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The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee by Julie Leung; illus. by Julie Kwon Primary, Intermediate Little, Brown 48 pp. g 2/21 978-0-7595-5495-5 $18.99 As a child, Hazel Ying Lee (1912–1944) pushed limits to be the best at everything — the fastest at footraces, the hardest hitter in handball, and,...
Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas High School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 368 pp. g 1/21 978-0-06-284671-6 $19.99 Library ed. 978-1-4328-8474-1 $24.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-284675-4 $12.99 One of the most dynamic characters in Thomas’s acclaimed The Hate U Give (rev. 3/17) is Starr’s father, Maverick Carter. In this prequel, seventeen-year-old Mav has...
Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier by Jim Ottaviani; illus. by Maris Wicks Middle School First Second/Roaring Brook 168 pp. 2/20 978-1-62672-877-6 $19.99 Paper ed. 978-1-250-76003-6 $12.99 At the attention-grabbing start of Ottaviani and Wicks’s second graphic collaboration (Primates, rev. 5/13), a series of panels shows a “famous astronaut” (gender...
Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Peña; illus. by Christian Robinson Primary Putnam 40 pp. g 2/21 978-0-399-54908-3 $18.99 Spanish ed. 978-0-593-35462-9 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-399-54909-0 $10.99 Harold and the Purple Crayon meets twenty-first-century urban realism in this picture book by the Last Stop on Market Street (rev....
Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes; illus. by various artists Intermediate, Middle School, High School Bloomsbury 144 pp. g 1/21 978-1-68119-944-3 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-68119-945-0 $13.29 Grimes returns to the Harlem Renaissance (One Last Word, rev. 3/17) to showcase the works of some female poets whose...
The Highest Tribute: Thurgood Marshall’s Life, Leadership, and Legacy by Kekla Magoon; illus. by Laura Freeman Primary, Intermediate Quill Tree/HarperCollins 40 pp. g 1/21 978-0-06-291251-0 $17.99 “Thurgood would become the first to do a lot of things that a Black person had never done before.” When he attended Lincoln University,...
Red Stars: The Case of Viktor and Nadya’s Notebooks by Davide Morosinotto; trans. from Italian by Denise Muir Intermediate, Middle School Delacorte 432 pp. g 11/20 978-1-9848-9332-1 $19.99 Library ed. 978-1-9848-9333-8 $22.99 e-book ed. 978-1-9848-9334-5 $10.99 Viktor and Nadya are twelve-year-old twins living in Leningrad during World War II. In...
Northbound: A Train Ride Out of Segregation by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein; illus. by James E. Ransome Primary Candlewick 40 pp. g 10/20 978-0-7636-9650-4 $17.99 In this picture book set in the 1960s (and inspired by the author’s childhood memories), Michael and his granddaddy are fascinated by the...
Finding a Way Home: Mildred and Richard Loving and the Fight for Marriage Equality by Larry Dane Brimner Middle School, High School Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills & Kane 112 pp. g 11/20 978-1-62979-751-9 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-63592-450-3 $11.99 Brimner (Twelve Days in May, rev. 1/17) presents another compelling story of civil...
Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel by Jason Reynolds; adapted and illus. by Danica Novgorodoff High School Dlouhy/Atheneum 208 pp. g 10/20 978-1-53444-495-9 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-4497-3 $8.99 Skillful editing and rearranging of Reynolds’s original verse novel (Long Way Down, rev. 7/17) creates room for Novgorodoff’s impressionistic ink and watercolor...
Time for Kenny by Brian Pinkney; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Greenwillow 40 pp. g 1/21 978-0-06-073528-9 $17.99 Four brief stories take us through young Kenny’s day as he gets dressed, has an encounter with a monster-like vacuum cleaner, learns “no hands!” soccer skills, and resists bedtime. Pinkney’s text...
