Sorted By: Dramatic
Kathryn Ormsbee
The House in Poplar Wood
August 2018, Chronicle Books, 344 pp
Simultaneously heartwarming and delightfully spooky, The House in Poplar Wood is a story about a boy's desire to be free, a girl's desire to make a difference, and a family's desire to be together aga...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ben Clanton
NARWHAL AND JELLY BOARD BOOK SERIES
BLANKIE
February 2021, Tundra/Penguin Random House Canada, 22 pp
Dive into a brand new Narwhal and Jelly story for the youngest readers! A big, yellow blankie is one of Narwhal's favorite things; not only because it keeps Narwhal warm and cozy, but also because it'...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Madeline McGrane
THE ACCURSED VAMPIRE
Summer 2021, HarperCollins, TBD pp
A spooky and funny graphic novel debut that’s perfect for fans of Molly Knox Ostertag’s THE WITCH BOY and Kristen Gudsnuk’s MAKING FRIENDS. Dragoslava is a vampire kid. And that’s not even the worst ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Emery Lee
MEET CUTE DIARY
May 2021, Quill Tree/HarperCollins, TBD pp
In this YA romance that's FRANKLY IN LOVE meets FELIX EVER AFTER, Noah's the master of romance tropes until an internet troll forces him to write a real-life happily ever after. Noah is behind the po...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kathryn Ormsbee
CANDIDLY CLINE
Fall 2021, HarperCollins, TBD pp
Dumplin' meets Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World, CANDIDLY CLINE is a heartfelt MG Contemporary about one girl’s attempt to find her voice through all the changes, challenges, and heart-thumping crus...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Sarah Dvojack
ROSIE THE RIVETER
Fall 2021, Imprint/Macmillan, TBD pp
A picture book illustrating how the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter has evolved and inspired generations of women to make history....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Sorted By: Dramatic
C.G. Esperanza
BOOGIE BOOGIE Y'ALL
Summer 2021, Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins, TBD pp
A rhythmic picture book celebrating the Bronx and street art culture....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Selina Alko
ONE GOLDEN RULE AT SCHOOL: A COUNTING BOOK
Summer 2020, Henry Holt/Macmillan, 40 pp
Award-winning creator Selina Alko's One Golden Rule at School is a charming story that's two books in one―a counting book and a school primer for little ones. Set against the familiar and dynamic back...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kelly Quindlen
SHE DRIVES ME CRAZY
Spring 2021, Roaring Brook/Macmillan, 304 pp
From author Kelly Quindlen comes a new laugh-out-loud romp through the ups and downs of teen romance. After losing spectacularly to her ex-girlfriend in their first basketball game since their break ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kat Cho
VICIOUS SPIRITS
August 2020, Putnam/Penguin, 416 pp
Miyoung and Jihoon are picking up the pieces of their broken lives following the deaths of Miyoung’s mother, Yena, and Jihoon’s grandmother. The events at the end of Wicked Fox have upended the forces...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kat Cho
WICKED FOX
June 2019, Putnam/Penguin, 448 pp
An addictive fantasy-romance set in modern-day Seoul. Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret--she's a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so fe...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jennifer Thermes
THE INDESTRUCTIBLE TOM CREAN: ANTARCTIC HERO
Fall 2021, Penquin, TBD pp
A biography of Tom Crean, crew member of three Antarctic expeditions (including Shackleton's), who saved the lives of his fellow explorers through extraordinary efforts....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Suzanne Weyn
THIEF EYES
Spring 2010, Random House, 272 pp
After her mother mysteriously disappears, sixteen-year-old Haley convinces her father to take her to Iceland, where her mother was last seen. There, amidst the ancient fissures and crevices of that vo...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Suzanne Weyn
EMPTY
Fall 2010, Scholastic, 192 pp
A dystopic look at what happens to one American town when all the fossil fuels run out... It's the future - the very near future - and the fossil fuels are running out. No gas. No oil. Which means no...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Suzanne Weyn
FACES OF THE DEAD
Summer 2014, Scholastic, 213 pp
When Marie-Therese, daughter of Marie Antoinette, slips into the streets of Paris at the height of the French Revolution, she finds a world much darker than what she's ever known. When Marie-Thérèse ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE
January 2010, Hyperion, TBD pp
It’s the handbook no half-blood should be without: a fully illustrated, in-depth guide to gods, monsters, and all things Percy. This novelty companion to the best-selling series comes complete with tr...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS: THE DEMIGOD DIARIES
August 2012, Hyperion, 224 pp
What dangers do runaway demigods Luke and Thalia face on their way to Camp Half-Blood? Are Percy and Annabeth up to the task of rescuing stolen goods from a fire-breathing giant who doesn't take kindl...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE DEMIGOD FILES
February 2009, Hyperion, 160 pp
How do you handle an encounter with Medusa on the New Jersey interstate? What's the best way to take down a minotaur? Become an expert on everything in Percy's world with this must-have guide to the P...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF ILLUSTRATED EDITION
August 2018, Hyperion, 240 pp
Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school . . . again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight ou...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
THE LAST OLYMPIAN
May 2009, Hyperion, 400 pp
