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Winner ¡Vamos!: Let’s Go Eat by Raúl the Third; illus. by the author; color by Elaine Bay Primary Versify/Houghton 40 pp. g 3/20 978-1-328-55704-9 $14.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-33070-7 $9.99 Little Lobo and his canine sidekick Bernabé, whom we met in ¡Vamos!: Let’s Go to the Market (rev. 3/19), are getting ready for another day...
Winner Everything Sad Is Untrue: (A True Story) by Daniel Nayeri Middle School Levine Querido 368 pp. g 8/20 978-1-64614-000-8 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-64614-002-2 $9.99 Framed loosely as his twelve-year-old self’s responses to a series of school assignments, Nayeri’s fictionalized memoir swirls through his own memories as well as stories from his family...
Winner R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul by Carole Boston Weatherford; illus. by Frank Morrison Primary, Intermediate Atheneum 48 pp. g 8/20 978-1-5344-5228-2 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-5229-9 $10.99 This impressionistic picture-book biography of Aretha Franklin (1942–2018) consists of a series of rhyming couplets following the iconic singer through her life. Weatherford employs...
Winner Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson Intermediate Paulsen/Penguin 176 pp. g 9/20 978-0-399-54543-6 $17.99 In her latest novel in verse, Woodson (Locomotion, rev. 3/03; Brown Girl Dreaming, rev. 9/14) explores the impact of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) on football players and their families from the perspective of ZJ, son of tight...
Winner We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom; illus. by Michaela Goade Primary Roaring Brook 40 pp. g 3/20 978-1-250-20355-7 $17.99 The book opens with a young Indigenous girl collecting water with her grandmother, who tells her that “water is the first medicine.” Vibrant blues, greens, and purples depict the river...
Winner When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller Intermediate, Middle School Random House 298 pp. g 1/20 978-1-5247-1570-0 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5247-1572-4 $9.99 Korean American middle schooler Lily thinks she has to take on a magical tiger in order to save her beloved Halmoni (grandmother), but the truth is much more...
On Account of the Gum by Adam Rex; illus. by the author Primary Chronicle 56 pp. g 10/20 978-1-4521-8154-7 $17.99 Shown wordlessly before the title page, our unnamed protagonist is in a sticky situation after falling asleep while chewing gum. Upon awakening, and after that unpleasant discovery, the child’s gum-removal...
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen; illus. by the author Middle School RH Graphic/Random 256 pp. g 10/20 978-0-593-12529-8 $23.99 Library ed. 978-1-9848-5160-4 $26.99 Paper ed. 978-1-9848-5159-8 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-9848-5161-1 $10.99 In this imaginative graphic novel, thirteen-year-old Vietnamese American boy Tin and his Vietnamese-refugee seamstress mother, Hin, have...
Your House, My House by Marianne Dubuc; illus. by the author; trans. from French by Yvette Ghione Preschool, Primary Kids Can 24 pp. g 10/20 978-1-5253-0490-3 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5253-0573-3 $9.99 “It’s the start of a new day at 3 Maple Street. But not just any day — it’s Little...
All He Knew by Helen Frost Intermediate, Middle School Farrar 272 pp. g 8/20 978-0-374-31299-2 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-374-31300-5 $9.99 In free-verse poems, Frost tells the story of Henry, deafened by disease in 1937 at age four. Because Henry is deemed “unteachable” by the School for the Deaf, his family...
The Big One: The Cascadia Earthquakes and the Science of Saving Lives [Scientists in the Field] by Elizabeth Rusch Intermediate, Middle School Houghton 80 pp. g 8/20 978-0-544-88904-0 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-33579-5 $9.99 Off the Pacific Northwest coast, running about six hundred miles from British Columbia to Northern California, lies...
Plasticus Maritimus: An Invasive Species by Ana Pêgo and Isabel Minhós Martins; illus. by Bernardo P. Carvalho; trans. from Portuguese by Jane Springer Intermediate, Middle School Greystone Kids 176 pp. g 9/20 978-1-77164-643-7 $19.95 e-book ed. 978-1-77164-644-4 $9.99 Pêgo, a marine biologist, warns of the impact of “invasive” plastics on...
