2019

JANUARY 

1 Jan Pieces by Afshan Malik. Daybreak Press.
As if track practice, yearbook meetings, and tumultuous friendships weren’t enough, sisters Hannah and Noreen are catapulted into a disorienting new reality when their dad returns home from his medical mission in Syria a haunted and broken man. All of a sudden, their once tight knit family is falling to pieces. Little do they know, things will become a lot more crazy and unpredictable as each of them fights a different battle.

1 Jan Blacks in Paris (Freedom’s Promise) by Duchess Harris. Core Library. ages 8-11 After World War I, many African Americans found a welcoming home in Paris while the fight for civil rights continued in the United States. African American soldiers, writers, performers, and activists influenced French society. Blacks in Paris: African American Culture in Europe explores the legacy of African Americans in Paris.

2 Jan O.M.G.s (Oh My Gods) by Alexandra Sheppard. Scholastic.
Between keeping her family’s true identities secret, trying to impress her new friends, and meeting an actually cute boy, Helen’s stress levels are higher than Mount Olympus. She needs to rein in her chaotic family before they blow their cover AND her chances at a half-normal social life.

8 Jan Inventing Victoria by Tonya Bolden. Bloomsbury, ages 12-18
As a young black woman in 1880s Savannah, Essie’s dreams are very much at odds with her reality. Ashamed of her beginnings, but unwilling to accept the path currently available to her, Essie is trapped between the life she has and the life she wants.

Until she meets a lady named Dorcas Vashon, the richest and most cultured black woman she’s ever encountered. When Dorcas makes Essie an offer she can’t refuse, she becomes Victoria. Transformed by a fine wardrobe, a classic education, and the rules of etiquette, Victoria is soon welcomed in the upper echelons of black society in Washington, D. C. But when the life she desires is finally within her grasp, Victoria must decide how much of herself she is truly willing to surrender.

8 Jan This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy. Bloomsbury. ages 10-12
Told in verse, this book relays Boyce’s experience as one of 12 African-American students who integrated Clinton High School in Tennessee. 

8 Jan  The Girl King by Mimi Yu. Bloomsbury ages 12-18
Sisters Lu and Min have always known their places as the princesses of the Empire of the First Flame: assertive Lu will be named her father’s heir and become the dynasty’s first female ruler, while timid Min will lead a quiet life in Lu’s shadow. Until their father names their male cousin Set his heir instead, sending ripples through the realm and throwing both girls’ lives into utter chaos.

Determined to reclaim her birthright, Lu has no choice but to go on the run, leaving Min to face the volatile court alone. Lu soon crosses paths with Nokhai, the lone, unlikely survivor of the Ashina, a clan of nomadic wolf shapeshifters. Nok never learned to shift–or to trust the empire that killed his family–but working with the princess might be the only way to unlock his true power. As Lu and Nok form a shaky alliance, Min’s own hidden power awakens, a forbidden, deadly magic that could secure Set’s reign . . . or allow her to claim the throne herself. But there can only be one emperor, and the sisters’ greatest enemy could very well turn out to be each other.

8 Jan Katherine Johnson by Ebony Joy Wilkins and Charlotte Ager. DK Life Stories. ages 8-12
It was an incredible accomplishment when the United States first put a person on the moon–but without the incredible behind-the-scenes work of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, such a feat could not have been possible. In this biography for kids ages 8-12, follow Katherine’s remarkable journey from growing up in West Virginia, to becoming a teacher, to breaking barriers at NASA and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

8 Jan The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA by Brenda Woods. Nancy Paulsen Books. ages 10-12
On Gabriel’s twelfth birthday, he gets a new bike–and is so excited that he accidentally rides it right into the path of a car. Fortunately, a Black man named Meriwether pushes him out of the way just in time, and fixes his damaged bike. As a thank you, Gabriel gets him a job at his dad’s auto shop. Gabriel’s dad hires him with some hesitation, however, anticipating trouble with the other mechanic, who makes no secret of his racist opinions.
Gabriel and Meriwether become friends, and Gabriel learns that Meriwether drove a tank in the Army’s all-Black 761st Tank Battalion in WWII. Meriwether is proud of his service, but has to keep it a secret because talking about it could be dangerous. Sadly, danger finds Meriwether, anyway, when his family receives a frightening threat. The South being the way it is, there’s no guarantee that the police will help–and Gabriel doesn’t know what will happen if Meriwether feels forced to take the law into his own hands.

8 Jan The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe.  Balzer + Bray. ages 12-18 DEBUT
Norris Kaplan is clever, cynical, and quite possibly too smart for his own good. A Black French Canadian, he knows from watching American sitcoms that those three things don’t bode well when you are moving to Austin, Texas. Plunked into a new high school and sweating a ridiculous amount from the oppressive Texas heat, Norris finds himself cataloging everyone he meets: the Cheerleaders, the Jocks, the Loners, and even the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Making a ton of friends has never been a priority for him, and this way he can at least amuse himself until it’s time to go back to Canada, where he belongs. Yet against all odds, those labels soon become actual people to Norris…like loner Liam, who makes it his mission to befriend Norris, or Madison the beta cheerleader, who is so nice that it has to be a trap. Not to mention Aarti the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who might, in fact, be a real love interest in the making.

8 Jan We Are Displaced : My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World by Malala Yousafzai. Little, Brown Books.
Malala’s experiences visiting refugee camps caused her to reconsider her own displacement – first as an Internally Displaced Person when she was a young child in Pakistan, and then as an international activist who could travel anywhere in the world except to the home she loved. In We Are Displaced, which is part memoir, part communal storytelling, Malala not only explores her own story, but she also shares the personal stories of some of the incredible girls she has met on her journeys – girls who have lost their community, relatives, and often the only world they’ve ever known.

9 Jan Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America edited by Ibi Zoboi and Tracey Baptiste. Balzer + Bray.
Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today—Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and Black in America.

13 Jan Genesis Begins Again by Alicia Williams. Simon & Schuster.  Ages 9–13 DEBUT
This deeply sensitive and powerful debut novel tells the story of a thirteen-year-old who must overcome internalized racism and a verbally abusive family to finally learn to love herself.

15 JAN Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee. Rick Riordan Presents. ages 9-12
Min, a thirteen-year-old girl with fox-magic, stows away on a battle cruiser and impersonates a cadet in order to solve the mystery of what happened to her older brother in the Thousand World Space Force.

15 Jan A Grain of Rice by Nhung N. Tran-Davies. Tradewind Books.
Thirteen-year-old Yen and her family have survived a war, famine and persecution. When a powerful flood ruins their village in rural Vietnam, matters only get worse. With the help of neighbors and family, they decide to take the ultimate risk on a chance for a better life.

15 Jan Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. Wednesday Books. ages 12-18
It’s 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from his home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in arms if not blood. Together, they will join Séverin as he explores the dark, glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the course of history–but only if they can stay alive.

15 Jan 96 Words for Love by Rachel Roy and Ava Dash. Jimmy Patterson Books/Little, Brown.
A modern retelling of the classic Indian legend of Shakuntala and Dushyanta, 96 Words for Love is a coming-of-age story about finding yourself in unexpected places.

15 Jan Ultraball #1 : Lunar Blitz by Jeff Chen. Katherine Tegen Books. ages 8-12
Strike Sazaki loves defying gravity on the moon in his Ultrabot suit. He’s the best quarterback in the league, but while Strike’s led the Taiko Miners to the Ultrabowl three years in a row, each one has ended in defeat.

This year, Strike thinks he’s finally found the missing piece to his championship quest: a mysterious girl who could be his new star rocketback. But Boom comes from the Dark Siders, a mass of people who left the United Moon Colonies to live in exile. And not all his teammates are happy sharing a field with her. When rumors surface of a traitor on the Miners, Strike isn’t sure who he can trust. If Strike can’t get his teammates to cooperate and play together, they’ll lose more than just the Ultrabowl. The stake of the colony’s future is on his shoulders.

22 Jan Circle of Shadow (Circle of Shadows #1) by Evelyn Skye. Balzer + Bray. Jan 2019
Sora can move as silently as a ghost and hurl throwing stars with lethal accuracy. Her gemina, Daemon, can win any physical fight blindfolded and with an arm tied around his back. They are apprentice warriors of the Society of Taigas—marked by the gods to be trained in magic and the fighting arts to protect the kingdom of Kichona.

As their graduation approaches, Sora and Daemon look forward to proving themselves worthy of belonging in the elite group—but in a kingdom free of violence since the Blood Rift Rebellion many years ago, it’s been difficult to make their mark.

22 Jan Love Me or Miss Me: Hot Girl, Bad  Boy by Dream Jordan. Wednesday Books. ages 12-18
What’s a Brooklyn Girl to do when her best friend is away for the whole summer? Don’t ask Kate, because she has no idea. Aimless, and unhappy with her new foster mother, Kate falls into the hands of a stylish, “It Chick” who whips her into fashionable shape. Armed with new confidence, and a game plan to get her man, Kate quickly falls under her new bestie’s bad influence. And she becomes reckless in her pursuits. Can Kate get her life back on the right track–or is it already too late?

24 Jan Kick the Moon by Muhammad Khan. MacMillan. ages 12-18
Fifteen-year-old Ilyas is under pressure from everyone: GCSE’s are looming and his teachers just won’t let up, his dad wants him to join the family business and his mates don’t care about any of it. There’s no space in Ilyas’ life to just be a teenager.

Serving detention one day, Ilyas finds a kindred spirit in Kelly Matthews, who is fed up with being pigeonholed as the good girl, and their friendship blows the social strata of high school wide open. But when Kelly catches the eye of one of the local bad boys, Imran, he decides to seduce her for a bet – and Ilyas is faced with losing the only person who understands him. Standing up to Imran puts Ilyas’ family at risk, but it’s time for him to be the superhero he draws in his comic-books, and go kick the moon.

29 Jan Dark Sky Rising : Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Tonya Bolden. Scholastic. ages 9-12
This is a story about America during and after Reconstruction, one of history’s most pivotal and misunderstood chapters. In a stirring account of emancipation, the struggle for citizenship and national reunion, and the advent of racial segregation, the renowned Harvard scholar delivers a book that is illuminating and timely. Real-life accounts drive the narrative, spanning the half century between the Civil War and Birth of a Nation. Here, you will come face-to-face with the people and events of Reconstruction’s noble democratic experiment, its tragic undermining, and the drawing of a new “color line” in the long Jim Crow era that followed. In introducing young readers to them, and to the resiliency of the African American people at times of progress and betrayal, Professor Gates shares a history that remains vitally relevant today.

29 Jan Arcade and the Triple T Token (The Coin Slot Chronicles) by Rashad Jenning. Zonderkidz. ages 8 and up
The Coin Slot Chronicles series, by former NFL running back and Dancing with the Stars champion Rashad Jennings, is a humorous and imaginative series that explores the power of friendship and imagination, the challenges in finding your place, and the reality of missing home.

Jan 29 Spin by Lamar Giles. Scholastic. ages 12 and up
When rising star Paris Secord (aka DJ ParSec) is found dead on her turntables, it sends the local music scene reeling. No one is feeling that grief more than her shunned pre-fame best friend, Kya, and ParSec’s chief groupie, Fuse — two sworn enemies who happened to be the ones who discovered her body.

The police have few leads, and when the trail quickly turns cold, the authorities don’t seem to be pushing too hard to investigate further. But nobody counted on Paris’s deeply loyal fans, ParSec Nation, or the outrage that would drive Fuse and Kya to work together. As ParSec Nation takes to social media and the streets in their crusade for justice, Fuse and Kya start digging into Paris’s past, stumbling across a deadly secret. With new info comes new motives. New suspects. And a fandom that will stop at nothing in their obsessive quest for answers, not even murder.

29 Jan The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan. Scholastic. DEBUT AUTHOR LGBTQIAP+
Unable to come out to her conservative Muslim parents, she keeps that part of her identity hidden. And that means keeping her girlfriend, Ariana, a secret from them too. Luckily, only a few more months stand between her carefully monitored life at home and a fresh start at Caltech in the fall. But when Rukhsana’s mom catches her and Ariana together, her future begins to collapse around her.

Devastated and confused, Rukhsana’s parents whisk her off to stay with their extended family in Bangladesh where, along with the loving arms of her grandmother and cousins, she is met with a world of arranged marriages, religious tradition, and intolerance. Fortunately, Rukhsana finds allies along the way and, through reading her grandmother’s old diary, finds the courage to take control of her future and fight for her love.

FEBRUARY

1 Feb Biddy Mason Speaks Up (Fighting for Justice series) by Arisa White and Laura Atkins. Heyday.
Presents the life of a California ex-slave, nurse, and midwife, who started many philanthropic projects.

5 Feb On the Come Up by Angie Thomas. Balzer + Bray.
Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri’s got massive shoes to fill.  But it’s hard to get your come up when you’re labeled a hoodlum at school, and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral…for all the wrong reasons.

Bri soon finds herself at the center of a controversy, portrayed by the media as more menace than MC. But with an eviction notice staring her family down, Bri doesn’t just want to make it—she has to. Even if it means becoming the very thing the public has made her out to be.

5 Feb New Kid by Jerry Craft. Harper Collins. ages 8-12
Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade.

As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?

5 Feb The Weight of Our Sky by Hann Alkaf. Salaam Reads.
Melati Ahmad looks like your typical movie-going, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied. But there are things that Melati can’t protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 1969, racial tensions in  her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over. The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames. With a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.

5 Feb No One Here Is Lonely by Sarah Everett. Knopf. ages 12 and up
Eden has always had two loves: her best friend, Lacey, and her crush, Will. And then, almost simultaneously, she loses them both. Will to a car accident and Lacey to the inevitable growing up and growing apart. Devastated by the holes they have left in her life, Eden finds solace in an unlikely place. Before he died, Will set up an account with In Good Company, a service that uploads voices and emails and creates a digital companion that can be called anytime, day or night. It couldn’t come at a better time because, after losing Lacey–the hardest thing Eden has had to deal with–who else can she confide all her secrets to? Who is Eden without Lacey?

5 Feb Binti : The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor. DAW.
In her Hugo- and Nebula-winning novella, Nnedi Okorafor introduced us to Binti, a young Himba girl with the chance of a lifetime: to attend the prestigious Oomza University. Despite her family’s concerns, Binti’s talent for mathematics and her aptitude with astrolabes make her a prime candidate to undertake this interstellar journey. But everything changes when the jellyfish-like Medusae attack Binti’s spaceship, leaving her the only survivor. Now, Binti must fend for herself, alone on a ship full of the beings who murdered her crew, with five days until she reaches her destination.

