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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...
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...
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...
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),...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Trowbridge Road by Marcella Pixley Middle School Candlewick 310 pp. g 10/20 978-1-5362-0750-7 $17.99 Narrator June Bug Jordan watches “beanpole” Ziggy Karlo, with his “unruly mop of red hair,” arrive at his grandmother’s house on idyllic Trowbridge Road in the summer of 1983. The two loners quickly become friends, finding...
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...
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...
This Is My America by Kim Johnson High School Random 416 pp. g 7/20 978-0-593-11876-4 $17.99 Library ed. 978-0-593-11877-1 $20.00 e-book ed. 978-0-593-11878-8 $10.99 Tracy is running out of time. It’s been seven years since her father was wrongly convicted of a double murder. Every week, Tracy writes to Innocence...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram High School Dial 352 pp. g 8/20 978-0-59310-823-9 $17.99 Since we last saw “Fractional Persian” Darius in 2019 Boston Globe–Horn Book honor book Darius the Great Is Not Okay (rev. 9/18), he’s come out as gay, and has a boyfriend. Now back...
Displacement by Kiku Hughes; illus. by the author Middle School, High School First Second/Roaring Brook 288 pp. g 8/20 978-1-250-19354-4 $24.99 Paper ed. 978-1-250-19353-7 $17.99 This graphic novel blends historical fact and science fiction into an enthralling time-travel tale. An imagined version of debut author Hughes’s teenage self is suddenly...
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)...
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 lived a boy named Auggie.” So begins this early chapter book full of...
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);...
Kondo & Kezumi Visit Giant Island by David Goodner; illus. by Andrea Tsurumi Primary Little, Brown 80 pp. g 10/20 978-1-368-02577-5 $15.99 e-book ed. 978-1-368-04605-3 $9.99 Kondo, a large yellow creature, and Kezumi, a small orange creature, live on an island full of “berry bushes and flitter-birds and fluffle-bunnies.” One...
Dear Beast by Dori Hillestad Butler; illus. by Kevan Atteberry Primary Holiday 77 pp. g 5/20 978-0-8234-4492-2 $15.99 Having two pets in two separate homes can spark a bit of territorialism, so when Andy announces he has a new dog at Dad’s house, Simon, the cat who lives at Andy’s...
A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Joy McCullough Intermediate Atheneum 210 pp. g 4/20 978-1-5344-3849-1 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-3851-4 $10.99 Sutton prefers programming robots to being with people, but she’s still disappointed when she learns that her mother, off researching penguins in Antarctica, won’t return in time for her...
The True Definition of Neva Beane by Christine Kendall Intermediate, Middle School Scholastic 240 pp. g 9/20 978-1-338-32489-1 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-338-32493-8 $10.99 Twelve-year-old Neva Beane loves words and consults her dictionary to help find the right ones for any situation. But lately, with the changes that come with puberty,...
Pine Island Home by Polly Horvath Intermediate Ferguson/Holiday 229 pp. g 9/20 978-0-8234-4785-5 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-8234-4883-8 $9.99 Horvath (Everything on a Waffle, rev. 5/01) returns to her sweet spot (parents lost in tragic accident; quaint British Columbia setting) for her latest novel. When after a long journey orphaned sisters...
The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman Intermediate Little, Brown 320 pp. g 9/20 978-0-316-54170-1 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-316- 53952-4 $9.99 After writing to her rich uncle to cheekily request a present for her eleventh birthday, Kate is surprised when a full-sized locomotive shows up the next day. Resolved to get...
Baloney and Friends by Greg Pizzoli; illus. by the author Primary Disney-Hyperion 87 pp. g 4/20 978-1-368-05454-6 $12.99 In this energetic and amusing comics-styled easy reader, Baloney — an amiable orange pig — interacts with his friends Bizz (a bumblebee), Peanut (a blue horse), and Krabbit (an often crabby and...
Frog and Toad Are Friends [I Can Read Book] by Arnold Lobel; illus. by the author Primary Harper/HarperCollins 72 pp. g 9/20 978-0-06-298343-5 $18.99 Here is a welcome new edition of this iconic, Caldecott Honor–winning easy reader, reissued with a section at the end of seven pages of background material....
Eight Princesses and a Magic Mirror by Natasha Farrant; illus. by Lydia Corry Intermediate Norton 217 pp. g 5/20 978-1-324-01556-7 $19.95 The framing structure for this collection of princess stories is elaborate. When an enchantress is invited to be the godmother to a princess, she realizes that she doesn’t know...