Mammoth Science: The Big Ideas That Explain Our World by David Macaulay; illus. by the author Intermediate DK 160 pp. g 8/20 978-1-4654-9146-6 $19.99 A unique and amusing encyclopedia of general scientific topics from master draftsman Macaulay, geared to a slightly younger audience than the author’s The Way Things Work...
Grasping Mysteries: Girls Who Loved Math by Jeannine Atkins Intermediate, Middle School Atheneum 320 pp. g 8/20 978-1-5344-6068-3 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-6070-6 $10.99 Atkins’s (Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science, rev. 7/16) latest collective biography in verse spotlights seven “women who used math to frame and solve problems, fix...
Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake; illus. by Jon Klassen Primary, Intermediate Algonquin 136 pp. g 9/20 978-1-64375-005-7 $18.95 e-book ed. 978-1-64375-121-4 $15.95 Badger is perfectly content to live alone in a brownstone owned by Aunt Lula, which he’s arranged to suit his rather particular preferences, when a surprise roommate...
Arlo & Pips: King of the Birds by Elise Gravel; illus. by the author Primary HarperAlley/HarperCollins 64 pp. g 10/20 978-0-06-298221-6 $12.99 Paper ed. 978-0-06-298222-3 $7.99 It’s an early chapter book! It’s a graphic novel! It’s a story about a creature with an overabundance of pride! It’s an unexpected friendship...
Fox & Rabbit Make Believe [Fox & Rabbit] by Beth Ferry; illus. by Gergely Dudás Primary Amulet/Abrams 96 pp. g 9/20 978-1-4197-4687-1 $12.99 e-book ed. 978-1-68335-983-8 $11.69 In their second volume, Fox and Rabbit return for five new loosely connected adventures as summer turns to fall. Flush with their lemonade-stand...
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix High School Tegen/HarperCollins 416 pp. g 9/20 978-0-06-268325-0 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-268327-4 $9.99 In an alternate version of 1983 England, eighteen-year-old Susan Arkshaw travels to London to search for the father she’s never known. Almost immediately, Susan encounters dashing Merlin St. Jacques...
Burn by Patrick Ness High School Quill Tree/HarperCollins 371 pp. g 6/20 978-0-06-286949-4 $18.99 It’s 1957, and Sarah Dewhurst’s father has hired a dragon to work on their farm despite his prejudices against them. That’s not really big news; in this alternate universe, humankind has maintained an uneasy peace with...
Igniting Darkness by Robin LaFevers High School Houghton 560 pp. g 8/20 978-0-544-99109-5 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-33580-1 $9.99 In the second book of a duology (Courting Darkness, rev. 1/19) set in an alt-historical world of fifteenth-century Brittany and France (also the setting of several of her other novels), LaFevers returns...
Daughters of Jubilation by Kara Lee Corthron High School Simon Pulse 352 pp. g 10/20 978-1-4814-5950-1 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-5952-5 $10.99 In the summer of 1962 in an alternate-universe Jim Crow South, Black teenager Evalene Deschamps learns that the women in her family are blessed with magical abilities (including telekinesis,...
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories [Folk of the Air] by Holly Black; illus. by Rovina Cai Middle School, High School Little, Brown 192 pp. g 11/20 978-0-316-54088-9 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-316-54082-7 $9.99 Black returns to the world of her acclaimed Folk of the Air trilogy (beginning...
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust High School Flatiron 323 pp. g 7/20 978-1-250-19614-9 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-250-19615-6 $9.99 “Stories always begin the same way. There was and there was not.” Soraya, sister of the Kingdom’s future shah, lives a privileged life in Golvahar Palace and loves to hear her...
Return of the Thief [Queen’s Thief] by Megan Whalen Turner Middle School, High School Greenwillow 480 pp. g 10/20 978-0-06287-447-4 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06287-448-1 $12.99 Pheris, the heretofore-unknown heir of the traitorous Baron Erondites, is sent to be raised in the Attolian court. Possessing a keen intellect, Pheris has nevertheless...
Sato the Rabbit by Yuki Ainoya; illus. by the author; trans. from Japanese by Michael Blaskowsky Primary Enchanted Lion 64 pp. g 2/21 978-1-59270-296-1 $16.95 Sato is a little boy in a rabbit costume, a kind of Japanese second cousin to Max in his wolf suit. In a set of...