Everything Naomi Loved by Katie Yamasaki and Ian Lendler; illus. by Katie Yamasaki Primary Norton 48 pp. g 9/20 978-1-324-00491-2 $18.95 e-book ed. 978-1-324-00492-9 $17.48 Naomi lives on busy, bustling 11th Street — “It wasn’t pretty but it was alive!” — where she and her best friend Ada love to...
Off to See the Sea by Nikki Grimes; illus. by Elizabeth Zunon Preschool Sourcebooks 32 pp. g 1/21 978-1-4926-3829-2 $17.99 It’s bath time for the child we first met in Bedtime for Sweet Creatures (rev. 1/20), and once again the youngster’s mother is the narrator. As in many households, here...
Happy Year of the Ox! We wish all who are celebrating a new year full of joy and prosperity. Here is our Lunar New Year reading list with fiction and nonfiction books featuring the holiday for preschool, primary, and intermediate readers. All of the titles below were recommended by The...
Where We Go from Here by Lucas Rocha; trans. from Brazilian Portuguese by Larissa Helena High School PUSH/Scholastic 288 pp. g 6/20 978-1-338-55624-7 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-338-63375-7 $11.99 In this translated novel from Brazilian debut author Rocha, three young gay men (two protagonists are eighteen, one is twenty-one) living in...
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson High School Scholastic 336 pp. g 6/20 978-1-338-50326-5 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-338-50362-3 $10.99 Senior Liz Lighty has successfully stayed out of the spotlight and off of Campbell County High School’s new social networking app, Campbell Confidential. Being poor and Black...
The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar Middle School, High School Page Street 400 pp. g 5/20 978-1-62414-968-9 $17.99 Nishat is a Bengali Muslim teen attending a conservative Catholic school in Dublin. When she comes out as lesbian to her parents, she is met with near-silence. Meanwhile, Nishat creates a henna...
A Complicated Love Story Set in Space by Shaun David Hutchinson High School Simon 464 pp. g 1/21 978-1-5344-4853-7 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-4855-1 $10.99 Noa wakes up to find himself, inexplicably, in a spacesuit floating outside a spaceship, with no recollection of how he got there. Neither does DJ, another...
Love Is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann High School Farrar 352 pp. g 2/21 978-0-374-31397-5 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-374-31398-2 $9.99 “I hate people,” declares fifteen-year-old Phoebe, and perhaps with good reason: her mother abruptly left her (again) to care for sick people in Syria (“Mum’s a doctor first and a...
Root Magic by Eden Royce Intermediate, Middle School Walden/HarperCollins 352 pp. g 1/21 978-0-06-289957-6 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-289960-6 $8.99 Eleven-year-old Jezebel’s family has done “rootwork” for generations. In 1963, many of the people on their South Carolina island frequent her grandmother and uncle’s cabin for the healing potions they make,...
Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor Intermediate, Middle School Viking 229 pp. g 8/20 978-0-593-11352-3 $16.99 His father, the police chief, is dead, and eleven-year-old Nnamdi knows who murdered him — the Chief of Chiefs, an infamous criminal in their Nigerian province. Vowing to bring justice, Nnamdi is unsure how to proceed...
Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia Intermediate, Middle School Riordan/Disney-Hyperion 320 pp. g 10/20 978-1-368-04238-3 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-4328-8471-0 $21.99 e-book ed. 978-1-368-06802-4 $10.99 In the sequel to CSK honoree Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky (rev. 7/20), Tristan once again finds himself responsible for saving...
Maya and the Rising Dark by Rena Barron Intermediate, Middle School Houghton 304 pp. g 9/20 978-1-328-63518-1 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-10622-7 $9.99 Twelve-year-old Maya is seeing things, or so she thinks, as weird creatures start appearing in her Chicago neighborhood. Add to that her dreams about a scary shadow-man, and...
