The Golden Enclaves: Lesson Three of the Scholomance, by Naomi Novik. Del Ray, 2022

Starting just minutes after the end of Lesson Two, Lesson Three starts with Galadriel “El” Higgins having just gotten all grades of the students in the Scholomance out alive- all except one. The door way has closed, forever, with one person left behind- Orion Lake, ( Read more... )

The Last Graduate: Lesson Two of the Scholomance, by Naomi Novik. Del Ray, 2021

The second volume in the Scholomance Trilogy finds the narrator, Galadriel “El” in her senior year. The graduating class has escaped, and the new load of freshmen have been portaled in. In this school, where there are no instructors, assignments appear by magic, and one ( Read more... )

A Deadly Education: Lesson One of The Scholomance, by Naomi Novik. Del Rey,2020

Galadriel- “El”- to pretty much everyone- is in her junior year at wizard school, which is very much not like Hogwarts. The school itself- the Scholomance- is a somewhat sentient structure that exists in the great void, with only one way in and one way out. And you only ( Read more... )

Clover Blue, by Eldonna Edwards. John Scognamiglio Books, 2019Blue is not quite 11 when one of his mothers in the communal family gives birth. Made to watch the process, it makes him ask which one of the women he came out of. The Olders get uncomfortable; the leader of the commune, Goji, tells Blue that he’ll find out when he turns 12. On Blue’s ( Read more... )

Wild and Crooked, by Leah Thomas. Bloomsbury, 2019When Kalyn’s grandmother has a stroke, she and her unstable mother must move back to the small town Kalyn was born in. Due to circumstances, Kalyn enrolls into high school under an assumed name, Rose. Her last name, Spence, is dirt in this town; her teenaged father killed another teen, the high ( Read more... )

How it Feels to Float, by Helena Fox. Dial Books, 2019Teen aged Elizabeth (Biz) has problems. She has depression, panic attacks, PTSD, and obviously something more. She’s unsure about her sexuality but her kiss with her best friend didn’t turn out well at all. An evening around a bonfire on the beach has her branded as having had sex while there ( Read more... )

The Lost Coast, by Amy Rose Capetta. Candlewick Press, 2019
When Danny and her mother pick a random spot on the map to move to, they have no idea that Danny’s hand with the pin in it was being controlled by others. Now, in a small town in Northern California, the people who guided that selection need her to help them find their lost friend, Imogen ( Read more... )

The Lost Coast, by Amy Rose Capetta. Candlewick Press, 2019When Danny and her mother pick a random spot on the map to move to, they have no idea that Danny’s hand with the pin in it was being controlled by others. Now, in a small town in Northern California, the people who guided that selection need her to help them find their lost friend, Imogen. ( Read more... )

Prince Ombra, by Roderick MacLeish. Tom Doherty Associates, 1982
Eight year old Bentley Ellicot is bullied by boys in his town because he has a limp. He’s never had a friend until he meets Sally Drake in the physical therapist’s waiting room. She’s there because she can’t talk- or, at least, not so that anyone can understand. But Bentley has no ( Read more... )

The Other Side of Elsewhere, by Brett McKay. RedAdeptPublishing, 2018
Twelve year old Ret is enjoying summer, other than the fact that his father works two jobs and is never home, while his mother works only one job but is exhausted from taking care of everything at home. He and his friends Gary & Jax are doing jumps and stunts with their bicycles ( Read more... )