Pity Party by Kathleen Lane Middle School Little, Brown 208 pp. g 1/21 978-0-316-41736-5 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-316-41735-8 $9.99 Katya is a nervous middle schooler whose fertile imagination defaults to disaster. The voice in her head warns of poisoned Halloween candy, looming social ostracism, imminent acne, and rabid raccoons. In...
Cave Paintings by Jairo Buitrago; illus. by Rafael Yockteng; trans. from Spanish by Elisa Amado Primary Groundwood 48 pp. g 10/20 978-1-773-06172-6 $19.95 e-book ed. 978-1-773-06173-3 $16.95 Buitrago and Yockteng (Walk with Me, rev. 5/17; On the Other Side of the Garden, rev. 7/18) turn to full-blown science fiction in...
Class Act by Jerry Craft; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School HarperAlley/Quill Tree/HarperCollins 256 pp. g 10/20 978-0-06-288551-7 $22.99 Paper ed. 978-0-06-288550-0 $12.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-288552-4 $10.99 Puberty is on the horizon for thirteen-year-old Jordan Banks, who returns in this hilarious and heartfelt companion to New Kid (rev. 1/19),...
Circle! Sphere! [Storytelling Math] by Grace Lin; illus. by the author Preschool Charlesbridge 16 pp. g 10/20 978-1-62354-124-8 $6.99 The Last Marshmallow [Storytelling Math] by Grace Lin; illus. by the author Preschool Charlesbridge 16 pp. g 10/20 978-1-62354-126-2 $6.99 Up to My Knees! [Storytelling Math] by Grace Lin; illus. by...
Chance: Escape from the Holocaust by Uri Shulevitz; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School Farrar 336 pp. g 10/20 978-0-374-31371-5 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-0-374-31370-8 $9.99 Shulevitz was just four when the Nazis invaded Poland in September of 1939, forcing his family members to flee their homeland. Thus began nearly...
Becoming Muhammad Ali: Based on the Story of Young Cassius Clay by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander; illus. by Dawud Anyabwile Intermediate, Middle School Patterson/Little, Brown/Houghton 320 pp. g 10/20 978-0-316-49816-6 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-316-49818-0 $9.99 Patterson and Alexander, two heavyweights in the world of books (and their respective publishing...
The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore; illus. by Loren Long Primary Harper/HarperCollins 40 pp. g 9/20 978-0-06-286946-3 $18.99 Long’s inclusive take on Moore’s poem focuses on four different families in four diverse dwellings: a country farmhouse, a city apartment, a trailer home, and a house in the tropics....
Once upon a Winter Day by Liza Woodruff; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Ferguson/Holiday 40 pp. g 11/20 978-0-8234-4099-3 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-8234-4404-5 $10.99 Milo’s mother is too busy to read him a story, so the boy reluctantly heads out to play in the snow. Under the bird feeder...
They Threw Us Away [The Teddies Saga] by Daniel Kraus; illus. by Rovina Cai Intermediate Holt 256 pp. g 9/20 978-1-250-22440-8 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-250-22441-5 $9.99 Buddy the teddy bear wakes up in a garbage dump: the toy store that’s been his home has thrown him away. Together with a...
Dear Justyce by Nic Stone High School Crown 288 pp. g 9/20 978-1-9848-2966-5 $18.99 Library ed. 978-1-9848-2967-2 $21.99 e-book ed. 978-1-9848-2968-9 $10.99 In this sequel to Dear Martin (rev. 11/17), we are reintroduced to Quan, best friend of that book’s protagonist. Dear Justyce opens with a flashback to Quan and...
Traitor by Amanda McCrina High School Farrar 368 pp. g 8/20 978-0-374-31352-4 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-374-31354-8 $9.99 In 1939, instigating World War II, Germany and subsequently the Soviet Union invaded Poland and divided it between themselves along the Curzon Line. But Germany later swept past the Line, attacked Soviet forces,...
A Thousand Questions by Saadia Faruqi Intermediate Quill Tree/HarperCollins 320 pp. g 10/20 978-0-06-294320-0 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-294322-4 $8.99 Issues of home and belonging form the cornerstones of Faruqi’s (author of the Yasmin early chapter books) first solo middle-grade novel. Mimi and her mother (her father left the family when...
Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball by Jen Bryant; illus. by Frank Morrison Primary, Intermediate Abrams 40 pp. g 10/20 978-1-4197-4108-1 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-64700-161-2 $15.54 “Things can change in time.” For NBA great Elgin Baylor, named for his father’s favorite wristwatch, the segregated parks, playgrounds, schools, and...
Flamer by Mike Curato; illus. by the author Middle School, High School Godwin/Holt 368 pp. g 9/20 978-1-62779-641-5 $25.99 Paper ed. 978-1-250-75614-5 $17.99 Aiden is not looking forward to starting public high school in the fall; his Catholic schooling heretofore has had its challenges — “jerks” — but at least...
All Because You Matter by Tami Charles; illus. by Bryan Collier Preschool, Primary Orchard/Scholastic 40 pp. g 10/20 978-1-338-57485-2 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-338-67474-3 $10.99 A richly illustrated affirmation for Black children — especially boys. An African American expectant mother and father eagerly await the arrival of their child, embracing him...
Let’s say, for some reason, you wanted to read the worst Hanukkah picture book ever written. Why would you wish to do this? Well, such a book could serve as a fine blueprint for how not to write a lousy Hanukkah book and/or how not to choose a lousy Hanukkah...
Feathered Serpent and the Five Suns: A Mesoamerican Creation Myth by Duncan Tonatiuh; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Abrams 40 pp. g 9/20 978-1-4197-4677-2 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-64700-154-4 $15.29 The Feathered Serpent, known as Quetzalcóatl among Nahuatl-speaking peoples, is a principal figure in Mesoamerican cosmology and often features in...
You Poop Here by Paul Meisel; illus. by the author Preschool Holiday 32 pp. g 11/20 978-0-8234-4601-8 $17.99 A parade of animals pooping in their natural habitats leads to human toddlers proudly sitting on the potty. No, this isn’t a rehash of Taro Gomi’s classic Everyone Poops (1993), though the...
How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Adventure by John Rocco; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School Crown 264 pp. g 10/20 978-0-525-64741-6 $29.99 Library ed. 978-0-525-64742-3 $32.99 e-book ed. 978-0-525-64743-0 $17.99 In seven parts arranged chronologically, Rocco delivers...
The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep: Voices from the Donner Party by Allan Wolf Middle School, High School Candlewick 416 pp. g 9/20 978-0-7636-6324-7 $21.99 As in his previous works of historical fiction, including The Watch That Ends the Night (rev. 9/11), Wolf here deploys a cast of characters (a...
I Talk like a River by Jordan Scott; illus. by Sydney Smith Primary Porter/Holiday 40 pp. 9/20 978-0-8234-4559-2 $18.99 In this lyrical and empowering picture book, Canadian poet Scott tells a story based on his own experiences as a boy who stuttered. In simple, evocative language, he captures the isolation,...
Prairie Days by Patricia MacLachlan; illus. by Micha Archer Primary McElderry 40 pp. 5/20 978-1-4424-4191-0 $17.99 In this nostalgic idyll set on the American prairie (judging by clues in the illustrations, in the mid-twentieth-century), a young girl describes summertime farm life as she and the other children ride horses, take...
Night Walk to the Sea: A Story About Rachel Carson, Earth's Protector by Deborah Wiles; illus. by Daniel Miyares Primary Schwartz & Wade/Random 40 pp. g 9/20 978-1-5247-0147-5 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-5247-0148-2 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5247-0149-9 $10.99 A boy shouts, stomps, and plays monsters to hide his fear of a...
Your Place in the Universe by Jason Chin; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Porter/Holiday 40 pp. g 9/20 978-0-8234-4623-0 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-8234-4878-4 $11.99 The relative sizes of objects can be endlessly fascinating to curious young minds. How many books tall is an eight-year-old? How many eight-year-olds standing on...
Twins by Varian Johnson; illus. by Shannon Wright Intermediate, Middle School Graphix/Scholastic 256 pp. g 10/20 978-1-338-23617-0 $24.99 Paper ed. 978-1-338-23613-2 $12.99 e-book ed. 978-1-338-23619-4 $7.99 It’s the first day of sixth grade for the identical Carter twins, and while Maureen is more than content to face the year with...