The series that started it all. Join the adventures of Percy Jackson and his demigod friends as they fight mythological monsters and the forces of the titan lord Kronos....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
CAMP HALF-BLOOD CONFIDENTIAL
May 2017, Hyperion, 192 pp
A Heroes of Olympus Companion Guide – An inside look at a demigod’s home-away-from-home....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
BLOOD OF OLYMPUS
October 2014, Hyperion, 608 pp
A new Great Prophecy, a new generation of demigods – the adventures have just begun! Expect to see old friends from the Percy Jackson books along with a great new cast of main characters, as the heroe...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
THE KANE CHRONICLES SURVIVAL GUIDE
March 2012, Hyperion, 144 pp
A gorgeous primer on the people, places, gods and creatures found in The Kane Chronicles series, featuring enough information and extras to satisfy avid followers and budding Egyptologists alike....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
BROOKLYN HOUSE MAGICIAN’S MANUAL
May 2018, Hyperion, 192 pp
Packed with quizzes, stories, and insights about Ancient Egyptian deities, creatures (the friendly and the deadly), the mysterious Duat, and more, this primer will prepare those with the blood of the ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
THE SERPENT’S SHADOW
May 2012, Hyperion, 416 pp
When a magical accident unleashes the Egyptian gods into the modern world, Carter and Sadie Kane discover that they are descended from the most powerful Egyptian magicians, and only they have the powe...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
CROWN OF PTOLEMY
April 2015, Hyperion, 40 pp
Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Sadie Kane and Carter Kane, together at last!...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
STAFF OF SERAPIS
April 2014, Hyperion, 40 pp
Sadie Kane meets Annabeth Chase...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
SON OF SOBEK
May 2013, Hyperion, 40 pp
Carter Kane meets Percy Jackson...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
DEMIGODS AND MAGICIANS
April 2015, Hyperion, 224 pp
Bind-up of three crossover short stories...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
PERCY JACKSON'S GREEK GODS
August 2014, Hyperion, 318 pp
Who could tell the origin stories of the gods of Olympus better than a modern-day demigod? Percy Jackson provides an insider’s view and Riordan delivers it in the same voice we have all grown to know ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
PERCY JACKSON’S GREEK HEROES
August 2015, Hyperion, 416 pp
Percy Jackson can fill you in on the all the daring deeds of Perseus, Atalanta, Bellerophon, and the rest of the major Greek heroes. Told in the funny, irreverent style readers have come to expect fro...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
THE HOTEL VALHALLA GUIDE TO THE NORSE WORLDS
August 2016, Hyperion, 160 pp
A Magnus Chase Companion Guide – An introduction to deities, mythical beings and fantastic creatures....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
9 FROM THE NINE WORLDS
October 2018, Hyperion, 176 pp
The Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy may have concluded, but we haven’t heard the last of our favorite einherji and his friends. The nine Norse worlds are rich with lore, as this collection...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
MAGNUS CHASE AND THE GODS OF ASGARD
THE SHIP OF THE DEAD
October 2017, Hyperion, 432 pp
Loki is free from his chains. He’s readying Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead, complete with a host of giants and zombies, to sail against the Asgardian gods and begin the final battle of Ragnarok. It’s u...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
CAMP JUPITER CLASSIFIED
May 2020, Hyperion, 192 pp
A Trials of Apollo Companion Guide – Mysterious incidents are wreaking havoc throughout Camp Jupiter. If the Romans don’t figure out who--or what--is behind the episodes soon, the Twelfth Legion could...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Rick Riordan
THE TRIALS OF APOLLO
THE TOWER OF NERO
September 2020, Hyperion, 448 pp
At last, the breathtaking, action-packed finale of the #1 bestselling Trials of Apollo series is here! Lester and his demigod master Meg must follow a prophecy uncovered by Ella the harpy. Lester’s fi...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ben Clanton
IT CAME IN THE MAIL
June 2016, Simon & Schuster, 40 pp
Liam really wants some mail, so he writes a letter to his mailbox asking for something in return. His mailbox delivers, sending Liam more than he could have hoped for…and how! But as the mail starts t...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ben Clanton
REX WRECKS IT!
March 2017, Candlewick, 32 pp
Uh-oh! Here comes Rex! Every time Gizmo, Sprinkles, and Wild build something with their blocks, Rex wrecks it! That’s just the way Rex plays. Is there a way to make playtime fun for everyone?...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ben Clanton
BOO WHO?
August 2017, Candlewick, 32pp
A shy little ghost who’s new to the group has trouble fitting in — until his special talent comes to the fore. Boo is new. And even if the other kids are welcoming, it can be scary being new, especia...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ben Clanton
MO’S MUSTACHE
October 2013, Tundra/Penguin Random House Canada, 32 pp
Mo is a monster who just got a mustache. A big, black, beautiful mustache. Everybody likes Mo’s mustache. Now Knot, Dot, Nib, Tutu, Bob, Bill, and Ben all have mustaches too. In fact, soon EVERYBODY h...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ben Clanton
SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY
October 2014, Simon & Schuster, 32 pp
An autobiographical picture book which explores the world, wishes and ingenuity of a very imaginative boy....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ben Clanton
VOTE FOR ME!