We Are Not Free by Traci Chee Middle School, High School Houghton 386 pp. g 9/20 978-0-358-13143-4 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-33000-4 $9.99 Chee follows up her successful fantasy trilogy (The Reader and sequels) with this very different work of historical fiction, drawing on her personal family and cultural history for...
One Year at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School First Second/Roaring Brook 172 pp. g 7/20 978-1-250-21909-1 $22.99 Paper ed. 978-1-250-21910-7 $14.99 Originally published as The War at Ellsmere in 2008 (by SLG Publishing) and now back in print with revamped art, this graphic...
The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate; illus. by Patricia Castelao Intermediate Harper/HarperCollins 338 pp. g 5/20 978-0-06-299131-7 $18.99 Applegate revisits the beloved cast of characters from her Newbery Medal–winning The One and Only Ivan (rev. 1/12), but this time from a different viewpoint. Bob, the tenacious mutt (“some...
Winter in Wartime by Jan Terlouw; trans. from Dutch by Laura Watkinson Intermediate NYRB 220 pp. g Paper ed. 978-1-68137-426-0 $12.99 e-book ed. 978-1-68137-427-7 $9.99 In a village in the Netherlands, in the winter of 1944–45, teen Michiel van Beusekom becomes involved in anti-Nazi resistance activities — hiding and feeding...
I Am Here Now by Barbara Bottner High School Imprint/Macmillan 347 pp. g 8/20 978-1-250-20769-2 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-250-20770-8 $9.99 Fourteen-year-old Maisie characterizes her 1960s coming-of-age in the Bronx as “one of those fairy tales / where the witch eats the child.” And for good reason. Her perfume mogul dad...
The Feminist Agenda of Jemima Kincaid by Kate Hattemer High School Knopf 293 pp. g 2/20 978-1-9848-4912-0 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-9848-4913-7 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-1-9848-4914-4 $10.99 Jemima serves with the Senior Triumvirate at her tradition-steeped prep school, and though she’s invested in her role, she’s also eager to shake up...
Brown Girl Ghosted by Mintie Das High School Houghton 289 pp. g 3/20 978-0-358-12889-2 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-13130-4 $9.99 Sixteen-year-old Violet Choudhury is a cheerleader; the best friend of Meryl, a popular iconoclast; and a daughter who never knew her dead mother and barely sees her largely absent father. She’s...
We Didn’t Ask for This by Adi Alsaid High School Inkyard 352 pp. g 4/20 978-1-335-14676-2 $18.99 At a worldly and diverse K–12 private school in an unnamed country outside the U.S., the high schoolers look forward to the school’s legendary lock-in, planning all year for sanctioned events such as...
Something to Say by Lisa Moore Ramée; illus. by Bre Indigo Intermediate, Middle School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 373 pp. g 7/20 978-0-06-283671-7 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-283673-1 $9.99 Janae is a loner and plans to keep it that way in middle school, that is, until she meets outgoing, audacious Aubrey, who...
Things Seen from Above by Shelley Pearsall; illus. by Xingye Jin Intermediate Knopf 262 pp. 2/20 978-1-5247-1739-1 $16.99 Library ed. 978-1-5247-1740-7 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5247-1741-4 $9.99 April, beginning sixth grade and dealing with her own friendship issues, takes an interest in a younger student with puzzling behaviors and a surprising...
Sal & Gabi Fix the Universe by Carlos Hernandez Intermediate, Middle School Riordan/Disney-Hyperion 421 pp. g 5/20 978-1-368-02283-5 $16.99 Sal and Gabi are back in the sequel to Pura Belpré Award–winning Sal & Gabi Break the Universe, only this time they have to fix the universe — and during tech...
One Time by Sharon Creech Intermediate Cotler/HarperCollins 272 pp. g 9/20 978-0-06-257074-1 $16.99 Library ed. 978-0-06-257075-8 $17.89 e-book ed. 978-0-06-257077-2 $9.99 Gina Filomena, eleven, has been told that she has an overactive imagination. Few teachers or classmates have seen this as a gift until the new language arts teacher, Miss...
Love, Love by Victoria Chang Intermediate, Middle School Sterling 214 pp. g 6/20 978-1-4549-3832-3 $16.95 This semiautobiographical verse novel begins with eleven-year-old Chinese American girl Frances Chin witnessing an attack on her older sister, Clara, behind their school. (Frances herself has endured taunts centered on race: “you’re SO SO ugly...
Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero by Kelly J. Baptist Intermediate, Middle School Crown 195 pp. g 8/20 978-0-593-12136-8 $16.99 Library ed. 978-0-593-12137-5 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-0-593-12138-2 $9.99 Isaiah Dunn is not your typical hero. Heroes usually win, but Isaiah seems to experience a lot of losses: losing his father on...