The Bear and the Moon by Matthew Burgess; illus. by Cátia Chien Preschool, Primary Chronicle 48 pp. g 9/20 978-1-4521-7191-3 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4521-8125-7 $11.99 A wide-eyed bear — a furry stand-in for toddlers learning to manage strong emotions, as well as readers of all ages dealing with sorrow —...
Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It by Andrea Davis Pinkney; illus. by Brian Pinkney Intermediate, Middle School Little, Brown 224 pp. g 9/20 978-0-316-53677-6 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-316-53676-9 $9.99 Spanning roughly three generations, covering the years 1927 to 1968, this lyrical oral history of the fictional Little...
Our Little Kitchen by Jillian Tamaki; illus. by the author Primary Abrams 48 pp. g 9/20 978-1-4197-4655-0 $17.99 Our narrator explains, with great enthusiasm and gusto, how “every Wednesday, we come together in this little kitchen” to prepare a communal meal for all who are hungry. Meal prep begins with...
Three Keys: A Front Desk Novel by Kelly Yang Intermediate, Middle School Scholastic 288 pp. g 9/20 978-1-338-59138-5 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-4328-8326-3 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-1-338-64816-4 $10.99 In this sequel to Front Desk (rev. 7/18), eleven-year-old Chinese American Mia Tang continues helping to run her now family-and-worker-owned motel in California. Business is going well, but...
No Vacancy by Tziporah Cohen Intermediate, Middle School Groundwood 144 pp. g 9/20 978-1-77306-410-9 $16.95 e-book ed. 978-1-77306-411-6 $14.95 Eleven-year-old Miriam’s family buys a motel in a tiny upstate New York town and moves there from Manhattan. When it becomes clear that the motel isn’t as lucrative as her parents had...
Sun Flower Lion by Kevin Henkes; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Greenwillow 40 pp. g 9/20 978-0-06-286610-3 $18.99 Library ed. 978-0-06-286611-0 $19.89 Meet the sun, “as bright as a flower”; a flower that looks like a lion; and a lion, who sees the flower and dreams about a field...
Wishbone by Anna Garcia Schaper High School Piñata 317 pp. g 5/20 Paper ed. 978-1-55885-894-7 $12.95 In dual timelines, Schaper presents a story of culture, love, and feminism that crosses generations. Pili is a Mexican American teen in 1970s Laredo, Texas. Pilar is her namesake and her sister’s granddaughter, living...
Zora and Me: The Summoner by Victoria Bond Middle School Candlewick 256 pp. g 10/20 978-0-7636-4299-0 $17.99 Paper ed. 978-1-5362-1667-7 $7.99 This final entry in the Zora and Me trilogy (most recently, The Cursed Ground, rev. 9/18) is the darkest, with “an epistolary prologue” noting the year in which the...
Ana on the Edge by A. J. Sass Intermediate, Middle School Little, Brown 240 pp. g 10/20 978-0-316-45861-0 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-316-45863-4 $9.99 After winning the title of U.S. Juvenile Girls Champion in figure skating, twelve-year-old Ana-Marie Jin is ready to start a new season on the ice, competing at...
Lupe Wong Won’t Dance by Donna Barba Higuera Intermediate, Middle School Levine Querido 272 pp. g 9/20 978-1-64614-003-9 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-64614-004-6 $17.99 The only thing standing between Lupe Wong and her chance to meet fellow Chinacan (or is it Mexinese?) Fu Li Hernandez, “the first Asian/Latino pitcher in the...
Your Name Is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow; illus. by Luisa Uribe Preschool, Primary Innovation 40 pp. g 7/20 978-1-943147-72-4 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-943147-91-5 $10.99 Roll call can be difficult for a child with an unusual name. A young girl describes how her name “got stuck” in her teacher’s mouth...
Sound: Shhh…Bang…POP…BOOM! by Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv; illus. by the authors; trans. from Ukrainian by Vitaly Chernetsky Primary Handprint/Chronicle 64 pp. g 10/20 978-1-4521-7978-0 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-7972-0271-6 $13.99 With a color scheme featuring bright pink, teal blue, lemon yellow, and pops of orange, this attention-grabbing informational book starts...