There is more to the history of the Medusae–and their war with the Khoush–than first meets the eye. If Binti is to survive this voyage and save the inhabitants of the unsuspecting planet that houses Oomza Uni, it will take all of her knowledge and talents to broker the peace.

11 Feb The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi, trans. by Cathy Hirano. Henry Holt and Co. ages 12-18.
A girl able to communicate with magical beasts is the only one who can save a warring kingdom.

12 Feb Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson. Bloomsbury. ages 12-18
Jasmine and Chelsea are best friends on a mission–they’re sick of the way women are treated even at their progressive NYC high school, so they decide to start a Women’s Rights Club. They post their work online–poems, essays, videos of Chelsea performing her poetry, and Jasmine’s response to the racial microaggressions she experiences–and soon they go viral. But with such positive support, the club is also targeted by trolls. When things escalate in real life, the principal shuts the club down. Not willing to be silenced, Jasmine and Chelsea will risk everything for their voices–and those of other young women–to be heard.  These two dynamic, creative young women stand up and speak out in a novel that features their compelling art and poetry along with powerful personal journeys that will inspire readers and budding poets, feminists, and activists.

19 Feb The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away by Ronald Smith. Clarion Books.
Twelve-year-old Simon is obsessed with aliens. The ones who take people and do experiments. When he’s too worried about them to sleep, he listens to the owls hoot outside. Owls that have the same eyes as aliens—dark and foreboding. Then something strange happens on a camping trip, and Simon begins to suspect he’s been abducted. But is it real, or just the overactive imagination of a kid who loves fantasy and role-playing games and is the target of bullies and his father’s scorn?

26 Feb The Beauty of the Moment by Tanaz Bhathena. Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Love is messy and families are messier, but in spite of their burdens, Susan and Malcolm fall for each other. The ways they drift apart and come back together are testaments to family, culture, and being true to who you are.

26 Feb The Game of Stars (Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond #2) by Sayantani Das Gupta. Scholastic. ages 8-12
When the Demon Queen shows up in her bedroom, smelling of acid and surrounded by evil-looking bees, twelve-year-old Kiranmala is uninterested. After all, it’s been weeks since she last heard from her friends in the Kingdom Beyond, the alternate dimension where she was born as an Indian princess. But after a call to action over an interdimensional television station and a visit with some all-seeing birds, Kiran decides that she has to once again return to her homeland, where society is fraying, a terrible game show reigns supreme, and friends and foes alike are in danger. Everyone is running scared or imprisoned following the enactment of sudden and unfair rules of law. However, things are a lot less clear than the last time she was in the Kingdom Beyond. Kiran must once again solve riddles and battle her evil Serpent King father — all while figuring out who her true friends are, and what it really means to be a hero.

26 Feb The Moon Within by Aida Salazar. Arthur A. Levine Books. ages 8-12
Celi Rivera’s life swirls with questions. About her changing body. Her first attraction to a boy. And her best friend’s exploration of what it means to be genderfluid. But most of all, her mother’s insistence she have a moon ceremony when her first period arrives. It’s an ancestral Mexica ritual that Mima and her community have reclaimed, but Celi promises she will NOT be participating. Can she find the power within herself to take a stand for who she wants to be?

26 Feb We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia. Katherine Tegen Books.
At the Medio School for Girls, distinguished young women are trained for one of two roles in their polarized society. Depending on her specialization, a graduate will one day run a husband’s household or raise his children. Both paths promise a life of comfort and luxury, far from the frequent political uprisings of the lower class. Daniela Vargas is the school’s top student, but her pedigree is a lie. She must keep the truth hidden or be sent back to the fringes of society. And school couldn’t prepare her for the difficult choices she must make after graduation, especially when she is asked to spy for a resistance group desperately fighting to bring equality to Medio. Will Dani cling to the privilege her parents fought to win for her, or will she give up everything she’s strived for in pursuit of a free Medio—and a chance at a forbidden love?

26 Feb Sorry Not Sorry by Jaime Reed. Scholastic. ages 12 and up
When 18-year-old Janell’s childhood-BFF-turned-rival, Alyssa, is hospitalized due to complications from diabetes, Janell sets their differences aside, defies the risks of racially mixed transplants, and volunteers as a donor. But the test results reveal that Janell is the only kidney donor match in the entire state – a fact that could save (or take) Alyssa’s life.

26 Feb Lety Out Loud by Angela Cervantes. Scholastic. ages 8-12
Lety Muñoz’s first language is Spanish, and she likes to take her time putting her words together. She loves volunteering at the Furry Friends Animal Shelter because the dogs and cats there don’t care if she can’t always find the right word. When the shelter needs a volunteer to write animal profiles, Lety jumps at the chance. But grumpy classmate Hunter also wants to write profiles — so now they have to work as a team. Hunter’s not much of a team player, though. He devises a secret competition to decide who will be the official shelter scribe. Whoever helps get their animals adopted the fastest wins. The loser scoops dog food. Lety reluctantly agrees, but she’s worried that if the shelter finds out about the contest, they’ll kick her out of the volunteer program. Then she’ll never be able to adopt Spike, her favorite dog at the shelter!

26 Feb Soaring Earth : A Companion Memoir to Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle. Atheneum Books. ages 12 and up
Margarita Engle’s childhood straddled two worlds: the lush, welcoming island of Cuba and the lonely, dream-soaked reality of Los Angeles. But the revolution has transformed Cuba into a mystery of impossibility, no longer reachable in real life. Margarita longs to travel the world, yet before she can become independent, she’ll have to start high school.

Then the shock waves of war reach America, rippling Margarita’s plans in their wake. Cast into uncertainty, she must grapple with the philosophies of peace, civil rights, freedom of expression, and environmental protection. Despite overwhelming circumstances, she finds solace and empowerment through her education. Amid the challenges of adolescence and a world steeped in conflict, Margarita finds hope beyond the struggle, and love in the most unexpected of places.

MARCH

1 Mar Corey’s Rock by Sita Brahmachari, illus. by Jane Ray. Otter-Barry Books. ages 9–12
An Orcadian legend helps Isla adjust to her new life on the Orkney Islands after the death of her brother.

5 Mar The Everlasting Rose (The Belles) by Dhonielle Clayton. Freeform. ages 12 and up.
In this sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel, The Belles, Camellia Beaureguard, the former favorite Belle, must race against time to find the ailing Princess Charlotte, who has disappeared without a trace.

5 Mar Superman: Dawnbreaker (DC Icon series) by Matt de la Peña. Random House. ages 12-18
Clark Kent has always been faster, stronger–better–than everyone around him. But it’s not like he’s earned his powers . . . yet. Lately it’s difficult to hold back and keep his heroics in the shadows. When Clark follows the sound of a girl crying, he comes across Gloria Alvarez and learns that people are disappearing from the Mexican-American and undocumented worker community in Smallville. Teaming up with his best friend, Lana Lang, Clark discovers that before he can save the world, he must save Smallville.

5 Mar Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera. Simon and Schuster. ages 12-18
Sixteen-year-old Nalah leads the fiercest all-girl crew in Mega City. That role brings with it violent throwdowns and access to the hottest boydega clubs, but Nalah quickly grows weary of her questionable lifestyle. Her dream is to get off the streets and make a home in the exclusive Mega Towers, in which only a chosen few get to live. To make it to the Mega Towers, Nalah must prove her loyalty to the city’s benevolent founder and cross the border in a search of the mysterious gang the Ashé Ryders. Led by a reluctant guide, Nalah battles crews and her own doubts but the closer she gets to her goal the more she loses sight of everything–and everyone–she cares about. Nalah must choose whether or not she’s willing to do the unspeakable to get what she wants. Can she discover that home is not where you live but whom you chose to protect before she loses the family she’s created for good?

5 Mar Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds. Katherine Tegen Books. DEBUT AUTHOR ages 12-18
When Jack and Kate meet at a party, bonding until sunrise over their mutual love of Froot Loops and their favorite flicks, Jack knows he’s falling—hard. Soon she’s meeting his best friends, Jillian and Franny, and Kate wins them over as easily as she did Jack. But then Kate dies. And their story should end there. Yet Kate’s death sends Jack back to the beginning, the moment they first meet, and Kate’s there again. Healthy, happy, and charming as ever. Jack isn’t sure if he’s losing his mind.

Still, if he has a chance to prevent Kate’s death, he’ll take it. Even if that means believing in time travel. However, Jack will learn that his actions are not without consequences. And when one choice turns deadly for someone else close to him, he has to figure out what he’s willing to do to save the people he loves.

5 Mar Barely Missing Everything by Matt Mendez. Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Atheneum.
Juan has plans. He’s going to get out of El Paso, Texas, on a basketball scholarship and make something of himself—or at least find something better than his mom Fabi’s cruddy apartment, her string of loser boyfriends, and a dead dad. Basketball is going to be his ticket out, his ticket up. He just needs to make it happen. His best friend JD has plans, too. He’s going to be a filmmaker one day, like Quinten Tarantino or Guillermo del Toro (NOT Steven Spielberg). He’s got a camera and he’s got passion—what else could he need?

Fabi doesn’t have a plan anymore. When you get pregnant at sixteen and have been stuck bartending to make ends meet for the past seventeen years, you realize plans don’t always pan out, and that there some things you just can’t plan for…

5 Mar Fat Angie : Rebel Girl Revolution by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo. Candlewick. ages 12-18
Sophomore year has just begun, and Angie is miserable. Her girlfriend, KC, has moved away; her good friend, Jake, is keeping his distance; and the resident bully has ramped up an increasingly vicious and targeted campaign to humiliate her. An over-the-top statue dedication planned for her sister, who died in Iraq, is almost too much to bear, and it doesn’t help that her mother has placed a symbolic empty urn on their mantel. At the ceremony, a soldier hands Angie a final letter from her sister, including a list of places she wanted the two of them to visit when she got home from the war. With her mother threatening to send Angie to a “treatment center” and the situation at school becoming violent, Angie enlists the help of her estranged childhood friend, Jamboree. Along with a few other outsiders, they pack into an RV and head across the state on the road trip Angie’s sister did not live to take. It might be just what Angie needs to find a way to let her sister go, and find herself in the process.

5 Mar How High the Moon by Karyn Parsons. Little, Brown Books.  DEBUT AUTHOR ages 9-12
In the small town of Alcolu, South Carolina, in 1944, 12-year-old Ella spends her days fishing and running around with her best friend Henry and cousin Myrna. But life is not always so sunny for Ella, who gets bullied for her light skin tone, and whose mother is away pursuing a jazz singer dream in Boston.
Ella is ecstatic when her mother invites her to visit for Christmas. Little does she expect the truths she will discover about her mother, the father she never knew and her family’s most unlikely history.

5 Mar Step Into Your Power : 23 Lessons on How to Live Your Best Life by Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins. Wide Eye Publications. ages 8-12
Listen up little sister! Now is the time to learn how to harness your power and use it. You’ve heard about heroes and read about the greats, but how do you actually get there yourself? This book will show you how to make your big dreams a big reality.

5 Mar Sal and Gabi Break the Universe (A Sal and Gabe Novel) by Carlos Hernandez. Rick Riordan Presents. ages 9-12
When Sal Vidon meets Gabi Real for the first time, it isn’t under the best of circumstances. Sal is in the principal’s office for the third time in three days, and it’s still the first week of school. Gabi, student council president and editor of the school paper, is there to support her friend Yasmany, who just picked a fight with Sal. She is determined to prove that somehow, Sal planted a raw chicken in Yasmany’s locker, even though nobody saw him do it and the bloody poultry has since mysteriously disappeared.
Sal prides himself on being an excellent magician, but for this sleight of hand, he relied on a talent no one would guess . . . except maybe Gabi, whose sharp eyes never miss a trick. When Gabi learns that he’s capable of conjuring things much bigger than a chicken–including his dead mother–and she takes it all in stride, Sal knows that she is someone he can work with. There’s only one slight problem: their manipulation of time and space could put the entire universe at risk.

12 Mar A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée. Balzer + Bray. ages 8-12. DEBUT AUTHOR
Twelve-year-old Shayla is allergic to trouble. All she wants to do is to follow the rules. (Oh, and she’d also like to make it through seventh grade with her best friendships intact, learn to run track, and have a cute boy see past her giant forehead.) But in junior high, it’s like all the rules have changed. Now she’s suddenly questioning who her best friends are and some people at school are saying she’s not black enough. Wait, what? Shay’s sister, Hana, is involved in Black Lives Matter, but Shay doesn’t think that’s for her. After experiencing a powerful protest, though, Shay decides some rules are worth breaking. She starts wearing an armband to school in support of the Black Lives movement. Soon everyone is taking sides. And she is given an ultimatum. Shay is scared to do the wrong thing (and even more scared to do the right thing), but if she doesn’t face her fear, she’ll be forever tripping over the next hurdle. Now that’s trouble, for real.

12 Mar Hicotea by Lorena Alvarez. Nobrow. ages 8–12.
On a school field trip to the river, Sandy wanders away from her classmates and discovers an empty turtle shell. Peeking through the dark hole, she suddenly finds herself within a magical realm. Filled with sculptures, paintings and books, the turtle’s shell is a museum of the natural world. But one painting is incomplete, and the turtle needs Sandy’s help to finish it.

12 Mar Ruse (Want #2) by Cindy Pon. Simon Pulse. ages 12-18
In near-future Shanghai, a group of teens have their world turned upside down when one of their own is kidnapped in this action-packed follow-up to Want.

19 Mar The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum. Imprint. ages 12-18. LGBTQIAP+
Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But a career in space isn’t an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the “wrong” side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends. One day she meets Alexandria: a furious loner who spurns Ryann’s offer of friendship. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the girls are brought together despite themselves―and Ryann learns her secret: Alexandria’s mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way trip to the edge of the solar system. Every night without fail, Alexandria waits to catch radio signals from her mother. And now it’s up to Ryann to lift her onto the roof day after day until the silence between them grows into friendship, and eventually something more.

19 Mar Internment by Samira Ahmed. Little Brown Books
Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.

21 Mar Tropical Secrets : Holocaust Refugees in Cuba by Margarita Engle. Henry Holt & Co. ages 12-18
Daniel has escaped Nazi Germany with nothing but a desperate dream that he might one day find his parents again. But that golden land called New York has turned away his ship full of refugees, and Daniel finds himself in Cuba instead.

25 Mar Jake the Fake Goes for Laughs by Craig Robinson, Adam Mansbach and Keith Knight. Crown. ages 8-12
Jake cracks up the crowd as a budding comedian at the Music and Art Academy talent show, but his new ego is no laughing matter. And when he starts blowing off his friends to pursue his “art,” Jake’s big head becomes a huge bummer.Plus, being the funny man is way tougher than it looks. Luckily, Jake has his mentor Maury Kovalski, a retired comedy showstopper, to teach him the ropes about humor–and humility–before Jake loses all his biggest fans and best friends!

