Tag Archive | brothers

N is NEFARIOUS NIGHTS OF WILLOWWEEP MANOR! by Shaenon K. Garrity & Christopher Baldwin (YA Graphic Novel book review) #A2Z

Apr16
Magnifying glass in hand, a determined young Black woman in gothic dress approaches the body lying in foreground. She's followed by a startled young man juggling a stack of books, a frantically flying chicken, and a big dog with its tongue flapping. Behind them a grim mansion rises into the dark sky, emblazoned with book title - The Nefarious Nights of Willowweep Manor, by Shaenon K. Garrity & Christopher Baldwin.

Thunder! Lightning!
Romance!
Murder?

As protector of a tiny gasket universe, Haley expects her school break away at Willowweep Manor to be broodingly romantic with Montague, as always.

But the Black teen arrives as refugees from another gasket universe in peril pop through a portal – not characters from a gothic romance at all!

New rooms suddenly appear in the Manor, the new dog is goofy, Miss Meadowsweet keeps talking about odd things that happened in her village, and the Colonel is stabbed – they’re from the murder mystery genre!!

No police in the Manor so the Willowweepers must learn the rules of murder mysteries and investigate, not quite trusting any of the newcomers.

Someone goes missing, while others barely escape “accidents” with their lives!

Who is the killer – the capable young lady? The village spinster? The eccentric young man? The butler? Surely not the dog?

Can our plucky heroine reinvent herself in time to save Willowweep Manor once again?

You can enjoy Nefarious Nights without having read The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor (I recommend! https://booksyalove.com/?p=12249), but knowing the origin story makes this madcap adventure even more fun.

Find both Willowweep Manor volumes at your local library https://search.worldcat.org/libraries or independent bookstore https://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder.

What book genre would you like to live in?
**kmm

Book info: The Nefarious Nights of Willowweep Manor / Shaenon K. Garrity; illustrated by Christopher Baldwin. Margaret McElderry Books, 2025. [author site https://www.shaenon.com/] [artist site www.BaldwinPage.com ][publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Nefarious-Nights-of-Willowweep-Manor/Shaenon-K-Garrity/Willowweep-Manor/9781665930161] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

M is MAKER GIRL AND PROFESSOR SMARTS must save the city’s ice cream! by Jasmine Florentine (kids graphic novel) #A2Z

Apr15
A tween girl wearing goggles, superhero cape & satchel with logo raises a gadget skyward, next to a tween boy in ballcap and shades consulting a book, with science & math motifs in background, on book cover of Maker Girl and Professor Smarts, book 1, by Jasmine Florentine.

Summertime,
ice cream time!
Ewww… now it’s slime?!

Chuy and Yaya have been besties since preschool – he wants to know everything, and she can build anything.

Too bad the 12 year olds didn’t get superpowers when the recent comet struck Earth, like some people did…

When new supervillain Mr. Anti-Freeze starts turning everyone’s ice cream into slime, it’s time for them to act anyway!

Super-cape for Yaya, super-cool shades for Chuy – now Maker Girl and Professor Smarts!

Can their brainy/inventive powers outwit Mr. Anti-Freeze’s icky superpower?
Can they stop him from unleashing his slime bomb on the city?
Why does he hate ice cream so much?

This first graphic novel in new series includes instructions on making a grappling hook and yummy sorbet, a preview of book 2 (mayhem with younger siblings), and a resource list so you can make and learn stuff, too.

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
**kmm

Book info: Maker Girl and Professor Smarts (Book 1) / Jasmine Florentine. MIT Kids Press, 2025. [author/illustrator site https://www.jasmineflorentine.com/books] [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/786774/maker-girl-and-professor-smarts-by-jasmine-florentine-illustrated-by-jasmine-florentine/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

L is LOVE AT SECOND SIGHT & supernatural danger! by F.T. Lukens (YA fiction) #A2Z

Apr14
In front of school lockers, a pale teen boy with growing-out dyed blond hair whispers to a taller dark-haired teen boy with claw-like fingernails, on book cover of Love at Second Sight, by F. T. Lukens

A vision in moonlight,
a muddy field,
a murder about to happen!

