Recently, at Kirkus Reviews.
We got The Plague™ for Christmas, so I'm behind in posting these!
I have written about Martine Leavitt's Calvin:
It’s sensitive and empathetic, funny and suspenseful and surprising. Leavitt weaves in lots of fascinating history and folklore about Lake Erie that enhance the narrative rather than distracting from it; and at all times, she shows an appreciation for the utter beauty of an endless icescape without ever diminishing its inherent dangers.
As well as N. H. Senzai's Ticket to India:
Senzai’s descriptions of places and things are excellent, in that it’s easy to see what Maya sees, hear the clatter of the train, smell the food in front of her, so much so that readers may well be inspired to look more closely at their own surroundings. They may also be inspired to consider the history of familiar places, though that is where the book’s major weakness comes into play: it’s intensely didactic.
And I've also rounded up a bunch of January titles I'm looking forward to.