Ten Ways to Hear Snow by Cathy Camper; illus. by Kenard Pak Preschool, Primary Kokila/Penguin 32 pp. g 10/20 978-0-399-18633-2 $23.99 e-book ed. 978-0-593-11123-9 $11.99 When she wakes to discover that it blizzarded the night before, Lina isn’t deterred from her plans to walk to see her grandmother (in Arabic,...
Can Bears Ski? by Raymond Antrobus; illus. by Polly Dunbar Primary Candlewick 40 pp. g 11/20 978-1-5362-1266-2 $16.99 Bear’s home is loud — full of Dad Bear’s rumbling, shaking, and trembling — and our protagonist enjoys the commotion. Perplexingly, though, Dad and everyone else seems to keep asking, “Can bears...
Today, Veterans Day, is a good day to share books about veterans, their experiences and sacrifices, and their supportive families and communities on the homefront. The Guide/Reviews Database is honoring them with three new booklists of recent recommended fiction and nonfiction titles for primary, intermediate, and older readers. Grade levels...
’Twas the holiday issue, and all across Boston... the remote-working Horn Bookers were writing reviews of recommended new and reissued Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas books. (See also Marjorie Ingall’s article “What Makes a Good Hanukkah Book?” in the November/December 2020 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.) Jack and Santa...
Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte Intermediate, Middle School Scholastic 288 pp. g 3/20 978-1-338-25581-2 $18.00 e-book ed. 978-1-338-25583-6 $11.99 In 1805 Chilmark, on Martha’s Vineyard, eleven-year-old Mary Lambert’s family is grieving the death of her brother George in a horse-cart accident. In the larger picture, English-settler residents...
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat Intermediate, Middle School Candlewick 288 pp. g 10/20 978-1-5362-0945-7 $24.99 An author of picture books, easy readers, and middle-grade novels, Soontornvat (A Wish in the Dark, rev. 5/20) here presents a compelling work of nonfiction....
Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Intermediate, Middle School Dial 269 pp. g 8/20 978-1-9848-1568-2 $17.99 Ten-year-old Delicious Nevaeh Roberts, a.k.a. Della, doesn’t take “snow” from anyone (“Suki says whenever I want to use a bad word, I can say snow”). She’s learned to be tough from her fiercely protective...
Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away by Meg Medina; illus. by Sonia Sánchez Preschool, Primary Candlewick 32 pp. g 9/20 978-1-5362-0704-0 $17.99 Spanish ed. 978-1-5362-1334-8 $17.99 Daniela knows she’s going to have to say goodbye to Evelyn, her next-door neighbor and “número uno best friend.” But first, the two girls...
The Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay Intermediate, Middle School McElderry 225 pp. g 7/20 978-1-5344-6276-2 $17.99 Everything changes for eleven-year-old North Londoner Abigail when her widower father marries Polly, mother of Max and Louis, and her beloved Granny Grace returns to Jamaica. Feeling both isolated and crowded at...
I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes; illus. by Gordon C. James Preschool, Primary Paulsen/Penguin 32 pp. g 9/20 978-0-525-51877-8 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-525-51878-5 $10.99 Barnes and James reunite, after the multi-award-winning success of Crown (rev. 11/17), for this beautiful and necessary book that affirms Black boys and their...
The Way Back by Gavriel Savit Middle School, High School Knopf 368 pp. g 9/20 978-1-98489-462-5 $18.99 Library ed. 978-1-9848-9463-2 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-1-9848-9464-9 $10.99 In this dark fantasy set in a nineteenth-century shtetl in Eastern Europe, grieving teens Bluma (who’s lost her grandmother) and Yehuda Leib (who found and...
Tigers, Not Daughters by Samantha Mabry High School Algonquin 280 pp. g 3/20 978-1-61620-896-7 $17.95 The Torres family, always considered misfits in their San Antonio community, suffered tragedy a year ago when eldest sister Ana fell to her death from her bedroom window. That Ana was sneaking out to see...
