Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Patrick Gall
Review of Saber-Tooth
Saber-Tooth by Robin Gow Middle School Amulet/Abrams 328 pp. 1/26 9781419777387 $18.99 Gow (Dear Mothman, rev. 5/23) returns with another moving novel in verse that tests the boundaries of reality. Jasper, who is autistic and transgender, is not looking forward to eighth grade. Making friends has been hard, and he has difficulty connecting with his classmates.
Review of The Lionharts
The Lionharts by Mike Lawrence; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School Abrams Fanfare 240 pp. 3/26 9781419759963 $24.99 Alder Lionhart’s dragon-slaying hero-for-hire parents go missing after accepting a suspicious solicitation in this graphic-novel series starter. Fed up with their protective grandparents’ inaction, Alder and his hotheaded little brother, Flynt, sneak off to find their mother and father.
Review of Field Trip to Dinosaur Valley
Field Trip to Dinosaur Valley by John Hare; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Ferguson/Holiday 40 pp. 9/25 9780823459575 $18.99 This fourth installment of the wordless picture book series (Field Trip to the Moon, rev. 9/19, and sequels) raises stakes even higher than previous excursions by delving into time travel—and dinosaurs.
Review of Hick: The Trailblazing Journalist Who Captured Eleanor Roosevelt’s Heart
Hick: The Trailblazing Journalist Who Captured Eleanor Roosevelt’s Heart by Sarah Miller Middle School, High School Random House Studio/Random 384 pp. 5/25 9780593649091 $20.99 Library ed. 9780593649107 $23.99 e-book ed. 9780593649114 $12.99 Miller’s (Hanged, rev. 11/22) compelling biography charts the historic path famed journalist Lorena “Hick” Hickok (1893–1968) took from poverty and obscurity to the role of beloved confidante to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Review of Beasts
Beasts by Ingvild Bjerkeland; trans. from Norwegian by Rosie Hedger Middle School, High School Em Querido/Levine Querido 128 pp. 4/25 9781646145133 $17.99 Beasts have invaded thirteen-year-old Abdi’s homeland. With their hoofed feet, long arms, slender hands, and razor-sharp claws, the beasts pursue and kill every living creature. The government has collapsed; there’s no electricity; supermarkets are empty.
Review of Outsider Kids
Outsider Kids [Parachute Kids] by Betty C. Tang; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School Graphix/Scholastic 288 pp. 4/25 9781338832723 $24.99 Paper ed. 9781338832716 $14.99 e-book ed. 9781338832730 $14.99 Tang continues the saga of the Lin family begun in the graphic novel Parachute Kids (rev. 5/23). In 1981, the family left Taiwan in search of a better life, making their home in a Los Angeles suburb.
Review of The Bear Out There
The Bear Out There by Jess Hannigan; illus. by the author Primary Quill Tree/HarperCollins 48 pp. 4/25 9780063289482 $19.99 Hannigan’s (Spider in the Well, rev.
Review of Hurricane
Hurricane by Jason Chin; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Porter/Holiday 48 pp. 5/25 9780823458493 $19.99 Hatteras Island off the coast of North Carolina is the scene for Chin’s latest: an examination of a hurricane (based on several real ones) brilliantly told in segments alternating between actions of island residents and those of scientists.
The Horn Book | Review of Oasis
Oasis by Guojing; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School Godwin/Holt 160 pp. 2/25 9781250818379 $21.99 Paper ed. 9781250818386 $14.99 e-book ed. 9781250415790 $9.99 As this graphic novel opens, JieJie and her younger brother, Didi, press their way through a windswept landscape toward an isolated telephone booth in the desert. It’s their way of reaching their mother, who works at a factory in the “paradise” city of Oasis to make ends meet.
Review of All the Blues in the Sky
All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson Middle School Bloomsbury 208 pp. 2/25 9781547605897 $17.99 e-book ed. 9781547605903 $12.59 “I didn’t know / best friends could die.” From the very first line, Watson takes a deep dive into the intricacies of grief and healing. On her thirteenth birthday, Sage is looking forward to spending the day with her best friend; instead, she receives news that her friend has been killed by a drunk driver.