Human teen among paranormal classmates, Cam is glad that he and best friend Al (witch) will be back together at the new high school, nervous about seeing his crush Mateo (werewolf), still sad that big brother Aiden purposely vanished a few months ago.

Caught in a sprite vs. werewolf melee, the sophomore crashes headfirst into lockers and is pulled from the pile-up by a girl whose touch throws him into a vision – of a wounded girl being attacked with a knife!

Not telling his anti-paranormal parents about his glimpse of the future, Cam asks Al to quietly find out more and agrees with them to carefully test his clairvoyant abilities.

There’s no escaping his new truth: he can indeed see the future, and he goes to school with a murderer!

A viral video of Cam’s next vision being proven true catches his parents’ attention; he hears them whispering about what went wrong with his big brother…

Now all the paranormal factions in town are eager to ally with Cam, the first seer in a century – so many feuds between them…

Ooh, invited to a cookout at Mateo’s! < swoon >

Will he have to always wear gloves to prevent unwanted visions?
How does Cam decide which faction to join?
Can he and his new friends stop that girl’s murder?

Fantasy-mystery-paranormal-romance releases in paperback today! (April 14, 2026)

By the author of magical, adventurous, affirming tales In Deeper Waters (my recommendation https://booksyalove.com/?p=12378), So This is Ever After (https://booksyalove.com/?p=12989), Spell Bound (https://booksyalove.com/?p=13689), and Otherworldly (https://booksyalove.com/?p=14421).

Which paranormal neighbor would you like to have?
**kmm

Book info: Love at Second Sight / F. T. Lukens. Margaret McElderry Books, hardcover 2025, paperback 2026. [author site https://www.ft-lukens.com/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Love-at-Second-Sight/F-T-Lukens/9781665950947] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

K is for Korobá: THE CASE OF THE MISSING KOLO in her fishing village, by Àlàbá Ònájìn (kids graphic novel) #A2Z

Apr13
Three kids and a puppy race down the wooden dock-walkways of a Nigerian fishing village, following a trail of wet footprints, on the book cover of Korobá: the Case of the Missing Kolo, kids' graphic novel by Àlàbá Ònájìn.

A visitor,
a theft,
a mystery to solve!

Korobá enjoys exploring the waterways and walkways of her Nigerian fishing village with best friends Saldat and Joba – and her dog Popi, of course!

During school holidays, the ten-year-old helps her mother at the fish market (but can’t stand eating fish). Someday her little brother and baby sister will, too.

The harvest festival is soon, and the kids of Makoko will break open their wooden Kolo banks and use their saved coins to buy clothes for the Festival…and treats! Joba will unveil his newest invention then, so don’t even try to sneak a peek now.

Saldat has been too busy noting how much money she’s put in her Kolo to decorate it with paint and beads like her friends do. Her snobbish cousin visiting from city thinks everything here is terrible – such a bad attitude!

Oh, no! Saldat’s Kolo has been stolen! The three friends must think like detectives from their favorite books to find it – fast!

Was it the carpenter working at Saldat’s house?
Could it be snooty cousin Risi?
Can they find the Kolo before Breaking Day?

Run the wooden walkways of Makoko village with Korobá and her friends as they try to solve the mystery, first in a new graphic novel series!

What’s your favorite festival tradition?
**kmm

Book info: Korobá: the Case of the Missing Kolo / Àlàbá Ònájìn. Holiday House, 2026. [author/illustrator site https://www.alabaonajin.com/about] [publisher site https://holidayhouse.com/book/the-case-of-the-missing-kolo/] 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.

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.

Who caused THE LOSS OF THE BURYING GROUND treaty ship at sea? by J. Anderson Coats (YA fiction)

Jun10
Book cover of The Loss of the Burying Ground, by J. Anderson Coats. Teen girls stand back-to-back, one looking upward defiantly, the other looking down in sorrow. The large sailing ship called Burying Ground is in front of them, surrounded by enormous waves.

Cora boards the ship with her mother and father, the newspaper man who’s documenting the peace treaty with those dastardly Ariminthians and its evil royal family.

Vivienne boards the ship as lady-in-waiting to the princess, whose father will sign the peace treaty with those dreadful Durans who train from childhood to wage war.

