My medical records show frequent headaches and joint pain from the time I was able to articulate being in pain. When I was seventeen, a neck injury left me with a constant headache and more than fifteen days of migraine each month. It wasn’t until about six months ago —...
Girl on a Motorcycle by Amy Novesky; illus. by Julie Morstad Primary, Intermediate Viking 48 pp. g 9/20 978-0-593-11629-6 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-593-11630-2 $10.99 This picture-book biography of the first woman to complete a solo motorcycle trip around the world begins in 1973 Paris. Wishing to see and write about...
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...
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...
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)...
2020 marks two milestones for Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy: the twenty-fifth anniversary of the UK publication of its first volume, Northern Lights (published a year later in the United States as The Golden Compass); and the twentieth anniversary of the international publication of the third, The Amber Spyglass...
To Dance by Siena Cherson Siegel; illus. by Mark Siegel Intermediate, Middle School Atheneum 86 pp. 10/19 978-1-4814-8663-7 $19.99 Paper ed. 978-1-4814-8664-4 $11.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-8665-1 $8.99 Even more effectively than the original, this special edition of the 2006 graphic memoir about Cherson Siegel’s youth as a School of American...
Starring ghosts, ghost hunters, goblins, and changelings, these new adventures for intermediate and middle-school readers are atmospherically spooky (but not-too-scary) books to snuggle up with on a gloomy fall day. Find more Halloween recommendations in Friday's Horn Book Herald e-newsletter. Mollie sets out to return Guest, a changeling child, to...
Starting a new school year—and especially starting school, period—can be nerve-wracking, but it also presents opportunities for new friendships and experiences. These lighthearted picture books validate first-day worries while also celebrating this significant moment. In The King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes, vignettes follow a boy through his first day of big-kid school. Dubbed the "King of Kindergarten" by his mother, the...