Scuttlebutt abounds as the mysterious box arrives at the local post office. One by one, anthropomorphized animal denizens curiously enter to see if they’re the recipient. Postal worker Fox replies to each with a poem stating that they are not the intended owner. The animals band together to follow the mail carrier to the home of Little Shrew, where they find that the contents of the package are really gifts for them. Feeling embarrassed about their over-the-top reactions, they band together to give Little Shrew a gift and show their appreciation in their own way. Bathed in light amid a palette of warm earth tones, Álvarez’s exquisite textured art creates an idyllic world that showcases the quaint, folkloric nature of this community. Unfortunately, the story falls flat. Translated from Spanish, the text is stilted in spots and repetitive, giving the narrative a sluggish pace. While the community members try to convey selflessness as a result of their self-reflection with their gift to Little Shrew at the end (a handheld mirror), the result is murky, advocating both selflessness and thinking about yourself, leaving readers with a muddled resolution.

Loebl opens her book with a jolt: Over the course of their rule, the Nazis looted some 650,000 pieces of art. In her ranging and mostly engrossing investigation, she focuses on the principal figures, events, and works that were at play in this knotted and tragic story of art in the Third Reich. The author of 14 books, including America’s Medicis: The Rockefellers and Their Astonishing Cultural Legacy, Loebl herself escaped Nazi Germany with her art-collecting family. As she rightly conveys, art was something that senior Nazis both hungered for and despised, depending on the subject, genre, and artist’s nationality. In swift and unencumbered prose, the author tells of how they attempted—and often succeeded—in cleansing it, first in Germany and then in the territories they occupied, looting museums and private collections at will. One target was the German Expressionists whose work Hitler regarded as “degenerate.” In short profiles of the artists and their patrons or dealers, Loebl gives a thoughtful account of this crucial interwar movement and the attacks it endured as the Nazis rose to power. The author, who spent much of the war in hiding in Belgium, weaves in her personal story to great effect, including descriptions of her own forbears’ collections of Bauhaus furniture and important prints and paintings. Her writing sags at times when she attempts to demonstrate the vastness of Nazi plunder by favoring breadth over depth in stories of dozens of dealers and collectors. This choice makes some of the characters seem unidimensional. This blemish aside, she succeeds in presenting the immensity of artistic loss caused by the Germans, both the spoliated works and sometimes the artists themselves, some of whom perished in concentration camps. Powerfully, she gives readers a blunt reminder of how much art with dubious provenance remains in the galleries of our great museums.

Ruthie keeps to herself, unlike her vibrant sister, Meron. Her mother, a nurse, struggles with compulsive hoarding; their house is full of “piles” and “NEW THINGS,” which prevents Ruthie from inviting anyone over, though she does sneak things out of the house and leave anonymous gifts for people. Compassionate attention from her new crush, Trey, gradually brings Ruthie out of her shell. She makes friends with his social circle and begins to stand up for herself. All the while, she’s processing a diagnosis of vitiligo, which is worsened by the stress she’s under. Diefendorf’s spare poetry traces Ruthie’s development from a lonely girl struggling in isolation to someone able to recognize and articulate her feelings. Trey praises her for being “kind / and generous and fun” and someone who “really sees people.” As trust grows between them, he reveals that he struggles with reading and offers accepting words about Ruthie’s mother’s mental illness. The treatment of Ruthie’s vitiligo is refreshingly casual, with not too much angst surrounding her living with it. Ruthie shares affecting connections with Trey and Meron, and readers will applaud her journey to deciding to come out of hiding and live unapologetically. Ruthie has tan skin and wavy brown hair, and Trey has “deep / chocolate eyes” and light brown skin. Names cue ethnic diversity in the supporting cast.

Dex excels at everything—sports, academics, and meeting his successful parents’ sky-high expectations. His mother is a COO, his father a former college athlete turned real estate broker who preaches “Play / the long game. // Plan / for the future.” When Dex’s volatile temper costs him a spot on the varsity golf team, he’s given a monthlong suspension from sports. During this exile, he finds refuge in the art room where his classmate and love interest, Hazel (who’s facing her own family issues), introduces him to painting. Their collaborative artwork becomes both a creative outlet and a path to emotional regulation for Dex, while offering Hazel the hope of winning much-needed prize money to cover the tuition at their private school. Aro’s verse novel employs sparse, straightforward language that efficiently conveys Dex’s internal struggles without unnecessary flourishes. The golf glossary—presented at the beginning of the book—proves helpful for readers unfamiliar with the sport’s terminology. The story refreshingly portrays a male athlete exploring artistic expression, although the pretty cover design may not appeal to the very readers who would benefit most from Dex’s journey. The story wraps up with conflicts being neatly and easily resolved, but the core message about finding healthy outlets for intense emotions resonates. Dex and Hazel present white.

Assassin Erica Banks returns to New Orleans to execute a series of high-profile hits contracted by a Cuban drug ring. Banks is a highly experienced professional, and at first, the murders leave law enforcement baffled. Lawyer Harry Barnes, a fixer who doesn’t always stick to the right side of the law, gets involved when an ex-girlfriend asks him to help clear the name of her uncle, who was one of the victims: Chick Charbonnet, the umpire who “handed the World Series to the wildly underdog New York Mets” over the Red Sox. Accusations of game-fixing have been stirred up again by his gruesome murder. Barnes enlists his colleague, astute hacker Rhonda Dickerman, to help him look into Chick’s past, and they begin to uncover a much larger conspiracy involving high-rolling gamblers, the international drug trade, and an assassin. While this is technically an Erica Banks novel, with her perspective included, the protagonist of this series installment is very much Barnes. With connections to every major player in town, he robustly fulfills the well-connected, straight-shooting noir stereotype. Barnes’ previous activities are often described in a bit too much detail—the first handful of his reminiscences adequately establish his bona fides, but later inclusions become repetitive as he exhaustively details every meal and drink he consumes. While many of the restaurants visited are New Orleans institutions and furnish local color, the effect loses impact after so many interchangeable iterations. Though Barnes is the primary narrator, chapters from the perspectives of Banks, Dickerman, and several other supporting players provide necessary context and add compelling variety to the narrative. While readers may put together a few heavy-handed clues before Barnes does, the mix of action and investigation will appeal to fans of James Patterson and David Baldacci.