Art historian Nyord (Seeing Perfection) provides an intricate account of how Egyptian mortuary practices have been transformed in the Western imagination to fit Christian archetypes. According to the author, early European scholars selectively mined the works of classical writers such as Diodorus and Servius to explain what ancient visitors to Egypt observed, including mummified bodies, obelisks, and tombs. In the 18th and 19th centuries, scholars attempted to interpret Egyptian practices within a cross-cultural context, but continued to overidentify Judeo-Christian parallels (for example, by using terms like “body and soul” and “eternity” that carried Christian connotations). The translation of the Book of the Dead in 1842 cemented European scholars’ convictions that postmortem judgments (whereby the gods evaluated the “ethical and religious merits” of deceased souls) were central to the Egyptians, and marginalized such concepts as metempsychosis, or the migration of souls, that helped distinguish Egyptian funerary practices from Christian ones. Exploring why Western misinterpretations of ancient Egyptian death practices persist, the author points to an enduring “universal human longing for transcendent, eternal life,” as well as documentaries, film exhibits, and books that reinforce entrenched ideas about the Egyptian quest for immortality. Dense and methodical, Nyord’s history meticulously probes the challenges of cultural transmission. Serious Egyptologists will be edified. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this by turns amusing and tedious compendium, historian Chrystal (World-Changing Women) bombards readers with outlandish and surreal things written by ancient Greeks and Romans. He arranges them into chapters whose subheadings seem to promise more detailed ruminations on specific practices or experiences (from voyeurism to being left-handed), but the tidbits are so bereft of context they will frustrate anyone seeking a larger explanation for why Strabo wrote that the Irish are cannibals, whether the story of Publius’s decapitated head delivering an oracle was viewed as historically accurate, or how common female infanticide by exposure to the elements really was. Still, Chrystal maintains a jocular tone (“Eat your heart out John Hurt,” he proclaims after describing a pestilence that led to snakes bursting out of those infected) and the individual items range from amusing (such as a naturalist’s report that a beaver would self-castrate when being hunted for its medicinally valuable testicles like a robber who “sacrifices all that he is carrying to save his life”) to horrifying (such as instructions found alongside an ancient Roman voodoo doll advising practitioners of magical spells for fidelity to back them up with abusive deprivation of food and sleep). While entertaining to dip in and out of, this catalog of curiosities doesn’t add up to more than the sum of its parts. (May)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

Science writer Black (When the Earth Was Green) doles out fresh trivia on dinosaurs in this entrancing primer. She explains that such species as the Supersaurus were able to grow to over 100 feet long because air sacs in their bones enabled them to reduce their weight-to-size ratio. Surveying the creative methods paleontologists use to piece together extinct animals’ lives, Black describes how researchers determined that one T. rex was still growing at 18 years old and about to lay eggs by examining growth rings and the buildup of calcium-rich tissue in its bones; this indicated that T. rex could reproduce long before it reached full size. Black also studies evidence for social behavior in dinosaurs, contending that contrary to Jurassic Park’s depiction of velociraptor packs coordinating hunts, fossil evidence indicates prehistoric predators likely approached “food sources under uneasy truces that could easily lead to cannibalism as each dinosaur vied for a portion.” Elsewhere, she explores what dinosaurs ate, what they used their horns for, and how the discovery that some had feathers transformed scientific understanding of their behavior. The author has a knack for singling out the most surprising and engrossing findings of modern paleontology, bringing the ancient reptiles back to vivid life. The result is an excellent overview of the ever-evolving science on dinosaurs. Photos. (June)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

Nevin (a pseudonym for former Hodder and Stoughton editorial director Eve Hall) debuts with an entertaining whodunit centered on 40-something mystery author Jane Hepburn. Jane has avoided the Killer Lines Crime Fiction Festival in the English village of Hoslewit for as long as she can remember, scared to mix with her professional peers. This year, though, she’s decided to attend in support of her underperforming PI Sandra Baker series. When she sneaks into the book tent in the wee hours with plans to rearrange the display and place her own books front and center, Jane discovers the dead body of hard-charging literary agent Carrie Marks. With the assistance of Carrie’s new star client, the unassuming but hugely popular Natasha Martez, and Carrie’s struggling intern, Daniel, Jane takes it upon herself to figure out who hated Carrie enough to kill her. The only problem? Plenty of people did. Nevin’s premise, while clever, trods familiar ground, but she elevates it with a well-rounded list of suspects and her lovably flawed heroine. Cozy fans will hope this is the start of a new series. Agent: Hannah Todd, Janklow & Nesbit U.K. (June)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

Mount Shasta, Calif., high school senior Izumi Tanaka is a normal 18-year-old American girl: she enjoys baking, watching Real Housewives, and dressing like “Lululemon’s sloppy sister.” But Japanese American Izzy, conceived during a one-night stand in her mother Hanako’s final year at Harvard, has never known the identity of her father. So when she and her best friend find a letter in Hanako’s bedroom, the duo jump at the chance to ferret out Izzy’s dad’s true identity—only to find out he’s the Crown Prince of Japan. Desperate to know her father, Izzy agrees to spend the summer in his home country. But press surveillance, pressure to quickly learn the language and etiquette, and an unexpected romance make her time in Tokyo more fraught than she imagined. Add in a medley of cousins and an upcoming wedding, and Izzy is in for an unforgettable summer. Abrupt switches from Izzy’s perspective to lyrical descriptions of Japan may disrupt readers’ enjoyment, but a snarky voice plus interspersed text conversations and tabloid coverage keep the pages turning in Jean’s (Empress of All Seasons) fun, frothy, and often heartfelt duology starter. Ages 12–up. Agent: Erin Harris, Folio Literary Management. (May)

