A fitting sequel filled with magic and friendship.
Hasani’s magical journey continues with more tests and lessons for the young witch in this follow-up to 2022’s Wildseed Witch.
This time Hasani is back on her home turf at her old school, New Orleans’ Riverbend Middle. Dee and Angelique, her fellow coven members from her summer witch camp, Les Belles Demoiselles, are back there with her for eighth grade, and so is deceitful ex-friend LaToya. Hasani is faced with balancing these elements of her new life with ones from the past, like best friend Luz, who is still unaware that Hasani is a witch. When a huge swarm of termites descends upon the school, Hasani is convinced that LaToya is responsible and is trying to undermine her. She’s determined to prove this despite the doubts of others, including Miss Lafleur, her Belles Demoiselles mentor who shows up and offers to help find the source of the trouble. Hasani’s fear of using her magic is highlighted as well as her challenge with balancing all the moving parts of her life. Will she be able to tap into her magic and grasp what is truly important, or will she allow her fears and biases to wreak havoc on her life and relationships? Dumas shows how Hasani’s magical world gets enmeshed with her everyday existence and the complexities as she tries to navigate it. Readers will be best served by having read the first volume.
A fitting sequel filled with magic and friendship. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781419755637
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
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Fast-moving but let down by questionable omissions.
The efforts of six New Jersey kids to prevent the Nazis from winning World War II continue in this sequel to Westfallen (2024).
In 1944, Alice, Lawrence, and Artie struggle to correct their catastrophic error that, as Alice repeatedly has it, “DESTROYED THE FUTURE.” In 2023, Frances and Henry desperately research the changed history that finds the U.S. transformed into the Nazi-controlled tributary state of Westfallen. Jewish Lukas is largely confined, unable to help them or reach the magic shed that houses the radio that allows the kids to communicate across time, putting him at risk of losing his memories. Meanwhile, in 1944, Lawrence collects scrap metal alongside a kid who grows up to be a patient in the Home for Incurables, where Henry works in 2023. Could that kid hold the key to restoring the timeline? In this volume, Lawrence and Frances join Alice and Henry as first-person narrators, depriving Lukas and Artie of narrative agency. This lack is particularly distressing in Lukas’ case, as his isolation is affecting his personality. It falls to Henry and Alice to prod him into action—which is unfortunate for a novel that never names the Holocaust and omits persecution of the Jews from Alice’s father’s explanation of Nazi ideology (although antisemitism is an obvious feature of life in this alternate timeline). The crackling pace can’t obscure these lapses. Alice, Artie, and Frances are white, Lawrence is Black, and biracial Henry is Black and white.
Fast-moving but let down by questionable omissions. (Science fiction/thriller. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781665950848
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
Powerful and awakening.
A 14-year-old Ashkenazi Jewish transgender boy harnesses supernatural powers and pursues his world-saving destiny.
Every week, A Izenson’s parents drag him to Save Our Sons and Daughters, a conversion-therapy group for families with transgender youth. Not many teens last long there before they disappear for “further treatment.” After Greek American group member Yarrow, one of A’s only friends, meets this fate, A sneaks over to Yarrow’s house to find out what happened. When he’s caught eavesdropping on Yarrow’s parents, a being made of garbage sweeps in to aid his escape. The creature describes itself as a golem, though its origins are a mystery. All the golem knows is that it awoke to help A fulfill his destiny to save Yarrow—and the world—before the end of Yom Kippur. At first, A is certain the golem has chosen the wrong person. But when he rescues his friend Sal, a white butch lesbian trans girl, from a demon who tries to devour her during a SOSAD meeting, he not only embraces his power, but also starts to see himself as a hero and Sal as his sidekick. Lukoff both explores and then subverts the chosen-one trope through A’s battle with his personal demons. The story is set in 2023, and the fantasy conflict is grounded in serious real-world problems—the ongoing impact of Covid-19, alarming rates of homelessness and suicide among LGBTQ+ youth, and anti-trans legislation. The resolution is both honest and hopeful.
Powerful and awakening. (note on research, note on resources) (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593618981
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
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BOOK REVIEW
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