Sisters of the Lost Marsh by Lucy StrangeIntermediate, Middle School Chicken House/Scholastic 304 pp.1/23 9781338686463 $18.99Because of a (fictional) traditional rhyme that claims—or threatens—six motherless sisters’ destinies according to birth order, their violent, often-drunk Dadder trades the beautiful eldest, Grace, as wife in exchange for a horse. When Grace escapes...
Wolfish by Christiane M. AndrewsIntermediate, Middle School Little, Brown 416 pp.11/22 9780316496063 $16.99e-book ed. 9780316496070 $9.99A boy, born eleventh in line to the crown, finds himself to be first after a series of mysterious and unlikely accidents—and then he becomes king. Alba, an oracle’s apprentice, is stricken by the way...
Buffalo Flats by Martine LeavittMiddle School, High School Ferguson/Holiday 240 pp.4/23 9780823443420 $18.99e-book ed. 9780823443758 $9.99Based on family history, Leavitt’s coming-of-age story is set in an 1890s Mormon settler community in Southern Alberta, Canada, at the eastern edges of the Rockies, and focuses on seventeen-year-old Rebecca. In an opening both...
Stateless by Elizabeth WeinMiddle School, High School Little, Brown 400 pp.3/23 9780316591249 $18.99e-book ed. 9780316591256 $10.99Wein’s compulsively readable murder mystery/thriller/romance takes place in Europe in 1937. An airplane race for young aviators has been arranged as an effort to promote peace under the shadow of Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco. Seventeen-year-old...
Seasparrow by Kristin CashoreHigh School Dutton 624 pp.11/22 9781984816672 $21.99e-book ed. 9781984816689 $10.99This fifth of Cashore’s Graceling Realm novels (Grace-ling, rev. 11/08, and sequels) encompasses a sea voyage, a shipwreck, a life-threatening trek across the frozen north, the discovery of a powerful explosive and related national conflict, several survivors of...
The Astonishing Chronicles of Oscar from Elsewhere by Jaclyn MoriartyIntermediate Levine Querido 400 pp.11/22 9781646142026 $18.99Moriarty’s fourth volume in the series that began with The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone (rev. 9/18) sees the three Mettlestone-Staranise girls and the former-pirate-now-prince Alejandro once again heading off to save the day....
Phalaina by Alice Brière-Haquet ; trans. from French by Emma Ramadan Middle School, High School Levine Querido 320 pp. g9/22 978-1-64614-182-1 $18.99 Horror, mystery, sci-fi, historical fiction of sorts—this story partakes of all four. Manon is a tiny child when she’s left in the woods...
The Queen in the Cave by Júlia Sardà ; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Candlewick Studio 64 pp. g5/22 978-1-5362-2054-4 $19.99 Franca and her younger sisters, Carmela and Tomasina, do everything together, so when one day Franca gets a “funny feeling,” Carmela and Tomasina decide...
Healer and Witch by Nancy WerlinMiddle School Candlewick 304 pp. g3/22 978-1-5362-1956-2 $19.99e-book ed. 978-1-5362-2457-3 $19.99Werlin’s new novel is cause for celebration—for its sleek, sharp prose; intelligent ideas; and precise characterization, to name but a few of its attributes. Set in 1531 France, this is the tale of Sylvie, an...