A ghostly good time.
Middle school medium Baylor develops dreamwalking abilities—but not without complications.
An unfavorable online article about the white 13-year-old humorously recaps highlights of Baylor’s Guide to the Other Side (2016) in the voice of a fake-news–y type with a grudge. Baylor’s dead twin sister, Kristina, and the British ghost Col. Fleetwood decide Baylor needs a protective amulet; they use the already-powerful talisman stone from the first book. Wearing it, Baylor has strange, lucid dreams that aren’t actually his; he’s entering his loved ones’ dreams. But he also is reaching some strangers, which shouldn’t be possible: an olive-skinned Greek girl and a dark-skinned Haitian boy, lost together at sea and running out of time. By night Baylor works on how to locate these missing teens, and during the day he deals with other subplots. These include his younger brother’s isolation (the other second-graders are afraid of Baylor), his best friend’s insecurity (discovered in a dream Baylor really shouldn’t have peeked in at; his friend uses a dreamcatcher to prevent further snooping), the spiteful journalist, and even family drama just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. The emotional stakes of the plots closer to home pair well with the very real physical dangers faced by the shipwrecked teens and the race against the clock to save them. Further changes in Baylor’s powers indicate things are happening in the Beyond for another book.
A ghostly good time. (Paranormal adventure. 10-15)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6639-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series.
An orphaned street urchin is recruited into an elite school for thieves.
In an alternate world where France is the dominant world power, 13-year-old Tom Morgan has had to scrimp, starve, and steal on the streets of London to survive. Born into a workhouse, he doesn’t know anything about his father, while his mother may have been from North Africa. One thing he does know is the sort of cruelty that awaits the poor who are sent to the workhouse, and he’s determined not to go back. But when their camp is raided and his friends are captured by workhouse agents, the only thing Tom can think of is how to get them out. Enter the Corsair, a cunning and mysterious man with a proposition: He wants to recruit Tom into Beaufort’s School for Deceptive Arts. From nabbing treasures to forging identity papers, Beaufort’s promises to teach Tom everything he needs to know to become a Shadow Thief and a member of the Shadow League, the secret global organization that helps keep the world’s political power in balance. But Beaufort’s has its own rules and secrets, and if Tom is to survive long enough to help his friends, he’ll need to figure them out quickly. Clever and gripping, this fast-paced boarding school story will appeal to fans of the Mysterious Benedict Society and Spy School series.
A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series. (Adventure. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781665982283
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
Some readers may feel that the resolution comes a mite too easily, but most will enjoy the journey and be pleased when...
Two sisters make an unauthorized expedition to their former hometown and in the process bring together the two parts of their divided family.
Dooley packs plenty of emotion into this eventful road trip, which takes place over the course of less than 24 hours. Twelve-year-old Ophelia, nicknamed Fella, and her 16-year-old sister, Zoey Grace, aka Zany, are the daughters of a lesbian couple, Shannon and Lacy, who could not legally marry. The two white girls squabble and share memories as they travel from West Virginia to Asheville, North Carolina, where Zany is determined to scatter Mama Lacy’s ashes in accordance with her wishes. The year is 2004, before the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, and the girls have been separated by hostile, antediluvian custodial laws. Fella’s present-tense narration paints pictures not just of the difficulties they face on the trip (a snowstorm, car trouble, and an unlikely thief among them), but also of their lives before Mama Lacy’s illness and of the ways that things have changed since then. Breathless and engaging, Fella’s distinctive voice is convincingly childlike. The conversations she has with her sister, as well as her insights about their relationship, likewise ring true. While the girls face serious issues, amusing details and the caring adults in their lives keep the tone relatively light.
Some readers may feel that the resolution comes a mite too easily, but most will enjoy the journey and be pleased when Fella’s family figures out how to come together in a new way . (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-16504-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
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