William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad by Don Tate; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Peachtree 40 pp. g 11/20 978-1-56145-935-3 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-68263-277-2 $8.99 Tate introduces readers to the African American abolitionist known as the Father of the Underground Railroad in this...
She Was the First!: The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm by Katheryn Russell-Brown; illus. by Eric Velasquez Primary, Intermediate Lee & Low 40 pp. g 8/20 978-1-62014-346-9 $19.95 “Unbought and Unbossed”: Shirley Chisholm’s 1968 campaign slogan, still relevant today. Russell-Brown (Little Melba and Her Big Trombone, rev. 11/14) engagingly presents...
One Step Further: My Story of Math, the Moon, and a Lifelong Mission by Katherine Johnson with Joylette Hylick and Katherine Moore; illus. by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow Primary National Geographic Kids 48 pp. g 1/21 978-1-4263-7193-6 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-4263-7194-3 $27.90 This picture-book biography isn’t just the story of NASA...
In Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball (Abrams, 6–10 years), written by Jen Bryant, artist Frank Morrison (the 2021 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner for R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, written by Carole Boston Weatherford) depicts the life of the NBA great and civil rights...
This Is Your Time by Ruby Bridges Primary, Intermediate Delacorte 64 pp. g 11/20 978-0-593-37852-6 $15.99 Library ed. 978-0-593-37853-3 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-593-37854-0 $9.99 A letter of love and care from civil rights icon Ruby Bridges to twenty-first-century children marks the sixtieth anniversary of her integration of William Frantz Elementary...
Five questions for Frank Morrison Above the Rim: How Elgin Maylor Changed Basketball by Jen Bryant, illus. by Frank Morrison; Abrams. #OwnVoices biographies for Black History Month 2021 This Is Your Time by Ruby Bridges; Delacorte. One Step Further: My Story of Math, the Moon, and a Lifelong Mission by...
Welcome to Black History Month 2021! As several of the books reviewed here remind us, you can’t have American history without it. Please go see all of our BHM coverage on the website, where the indefatigable Cindy and Elissa are posting related reviews, interviews, articles, and essays every day throughout...
Read S. R. Toliver’s 2019 Horn Book article on why representation matters in sci-fi/fantasy, then dip into the following fantastical middle-grade novels by Black authors and starring Black protagonists. See also our Black History Month 2021 coverage. Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston Intermediate, Middle School Balzer...
Take it from Ruby Bridges — one person can make a difference in the fight for civil rights, a fight that continues today. The following illustrated biographies (all #OwnVoices) highlight important figures in Black — and American — history. See also our Black History Month 2021 coverage. This Is Your...
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...
This Valentine’s Day, find book love with the following recent YA titles centering queer romance. for more on romantic love, click the tag "love stories" and see also Katrina Hedeen and Rachel L. Smith’s 2013 Horn Book Magazine article: “What Makes a Good YA Love Story?” Love Is for Losers...
Me & Mama by Cozbi A. Cabrera; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Millner/Simon 40 pp. g 8/20 978-1-5344-5421-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-5422-4 $10.99 In the early morning, a young unnamed Black girl tiptoes through the house and past various sleeping family members, to be greeted by the smell of...
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford; illus. by Floyd Cooper Primary, Intermediate Carolrhoda 32 pp. g 2/21 978-1-5415-8120-3 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-7284-1738-7 $27.99 In 1921, over the course of sixteen hours, the Black community of Greenwood, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was all but destroyed, with most of its...
Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston Intermediate, Middle School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 416 pp. g 1/21 978-0-06-297516-4 $17.99 Quinton Peters has been missing for six months — no matter what anybody says, his sister Amari knows he’s still alive — and his top-secret job is the reason...
Out the Door by Christy Hale; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Porter/Holiday 40 pp. g 10/20 978-0-8234-4644-5 $18.99 Hale’s got a clever premise here — a this-is-how-I-get-to-school picture book written entirely with prepositional phrases that combine a direction or position with a location. The title page kicks things off...
