Finally Seen by Kelly YangIntermediate Simon 304 pp.2/23 9781534488335 $17.99e-book ed. 9781534488359 $10.99This contemporary immigrant tale follows a Beijing girl as she reunites with her parents and younger sister in California after five years of separation. Lina Gao, ten, thinks that her father is a successful microbiologist who owns a...
Island of Spies by Sheila TurnageIntermediate Dial 384 pp.9/22 9780735231252 $17.99For this freewheeling detective story, Turnage chooses a particular and intriguing setting: Hatteras Island off the coast of North Carolina in 1942. In the early stages of the American involvement in WWII, German U-boats were stationed off this coast, a...
The Secret Letters [Mysteries of Trash & Treasure]by Margaret Peterson HaddixIntermediate Tegen/HarperCollins 400 pp.9/22 9780062838520 $17.99e-book ed. 978006283854 $12.99Colin, an only child, and Nevaeh, the youngest of five, are both reluctantly working at their families’ businesses for the summer. At Possession Curation, Colin is tempted to rescue items his ultra-minimalist...
The Secrets We Keep by Cassie GustafsonHigh School Simon 352 pp.11/22 9781665906944 $19.99e-book ed. 9781665906968 $10.99Fourteen-year-old Emma’s family is torn apart when her best friend, Hannah, accuses Emma’s father of sexual abuse. He is arrested, and Emma’s mother forbids any communication with Hannah. To prevent her family (which also includes...
The Switch by Roland SmithIntermediate, Middle School Scholastic 304 pp.11/22 9780545803502 $17.99On the morning of his thirteenth birthday, Henry Carter declines his father’s invitation to go with him to the zoo where he works. While Dad is gone, Henry notices something odd: “It was like a lightning strike without the...
Wild Blue: Taming a Big-Kid Bike by Dashka Slater; illus. by Laura HughesPrimary Candlewick 32 pp.2/23 9781536215670 $18.99“My pink pony and I ride the wide open spaces from sunrise to sunset,” young narrator Kayla declares. Her “pink pony” is a small bike with training wheels, and the “wide open spaces”...
The five middle-grade protagonists in these selections (a mix of novels, graphic novel, and graphic memoir) are all passionate about a particular athletic activity. But they’re also experiencing struggles and/or setbacks in their personal lives. While practice doesn’t always make perfect, their beloved sports help teach these kids how to...
While these five protagonists aren’t real figures to celebrate during March’s Women’s History Month, their powerful stories are rooted in history, often emphasizing past mistreatment and serving as a reminder of how far we’ve come…and how far we have yet to go. See also our five questions interview with Joy...
The Talk by Alicia D. Williams; illus. by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu Primary Dlouhy/Atheneum 40 pp. 10/22 9781534495296 $18.99 e-book ed. 9781534495302 $10.99 In this effective and affecting introduction to race relations and police brutality in America, Jay is a young boy who loves racing up and down the block with...
Talks with Roger is a sponsored supplement to our free monthly e-newsletter, Notes from the Horn Book. To receive Notes, sign up here. Sponsored by The story of the Kindertransport is unusual among Holocaust narratives in that it has a happy ending — for a while. In Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children...