Reviewed by: We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride April Spisak McBride, Amber We Are All So Good at Smiling. Feiwel, 2023 [304p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781250780386 $19.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781250780393 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 9-12 Whimsy can tell from a distant place in her own body that her parents are desperately worried about her, and she can even admit that making a list called “Ways I could stop air from entering my lungs” is probably a good reason to institutionalize her for the eleventh time in a decade. Something new happens in her latest hospital stay, however, when she meets Faerry, and a feeling of familiarity overwhelms her: an electric, sorrowful sensation of connection that is at once terrifying and reassuring. Once they are each permitted to return home, the two quickly learn they are both afraid of the same forest and almost as rapidly find themselves within it anyway. The layers of secrets run deep between these two families, who chose long ago to attempt magic as a remedy for trauma and grief. McBride makes exceptional use of the verse novel format, with some poems reading almost as detailed and descriptive prose, while other entries are just a few judiciously chosen lines that make readers slow down and work a bit to parse out full meaning. A glossary of fairy tale and folklore characters referenced throughout the book is a multicultural treasure of names that offers exactly enough information to help and encourage readers to find these characters in their original stories, and a vulnerable author’s note makes clear how powerful all of those stories were in her own life. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois