As Horn Book editors, we read every review that goes into the Magazine multiple times until we feel that each line and word is just right. Sometimes, all this repetition causes our minds to make connections between the reviews we read and other things that are bouncing around in our heads.

Recently, it was music. As I read the review for Dan Yaccarino’s The Luna Sisters: Battle for the Moon Blossom, my mind went to “Moonshadow” by Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam). This song was on repeat in my house earlier this year. (My children have a hippie music teacher.)

So, of course, I asked my colleagues if the book made them think of the song, and that opened the floodgates.

Check out the songs, TV shows, and movies our May/June 2025 Special Issue: Perception and Reality brought to mind:

“I Am a Rock” by Simon & Garfunkel in honor of Rock by Laurel Croza, illustrated by Matt James, with its powerful message about self-assuredness.

“Thunder” by Imagine Dragons...

...and “The Thunder Rolls” by Garth Brooks...

...because of Maggie Edkins Willis’s delightful picture book Thunderland, which is about a father who teaches his child to be brave in the face of storms, and the references to Philip Reeve’s Thunder City and Neal Shusterman’s Thunderhead in their “Reality Reimagined” essays.

“Imagine,” which was written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, a fact young readers will learn from reading Ono’s picture-book biography Can You Imagine?: The Art and Life of Yoko Ono by Lisa Tolin, illustrated by Yas Imamura.

Danny Kaye’s portrayal of Hans Christian Andersen was top of mind after reading the review for the poetic picture-book biography His Fairytale Life: A Book About Hans Christian Andersen by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Brooke Boynton-Hughes.

Saturday Night Live’s Sally O’Malley, portrayed by Molly Shannon, with an assist from Betty White, came up after reading the review for Karen Cushman’s When Sally O’Malley Discovered the Sea, an interesting middle-grade novel about a spunky orphan.

What other book titles draw pop culture connections for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below!