Every person, parcel, package, and pocket inspected by the other nation’s guards before being allowed onto the Burying Ground, and yet it blasts apart in neutral waters!

The two young women are its lone survivors, stranded on an island far from shipping lanes – Vivienne unwilling to outlive her princess, Cora determined to leave and get revenge.

Pirates come to their island! The girls work together to outwit them and escape, only to find that their rescue may enflame the war that the treaty was meant to stop!

How can Vivienne get her vital secret to the Royal Mother?
How can Cora avoid being scapegoated for the ship’s sinking?
Will the anti-war underground network help them?

This story of resourcefulness is told in alternating chapters by Cora and Vivienne, as each struggles against lifelong prejudices poured into them by propaganda and the powerful.

By the author of historical fiction set in pasts not always our own, like The Night Ride (recommended here https://booksyalove.com/?p=13684) and R For Rebel (https://booksyalove.com/?p=9958), who offered advance copies of this book on BlueSky – of course, I said yes!

What “everyone knows this about those people” have you learned was actually untrue?
**kmm

Book info: The Loss of the Burying Ground / J. Anderson Coats. Candlewick Press, 2024. [author site https://www.jandersoncoats.com/the-loss-of-the-burying-ground] [publisher site https://www.candlewick.com/9781536244434/the-loss-of-the-burying-ground/] Review copy via author and publisher; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Marauding killer robots, crime, superheroes, and the SECOND CHANCE OF DARIUS LOGAN, by David F. Walker (YA fiction)

May12
Book cover of The Second Chance of Darius Logan, by David F. Walker. A black teen wearing a hoodie stands on a dark wrecked street corner, hands in his pockets as he stares across at brightly lit intact city buildings.

Superhero-fueled kid dreams,
teen nightmare cop chase!
What next?!

His abusive uncle drank up Darius’ survivor checks following the killer robot Attack that slaughtered thousands, including the young Black boy’s parents and newborn brother.

After bouncing around foster homes, one bad decision has the now 17 year old facing prison… or a Second Chance with the Super Justice Force that stopped the Attack from annihilating humanity.

At SJF World Headquarters, he meets superheroes like Captain Freedom whose merchandise enthralled him as a kid and metahumans with exceptional abilities, as well as other Second Chancers – criminals (including former supervillains) given this same opportunity to rehabilitate before it’s too late.

Darius likes his boss Manny and how they support SJF’s crimefighting work on Earth and beyond, appreciates Dr. Sam getting him into Second Chance, and tries to avoid security chief Maslon who’s hated Darius since the moment they met.

Completing school with online classes, meeting beautiful Elladia (Manny’s niece), getting leave to visit new superhero friends’ home for a cookout – great!
Being confined to World HQ, repeated drug tests and meeting with a counselor, being harassed by Maslon – not great.

When outside forces try to infiltrate HQ, his familiarity with every corridor and room helps Darius in the hunt – but what do they want to steal?

A high-stakes story of despair and hope, evil and redemption, friendship, love, and justice – first YA novel by long-time comic writer, filmmaker, professor, and journalist David F. Walker.

Your favorite superhero?
**kmm

Book info: The Second Chance of Darius Logan / David F. Walker. Scholastic Press, 2024. [author site https://davidfwalker.com/] [publisher site https://shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/teacher/books/the-second-chance-of-darius-logan-9781338826425.html] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Z is New Zealand DAWN RAID targeting of immigrant homes – time to protest! by Pauline Vaeluaga Smith & Mat Hunkin (MG fiction) #AtoZ

Apr30
Book cover of Dawn Raid, by Pauline Vaeluaga Smith, art by Mat Hunkin. Shows a dark-skinned young teen girl with long hair, hugging a book and wearing a dress and sandals. She is a bright image, walking with many monochrome-tinted native Maori and Pasifika immigrant people carrying signs and using a megaphone in New Zealand protest.

The right to free speech,
the right to education and work,
for everyone, right?

As the only girl squished in among so many rambunctious brothers, Sofia feels overlooked at home. Even her 13th birthday celebration in 1976 gets postponed when the boys get silly with darts and have to go to emergency room!