APRIL

1Apr Around Harvard Square by C.J. Farley. Akashic Books.
Tosh Livingston, superstar student-athlete from small-town USA, thinks he’s made it big as a rising freshman at Harvard University. Not so fast! Once on campus, he’s ensnared in a frenzied competition to win a spot on Harvard’s legendary humor magazine, the Harpoon. Tosh soon finds that joining the Harpoon is a weird and surprisingly dangerous pursuit. He faces off against a secret society of super-rich kids, gets schooled by a philosophy professor who loves flunking everyone, and teams up with a genius student-cartoonist with an agenda of her own. Along the way, Tosh and his band of misfit freshman friends unearth long-buried mysteries about the Ivy League that will rock the Ivory Tower and change their lives forever…if they can survive the semester.

2 Apr Aladdin: Far From Agrabah by Alisha Saeed. Disney Press. ages 8-12
This original novel tells an all-new story set in the world of the new film, featuring Aladdin and Jasmine.

2 Apr The Last Days of Summer by Lamar Giles. Versify. ages 8-11
Otto and Sheed are the local sleuths in their zany Virginia town, masters of unraveling mischief using their unmatched powers of deduction. And as the summer winds down and the first day of school looms, the boys are craving just a little bit more time for fun, even as they bicker over what kind of fun they want to have. That is, until a mysterious man appears with a camera that literally freezes time. Now, with the help of some very strange people and even stranger creatures, Otto and Sheed will have to put aside their differences to save their town—and each other—before time stops for good.

2 Apr Forward Me Back to You by Mitali Perkins. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. ages 12-18
Robin Thornton was adopted from an orphanage in Kolkata, India and is reluctant to take on his future. Since he knows nothing about his past, how is he supposed to figure out what comes next? Robin and Kat meet in the most unlikely of places — a summer service trip to India to work with survivors of human trafficking. As bonds blossom between the travel-mates, Robin and Kat discover the healing superpowers of friendship. At turns heart-wrenching, beautiful, and buoyant, Mitali Perkins’ new novel explores the ripple effects of violence — across borders and generations — and how small acts of heroism can break the cycle.

2 Apr Orange for the Sunsets by Tina Athaide. Katherine Tegen Books. DEBUT AUTHOR ages 8-12.
A soaring tale of empathy, hope, and resilience, Tina Athaide’s unforgettable middle grade debut follows two friends whose lives are transformed by Idi Amin’s decision to expel Indians from Uganda in 1972.

2 Apr Trace by Pat Cummings. HarperCollins. YA DEBUT ages 12-18
Trace Carter doesn’t know how to feel at ease in his new life in New York. Even though his artsy Auntie Lea is cool, her brownstone still isn’t his home. Haunted by flashbacks of the accident that killed his parents, the best he can do is try to distract himself from memories of the past. But the past isn’t done with him. When Trace takes a wrong turn in the New York Public Library, he finds someone else lost in the stacks with him: a crying little boy, wearing old, tattered clothes. And though at first he can’t quite believe he’s seen a ghost, Trace soon discovers that the boy he saw has ties to Trace’s own history—and that he himself may be the key to setting the dead to rest.

2 April Ye by Guelherme Petreca. Top Shelf Productions
Ye is a curious young man, named after the only sound he knows how to make. His voice must have been stolen by the Colorless King, the source of all the world’s sorrows — terrifying, unrelenting, all-taking and never-giving. Now, Ye has no choice but to embark on a long voyage over land and sea, past grizzled pirates, a drunken clown, and more, to find the famous witch who can help him defeat the Colorless King. What he discovers may be a lesson for us all.

2 Apr Mera : Tidebreaker  by Danielle Paige and Stephen Byrne. DC Ink. GN ages 12-14
When the Xebellian military plots to overthrow Atlantis and break free of its oppressive regime, Mera seizes the opportunity to take control over her own destiny by assassinating Arthur Curry–the long-lost prince and heir to the kingdom of Atlantis. But her mission gets sidetracked when Mera and Arthur unexpectedly fall in love. Will Arthur Curry be the king at Mera’s side, or will he die under her blade as she attempts to free her people from persecution?

2 Apr Descendant of the Crane by Joan He. Albert Whitman. age 13-18
Tyrants cut out hearts. Rulers sacrifice their own. Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she enlists the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death… because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago.

Using the information illicitly provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust even her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of her kingdom at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?

2 Apr The Twelve by Cindy Lin. HarperCollins. ages 8-12 DEBUT AUTHOR
Usagi can hear a squirrel’s heartbeat from a mile away, and soar over treetops in one giant leap. She was born in the year of the wood rabbit, and it’s given her extraordinary zodiac gifts. But she can never use them, not while the mysterious, vicious Dragonlord hunts down all those in her land with zodiac powers. Instead, she must keep her abilities—and those of her rambunctious sister Uma—a secret

2 Apr Defy Me (Shatter Me #5) by Tahereh Mafi. HarperCollins,
This time, she’s not alone. Stronger, braver, and more resilient than ever, Juliette will fight for life and love with her friends by her side—but first, she has to survive the war being waged against her mind: She has to remember who she was.

9 Apr In the Key of Nira Ghani by Natasha Deen. Running Press Kids. ages 12-17
Nira Ghani has always dreamed of becoming a musician. Her Guyanese parents, however, have big plans for her to become a scientist or doctor. Nira’s grandmother and her best friend, Emily, are the only people who seem to truly understand her desire to establish an identity outside of the one imposed on Nira by her parents. When auditions for jazz band are announced, Nira realizes it’s now or never to convince her parents that she deserves a chance to pursue her passion.

9 Apr A Cave in the Clouds: A Young Woman’s Escape from Isis by Badeeah Hassan Ahmed and Susan Elizabeth McClelland. Annick Press. ages 16-18
Chronicles Iraqi Ahmed’s escape after being captured by ISIS at 18 and forced into human trafficking.

9 Apr Manuelito by Elisa Amado and Abraham Urias. Annick. ages 12 and up
Thirteen-year-old Manuelito is a gentle boy who lives with his family in a tiny village in the Guatemalan countryside. But life is far from idyllic: PACs―armed civil patrol―are a constant presence in the streets, and terrifying memories of the country’s war linger in the villagers’ collective conscience. Things deteriorate further when government-backed drug gangs arrive and take control of the village. Fearing their son will be forced to join a gang, Manuelito’s parents make the desperate decision to send him to live with his aunt in America. With just a bus ticket and a small amount of cash in hand, Manuelito begins his hazardous journey to Mexico, then the U.S., in search of asylum. But in the end, dangers such as the crooked “coyote”―or human smuggler―his parents have entrusted their son’s life to may be nothing compared to the risks Manuelito faces when he finally reaches America.

9 Apr It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime : Stories for a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers) by Trevor Noah. Random/Delacorte. ages 10-17
This compelling memoir blends drama, comedy, and tragedy to depict the day-to-day trials that turned a boy into a young man. In a country where racism barred blacks from social, educational, and economic opportunity, Trevor surmounted staggering obstacles and created a promising future for himself, thanks to his mom’s unwavering love and indomitable will.

16 Apr Pilu of the Woods by Mai Nguyen. Oni Press. DEBUT AUTHOR ages 8-12
For fans of Hilda and the Troll comes PILU OF THE WOODS, a heartwarming and bittersweet story of friendship, loss, exploring complex emotions and finding your way home.

16 Apr Imperfect : A Story of Body Image by Dounya Awada  (Author), Garry Leach (Illustrator), Miralti Firmansyah (Illustrator), Anthony Edward Zuiker PhD (Contributor) Simon and Schuster. ages 12 and up
Imperfect: A Story of Body Image is the fourth in a series of graphic novels written by young adults for their peers. Dounya, a Muslim girl living in Las Vegas, Nevada, shares her very personal story of battling eating disorders when she was a teenager, in order to help other young people suffering from this affliction. Dounya Awada is a 24-year-old, devout Muslim, happy, healthy, and very much alive. But just a few years before, she nearly starved to death.

16 Apr The Chupacabras of the Rio Grand (The Unicorn Rescue Society) by Adam Gidwitz, David Bowles and Hatem Aly. Dutton. ages 7-10
Elliot and Uchenna have only just returned from their most recent Unicorn Rescue Society mission when Professor Fauna whisks them away (Jersey, too!), on their next exciting adventure. This time, they’re headed to Laredo, on the U.S.-Mexican border to help another mythical creature in need: the chupacabras.

Teaming up with local kids Lupita and Mateo Cervantes–plus their brilliant mother, Dr. Alejandra Cervantes and her curandero husband Israel–the kids struggle to not only keep the chupacabras safe, but also to bring a divided community together once more.

16 Apr Colorblind : A Story of Racism by Johnathan Harris  (Author), Garry Leach (Illustrator), Anthony Zuiker PhD (Contributor) Simon and Schuster ages 12 and up
Johnathan, a fifteen-year-old African American from Long Beach, California, shares his story of being physically and verbally harassed because of his race, and of overcoming the discrimination to embrace all cultures, and then to be proud of his own. Colorblind: A Story of Racism is the third in a series of graphic novels written by young adults for their peers. Colorblind is Johnathan’s story of confronting his own racism and overcoming it. It is a story of hope and optimism that all, young and old, should heed..

23 Apr The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala. Katherine Tegen Books. DEBUT
Drawing inspiration from ancient Indian history and Hindu mythology, the first book in Swati Teerdhala’s debut fantasy trilogy captivates with electric romance, stunning action, and the fierce bonds that hold people together—and that drive them apart.

30 Apr Brief Chronicle of Another Stupid Heartbreak by Adi Alsaid. Harlequin Teen. ages 12 and up
The summer after senior year is not going as eighteen-year-old Lu Charles expected: after her longtime boyfriend unexpectedly breaks up with her, she finds herself unable to write her relationships column for Misnomer, the popular e-zine that feels so central to her identity. Then, she meets Cal, a handsome, charming and decidedly un-single stranger. Or is he?

30 Apr Aru Shah and the Song of Death (A Pandava Novel) by Roshani Chokshi. Rick Riordan Presents. ages 9-12
Aru is only just getting the hang of this whole Pandava thing when the Otherworld goes into full panic mode. The god of love’s bow and arrow have gone missing, and the thief isn’t playing Cupid. Instead, they’re turning people into heartless fighting-machine zombies. If that weren’t bad enough, somehow Aru gets framed as the thief. If she doesn’t find the arrow by the next full moon, she’ll be kicked out of the Otherworld. For good. But, for better or worse, she won’t be going it alone. Along with her soul-sister, Mini, Aru will team up with Brynne, an ultra-strong girl who knows more than she lets on, and Aiden, the boy who lives across the street and is also hiding plenty of secrets. Together they’ll battle demons, travel through a glittering and dangerous serpent realm, and discover that their enemy isn’t at all who they expected.

30 Apr Silver Meadows Summer by Emma Otheguy. Knopf. ages 8-12
Eleven-year-old Carolina’s summer–and life as she knows it–is upended when Papi loses his job, and she and her family must move from Puerto Rico to her Tía Cuca and Uncle Porter’s house in upstate New York. Now Carolina must attend Silver Meadows camp, where her bossy older cousin Gabriela rules the social scene.

Just as Carolina worries she’ll have to spend the entire summer in Gabriela’s shadow, she makes a friend of her own in Jennifer, a fellow artist. Carolina gets another welcome surprise when she stumbles upon a long-abandoned cottage in the woods near the campsite and immediately sees its potential as a creative haven for making art. There, with Jennifer, Carolina begins to reclaim the parts of the life she loved in Puerto Rico and forget about how her relationship with Mami has changed and how distant Papi has become.

But when the future of Silver Meadows and the cottage is thrown into jeopardy, Carolina and–to everyone’s surprise–Gabriela come up with a plan to save them. Will it work?

30 April Love From A to Z by S. K. Ali. Simon and Schuster.
When she gets suspended for confronting her teacher, and he begins investigating her activist friends, Zayneb heads to her aunt’s house in Doha, Qatar, for an early start to spring break.
Fueled by the guilt of getting her friends in trouble, she resolves to try out a newer, “nicer” version of herself in a place where no one knows her. Then her path crosses with Adam’s. Alone, Adam and Zayneb are playing roles for others, keeping their real thoughts locked away in their journals.
Until a marvel and an oddity occurs…

30 Apr I Was Their American Dream by Malaka Gharib. Clarkson Potter. GN
Malaka Gharib’s triumphant graphic memoir brings to life her teenage antics and illuminates earnest questions about identity and culture, while providing thoughtful insight into the lives of modern immigrants and the generation of millennial children they raised. Malaka’s story is a heartfelt tribute to the American immigrants who have invested their future in the promise of the American dream.

30 Apr This Place: 150 Years Retold by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Sonny Assu, Brandon Mitchell, Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, David A. Robertson, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Jen Storm, Richard Van Camp, Katherena Vermette, Chelsea Vowel | illustrated by Tara Audibert, Kyle Charles, GMB Chomichuk, Natasha Donovan, Scott B. Henderson, Ryan Howe, Andrew Lodwick and Jen Storm. HighWater Press. GN
Explore the past 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators in this groundbreaking graphic novel anthology. Beautifully illustrated, these stories are an emotional and enlightening journey through Indigenous wonderworks, psychic battles, and time travel. See how Indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since Contact.

MAY

4 May The Chosen (Contender) by Taran Matharu. Feiwel and Friends. ages 12-18 SFF
Throughout history, people have vanished with no explanation. A group of teenagers are about to discover why. Cade is settling into a new boarding school, contemplating his future, when he finds himself transported to another realm. He soon discovers their new world is populated with lost remnants from the past: prehistoric creatures, ancient relics, and stranger still―people. Overwhelmed by his new surroundings, Cade has little time to adjust, for soon he and his fellow classmates are forced to become contenders in a brutal game, controlled by mysterious overlords. But who are these beings and why did they choose these teens? Cade must prepare for battle . . . because hiding is not an option.

7 May Nocturna by Maya Motayne. Balzer + Bray. ages 12-18 SFF
As a talented faceshifter, it’s been years since Finn has seen her own face, and that’s exactly how she likes it. But when Finn gets caught by a powerful mobster, she’s forced into an impossible mission: steal a legendary treasure from Castallan’s royal palace or be stripped of her magic forever.

