods alone, encountering a ghost dog, a terrified (alive) young man, and a derelict train station – where the ghost train stops!

Can they ride the ghost train and stay alive?
Which beings at the Labyrinth Inn are the real monsters?
Will the creatures of Oddity Woods let Marietta and Wyatt live?

Trying to locate Marietta’s dad and find their way back to the real world, Marietta and Wyatt must solve puzzles, outrun evil, and decide who they can trust in this vibrant graphic novel, first in a planned trilogy.

What’s your favorite paranormal beastie?
**kmm

Book info: Oddity Woods / Kay Davault. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2025. [author/illustrator site https://www.kaydavault.com/about-contact] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Oddity-Woods/Kay-Davault/Oddity-Woods/9781665915830] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

C is COSTUMES FOR TIME TRAVELERS – to save them from being erased? by A. R. Capetta (YA fiction) #A2Z

Apr3
book cover of Costumes For Time Travelers, by A. R. Capetta, published by Candlewick Press, shows two people in vibrant medieval costumes nearly kissing in front of a bright window, their faces blurred by swooping veils of curtains.

Just hike from one time to another,
with your time boots…

Time travelers eagerly seek out the costume shop in Pocket to get the right clothing for their next locale and era, where Calisto will stay put, thank you very much.

When Grandmother departs for her childhood hometown, she leaves Calisto in charge of the shop, telling them not to take on any new travelers.

But surely not Fawkes, who appears from the moons festival sky, who himself has met Calisto countless times, although they’re meeting him for the first time…

Off he goes to Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, clad in proper attire, thanks to Calisto, leaving an extra pair of time boots for them (as if they would ever want to hike through time…ha!).

Oh no! Time Wardens crash in, intent on stopping time travel and erasing Fawkes, who can hop from era to era without walking through the timelands!

Next, Korsika arrives in Pocket to meet up with Fawkes, learns where/when he is, then steals the time boots’ secret formula!

Reluctantly donning time boots to chase after the thief, Calisto races to find Fawkes at the Globe, and the pair barely escapes the Time Wardens.

Away to Fawkes’ old friend in ancient Crete, who tells them where Korsika may be headed, then off to intercept him at the dawn of a new millennium before he breaks the timelands!

Paperback releases in late May 2026 with a new cover, but I prefer this original cover art.

Which era of time would you hike to with your time boots?
**kmm

Book info: Costumes For Time Travelers / A.R. Capetta. Candlewick Press, 2025. [author site https://onceandfuturestories.com/#441af115-aefa-4541-8b8b-f847c3851ea7] [publisher site https://www.candlewick.com/9781536233711/costumes-for-time-travelers/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

B is A BITE OF PEPPER, young vampire finding herself, by Balazs Lorinczi (YA Graphic Novel) #A2Z

Apr2
On roof's edge near a streetlamp, a seated dark-haired girl wearing a bat-winged backpack looks back at a standing blonde girl who watches a leashed vampire puppy chase butterflies in the sky, on book cover of graphic novel A Bite of Pepper, by Balazs Lorinczi.

Skateboarding,
loving on her pup,
does she have to lock in her future already?

As a born-vampire, teen Pepper isn’t immortal – yet. Once she takes a bride (any gender) and they turn together, their age and appearance will be set… forever.

Despite her mom’s pressure to choose, she’s not ready yet, not grown into her true self. Just-younger half-brother Jeb may defy tradition and turn immortal first – the upcoming human-vampire Gala is when many announce their brides and turn each other.

Meeting college art student Ana is refreshing – she really appreciates Pepper’s skateboarding talent and adores immortal puppy Shroom. Pepper’s mom hires her to work in the family bookshop, so the pair happily get to spend more time together.

Ana’s art class illustration project of Pepper’s amazing skateboard tricks is turned into an edgy skateboard brand by Jeb, who looks to the rich vampires’ Human Relations Council for start-up funding.

Will the Council help if neither Jeb nor Pepper are full vampires yet?
Does Ana really like Pepper for herself or just as a skateboard model?
Do they all have to become real adults right now!?

In a human and vampire world where B+ juice keeps vampires healthy without human blood, Pepper has to decide how much of her self she’ll let others control.

Lorinczi portrays his characters in pink, black, and lavender rather than the usual black and red.