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo High School Quill Tree/HarperCollins 422 pp. g 5/20 978-0-06-288276-9 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-288278-3 $11.99 In this sharp and compelling verse novel (a 2020 Boston Globe–Horn Book honoree), sixteen-year-old Camino Rios lives in the Dominican Republic and dreams of medical school. Sixteen-year-old Yahaira Rios...
Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom [Wayside School] by Louis Sachar; illus. by Tim Heitz Intermediate Harper/HarperCollins 182 pp. g 3/20 978-0-06-296538-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-296542-4 $10.99 Yes, per the introductory author's note to this fourth book about the wacky elementary school, it's been forty years since the first...
War at the Snow White Motel and Other Stories by Tim Wynne-Jones Intermediate, Middle School Groundwood 245 pp. g 5/20 978-1-77306-047-7 $16.95 e-book ed. 978-1-77306-048-4 $11.99 Most of the protagonists in these nine short stories are twelve years old and bumping into the realities of human nature — their own...
Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk Intermediate, Middle School Dutton 359 pp. g 4/20 978-0-525-55556-8 $17.99 Since the Great Depression forced twelve-year-old Ellie’s family to move from town up to Echo Mountain, she hasn’t known how to interact with her mother and older sister; they miss their former life and blame...
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender High School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 357 pp. g 5/20 978-0-06-282025-9 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-282027-3 $10.99 At seventeen, Felix Love feels marginalized as a Black teen, an aspiring artist, and a trans male. His mom left the family when he was ten, and although his...
Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen by Anne Nesbet Intermediate, Middle School Candlewick 357 pp. g 4/20 978-1-5362-0619-7 $18.99 “Sometimes the real danger is not what you thought it would be at all.” So begins the story of Darleen, young (fictional) star of silent movie serials. It is 1914, and...
With a Star in My Hand: Rubén Darío, Poetry Hero by Margarita Engle Middle School, High School Atheneum 150 pp. g 2/20 978-1-5344-2493-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-2495-1 $10.99 Written in first person, this heartfelt verse novel tells the fictionalized story of Rubén Darío (based on his autobiography), who was born...
The Book of Fatal Errors by Dashka Slater Intermediate Farrar 322 pp. g 7/20 978-0-374-30119-4 $16.99 Slater (winner of a Boston Globe–Horn Book Nonfiction honor for The 57 Bus, rev. 1/18) here presents an entertaining, fantastical summertime story. Twelve-year-old Rufus’s grandfather lives at Feylawn, an estate overtaken by nature and,...
Worse Than Weird by Jody J. Little Intermediate, Middle School Harper/HarperCollins 265 pp. 3/20 978-06-285258-8 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-285253-3 $7.99 Expressing disapproval of one’s parents’ values and lifestyles is a rite of passage for many tweens, and Mac (short for MacKenna MacKensie MacLeod) is no exception. Her family lives off...
The Water Bears by Kim Baker Intermediate Lamb/Random 264 pp. g 4/20 978-1-9848-5220-5 $16.99 Library ed. 978-1-9848-5221-2 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-9848-5222-9 $9.99 Newt Gomez dreams of leaving Murphy Island, his isolated home in the Pacific Northwest — especially after he was attacked by a bear a year ago, which left...
Again Again by E. Lockhart High School Delacorte 293 pp. g 6/20 978-0-385-74479-9 $18.99 Library ed. 978-0-375-99185-1 $21.99 e-book ed. 978-0-385-39139-9 $10.99 In this novel set in the same world as The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (rev. 5/08), Lockhart explores the intersection between love and the multiverse. The summer...
Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold High School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 357 pp. 2/20 978-0-06-274253-3 $18.99 After a consensual (and vividly described) sexual encounter with her boyfriend that, to her surprise, ends in her beginning to menstruate for the first time, sixteen-year-old Bisou is attacked by a wolf on her...
The Phantom Twin by Lisa Brown; illus. by the author Middle School, High School First Second/Roaring Brook 206 pp. 3/20 978-1-62672-925-4 $24.99 Paper ed. 978-1-62672-924-7 $17.99 In this dark graphic novel with an unconventional cast and setting — an ode to outsiders, “freaks,” and misfits everywhere — Jane and Isabel...
Mañanaland by Pam Muñoz Ryan Intermediate, Middle School Scholastic 254 pp. g 3/20 978-1-338-15786-4 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-338-15788-8 $11.99 Growing up in Santa Maria, a (fictional) country “somewhere in the Américas,” Maximiliano Córdoba is familiar with the legends of the Guardians and the Hidden Ones they led to safety —...