February 2020, Tundra/Penguin Random House Canada, 32 pp
Donkey and Elephant both want YOUR vote and will do just about anything to get it. Soon their efforts devolve into literal mud-slinging. Can they clean up their campaigns or will a third candidate (Mo...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ben Clanton
ROT: THE CUTEST IN THE WORLD
Spring 2018, Simon & Schuster, 32 pp
A fun and silly picture book about a mutant potato named Rot who enters a beauty pageant and must overcome the doubts of the other contestants (a baby bunny, cuddly kitten, and jolly jellyfish) as wel...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ben Clanton
ROT: THE BRAVEST IN THE WORLD
June 2020, Simon & Schuster, 32 pp
In this second Rot book, we meet Rot’s big brother Snot, who is a bit of snot to poor Rot. He’s made up a creature called the Squirm that has Rot feeling super scared. But with the help of a cape, bro...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ben Clanton
NARWHAL AND JELLY SERIES
HAPPY NARWHALIDAYS
September 2020, Tundra/Penguin Random House Canada, 72 pp
Wintery waters have Jelly feeling like a bit of a bah humbug. But it is hard to hate the holidays when a festive Narwhal is sharing warm waffle pudding, songs, and a tale about something called the Me...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Betty G. Birney
OG THE FROG SERIES
WILDLIFE ACCORDING TO OG THE FROG
Book 3 – May 2020, Putnam/Penguin, 144 pp
In the third book in the spinoff of the Humphrey series, Og and Humphrey head to summer camp to see what’s hopping in the wilderness! Og didn’t know where he would end up when school was over, but it...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Betty G. Birney
HUMPHREY SERIES
SPRING ACCORDING TO HUMPHREY
Book 12 – January 2016, Putnam/Penguin, 160 pp
Join Humphrey, the classroom hamster, as he navigates the wilds of school with the students of Room 26. Each book is a funny and unique look at life from the perspective of an adorable and caring cla...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jennifer Thermes
CHARLES DARWIN’S AROUND THE WORLD ADVENTURE
October 2016, Abrams, 40 pp
This picture book biography of Charles Darwin’s adventures on the Beagle features spectacular maps illustrating the route and tells the story of Darwin’s travels and his discoveries in each location....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jennifer Thermes
GRANDMA GATEWOOD HIKES THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL
May 2018, Abrams, 40 pp
Emma Gatewood’s life was far from easy. In rural Ohio, she managed a household of 11 kids alongside a less-than-supportive husband. One day, at age 67, she decided to go for a nice long walk…and ended...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jennifer Thermes
MANHATTAN: THE STORY OF AN ISLAND
August 2019, Abrams, 64 pp
A nonfiction picture book about the history, humans, and natural events that have shaped Manhattan for over four hundred years. Through dramatic illustrations and detailed maps, the island’s story com...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jennifer Thermes
HORSE POWER: HOW HORSES CHANGED THE WORLD
Spring 2021, Abrams, 48 pp
Horse and human life were intertwined for thousands of years, yet the role of the everyday horse throughout history is rarely mentioned. In HORSE POWER: HOW HORSES CHANGED THE WORLD, follow the horse ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Suzanne Weyn
INVISIBLE WORLD
August 2012, Scholastic, 240 pp
For 15-year-old Sarah Owen, having a scientist father is a blessing and a curse. He doesn’t bat an eye at her psychic abilities, since he researches them; and she knows more about the invisible worlds...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Suzanne Weyn
THE BAR CODE PROPHECY
October 2013, Scholastic, 208 pp
The third book in the Bar Code series, in which one girl struggles to escape the conformity of a dystopian world. Grace lives a normal life. She goes to school during the day and works part-time at th...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Suzanne Weyn
DR. FRANKENSTEIN’S DAUGHTERS
January 2013, Scholastic, 250 pp
Giselle and Ingrid are the twin daughters of Doctor Victor Frankenstein, but they are very different people, and when they inherit his castle in the Orkney Islands, Giselle dreams of holding parties a...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Hilary Wagner
NIGHTSHADE CHRONICLES
LORDS OF TRILLIUM
Book 3 – March 2014, Holiday House, 250 pp
Deep beneath a modern metropolis lies the Catacombs, a kingdom of remarkable rats of superior intellect. Following the Bloody Coup, the once peaceful democracy has become a dictatorship, ruled by deca...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Andy Rash
ARCHIE THE DAREDEVIL PENGUIN
Fall 2015, Viking/Penguin, 32 pp
A humorous read-aloud about a daredevil penguin with a secret fear. There’s a fish-fry on Iceberg 9 and all Archie’s friends are swimming over. But Archie’s afraid of the water and the strange creatu...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Andy Rash
THE HAPPY BOOK
Winter 2019, Viking/Penguin, TBD pp
A funny and sweet story about not always being happy, and how that’s okay. It isn’t always sunny for Happy Camper and Clam. But when the best friends fight over their newly discovered feelings, can S...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ellen Oh
THE DRAGON KING CHRONICLES
KING
Book 3 – December 2014, HarperCollins/HarperTeen, 288 pp
This thrilling and romantic conclusion to the Prophecy series brings Kira her final quest. Kira, once an outcast in her home village of Hansong, is now the only one with the power to save her kingdom....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ellen Oh
SPIRIT HUNTERS
July 2017, HarperCollins, 288 pp
A high-stakes middle grade mystery series about Harper Raine, the new seventh grader in town who must face down the dangerous ghosts haunting her younger brother. A riveting ghost story and captivati...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ellen Oh
SPIRIT HUNTERS: THE ISLAND OF MONSTERS
July 2018, HarperCollins, 256 pp
