Holiday House and Pixel + Ink Showcase: January through June 2024
Publishers, my dogs would like to have a word. How dare you, they ask. How dare you keep sending me all of these amazing books, which interrupts my real job—no, not being at an elementary school library all day, or working on TLT, or working on SLJ things, or panicking about the fact that my kid is months from graduation (my true full-time gig these days)—PETTING DOGS AND GAZING INTO THEIR LOVING EYES.
Thankfully, they are small dogs and I am great at reading while holding one or two chiweenies. Look at all those books (so nicely held in my childhood rocking chair)! And this was just one box of book mail! I am trying really hard this year not to wish time away, but I have to say, I can’t wait for summer when I have more time to read.
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For all of your collection development and TBR needs, please enjoy these new titles from Holiday House and Pixel + Ink. All descriptions are from the publisher.
The Selkie’s Daughter by Linda Crotta Brennan (ISBN-13: 9780823454396 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 01/02/2024, Ages 8-12)
A cozy, richly imagined fantasy where a young selkie girl must save her family from a vengeful king.
Brigit knows all the old fisherman songs and legends by heart: sea goddess, warriors, and people who are not quite human. But Brigit also knows the truth. It’s evident in the webbing between her fingers–webbing that must be cut. She’s the daughter of a selkie. A truth she must keep secret from everyone.
But there is another secret growing in the village. A terrible one that will invite the wrath of the Great Selkie, bringing storm, sickness, and death. To protect those she loves, Brigit must find a way to Sule Skerrie, the land of selkies, to confront the Great Selkie and bring the truth—all of it—into the light.
Like sitting by a warm fireplace, The Selkie’s Daughter is an imaginative fantasy, steeped in Celtic mythology and set in Nova Scotia. Debut Linda Crotta Brennan has crafted a magical portrait of a brave girl coming into her own. Perfect for fans of mermaids and Studio Ghibli-esque stories.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
The Five Impossible Tasks of Eden Smith by Tom Llewellyn (ISBN-13: 9780823453122 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 01/02/2024, Ages 10-14)
Challenged by a secret society of metalworkers, Eden must do all she can to save the only family she has left in this fantasy adventure.
When Eden Smith moves into the beautiful and bizarre old mansion housing her grandfather, she discovers a strange society of elderly metalworkers whose mastery verges on the magical. Deadly mechanical birds, a cavernous chamber full of dirty dishes, a highly dangerous game of Machinist BINGO–life at the guild is not only strange, it’s also dangerous.
Eden’s grandfather, Vulcan Smith, the most gifted of all the metalsmiths in the mansion, has just been sentenced to live out the rest of his days locked in a tiny basement room for rebelling against the guild. To save him, Eden will have to complete The Five Impossible Tasks, a series of deadly feats that have already killed off many of Eden and Vulcan’s ancestors. With the help of her new friend Nathaniel and a cast of eccentric old silversmiths, blacksmiths, and inventive machinists, Eden sets out to do the impossible before her newfound grandfather is lost to her forever.
In The Five Impossible Tasks of Eden Smith, Tom Llewellyn has crafted a wholly original world of wild contraptions, roguish characters, and perilous feats perfect for fans of Karuna Riazi, Laura Ruby, and Lemony Snicket.
Light and Air by Mindy Nichols Wendell (ISBN-13: 9780823454433 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 01/02/2024, Ages 8-12)
It’s 1935, and tuberculosis is ravaging the nation. Everyone is afraid of this deadly respiratory illness. But what happens when you actually have it?
When Halle and her mother both come down with TB, they are shunned—and then they are sent to the J.N. Adam Tuberculosis Hospital: far from home, far from family, far from the world.
Tucked away in the woods of upstate New York, the hospital is a closed and quiet place. But it is not, Halle learns, a prison. Free of her worried and difficult father for the first time in her life, she slowly discovers joy, family, and the healing power of honey on the children’s ward, where the girls on the floor become her confidantes and sisters. But when Mama suffers a lung hemorrhage, their entire future—and recovery—is thrown into question….