7 May Just South of Home by Karen Strong. Simon and Schuster. ages 8-12 Debut Author
Twelve-year-old Sarah is finally in charge. At last, she can spend her summer months reading her favorite science books and bossing around her younger brother, Ellis, instead of being worked to the bone by their overly strict grandmother, Mrs. Greene. But when their cousin, Janie arrives for a visit, Sarah’s plans are completely squashed.

Janie has a knack for getting into trouble and asks Sarah to take her to Creek Church: a landmark of their small town that she heard was haunted. It’s also off-limits. Janie’s sticky fingers lead Sarah, Ellis and his best friend, Jasper, to uncover a deep-seated part of the town’s past. With a bit of luck, this foursome will heal the place they call home and the people within it they call family.

7 May Shuri: The Search for Black Panther by Nnedi Okorafor, Leonardo Romero, and Jordie Bellaire. Marvel.
The Black Panther has disappeared, lost on a mission in space. And in his absence, everyone’s looking at the next in line for the throne. But Shuri is happiest in a lab, surrounded by gadgets of her own creation. She’d rather be testing gauntlets than throwing them. But a nation without a leader is a vulnerable one – and Shuri may have to choose between Wakanda’s welfare and her own.

7 May Somewhere Only We Know by Maureen Goo. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux ages 12-18
10:00 p.m.: Lucky is the biggest K-pop star on the scene, and she’s just performed her hit song “Heartbeat” in Hong Kong to thousands of adoring fans. She’s about to debut on The Tonight Show in America, hopefully a breakout performance for her career. But right now? She’s in her fancy hotel, trying to fall asleep but dying for a hamburger.

11:00 p.m.: Jack is sneaking into a fancy hotel, on assignment for his tabloid job that he keeps secret from his parents. On his way out of the hotel, he runs into a girl wearing slippers, a girl who is single-mindedly determined to find a hamburger. She looks kind of familiar. She’s very cute. He’s maybe curious.

12:00 a.m.: Nothing will ever be the same.

7 May We Are the Change: Words of Inspiration from Civil Rights Leaders by Harry Belafonte. Chronicle. ages 8-12
Sixteen award-winning children’s book artists illustrate the civil rights quotations that inspire them in this stirring and beautiful book. Featuring an introduction by Harry Belafonte, words from Eleanor Roosevelt, Maya Angelou, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. among others, this inspirational collection sets a powerful example for generations of young leaders to come.

7 May With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo. HarperCollins. ages 12-18
Ever since she got pregnant freshman year, Emoni Santiago’s life has been about making the tough decisions—doing what has to be done for her daughter and her abuela. The one place she can let all that go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness. Even though she dreams of working as a chef after she graduates, Emoni knows that it’s not worth her time to pursue the impossible. Yet despite the rules she thinks she has to play by, once Emoni starts cooking, her only choice is to let her talent break free.

14 May Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai. Henry Holt and Co. ages 8-11
When Jingwen moves to a new country, school  becomes torture, making friends is impossible since he doesn’t speak English, and he’s often stuck looking after his (extremely irritating) little brother, Yanghao.

To distract himself from the loneliness, Jingwen daydreams about making all the cakes on the menu of Pie in the Sky, the bakery his father had planned to open before he unexpectedly passed away. The only problem is his mother has laid down one major rule: the brothers are not to use the oven while she’s at work. As Jingwen and Yanghao bake elaborate cakes, they’ll have to cook up elaborate excuses to keep the cake making a secret from Mama.

14 May The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad. Scholastic. ages 12 and up
Fatima lives in the city of Noor, a thriving stop along the Silk Road. There the music of myriad languages fills the air, and people of all faiths weave their lives together. However, the city bears scars of its recent past, when the chaotic tribe of Shayateen djinn slaughtered its entire population — except for Fatima and two other humans. Now ruled by a new maharajah, Noor is protected from the Shayateen by the Ifrit, djinn of order and reason, and by their commander, Zulfikar. But when one of the most potent of the Ifrit dies, Fatima is changed in ways she cannot fathom, ways that scare even those who love her. Oud in hand, Fatima is drawn into the intrigues of the maharajah and his sister, the affairs of Zulfikar and the djinn, and the dangers of a magical battlefield.

14 May Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno. Disney-Hyperion. DEBUT AUTHOR ages 12-18.
Rosa Santos is cursed by the sea-at least, that’s what they say. Dating her is bad news, especially if you’re a boy with a boat. But Rosa feels more caught than cursed. Caught between cultures and choices. Between her abuela, a beloved healer and pillar of their community, and her mother, an artist who crashes in and out of her life like a hurricane. Between Port Coral, the quirky South Florida town they call home, and Cuba, the island her abuela refuses to talk about. As her college decision looms, Rosa collides-literally-with Alex Aquino, the mysterious boy with tattoos of the ocean whose family owns the marina. With her heart, her family, and her future on the line, can Rosa break a curse and find her place beyond the horizon?

14 May Freedom Fire : Dactyl Hill Squad #2 by Daniel José Older. Arthur Levine Books. ages 8-12
The squad links up with the dino-mounted troops of the Louisiana Native Guard, an all-black regiment in the Union Army fighting to free their people. They’re led by General Sheridan, surrounded by enemy forces in Tennessee and desperate for any edge to sway the tide of battle. Magdalys’s burgeoning powers might be the Union’s last hope. But she doesn’t want to abandon the search for her brother. And she might not be the only one with a mysterious connection to dinosaurs. With the Civil War raging around her and the Union on the brink of collapse, how can Magdalys choose between the army that needs her help to survive and the brother she risked everything to save?

14 May Hotcomb by Ebony Flowers. Drawn and Quarterly.
Hot Comb offers a poignant glimpse into black women’s lives and coming-of-age stories as seen across a crowded, ammonia-scented hair salon while ladies gossip and bond over the burn. The titular “Hot Comb” is about a young girl’s first perm―a doomed ploy to look cool and stop seeming “too white” in the all-black neighborhood her family has just moved into. In “Virgin Hair,” taunts of “tender-headed” sting as much as the perm itself. “My Lil Sister Lena” shows the stress of being the only black player on a white softball team. Lena’s hair is the team curio, an object to be touched, a subject to be discussed and debated at the will of her teammates, leading Lena to develop an anxiety disorder of pulling her own hair out. Throughout Hot Comb, Ebony Flowers re-creates classic magazine ads idealizing women’s need for hair relaxers and products. “Change your hair form to fit your life form” and “Kinks and Koils Forever” call customers from the page.

14 May Jada Sly, Artist and Spy by Sherri WInston. Little, Brown. ages 8-12
Ten-year-old Jada Sly is an artist and a spy-in-training. When she isn’t studying the art from her idols like Jackie Ormes, the first-known African American cartoonist, she’s chronicling her spy training and other observations in her art journal.

14 May A Place to Belong by Cynthia Kadohata. Atheneum. ages 10-14
Twelve-year-old Hanako and her family, reeling from their confinement in an internment camp, renounce their American citizenship to move to Hiroshima, a city devastated by the atomic bomb dropped by Americans

14 May There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon. Simon Pulse. ages 12-18
The companion novel to the New York Times bestseller When Dimple Met Rishi, which follows Rishi’s brother, Ashish, and a confident, self-proclaimed fat athlete named Sweetie as they both discover what love means to them.

17 May Laila and the Sands of Time by Shirin Sharmsi. Sprork. ages 8-12
Thirteen-year-old Laila, still grieving over her father’s death, goes on their planned pilgrimage with her aunt and uncle. When she is transported back in time to 7th century Arabia, she faces the dangers of the desert, takes on a disguise, and saves a baby’s life. But will she ever return to her own time?

21 May Girl Gone Viral by Arvin Ahmadi. Viking Books for Young Readers. ages 12-18
The inventive and hauntingly timely story of a seventeen-year-old coder’s catapult to stardom, reminiscent of The Social Network with a Ready Player One twist. For seventeen-year-old Opal Hopper, code is magic. She can build entire worlds from scratch–shimmering lakes, Mars craters, any virtual experience her heart desires. But she can’t code her dad back into her life. When he disappeared after her tenth birthday, leaving only a cryptic note, Opal tried desperately to find him. And when he never turned up, she enrolled at a boarding school for technical prodigies and tried to forget. Until now. Because WAVE, the world’s biggest virtual reality platform, has announced a contest where the winner gets to meet its billionaire founder. The same billionaire who worked closely with Opal’s dad. The one she always believed might know where he went. The one who maybe even murdered him. What begins as a small data hack to win the contest spirals out of control when Opal goes viral, digging her deeper into a hole of lies, hacks, and manipulation. How far will Opal go for the answers–or is it the attention–she’s wanted for years.

14 May The Things She’s Seen by Ambelin Kwaymullina. Knopf. ages 12 and up
Nothing’s been the same for Beth Teller since the day she died.

Her dad is drowning in grief. He’s also the only one who has been able to see and hear her since the accident. But now she’s got a mystery to solve, a mystery that will hopefully remind her detective father that he needs to reconnect with the living. The case takes them to a remote Australian town, where there’s been a suspicious fire. All that remains are an unidentifiable body and an unreliable witness found wandering nearby. This witness speaks in riddles. Isobel Catching has a story to tell, and it’s a tale to haunt your dreams–but does it even connect to the case at hand? As Beth and her father unravel the mystery, they find a shocking and heartbreaking story lurking beneath the surface of a small town.

14 May We Hunt the Flame (Sands of Arawiya) by Hafsah Faizal. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. ages 12-18
Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya―but neither wants to be. War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds―and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.

21 May The Usual Suspects by Maurice Broaddus. Harper Collins.  MG DEBUT ages 8-12.
Thelonius Mitchell is tired of being labeled. He’s in special ed, separated from the “normal” kids at school who don’t have any “issues.” That’s enough to make all the teachers and students look at him and his friends with a constant side-eye. When a gun is found at a neighborhood hangout, Thelonius and his pals become instant suspects. Thelonius may be guilty of pulling crazy stunts at school, but a criminal? T isn’t about to let that label stick.

21 May Let Me Hear A Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson. Katherine Tegen Books. ages 12-18
Brooklyn, 1998. Biggie Smalls was right: Things done changed. But that doesn’t mean that Quadir and Jarrell are cool letting their best friend Steph’s music lie forgotten under his bed after he’s murdered—not when his rhymes could turn any Bed Stuy corner into a party. With the help of Steph’s younger sister Jasmine, they come up with a plan to promote Steph’s music under a new rap name: the Architect. Soon, everyone wants a piece of him. When his demo catches the attention of a hotheaded music label rep, the trio must prove Steph’s talent from beyond the grave. As the pressure of keeping their secret grows, Quadir, Jarrell, and Jasmine are forced to confront the truth about what happened to Steph. Only, each has something to hide. And with everything riding on Steph’s fame, they need to decide what they stand for or lose all that they’ve worked so hard to hold on to—including each other.

21 May Symptons of a Heartbreak by Sona Charaipotra. Imprint. ages 12-18
The youngest doctor in America, an Indian-American teen makes her rounds―and falls head over heels―in the contemporary romantic comedy.

28 May Fake It Till You Break It by Jenn P. Nguyen. Swoon Reads. ages 12-18
Mia and Jake have known each other their whole lives. They’ve endured summer vacations, Sunday brunches, even dentist visits together. Their mothers, who are best friends, are convinced that Mia and Jake would be the perfect couple, even though they can’t stand to be in the same room together. After Mia’s mom turns away yet another cute boy, Mia and Jake decide they’ve had enough. Together, they hatch a plan to get their moms off their backs. Permanently. All they have to do is pretend to date and then stage the worst breakup of all time―and then they’ll be free. It’s the perfect plan – except that it turns out maybe Mia and Jake don’t hate each other as much as they once though.

28 May I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn. Scholastic. ages 12-18
Kimi is obsessed with transforming everyday ephemera into Kimi Originals: bold outfits that make her and her friends feel like the Ultimate versions of themselves. But her mother disapproves, and when they get into an explosive fight, Kimi’s entire future seems on the verge of falling apart. So when a surprise letter comes in the mail from Kimi’s estranged grandparents, inviting her to Kyoto for spring break, she seizes the opportunity to get away from the disaster of her life.

When she arrives in Japan, she’s met with a culture both familiar and completely foreign to her. She loses herself in the city’s outdoor markets, art installations, and cherry blossom festival – and meets Akira, a cute aspiring med student who moonlights as a costumed mochi mascot. And what begins as a trip to escape her problems quickly becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies

28 May Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga. Balzer + Bray. ages 8-12
Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives. At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven’t quite prepared her for starting school in the US –and her new label of “Middle Eastern,” an identity she’s never known before.

30 May Stone River Crossing by Tim Tingle. Tu Books/Lee & Low. ages 8-12
Crossing to freedom with his family seems impossible with slave catchers roaming, but then there is a miracle—a magical night where things become unseen and souls walk on water. By morning, Lil Mo discovers he has entered a completely new world of tradition, community, and . . . a little magic. But as Lil Mo’s family adjusts to their new life, danger waits just around the corner.

JUNE

4 June Virtually Yours by Sarvenaz Tash. Simon and Schuster. 14-18
College freshman Mariam uses a new virtual reality dating service and is matched not only with her new best friend, Jeremy, but also with her high school ex-boyfriend, Caleb.

4 June Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian. Balzer + Bray. ages 12-18
It’s 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He’s terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he’s gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media’s images of men dying of AIDS. Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance…until she falls for Reza and they start dating. Art is Judy’s best friend, their school’s only out and proud teen. He’ll never be who his conservative parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs. As Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that won’t break Judy’s heart—and destroy the most meaningful friendship he’s ever known.

4 June This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura. Harper Collins. ages 14-18
Katsuyamas never quit — but seventeen-year-old CJ doesn’t even know where to start. She’s never lived up to her mom’s type A ambition, and she’s perfectly happy just helping her aunt, Hannah, at their family’s flower shop. She doesn’t buy into Hannah’s romantic ideas about flowers and their hidden meanings, but when it comes to arranging the perfect bouquet, CJ discovers a knack she never knew she had. A skill she might even be proud of. Then her mom decides to sell the shop — to the family who swindled CJ’s grandparents when thousands of Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during WWII. Soon a rift threatens to splinter CJ’s family, friends, and their entire Northern California community; and for the first time, CJ has found something she wants to fight for.

4 June Not Your Backup (Sidekick Squad) by C. B. Lee. Interlude. ages 14-18
Emma Robledo has a few more responsibilities that the usual high school senior, but then again, she and her friends have left school to lead a fractured Resistance movement against a corrupt Heroes League of Heroes. Emma is the only member of a supercharged team without powers, she isnt always taken seriously. A natural leader, Emma is determined to win this battle, and when thats done, get back to school. As the Resistance moves to challenge the League, Emma realizes where her place is in this fight: at the front.