We Need Diverse Books founder Ellen Oh delivers the next haunting tale in her acclaimed middle grade series Spirit Hunters, a mix of captivating mystery and chilling ghost story. Harper Raine faces n...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ellen Oh
THE DRAGON EGG PRINCESS
March 2020, HarperCollins, 256 pp
A must-have middle grade novel perfect for fans of the Wing & Claw series by Linda Sue Park. In a kingdom filled with magic, Jiho Park and his family are an anomaly—magic doesn’t affect them. Jiho co...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ellen Oh
FINDING JUNIE KIM
Winter 2021, HarperCollins, TBD pp
From We Need Diverse Books cofounder Ellen Oh comes an extraordinary story about a girl who must understand her family’s past to embrace her present, finding herself along the way. Junie Kim just wan...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Janni Lee Simner
BONES OF FAERIE SERIES
FAERIE AFTER
Book 3 – May 2013, Random House, 272 pp
Janni Lee Simner’s young adult novels are a dark fairy-tale twist on apocalyptic fiction, as familiar as a nightmare, yet altogether unique. The three books in the Bones of Faerie series take readers...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jennifer Black Reinhardt
YAKS YAK
March 2016, Clarion/HMH, 40 pp
At once funny and informative, Yaks Yak presents animals acting out the verbs made from their names. Illustrations rich in comic details show hogs hogging, slugs slugging, and other spirited creatures...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jennifer Black Reinhardt
BLUE ETHEL
May 2017, Margaret Ferguson Books/Macmillan, 40 pp
Ethel was old. She was fat. She was black. She was white. And she was very set in her ways – until the day she turned blue. Ethel, with the help of her friend Fluffy, learns to appreciate the wonders ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jennifer Black Reinhardt
PLAYING POSSUM
July 2020, Clarion/HMH, 32 pp
Alfred the possum, who plays dead, and Sophia the armadillo, who rolls up in a ball, stand in for shy or anxious humans whose discomfort keeps them from fitting in. Jennifer Black Reinhardt has cast a...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jennifer Black Reinhardt
ALWAYS BY MY SIDE
March 2021, Random House, 32 pp
A sweet story about a boy and his stuffed animal (standing in for a guardian) that has seen him through his ups and downs, and will always be there for him as he grows up....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kathryn Ormsbee
LUCKY FEW
June 2016, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 384 pp)
A quirky black comedy about oddball teens facing mortality. Focused on strong friendships and madcap adventures, this is a John Hughes movie in novel form. The life of homeschooler Stevie Hart gets a...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kathryn Ormsbee
TASH HEARTS TOLSTOY
June 2017, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 384 pp
A refreshing LGBTQ+ coming-of-age novel about Internet fame, peer pressure, and YouTube. After a shout-out from one of the Internet’s superstar vloggers, Natasha “Tash” Zelenka suddenly finds herself...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kathryn Ormsbee
THE GREAT UNKNOWABLE END
February 2019, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 400 pp
A humorous, lightly speculative novel for fans of “Welcome to Nightvale” with points of view from two teens with opposing beliefs who come together at what might be the end of the world in a small Ame...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kathryn Ormsbee
THE SULLIVAN SISTERS
May 2020, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 384 pp
For readers who were riveted by mysteries like SADIE by Courtney Summers and TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET by Karen McManus. The Sullivan Sisters used to be close, sharing secrets inside homemade blanket cas...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Yamile Saied Méndez
ON THESE MAGIC SHORES
April 2020, Tu Books/Lee & Low, 288 pp
Twelve-year-old Minerva Soledad Madrid does not believe in fairies (or peques, as mamá calls them), despite the fact that her family insists peques followed them from Argentina to the US watch over th...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Yamile Saied Méndez
FURIA
September 2020, Algonquin/Workman Publishing, 368 pp
Camila “Furia” Hassan has a dream—to play professional fútbol. She lives in the cradle of fútbol legends, Rosario, Argentina, but Rosario only exports fútbol players of the male kind. No one believes ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Dana Alison Levy
THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER
July 2014, Delacorte/Penguin Random House, 260 pp
Modern Family meets modern classics like Beverly Cleary’s Quimbys and Judy Blume’s Hatchers in this heartwarming and hilarious middle grade novel. Four adopted brothers, two dads, and an ever-changing...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Dana Alison Levy
THE FAMILY FLETCHER TAKES ROCK ISLAND
May 2016, Delacorte/Penguin Random House, 272 pp
Fans of The Penderwicks and other summer tales will enjoy this stand-alone companion novel to the acclaimed Misadventures of the Family Fletcher. Set on a fictional New England island, the boys, ages ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Dana Alison Levy
THIS WOULD MAKE A GOOD STORY SOMEDAY
Spring 2017, Penguin Random House, 260 pp
Fans of Dan Santat’s Are We There Yet and Geoff Rodkey’s The Tapper Twins will enjoy this cross-country train trip of a middle grade novel. Twelve-year-old Sara loves her family, but she’s less than t...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Dana Alison Levy
IT WASN’T ME
November 2018, Delacorte/Penguin Random House, 336 pp
The Breakfast Club meets middle school in this story of six 12-year-old students — five potential perpetrators and Theo, one seriously annoyed victim — forced to spend vacation week together in school...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Dana Alison Levy
ABOVE ALL ELSE
April 2020, Charlesbridge, TBD pp
