Teacher Benn sounds the alarm from page one of this boots-on-the-ground call-to-action, declaring “Our classrooms are under siege and teachers are the only ones who can save them.” Addressed to an audience of teachers, Benn—who has taught for 20 years in Los Angeles public schools—draws on his experience in the nation’s second-largest public school system to present practical ideas for overall educational improvement, with an emphasis on strategies that enable teachers to acheive powerful, equitable outcomes, moving students through Benn’s “Eight Attributes of Student Success” (these include Knowledge, Intelligence, Confidence, Curiosity, and more) while “closing the gap between the lowest and highest” achievers. Non-teachers, such as administrators and parents, may also find the observations eye-opening as Benn addresses challenges he and his fellow teaching professionals have regularly faced, such “harmful systems” created to “meet the needs of administrators, district officials, educational researchers, pundits, and politicians.”

Benn’s solution lies in autonomy. To save our students, he argues, teachers need to demonstrate that they should be solely responsible for what goes on in classrooms. To that end, he presents fresh, actionable systems, techniques, and “Tiers to Tenacious Teaching” that, in clear and brisk language, encourage student success while helping teachers evaluate both themselves and their classes, diagnose and address problems, prevent students from misunderstanding lessons and assignments, and connect material into a coherent whole. Benn writes with sympathy about obstacles confronting teachers, from disadvantaged students and widely varying skill levels to a dysfunctional college admission process.

Benn began teaching after a career as a mechanical engineer, and his guidance holds to an orderly, systemic approach, something he has found lacking in education. As a middle-school math teacher, he encountered frustrated students, behavioral problems, overcrowded classrooms, apathetic or politically driven administrators, factors that could compel any teacher to question their path. The tools, advice, and clarity of goals here offer a roadmap through all that—and to better serving students and our future, one class at a time.

Takeaway: Vital, practical guide for teachers striving to guide students to success.

Comparable Titles: Tom Hierck and Alex Kajitani’s You’re a Teacher Now! What’s Next?, Todd Whitaker’s What Great Teachers Do Differently.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

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Joseph’s sequel to Snoodles in Space carries on the zany, tongue-twisting fun of noodle-obsessed Noodleham, a definitively unique town overflowing with oddball drama. This time around, Ricky and Briana—the saviors of the last book—have sparked jealousy in Grumpy Grimy Groodleman, the original inventor of the “Groodlemobile,” an outdated, stinky vehicle that runs on a nasty, environmentally-unsafe substance called grool. Turns out, Grumpy’s two spoiled kids, Frimpy and Whimpy, are reaping the consequences of not following the rules during a local chocolate factory tour, turning them into the laughingstock of the local news media—and making Grumpy vow revenge on golden children Ricky and Briana.

Grumpy’s ire is understandable. He did lose his fortune after his kids’ bad press debacle, while Ricky and Briana earned nothing less than keys to the city for their role in Joseph’s last Snoodles entry. But, when Grumpy teams up with the nefarious Evil Kidoodle, from Planet Zoodle, and hatches a plan to transform Ricky and Briana into “complete nincompoops… [with] an insatiable desire just to eat grool,” readers may wonder if he’s gone too far. His own kids wonder the same thing, prompting a surprising change of heart for the strangely appealing Frimpy and Whimpy, one that leads them down a golden road of second chances.

Case’s illustrations match the frenetic, flashy pace of Joseph’s story, blazing across the pages with a vibrant cacophony of mayhem that makes this zippy story burst with character. The Snoodles’ space travel is a trip, too, as Frimpy and Whimpy are given the seats of honor in saving the galaxy, as it were, from a lifetime of eating nothing but grool—and securing a happy ending for their irascible dad in the process. Joseph’s clear affinity for wordplay translates into some challenging sequences to read, but, ultimately, Noodleham fans will be pleased with this wacky return.

Takeaway: Wildly wacky adventures with the Snoodles, blasting through space and pages.