Light and Air deals tenderly and insightfully with isolation, quarantine, found family, and illness. Set in the fully realized world of a 1930s hospital, it offers a tender glimpse into a historical epidemic that has become more relatable than ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As Halle tries to warm her father’s coldness and learns to trust the girls and women of the hospital, and as she and her mother battle a disease that once paralyzed the country, a profound message of strength, hope, and healing emerges.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Bizard and the Big Bunny Bizness by Chrissie Krebs (ISBN-13: 9780823451463 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 01/02/2024 Series: Bizard #2, Ages 8-12)
When Bizard the Bear Wizard’s friends decide to try to help him grant wishes, it turns out that two magic wands are so much worse than one.
Ever since a tornado planted a wizard’s wand in his forehead, Bear has been more than just a bear; he’s Bizard, the Bear Wizard. Since we last saw him, Bizard has come around to accepting his new job granting wishes for everyone in the forest. With Squirrel, Fox, and Owl’s help, the business is running like clockwork. There’s only one problem: winter is on the way, and urgent wishes will go ungranted while Bizard hibernates.
That’s when Squirrel gets the bright idea that he should have a magic wand, too.
In the power trip that follows, Squirrel burdens tiny Mouse with a massive TV, Deer gets stuck with a hat he can’t take off, and worst of all, a baby bunny grows as big as a tree—with the only wand that can save him wedged in his diaper. Can a jetpack, a giant carrot, and the whole crew’s quick thinking untangle this disaster and get Fluffy Wuffy back to his proper size?
Author-illustrator Chrissie Krebs brings even higher stakes and bigger laughs in Bizard’s second book, a surefire hit with young readers looking for their next favorite graphic novel series.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Not the Worst Friend in the World by Anne Rellihan (ISBN-13: 9780823454792 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 02/06/2024, Ages 8-12)
Can Lou Bennett keep a secret? She’ll do just about anything to prove herself to her new friend—and the best friend she betrayed—in this debut novel that is a modern-day Harriet the Spy with high emotional stakes.
It’s the thirty-fourth day of sixth grade at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School in Missouri, and eleven-year-old Lou wishes she could rewind time.
Lou wants to go back to the ninth day of sixth grade—the day before she fought with her best friend Francie and said the terrible, horrible things she can’t unsay. Or better yet, she would go back to fifth grade when Francie was still the Old Francie.
Then the new girl, Cece Clark-Duncan, passes Lou a mysterious note. It says she was kidnapped. (!) If Lou can help Cece, maybe she can prove she’s not the world’s worst friend.
But as observant Lou uncovers the complicated truth about Cece’s family, she starts to panic. Can she help Cece without hurting her? Or will Lou end up losing another friend instead?
Anchored by an outstanding voice and a page-turning mystery, this remarkable debut novel honors the powerful middle school friendships that can both break and heal a tender eleven-year-old heart. Perfect for fans of Fish in a Tree and My Jasper June.
The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry by Anna Rose Johnson (ISBN-13: 9780823453634 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 03/05/2024, Ages 8-12)
Lucy, a spirited French-Ojibwe orphan, is sent to the stormy waters of Lake Superior to live with a mysterious family of lighthouse-keepers—and, she hopes, to find the legendary necklace her father spent his life seeking…
Selena Lucy Landry (named for a ship, as every sailor’s child should be) has been frightened of the water ever since she lost her father at sea. But with no one else to care for her, she’s sent to foster with the Martins—a large Anishinaabe family living on a lighthouse in the middle of stormy Lake Superior.
The Martin family is big, hard-working, and close, and Lucy—who has always been a dreamer—struggles to fit in. Can she go one day without ruining the laundry or forgetting the sweeping? Will she ever be less afraid of the lake?
Although life at the lighthouse isn’t what Lucy hoped for, it is beautiful—ships come and go, waves pound the rocks—and it has one major advantage: It’s near the site of a famous shipwreck, a shipwreck that went down with a treasure her father wanted more than anything. If Lucy can find that treasure—a priceless ruby necklace—won’t it be like having Papa back again, just a little bit?
But someone else is hunting for the treasure, too. And as the lighthouse company becomes increasingly skeptical that the Martins can juggle Lucy and their duties, Lucy and the Martin children will need to find the necklace quickly—or they may not have a home at all.
The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry is a timelessly sweet tale of found family from rising Ojibwe voice Anna Rose Johnson, author of NPR Best Book of the Year The Star That Always Stays. Perfect for fans of L.M. Montgomery and Karina Yan Glaser!