In the Role of Brie Hutchens… by Nicole Melleby Middle School Algonquin 265 pp. g 4/20 978-1-61620-907-0 $16.95 When the novel opens, thirteen-year-old Brie’s mother almost stumbles upon Brie looking at a soap opera star’s Playboy photos online. Brie distracts her mom by claiming (falsely) that she’s been chosen to...
Redwood and Ponytail by K. A. Holt Middle School Chronicle 417 pp. 10/19 978-1-4521-7288-0 $18.99 Seventh grader Kate’s (“Ponytail”) life is largely defined by pressure from her mom to become captain of the cheerleading squad and by her friends’ similar expectations; less popular, gangly girl Tam (“Redwood”) has had a...
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta High School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 409 pp. g 5/20 978-0-06-299029-7 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-299031-0 $9.99 Winner of the 2020 Stonewall Book Award, this British verse novel by a poet and drag performer offers a welcome exploration of the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality....
The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski High School Farrar 358 pp. 3/20 978-0-374-30638-0 $18.99 As a member of the Half Kith (the lowest, most oppressed caste in society), Nirrim is focused on avoiding the notice of the militia, who extract tithes of blood, hair, and teeth from Half Kith they...
What About Worms!? [Elephant & Piggie Like Reading!] by Ryan T. Higgins; illus. by the author; with additional illustrations by Mo Willems Primary Hyperion 64 pp. g 5/20 978-1-368-04573-5 $9.99 Tiger is BIG. Tiger is BRAVE. Tiger is afraid of nothing...“except worms.” Tiger, a plush Calvin and Hobbes-ian animal with...
We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly Intermediate, Middle School Greenwillow 392 pp. g 5/20 978-0-06-274730-3 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-274732-7 $9.99 In the foreground of this novel are three siblings. Twelve-year-old Fitch lives for video games and is angry through and through. His twin sister Bird is an amiable,...
Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim Intermediate, Middle School Kokila/Penguin 314 pp. g 3/20 978-0-525-55497-4 $16.99 Eleven-year-old Yumi is spending the summer helping her family’s struggling Korean barbecue restaurant in L.A. and studying to earn an academic scholarship to the private school where she has just spent her sixth-grade...
Parachutes by Kelly Yang High School Tegen/HarperCollins 485 pp. g 5/20 978-0-06-294108-4 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-294113-8 $10.99 Claire lives in Shanghai with her wealthy, image-obsessed, and unhappy family. When Claire’s parents send her to prep school in America, she boards with a fellow student (who’s on scholarship), Filipina American teen...
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander; illus. by Dawud Anyabwile Intermediate, Middle School Houghton 218 pp. 9/19 978-1-328-96001-6 $22.99 Paper ed. 978-1-328-57549-4 $12.99 e-book ed. 978-1-358-12816-8 $8.99 Alexander's Newbery Medal–winning verse novel of the same name (rev. 5/14), about African American twins and middle-school b-ballers Josh and JB Bell, is an ideal choice for graphic-novel adaptation, with its on-court action, swaggering narrative voice, and poignant emotional pitches. Anyabwile's (of Alexander's Rebound,...
Clean Getaway by Nic Stone; illus. by Dawud Anyabwile Intermediate Crown 229 pp. 1/20 978-1-9848-9297-3 $16.99 Library ed. 978-1-9848-9298-0 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-9848-9299-7 $9.99 When G’ma asks Scoob to go on “a little adventure” during spring break, he doesn’t hesitate to say yes (especially since he’s been grounded for fighting...
Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis with Traci Sorell Intermediate Tu/Lee & Low 209 pp. g 9/19 978-1-62014-839-6 $18.95 This novel (based on McManis's childhood) is set against the background of U.S. government actions beginning in the 1940s that terminated the status of many Native Nations and forced relocation of families living on reservations. With a stroke of the pen, in 1954, eight-year-old Regina Petit...
The Dragon Thief by Zetta Elliott; illus. by Geneva B Primary, Intermediate Random 170 pp. g 10/19 978-1-5247-7049-5 $16.99 Library ed. 978-1-5247-7050-1 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5247-7051-8 $9.99 According to Aunty, "every problem has a solution." But what if your problem is a dragon that won't stop growing? This sequel to Dragons in a Bag (rev. 9/18) alternates between Jaxon, the previous book's protagonist, and Kavita, sister of Jaxon's best friend Vikram....
Stella Díaz Never Gives Up by Angela Dominguez; illus. by the author Intermediate Roaring Brook 196 pp. 1/20 978-1-250-22911-3 $16.99 This sequel to Stella Díaz Has Something to Say (rev. 5/18) finds Stella wanting to do something big: save the oceans. After a family vacation to Mexico, Stella (less shy...
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