The Bear in My Family by Maya Tatsukawa; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Dial 32 pp. g 3/20 978-0-525-55582-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-525-55583-4 $10.99 A child asserts that there is a bear in his family, and indeed the illustrations show a little boy sharing space with a large gray creature. “Scary, right?” The...
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 a...
We Are Not from Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez High School Philomel 349 pp. g 5/20 978-1-9848-1226-1 $17.99 Inseparable teens Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña live in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, where the politicians are as corrupt as the gang leaders. When Pulga and Chico witness the death of Don Feliciano, murdered by...
Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera High School Bloomsbury 320 pp. g 9/20 978-1-5476-0373-2 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5476-0374-9 $13.29 Pheus is an Afro-Dominican, bachata-singing teen whose Bronx world is upended when he meets Eury, a Puerto Rican girl visiting New York after she is forced from her home in the aftermath...
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 history,...
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 complicated....
A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat Intermediate, Middle School Candlewick 375 pp. g 3/20 978-1-5362-0494-0 $17.99 Soontornvat balances inner change and political action with insight and stylistic flair in this fantastical Les Misérables retelling. In Chattana City, the Governor wields a power that is almost...
The Cat Man of Aleppo by Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha; illus. by Yuko Shimizu Primary, Intermediate Putnam 32 pp. g 4/20 978-1-9848-1378-7 $17.99 In 2012, civil war comes to Aleppo, then the largest city in Syria. Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel is an ambulance driver who remains behind while many of his neighbors...
The most prestigious honors in children’s literature, the Newbery and Caldecott medals, were awarded to Tae Keller for When You Trap a Tiger and Michaela Goade for We Are Water Protectors on January 25, 2021, at the American Library Association’s virtual midwinter meeting. Also announced at the gathering were the...
Alex Award [for the ten best adult books that appeal to teen audiences] Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga Press/Gallery Books/Simon) The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Tor Books/Tom Doherty Associates/Macmillan) The Impossible First: From Fire to Ice - Crossing Antarctica Alone by Colin O'Brady (Scribner/Simon)...
Try It!: How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat by Mara Rockliff; illus. by Giselle Potter Primary, Intermediate Beach Lane/Simon 32 pp. g 1/21 978-1-5344-6007-2 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-6008-9 $10.99 Go to a market today, and the range of foods is amazing. Thank produce pioneer Frieda Caplan for that....
Winner Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera by Candace Fleming; illus. by Eric Rohmann Primary Porter/Holiday 40 pp. 2/20 978-0-8234-4285-0 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-8234-4304-8 $11.99 A worker bee breaks out of her honeycomb cell and begins a task-filled life in her colony. The “teeming, trembling flurry” of bees within...
Winner Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez High School Algonquin 368 pp. g 9/20 9781616209919 $17.95 REVIEW TO COME Honor Books Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera High School Bloomsbury 320 pp. g 9/20 978-1-5476-0373-2 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5476-0374-9 $13.29 Pheus is an...
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),...
Winner Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros Intermediate, Middle School Quill Tree/HarperCollins 272 pp. g 3/20 978-0-06-288168-7 $16.99 REVIEW TO COME Honor Books Lupe Wong Won’t Dance by Donna Barba Higuera Intermediate, Middle School Levine Querido 272 pp. g...
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas High School Swoon/Feiwel 352 pp. g 9/20 978-1-250-25046-9 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-250-25051-3 $9.99 Unlike the rest of his family, Yadriel is kept from having a quinces, the traditional coming-of-age ceremony to become a brujo. Yadriel is trans and gay, i.e., “Head Black Sheep among the...
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...
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...
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...
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...
One Real American: The Life of Ely S. Parker, Seneca Sachem and Civil War General by Joseph Bruchac Middle School Abrams 248 pp. g 10/20 978-1-4197-4657-4 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-64700-163-6 $15.54 Ely (“pronounced, he always said, to rhyme with freely”) Samuel Parker was “a man who more than any other...