Into Thin Air meets The Sun is Also a Star in this tale of two teens who trained their whole lives to summit Mount Everest. High school seniors and best friends Rose and Tate have always climbed toget...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Aida Salazar
THE MOON WITHIN
Spring 2019, Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, 250 pp
This free verse middle grade novel tells the story of 11-year-old Cely, whose life swirls with questions about her changing body, her first attraction to a boy, her best friend’s exploration of what i...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Aida Salazar
LAND OF THE CRANES
September 2020, Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, 256 pp
This free verse middle grade novel, inspired in part by the author’s own childhood as an undocumented immigrant, tells the story of 9-year-old Betita, who believes that she and other migrants follow a...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Randi Pink
INTO WHITE
September 2016, Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan, 288 pp
Sixteen-year-old Latoya Williams, who is black, attends a mostly white high school in the Alabama. In a moment of desperation, she prays for the power to change her race and wakes up white. Randi Pink...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Randi Pink
GIRLS LIKE US
October 2019, Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan, 320 pp
This historical fiction novel set in the summer of 1972, months before the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe vs. Wade, is an introspective look into abortion rights. The novel weaves togethe...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Randi Pink
ANGEL OF GREENWOOD
January 2021, Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan, TBD pp
ANGEL OF GREENWOOD is a historical fiction novel set in the Tulsa, Oklahoma neighborhood of Greenwood, affectionately known as Black Wall Street, in which sixteen-year-old Angel and seventeen-year-old...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ashley Woodfolk
THE BEAUTY THAT REMAINS
March 2018, Delacorte/Penguin Random House, 336 pp
Autumn always knew exactly who she was: a talented artist and a loyal friend. Shay was defined by two things: her bond with her twin sister and her love of music. And Logan has always turned to writin...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ashley Woodfolk
FLYY GIRLS
TOBYN: THE IT GIRL
Book 4 - August 2021, Penguin Workshop/Penguin, 144 pp
Meet the Flyy Girls. The group of girls who seem like they can get away with anything. Veteran author Ashley Woodfolk pens a gorgeous and dynamic series about four Harlem highschoolers, each facing a ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ashley Woodfolk
MICAH: THE GOOD GIRL
September 2020, Penguin Workshop/Penguin, 144 pp
Micah Dupree had always liked being the “good girl.” She was happy painting, going to church, and acing her school projects. After all, she had a perfect older brother to live up to. But when he unexp...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Randy Ribay
PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING
June 2019, Kokila/Penguin Random House, 304 pp
A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin’s murder. Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kate Samworth
AVIARY WONDERS
March 2014, Clarion/HMH, 32 pp
Since 2031, Aviary Wonders Inc. has offered bird lovers a unique opportunity: Assemble your own bird from stunningly beautiful and carefully hand-crafted parts. The birds can even be taught to fly and...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Shveta Thakrar
STAR DAUGHTER
August 2020, Harperteen/HarperCollins, 448 pp
The daughter of a star and a mortal, Sheetal is used to keeping secrets. Her mother returned to the constellation Pushya when Sheetal was just a child, and since then, Sheetal has hidden her true iden...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Justin A. Reynolds
EARLY DEPARTURES
September 2020, Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins, 320 pp
Jamal’s best friend Q does not know he’s about to die . . . again. He also doesn’t know that Jamal tried to save his life, rescuing him from drowning only to watch Q die in the hospital. Even more co...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kelly Quindlen
LATE TO THE PARTY
April 2020, Roaring Brook/Macmillan, 304 pp
A story of friendship and first love, featuring a diverse cast of LGBTQ+ characters. Codi wants to score her first kiss—with a girl—but she may have to expand her social world first. Can she fall in ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Amparo Ortiz
BLAZEWRATH GAMES
October 2020, Page Street Kids, 368 pp
Lana Torres has always preferred dragons to people. In a few weeks, sixteen countries will compete in the Blazewrath World Cup, a tournament where dragons and their riders fight for glory in a dangero...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Megan Jean Sovern
THE MEANING OF MAGGIE
May 2014, Chronicle, 220 pp
Twelve-year-old Maggie lives in a house too small for all the big problems plaguing a shy girl just trying to survive adolescence armed with Little Debbies and deep thoughts. When her father’s legs p...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jim Murphy
BREAKTHROUGH: HOW THREE PEOPLE SAVED “BLUE BABIES” AND CHANGED MEDICINE FOREVER
December 2016, Clarion/HMH, 144 pp
In 1944 a groundbreaking operation repaired the congenital heart defect known as blue baby syndrome. The operation’s success brought the surgeon Alfred Blalock international fame and paved the way for...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Laura Williams McCaffrey
MARKED
February 2016, Clarion/HMH, 368 pp
Sixteen-year-old Lyla lives in a bleak, controlling society where only the brightest and most favored students succeed. When she is caught buying cheats in an underground shadow market, she is tattooe...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Josanne La Valley
THE VINE BASKET
April 2013, Clarion/HMH, 256 pp
Things aren’t looking good for fourteen-year-old Mehrigul. She yearns to be in school, but she’s needed on the family farm. The longer she’s out of school, the more likely it is that she’ll be sent of...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Josanne La Valley