Reviewed on 05/07/2021 | Details & Permalink

Kelkar’s (Bindu’s Bindis) novel features Oceanview Academy middle schooler Sonali, whose stoicism contrasts with her love of Bollywood movies’ melodrama. Stuck in a Los Angeles home with constantly arguing parents and her sensitive nine-year-old brother Ronak, Gujarati American Sonali, 11, tries to make sense of her world through the Hindi movies she’s seen all her life. Ever since an earnest public attempt five years ago to stop her parents’ fighting led to widespread embarrassment in front of family, Sonali has resolved to hide her emotions and do her best to ignore her parents’ arguments. But her efforts prove futile when her parents decide to try the “nesting” method of separation, where they take turns living in the house with Sonali and Ronak. The contemporary narrative takes an entertaining fabulist turn as Sonali’s life begins to transform into a Bollywood movie, with everything she feels and thinks made apparent through her “Bollywooditis.” Sonali’s first-person perspective is sympathetic as she navigates friendship and family drama, and Kelkar successfully infuses a resonant narrative with “filmi magic,” offering a tale with universal appeal through an engaging cultural lens. Ages 8–12. Agent: Kathleen Rushall, Andrea Brown Literary. (May)

Reviewed on 05/07/2021 | Details & Permalink

When she was six, Justice Kasric watched her blue-eyed merchant father play chess with the Faerie King. Now 15, Justice believes the event was merely a dream. She spends her days yearning for adventure, watching from the sidelines while her 16-year-old sister Faith, as slender and golden-haired as Justice but not as curious, becomes the toast of Victorian London society. One night, however, their father shatters their comfortable lifestyles when he forces the family—Justice, Faith, their younger brother Henry, and their constantly medicated, distant mother—into a locked carriage that takes them to a shadowy mansion. Justice’s discovery that the Faerie have invaded the human world and are targeting her family gains further urgency when she learns that her parents are on opposite sides of the conflict. Together, the Kasric siblings—including older brothers Benedict and Joshua—must find a way to save their family. While characters lack depth at times, and insufficient historical details don’t fully evoke the Victorian setting, Klaver’s (the Supernatural Case Files of Sherlock Holmes series) rich, lyrical descriptions augment the fantastical source material in this engaging series starter. Ages 13–up. Agent: Lucienne Diver, the Knight Agency. (May)

Reviewed on 05/07/2021 | Details & Permalink

Nine years before this novel begins, eight-year-old best friends Esme Randal and Kayla Price snuck out of their cabin at Camp Pine Lake in Texas. They swore never to discuss the terrible events that followed, but when the girls, now 17, return to the camp as counselors-in-training from their hometown of Lewisburg, Pa., that proves easier said than done. Someone begins sabotaging camp activities, and ominous—and increasingly public—threats appear, referencing that fateful summer. The only other person who knows Esme and Kayla’s secret is a local girl named Lillian Campbell, whom they left to fend for herself that night in the woods. They’re loath to voice their suspicions of revenge lest they get in trouble or look bad in front of hunky fellow counselors Jake and Olly, but as events escalate, they realize they may not have a choice. Narrating from Esme’s increasingly apprehensive first-person perspective, Preston (The Twin) pays homage to classic summer camp slasher films. The underdeveloped, predominantly white cast relies heavily on stereotype, and the clichéd tormenter’s motive feels unearned, but horror fans will likely appreciate this paranoia-fueled tale’s gruesome, shocking close. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jon Elek, United Agents. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 05/07/2021 | Details & Permalink

Inspired by her own family’s refugee journey from Vietnam to Hong Kong, Văn’s (If You Were Night) spare picture book, powerful in its deliberate simplicity, follows a black-haired, pale-skinned child as they, their guardian, and two younger siblings join other asylum seekers for a perilous maritime voyage. In a third-person voice, Văn anthropomorphizes objects, relaying their wishes: “The dream wished it was longer,” one spread reads, as a balding, mustached guardian holds the protagonist close, and a guardian with a bun rouses the second child to dress them. “The clock wished it was slower,” the subsequent pages read, as the two children tearfully hug their mustached guardian goodbye. The narrative continues as the now family of four make their way onto the boat and beyond. A final-act switch to first-person perspective drives home the journey’s personal nature. Intricate, lissome fine-lined art by Ngai (Dazzle Ships) recalls classical Asian compositions, Japanese woodblock prints, and an evocative sensibility in a gradated, surrealistic color palette. A seamless interweaving of elegant prose and atmospheric art marks this affecting immigrant narrative. Back matter includes heartfelt author’s and illustrator’s notes. Ages 4–8. (May)

Correction: A previous version of this review misquoted the book's text.

Reviewed on 05/07/2021 | Details & Permalink

In a straightforward picture book debut by Meloy (the Apothecary series), a red-orange octopus is “happy in his cave,” until a human, portrayed as a pale hand, tricks the cephalopod into occupying a glove and subsequently takes him to “a glass house that wasn’t a cave.” Though the octopus is offered interactive tests and activities—including building blocks, a jar to unscrew, tight passages to navigate, and a camera to photograph visitors to his aquarium home—his days lack differentiation, and the pining octopus soon devises an intrepid plan to return home. The sympathetic prose is rhythmic, allowing readers to see the octopus’s perspective at every step of the process: of the glass house, “There were no waves. No little shivery ones. No big tumbling ones.” Sala (Green on Green) contributes vibrant art rendered in gouache, watercolor, and pastel on paper; particularly effective are spreads of the sinuous subject’s ocean life, with its richly varied flora and fauna. The Finding Nemo–esque adventure follows a predictable arc, but the tender narrative is gratifying and may serve as an effective jumping-off point for discussions about animal captivity. Ages 3–7. (May)

Reviewed on 05/07/2021 | Details & Permalink