She gets too much attention in their small town school – for being Samoan, for reading her speech at assembly, for supporting the march by Maori people protesting theft of their traditional lands.

The New Zealand economy has turned bad, so the government says people with dark skin are the problem, making native Maori and immigrant Pacific Islanders alike easy targets for police harassment.

Sofia is now old enough to get a milk delivery job like her big brother. Despite all the heavy glass bottles and hearing complaints about price increases, she can save up for those groovy tall white boots she sees on TV!

Yay! Her grandparents are coming from Samoa to visit, so the whole family will take time off from school and work to go meet them in Auckland.

Oh, no… Polynesian Panthers are being jailed, just because they protest news silence about the government’s dawn raids of homes where an Islander might have overstayed their work or visitor visa!

Hmmm… Sofia has to write a new speech for the area competition about something she knows a lot about… like Islander people being the only group of overstayers being arrested.

Through Sofia’s diary entries and sketches, the 1976 Maori and Islander protests come alive, echoing the American Civil Rights movement that she learns about in school, as well as the current ICE raids in the US.

Reading what folks in other places and situations have written is a great way to know more about them – originally published by Scholastic New Zealand, brought to North America by Levine Querido, with discussion guide here: https://www.levinequerido.com/dawn-raid.

How do you support family members in difficult times?
**kmm

Book info: Dawn Raid / Pauline Vaeluaga Smith; illustrated by Mat Hunkin. Lantern/ Levine Querido, 2023. [author interview https://www.thesapling.co.nz/2018-04-17-author-interview-pauline-vaeluaga-smith/] [illustrator site https://www.mathunkin.com/illustration] [publisher site https://www.levinequerido.com/dawn-raid] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

X is unknown: KEPLER26: THE INVITATION to abandoned brothers – to a safe place? by Parvela, Sortland, Pitkanen, and Witesman (MG Fiction) #AtoZ

Apr28
Book cover of Kepler62: The Invitation, by/ Timo Parvela & Bjorn Sortland; art by Pasi Pitkanen; translated by Owen Witesman. Shows a short Black boy and a taller white tween boy with sticking-up hair, half-brothers who hold hands as they walk into a dark hangar. Through the open hangar doors emblazoned with a fierce bird, is a large passenger jet plane taking off into a vivid red and orange sky.

Too many people, too much pollution,
not enough work or food,
a computer game offers escape and a secret…

With Mom always gone, 13-year-old Ari shoplifts to feed little half-brother Joni. The hoopla about the upcoming space expedition to find another habitable planet doesn’t fill an empty stomach.

“A lady” gives Joni the video game that everyone is talking about: Kepler62, rumored to have a secret ending if you master all the levels.

Two days, two nights – the game starts with easy quests, then gets much harder. Online gamer forums say no one has solved level 99 yet.

As they try yet again, Joni insists that Ari choose an unconventional weapon, and onward they go in the dark tunnel… success!

Then things the boys have never ever seen appear on-screen – mountains and trees and a meadow where a tall pale boy runs with a kite as a young dark boy follows… is that them?

Joni wakes up with a fever, so they go to the health center where a very young girl with implanted medical knowledge prescribes a medication that triggers alarms when they accept it. The lady who gave Joni the game helps them escape, but the men in grey suits are fast!

Why did the government just now discover the boys’ mother hasn’t been home in a while?
Oh, those men’s eyes have that glint like the girl doctor – have their brains been altered, too?
Joni is sure there’s something else in the game – can the brothers find it?

This first book in the Kepler62 illustrated novel series (https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/Kepler62) was simultaneously released in Finnish and Norwegian, then translated into English.

What’s your favorite reality-escape video game?
**kmm

Book info: Kepler62: The Invitation / Timo Parvela & Bjorn Sortland; art by Pasi Pitkanen; translated by Owen Witesman. Arctis Books, 2023. [Timo’s site https://www.timoparvela.fi/en] [Bjorn’s site https://bjornsortland.no/boker.html] [Pasi’s site https://www.instagram.com/pp_pitkanen/] [Owen’s site https://www.suomitranslation.com/about/] [publisher site https://www.arctis-books.com/books/the-invitation] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.