FACTORY GIRL
January 2017, Clarion/HMH, 256 pp
In order to save her family’s farm, Roshen, sixteen, must leave her rural home to work in a factory in the south of China. There she finds arduous and degrading conditions and contempt for her minorit...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Janel Kolby
WINTERFOLK
February 2018, HarperTeen/HarperCollins, 320 pp
A modern-day fairytale, gritty and lyrical, this is a debut about a young homeless girl who ventures into the city for the first time since childhood in order to save her community. For as long as sh...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kristin Kladstrup
THE BOOK OF STORY BEGINNINGS
March 2006, Candlewick, 368 pp
This wonderfully transporting fantasy - featuring a ship full of orphaned pirate children, a pair of warring royals, and plenty of magic potions - is sure to thrill all those who dare turn its pages....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kristin Kladstrup
GARDEN PRINCESS
March 2013, Candlewick, 272 pp
Dig in to this middle-grade fantasy featuring a horticulturally-minded princess, a beautiful but evil witch, and a magpie with a shameful secret....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kristin Kladstrup
NUTCRACKER MICE
October 2017, Candlewick, 336 pp
Hidden in Saint Petersburg’s famed Mariinsky Theater are the world’s tiniest ballet fans: the Mariinsky mice, including Esmeralda, a rising dancer in the Russian Mouse Ballet Company. Despite being un...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Carolyn Hennesy
MYTHIC MISADVENTURES SERIES
PANDORA GETS FRIGHTENED
Book 7 – July 2013, July 2013, Bloomsburg, 288 pp
Mythic Misadventures series in which Pandora tries to recapture all the great evils of the world and return them to the infamous box....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Stephanie Greene
PRINCESS POSEY SERIES
PRINCESS POSEY
Multiple Dates, Putnam/Penguin, Each 96 pp
In her 12th chapter book, everyone’s favorite first grade friend, Princess Posey, learns that sometimes exciting news comes with big changes. When Posey’s grandpa announces that he’s marrying her nei...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Stephanie Greene
SOPHIE HARTLEY SERIES
SOPHIE HARTLEY AND THE FACTS OF LIFE
Book 4 – November 2013, Clarion/HMH, 144 pp
The indomitable, quirky, passionate Sophie faces challenges and challengers with determination and resourcefulness. She does so with down-to-earth, realistic, humorous take on friendships and family r...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Cynthia Leonor Garza
LUCÍA THE LUCHADORA
April 2017, POW!, 32 pp
Girls can be superheroes, too. When the boys on the playground tell Lucía that girls can’t be superheroes – despite her high-flying leaps – she comes up with a plan to disguise herself as a masked luc...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Cynthia Leonor Garza
LUCÍA THE LUCHADORA AND THE MILLION MASKS
October 2018, POW!, 32 pp
A splendiferous sisterhood adventure in the follow-up to Lucía the Luchadora. Lucía’s little sister Gemma wants to be a luchadora too, but she seems to find trouble wherever she goes. When Gemma makes...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Daria Peoples-Riley
THIS IS IT
February 2018, Greenwillow/Harper, 40 pp
A young ballerina, uncertain of her talent, follows the poetically compelling voice of her shadow to discover the courage she needs to audition....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Daria Peoples-Riley
I GOT NEXT
July 2019, Greenwillow/Harper, 40 pp
A perfect read-aloud for all young athletes on game day, featuring text that mimics spoken-word poetry. When a young basketball player wants to play in the next game at the local playground, his shad...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Wook Jin Jung
BLACK CAT, YELLOW BUNNY
October 2019, Newmark/Reycraft Books, 32 pp
This nearly wordless book shows the slowly developing friendship between a cat and a bunny who meet on a chance encounter in the park. Through small acts of kindness, they reveal the powerful effect t...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kayla Harren
HANNAH’S TALL ORDER: AN A TO Z SANDWICH
August 2018, Sleeping Bear Press, 32 pp
Hannah is feeling just a bit peckish and knows exactly what she wants to eat: an A to Z sandwich on thick whole wheat bread! From avocado to zucchini, Hannah’s whims throw Mr. McDougal at the cafe int...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kayla Harren
THE BOY WHO GREW A FOREST
March 2019, Sleeping Bear Press, 32 pp
As a boy, Jadav Payeng was distressed by the destruction deforestation and erosion was causing on his island home in India’s Brahmaputra River. So he began planting trees. What began as a small thicke...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kayla Harren
A BOY LIKE YOU
July 2019, Sleeping Bear Press, 32 pp
There’s more to being a boy than sports, feats of daring, and keeping a stiff upper lip. A Boy Like You encourages every boy to embrace all the things that make him unique, to be brave and ask for hel...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kayla Harren
A GIRL LIKE YOU
July 2020, Sleeping Bear Press, 32 pp
Every girl is a wonder! A Girl Like You encourages girls to embrace what makes them unique, to choose kindness, and to be their own advocates. In an age when girls can be whatever they want, this book...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Mary E. Lambert
FAMILY GAME NIGHT AND OTHER CATASTROPHES
February 2017, Scholastic, 256 pp
A novel about throwing things out -- and letting people in. Annabelle has a secret so big she won’t allow friends within five miles of her home. Her mom collects things. Their house is overflowing wi...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Mary E. Lambert
DISTRESS SIGNAL
October 2020, Scholastic, 272 pp
In this edge-of-your-seat survival story, four classmates are stranded in a desert wilderness after a flash flood separates them from the rest of their grade. Can they make it to safety? Lavender’s c...
