Review by Dany Caballero Simon & Schuster, 2022 576 pages, Hardcover, $24.99 CAD, 9781534441637 Young Adult, ages 12+ Fantasy, Fiction Vera steps forward, and her voice is slow, rich lava against my skin. “But one purpose, one dream reigns above all others. Do you know what that is, Bree?” I shake my head, gasping. “No.” The flames on her skin grow higher, her hair extending out and up so that I cannot see where it ends. I blink again… and I am a shivering, sweat-soaked teenage girl on the floor of a historic home. I am sucking air into burning lungs. I am shedding tears that are mine an ..read more

Review by Ibha Gupta Tundra Books, 2024 25 pages, paperback, $24.99 CAD, 9781774880944 Picture Book, Ages 4 – 8 Fiction “…so that I would remember my family’s history and always find ways to create joy.” When I began reading Once Upon a Sari, I was sceptical not only because of the many titles that already exist on saris, but also because of how, in a market racing to publish BIPOC stories, authenticity is often expendable. However, as I turned page after page, I couldn’t help but smile wide. Wadhwani and Dwivedi together have created a colourful, touching, and—most importantly—meaningful s ..read more

Review by Elita Menezes Simon & Schuster, 2024 416 pages, hardcover, $24,99 CAN, 9781665903523 Young Adult, ages 14+ Mystery, Thriller I was going to do what Mom wanted. I was going to protect my little brother, which would also protect the entire family. Because if Dom went down for this and it got out to the public, we would all go down for it. And I was not going to be the one who let the Behres die not even a year after Mom did. If you found your sibling — who already has a murder charge on file — standing over another dead body and insisting they didn’t hurt anyone, what would you ..read more

Review by Sophie Savage Tundra Books, April 9, 2024. 232 pages, hardcover, $23.99 CAD, 9781774883402. Young Adult, ages 14+ Contemporary Realism, Fiction My room is its regular chaos and all I can think about is sinking under those blankets. Normally I’d take a bath first, a hot one, but I fall like a tumbling tree onto my back, the mattress breaking my fall, and stay there. There. Here. There’s never really an escape for me. Sometimes my room feels like a fortress and other times it feels like a prison. Nothing in. Nothing out. Just me alone with my thoughts, even though I tell Jes almost e ..read more

Review by Carolina Leyton Orca Book Publishers, 2024 264 pp, paperback, $14.95, 9781459837942 Middle Grade, ages 9 – 12 Fiction In a world as dark as this, choose to be kind, And let your virtues light the way For anyone left behind. And this journey isn’t easy, You’ll fall from time to time, But you have to walk the path If you want to help the blind. So, if you’re with me, Hands up, and look me in the eyes! Call Me Al is a collaboration between acclaimed poet Wali Shah and renowned author Eric Walters, in which the experience of growing up an immigrant of colour is tackled in an open and ..read more

Review by Carolina Leyton Penguin Teen Canada, 2023 415 pp, hardcover, $25.99, 9781774882764 Young Adult, Ages 14 – 18 Fiction, Magic Realism Deep below the islands of Japan, the catfish moves and the earth trembles beneath our feet. Even the gods can’t stop it, banish it, or make to disappear. Like fear or pain, it’s always there; but so is release, freedom, joy. We walk on while trees gather the sky in their branches. Beneath land and water, the catfish turns, and rests. Catfish Rolling, Clara Kumagai’s debut YA novel, expertly tackles themes of time, grief, and natural disaster. Throug ..read more

Review by Vanessa Bedford Gill Heartdrum, 2023 352 pages, hardcover, $24.99 CAD, 9780063086210 Young Adult, Ages 14+ Fiction The only thing found in weeks of searching: her empty neon-orange backpack. The notebook she carried around everywhere was missing too. Like Kiki had been nothing but a shadow all along. A specter haunting their lives. Except when she was younger, when her mom lived in town – Before with a capital B – Kiki had always been solid. Loud and brash, with big hair to go alongside her large personality. She dimmed a little after her mom’s murder. But even that Kiki wouldn’t g ..read more

Review by Emma Wu Orca Book Publishers, February 2022 112 pages. Paperback. CAN $10.95. 9781459832916 Middle Grade, Ages 9-12 Action/Adventure ‘Jennifer!’ Noah called from across the street. ‘Wait up! I have to talk to you.’ He started to run across the road. He didn’t see the black car headed right for him. The driver was looking at the phone propped up against her steering wheel. ‘Watch out!’ I screamed. Noah stopped right in the path of the oncoming car. He froze. The car kept coming. I had to do something. I shoved my hands toward Noah as I focused all my energy into one thought. Push. H ..read more

Review by Maia Dueck Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster, April 2023 336 pages. Paperback. CDN $19.99. 9781665916226 Young Adult, Ages 14 – 16 Fiction, Fantasy, LGBTQIA+ She huffed. “Magic and machines don’t mix.” I clutched my bag at my feet. “And I am magic, and I break electronics all the time.” She sighed. “I really wanted that coffee.” My heart leaped, and my thoughts buzzed in the face of a potential opportunity. Maybe there was another way in. I cleared my throat. “I can fix that, you know,” I said, nodding toward the phone. “And the coffee maker. I wasn’t lying when I s ..read more

Review by Lois L. K. Chan Simon & Schuster, July 2023 410 pages, Paperback, $26.99 CAD, 978-1-6659-3685-9 Young Adult, Ages 14+ Horror/Thriller, Fiction “Suburbia sticks to you, like the chemical sugar of Yankee Candles and Bath & Body Works, even though you left the store hours ago. For years I’d be able to disguise the scent under borrowed Dior perfume and by sticking close to the shadows of girls who winter in Aspen. But one slip and the smell had surfaced. Suburbia is forever. But the Finish looms in my life like the last life raft. I know if I don’t try—no, if I don’t demand oth ..read more