Other “non-traditional” vampire books you’d recommend?
**kmm

Book info: A Bite of Pepper / Balazs Lorinczi. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2025. [author/illustrator site https://balazslorinczi.carrd.co/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Bite-of-Pepper/Balazs-Lorinczi/9781665970464] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

A is for AROUND THE WORLD ON 80 HORSES, by Jill Newton (nonfiction) #A2ZA

Apr1
Book cover of Around the World on 80 Horses, by Jill Newton. Shows an English jumping horse with rider, black stallion, pair of Clydesdale draft horses in harness, barrel-racing horse with rider, pack horse , and prancing palomino horse, surrounding title with globe in background.

Clydesdale and Kabardian,
Shetland and Ferghana,
Appaloosa and Lipizzaner and Paso Fino – so many amazing horses!

Gallop across the globe as horses are introduced by the geographic region where they developed the particular characteristics that make each horse breed unique.

Trot into the world of horses and humans at work and in sport together through history, meeting famous real-life horses and those of legend.

Learn more about horses from nose to tail, how they evolved different sizes, colors, and temperaments, and meet their interesting relatives.

The most ardent horse fancier will find much new information in this book, where the author/illustrator challenges readers to find all 80 living breeds of horses in its pages, including those that roam free to this day.

Download the free activity pack and printable Horse Bingo game at https://childsplaybooks.myshopify.com/products/9781786288080 .

What’s your favorite fact about horses?
**kmm

Book info: Around the World on 80 Horses / Jill Newton. Child’s Play, Inc., 2024. [publisher site https://childsplaybooks.myshopify.com/products/9781786288080] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher via Publisher Spotlight.

Already time for April AtoZ Challenge? Zounds! (reflective)

Mar31
Logo for 2026 A to Z, Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2010-2026, with flower and butterfly on marbled background. a-to-zchallenge.com

I’ve read lots and lots in the past several months, but summoning the energy and attention to write recommendations about the best has been difficult.

But here comes April, and another A2Z Challenge beckons http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/.

I’ve successfully completed this challenge every year since 2011, so why stop now?

So every April day except Sundays, I’ll recommend a book from under-represented authors and smaller presses for teens, tweens, and kids – with no ads, no AI, and no spoilers.

In the face of terrible news and technological garbage-flood, I’ll bring you 26 books from A to Z – charming and challenging, entertaining and informational – and hopefully get back to posting more regularly.

The hardest part of April A2Z? Finding the books for Q and Z.
The next hardest part? Starting to write again, so here we go!

**kmm

Six kawaii kitties on holiday – so cute! FALLING IN LOVE WITH A TRAVELING CAT, by Juno (Graphic Novel)

Jun26
Book cover of Falling in Love With a Traveling Cat, graphic novel by Juno. Six kitties standing on their short hind legs are moving to the left, ready for travel with backpacks, rolling suitcases, snack bag, camera on strap around one's neck, another with purse slung across its body. Most are tabby cats colored orange, tan, grey & white.

First, we plan.
Next, we pack.
Then, we go traveling!

Six soft, cute, often bemused Mofusand cats prepare to travel all over Japan, and their illustrator Juno invites us along for the fun.

Squished in the subway, relaxed on the plane, their first stop is the aquarium, where they talk to dolphins, enjoy the Baby Penguin Cafe, and walk with them in the parade.

On to the amusement park, with exciting rides and yummy snacks served by roller-skating kitty waitresses.

Ahh, relaxing outdoors, cooking over the campfire, napping in hammocks, whooshing on bicycles, and watching birds at a picnic.

Beach time! So many water activities and lovely frozen treats! [short-legged, long-bodied cats in bikinis = not your everyday swimsuit models]

Every prefecture of Japan is represented as the cats wear symbolic costumes like a white peach for Okayama and a deer from Nara.

These cats love eating, so they try food from every prefecture, too – curry soup from cold Hokkaido, Takoyaki octopus balls from Osaka, crunchy waffle cookies from Hyogo.

Relaxing at the hot springs is a great way to wrap up a vacation, as the kitties soak in hot tubs large and small, enjoy the sauna and massage – and evening banquet, of course!

Heading home with lots of souvenirs and treats and great memories, as well as the “Mofustagram” posts they sent along their journey.

Perhaps you’ve seen Mofusand cats with fried shrimp as headwear on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mofu_sand/; this first Mofusand illustrated book was published in Japan in 2022, then recently brought to English-language audiences.

Where in Japan would you like to visit with these traveling cats?
**kmm

Book info: Falling in Love With a Traveling Cat / Juno; translated by Mari Marimoto. Kakadawa, 2022; Udon Entertainment, 2024. [artist site https://mofusand.co/blogs/news/who-is-juno-the-artist-behind-mofusand] [publisher site https://store.udonentertainment.com/products/falling-in-love-with-a-traveling-cat-mofusands-1st-illustration-book] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher via Publisher Spotlight.

Amid the pandemic’s first autumn, THERE IS A DOOR IN THIS DARKNESS, if she can find it! by Kristin Cashore (YA fiction)

Jun24
Book cover of There Is a Door in This Darkness, by Kristin Cashore. A maze with several entrances encloses and surrounds the words of the title on a background of streaky cloudy sky.

Seven people, one apartment,
one pandemic, college deferred –
who is she anymore?

Wilhelmina’s best friends and their families are in a Covid-pod together without her, and the Boston teen misses them enormously. She can always sense where people are in a building, and text messages just aren’t the same.

Her gap year has turned into running all the errands and trying to keep her younger siblings at bay while Mom and Dad work from home; her Aunts (actually great-aunts) are now here too, missing late Aunt Frankie as much as Wilhelmina does.

Tomorrow “your doughnut will be stale!” a fortune-teller tells her from 6 feet away. “Trust Wil-helm-ina” sparkles the message she sees parachuting from the snowy sky while walking in the cemetery for solitude; well-masked classmate James saw a white owl drop it!

The next day, she chooses just-fried doughnut from James’ Italian-Chinese-American family’s bakery – somehow, it is stale…

She sees James in the cemetery again, and he’s glowing at the edges. The Temperance tarot card that Frankie gave her long ago changes to “Trust Ray” in sparkles. Huh?!

What if the aunts’ mail ballots don’t arrive from Pennsylvania in time?
Could she really drive them home as the pinched nerves in her neck and arm flare with pain?
Why is James now in her recurring Aunt Frankie dream?

Chapters for each day of her pivotal week in November 2020 alternate with those filled with wonderful memories of childhood and teen summers spent with the Aunts at their lovely rural Pennsylvania home.

These strands of past and present story weave together satisfyingly and realistically and a bit magically as Wilhelmina navigates the current crisis to find herself at last.

This contemporary work of magical realism by the author of the Graceling fantasy epics is now available in paperback and definitely deserves your reading attention.

Where were you during November 2020, before the vaccines were available?
**kmm

Book info: There Is A Door In This Darkness / Kristin Cashore. Dutton Books /Penguin, hardcover 2024, paperback 2025. [author site https://kristincashore.com/books/there-is-a-door-in-this-darkness/] [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/313481/there-is-a-door-in-this-darkness-by-kristin-cashore/] Review copy checked out from my local public library; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Ice caps vanished, father not returned – her only hope against TERRA ELECTRICA: THE GUARDIANS OF THE NORTH! by Antonia Maxwell (MG fiction)

Jun18
Book cover of Terra Electrica: The Guardians of the North, by Antonia Maxwell. Atop a hill, a girl in summer clothes shoots magenta-colored lightning from her hands. Standing with her are a howling wolf and gigantic polar bear roaring at the Northern Lights above them. Two ravens fly to them through the magenta night sky, forest and high mountains in the distance.

Only she and her father survived the electrical sickness that killed everyone in their far-north village, where snow never ever comes now, Arctic animals long gone, polar ice caps melted away.

When he doesn’t return from weeks of hunting, 12-year-old Mani decides to search for her father, urged onward by the Polar animal spirits she meets after donning her late mother’s ancestral wooden mask.

The science man Leo is still alive, but his eyes show the Terra Electrica sickness. Somehow, Mani’s touch when holding a flashlight cures him!

Leo says they must travel north to The Ark where the other scientists are, to see if her father is there and figure out why Mani isn’t affected by the Terra Electrica. Maybe they can save the rest of humankind…

Their journey is long and dangerous, dragging their sled of supplies across muck that used to be iced-over, making a raft from driftwood and plastic bottles to cross a bay, encountering people who don’t trust Ark scientists or anyone coming from the Terra Electrica-affected zones.

Whenever she can, Mani goes back into the world of the mask, to hear wisdom from Ooshaka the polar bear and Crow and Eagle and Wolf, to seek her ancestors in the old land of ice, to listen for her mother’s spirit…

Oh! This large group also heading for The Ark says they have things to trade… things like weapons!?

Is her father really at The Ark?
What caused the Terra Electrica?
Can Ooshaka’s advice help Mani survive?

Mani’s perils due to extreme climate change remind us of the power we have in our present time to prevent future disaster.