Sorted By: Dramatic
David Kreizman
THE YEAR THEY FELL
September 2019, Imprint/Macmillan, 384 pp
In the wake of their parents’ tragic plane crash, five very different teenagers must find a way to navigate their senior year of high school and forge a new family. Josie, Jack, Archie, Harrison, and...
Sorted By: Dramatic
David Kreizman
THE UNEXPLAINABLE DISAPPEARANCE OF MARS PATEL
October 2020, Candlewick, 304 pp
When his friends begin disappearing, eleven-year-old Mars Patel uncovers a mystery that will take him to the stars…and beyond.The first novel in a series written by Sheela Chari based on the award-win...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jessie Haas
RESCUE
April 2018, Boyds Mills, 200 pp
In this coming-of-age story perfect for horse fans, twelve-year-old animal lover Joni clashes with her new neighbor and animal rights activist Chess. Their bumpy friendship reaches a crisis when Chess...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jessie Haas
THE HUNGRY PLACE
October 2020, Boyds Mills, TBD pp
A middle-grade novel told in 2 points of view. Rae grows up longing for, and working to afford, a pony, until at age twelve she crosses paths with Princess, a show-ring champion left to starve by an u...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kat Fajardo
MISS QUINCES
Spring 2022, Graphix/Scholastic, 180 pp
A coming-of-age middle grade graphic novel about a girl forced to celebrate her quinceañera despite hating all things pretty and pink. Suyapa “Sue” Gutierrez was planning a fun summer at camp with he...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Mike Dutton
FOOD TRUCK FEST!
March 2018, Macmillan/FSG, 40 pp
The rhyming story follows a fleet of food trucks as they get ready for the biggest and best day of the year – the food truck fest....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Stephanie Barden
CINDERELLA SMITH SERIES
CINDERELLA SMITH: THE SUPER SECRET MYSTERY
Book 3 – April 2013, HarperCollins, TBD pp
Stephanie Barden has created a great role model for tweens. Cinderella Smith is confident, smart, and very real. Readers will love watching Cinderella conquer the problems of third-grade life, with en...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Sophie Blackall
CROWS OF PEARLBLOSSOM
March 2011, Abrams, 40 pp
This funny story of cleverness triumphing over greed, similar in tone and wit to the work of A.A. Milne, shows a new side of a great writer. Paired with stunning illustrations by Sophie Blackall, this...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Sophie Blackall
FINDING WINNIE
October 2015, Little, Brown/Hachette, 56 pp
The remarkable true story of the bear who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh. In 1914, Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian on his way to tend horses in World War I, followed his heart and rescued a baby bear. He na...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Sophie Blackall
HELLO LIGHTHOUSE
April 2018, Little, Brown/Hachette, TBD pp
Sophie Blackall’s second Caldecott Medal-winning picture book will transport readers to the seaside in timeless, nautical splendor! Watch the days and seasons pass as the wind blows, the fog rolls in,...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jeanne DuPrau
CITY OF EMBER SERIES
THE CITY OF EMBER
May 2003, Random House, 288 pp
City of Ember Series...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Jeanne DuPrau
THE CITY OF EMBER: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
September 2012, Random House, 144 pp
Experience Jeanne DuPrau’s vision anew as artist Niklas Asker faithfully brings to life the glare of lamps, the dinginess of the streets, and the brilliance of the first sunrise....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Paige Britt
THE LOST TRACK OF TIME
March 2015, Scholastic, 320 pp
Penelope longs to be a writer, but her mother won’t allow it—scribbling in your notebook all day is a complete waste of time! One morning, a strange hole opens up in her otherwise busy schedule, and s...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Tameka Fryer Brown
BROWN BABY LULLABY
Winter 2020, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Macmillan, TBD pp
A beautifully illustrated portrayal of parental love in a family of color. When the sun sets, it’s time for Momma, Papi, and their tired toddler to begin the evening’s routine, which includes clangin...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Nina Crews
SEEING INTO TOMORROW: HAIKU BY RICHARD WRIGHT
February 2018, Millbrook/Lerner, 32 pp
Richard Wright’s haiku put everyday moments – walking a dog, watching a sunset, finding a beetle – into focus. Now, more than fifty years after they were written, these poems continue to reflect kids’...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Arthur Salm
ANYWAY*
May 2012, Simon & Schuster, TBD pp
Max is a good kid floating in the netherworld of being not quite a teenager. A summertime interlude at a family camp allows him to re-invent himself for a week as Mad Max, a much wilder kid; he’s expe...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Isaiah Campbell
THE STRUGGLES OF JOHNNY CANNON
October 2015, Simon & Schuster, 336 pp
The sequel to TROUBLES finds Johnny embroiled in a Mafia blood feud as he searches for his happy ending....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Isaiah Campbell
THE TROUBLES OF JOHNNY CANNON
October 2014, Simon & Schuster, 296 pp
In 1961 Alabama, a Superman obsessed 12-year-old, Johnny Cannon, has to dodge the CIA, outwit the Klan, and escape from Cuba to prove his Pa didn’t sabotage the Bay of Pigs invasion. THE TROUBLES OF J...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Isaiah Campbell
ABRAKAPOW
November 2016, Simon & Schuster, 304 pp
Based on a true World War II story, Isaiah Campbell tells a charming mystery about a mishap at a magic show in a POW camp—featuring magic how-to diagrams throughout....
