Beinoni
by Mari Lowe
Intermediate, Middle School    Levine/Levine Querido    288 pp.
7/25    9781646145065    $18.99

Seventh grader Ezra has a lot on his shoulders. Born with “a constellation of the Scales” on his skin that indicates he’s the Nivchar, or chosen one, for his generation, he’s spent years training for what’s destined to happen when he becomes a bar mitzvah, which is now approaching. He’ll have to fight the gurya, a creature that will emerge from a cave, in order to continue the Beinoni (“in-between”) time, “where no evil can endure.” Now Ezra is beginning to see signs that the Beinoni time may not be fully holding—and his own achievements and behaviors begin to fall short of what’s expected of him. Lowe’s (Sydney Taylor Book Award winner for Aviva vs. the Dybbuk, rev. 1/22, and The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman, rev. 11/23) inventive, ambitious fantasy set in an Orthodox Jewish community gives readers intricate world-building concepts to follow as Ezra uncovers more about his predecessors’ battles and what awaits him. But beneath the high-stakes premise is an insightful look at a preteen protagonist under extreme pressure who is learning to rethink both how he sees himself and what the world needs from him. A glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish terms is appended.

From the November/December 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.