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger; illus. by Rovina Cai Middle School, High School Levine Querido 368 pp. g 8/20 978-1-64614-005-3 $18.99 This absorbing and haunting speculative fiction debut challenges expectations at every turn. Ellie (short for Elatsoe) is seventeen years old, Lipan Apache, and an aspiring paranormal investigator. She has...
Watch over Me by Nina LaCour High School Dutton 240 pp. g 9/20 978-0-593-10897-0 $17.99 After four years in foster care, recent high school graduate Mila begins an internship (“I would spend my weekdays teaching in the schoolhouse and my Sundays waking up at five a.m. to run the booth...
A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown High School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 480 pp. g 6/20 978-0-06-289149-5 $18.99 This tale, first in a West African–inspired duology, is narrated in the third person, from two points of view. The first protagonist, Malik, is an Eshran refugee fleeing his...
Eleanor, Alice, and the Roosevelt Ghosts by Dianne K. Salerni Intermediate, Middle School Holiday 240 pp. g 8/20 978-0-8234-4697-1 $17.99 In an alternate-universe 1898 New York City, cousins Eleanor and Alice Roosevelt unite to solve the mystery of the ghost who has recently “erupted” in their aunt Bye’s house. Here...
The Inkberg Enigma by Jonathan King; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School Gecko 129 pp. g 9/20 Paper ed. 978-1-776572-66-3 $17.61 In this graphic novel set in and around the fictional contemporary New Zealand fishing town of Aurora, youngsters Miro and Zia witness something they weren’t supposed to: a...
The Last Mirror on the Left by Lamar Giles; illus. by Dapo Adeola Intermediate, Middle School Versify/Houghton 272 pp. g 10/20 978-0-358-12941-7 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-13043-7 $9.99 After their supernatural successes in The Last Last-Day-of-Summer (rev. 3/19), Sheed and Otto must now live up to their status as the Legendary...
Witches of Brooklyn by Sophie Escabasse; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School RH Graphic/Random 240 pp. g 9/20 978-0-593-12528-1 $20.99 Library ed. 978-0-593-11928-0 $23.99 Paper ed. 978-0-593-11927-3 $12.99 e-book ed. 978-0-593-11929-7 $8.99 In this lighthearted, sweet, and entertaining fantastical graphic novel, eleven-year-old Effie is (unexpectedly for all parties involved)...
The Weird in the Wilds [Tales of Triumph and Disaster!] by Deb Caletti; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School Putnam 272 pp. g 9/20 978-1-9848-1308-4 $13.99 e-book ed. 978-1-9848-1309-1 $8.99 In our introduction to Henry Early in A Flicker of Courage (rev. 1/20), the big reveal was that this...
Feel the Fog by April Pulley Sayre; photos by the author Preschool, Primary Beach Lane/Simon 40 pp. g 9/20 978-1-5344-3760-9 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-3761-6 $10.99 Immersive photographs (most taken by the author) pull viewers into the experience of a foggy day in Sayre’s latest weather-focused title (Raindrops Roll and others)....
Every Color of Light by Hiroshi Osada; illus. by Ryōji Arai; trans. from Japanese by David Boyd Preschool, Primary Enchanted Lion 40 pp. g 8/20 978-1-59270-291-6 $16.95 Poetic phrases and vibrant mixed-media illustrations capture the intensity of a thunderstorm across a natural landscape. The book begins with a small image...
Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy by Tara Dairman; illus. by Archana Sreenivasan Preschool, Primary Putnam 32 pp. g 5/20 978-0-525-51806-8 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-525-51807-5 $10.99 In this beautifully rendered study of contrasts and commonalities, Dairman imagines a girl and boy from two different biomes in India. Split pages portray the girl...
The Weather’s Bet by Stephen Cowan; illus. by Ed Young Primary Philomel 32 pp. g 3/20 978-0-525-51382-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-525-51383-4 $10.99 “One day a shepherd was fast asleep / upon a hill with her flock of sheep.” The three powers who rule the Earth — Rain, Wind, and Sun...
If Winter Comes, Tell It I’m Not Here by Simona Ciraolo; illus. by the author Primary Candlewick 32 pp. g 10/20 978-1-5362-1530-4 $16.99 As a little boy sits on the side of a pool eating an ice-cream cone, his older sister informs him that he had better enjoy it, because...
Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson Intermediate Paulsen/Penguin 176 pp. g 9/20 978-0-399-54543-6 $17.99 In her latest novel in verse, Woodson (Locomotion, rev. 3/03; Brown Girl Dreaming, rev. 9/14) explores the impact of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) on football players and their families from the perspective of ZJ, son...
Are you going on a (virtual) book hunt this Halloween? Our annual roundup has you covered, whether your treat of choice is spooky squids, not-so-spooky spiders, or anything in between. The Little Ghost Who Lost Her Boo! by Elaine Bickell; illus. by Raymond McGrath Preschool Philomel 32 pp. g 8/20 ...
Julián at the Wedding by Jessica Love; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Candlewick 40 pp. g 10/20 978-1-5362-1238-9 $16.99 Love’s follow-up to Julián Is a Mermaid (rev. 5/18) features characters both familiar and new. At the start of the story, Julián and Abuela are strolling down the sidewalk, arm-in-arm...
Cubs in the Tub: The True Story of the Bronx Zoo’s First Woman Zookeeper by Candace Fleming; illus. by Julie Downing Primary, Intermediate Porter/Holiday 48 pp. g 8/20 978-0-8234-4318-5 $18.99 “Helen and Fred Martini longed for a baby,” begins this engaging picture-book biography. Fred spends his days working at the...
If You Come to Earth by Sophie Blackall; illus. by the author Primary Chronicle 80 pp. g 9/20 978-1-4521-3779-7 $18.99 Quinn, a small child in a red gnome hat, writes a letter to potential visitors to our planet to explain to them what we’re about: our location in the universe,...
Stay Curious!: A Brief History of Stephen Hawking by Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer; illus. by Boris Kulikov Primary, Intermediate Crown 40 pp. g 9/20 978-0-399-55028-7 $17.99 Library ed. 978-0-399-55029-4 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-0-399-55030-0 $10.99 Physicist Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) was brilliant and iconoclastic from the get-go: as a child, he...
Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi with Yusef Salaam; illus. by Omar T. Pasha High School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 400 pp. g 9/20 978-0-06-299648-0 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-299650-3 $10.99 Sixteen-year-old Amal Dawud Shahid (who is African American) knows he didn’t throw the punch that left Jeremy Mathis (who is white)...
Packs: Strength in Numbers by Hannah Salyer; illus. by the author Primary Houghton 48 pp. 1/20 978-1-328-57788-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-16695-5 $12.99 For some animal species, there are evolutionary advantages to social groupings. “Packs, herds, huddles, and pods. Together, we are better.” Salyer introduces young readers to many of the...
Overground Railroad by Lesa Cline-Ransome; illus. by James Ransome Primary, Intermediate Holiday 48 pp. 1/20 978-0-8234-3873-0 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-8234-4390-1 $11.99 “Some walked. / Some drove. / But we took the train north.” In 1939, as part of the Great Migration, young Ruth Ellen and her parents leave North Carolina,...
You Matter by Christian Robinson; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Atheneum 40 pp. g 6/20 978-1-5344-2169-1 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-2170-7 $10.99 No saccharine self-esteem book, this is a powerful affirmation of each reader’s worth. Robinson’s text is loaded with child appeal (“When everyone thinks you’re a pest. / When...
The Complete and Original Norwegian Folktales of Asbjørnsen and Moe by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe; trans. from Norwegian by Tiina Nunnally Intermediate University of Minnesota 320 pp. g 9/19 978-1-5179-0568-2 $34.95 Asbjørnsen and Moe first published their Norske folkeeventyr (“Norwegian folktales”) as a pamphlet in 1841; through the...
See the Cat: Three Stories About a Dog by David LaRochelle; illus. by Mike Wohnoutka Primary Candlewick 64 pp. g 9/20 978-1-53620-427-8 $8.99 In three brief stories, this beginning reader inventively supports both traditional and visual literacies. The first chapter, “The Cat,” opens with the sentence “See the cat” on...
Pepper & Boo: A Cat Surprise! by Charise Mericle Harper; illus. by the author Primary Little, Brown 64 pp. g 9/20 978-1-368-04904-7 $9.99 The book opens with a tidy four-panel spread, the first showing a comfy-looking house made from simple shapes (“Twelve paws are in this house,” says the text);...
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