Starred Review It's hard to craft a superhero epic specifically for middle-grade readers that also honors an old-fashioned adventure mentality, but Gratz locks in reader interest by allotting generous story focus to Bucky, Cap's young teenage partner. Behind enemy lines during WWII, Cap values Bucky's competence, and we see just how the future Winter Soldier fills in important gaps in the Captain's own skill set. What's more, the two team up with Sofia, a young Romani resistance fighter who's every bit Bucky's equal, as the three contend with enemy magic that brings forth the ghosts of fallen soldiers. Magic may be at work, but Gratz importantly grounds the story in real historical events and issues that will invite young readers to explore more deeply: they address Japanese internment camps head-on, for instance, and we meet the actual American Ghost Army, a true-life tactical deception unit of the era. Schoonover's art has old-fashioned charm as well, like an adventure movie with solid, practical effects rather than numbingly sleek digital ones, lending a visual assist to the story's more human scope. This is not to suggest, of course, that either art or story skimps on the raucous action, nor that there aren't plenty of Marvel Easter eggs placed throughout the battlefield for eager aficionados to pick out.

Gr 5 Up —It's World War II, and readers join Captain America and sidekick Bucky Barnes on the Eastern Front, surrounded by Nazi forces, struggling to help the British hold their position. With reinforcements nowhere nearby, the duo is flailing—until they hear the American cavalry rolling in. With the Nazis retreating, Cap and his compatriots are shocked to find the amassing American troops are just a few soldiers and jeeps with speakers, a "ghost army" of artists who dupe the enemies with smoke and noise. Their position thankfully maintained, Cap, Bucky, and the troops make camp, but little do they know they're in for a ghastly surprise. As they settle around the fire, they suddenly find themselves in a real ghost story—the spirits of the German soldiers from their recent battle have risen from the dead and are on the attack. The secret behind who's controlling these specters (and how to stop the dead from killing the living) lies at Wundagore Castle, where Baron Mordo's dark magic has created a ghost machine capable of awakening spirits&30;and summoning something even more dangerous. Can Cap and Bucky stop him before he turns the tides of the war, or worse, destroys the world? Gratz, a well-known author of historical fiction, works facts in with the flashy fiction: America's "Ghost Army" was a real top-secret deception unit tasked with pulling the wool over the eyes of the Axis. Readers more familiar with the Marvel movie version of Bucky might take a while to acclimate to this young Buck, but the thrill of the story will have them frantically flipping pages till the exciting cliffhanger ending. VERDICT A must-purchase for most libraries.—Abby Bussen