One Big Open Sky by Lesa Cline-Ransome (ISBN-13: 9780823450169 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 03/05/2024, Ages 8-12)
Three women narrate a perilous wagon journey westward that could set them free—or cost them everything they have—in this intergenerational verse novel that explores the history of the Black homesteader movement.
1879, Mississippi. Young dreamer Lettie may have her head in the stars, but her body is on a covered wagon heading westward. Her father, Thomas, promises that Nebraska will be everything the family needs: an opportunity to claim the independence they’ve strived for over generations on their very own plot of land.
But Thomas’ hopes—and mouth—are bigger than his ability to follow through. With few supplies and even less money, the only thing that feels certain is danger.
Right after the war ended/and we were free/we believed/all of us did/that couldn’t nothing hurt us/the way master had when we were slaves/Couldn’t no one tell us/how to live/how to die.
Lettie, her mother, Sylvia, and young teacher Philomena are free from slavery—but bound by poverty, access to opportunity, and patriarchal social structures. Will these women survive the hardships of their journey? And as Thomas’ desire for control overpowers his common sense, will they truly be free once they get there?
Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author Lesa Cline-Ransome’s striking verse masterfully portrays an underrepresented historical era. Tackling powerful themes of autonomy and Black self-emancipation, Cline-Ransome offers readers an intimate look into the lives of three women and an expansive portrait of generations striving for their promised freedom.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
The Deadly Daylight by Ash Harrier (ISBN-13: 9780823455621 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 03/05/2024, Ages 9-12)
12-year-old Alice has a hard time making friends. Maybe it’s because she works in a funeral home and receives messages from the dead.
While the kids at school taunt her and call her “Alice in Zombieland,” Alice England finds refuge at her father’s funeral home, where the dead tell her stories. As she arranges the deceased’s personal mementos, an item will hum with meaning–resonance–and Alice will see the story of their life.
When she “meets” George Devenish, a man who died of a rare sunlight allergy, Alice knows George was murdered. Her only leads are George’s niece, “Violet the Vampire,” who shares her uncle’s allergy and a friendly, but secretive boy named Cal.
As a determined Alice investigates, she is surprised to find Violet and Cal become more than just suspects, but allies—maybe even friends. However, Alice soon finds navigating her first real friendships might be harder than solving a murder.
Clever humor and twisty clues abound in this cozy middle grade mystery about a group of misfits finding courage in the truth and friendship in each other. Delightful, dark, and quirky, The Deadly Daylight is perfect for fans of Nancy Drew and Winterhouse.
Breathing Underwater by Abbey Lee Nash (ISBN-13: 9780823453863 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 03/05/2024, Ages 14-17)
In this slice-of-life, sensitively written novel, a teen girl grapples with a sudden epilepsy diagnosis, all while figuring out a new crush and an uncertain future.
Tess lives for swimming. In the water, she’s truly alive. It’s the rest of her life—one of demanding grades, anxious parents, and a newly distant best friend—where she’s holding her breath.
Until tragedy strikes. Suddenly, Tess’s health and her future are full of uncertainty. Her summer before senior year is now one of doctor visits, missed swim practices, and a job stuck behind a counter—not sitting high in the lifeguard chair like every summer before. Instead, her spot goes to new guy Charlie. Although his messy hair and laid-back demeanor catch Tess’s attention, this isn’t really the time. She’s in danger of losing the very college swim scholarship she’s worked so hard to secure. She’s got to focus on getting back in the pool—and on getting back to herself.
Lyrically and sensitively written, Breathing Underwater is a slice-of-life story with depth, exploring topics like epilepsy, inclusivity in student athletics, changing friendships, and the power of love and community. With warmth and wit, Abbey Lee Nash has crafted a moving portrait of a teen girl’s journey to self-acceptance and life on her own terms.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Warrior on the Mound by Sandra W. Headen (ISBN-13: 9780823453788 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 03/05/2024, Ages 8-12)
Narrated by twelve-year-old Cato, this intense and evocative story of racial unrest in prewar North Carolina ends with a dramatic match between white and Black little league teams.