Sorted By: Dramatic
Pat Cummings
TRACE
December 2018, HarperCollins, 320 pp
Coretta Scott King Award winner Pat Cummings’s debut TRACE, about a boy who stumbles into a ghost story born in the turmoil of New York City’s 1863 Draft Riots. Weighed down by guilt for an accident ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Victoria J. Coe
FENWAY AND HATTIE SERIES
FENWAY AND HATTIE IN THE WILD
Book 4 – May 2019, Putnam/Penguin Random House, 176 pp
In the fourth book in this adorable middle-grade series, all told from the dog’s point of view, Fenway gets a taste of the wild when he goes on a back-to-school camping trip with his human, Hattie. Th...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Alina Chau
MARSHMALLOW AND JORDAN
Summer 2021, First Second/Macmillan, TBD pp
Beautiful watercolor illustrations bring to life this middle grade graphic novel about former youth basketball star Jordan, who was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident. She misses playing her...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ann Dávila Cardinal
FIVE MIDNIGHTS
June 2019, Tor/Macmillan, 288 pp
In this thrilling, supernatural murder mystery, monsters only come when they’re called. A self-described Gringa-Rican from Vermont, Lupe Dávila has her summer thrown off-course when she’s shipped off...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Ann Dávila Cardinal
CATEGORY FIVE
June 2020, Tor/Macmillan, 240 pp
After the hurricane, some see destruction and some smell blood. Category Five is a new supernatural thriller from Ann Dávila Cardinal, set against the backdrop of a post-hurricane Puerto Rico. The t...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kacen Callender
HURRICANE CHILD
March 2018, Scholastic, 224 pp
A lyrical, debut middle grade novel with a touch of magical realism and LGBTQ+ themes, about first friendship, first love, and finding self-acceptance. 12-year-old Caroline Murphy is a Hurricane Chil...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kacen Callender
THIS IS KIND OF AN EPIC LOVE STORY
October 2018, Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, 304 pp
A fluffy romantic comedy that plays with the friends-to-lovers and second-chance tropes featuring diverse LBGTQ+ teens. Nathan Bird is a film buff, but he’s a firm disbeliever in real-life happy endi...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kacen Callender
KING AND THE DRAGONFLIES
February 2020, Scholastic, 272 pp
From the Stonewall and Lambda Book Award-winning author of Hurricane Child comes a novel about loss, grief, and finding the courage to discover one’s identity. Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Kacen Callender
FELIX EVER AFTER
May 2020, Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, 368 pp
From Stonewall and Lambda Literary Award-winning author Kacen Callender comes a poignant story of identity and self-discovery, layered with romance. Felix Love has never been in love, and he’s painfu...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Shakirah Bourne
JOSEPHINE AGAINST THE SEA
Spring 2021, Scholastic, TBD pp
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste meets R.L.Stine’s The Girl Who Cried Monster. 11 year-old Jo discovers that her Dad’s new girlfriend is a powerful sea creature and has to convince everyone of the woma...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Mary Amato
GOOD CROOKS SERIES
GOOD CROOKS: SNIFF A SKUNK!
Book 3 – Spring 2015, Darby Creek/Lerner, 128 pp
A hilarious series for K-4. Billy and Jillian Crook have a big problem. Their parents are crooks, but they want to do good deeds! Sniff a Skunk! brings back our favorite pair of do-gooder crooks in a ...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Mary Amato
OUR TEACHER IS A VAMPIRE
March 2016, Holiday House, 256 pp
It all begins when Alexander H. Gory Jr. passes around a notebook in which he reveals a tantalizing secret: he has proof that their teacher, Mrs. Penrose, is a vampire. Soon the entire class is specul...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Mary Amato
OPEN MIC NIGHT AT WESTMINSTER CEMETERY: A NOVEL IN TWO ACTS
September 2018, Lerner Publishing Group, 264 pp
Surprising emotions emerge in this darkly hilarious literary ghost story—part stage play, part novel—about truth, forgiveness, and love. Sixteen-year-old slam-poet Lacy Brink wakes up dead—and confus...
Sorted By: Dramatic
Mary Amato
LUCY MCGEE SERIES
STAR ON TV, LUCY MCGEE
Book 4 – October 2020, Holiday House, 176 pp
Lucy McGee and Phillip Lee are invited to perform a song on their school’s morning show--this is their big break! First, they agree to keep it a secret from spotlight-stealing classmate Scarlett Tandy...