Museum Mayhem (Moko Magic #2)

Baptiste, Tracey. Museum Mayhem (Moko Magic #2)

September 2, 2025 by Rick Riordan Presents

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Misty is trying her hand at aziza cooking with Aunty Kamala and makes anchar that is tasty but doesn't have the magic required. Instead of causing the person who eats it to breath fire, it causes a horrible black smoke, which damages uncle Stanley's Caribbean Bites restaurant. A little bit of the smoke attaches itself to Misty's shoe, which causes some big problems. Aiden's dad Andrew has an art commission, and is planning on reimagining a Benin bronze. There's a lot of talk about how artwork is in museums of colonizers rather than the native populations, and how hard it can be to get pieces restored. While going to the museum to see the piece that Andrew will borrow, Brooke sees a boy protesting this. After the three moko cousins visit the museum, a janitor disappears, and a piece of art is damaged, although no one can figure out how. Mr. Rawson, the creepy art transporter show up, and dust monsters named djabs also start popping up and causing problems. More and more people go missing, and more art is damaged. Can the cousins harness their moko magic to stop the djabs from causing problems?
Strengths: The idea that even though Misty isn't an aziza, but can still learn to do magic, is very fun. The fact that it also involves cooking amazing food makes it even better. There are a lot of good cultural connections, with Misty's father being held up in Trinidad because of visa problems, ties to Nigeria with the Benin bronzes, and the close knit Brooklyn neighborhood where the J'Ouvert and West Indian American Day Carnival is held. There are a variety of interesting magical creatures, including Khody, a khodumodumo who has taken on the guise of a human. There are other small details that underscore the cousins struggles with their identities; Brooke is trying to decide which high school to apply to. The discussion of what should happen to art that has been misappropriated is one that will give readers food for thought. 
Weaknesses: This had chapter headings that changed between each of the cousins even though this is written in third person omniscent point of view. This is also a bit long, coming in at 384 pages. 
What I really think: This sequel to Carnival Chaos will be popular with fans who like fantasy books with cultural connections like Okogwu's Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun or Okorafor's Ikenga. 

Sutherland, Krystal and Seneviratne, Martin. Time Lions and the Chrono-Loop
October 21, 2025 by Nancy Paulsen Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Patrick and Pearl are twins who live with their parents (who have Sri Lankan roots) in London. They are both brilliant, and involved in all sorts of experiements. When they need the ring of King Tut to complete their time machine, they manage to successfully break into the British Museum to get it, and their machine works! When they return from their travels, however, they are brought before the board of The Interdimensional Misconduct Enquiry (TIME), because they caused problems in the present with interactions in the past. They should be arrested and sent to the eternal abyss, but they are given a second chance if they become trained. There is another organization, Tempus, that is interested in them. It's run by the very young Jack Noon, whow was an agent for TIME but is now trying to create a utopia. Patrick and Pearl have lots of skills, but will they be able to use them for good rather than for evil? 

This has some good time travel in it, but I felt like I was missing a lot of backstory. Why does Patrick know so many languages? Why can Peal invent such cool things? It was sort of like Ponti's City Spies meets Kerr's The Ahkenaten Adventure, with a bit of Voyagers! time travel policing thrown in.