1935. Twelve-year-old Cato wants nothing more than to play baseball, perfect his pitch, and meet Mr. Satchel Paige––the best pitcher in Negro League baseball. But when he and his teammates “trespass” on their town’s whites-only baseball field for a practice, the resulting racial outrage burns like a brushfire through the entire community, threatening Cato, his family, and every one of his friends.
There’s only one way this can end without violence: It has to be settled on the mound, between the white team and the Black. Winner takes all.
Written in first person with a rich, convincing voice, Warrior on the Mound is about the experience of segregation; about the tinderbox environment of the prewar South; about having a dream; about injustice, and, finally, about dialogue.
Back matter includes an author’s note, historical background, biographical information about Negro League players, and more.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Table Titans Club by Scott Kurtz (ISBN-13: 9780823453160 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 03/05/2024 Series: Table Titans Club, Ages 8-12)
Growing pains, game-play adventure, and 20-sided dice abound in this new graphic novel series about a middle school Dungeon & Dragons club from an Eisner and Harvey Award-winning cartoonist.
Valeria Winters has an easier time finding trouble than making friends. A fantasy-obsessed nerd with the legendary confidence—and temper—of a Valkyrie, Val promises her mom that things will be different at her new school. “No more fighting!”
As if by fate, she meets the Table Titans right away—Alan, Andrew, and Darius, who run the school’s tabletop gaming club. Finally, Val has found her own adventuring party! And even better . . . a place where she belongs.
So when the future of the club is threatened, Val makes it her personal quest to save the Table Titans. She’ll have to face the fire-breathing wrestling coach and popular girl Kate, who seems out for revenge. Revenge for what? Val has no clue.
As the quest grows more and more complicated, Val wishes she was like her peaceful druid Lulani from the Table Titans’ campaign, whose calm voice always prevails. If she loses her cool in real life, Val might lose more than the Table Titans club. She’ll have to roll a natural 20 in charisma to keep her new friends together.
Set in the same universe as the Eisner Award-winning webcomic PvP, Scott Kurtz’s artwork blends zany, fantastical visuals with slice-of-life humor. For fans of fantasy and coming of age stories alike, Table Titans finds humor, heart, and adventure in a tale of friendship and finding your people.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
The Second Favorite Daughters Club 1: Sister Sabotage by Colleen Oakes (ISBN-13: 9781645952077 Publisher: Pixel+Ink Publication date: 04/02/2024, Ages 10-12)
For fans of Sisters and Netflix’s The Baby-sitter’s Club, a contemporary series for the siblings who always come in last.
Santana Barnes is tired of playing second fiddle to her ballet protégé, honor student older sister Victoria. Casey Hammond is sick of her cute-as-a-button, adventurous little sister Sage, who steals all of their dad’s attention.
When the girls meet in their middle school library, they learn they have a lot in common: they both love reading, they hate after-school activities, and most important, they are clearly their parents’ second-favorite children.
So they decide to do something about it. They create the Second Favorite Daughters Club. The members? Just the two of them. The mission? To become their parents’ favorite children by undermining their love-hoarding siblings. But is it possible to cheat your way to becoming your parents’ favorite? And is being in the spotlight really what they want after all?
Bestselling author Colleen Oakes’s middle grade debut, SISTER SABOTAGE is a celebration of friendship and family in all its challenging forms, and a reminder that there’s no one way to stand out.
The Great Peach Experiment 4: Duck, Duck, Peach by Erin Soderberg Downing (ISBN-13: 9781645952404 Publisher: Pixel+Ink Publication date: 04/09/2024 Series: The Great Peach Experiment #4, Ages 8-12)
The fourth Great Peach book finds the family back in Duluth, Minnesota for a summer filled with mystery, competition, pie, and . . . the World’s Largest Rubber Duck.
School’s out soon, and the Peaches are looking forward to some quiet, especially now that the family’s B&B (aka the “Peach Pit”) is finally running smoothly. But quiet and normal aren’t really the Peach way. When a massive Festival of Ships sails into their town, of course the Peaches have to dive in head-first.
Ships of all kinds start rolling in: pirate ships, tall sailboats, tug boats, snazzy speed boats. And the highlight of the whole show: The WORLD’S LARGEST RUBBER DUCK. Suddenly the Peachtree B&B is sold out, and the Peaches are cooking up other tasty solutions.
