Review_CHILDREN’S
76 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JANUARY 27, 2020
Review_CHILDREN’S
Moore, FinePrint Literary. (Mar.)The Light in Hidden Places
Sharon Cameron. Scholastic Press, $18.99
(400p) ISBN 978-1-338-35593-2
Cameron’s saga of life in wartime Poland
under German occupation stretches from
1936, when 11-year-old Fusia first falls in
love with city life on a visit to Przemys ́l,
through July 1944. Based on the experi-
ences of then-teenager Stefania “Fusia”
Podgórska, who, along with her younger
sister Helena, was, in 1979, honored by
the World Holocaust Remembrance
Center for their heroism in saving Jews
during the war, the book traces, in exhaus-
tive detail, what that heroism looked like
daily. Catholic Fusia doggedly persists in
doing what she believes is right; when the
Jewish family she has been living with and
working for is sent to the Jewish ghetto,
she sneaks food and supplies to them.
Eventually she hides her friend, Max, and
six (and later 13) other Jews in her and
Helena’s apartment. Living in fear and
under constant suspicion, Fusia holds
down a full-time factory job, fends off a
Polish officer’s advances, and undergoes
several extremely close calls with the
police, all while fiercely protecting
Helena (an especially appealing character,
sharp and savvy under her shy demeanor).
This story of extraordinary survival is
bolstered by an author’s note, accompanied
by photos, that relates the happy future
that followed for Fusia, Helena, and Max.
Ages 12–up. Agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea
Brown Literary. (Mar.)The June Boys
Court Stevens. Thomas Nelson, $18.99
(352p) ISBN 978-0-7852-2190-6
In June 2010, in Wildwood, Tenn.,
17-year-old Thea Delacroix, the heroine of
this engrossing mystery from Stevens (Dress
Codes for Small Towns), and her friends are
still searching for her Kentucky cousin,
Aulus McClaghen, a teen who went
missing a year earlier. She fears Aulus is a
victim of the Gemini Thief, who, since
2001, has been kidnapping three children
at a time, holding them for 13 months,
then releasing them without harm. This
pattern changes with the discovery of the
body of one of the kidnapped boys with
Aulus’s key chain stuffed in his mouth, one
made by Thea’s father, who soon becomesKingdom of
Back. Initially
the siblings are
intrigued,
enjoying adven-
tures in the
fantastical
kingdom, where
they explore
magical grottos
and outsmart a
witch, but when
things take a darker turn, Nannerl begins
to understand that she has entered a
Faustian pact. Carefully constructing a
magical kingdom while crafting the his-
torical cities of Europe where the Mozarts
played as children, Lu shows her knack for
creating detailed worlds while seamlessly
building a complicated sibling relation-
ship with a balance of rivalry and love.
Ages 12–up. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Kristin
Nelson Literary Agency. (Mar.)Harley in the Sky
Akemi Dawn Bowman. Simon Pulse, $19.99
(416p) ISBN 978-1-5344-3712-8
Harley Yoshi Milano, 18, has never felt
like she belongs. The Chinese, Japanese,
Italian, and Irish mixed-race teen questions
her cultural identity and role as daughter
of parents who run Teatro della Notte, a
Las Vegas circus. When her parents tell
her she must attend college instead of
training as a trapeze artist, Harley lands
an internship with a well-known aerialist
at a competing circus, but only in
exchange for betraying those she loves.
While most of the performers refuse to
help the new addition, hard work and
determination secure her admirers,
friends, and a love interest as her dreams
start to become reality. Dark clouds loom
as Harley struggles to maintain healthy
relationships and keep her depression at
bay, and she struggles with suicidal ide-
ation. Bowman (Starfish) creates an
emotionally driven novel brimming with
exuberant details of circus life and aerial
routines. Quick chapters culminate with
riveting cliffhangers that keep readers
hooked to the story. Elongated interior
monologues occur throughout, but
touching scenes between Harley and her
parents are sensitively written alongside a
thoughtful, unresolved exploration of
mental health. Ages 12–up. Agent: Pennyexperience with an almost madcap intensity.
Ages 8–12. (Mar.)All Your Twisted Secrets
Diana Urban. HarperTeen, $17.99 (400p)
ISBN 978-0-06-290821-6
In this intense psychological thriller,
six teens—“the queen bee, the jock, the
brains, the stoner, the loner, and the
orchestra geek”—are trapped in a room
with a bomb ticking down, a deadly
syringe, and a note informing them that
“within the hour” they must either select
one person to die or face that fate together.
Over the next hour, narrator and aspiring
composer Amber; her boyfriend, baseball
star Robbie; her former best friend Priya;
her current bestie, overachiever Sasha;
school valedictorian Diego; and resident
drug dealer Scott must find a way to either
escape or follow their captor’s wishes. As
the minutes slip away, tensions grow in
the room, resurfacing hidden resentments
and old grudges. Alternating chapters set
over the previous year further fill in the
blanks until an inevitable-seeming clash
reveals the students’ darkest secrets.
Urban’s debut is a powerful one, rich in
emotional turmoil and intracharacter
conflict, with a strong message against
bullying and a focus on standing up for
oneself and one’s goals. Last-minute reve-
lations will undoubtedly require a second
close reading, however, and may prove
polarizing. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jim
McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Mar.)The Kingdom of Back
Marie Lu. Putnam, $18.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-
5247-3901-0
Lu (Rebel) deftly layers fantastical ele-
ments and historical fiction to craft an
expansive tale of rivalry based on two
Mozart siblings, both talented pianists and
composers. In 1759 Salzburg, eight-year-
old Marianne “Nannerl” Mozart is poised
to play in front of royalty, but the audience
she must first impress is distracted when
her younger brother, the nearly four-year-
old Wolfgang “Woferl,” enters the room,
leading to a small error in her playing.
Blaming Woferl for the mistake and fearful
of his burgeoning talent, Nannerl makes a
wish that is heard by a magical entity,
Hyacinth; he promises to help Nannerl
achieve immortality through her music if
she helps him regain his crown in the