Two aspiring manhua artists in Hong Kong—one a comics assistant, the other a recently deceased ghost—form an unusual partnership in Kee’s fanciful meta graphic novel. Hoping to one day publish his own comic, young introvert Cheung Shan has worked for the past two years honing his skills as a comics assistant. Meanwhile, adult former comics assistant Chung Chuen Ming has toiled day and night over the past six months to finish his own comic project. When Ming dies, seemingly of a heart attack, 40 pages away from his goal, he restlessly wanders the streets as a ghost until he encounters Shan hard at work. After Ming inadvertently possesses Shan, the artists come to an agreement: Shan will allow Ming to use his body to complete his comic, and Ming will help Shan prove himself to his supervisors to progress in his career. Conventional paneling conveys beat-by-beat depictions of the comics-making process in a tale that doubles as a primer to and celebration of the art. Though stiff dialogue leads to somewhat halting pacing, stunningly realistic grayscale artwork—which occasionally veers toward the fantastic as the protagonists develop projects featuring zombies and other supernatural fare—results in a visually varied exploration of artistic passion. Ages 10–up. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

Elliott (The Real Riley Mayes) channels the anthropomorphic animalian absurdity of Bunnicula in this energetic graphic novel series launch. Black cat detective Bel and her scruffy dog brother Zeb (whose sleuthing skills are less refined than Bel’s) go on high alert when their neighbor, Payton Parakeet, goes missing in the middle of performing a magic trick with his brown-skinned human Carlo. After ruling out potential suspects, including “outdoor omnivore” cat Milo, the investigative duo set their sights on a human building resident whose high heels seem to match the prints they find at the crime scene. As they continue their inquiry, the animal siblings venture beyond the familiar comforts of their apartment courtyard. Human characters’ inability to understand their animal companions’ laugh-out-loud dialogue allows readers to feel like they’re in on the joke as they accompany the furry duo on their adventure. Bel’s dry yet cheeky case notes emphasize the pooch and feline’s unlikely closeness and highlight how relying on each other’s differences and individual strengths—such as Bel’s practical, business-minded persona and Zeb’s free-spirited attitude—makes their partnership stronger. Human characters are depicted with various skin tones. Ages 8–12. Agent: Susan Hawk, Upstart Crow Literary. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

An irrepressible eight-year-old is determined to learn her grandmother’s secret lasagna recipe in this charming chapter book series opener. When Venus Washington overhears her grandfather claim that “your grandma put her foot in this lasagna,” the child takes the saying literally. Enlisting her BFF, Summer Rivera—and, reluctantly, Summer’s twin sister, Winter, Venus’s “Worst Enemy Forever”—Venus sets out to uncover exactly how many of her grandma’s toes she believes have been sacrificed for the dish. Throughout her investigation, Venus navigates a series of comic misadventures involving imaginary mice, a very real and hungry hamster, and one destroyed lasagna in need of emergency repairs. Venus’s good-natured propensity for taking statements at face value—when Grandpa tells Venus “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” she replies, “I think Grandma only made lasagna today”—is a standout feature of this chaotic romp by Oso (Before the Ships), who recalls Amelia Bedelia flare to humorously capture one child’s delight in following her imagination wherever it may lead. Cartoony b&w illustrations by Lovett (Tornado Rescue) depict characters with various skin tones. Ages 5–9. Author’s agent: Jemiscoe Chambers-Black, Andrea Brown Literary. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this tense and atmospheric fantasy novel, humans gifted with elemental abilities, called Orha, are subjugated and forced to use their powers in service of nobility. As a Floodmouth, 18-year-old Corith Fraine can communicate with and control water. After graduating from the grueling Arbenhaw institution, a school for Orha, Corith is employed by the noble House Shearwater, replacing Zennia, the Shearwaters’ previous Floodmouth and Corith’s former roommate, who died in a mysterious accident. Upon arriving at the Shearwaters’ remote island estate, Corith is thrust into an unfamiliar world of treacherous political maneuvering, luxurious decadence, and dark secrets. As she investigates Zennia’s death, Corith becomes involved with a pro-Orha activist group, collecting blackmail material about the Shearwaters and sabotaging their defenses against Orha magic on the group’s behalf. The deeper she dives into her inquiry, covert rebellion, and Floodmouth duties, the more strained her competing loyalties become, especially as she finds herself falling for one of her employers. In a debut that tackles themes of exploitation and privilege, Turner conjures a world of vivid elemental magic and shadowy intrigue with simmering romantic undertones, culminating in an attention-grabbing duology opener. The protagonists cue as white. Ages 12–up. Agent: Stuti Telidevara, Park, Fine & Brower Literary. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

