The Secrets of Cricket Karlsson by Kristina Sigunsdotter; illus. by Ester Eriksson; trans. from Swedish by Julia MarshallIntermediate Gecko 112 pp. g5/22 978-1-77657-427-8 $18.99Eleven-year-old Cricket keeps a journal describing her turmoil after a bout of chicken pox that kept her home from school for two weeks. During that time...
Break This House by Candace IlohHigh School Dutton 224 pp. g2/22 978-0-525-55623-7 $17.99Estranged from her mother and twin sister, sixteen-year-old Minah learns about her mom’s death through a Facebook invitation to a family reunion and memorial. Minah, now living with her father in Brooklyn, returns to her hometown of...
Breda’s Island by Jessie Ann FoleyIntermediate, Middle School Quill Tree/HarperCollins 256 pp. g7/22 978-0-06-320772-1 $16.99e-book ed. 978-0-06-320775-2 $10.99Breda didn’t believe her single mother would really send her from Chicago to Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula for the summer if she got caught stealing again, but her theft of a classmate’s gym...
The Well by Jake Wyatt; illus. by ChooMiddle School, High School First Second 176 pp. g5/22 978-1-250-81652-8 $24.99Paper ed. 978-1-626-72414-3 $17.99e-book ed. 978-1-250-87842-7 $11.99This post-apocalyptic, archipelago-set graphic novel teems with atmosphere and angst, in addition to gutsy witches, mysterious curses, and horrifying monsters. Teenage Li-Zhen, or Lizzy, is a...
Shadow Grave by Marina CohenIntermediate Roaring Brook 288 pp. g5/22 978-1-250-78300-4 $16.99e-book ed. 978-1-250-78301-1 $9.99As his younger sister, Lola, loves to point out, twelve-year-old Arlo is afraid of everything. He has significant reasons to be anxious: his mother has just recovered from cancer; his father (divorced, with a new...
Howl by Shaun David HutchinsonHigh School Simon 432 pp. g4/22 978-1-5344-7092-7 $19.99e-book. ed. 978-1-5344-7094-1 $10.99Hutchinson’s latest offering (The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried, rev. 3/19; Before We Disappear, rev. 11/21) is another engaging blend of realism with fantasy and absurdity. Bleeding profusely from the wounds of...
The Silence That Binds Us by Joanna HoHigh School HarperTeen 448 pp. g6/22 978-0-06-305934-4 $17.99e-book ed. 978-0-06-305936-8 $12.99This sensitive novel does an impressive balancing act, examining mental illness and its stigma among Asian Americans while weaving in themes of racism and grief. San Francisco area teen Maybelline Chen’s world...
Only on the Weekends by Dean AttaHigh School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 560 pp. g5/22 978-0-06-315798-9 $18.99e-book ed. 978-0-06-315800-9 $12.99This novel in verse follows the first romantic relationship experiences of a Black, queer, fat teenage boy learning to find love and acceptance within himself. Mack lives in London with his...
Growing Pangs by Kathryn Ormsbee; illus. by Molly Brooks; color by Bex Glendining and Elise SchuenkeIntermediate Random 256 pp. g5/22 978-0-593-30128-9 $20.99Library ed. 978-0-593-30129-6 $23.99Paper ed. 978-0-593-30131-9 $12.99e-book ed. 978-0-593-30130-2 $8.99Rising sixth graders Katie and Kacey, both homeschooled during the year, head to summer camp. Though Katie loves being...
Echoes of Grace by Guadalupe García McCallHigh School Tu/Lee & Low 384 pp. g6/22 978-1-64379-425-9 $21.95Sisters Grace (Graciela) and Mercy (Mercedes) have had a strong bond ever since their mother’s death when they were little. But now, as they make plans to go to college together, tragedy strikes again,...