Booklists and resources on holidays, special events, seasons, social justice...and "mother forking space and time"? We've covered a wide range of topics for all age levels in 2020, so we've compiled them together for readers to find some great new books to enjoy and share. Don't miss out — subscribe...
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...
Mexique: A Refugee Story from the Spanish Civil War by María José Ferrada; illus. by Ana Penyas; trans. from Spanish by Elisa Amado Primary, Intermediate Eerdmans 40 pp. g 10/20 978-0-8028-5545-9 $17.99 In the spring of 1937, the ship Mexique sailed from France to Mexico with 456 Spanish refugees, all...
Five questions for Megan Whalen Turner Return of the Thief [Queen's Thief] by Megan Whalen Turner; Greenwillow. YA world building Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust; Flatiron. How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories [Folk of the Air] by Holly Black, illus. by Rovina Cai; Little, Brown. Daughters...
Though we won’t miss 2020 (good riddance), we will miss the world that Megan Whalen Turner created in her Queen’s Thief series, complete with political maneuvering, backstabbing, power grabs...oh, wait. World-building was perfected by Turner, and is used to great effect in these recent YA titles. If kindhearted skunks and...
Hand the following entertaining and informative STEM-focused nonfiction titles to science-minded middle graders. 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...
These recent animal-fantasy chapter books will thrill, educate, and crack up new readers. Willa the Wisp [The Fabled Stables] by Jonathan Auxier; illus. by Olga Demidova Primary Amulet/Abrams 96 pp. g 10/20 978-1-4197-4269-9 $12.99 “At the top of the world sat an island. And at the heart of that island...
The following YA titles feature strongly built worlds — some well-known to fans, some brand new — that will sweep readers up with their fantastical details and enthralling adventures. Don’t miss our “Five questions for Megan Whalen Turner,” author of the Queen’s Thief series, which concludes with Return of the...
Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief (with that never-to-be-bettered twist at the end!) was published in 1996. Now, after six books set in that unforgettably detailed world, full of political machinations, double crosses, dubious motivations, and familial obligations, the series comes to a close with Return of the Thief (Greenwillow, 12...
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...
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...
Everything Comes Next: Collected & New Poems by Naomi Shihab Nye; illus. by Rafael López Intermediate, Middle School Greenwillow 256 pp. g 9/20 978-0-06-301345-2 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-301347-6 $9.99 A substantial volume of poems by Nye, the Palestinian American poet and current Young People’s Poet Laureate, is a pleasure on...
The Cat I Never Named: A True Story of Love, War, and Survival by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess with Laura L. Sullivan High School Bloomsbury 384 pp. g 9/20 978-1-5476-0453-1 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5476-0455-5 $13.99 This suspenseful memoir, set between 1992 and 1998, opens just before the author’s northwestern Bosnian town 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...
A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart by Zetta Elliott; illus. by Noa Denmon Primary, Intermediate Farrar 32 pp. g 7/20 978-0-374-30741-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-374-38863-8 $9.99 In this powerfully lyrical poem, Elliott articulates what resides “deep down inside” of the African American, skateboard-loving, first-person protagonist:...
My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep Around the World by Rebecca Bond; illus. by Salley Mavor Preschool Houghton 40 pp. g 9/20 978-0-544-94906-5 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-35905-0 $13.99 “My bed rocks on the water. / My bed sways in the breeze. / My bed’s beneath a curtain. / My...
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...
Rise of the Halfling King [Tales of the Feathered Serpent] by David Bowles; illus. by Charlene Bowles Intermediate, Middle School Cinco Puntos 64 pp. g 10/20 Paper ed. 978-1-947627-37-6 $12.95 e-book ed. 978-1-947627-38-3 $12.95 In this series starter, David Bowles, author of 2018’s Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky: Myths...
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...
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