4 June If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann. Swoon Books
High school finally behind her, Winnie is all set to attend college in the fall. But first she’s spending her summer days working at her granny’s diner and begins spending her midnights with Dallas—the boy she loves to hate and hates that she likes. Winnie lives in Misty Haven, a small town where secrets are impossible to keep—like when Winnie allegedly snaps on Dr. Skinner, which results in everyone feeling compelled to give her weight loss advice for her own good. Because they care that’s she’s “too fat.” Winnie dreams of someday inheriting the diner—but it’ll go away if they can’t make money, and fast. Winnie has a solution—win a televised cooking competition and make bank. But Granny doesn’t want her to enter—so Winnie has to find a way around her formidable grandmother. Can she come out on top?

4 June Five Midnights by Ann Davila Cardinal. Tor Teen. ages 12-18
Five friends cursed. Five deadly fates. Five nights of retribuci n. If Lupe D vila and Javier Utierre can survive each other’s company, together they can solve a series of grisly murders sweeping though Puerto Rico. But the clues lead them out of the real world and into the realm of myths and legends. And if they want to catch the killer, they’ll have to step into the shadows to see what’s lurking there–murderer, or monster?

4 June The Misadventures of Max Crumbly 3 : Masters of Mischief by Rachel Renée Russell. Aladdin. ages 8-12
When we last left our courageous hero, Max Crumbly, and his trusty sidekick Erin, they had just finished foiling the plans of some bumbling thieves. But Max and Erin were trapped in a smelly, dangerous dumpster of doom and about to be discovered by the last people they wanted to find them. Now in this latest installment of Max’s journals, Max and Erin face foes both new and old as their misadventures continue. Can the two friends avoid detection-and detention!-while keeping South Ridge Middle School safe from bullies and criminals.

4 June I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest. Roaring Brook Press.
When Chloe Pierce’s mom forbids her to apply for a spot at the dance conservatory of her dreams, she devises a secret plan to drive two hundred miles to the nearest audition. But Chloe hits her first speed bump when her annoying neighbor Eli insists upon hitching a ride, threatening to tell Chloe’s mom if she leaves him and his smelly dog, Geezer, behind. So now Chloe’s chasing her ballet dreams down the east coast―two unwanted (but kinda cute) passengers in her car, butterflies in her stomach, and a really dope playlist on repeat.

4 June Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin. Berkley.
Ayesha Shamsi has a lot going on. Her dreams of being a poet have been set aside for a teaching job so she can pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle. She lives with her boisterous Muslim family and is always being reminded that her flighty younger cousin, Hafsa, is close to rejecting her one hundredth marriage proposal. Though Ayesha is lonely, she doesn’t want an arranged marriage. Then she meets Khalid, who is just as smart and handsome as he is conservative and judgmental. She is irritatingly attracted to someone who looks down on her choices and who dresses like he belongs in the seventh century.

When a surprise engagement is announced between Khalid and Hafsa, Ayesha is torn between how she feels about the straightforward Khalid and the unsettling new gossip she hears about his family. Looking into the rumors, she finds she has to deal with not only what she discovers about Khalid, but also the truth she realizes about herself.

10 June Mother Steals  Bicycle : And Other Stories by Salai Selvam and Shritui Buddhavarapu and illus. by Tejubehan. Tara Books. ages 10-14
Midnight feasts, roving hyenas, shrieking peacocks, buzzing insects and stolen bicycles…does it sound unbelievable? And yet…could it all be true?

11 June Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi. Feiwel & Friends. ages 12-18. LGBTQIAP+.
Told in alternative viewpoints and inspired by classic romantic comedies, this YA novel follows two strong-willed young women falling for each other despite themselves.

11 June Midsummer’s Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca. Yellow Jacket. ages 8-12
Loosely based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, eleven-year-old Mimi Mackson entangles herself and her family with mischievous fairies when she seeks to win a baking contest.

11 June The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Vallasante. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. ages 12-18
After escaping a detention center at the U.S. border, seventeen-year-old Marisol agrees to participate in a medical experiment hoping to keep her and her younger sister, Gabi, from being deported to El Salvador.

11 June Sea Sirens (A Trot & Cap’n Bill Adventure) by Amy Chu and Janet K. Lee. Viking. ages 8-12 GN
Trot, a Vietnamese American surfer girl, and Cap’n Bill, her cranky one-eyed cat, catch too big a wave and wipe out, sucked down into a magical underwater kingdom where an ancient deep-sea battle rages. The beautiful Sea Siren mermaids are under attack from the Serpent King and his slithery minions–and Trot and her feline become dangerously entangled in this war of tails and fins.

11 June Stronger than a Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan. Page Street Kids. ages 14-18
When a powerful viceroy arrives with a fleet of mechanical dragons and stops an attack on Anlei’s village, the villagers see him as a godsend. They agree to give him their sacred, enchanted River Pearl in exchange for permanent protection–if he’ll marry one of the village girls to solidify the alliance. Anlei is appalled when the viceroy selects her as a bride, but with the fate of her people at stake, she sees no choice but to consent. Anlei’s noble plans are sent into a tailspin, however, when a young thief steals the River Pearl for himself. Knowing the viceroy won’t protect her village without the jewel, she takes matters into her own hands. But once she catches the thief, she discovers he needs the pearl just as much as she does. The two embark on an epic quest across the land and into the Courts of Hell, taking Anlei on a journey that reveals more is at stake than she could have ever imagined.

13 June Alexis vs. Summer Vacation by Sarah Jamila Stevenson, Sera Rivers and Veronica Agarwal. Center for Responsive Schools. MG graphic novel LGBTQIA+
The summer before high school is supposed to be a time to reinvent yourself, but fourteen-year-old Alexis isn’t sure who she wants to be. It doesn’t help that she hasn’t mustered up the courage to talk to Hayley, that cute junior lifeguard at the local pool, or that she doesn’t know what liking a girl means for her identity. When she meets Luke and Jason, she discovers she isn’t the only person who hasn’t figured life out. Alexis devises a plan for the three of them to level up by taking charge and changing their situations for the better. She soon discovers that being assertive isn’t as easy as rolling the die in her fantasy role-playing game. Alexis must learn to navigate how to be a good friend and speak up for herself or risk failing at the game called life.

18 June Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay. Kokila. ages 12-18
Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, Jay travels to the Philippines to find out the real story. Hoping to uncover more about Jun and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reckon with the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole horrible truth — and the part he played in it.

18 June Hungry Hearts : 13 Tales of Food & Love by Else Chapman and Caroline Tung Richmond. Simon Pulse. ages 13-17
From some of your favorite bestselling and critically acclaimed authors—including Sandhya Menon, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Rin Chupeco—comes a collection of interconnected short stories that explore the intersection of family, culture, and food in the lives of thirteen teens.

18 June All of Us With Wings by Michelle Ruiz Keill. Soho Teen. ages 12-18
Seventeen-year-old Xochi’s life changed when she became governess to precocious twelve-year-old Pallas, but the duo unintentionally summons a pair of ancient creatures determined to right the wrongs of Xochi’s adolescence.

18 June House Without Walls by Ching Yeung Russell. Yellow Jacket. ages 10-14.
Written in verse, this novel centers on a girl who escapes from Vietnam in 1979 and finds a friend in a refugee camp.

18 June Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox) by Julie Kagawa. Inkyard Press. ages 12-18
Kitsune shapeshifter Yumeko has one task: to take her piece of the ancient and powerful Scroll of a Thousand Prayers to the Steel Feather temple in order to prevent the summoning of the Harbinger of Change, the great Kami Dragon who will grant one wish to whomever holds the scroll. But she has a new enemy now, more dangerous than any she has yet faced. The demon Hakaimono is free at last, and he has possessed the very person Yumeko trusted to protect her from the evil at her heels, Kage Tatsumi of the Shadow Clan.

Hakaimono has only one goal: to break the curse of the sword and set himself free to rain chaos and destruction over the land forevermore. To do so, he will need the scroll. And Yumeko is the only one standing in his way.

25 June Wicked Fox by Kat Cho. G.P. Putnam’s Sons. ages 12 and up
No one in modern-day Seoul believes in the old fables anymore, which makes it the perfect place to for Gu Miyoung and her mother to hide in plain sight. Miyoung is a Gumiho, a nine-tailed fox, who must eat the souls of men to survive. She feeds every full moon–eating the souls of men who have committed crimes, but have evaded justice. Her life is upended when she kills a dokkaebi, a murderous goblin, in the forest just to save the life of a stupid boy. But after Miyoung saves Jihoon’s life, the two develop a tenuous friendship that blooms into romance forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon’s.

28 June The Voice in My Head by Dana L. Davis. Inyard. ages 12-18
From the author of Tiffany Sly Lives Here Now comes an unforgettable novel about facing the impossible, dealing with family chaos—and making sense of everything you are.

30 June Bending Time: Adventures of Emery Jones, Boy Science Wonder (series) by Charles Johnson and Elisheba Johnson. Chatwin Books. ages 7–12
When ten-year-old genius Emery Jones accidentally sends Chippy 190 million years back in time, he’s not sure he can reverse the process—or if he even wants to. Chippy, his crew of bullies, their teacher, and even Emery’s dad don’t seem to understand Emery’s genius. Will Emery Jones risk traveling to the Triassic Period to rescue a bully like Chippy? You never know what can happen when you have the brains and the technology for bending time…

JULY

2 July Teen Titans: Raven by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo. D C Ink. ages 12-16
When a tragic accident takes the life of the only family she’s ever known, 16-year-old Raven is sent to New Orleans to start over. She soon discovers that she can hear the thoughts of others around her … and another, more disturbing, voice in her head.

2 July Symptoms of a Heartbreak by Sona Charaipotra. Imprint. ages 12-18
The youngest doctor in America, an Indian-American teen makes her rounds — and falls head over heels — in the contemporary romantic comedy Symptoms of a Heartbreak. Fresh from med school, sixteen-year-old medical prodigy Saira arrives for her first day at her new job: treating children with cancer. She’s always had to balance family and friendships with her celebrity as the Girl Genius — but she’s never had to prove herself to skeptical adult co-workers while adjusting to real life-and-death stakes. And working in the same hospital as her mother certainly isn’t making things any easier. But life gets complicated when Saira finds herself falling in love with a patient: a cute teen boy who’s been diagnosed with cancer. And when she risks her brand new career to try to improve his chances, it could cost her everything. It turns out “heartbreak” is the one thing she still doesn’t know how to treat.

2 July Bloody Seoul  by Sonia Patel Cinco Puntos. ages 12-18
A Korean teen must face the truth about his gangster father and his meth addict mother.

2 July The Best Lies by Sarah Lyu. Simon Pulse. ages 12-18 DEBUT AUTHOR
Told in alternating timelines, this twisted psychological thriller explores the dark side of obsessive friendship.

16 July Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee. Amulet Books. ages 13-up
The first of two novels based on Kyoshi, an Earth Kingdom-born Avatar who pursues justice.

16 July They Called Us Enemy by George Takei. Top Self Comics.
In 1942, at the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, every person of Japanese descent on the west coast was rounded up and shipped to one of ten “relocation centers,” hundreds or thousands of miles from home, where they would be held for years under armed guard.

They Called Us Enemy is Takei’s firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, the joys and terrors of growing up under legalized racism, his mother’s hard choices, his father’s faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future.

What does it mean to be American? Who gets to decide? When the world is against you, what can one person do? To answer these questions, George Takei joins co-writers Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott and artist Harmony Becker for the journey of a lifetime.

16 July Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones ages 12-18
An adaption of the author’s adult book about the opiate crisis for young readers.

30 July Spin the Dawn (The Blood of Stars) by Elizabeth Lim. Knopf Books. ages 12 and up
Maia Tamarin dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well. When a royal messenger summons her ailing father, once a tailor of renown, to court, Maia poses as a boy and takes his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she’ll take that risk to achieve her dream and save her family from ruin. There’s just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job. Backstabbing and lies run rampant as the tailors compete in challenges to prove their artistry and skill. Maia’s task is further complicated when she draws the attention of the court enchanter, Edan, whose piercing eyes seem to see straight through her disguise. And nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three magic gowns for the emperor’s reluctant bride-to-be, from the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars. With this impossible task before her, she embarks on a journey to the far reaches of the kingdom, seeking the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finding more than she ever could have imagined.

30 July Truly Madly Royally by Debbie Rigaud. Point.
New Jersey girl Zora Emerson is attending her pre-college prep at Halstead University, where the incredibly wealthy and stuck-up students go, and after only a week she is feeling academically confident but socially out of place; then an awkward mix-up of cell phones brings her into closer contact with Owen Whittelsey (prince of a small European country) and his security guards–but it is when Owen asks her to be his date at his brother’s royal wedding that life becomes really complicated

30 July After the Fall by E. C. Myers, Kerry Shawcross and Miles Luna. Scholastic. ages 12-18
A year after the destruction of Beacon Academy, Team CFVY answers a distress call and are forced to relive their former battles, from both the fall of Beacon and from everything that came before.

30 July The Hero Next Door by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkivich. Random/Crown. ages 8-12
Linda Sue Park, Ronald L. Smith, and more contribute to this roundup of stories about bravery from We Need Diverse Books.

30 July Standing Strong (Pathfinders) by Gary Robinson. 7th Generation. ages 12-17
Like some other Native American teens on Montana reservations, Rhonda Runningcrane attempted suicide. To her, life seemed bleak and pointless. But when she learns that donations are needed to support a large protest against an oil company running a pipeline through sacred Native land, something inside her clicks. Unlike her friends, Rhonda is inspired to join the fight, even though she knows it could be dangerous. Using skills she learned from her uncle, Rhonda becomes part of the crew that keeps the protesters’ camp running. With inspiration from a wise Native elder, the teen commits herself to an important cause, dedicating her life to protecting the sacred waters of Mother Earth.

30 July My Fate According to the Butterfly by Gail Villanueva. Scholastic. DEBUT AUTHOR ages 8-12
Superstitious soon-to-be 11-year-old Sab believes her fate is sealed when she spots an ominous black butterfly. Determined to reconcile her journalist older sister and their father before her time is up, Sab embarks on a quest that sends her on a collision course with the realities of Manila and the war on drugs.

30 July For Black Girls Like Me by Mariama J. Lockington.  Farrar, Straus and Giroux. DEBUT AUTHOR ages 9-11.
In this lyrical coming-of-age story about family, sisterhood, music, race, and identity, Mariama J. Lockington draws on some of the emotional truths from her own experiences growing up with an adoptive white family. For Black Girls Like Me is for anyone who has ever asked themselves: How do you figure out where you are going if you don’t know where you came from?