Comparable Titles: Mike Lowery’s Bug Scouts series, Stephen Shaskan’s Pizza and Taco Lunch Special series.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: A-
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A

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In Daniels’s playful and inventive urban fantasy debut, a young former police detective is forced out of quiet anonymity in the Wyoming town of Dragon Heights when brothel workers in her neighborhood begin suffering attacks. When she faced accusations of necromancy, Kinsley Ramons chose to flee the magic-hating city of Miami rather than risk shaming her fiancé Eric or harming his career as he ascended the police ranks. As the child of two dragons, Kinsley chose to take her chances in magic-friendly Dragon Heights, she takes on magical bounty work while renting an apartment from a local madam.

Set in 2167, the story quickly upends Kinsley’s broke and hungry status, as connections she’s begun forging among powerful locals plus some lucky events—including a bond with a rare and delightful cat-like creature called a carbuncle—find her smothered in wealth and goodwill, risking unrelatability. Kinsley, though, insists on making her own way and proving her competence and independence, though her investigation at times seems to take a backseat to her indulgent friends and family and the antics of her slowly increasing menagerie of magical pets. Readers on board with such fun, and the fantasy of wealth, will have a ball.

A rekindled romance with her fiancé is played more as a running gag than a source of tension or emotional connection, and both author and protagonist seem to relish making him jump through hoops for Kinsley. But while the procedural and romantic elements are secondary, Daniels excels at joyous invention, offering a charming guided tour of a magical future where dragons are social juggernauts, magical kittens are gluttons for mashed potatoes, and plagues of butterflies or hummingbirds are just another Friday. This is perfect for readers who want a bit of magic and a touch of danger to spice up their indulgence fantasies.

Takeaway: Cozily inventive urban fantasy bursting with fun magic and characters.

Comparable Titles: Lauretta Hignett, Jenna Wolfhart.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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This absorbing double mystery, the third book in Thornton’s Dom Reilly 1990s-set Southern California private eye series, finds protagonist Dom, now working at the Freedom Agenda, a nonprofit striving to exonerate the wrongly convicted. Dom’s current case: trying to get a new trial and present freshly discovered evidence proving the innocence of Larry Wilkes, in prison for the 1976 murder of his boyfriend, Pete Michaels. Meanwhile, attorney Edwin Karpinski asks Dom to investigate an even colder case: the 1949 murder of Vera Korenko, who was the fiancée of Edwin’s uncle Patrick Gill, who in the novel’s present is suffering from dementia and confined to an elder home. In classic gumshoe fashion, Dom’s investigations lead him to a variety of sources and suspects across class and cultures, with emphasis on queer lifestyles—complete with flashbacks conjuring the feelings of escape and fear pervading underground gay bars in the late 1940s.

As the two mysteries unravel, Dom of course finds himself in danger, as Thornton strings together the separate mysteries with great skill, keeping the progress in both on an even keel. The pacing is somewhat relaxed, but the story and characters remain intriguing throughout, a pleasure to spend time with, with the scenes set in the post-war era, when being gay was a crime and exposure could lead to wrenching professional and personal consequences, as compelling as those in Dom’s present. Apart from Vera, Gigi, Patrick and his lover Ivan, Rocky Havoc, Dom himself and his partner Ronnie Chen are characters who linger in the mind.

The teasing unraveling of the mysteries is a pleasure, with engaging shoe-leather work—old newspapers and cassette tapes; femme fatales in Chevy Vegas; a vintage book on the Vera case whose prose Dom disdains. Thornton skillfully portrays miscarriages of justice and the imperative in the past to hide sexuality in the hope of a fair trial, as LGBTQ+ people were stereotyped as prone to crime and depravity. Readers will be eager for more.

Takeaway: Absorbing mystery of exonerations, Hollywood noir, and gay freedom.

Comparable Titles: Michael Nava, Joseph Hansen.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

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