WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 79Review_CHILDREN’S
Randy’s been crushing for four years now,
and he’s out for love. But can love be built
on a lie? Rosen (Jack of Hearts [and Other
Parts]) portrays Camp Outland as an
LGBTQ idyll replete with queer history
talks and gender-blind theater casting. He
also takes on the “straight-acting” gay men
who look down on Randy and his friends—
friends who, in turn, disapprove of masc-
4masc Hudson—and shows that the butch-
fem divide may be narrower than it seems
(Randy’s friends disapprove of masc4masc
Hudson, and Randy has his own doubts) in
a fun, inclusive story that’s sex-, romance-,
and LGBTQ-positive. Ages 14–up. Agent:
Joy Tutela, David Black Literary. (May)★ Clap When You Land
Elizabeth Acevedo. Quill Tree, $18.99 (432p)
ISBN 978-0-06-288276-9
At nearly 17, Camino Rios lives in the
Dominican Republic with her aunt, where
she dreams of attending medical school at
Columbia University, near her father,
whom she only sees for a few months each
year. Skilled chess player Yahaira Rios, 16,
lives with her Dominican parents in New
York City, next door to her girlfriend, Dre.
When Yahaira’s father leaves for his annual
summer trip to the D.R., the plane crashes,
leaving no survivors and upending the
lives of Yahaira and his other daughter,
Camino. In the months following the crash,
the girls, previ-
ously unknown
to each other,
discover their
sisterhood—and
their father’s
double life—
and must come
to terms with
difficult truths
about their par-
ents. Returning
to verse, Acevedo subtly, skillfully uses
language and rhythm to give voice to the
sisters’ grief, anger, and uncertainty;
Camino’s introspective openness; and
Yahaira’s tendency toward order and leader-
ship. Raw and emotional, Acevedo’s explo-
ration of loss packs an effective double
punch, unraveling the aftermath of losing a
parent alongside the realities of familial
inheritance. Ages 14–up. Agent: Ammi-Joan
Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary. (May) ■reminder to readers of Code Name Verity
that the war will get much worse before it
ends. Ages 12–up. Agent: Ginger Clark,
Curtis Brown. (May)The Gilded Ones (Deathless #1)
Namina Forna. Delacorte, $18.99 (432p)
ISBN 978-1-9848-4869-7
All 16-year-old girls in Otera must
endure the Ritual of Purity. Those who
bleed red when cut are judged fit for
marriage and motherhood; those who bleed
gold are deemed impure and banished.
Sturdy brown-skinned Deka is an outcast
in Irfut, where villagers skew thin and
blond, and she craves the rite’s validation.
When the ceremony is interrupted by
deathshrieks—vicious monsters with
agonizing screams—Deka miraculously
repels the creatures, only to be dubbed a
demon. Multiple attempted executions
reveal that Deka is both gold-blooded and
seemingly unkillable. After two months
of torture, a mysterious woman, White
Hands, extends an invitation: come to the
capital, where the emperor is assembling
an army of quasi-immortal “alaki” like
Deka to combat deathshrieks. Deka enlists,
relieved to find a place where she might
finally belong, but the more she learns
about deathshrieks and alaki, the more
she questions Otera’s patriarchal tenets and
the emperor’s true intentions. Formidable
heroines and a thoughtful feminist myth-
ology distinguish debut author Forna’s
West Africa–inspired fantasy trilogy
launch. Abundant action drives the pace,
while a nuanced plot advocates social
change by illustrating the myriad ways
in which society cages and commodifies
women. Ages 12–up. Agent: Alice
Sutherland-Hawes, Madeleine Milburn. (May)Camp
L.C. Rosen. Little, Brown, $17.99 (384p)
ISBN 978-0-316-53775-9
At Camp Outland, a Connecticut
sleepaway camp where everyone’s queer,
16-year-old Randy feels fully himself,
enjoying “who-cares-if-your-wrists-are-
loose-freedom.” He’s been a camper there
since he was 12, and he and his friends in
the drama cabin live and breathe theater.
But this summer is different. Randy has
butched up, gone out for sports, and started
going by “Del” to land camp lothario
Hudson, and not just for a fling, either:stars third grader Mia Marcotte, an aspiring
astronaut who happens upon her engineer
aunt’s mysterious robot. When Mia learns
that “the kids who make the best science
fair projects” will be rewarded with a field
trip to the space center, she’s determined to
be one of them. There’s only one problem:
she has no idea what her project will be,
and the fair is in three days. Enter Aizek,
an intelligent new robot friend who lacks
imagination. With the support of Aizek
and her pet parrot, Martian, Mia will have
to flex her ingenuity if she wants to be a
contender. Wald’s energetic narration,
coupled with Caliskan’s animation-style
drawings, capably portrays an imaginative
girl pursuing her career and creative
dreams. Though didactic dialogue and
descriptions detract, Mia is a lovable,
enthusiastic protagonist, and secondary
characters entertain. Wald suffuses the plot
with elementary-level science experiments
and allusions, making this an inspiring
read for those interested in STEM fields.
Ages 8–up. (Self-published)
The Enigma Game
Elizabeth Wein. Little, Brown, $18.99 (432p)
ISBN 978-1-368-01258-4
Set in 1940, between the events of The
Pearl Thief and Code Name Verity, Wein’s
latest immersive dive into a slice of
WWII-era history splits the narration
among three figures—Flt. Lt. Jamie
Beaufort-Stuart; Ellen McEwen, a Traveller
volunteering as a military driver; and Louisa
Adair, the biracial daughter of a Jamaican
father and a British mother, both recently
killed by German explosives. Suddenly an
orphan at 15, Louisa intersects with the
others when she is hired by phone to escort
an elderly German opera singer to a rela-
tive’s inn, located in the Scottish country-
side near the air force base where Jamie and
Ellen are stationed. Intrigue is added when
the civilians arrive at the same moment as a
German pilot who secretly deposits a code-
breaking machine at the inn—the only
Enigma machine in Allied hands. Louisa,
who dearly wishes she could help the war
effort as a pilot, now has the means to
contribute, but she needs assistance. Wein
again seamlessly weaves extensive research
into a thriller populated by fully dimen-
sional characters. Late in the novel, Jamie’s
sister, Julie, makes a cameo as a newly
minted intelligence officer, a poignant