Review of The Lost Ones
The Lost Ones [Moonwind Mysteries] by Johan Rundberg; trans. from Swedish by Eva Apelqvist Middle School Amazon Crossing Kids 222 pp. 1/25 9781662525940 $17.99 Paper ed. 9781662525957 $9.99 Rundberg’s pair of 1880s detectives—twelve-year-old orphan Mika from Stockholm’s Public Children’s Home and police detective Valdemar Hoff—investigate the disappearance of a wealthy family’s teenage daughter, Beatrice.
Review of Song of a Blackbird
Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout; illus. by the author Middle School, High School First Second 256 pp. 1/25 9781250869814 $25.99 Paper ed. 9781250869821 $17.99 e-book ed. 9781250412119 $11.99 This deeply personal and poetic graphic novel illustrates the heroic actions of everyday Dutch people as they resisted the Nazi regime, as well as the lingering trauma inherited by subsequent generations.
Review of Run Away with Me
Run Away with Me by Brian Selznick; illus. by the author High School Scholastic 320 pp. 4/25 9781339035529 $24.99 e-book ed. 9781546110224 $24.99 Selznick’s first young adult work is imbued with romance and mystery, bookended with long, cinematic passages of textural, wordless, black-and-white illustrations in his signature style.
Review of A Home for Unusual Monsters
A Home for Unusual Monsters [Kairos Files] by Shaun David Hutchinson Intermediate, Middle School Labyrinth Road/Random 288 pp. 2/25 9780593646335 $17.99 e-book ed. 9780593646359 $10.99 This sequel to The School for Invisible Boys (rev. 1/24) shifts its focus to twelve-year-old Samantha Osbourne, budding agent for the clandestine paranormal research group Kairos, as she navigates adolescence, grief, and monsters.
Review of The Curse of Madame Petrova
The Curse of Madame Petrova by Marjolijn Hof; illus. by Annette Fienieg; trans. from Dutch by Bill Nagelkerke Middle School Em Querido/Levine Querido 272 pp. 9/24 9781646144532 $18.99 Silke and her twin brother, Janis, are fated to cause each other’s demise, or so predicted Madame Petrova when she read the cards for Papa and Mama before the children’s birth. Now orphaned and afraid their grasping cousins will make them fulfill this terrible destiny, Silke and Janis flee.
The Horn Book | Review of Lola
Lola by Karla Arenas Valenti; illus. by Islenia Mil Intermediate Knopf 256 pp. 9/24 9780593177006 $17.99 Library ed. 9780593177013 $20.99 e-book ed. 9780593177020 $10.99 Lola, ten, lives in Mexico City in a house built around the Tree. The Tree is full of life, and spirit-like beings called chaneques protect it. One day, Lola notices gray splotches on the Tree and in the garden. The spots spread to Lola’s brother Alex, covering him in gray patches and making him ill.
Review of Still Sal
Still Sal by Kevin Henkes; illus. by the author Primary Greenwillow 256 pp. 10/24 9780063389625 $18.99 e-book ed. 9780063389649 $9.99 Sal Miller is six. Her life is changing so much that she tells Papa, “I’m not Sal anymore,” after her two-year-old sister, Poppy, moves into her bedroom. Sal “was a person who had a room of her own, and I—whoever I am—don’t.” When she gets a new haircut, she wonders, “If she looked different, would she feel different?
Review of Night Light
Night Light [I Like to Read: Comics] by Michael Emberley; illus. by the author Primary Holiday 40 pp. 4/25 9780823458165 $14.99 Emberley’s familiar pink-and-green-pajama-wearing creature (see Let’s Go!, rev. 1/23, and others) returns for another imaginative early-reader-comic mini-adventure, this time with a parent in tow. It’s bedtime, and after selecting a story (one that alludes to the author’s father, Ed Emberley’s, Go Away, Big Green Monster!), the pair is interrupted by a blackout.
Review of Thunder City
Thunder City [Mortal Engines] by Philip Reeve Middle School, High School Scholastic 336 pp. 11/24 9781546138235 $19.99 e-book ed. 9781546138242 $19.99 This prequel to Reeve’s acclaimed postapocalyptic, steampunk Mortal Engines series opens some two hundred years earlier, during the peaceful Golden Age of Traction, as the city of Thorbury is violently boarded and captured by villain Gabriel Strega.
Review of Under the Same Stars
Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray High School Farrar 480 pp. 2/25 9780374388942 $24.99 e-book ed. 9780374388959 $12.99 In this ambitious work, Bray alternates three seemingly disparate stories, briefly braiding them into one near the novel’s end. In 1940s Germany, Sophie and Hanna are devotees of the Bridegroom’s Oak, a hollow tree famed as a post box for exchanging love letters.