AUGUST

1 Aug They Could Have Named Her Anything by Stephanie Jimenez. Little A. ages 12-18
Every morning, seventeen-year-old Maria Anís Rosario takes the subway an hour from her boisterous and close-knit family in Queens to her private high school on the Upper East Side, where she struggles to fit in as one of the only Latina students—until Rocky welcomes her into this new life. White, rebellious, and ignored by her wealthy parents, Rocky uses her money toward one goal: to get away with anything. To Maria, it’s a dazzling privilege.

As a bond develops between these unlikely friends, neither can see what they share most—jealousy and the desire for each other’s lives. But crackling under the surface of their seemingly supportive alliance, the girls begin to commit little betrayals as they strive to get closer to their ideals regardless of the consequences.

6 Aug Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, A Crash of Fate by Zoraida Córdova. Disney Lucasfilm Press.
Izzy and Jules were childhood friends, climbing the spires of Batuu, inventing silly games, and dreaming of adventures they would share one day. Then, Izzy’s family left abruptly, without even a chance to say goodbye. Izzy’s life became one of constant motion, traveling from one world to the next, until her parents were killed and she became a low-level smuggler to make ends meet. Jules remained on Batuu,eventually becoming a farmer like his father, but always yearning for something more. Now, thirteen years after she left, Izzy is returning to Batuu. She’s been hired to deliver a mysterious parcel, and she just wants to finish the job and get gone. But upon arrival at Black Spire Outpost she runs smack into the one person who still means something to her after all this time: Jules. The attraction between them is immediate, yet despite Jules seeming to be everything she’s ever needed, Izzy hesitates. How can she drag this good-hearted man into the perilous life she’s chosen? Jules has been trying to figure out his future, but now all he knows for certain is that he wants to be with Izzy. How can he convince her to take a chance on someone who’s never left the safety of his homeworld? When Izzy’s job goes wrong, the two childhood friends find themselves on the run. And all their secrets will be revealed as they fight to stay alive?

6 Aug I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Gilly Segal and Kimberly Jones. Sourcebooks Fire.
Told from two viewpoints, Atlanta high school seniors Lena and Campbell, one black, one white, must rely on each other to survive after a football rivalry escalates into a riot.

6 Aug Each Tiny Spark by Pablo Cartaya. Penguin.
Emilia Torres has a wandering mind. It’s hard for her to follow along at school, and sometimes she forgets to do what her mom or abuela asks. But she remembers what matters: a time when her family was whole and home made sense. When Dad returns from deployment, Emilia expects that her life will get back to normal. Instead, it unravels. Dad shuts himself in the back stall of their family’s auto shop to work on an old car. Emilia peeks in on him daily, mesmerized by his welder. One day, Dad calls Emilia over. Then, he teaches her how to weld. And over time, flickers of her old dad reappear.

But as Emilia finds a way to repair the relationship with her father at home, her community ruptures with some of her classmates, like her best friend, Gus, at the center of the conflict.

6 Aug Golden Like Summer by Gene Gant. DreamSpinner Press. LGBTQIA+
When he escapes the abusive man he calls Pa, Joey thinks his nightmare is over. Instead, a new one begins. The police don’t buy Joey’s story about the six-year-old boy he saved from Pa during his escape . Suddenly he’s being accused of a crime, threatened, and shown firsthand how the criminal justice system treats a black teen with no resources. After making another escape, Joey gives himself a new name, Alan, and starts a new life living in an abandoned house. Then he meets Desi, another homeless boy.

Though their mutual attraction grows into deeper feelings, Alan’s ordeal has left him afraid of physical love. Still, he’s determined to save Desi from the older teen who’s pimping him out. But in confronting the pimp, Alan and Desi may find themselves in trouble with the law again, a situation that could forever tear them apart.

6 Aug Sam Wu is Not Afraid of the Dark (Sam Wu series) by Katie Tsang, Kevin Tsang and Nathan Reed. Sterling Children’s Books.
Sam Wu is NOT afraid of the dark—but proving how brave you are is hard work. Especially when Sam’s about to face his greatest challenge yet: a camping trip in the woods with his best friend, Bernard, Bernard’s dad, and Sam’s annoying cousin from Hong Kong. That means confronting all kinds of terrifying things, like grizzly bears, vampire bats, werewolves, aliens, and most horrible of all . . . Ralph ZInkerman, the worst person in the WHOLE UNIVERSE! But when something strange starts haunting the woods, can Sam and his crew band together to become Masters of the Dark? And could they even have FUN?

13 Aug  The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee. G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, “Dear Miss Sweetie.” When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society’s ills, but she’s not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. But when her efforts put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta’s most notorious criminal, Jo must decide whether she, a girl used to living in the shadows, is ready to step into the light.

20 Aug Color Me In by Natasha Diaz. Delacorte. DEBUT AUTHOR
A YA novel based on the author’s own story, is about a mixed-race Jewish girl as she faces coming-of-age issues before she has decided who she is and where she fits within her two very different worlds—one in Harlem and the other in Westchester County.

20 Aug The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert. Little, Brown.
Sixteen-year-old Dove “Birdie” Randolph’s close bond with her parents is threatened by a family secret, and by hiding her relationship with Booker, who has been in juvenile detention.

20 Aug The Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Balcárcel. Chronicle.
Twelve-year-old Quijana is a biracial girl, desperately trying to understand the changes that are going on in her life; her mother rarely gets home before bedtime, her father suddenly seems to be trying to get in touch with his Guatemalan roots (even though he never bothered to teach Quijana Spanish), she is about to start seventh grade in the Texas town where they live and she is worried about fitting in–and Quijana suspects that her parents are keeping secrets, because she is sure there is something wrong with her little brother, Memito, who is becoming increasingly hard to reach.

26 Aug The Fresh New Face of Griselda by Jennifer Torres. Little, Brown.
After her father’s landscaping business fails and the family loses their house, sixth-grader Griselda Zaragoza follows her sister’s example and begins selling Alma cosmetics while hiding her changed circumstances from friends.

27 Aug Wild Savage Stars by Kristina Pérez. Imprint
Branwen has a secret powerful enough to destroy two kingdoms. Her ancient magic led to a terrible betrayal by both her best friend, the princess Essy, and her first love, Tristan. Now this same magic is changing Branwen. Adrift in a rival court, Branwen must hide the truth from the enemy king by protecting the lovers who broke her heart–and finds herself considering a darker path. Not everyone wants the alliance with Branwen’s kingdom to succeed–peace is balanced on a knife’s edge, and her only chance may be to embrace the darkness within.

27 Aug Trans + : Love, Sex, Romance and Being You by Kathryn Gonzales and Karen Rayne. Magination Press.
An all-inclusive, uncensored guide for teens who are transgender, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, or gender-fluid. TRANS+ answers all your questions, easy and hard, about gender and covers mental health, physical health and reproduction, transitioning, relationships, sex, and life as a trans or nonbinary individual. It’s full of essential information you need — and want — to know and includes real-life stories from teens like you!

27 Aug My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi and Frank Morrison. Dutton Books.
In the summer of 1984, twelve-year-old Ebony-Grace of Huntsville, Alabama, visits her father in Harlem, where her fascination with outer space and science fiction interfere with her finding acceptance.

27 Aug Count Me In by Varsha Bajaj. Nancy Paulsen Books. Middle Grade Debut
Told from two viewpoints, sixth-graders Karina and Chris use social media to stand up to racism in Houston, Texas, after an attack puts Karina’s Indian American grandfather in the hospital.

27 Aug The Battle (The Gauntlet) by Karuna Riazi. Salaam Reads.
A virtual reality game freezes time in New York City and thrusts twelve-year-old Ahmad Mirza and his classmate, Winnie, into the game world of Paheli, where they must overcome the Mastermind and the Architect.

29 Aug Dough Boys by Paula Chase. Greenwillow. ages 8-12
Told in two voices, thirteen-year-old best friends Simp and Rollie play on a basketball team in their housing project, but Rollie dreams of being a drummer and Simp, to impress the gang leader, Coach Tez.

SEPTEMBER

2 Sept Ghost Squad by Claribel Ortega. Scholastic
Shortly before Halloween, Lucely and her best friend, Syd, cast a spell that accidentally awakens malicious spirits, wreaking havoc throughout St. Augustine. Together, they must join forces with Syd’s witch grandmother, Babette, and her tubby tabby, Chunk, to fight the haunting head-on and reverse the curse to save the town and Lucely’s firefly spirits before it’s too late.

3 Sept Strange Birds A Fields Guide to Ruffling Feathers by Celia C. Perez. Kokila
When three very different girls find a mysterious invitation to a lavish mansion, the promise of adventure and mischief is too intriguing to pass up.

3 Sept A Song for China: How My Father Wrote Yellow River Cantata by Ange Zhang. Groundwood Books.
This is the story of how a young Chinese author, Guang Weiran, a passionate militant from the age of twelve, fought, using art, theater, poetry and song, especially the famous Yellow River Cantata ― the anthem of Chinese national spirit ― to create a socially just China. Set during the period of the struggle against the Japanese and the war against the Kuomintang in the 1920s and ’30s, this book, written and illustrated by Guang Weiran’s award-winning artist son, Ange Zhang, illuminates a key period in China’s history. The passion and commitment of the artists who were born under the repressive weight of the Japanese occupation, the remnants of the decaying imperial order and the times of colonial humiliation are inspiring.

3 Sept Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron. Harper Collins.
Born into a family of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own. But each year she fails to call forth her ancestral powers, while her ambitious mother watches with growing disapproval.
There’s only one thing Arrah hasn’t tried, a deadly last resort: trading years of her own life for scraps of magic. Until the Kingdom’s children begin to disappear, and Arrah is desperate to find the culprit.
She uncovers something worse. The long-imprisoned Demon King is stirring. And if he rises, his hunger for souls will bring the world to its knees… unless Arrah pays the price for the magic to stop him.

3 Sept Girl Under A Red Moon : Growing Up During China’s Cultural Revoluition by DaChen. Scholastic Focus.
It is the late 1960s and there is no peace in the village of Yellow Stone for little Da and his family, who were former landowners; they are all persecuted by the Red Guard, particularly Da’s oldest sister, Sisi, who tries hard to conform to the new political realities, but who cannot overcome the frightened hostility of the other villagers–so Sisi escapes to find work in a school in another town, taking Da with her, and trying to find a compromise between safety and justice, where she can make a decent life for both of them.

3 Sept Permanent Record by Mary H. K. Choi. Simon and Schuster.
Nineteen-year-old Pablo Neruda Rind is working in an upscale health food store in New York CIty when pop star Leanna Smart rushes in and turns his life upside-down.

3 Sept The Jumbie God’s Revenge by Tracey Baptiste. Algonquin.
After two out-of-season hurricanes nearly destroy her island home, Corinne discovers that the god Huracan is angry and she, aided by friends and enemies alike, races to calm him.

3 Sept Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite. Harlequin Teen.
After an incident at school, seventeen year-old Alaine is spending spring break in a “volunteer immersion project”, toiling away under the ever-watchful eyes of Tati Estelle and her eagle-eyed mother at a new nonprofit in Haiti. Although it is meant as punishment, Alaine is still able to flirt with Tati’s distractingly cute intern, get some actual face time with her mom and experience her family’s history in Haiti for the first time.

3 Sept Some Places More Than Others by Renée Watson. Bloomsbury.
Amara visits her father’s family in Harlem for her twelfth birthday, hoping to better understand her family and herself, but New York City is not what she expected.

3 Sept Home Girl by Alex Wheatle. Akasshic/Black Sheep.
With a tough exterior and brash attitude, Naomi is an authentic character in an unfortunate yet accurate picture of modern-day foster care in the UK…The ending is neither predictable nor sugarcoated, leaving readers rooting for this determined heroine

3 Sept Butterfly Yellow by Thanhhà Lai. HarperCollins.
In the final days of the Việt Nam War, Hằng takes her little brother, Linh, to the airport, determined to find a way to safety in America. In a split second, Linh is ripped from her arms—and Hằng is left behind in the war-torn country.
Six years later, Hằng has made the brutal journey from Việt Nam and is now in Texas as a refugee. She doesn’t know how she will find the little brother who was taken from her until she meets LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams, who decides to help her.
Hằng is overjoyed when she reunites with Linh. But when she realizes he doesn’t remember her, their family, or Việt Nam, her heart is crushed. Though the distance between them feels greater than ever, Hằng has come so far that she will do anything to bridge the gap.

3 Sept Lalani of the Distant Sea by Erin Entrada Kelly. Greenwillow.
Twelve-year-old Lalani Sarita takes on the impossible task of traveling to the legendary Mount Isa, towering on an island to the north. Generations of men and boys have died on the same quest–how can a timid young girl in a tiny boat survive the epic tests of the archipelago?

3 Sept More to the Story by Hena Khan. Salaam Reads
As features editor of her school newspaper, thirteen-year-old Jameela Mirza wants to impress her father by writing a spectacular story about the new student, but a misunderstanding and family illness complicate matters.

3 Sept The Fire Keeper (Storm Runner) by J. C. Cervantes and Irvin Rodriguez. RIck Riordan Presents
Zane Obispo faces an impossible choice–to save other godborns like himself from the angry gods, or rescue his father, Hurakan, from his eternal prison.

3 Sept The Truth Is by Nonique Ramos. Carolrhoda Lab. LGBTQIA+
Fifteen-year-old Verdad doesn’t think she has time for love. She’s still struggling to process the recent death of her best friend, Blanca; dealing with the high expectations of her hardworking Puerto Rican mother and the absence of her remarried father; and keeping everyone at a distance. But when she meets Danny, a new guy at school―who happens to be trans―all bets are off. Verdad suddenly has to deal with her mother’s disapproval of her relationship with Danny as well as her own prejudices and questions about her identity, and Danny himself, who is comfortable in his skin but keeping plenty of other secrets.

3 Sept Child of the Dream : A Memoir of 1963 by Sharon Robinson. Scholastic
As the daughter of Jackie Robinson, Sharon had incredible access to some of the most important events of the era, including her family hosting several fundraisers for Martin Luther King Jr. at their home in Connecticut, other Civil Rights heroes of the day calling Jackie Robinson for advice and support, and even attending the March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs. But Sharon was also dealing with her own personal problems like going through puberty, being one of the only black children in her wealthy Connecticut neighborhood, and figuring out her own role in the fight for equality. This memoir follows Sharon as she goes through that incredible year of her life.