A tween swears off friendship after her bestie moves away in this digestible chapter book. Because she attends an international school in an unspecified location, Winter Scott is used to watching classmates come in and out of her life. But when her best friend, Kathryn, departs for Australia, Winter is left feeling jaded about pursuing further connection: if she never says hello to anyone in the first place, then she can avoid the heartbreak that comes with goodbye. The arrival of Catherine, a new student with a French accent, particularly grates on Winter (as if “Catherine could replace Kathryn”). Winter’s coldness and occasional cruelty to the newcomer—“You’re not special just because you miss someone. Get over it like the rest of us,” Winter says of Catherine’s tears about a far-away friend—drives Winter’s classmates away, exacerbating her feelings of isolation. Straightforward, school-day-focused plotting by Mather (the Monster Manners series) centers Winter as she navigates painful and relatable emotions while her cringe-worthy bullying behavior fosters tension. Magno’s digital b&w illustrations pepper short chapters relayed via spare, approachable language and large, eye-catching font. Winter reads as white; supporting characters cue as racially diverse. Ages 6–8. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

After a lethal scourge and the reemergence of dragons decimates most of humankind, the remaining population lives in fear of the resulting magical curse, which gradually transforms those afflicted into dragons. In the city of Vinguard, the last human stronghold, 18-year-old Isola trains under the tyrannical vicar as Valor Reborn, a legendary warrior destined to kill the Elder Dragon and save the world. If she’s not honing her dragon-slaying skills with the vicar, she is being closely monitored by the vicar’s adopted son Lucan, also 18. But as the Tribunal—a mysterious, harrowing rite of passage during which of-age teens must somehow prove that they have not succumbed to the scourge, or face execution—draws near, Isola finds herself harboring a deadly secret: she believes she is turning into a dragon. When Isola and Lucan are framed for using taboo magic in the Tribunal, the teens become embroiled in a fight for survival against the ruling powers of Vinguard. Stakes and tension remain high throughout this thrilling romantasy from Kova (A Deal with the Elf King), in which familiar tropes regarding monster hunting and chosen ones are enriched by engaging and complex protagonists as they navigate a leisurely spun adventure relayed via Isola’s measured first-person narration. Characters are described as having various skin tones. Ages 16–up. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

A travel itinerary change grants a teen time to be the “main character of a cheesy rom-com” in Karthik’s heartfelt debut. After spending the summer in Mumbai with her family, 18-year-old Krishna Kumar can’t wait to return to the U.S. to start college at Johns Hopkins. But when her flight gets rescheduled, Krishna suddenly finds herself with four extra days in Mumbai, and she resolves to embark on an epic road trip to claim her first kiss by meeting up with her flirty crush Amrit, who’s attending a wedding in North Goa. Krishna enlists Priti, her cousin and former best friend, as well as Priti’s quiet but handsome bestie Rudra to accompany her on the almost 12-hour drive. Over the course of their journey, Krishna and Priti slowly rebuild their fractured friendship, while Krishna and Rudra struggle to resist the pull of their undeniable chemistry. Evocative depictions of Indian cuisine, culture, fashion, and language permeate this simultaneously appealing romantic comedy and thoughtful coming-of-age drama in which optimistic teens learn to build healthy relationships while navigating the transitional period between familiar childhood experiences and uncertain futures. Characters are of Indian descent. Ages 13–up. Agent: Rebecca Podos, Neighborhood Literary. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