Review of (S)Kin
(S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi High School Versify/HarperCollins 400 pp. 2/25 9780062888877 $19.99 e-book ed. 9780062888891 $10.99 In this verse novel with a basis in Caribbean folklore, fifteen-year-old Marisol and her mother, Lourdes, have recently emigrated from the Caribbean to Brooklyn. The two are soucouyant, shapeshifting “monsters” who shed their skin during the new moon to feed on the souls of their enemies.
Review of Sea Legs
Sea Legs by Jules Bakes; illus. by Niki Smith Intermediate Graphix/Scholastic 256 pp. 2/25 9781338835885 $24.99 Paper ed. 9781338835861 $14.99 e-book ed. 9781338836417 $14.99 This heartfelt graphic novel explores the uncharted waters of growing up, friendship, and self-discovery. Soon after Janey finishes third grade, she and her family move onto their red-sailed schooner to live and to sail the Caribbean Islands.
Review of The Next Scientist: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of the World’s Great Scientists
The Next Scientist: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of the World’s Great Scientists by Kate Messner; illus. by Julia Kuo Primary, Intermediate Chronicle 64 pp. 8/24 9781452176963 $19.99 This attractive, informative, and ambitious collective biography begins with a challenge: “Quick! Name the world’s greatest scientist.” Messner (The Next President, rev.
Review of Call Me Roberto!: Roberto Clemente Goes to Bat for Latinos
Call Me Roberto!: Roberto Clemente Goes to Bat for Latinos by Nathalie Alonso; illus. by Rudy Gutierrez Primary, Intermediate Calkins/Astra 40 pp. 8/24 9781635928112 $18.99 e-book ed. 9781635928129 $11.99 In engaging, economical, and colloquial prose, Alonso chronicles the ascent and career highs of legendary right fielder Clemente (1934–1972), who endured racism as a Spanish-speaking Black man while shattering records during his illustrious baseball career.
Review of Go, Wilma, Go!: Wilma Rudolph, from Athlete to Activist
Go, Wilma, Go!: Wilma Rudolph, from Athlete to Activist by Amira Rose Davis and Michael G. Long; illus. by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow Primary Bloomsbury 40 pp. 7/24 9781547612093 $18.99 e-book ed. 9781547612109 $13.29 This inspiring biography of Rudolph (1940–1994), the three-time Olympic gold medalist in track, centers on her work as a civil rights activist.
Review of Space: The Final Pooping Frontier
Space: The Final Pooping Frontier by Annabeth Bondor-Stone and Connor White; illus. by Lars Kenseth Primary, Intermediate Godwin/Holt 40 pp. 7/24 9781250222886 $19.99 e-book ed. 9781250386663 $11.99 The words “go boldly” are boldly recontextualized in this newest addition to the ever-growing collection of poop-focused nonfiction titles for kids.
Review of The New Girl
The New Girl by Cassandra Calin; illus. by the author Middle School Graphix/Scholastic 272 pp. 6/24 9781338762464 $24.99 Paper ed. 9781338762457 $12.99 e-book ed. 9781338762471 $12.99 Inspired by the author’s own immigrant experience, this contemporary-set graphic novel centers Lia, a middle schooler whose family relocates from Romania to Canada. Enrolled in a “welcome class” to learn French with other non-native speakers, Lia struggles to adjust to her new life in Montreal.
Review of A Big Day for Bike
A Big Day for Bike by Emily Jenkins; illus. by G. Brian Karas Preschool, Primary Ottaviano/Little, Brown 32 pp. 6/24 9780316340175 $18.99 On her first day as a rental bicycle for Beep Beep Bicycles, Bike worries she might not be able to live up to riders’ expectations.
Review of Desert Song
Desert Song by Laekan Zea Kemp; illus. by Beatriz Gutiérrez Hernández Primary Porter/Holiday 40 pp. 6/24 9780823453924 $18.99 e-book ed. 9780823459162 $11.99 Spanish ed.
Review of A Family Tree
A Family Tree by Staci Lola Drouillard; illus. by Kate Gardiner Primary Clarion/HarperCollins 40 pp. 5/24 9780063242463 $19.99 When Francis’s family plants Gaawaandagoonce (“little spruce” in Ojibwemowin) in her grandmother’s garden located alongside Gichigamiing (Lake Superior), the tree and baby Francis are almost the same height.
