Review_CHILDREN’S70 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ SEPTEMEBER 9, 2019
Review_CHILDREN’S Review_CHILDREN’Sis a titch perfect: gorgeous, loyal, strong,
and kind. In addition, contrivances weaken
the plot: whenever Johnny and his team
need a clue, it’s given to them; when they
need a spell, it’s in a book they happen to
have. Santoni’s refreshingly LGBTQ wizard
world is made up of haves and have-nots,
and a war for liberation is surely brewing,
suggesting that a sequel may be forth-
coming. Perhaps Johnny’s friends will
receive fuller treatment in future volumes.
Ages 14–up. (Oct.)Comics
The Clothesline
Orbie, trans. from the French by Karen Li.
Owlkids, $16.95 (64p) ISBN 978-1-77147-390-3
Compact, blond Reggie, five, lives with
his mother in a brick building “above the
corner store.” He loves to race downstairs
to buy candy with his allowance, and when
his mom is not watching (“it would scare
her”), he yanks their clothesline’s pulley
knot to hear its springy “ftoiiing!” One
day, he slips, grabs the taut cord, and finds
himself swinging high above the yard. In
minimalist images, Orbie (illustrator of
Sloth at the Zoom) milks the situation from
all angles, moment by moment; cutaway
views show Reggie’s mother relaxing in
their apartment, wearing headphones, as
Reggie dangles above the ground. Nobody
except Reggie and a black cat witness the
resolution, and a typeface resembling hand-
lettering highlights the boy’s personal
voice. Translated from the French and first
published in Canada, this quaint comics-
style picture book may startle U.S. audi-
ences with Reggie’s independence while
offering readers an opportunity to reflect
on why Reggie swallows his tears, keeping
his error and his reasonable fear a secret.
Ages 5–8. (Oct.)Black Canary: Ignite
Meg Cabot, illus. by Cara McGee. DC Zoom,
paper $9.99 (144p) ISBN 978-1-4012-8620-0
In this fun romp, Cabot (Royal Crown)
and McGee (Dodge City) give DC’s heroine,
Black Canary, an origin story as a young
teen. Dinah Lance and her band mates Vee
and Kat are preparing for the Gotham
City Junior High battle of the bands when
her father, Detective Lance, bursts in to
announce that the Joker is loose again. EachAngel Mage
Liliath, newly
risen from more
than a century
of magical sleep
and ready to
reunite with the
archangel of
Ystara, whom
she both loves
and compels.
Her scheme to
return to Ystara depends on the presence
of four friends, all 18-year-old provincials
newly arrived in the neighboring capital
of Sarance: a scholar and icon painter of
unusual ability; a new cadet in the Queen’s
Musketeers; a clerk who serves the Cardinal;
and a student doctor of some skill. Liliath
gathers supporters among the Refusers,
whose ancestors fled their native Ystara and
cannot be touched by magic following an
angelic disaster that cursed the population.
Readers familiar with The Three Musketeers
will see echoes of it here: a chance meeting
among the four friends, an intrigue with
some jewelry, and Liliath in the role of the
mysterious female foe. A unique magical
system based on angel summoning and
icons, deft characterization—including
male and female protagonists and LGBTQ
representation—and an affectionate ren-
dering of Dumas’s style will delight teen
and adult fans of swashbuckling romance.
Ages 14–up. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill
Grinberg Literary Management. (Oct.)I’m a Gay Wizard
V.S. Santoni. Wattpad, paper $10.99 (352p)
ISBN 978-0-99368-990-1
Johnny and Alison are bully bait at their
Chicago high school, where he’s gay, and
she’s a trans goth. But after they experiment
with protective magic, they are “extracted”
and brought to a wizard academy. This is
no Hogwarts, though: it’s essentially a
prison, and the two teens quickly start to
concoct escape plans, despite the formidable
obstacles, including monsters. Meanwhile,
Johnny falls for fellow student Hunter,
who seems to return his interest, even as
he insists that he’s straight. Debut author
Santoni’s alternate universe is carefully
detailed, but his characters are less devel-
oped. Johnny’s first-person narration allows
readers to know him well, but Alison is
stuck in snarky sidekick mode, and Hunterin a house of hell with all kind of sin and
debauchery”). When Missippi’s father, a
long-haul trucker, moves his daughter to
a Chicago home for pregnant teens run by
the saintly Ms. Pearline, she meets Sue, 17,
whose father is a conservative U.S. senator.
The story bounces among each girl’s story
(with chapter titles that announce how far
each is into her pregnancy), culminating
in a tragic ending for one and a pledge
among the others to remain lifelong
friends. An epilogue catches readers up to
the young women as adults. Though some
plot elements don’t add up, Pink (Into
White) offers a timely, sobering account of
the reality women faced before abortion
was made legal. Ages 13–up. (Oct.)The Good Luck Girls
Charlotte Nicole Davis. Tor Teen, $17.99
(352p) ISBN 978-1-250-29970-3
In this ambitious, uneven debut, the
historical Old West–flavored landscape of
post–Empire Arketta sets the stage for
monstrous spirits, men who trade their
humanity for power, and shadowless girls
with cursed tattoos called favors. When
Clementine accidentally kills her first client
at the Green Creek brothel, her older sister,
Aster, springs into action, and alongside
Clem’s best friends, transforms Clem’s
accident into a shot at freedom. Sycophantic,
cold Violet, the only girl there with a
shadow, begs to join them, promising to
lead the way to a legendary woman who
can remove their favors. On their journey
to find Lady Ghost and evade their cruel
pursuers, the girls must decide how far
they’ll go to try to escape their past. While
many of the characters lack depth, Aster
shines as a protagonist who harnesses her
trauma and anger in a world in which her
past is literally indelible. And while the
plot relies on some contrivance and is
sometimes overshadowed by the intricate
worldbuilding, Davis creates institutions,
systems, and power dynamics with real-
world echoes, making the themes timely
and resonant. Ages 13–up. Agent: Allison
Hellegers, Rights People. (Oct.)★ Angel Mage
Garth Nix. HarperCollins/Tegen, $19.99
(560p) ISBN 978-0-06-268322-9
Nix (Frogkisser!) builds a Dumas-
inspired world filled with angelic legions
in this tremendous fantasy that follows