Phoebe Sinclair's debut, Confessions of a Candy Snatcher, is a fast-paced, thoughtful middle-grade novel about a Black tween who does some serious self-reflection after a night of candy-stealing goes wrong.
For the past two Halloweens, 12-year-old Jonas and his friends have competed over how many bags of candy they can snatch. Usually, the worst damage is a few bruised egos, but this Halloween one of his victims fights back. Jonas forgets all about it until notes start appearing in his locker: "I KNOW IT WAS YOU" and "WATCH YOUR BACK." Even though Jonas and his friends all promise to keep their game a secret, Jonas worries he might face consequences. As Jonas frets, his home-schooled Chilean friend, Concepción ("C."), begins creating a zine with the prompt, "What's the worst thing you ever did?" C. urges Jonas to write for her, which forces him to think more deeply about his role in the events of that ill-fated evening.
Sinclair's experience with zines shows in her lively and approachable text and significant use of white space, all of which allow young readers to sprint through the story. Even with such a fast pace, Sinclair carefully covers topics of morality, boundaries, and family dynamics. Grayscale, zine-style illustrations by Theodore Taylor III (illustrator, Little Shaq series) accompany Sinclair's text and bring Jonas's ideas to life. Confessions of a Candy Snatcher is a great book for tweens and anyone learning accountability and navigating tricky relationships. --Natasha Harris, freelance reviewer