Score-keeping fosters creativity in games, but in real-life institutions it makes for rigid policies and distorts values, according to this trenchant philosophical investigation. University of Utah philosophy professor Nguyen (Games) explores scoring systems in games and sports, from difficulty rankings in rock climbing to idiosyncratic point schedules for fantasy role-playing games. Such score-keeping structures, he argues, create “background conditions” that enable players to creatively problem-solve and foster more captivating forms of play. Institutions, on the other hand, rely on scoring systems with simplistic data metrics that are easily measurable but often flatten value complexity, driving policy in unproductive ways. (College rankings, for example, boost the scores of schools with high rejection rates, prompting many to solicit applications from unqualified students to have more applicants to reject.) The author considers various solutions, ultimately suggesting that large institutions (and their flawed metrics) are necessary to help society remain organized and fuel big-picture initiative but that areas like art, fitness, or hobbies should be subject to flexible value systems dictated by individuals and small communities. Illustrating his ideas with lucid philosophy and descriptions of his own innumerable hobbies (Tetris, bouldering, yo-yo), Nguyen skillfully explores the ways in which humans think about progress, creativity, and play. It makes for a captivating look at how imperfect measures of success shape society. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 01/02/2026 | Details & Permalink

This intriguing study from historian Nesvig (Promiscuous Power) catalogs the ways in which Native and European supernatural beliefs met and intermingled in post-conquest Mexico. Drawing on Inquisition trials of women accused of sorcery in the two decades immediately following the fall of Tenochtitlan, Nesvig shows how, mostly via the socializing of newly arrived settler wives and mistresses with their Native domestic help, Iberian superstitions and beliefs mixed with Nahua (aka Aztec) spells and rituals. The Nahuans, for instance, took up the Iberian concept of the “evil eye,” and the Iberians took up the Nahuan practice of “throwing corn” as a means of casting lots and predicting the future. The Inquisition trials reveal that the church particularly targeted, from among the colonists, the Moriscan or Maghrebi women—remnants of the Muslim empire recently ousted from Iberia—who were likely mistresses or courtesans engaging in sex work. This official unease with the power women could attain through sex within lawless frontier territories stands in stark relief, in Nesvig’s account, with the openness of the women themselves, who seemed to eagerly seek to learn from other women from disparate backgrounds. “All the women in this book,” he perceptively notes, “relied on magic to assert some agency and power in a man’s political world.” While fairly academic, it’s worth checking out for those interested in the intersection of women’s history and magic. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

Nazi hatred of the Soviet Union played a larger role in precipitating the Holocaust than is generally understood, according to this riveting revisionist study. Historian Hellbeck (Stalingrad) recaps how Hitler rose to prominence in the 1920s by exploiting Germans’ fear of communism. After the Nazis came to power and sent more than one hundred thousand German communists to concentration camps specifically created for that purpose, Germany’s preparations for the war against the “global menace” of Bolshevism began in earnest, Hellbeck writes. Even mere days before signing the 1939 nonaggression pact with Stalin, “Hitler openly remarked: ‘Everything I undertake is directed against Russia.’ ” Hellbeck further explains that, in the Nazi imagination, “the USSR was the most powerful Jewish organization in the world.” Thus, the author posits, once Germany went to war with the Soviet Union in 1941, Jews were subtly “redefined”: “They were no longer racial aliens who could simply be expelled” but “political enemies who needed to be destroyed.” This is why, in Hellbeck’s view, mass killings of Jews were first undertaken during the Nazi invasion of Soviet territory, and from there “seamlessly extended into the oppression, and then annihilation of Jews elsewhere.” Hellbeck elegantly brings to bear a vast array of German and Soviet sources to make his case. The result is a kaleidoscopic, thought-provoking reframing of the ideological underpinnings of Nazi atrocities and the war itself. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 12/12/2025 | Details & Permalink