I Am the Swarm
by Hayley Chewins
High School    Viking    336 pp.
3/25    9780593623862    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780593623879    $10.99

In this Cape Town–set verse novel, each woman in the Strand family gains magical abilities when she turns fifteen. As Nell Strand approaches her fifteenth birthday, she is painfully aware of the potential dangers that can accompany this “gift.” Her older sister, Mora, carries songs underneath her skin—and has been hospitalized for trying to cut the music out. Their mother’s age changes daily, and there is no guarantee she’ll have the maturity on any given day to be the parent Nell or Mora needs. Nell’s gift is that her emotions manifest as insects: ladybugs when she feels hopeful, blue stick insects for sadness, beetles and flies during uncomfortable interactions with her piano teacher, and wasps when she becomes angry. Nell’s attempts to suppress her feelings result in a vicious cycle of disordered eating, and it will take everything in her to do the one thing she fears most: face the swarm. While the book covers dark themes (parental neglect, molestation, suicidal ideation), positive elements including a budding relationship with a new boy at school help reframe Nell’s perspective. Vividly and fluidly written verse (“The moths thrill and flutter, a thousand little shadows / Mama lets go of me. I lose her in all the gray”) sets a gradual pace that allows readers to immerse themselves in Nell’s complex reality and her path to womanhood in a world both harsh and hopeful.

From the May/June 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.