Review of How to Eat a Mango
How to Eat a Mango by Paola Santos; illus. by Juliana Perdomo Primary Porter/Holiday 40 pp. 7/24 9780823453887 $18.99 Spanish ed. 9780823457984 $18.99 Carmencita dislikes picking up rotten mangoes that have fallen from Abuelita’s tree. She also doesn’t like eating mangoes: they are sticky, and the strings get stuck between her teeth. But Abuelita shows Carmencita that there is more to a mango than its fruit.
Review of Touch the Sky
Touch the Sky by Stephanie V. W. Lucianovic; illus. by Chris Park Preschool, Primary Carolrhoda 32 pp. 5/24 9781728460451 $18.99 Vern dreams of soaring through the air on the playground swings. If only he could learn to pump his legs! While well-versed in other swinging activities, such as the wind-up and spin-out and belly-down, none gives Vern that feeling of flying. Other kids make it look so easy, while Vern thrashes this way and that trying for takeoff.
Review of Look! Look!
Look! Look! by Uma Krishnaswami; illus. by Uma Krishnaswamy Primary Groundwood 32 pp. 4/24 9781773069326 $19.99 e-book ed. 9781773069333 $16.99 A young girl passes by an unremarkable patch of ground on her way to and from school.
Review of A Crocodile Should Never Skip Breakfast
A Crocodile Should Never Skip Breakfast by Colleen Larmour; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Kids Can 32 pp. 6/24 9781525308345 $19.99 e-book ed. 9781525313394 $13.99 Croc, who works as the local river ferry for other animals in the jungle, is running late one morning and doesn’t have time for his usual bowl of Snappy Snacks cereal. Backup plans fall through: all of the doughnuts at Hippo’s stand are sold out; his emergency banana falls in the mud.
Review of Heatwave
Heatwave by Lauren Redniss; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Random House Studio/Random 40 pp. 5/24 9780593645949 $19.99 Library ed. 9780593645956 $22.99 e-book ed. 9780593645963 $10.99 Redniss’s assured, measured, and elegant meditation on life during our current environmental crisis begins during a record-breaking heatwave with a crystal-clear proclamation: “No way.
Review of The Yellow Bus
The Yellow Bus by Loren Long; illus. by the author Primary Roaring Brook 48 pp. 6/24 9781250903136 $19.99 e-book 9781250368034 $11.99 Long’s poignant picture book about a school bus is a meditation on the passage of time while finding purpose in all seasons of life, in the tradition of Virginia Lee Burton. “There was once a bright yellow bus who spent her days driving” passengers (first school children, then elderly people) “from one important place to another.
Review of Campingland
Campingland by Ame Dyckman; illus. by James Burks Primary Two Lions/Amazon 40 pp. 7/24 9781662510830 $17.99 Bugs and bad weather and bears…oh, my! At first, camping seems like a “fun and easy” vacation. For a family of inexperienced campers, however, disaster lurks around every pine tree.
Review of Home in a Lunchbox
Home in a Lunchbox by Cherry Mo; illus. by the author Primary Penguin Workshop 40 pp. 6/24 9780593661345 $18.99 e-book ed. 9780593753439 $10.99 Having recently emigrated from Hong Kong to America, young Jun starts school with a few English words and phrases (e.g., hello, thank you, I don’t know, toilet) written on her palm. Nevertheless, she faces misunderstandings and struggles to comprehend a new language and culture.
Review of Emergency Quarters
Emergency Quarters by Carlos Matias; illus. by Gracey Zhang Primary Tegen/HarperCollins 40 pp. 5/24 9780063271456 $19.99 It’s a new school year, and Ernesto, an Afro Dominican boy wearing “lucky kicks” and “his favorite Mets cap,” is finally allowed to walk the six blocks to school without his parents. Before he leaves, his mom hands him a shiny quarter “for emergencies”—to call home using a pay phone if he needs to.
Review of I Am Friendly: Confessions of a Helpful Bear
I Am Friendly: Confessions of a Helpful Bear by Kristen Tracy; illus. by Erin Kraan Preschool, Primary Farrar 40 pp. 5/24 9780374391188 $18.99 e-book ed. 9780374393526 $11.99 Tracy and Kraan provide humorous (faux) insight into the thoughts of one of nature’s more formidable creatures: the brown bear. Our protagonist begins the story’s narration with reassurances that, rather than being ferocious, “I am friendly.