But then the World’s Largest Rubber Duck goes missing! Stolen? Sunk? Airlifted by aliens? The hunt is on for the famous icon, and the Peaches are leading the search. Using all their skills—on land and water—they are determined to find the missing duck and bring it back to its home in the harbor.
The fourth book in the Great Peach Experiment series, Duck, Duck, Peach serves up a major mystery along with more challenges, humor, and family mis-adventures.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Jerry, Let Me See the Moon by Jeffrey Ebbeler (ISBN-13: 9780823453092 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 05/07/2024, Ages 8-12)
Things get squirrely when Jerry discovers that his new town is a sanctuary for were-creatures, humans who turn into animals when the moon is full, in an action-packed romp for younger middle grade readers.
Jerry has serious questions about the town his scientist father drags him to: why did they give up traveling the world to settle down in such a strange spot? Why won’t his dad talk about his mysterious research or explain what happened to his mother, who disappeared years ago? And when he sees his friend Pearl transform into a were-squirrel under the light of the full moon, he needs to know: were exactly has he ended up?
But when criminal mayhem turns Jerry’s town—a safe haven for were-creatures—into a not-so-safe haven, Jerry must uncover a twisty conspiracy and take down the instigators who are trying to tear the place that’s become his home apart.
Packed with twists and turns and filled with vivid black-and-white drawings, Kraken Me Up author Jeffrey Ebbeler’s experience as a comics artist translates into dynamic, visual action sequences that even the most reluctant readers won’t have to fight their way through. Larger-than-life bad guys and slapstick humor meets a heartfelt exploration of what makes a place home in this page-turner that will leave younger middle grade readers howling for more.
The Supernatural Files of CJ Delaney by Carol Williams (ISBN-13: 9780823454129 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 05/07/2024, Ages 8-12)
Unmasking evil witches, rescuing kidnapped pets, saving the town from evil—exactly what kid reporter CJ Delaney had in mind for summer vacation.
When a boring old skatepark opening becomes the scene of a supernatural occurrence, CJ Delaney can’t believe her luck. This is just the kind of big story she’s dreamed of breaking for the town’s local paper.
With best friend Parker in tow, CJ is determined to get to the bottom of everything and save the town from evil. Isn’t this what summer vacation is for? But when all answers point to someone close, CJ stands not only to lose her byline but the scariest thing of all—the people and pet she loves.
With a strong, snappy voice and a warm sense of humor, The Supernatural Files of CJ Delaney is a fast-paced middle grade mystery (with just the right amount of hair-raising thrills) that begs to be read cover-to-cover in one sitting. This debut from Carol Williams shines with love for its characters, college-town setting, and belief in the power of the written word.
National Archive Hunters 1: Capitol Chase by Matthew Landis (ISBN-13: 9781645952213 Publisher: Pixel+Ink Publication date: 05/14/2024, Ages 8-12)
Twins race to find the thief stealing valuable historical artifacts before their family’s framed for the crimes in this high-octane middle grade action-adventure series starter for fans of City Spies and Alex Rider.
Ten-year-old Ike Carter has committed large chunks of American history to memory. That’s what happens when you’re a genius who loves the past. His twin, Iris, prefers the present (aka reality). She’s an elite athlete, dominating the competition thanks to her wicked-sharp spatial awareness.
During the opening night of a new exhibit at their mom’s boutique museum in Washington, D.C., Ike and Iris inadvertently stumble onto a robbery in progress. A girl not much older than them is stealing a miniature portrait of George Washington from the collection. It’s only the first in a string of crimes, all focused on items that were once gifted by the Marquis de Lafayette to his American friends. With some help from the National Archives Research Center, the twins puzzle out the culprit’s next targets, and are soon hot on the trail of the mystery girl.
But their efforts also put them in the crosshairs of the FBI’s Art Crime team, who suspect their family is involved. If the twins can’t catch the real perp as they target the final item, it’ll be game over.
An action-packed series opener from highly-acclaimed author Matthew Landis, Capitol Chase introduces a new secret agent team sure to engross fans of National Treasure, City Spies, and Alex Rider with plot twists and turns that make this one unputdownable from first page to last.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
The Worst Perfect Moment by Shivaun Plozza (ISBN-13: 9780823456345 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 05/14/2024, Ages 14-17)
Equal parts tender and edgy, this inventive queer romance imagines what it might feel like to come of age in the afterlife.
Tegan Masters is dead.
She’s sixteen and she’s dead and she’s standing in the parking lot of the Marybelle Motor Lodge, the single most depressing motel in all of New Jersey and the place where Tegan spent what she remembers as the worst weekend of her life.
In the front office, she meets Zelda, a cute and sarcastic girl Tegan’s age who is, in fact, an angel (wings and all). According to Zelda, Tegan is officially in heaven, where every person inhabits an exact replica of their happiest memory. For Tegan, Zelda insists, that place is the Marybelle—creepy minigolf course, revolting breakfast buffet, broken TV, and all.
Tegan has a few complaints about this.
As Zelda takes Tegan on a whirlwind tour through Tegan’s past to help her understand what mattered most to her in life, the stakes couldn’t be higher. If Zelda fails to convince Tegan that the Marybelle was the site of Tegan’s perfect moment, both girls face eternal consequences too dire to consider. But if she succeeds…they just might get their happily-ever-afterlife.
Full of humor and heartbreak, The Worst Perfect Moment asks what it means to be truly happy.
Bunnybirds #1 by Natalie Linn (ISBN-13: 9780823457939 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 05/28/2024, Ages 8-12)
Princess Aster must leave home to discover why her people are disappearing—even if it means journeying over the rim of the world itself—in this animal fantasy graphic novel perfect for fans of blockbuster series like Warriors and Wings of Fire.
The Bunny who worries is heavy and slow. To fly with the flock, one must learn to let go.
Be content and with joy! Lay fears to rest: the bunny who smiles suits the bunny flock best.
In Princess Aster’s world, Bunnybirds live in contented isolation, keeping themselves detached from the world in order to practice magic and receive prophetic visions. Nothing is ever wrong, and no one is ever angry. . . even as Aster’s people seem to be slowly disappearing. But when her father is next to go, her goal is as definite and unclouded as her heart: she’s going to rescue him, no matter how.
To find her people, she must leave the royal Home Tree and travel to the Court of Dragons—and then across sea flats, through deserts, and over the rim of the world itself—to find out what’s happened, with only the exiled bunnybird thief Carlin and the lackadaisical centipede-dog Feet for company.
The further Aster travels from home, the more questions she has: Are the Bunnybirds truly as happy as they say? And if they aren’t, can she let go of age-old traditions in order to rescue her friends?
A sweet but sweeping graphic novel adventure, Bunnybirds offers readers a richly imagined animal world full of magic, danger, and excitement.
The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra’s Needle by Dan Gutman (ISBN-13: 9780823454846 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 06/04/2024, Ages 8-12)
From the author of the My Weird School books, an adventure story that spans centuries and continents.
In Central Park, New York, stands Cleopatra’s Needle. But what do you know about? Did you know that thousands of people worked in 1461 BCE to build it? Then hundreds more moved it, and erected it in Alexandria, where it stood for 3,000 years? So how did a monolith weighing over 200 tons get moved all the way to New York City—and in the 19th Century, no less?
In this historical fiction account by bestselling author Dan Gutman, five kids who watched the Needle at each phase of its history recount the daring story of how something that seemed to be impossible –and that nearly ended in disaster—finally succeeded against all odds.
Including photos, diagrams, and illustrations, this book will leave history lovers and fans of problem solving astounded at all that was accomplished. And best of all, it will leave middle grade readers feeling they’ve just watched a really good movie—they’ll hardly even realize they were reading.
Take All of Us by Natalie Leif (ISBN-13: 9780823456611 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 06/04/2024, Ages 14-17)
A YA unbury-your-gays horror in which an undead teen must find the boy he loves before he loses his mind and body.
Five years ago, a parasite poisoned the water of Ian’s West Virginia hometown, turning dozens of locals into dark-eyed, oil-dripping shells of their former selves. With chronic migraines and seizures limiting his physical abilities, Ian relies on his best friend and secret love Eric to mercy-kill any infected people they come across.
Until a new health report about the contamination triggers a mandatory government evacuation, and Ian cracks his head in the rush. Used to hospitals and health scares, Ian always thought he’d die young… but he wasn’t planning on coming back. Much less face the slow, painful realization that Eric left him behind to die.
Desperate to find Eric and the truth before the parasite takes over him, Ian along with two others left behind—his old childhood rival Monica and the jaded prepper Angel—journey to track down Eric. What they don’t know is that Eric is also looking for Ian, and he’s determined to mercy-kill him.
Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires by Jessica Stremer, Michael Garland (Illustrator) (ISBN-13: 9780823454426 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 06/11/2024 Series: Books for a Better Earth, Ages 8-12)
A timely middle grade nonfiction overview of the incredible ways animals detect, respond, and adapt to wildfires, as well as how climate change is affecting the frequency and severity of these devastating events in nature.
Goats and beavers. Drones and parachutes. Pinecones and beetles. What do they have in common? Believe it or not, they are all crucial tools in fighting, preventing, and adapting to wildfires!
These vicious fires are spreading faster and burning hotter than at any other time in history. Ongoing droughts, warming weather, and a history of poor forest management have extended the traditional wildfire season beyond the summer months. It is a matter of life and death for wildlife worldwide.
This breathtaking nonfiction book focuses on unique angles to a hot topic, including injury rehabilitation efforts, species that use wildfires to their advantage, how to help area repopulation, and the animals that help to prevent/fight wildfires. A riveting, kid friendly text is accompanied by stunning woodcut illustrations and full-color photographs, as well as extensive back matter with glossary, sources, and index.
Books for a Better Earth are designed to inspire children to become active, knowledgeable participants in caring for the planet they live on.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Wildlife Crossings of Hope: Connecting Creatures Around the Globe by Teddi Lynn Chichester, Jamie Green (Illustrator) (ISBN-13: 9780823453542 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 06/11/2024 Series: Books for a Better Earth, Ages 10-12)
We all need safe places to live and safe paths to travel. Animals, too.
Discover the people who are stitching the planet’s habitats back together, one wildlife bridge at a time.
Combining first-person reporting with scientific and engineering data, Wildlife Crossings of Hope takes a personal approach to wildlife crossings around the world, from salamander tunnels in Massachusetts to elephant underpasses in Mount Kenya to green bridges in India.
Together we’ll explore how scientists, engineers, and lots of everyday people are working to make sure that the wildlife so essential to Earth’s health and beauty continues to freely move through this richly inhabited planet. And let’s find out how you too can help wildlife navigate a world that seems evermore crowded.
Back matter includes actions for readers to take, a complete listing of the scientific names of all creatures discussed, source notes, a bibliography, an index, and more.
A Books for a Better Earth™ Title
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
The Last Apple Tree by Claudia Mills (ISBN-13: 9780823457106 Publisher: Holiday House Publication date: 06/18/2024, Ages 9-12)
When feuding neighbors Sonnet and Zeke are paired up for a class project, they unearth a secret that could uproot Sonnet’s family—or allow it to finally heal and grow.
Twelve-year-old Sonnet’s family has just moved across the country to live with her grandfather after her nana dies. Gramps’s once-impressive apple orchard has been razed for a housing development, with only one heirloom tree left. Sonnet doesn’t want to think about how Gramps and his tree are both growing old—she just wants everything to be okay.
Sonnet is not okay with her neighbor, Zeke, a boy her age who gets on her bad side and stays there when he tries to choose her grandpa to interview for an oral history assignment. Zeke irks Sonnet with his prying questions, bringing out the sad side of Gramps she’d rather not see. Meanwhile, Sonnet joins the Green Club at school and without talking to Zeke about it, she asks his activist father to speak at the Arbor Day assembly—a collision of worlds that Zeke wanted more than anything to avoid.
But when the interviews uncover a buried tragedy that concerns Sonnet’s mother, and an emergency forces Sonnet and Zeke to cooperate again, Sonnet learns not just to accept Zeke as he is, but also that sometimes forgetting isn’t the solution—even when remembering seems harder.
Award-winning author Claudia Mills brings enormous compassion and depth to this novel of unlikely friendship and generational memory.
Filed under: new books
About Amanda MacGregor
Amanda MacGregor works in an elementary library, loves dogs, and can be found on Twitter @CiteSomething.
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