10 Sept Mirror Bound (Witching Academy #2) by Monica Sanz. Entangled Teens.
When ghosts start dragging Sera into possessions so deep she can barely escape, and then the souls of lost witches and wizards appear trapped in mirrors, these two opposites will have to work together to uncover a much deeper secret that could destroy the Witchling world…

10 Sept Pet by Akwaeke Emezi. Make Me A World/Random House.
There are no more monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. With doting parents and a best friend named Redemption, Jam has grown up with this lesson all her life. But when she meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colours and claws, who emerges from one of her mother’s paintings and a drop of Jam’s blood, she must reconsider what she’s been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster, and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption’s house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also to uncover the truth, and the answer to the question-How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?

10 Sept A Match Made in Mehendi by Nandini Bajpai. Little, Brown Books. ages 12-18
Fifteen-year-old Simran “Simi” Sangha comes from a long line of Indian vichole — matchmakers — with a rich history for helping parents find good matches for their grown children. When Simi accidentally sets up her cousin and a soon-to-be lawyer, her family is thrilled that she has the “gift.” But Simi is an artist, and she doesn’t want to have anything to do with relationships, helicopter parents, and family drama. That is, until she realizes this might be just the thing to improve her and her best friend Noah’s social status. Armed with her family’s ancient guide to finding love, Simi starts a matchmaking service-via an app, of course. But when she helps connect a wallflower of a girl with the star of the boys’ soccer team, she turns the high school hierarchy topsy-turvy, soon making herself public enemy number one.

10 Sept Frankly in Love by David Yoon. G. P. Putnanm and Sons
High school senior Frank Li takes a risk to go after a girl his parents would never approve of, but his plans will leave him wondering if he ever really understood love–or himself–at all.

10 Sept The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teens who Dream of Crossing the Border by Juan Pablo Villalobos. Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Every year, thousands of migrant children and teens cross the U.S.-Mexico border. The journey is treacherous and sometimes deadly, but worth the risk for migrants who are escaping gang violence and poverty in their home countries. And for those refugees who do succeed? They face an immigration process that is as winding and multi-tiered as the journey that brought them here.

10 Sept Stargazing by Jen Wang. FirstSecond. GN
When Moon’s family moves in next door to Christine’s, Moon goes from unlikely friend to best friend―maybe even the perfect friend. The girls share their favorite music videos, paint their toenails when Christine’s strict parents aren’t around, and make plans to enter the school talent show together. Moon even tells Christine her deepest secret: that she sometimes has visions of celestial beings who speak to her from the stars. Who reassure her that earth isn’t where she really belongs. But when they’re least expecting it, catastrophe strikes. After relying on Moon for everything, can Christine find it in herself to be the friend Moon needs?

10 Sept How to Be Remy Cameron by Julian Winters. Interlude.
Everyone on campus knows Remy Cameron. He’s the out-and-proud, super-likable guy who friends, faculty, and fellow students alike admire for his cheerful confidence. The only person who isn’t entirely sure about Remy Cameron is Remy himself. Under pressure to write an A+ essay defining who he is and who he wants to be, Remy embarks on an emotional journey toward reconciling the outward labels people attach to him with the real Remy Cameron within.

10 Sept Hope is Our Only Wing by Rutendo Tavengerwei. Soho Teen.
After her journalist-father’s mysterious death in 2008, fifteen-year-old Shamiso must leave England for boarding school in Zimbabwe, where she and Tanyaradzwa, who is fighting cancer, form an unexpected friendship

10 What the Eagle Sees: Indigenous Stories of Rebellion and Renewal by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger. Annick Press.
Indigenous people across Turtle Island have been faced with disease, war, broken promises, and forced assimilation. Despite crushing losses and insurmountable challenges, they formed new nations from the remnants of old ones, they adopted new ideas and built on them, they fought back, they kept their cultures alive, and they survived. Key events in Indigenous history with accounts of the people, places, and events.

17 Sept One Person, No Vote: How Not All Voters are Treated Equally by Carol Anderson and Tonya Bolden. Bloomsbury.
From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of White Rage, the startling and timely history of voter suppression in America, with a foreword by Senator Dick Durbin. In her New York Times bestseller White Rage, Carol Anderson laid bare an insidious history of policies that have systematically impeded black progress in America, from 1865 to our combustible present. With One Person, No Vote, she chronicles a related history: the rollbacks to African American participation in the vote since the 2013 Supreme Court decision that eviscerated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Known as the Shelby ruling, this decision effectively allowed districts with a demonstrated history of racial discrimination to change voting requirements without approval from the Department of Justice. Focusing on the aftermath of Shelby, Anderson follows the astonishing story of government-dictated racial discrimination unfolding before our very eyes as more and more states adopt voter suppression laws. In gripping, enlightening detail she explains how voter suppression works, from photo ID requirements to gerrymandering to poll closures. And with vivid characters, she explores the resistance: the organizing, activism, and court battles to restore the basic right to vote to all Americans as the nation gears up for the 2018 midterm elections.

17 Sept Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis and Tracis Sorell. Tu Books/Lee & Low
Regina Petit’s family has always been Umpqua, and living on the Grand Ronde reservation is all ten-year-old Regina has ever known. Her biggest worry is that Sasquatch may actually exist out in the forest. But when the federal government signs a bill into law that says Regina’s tribe no longer exists, Regina becomes “Indian no more” overnight–even though she was given a number by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that counted her as Indian, even though she lives with her tribe and practices tribal customs, and even though her ancestors were Indian for countless generations.

17 Sept Becoming Beatriz by Tami Charles. Charlesbridge.
In 1984 in the barrios of Newark, Beatriz Mendez is looking forward to dancing at her fifteenth birthday, because dancing is her true passion in life, but when her brother Juni, gang-leader of the Puerto Rican gang the Diablos, is killed by the rival Haitian Macoute gang she finds herself thrust into the role of gang-leader and drug dealer–until she meets Nassar, a dorky Haitian boy who shares and reignites her passion for dancing.

17 Sept City of Beasts by Corrie Wang. Disney.
Glori has to question everything she’s been taught when a desperate rescue mission brings her to a strange city where she encounters men for the first time.

17 Sept The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus. Dutton.  DEBUT AUTHOR ages 12-18. LGBTQIAP+
Trinidad. Sixteen-year-old Audre is despondent, having just found out she’s going to be sent to live in America with her father because her strictly religious mother caught her with her secret girlfriend, the pastor’s daughter. Audre’s grandmother Queenie (a former dancer who drives a white convertible Cadillac and who has a few secrets of her own) tries to reassure her granddaughter that she won’t lose her roots, not even in some place called Minneapolis. “America have dey spirits too, believe me,” she tells Audre.

Minneapolis. Sixteen-year-old Mabel is lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out why she feels the way she feels–about her ex Terrell, about her girl Jada and that moment they had in the woods, and about the vague feeling of illness that’s plagued her all summer. Mabel’s reverie is cut short when her father announces that his best friend and his just-arrived-from-Trinidad daughter are coming for dinner.  Mabel quickly falls hard for Audre and is determined to take care of her as she tries to navigate an American high school. But their romance takes a turn when test results reveal exactly why Mabel has been feeling low-key sick all summer and suddenly it’s Audre who is caring for Mabel as she faces a deeply uncertain future.

17 Analee, In Real Life by Janelle Milanes. Simon and Schuster.
Ever since her mom died three years ago, Analee Echevarria has had trouble saying out loud the weird thoughts that sit in her head. With a best friend who hates her and a dad who’s marrying a yogi she can’t stand, Analee spends most of her time avoiding reality and role-playing as Kiri, the night elf hunter at the center of her favorite online game.
Through Kiri, Analee is able to express everything real-life Analee cannot: her bravery, her strength, her inner warrior. The one thing both Kiri and Analee can’t do, though, is work up the nerve to confess her romantic feelings for Kiri’s partner-in-crime, Xolkar—aka a teen boy named Harris whom Analee has never actually met in person.
So when high school heartthrob Seb Matias asks Analee to pose as his girlfriend in an attempt to make his ex jealous, Analee agrees. Sure, Seb seems kind of obnoxious, but Analee could use some practice connecting with people in real life. In fact, it’d maybe even help her with Harris.
But the more Seb tries to coax Analee out of her comfort zone, the more she starts to wonder if her anxious, invisible self is even ready for the real world. Can Analee figure it all out without losing herself in the process?

17 Sept The Chilling Effect by Valeria Valdes. Orbit
A hilarious, offbeat debut space opera that skewers everything from pop culture to video games and features an irresistible foul-mouthed captain and her motley crew, strange life forms, exciting twists, and a galaxy full of fun and adventure.

19 Sept The Light at the Bottom of the World by London Shah. Disney Hyperion.
In the last days of the twenty-first century, sea creatures swim through the ruins of London. Trapped in the abyss, humankind wavers between fear and hope–fear of what lurks in the depths around them, and hope that they might one day find a way back to the surface. When sixteen-year-old submersible racer Leyla McQueen is chosen to participate in the prestigious annual marathon, she sees an opportunity to save her father, who has been arrested on false charges. The Prime Minister promises the champion whatever their heart desires. But the race takes an unexpected turn, forcing Leyla to make an impossible choice. Now she must brave unfathomable waters and defy a corrupt government determined to keep its secrets, all the while dealing with a guarded, hotheaded companion she never asked for in the first place. If Leyla fails to discover the truths at the heart of her world, or falls prey to her own fears, she risks capture–or worse. And her father will be lost to her forever.

24 Sept A Dream So Dark by L.L. McKinney. Imprint.
Dreams have never been so dark in Wonderland, and if there is any hope of defeating this mystery poet’s magic, Alice must confront the worst in herself, in the people she loves, and in the very nature of fear itself.

24 Sept Obviously: Stories From My Timeline by Akilah Hughes. Razorbill. DEBUT
Comedian and activist Akilah Hughes shares everything about her journey from a childhood in the south to the big screen while dispensing invaluable big-sister-style advice to a generation of future YouTubers.

24 Sept Who Put This Song On by Morgan Parker. Delacorte. YA DEBUT
Trapped in sunny, stifling, small-town suburbia, seventeen-year-old Morgan knows why she’s in therapy. She can’t count the number of times she’s been the only non-white person at the sleepover, been teased for her “weird” outfits, and been told she’s not “really” black. Also, she’s spent most of her summer crying in bed. So there’s that, too.
Lately, it feels like the whole world is listening to the same terrible track on repeat–and it’s telling them how to feel, who to vote for, what to believe. Morgan wonders, when can she turn this song off and begin living for herself?

24 The Long Ride by Marina Budhos. Wendy Lamb Books.
In New York in 1971, Jamila and Josie are bused across Queens where they try to fit in at a new, integrated junior high school while their best friend, Francesca, tests the limits at a private school.

24 Sept Slay by Brittney Morris. Simon Pulse.
An honors student at Jefferson Academy, seventeen-year-old Keira enjoys developing and playing Slay, a secret, multiplayer online role-playing game celebrating Black culture, until the two worlds collide

OCTOBER

1 Oct Daughters of Nri (The Return of the Earth Mother) by Reni K. Amayo. Onwe Press. 
A gruesome war results in the old gods’ departure from earth. The only remnants of their existence lie in two girls. Twins, separated at birth. Goddesses who grow up believing that they are human. Daughters Of Nri explores their epic journey of self-discovery as they embark on a path back to one another.
But can they defeat the man who brought the gods themselves to their knees?

1 Oct Take the Mic Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance by Bethany Morrow. Arther A. Levine Books.
This anthology features fictional stories–in poems, prose, and art–that reflect a slice of the varied and limitless ways that readers like you resist every day. Take the Mic‘s powerful collection of stories features work by literary luminaries and emerging talent alike, including Newbery-winner Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestseller Samira Ahmed, anthologist and contributor Bethany C. Morrow, Darcie Little Badger, Keah Brown, Laura Silverman, L.D. Lewis, Sofia Quintero, Ray Stoeve, Yamile Mendez, and Connie Sun, with cover and interior art by Richie Pope.

1 Oct I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day. HarperCollins.
In this debut, inspired by Day’s family’s history, a girl discovers her family’s secrets and her own Native American identity.

1 Oct The Athena Protocol by Shamin Sarif. Harper Teen.
Jessie Archer is a member of the Athena Protocol, an elite organization of female spies who enact vigilante justice around the world. Athena operatives are never supposed to shoot to kill—so when Jessie can’t stop herself from pulling the trigger, she gets kicked out of the organization, right before a huge mission to take down a human trafficker in Belgrade.

1 Oct Caravan to the North: Misael’s Long Walk by Jorge Argueta, illus. by Manuel Monroy. Groundwood.
This novel-in-verse follows a boy traveling in a caravan from El Salvador to the U.S. border.

1 Oct White Horse by Yan Ge. HopeRoad.
In a small town in West China, Yun Yun learns that the relationships between her family and her cousin’s family are founded on a lie.

1 Oct The Chronicles of Will Ryde & Awa Maryam (A Tudor Turk) by Rehan Khan. HopeRoad.
In this series debut, Will and Awa embark on a globe-trotting adventure to retrieve a staff stolen from the Sultan’s artifacts collection in 1591 Istanbul.

1 Oct When You Ask Me Where I’m Going by Jasmin Kaur. Harper.
The six sections of the book explore what it means to be a young woman living in a world that doesn’t always hear her and tell the story of Kiran as she flees a history of trauma and raises her daughter, Sahaara, while living undocumented in North America.

1 Oct Rebel by Marie Lu. Roaring Brook Press.
In the conclusion to the Legend series, hero Day fights to save his brother from the dark side of Ross City. Ages 12–17.

1 Oct Reach for the Skai : How to Inspire, Empower and Clapback by Skai Jackson. Crown Books.
Actress and activist Skai Jackson shares her lessons on life and her rise to stardom in this vibrant memoir about self-acceptance, girl empowerment, and the classy clapback.

1 Oct I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day. HarperCollins. ages 8-12 DEBUT AUTHOR
All her life, Edie has known that her mom was adopted by a white couple. So, no matter how curious she might be about her Native American heritage, Edie is sure her family doesn’t have any answers. Until the day when she and her friends discover a box hidden in the attic—a box full of letters signed “Love, Edith,” and photos of a woman who looks just like her. Suddenly, Edie has a flurry of new questions about this woman who shares her name.

1 Oct Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons: An Enslaved Woman Fights for Freedom by Gwendolyn Hooks, illus. by Simone Agoussoye. Capstone
Born into slavery at Mount Vernon, Ona seized the opportunity to escape when she was brought to live in the President’s Mansion in Philadelphia. Ona fled to New Hampshire and started a new life.