Review of Viewfinder
Viewfinder by Christine D. U. Chung and Salwa Majoka; illus. by the authors Primary, Intermediate Tundra 144 pp. 2/24 9780735268753 $18.99 e-book ed. 9780735268760 $10.99 Chung and Majoka offer a wordless graphic novel for younger readers that presents dystopian science fiction through a gentle, nearly amicable viewpoint.
Review of The School for Invisible Boys
The School for Invisible Boys by Shaun David Hutchinson Intermediate, Middle School Labyrinth Road/Random 304 pp. 2/24 9780593646298 $17.99 Library ed. 9780593646304 $20.99 e-book ed. 9780593646311 $10.99 Hutchinson’s (Howl, rev. 7/22) middle-grade debut is a captivating combination of dark fantasy and tween drama built on a cast of nuanced characters, methodical world-building, and suspenseful storytelling.
Review of Before the Devil Knows You’re Here
Before the Devil Knows You’re Here by Autumn Krause High School Peachtree Teen 227 pp. 10/23 9781682636473 $18.99 e-book ed. 9781682636480 $11.99 When Catalina’s pa dies after drinking cider made from a poisoned apple, “wind burst through the cabin like a ferocious intruder…a man, but his skin rose and fell in patchy, lopsided ridges. Bark? Green leaves with serrated edges sprouted from his hair.
Review of The Little Match Girl Strikes Back
The Little Match Girl Strikes Back by Emma Carroll; illus. by Lauren Child Intermediate Candlewick 208 pp. 9/23 9781536233353 $19.99 In July 1888, women and girls working at a match factory in East London went on strike to protest dangerous working conditions and poor pay.
Review of Maybe a Whale
Maybe a Whale by Kirsten Pendreigh; illus. by Crystal Smith Primary Groundwood 40 pp. 8/23 9781773066646 $21.99 e-book ed. 9781773066653 $16.99 The unnamed narrator’s grandfather has died, and her mother is taking her on a trip he had planned for them, to the ocean to see his beloved whales. The girl doesn’t want to go, but she packs up her stuffed whale and draws whales in the condensation on the car window while the pair drives to the coast.
Review of Stuntboy, In-Between Time
Stuntboy, In-Between Time by Jason Reynolds; illus. by Raúl the Third Intermediate, Middle School Dlouhy/Atheneum 272 pp. 8/23 9781534418226 $14.99 e-book ed. 9781534418240 $9.99 Set one week after its predecessor (Stuntboy, in the Meantime, rev. 1/22), this illustrated novel follows Portico Reeves through one very eventful day as the self-appointed superhero struggles with anxiety (“the frets”), dabbles in misbehavior, and confronts his parents’ recent separation.
Review of Down the Hole
Down the Hole by Scott Slater; illus. by Adam Ming Primary Clarion/HarperCollins 40 pp. 10/23 9780358683346 $19.99 Wily Fox meets his match in crafty Rabbit, as the would-be predator waits by a bunny hole. Underneath the ground, the light from the hole shines down on a rabbit listening alertly while the rest of the bunnies spring into action. Some have hard hats and shovels, while others pore over a map, looking as if they are strategizing.
Review of Nesting Dolls
Nesting Dolls by Vanessa Brantley-Newton; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Crown 40 pp. 10/23 9781984852373 $18.99 Library ed. 9781984852380 $21.99 e-book ed. 9781984852397 $10.99 Brantley-Newton highlights the bonds, both visible and invisible, that connect family members. Anyiaka’s older sister, Sorie, has light brown skin like their mom’s and grandma’s. Anyiaka’s darker skin causes her to wonder about her place in the family.
Review of Bábo: A Tale of Armenian Rug-Washing Day
Bábo: A Tale of Armenian Rug-Washing Day by Astrid Kamalyan; illus. by Anait Semirdzhyan Primary Charlesbridge 32 pp. 9/23 9781623543587 $17.99 e-book ed. 9781632893307 $9.99 A young girl describes a beloved summertime tradition for her Armenian family. Guided by Bábo, or Grandmother, four children jump into action to “soak, soap, and wash” their treasured family rugs.
Review of Go-Go Guys
Go-Go Guys by Rowboat Watkins; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Chronicle 48 pp.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Patrick
Contact Patrick, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack