Keynan Masters and the Peerless Magic Crew

Sanders offers an energetic fantasy adventure teeming with memorable characters and mysteries in this thought-provoking debut. Nobody knows why mercurial and devastating storms have been plaguing Earth, prompting anxiety across the globe. And while 12-year-old Keynan Masters would rather focus on perfecting his rhymes and communing with his neighbors, he’s also preoccupied with soothing his mother’s fears about the weather. When Keynan is accepted into the Peerless Academy, a prestigious school for the arts, he’s reluctant to leave home, and only agrees to attend after learning that the school’s elite science programs might determine how to eliminate the storms. But nothing about Peerless is as Keynan expects; underneath the inexplicably boring classes hide unusual and fantastical secrets involving covert passageways, reality rifts, and an ancient, corrupt magic that only he and his classmates can contain. Using his newfound powers, which he conjures through his rhymes, Keynan is determined to uncover the truth behind Peerless and the storms. Occasionally ambiguous worldbuilding sometimes causes confusion; nevertheless, Keynan’s talent for spoken-word performance proffers strong messaging about the power of the arts, making for an ambitious, postapocalyptic-feeling tale. Most characters read as Black. Ages 8–12. Agent: Mary C. Moore, Kimberly Cameron & Assoc. (Oct.)