1 Oct Batman: Nightwalker: The Graphic Novel by Marie Lu, adapted by Stuart Moore, illus. by Christian Wildgoose. DC Ink.
Based on Lu’s prose novel set in Arkham Asylum.

1 Oct The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis. Tor Teens.
The country of Arketta calls them Good Luck Girls–they know their luck is anything but. Sold to a “welcome house” as children and branded with cursed markings. Trapped in a life they would never have chosen. When Clementine accidentally kills a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape and harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge in a country that wants them to have none of those things. Pursued by Arketta’s most vicious and powerful forces, both human and inhuman, their only hope lies in a bedtime story passed from one Good Luck Girl to another, a story that only the youngest or most desperate would ever believe.

3 Oct Love, Secret Santa by Sareeta Domingo. Hodder Books/Hachette.
All I want for Christmas is . . . you! A festive clean teen romance that could melt even Scrooge’s heart!Angel loves everything about Christmas – especially Secret Santa! And this year, her school Secret Santa is A-MA-ZING! The thoughtful gifts from her Secret Santa ALMOST make up for the fact that Angel has to organise the school’s charity fund-raising campaign with arty, unreliable Caspar Johnson. But as they work together to plan some fun festive events, Angel realises that Caspar has hidden depths – and a secret that he’s hiding behind his easy-going facade. A mysterious hand-made advent calendar encourages Angel to take risks and open her heart – but is she brave enough to tell Caspar how she really feels?

7 Oct Look Both Ways : A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds and Alexander Nabaum. Atheneum.
A collection of ten short stories that all take place in the same day about kids walking home from school.

8 Oct The Best at It by Maulik Pancholy Actor Pancholy’s. Balzer+Bray.
Rahul, a gay Indian-American boy coming into his own in a small town in the Midwest. DEBUT AUTHOR

8 Oct By Any Means Necessary by Candice Montgomery. Page Street Kids.
On the day Torrey moves and officially becomes a college freshman, he gets a call that might force him to drop out before he’s even made it through orientation: the bank is foreclosing on the bee farm his Uncle Miles left him.

Torrey’s worked hard to become the first member of his family to go to college, but while the neighborhood held him back emotionally, Uncle Miles encouraged him to reach his full potential. For years, it was just the two of them tending the farm. So Torrey can’t let someone erase his uncle’s legacy without a fight.

He tries balancing his old life in L.A. with his new classes, new friends, and (sort of) new boyfriend in San Francisco, but as the farm heads for auction, the pressure of juggling everything threatens to tear him apart. Can he make a choice between his family and his future without sacrificing a part of himself?

8 Oct Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes. Wordsong.
Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father, Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters, shunted from foster family to foster family, and preyed upon by those she trusted. At the age of six, she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one night – and discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years, Nikki’s notebooks were her most enduing companions. In this accessible and inspiring memoir that will resonate with young readers and adults alike, Nikki shows how the power of those words helped her conquer the hazards – ordinary and extraordinary – of her life.

8 Oct Dreams from Many Rivers : A Hispanic History of the United States Told in Poems by Margarita Engle. Godwin Books.
From Juana Briones and Juan Ponce de León, to eighteenth century slaves and modern-day sixth graders, the many and varied people depicted in this moving narrative speak to the experiences and contributions of Latinos throughout the history of the United States, from the earliest known stories up to present day. It’s a portrait of a great, enormously varied, and enduring heritage. A compelling treatment of an important topic.

8 Oct The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh. The Beautiful begins romantic series set in 19th-century New Orleans, where vampires hide in plain sight. In this first installment, Celine, a dressmaker from Paris, becomes embroiled in a murder mystery that’s connected to a glamorous supernatural cohort.

8 Oct The Athena Protocol by Shamim Sarif. HarperTeen.
In this series starter, Jessie goes rogue from the secret all-female spy organization that trained her.

15 Oct War Girlsby Tochi Onyebuchi. Razorbill.
The year is 2172. Climate change and nuclear disasters have rendered much of earth unlivable. Only the lucky ones have escaped to space colonies in the sky. In a war-torn Nigeria, battles are fought using flying, deadly mechs and soldiers are outfitted with bionic limbs and artificial organs meant to protect them from the harsh, radiation-heavy climate. Across the nation, as the years-long civil war wages on, survival becomes the only way of life. Two sisters, Onyii and Ify, dream of more. Their lives have been marked by violence and political unrest. Still, they dream of peace, of hope, of a future together. And they’re willing to fight an entire war to get there.

15 Oct Jackpot by Nic Stone. Crown.
Romance that examines class, privilege, and how a stroke of good luck can change an entire life.

15 Oct Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhors. Rick Riordan Presents/Disney-Hyperion. 
Guided by her Navajo ancestors, seventh-grader Nizhoni Begay discovers she is descended from a holy woman and destined to become a monsterslayer, starting with the evil businessman who kidnapped her father. Includes glossary of Navajo terms.

15 Oct Doc and the Detective in Graveyard Treasure by Tim Tingle. Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic.
Timmy loves reading stories about great detectives, and soon he begins to spy mysteries all around his small Oklahoma town. Why was his next-door neighbor, the distinguished Dr. Moore, standing outside with a knife at midnight? Who’s sneaking around their house, shining flashlights in the windows? And where did Mrs. Newberry’s diamond necklace go? As Timmy and Doc work together to unmask the thief, Timmy also comes to understand the challenges Doc and his family face with his developing dementia, and discovers that a real detective needs a good heart as well as a sharp brain.

15 Oct The Dragon Warrior by Katie Zhao. Bloomsbury.
Twelve-year-old Jade Society member Faryn Liu may be destined to command the Jade Emperor’s army of demon-fighting dragons, but first she must complete a daring quest across San Francisco’s Chinatown before the Lunar New Year.

15 Oct Limelight by Solli Raphael. Andrews McMeel Publishing.
Limelight is a unique collection of slam poetry paired with inspirational writing techniques. With over 30 original poems in different forms, Raphael’s work tackles current social concerns for his generation, such as sustainability and social equality, all while amplifying his uplifting message of hope. Solli’s book also contains 5 chapters on how to write and read poetry, how to manage stage fright and writer’s block, and encouraging tips on how we can all make tomorrow better than today.

15 Oct Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao. Simon Pulse.
Seventeen-year-old Ali is simultaneously swept up in a whirlwind romance and down a rabbit hole of family secrets when another Taiwanese family moves into tiny, predominantly-white, Plainhart, Indiana.

15 Oct Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia. Disney Press.
In this series debut, a boy finds himself on a quest amid African-American folk legends and West African gods.

15 Oct The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco. HarperCollins.
Twin goddesses must unite a world split between day and night in this debut title of a fantasy duology.

22 Oct  Under the Broken Sky by Mariko Nagai. Henry Holt.
is a novel-in-verse recounting a Japanese orphan’s experience in occupied rural Manchuria during WWII. Ages 10–14.

22 Oct Dragon Thief by Zetta Elliott. Random House.
Told in two voices, Jax and Kavita, Kavita’s brother Vik, and new friend Kenny try to return the baby dragon to the realm of magic before anything else goes wrong

22 Oct I Hope You Get this Message by Farah Naz Rishi. HarperTeen.
News stations across the country are reporting mysterious messages that Earth has been receiving from a planet—Alma—claiming to be its creator. If they’re being interpreted correctly, in seven days Alma will hit the kill switch on their “colony” Earth. With only a week to face their truths and right their wrongs, Jesse, Cate, and Adeem’s paths collide as their worlds are pulled apart.

22 Oct The Blue Road: A Fable of Migration by Wayde Compton and April dela Noche Milne. Arsenal Pulp Press.
The Blue Road – the first graphic novel by acclaimed poet and prose writer Wayde Compton and illustrator April dela Noche Milne – explores the world from a migrant’s perspective with dreamlike wonder.

22 Oct A Sparrow’s Roar by C.R. Chua and Paolo Chikiamco. Boom! Studios.
When a prank misfires and a knight-in-training’s heroic sister dies, he impersonates her to carry on her quest.

22 Oct Light It Up by Kekla Magoon. Henry Holt & Co.
Told from multiple viewpoints, this sequel to How It Went Down relays a story about injustice and strength.

29 Oct Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett. Knopf Books.
Keeping her viral load under control is easy, but keeping her diagnosis under wraps is not so simple. As Simone and Miles start going out for real–shy kisses escalating into much more–she feels an uneasiness that goes beyond butterflies. She knows she has to tell him that she’s positive, especially if sex is a possibility, but she’s terrified of how he’ll react! And then she finds an anonymous note in her locker: I know you have HIV. You have until Thanksgiving to stop hanging out with Miles. Or everyone else will know too. 

29 Oct The Black Mage by Daniel Barnes and D. J. Kirkland. Oni Press. (GN)
When St. Ivory Academy, a historically white wizarding school, opens its doors to its first-ever black student, everyone believes that the wizarding community is finally taking its first crucial steps toward inclusivity. Or is it? When Tom Token, the beneficiary of the school’s “Magical Minority Initiative,” begins uncovering weird clues and receiving creepy texts on his phone, he and his friend, Lindsay, stumble into a conspiracy that dates all the way back to the American Civil War, and could cost Tom his very soul.

29 Oct A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy. Putnam.
Seventeen-year-old Eva must harness the magick inside her to defeat her older sister, Isadore, as well as other forces, and win the crown in the Queendom of Myre–or die trying.

29 Oct The Light at the Bottom of the World by London Shah. DisneyHyperion.
When sixteen-year-old submersible racer Leyla McQueen is chosen to participate in the prestigious annual marathon, she sees an opportunity to save her father, who has been arrested on false charges. The Prime Minister promises the champion whatever their heart desires. But the race takes an unexpected turn, forcing Leyla to make an impossible choice. Now she must brave unfathomable waters and defy a corrupt government determined to keep its secrets, all the while dealing with a guarded, hotheaded companion she never asked for in the first place. If Leyla fails to discover the truths at the heart of her world, or falls prey to her own fears, she risks capture–or worse. And her father will be lost to her forever.

29 Oct The Fresh New Face of Griselda by Jennifer Torres. Little Brown & Co.
After her father’s landscaping business fails and the family loses their house, sixth-grader Griselda Zaragoza follows her sister’s example and begins selling Alma cosmetics while hiding her changed circumstances from friends.

29 Oct Girls Like Us by Randi Pink.Feiwel and Friends.
In the summer of 1972, three girls from very different backgrounds struggle to come to terms with being pregnant.

NOVEMBER

1 Nov Banned Book Club by Hyun Sook Kim and Ryan Estrada, illus. by Hyung-Ju Ko. Iron Circus Comics. GRAPHIC NOVEL
Recounts this North Korea-born author’s experiences bucking the totalitarian government in an illegal reading group in the 1980s.

5 Nov The Forgotten Girl by India Hill Brown. Scholastic.
The Forgotten Girl is both a spooky original ghost story and a timely and important storyline about reclaiming an abandoned segregated cemetery.

5 Nov Song of the Crimson Flower by Julie C. Dao. Philomel Books.
Bao, a poor physician’s apprentice, and Lan, the wealthy nobleman’s daughter he loves, work together to break a curse and save the kingdom of Feng Lu.

5 Nov Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay. David Fickling Books.
In the late 19th century, a boy and a girl in the Philippines contemplate the future of their friendship as Americans invade their country.

5 Nov M Is for Movement by Innosanto Nagaral. Seven Stories Press.
The protagonist in this fictionalized children’s memoir is a witness and a participant, fearful sometimes, brave sometimes too, and when things change, this child who is now an adult is as surprised as anyone.

5 Nov Girls of Storm and Shadow (Girls of Paper and Fire) by Natasha Ngan. Little Brown & Co.
Lei, the naive country girl who became a royal courtesan, is now known as the Moonchosen, the commoner who managed to do what no one else could. But slaying the cruel Demon King wasn’t the end of the plan – it’s just the beginning. Now Lei and her warrior love Wren must travel the kingdom to gain support from the far-flung rebel clans. The journey is made even more treacherous thanks to a heavy bounty on Lei’s head.

5 Nov A Thousand Fires by Shannon Price. Tor Teen.
Valerie Simons knows the Wars are dangerous―her little brother was killed by the Boars two years ago. But nothing will sway Valerie from joining the elite and beautiful Herons with her boyfriend Matthew to avenge her brother. But when Jax, the volatile and beyond charismatic leader of the Stags, promises her revenge, Valerie is torn between old love and new loyalty.

12 Nov When the Stars Lead to You by Ronni Davis. Little, Brown Books.
Ashton and Devon try to find their way back together after their romance was torn apart by prejudice and mental illness.

12 Nov Color Outside the Lines: Stories About Love edited by Sangu Mandanna. Soho Teen.
This anthology explores the complexity and beauty of interracial and LGBTQ relationships

12 Nov All-American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.
A teen caught between two worlds grapples with the difficulties of being a modern Muslim teenager in the U.S.

22 Nov Name your Mountain (Pathfinders) by Tim Tingle. 7^th Generation Press.
Name Your Mountain continues the exciting No Name series as the high-school team matures and faces new challenges.

30 Nov The Dragon Keep (Seeds of Magic) by Marti Dumas. Plum Street.
Ten-year-old Jackie needs to learn to control her dragon familiar, but what she finds is a mountain full of secrets that will lead her to her destiny.Jackie and Jupiter continue their adventure in a world that is not as safe without Jackie’s mother and father around. Jackie must use all her wits and cunning to keep her brother safe while she unravels the mysteries that threaten to pull her family apart.

DECEMBER

3 Dec Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orisha) by Tomi Adeyemi. Henry Holt. ages 12-18
With civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart. Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the stunning sequel to Children of Blood and Bone.

10 Dec Ronin Island Vol. 1 (Ronin Island) by Greg Pak (author), Giannis Milonogiannis (Illustrator) and Irma Kniivila (Colorist). BOOM! Studios
After a catastrophic event changes 19th century Japan, Korea, and China, two young soldiers must protect their peaceful island home from a warlord’s oncoming forces and newly mutated creatures that threaten to destroy the world as they know it.

24 Dec What Were the Negro Leagues? by Varian Johnson and Stephen Marchesi.  Penguin Workshop.
The baseball league that was made up of African American players and run by African American owners ushered in the biggest change in the history of baseball. In America during the early twentieth century, no part was safe from segregation, not even the country’s national pastime, baseball. Despite their exodus from the Major Leagues because of the color of their skin, African American men still found a way to participate in the sport they loved. Author Varian Johnson shines a spotlight on the players, coaches, owners, and teams. that dominated the Negro Leagues during the 1930s and 40s. Readers will learn about how phenomenal players like Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and of course, Jackie Robinson greatly changed the sport of baseball.