How far north have you gone?
**kmm

Book info: Terra Electrica: The Guardians of the North / Antonia Maxwell. Neem Tree Press, 2024. [author site https://www.antoniamaxwell.com/about] [publisher site https://neemtreepress.com/book/terra-electrica-the-guardians-of-the-north/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Adventure! Villains! Hugs! INSCRUTABLE DOCTOR BAER & THE CASE OF THE TWO-HEADED STATUE, by Jerzy Drozd (graphic novel)

Jun17
Book cover of The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Headed Monster, graphic novel by Jerzy Drozd. A suit-attired bear with a complex magic staff and book races to escape a huge malevolent creature spewing crimson gore, followed by a piglet in a hooded cloak and a giant tortoise.

Cursed objects,
their histories carefully chronicled,
their spirits welcome to stay safely here!

Pickles the pig and Taft the gigantic tortoise are sure that seeing the many strange and scary curiosities in Doctor Baer’s collection will prepare them for dangers they’ll face later as aspiring adventurers.

Magic protects all entrances to the Doctor’s always-night mansion, so when Taft gets stuck in the doorway, evil sorcerer Gallus rushes through the gap to steal the powerful Stone Guardian statue!

Pickles and Taft fight against the sorceror’s battlesteed Wilhemina, toppling the statue which breaks in four pieces, each snatched by an again-cursed being that flees the mansion with its prize!

The four wisps of elemental magic released from the Guardian attach themselves to Doctor Baer’s staff and assist the crew of adventurers as they race against Gallus and Wilhemina to find all four artefacts.

Can the map in Doctor Baer’s painstakingly curated volume of daemon knowledge locate the pieces?
Do a tiny pig, a gigantic tortoise, and a professorial bear have any chance against evil Gallus and powerful Wilhemina?
Will the world ever be safe if Gallus can reassemble the Stone Guardian?

A graphic novel filled with the power of friendship and magic (especially hug magic), more adventure than Doctor Baer ever imagined, and darn cute characters trying to overcome obstacles to help others!

Full disclosure: I backed this graphic novel on Kickstarter and liked the PDF so well that I purchased a print copy from Bookshop.org!

Who is your favorite comic critter?
**kmm

Book info: The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Headed Monster / Jerzy Drozd, with color assistance from Aaron Polk, Sarah Pagliaro, Chloe Cordero, Steve Hamaker, Daniel Connor. Iron Circus Comics, 2024. [author site https://jdrozd.com/doctorbaer/] [publisher site https://store.ironcircus.com/products/the-inscrutable-doctor-baer-and-the-case-of-the-two-faced-statue] Personal copy; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Under the sea or stay on the land? THE SELKIE’S DAUGHTER is torn, by Linda Crotta Brennan (MG fiction)

Jun11
Book cover of The Selkie's Daughter, by Linda Crotta Brennan. A half-transformed selkie, currently part-girl and part-seal, sits on a rock at the mouth of a sea-cave with her seal-tail in the water, gazing out at the ocean.

Life is good on Finn’s Point, with Da’s music and Mum’s stories and little brother Willie, away from their isolated Nova Scotia fishing village.

If only Brigit didn’t have webbing between her fingers, proof of Mum’s selkie heritage, like the sealskin that Mum occasionally dons to transform herself into a seal in order to visit with her kinfolk in the sea.

The tween has long endured school bullies and town gossip that Mum came out of the sea, that Da’s nets must be enchanted to catch so many fish, but now they say that the new priest’s nephew is his son!

Truly, Peter is Father Angus’s sister’s son, seeing the sea for the first time after losing both parents to illness in Manitoba on their prairie farm. The schoolboy studies things scientifically so he can become a doctor and help others survive.

Oh! Someone is killing baby seals for their skins, when everyone knows it’s forbidden. Brigit sees visions of the seal families’ terror and anger when her selkie cousins venture into the secret cove near Finn’s Point.

Diphtheria sweeps through town, killing folks old and young, and people say the selkies are to blame!

As unseasonable storms blast town and endanger the fishing fleet, Brigit knows that she must try to convince the Great Selkie to relent and lift the bane.

Peter and her cousin Margaret help her plan for the difficult trip, with Peter lighting a candle in his uncle’s church before they go, “God made the rules of science and the sea. Wouldn’t hurt to have Him on our side.” (pg. 129)

Will the Great Selkie listen to Brigit?
Are her parents safe out on the storm-lashed sea?
Can a fishing town survive if there are no fish to catch?

This tale of family, friendship, and perseverance is woven throughout with Celtic mythology and seacoast lore – just released in paperback.

What do you know of selkies?
**kmm

Book info: The Selkie’s Daughter / Linda Crotta Brennan. Holiday House, hardcover 2024; Candlewick, paperback 2025. [author site https://www.lindacrottabrennan.com/] [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738000/the-selkies-daughter-by-linda-crotta-brennan/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.