Neverland spills into modern day life and sets two young people on a collision course in this YA fantasy. Dust by Kara Swanson. Enclave Publishing, 2020. 368 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 16 and up Recommended For: Ages 16 and up Claire Kenton hates Peter Pan. She hates the storybook that so enchanted her twin brother —who is now missing. She hates herself, too, and the weird, dangerous flakes that fall from her skin. Hates herself enough that she tried to end everything, just before our story starts. But now she has a reason to live; she has finally tracked down a trace of her brother, Connor —he was…

Secrets, shadows, and Milton’s Paradise Lost are woven together in a new YA fantasy. Mortal Sight by Sandra Fernandez Rhoads. Enclave Publishing, 2020. 304 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 16 and up Recommended For: Ages 16 and up Cera is tired of running. Tired of the strange life she lives, punctuated for the past 10 years by an epileptic fit prompting a move each birthday.  This year she’s going to put her foot down. But then she realizes there’s more to her fits —more to the shadows she thinks she sees— and a whole other world her mom has been hiding from her. Or has her mom been hiding…

In Raising Lumie, a grieving girl gets a new family and a dog-owning dream fulfilled. Raising Lumie by Joan Bauer. Viking, 2020, 267 pages Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-12 independently; 6-10 as a read-aloud Olive lost her mom when she was just a baby. Now she’s lost her dad, the world’s best plumber, to cancer. The only good thing, or less-than-awful thing, is that Dad’s illness has brought Olive’s grownup half-sister into her life. Maudie takes over guardianship duties with grace and enthusiasm–but denies Olive’s deepest with for a dog. The timing isn’t right: the girls are moving to a new town, where Maudie has…

Idris, Bard of Blackthorn, is on a quest for answers in this darkly brooding fantasy for teens and adults. The Door on Half-Bald Hill by Helena Sorensen. Rabbit Room Press, 2020. 302 pages. Reading Level: Adult (ages 16 and up) Recommended For: Teens and adults, ages 16 and up Blackthorn is dying: water, people, and land. The three most powerful people in the community, the Ovate (healer), Druid (priest), and Ollamh (bard), are each caught up in the downward spiral. Corann, the druid, focuses on the old ways, meticulously following all of the customs, performing the sacred rites, and seeking answers in deep meditation. Corann’s ultimate desire is to find…

Ranch girl Pearl discovers the brand-new technology of moving pictures in this fun read for early middle-graders. The Nerviest Girl in the World by Melissa Wiley.  Alfred A. Knopf, 2020, 186 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 7-11 Except for irritable ostriches and daredevil big brothers, Pearl Donnelly lives a pretty quiet life on her family’s southern California ranch. Then Mr. Corrigan came around, looking for a few good riders to shoot. With a moving-picture camera, that is; Corrigan is the chief visionary of the Flying Q Film Company, now cranking out a picture a week for the nation’s nickelodeons. He’s just moved to California to…