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| Miss Ellicott's School for the Magically Minded by Sage BlackwoodFantasy. All of the adult sorceresses at Miss Ellicott's School for Magical Maidens have disappeared, leaving talented student Chantel searching for a way to get them back -- oh, and also protect the city from invading Marauders. Loaded with clever humor and starring a take-charge black heroine, this quirky magic-school adventure is not to be missed. |
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A Crack in the Sea
by H. M. Bouwman
No one comes to the Second World on purpose. The doorway between worlds opens only when least expected. The Raft King is desperate to change that by finding the doorway that will finally take him and the people of Raftworld back home. To do it, he needs Pip, a young boy with an incredible gift—he can speak to fish; and the Raft King is not above kidnapping to get what he wants. Pip’s sister Kinchen, though, is determined to rescue her brother and foil the Raft King’s plans.
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| Ashes to Asheville by Sarah DooleyFiction. After Mama Lacy dies, 12-year-old Fella's grandmother takes her away from her older sister Zany and their Mama Shannon, but that doesn't stop the sisters from running off together to scatter Mama Lacy's ashes in their former hometown of Asheville, N.C. If you like quirky, bittersweet family stories, you'll want to ride along on this road trip (and you might also want to try Sally Pla's The Someday Birds). |
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Hello, Universe : Some Friendships Are Meant to Be
by Erin Entrada Kelly
In one day, four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his crazy-about-sports family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is smart, brave, and secretly lonely, and she loves everything about nature. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister, Gen, is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just stop being so different so that he can concentrate on basketball. They aren’t friends, at least not until Chet pulls a prank that traps Virgil and his pet guinea pig at the bottom of a well. This disaster leads Kaori, Gen, and Valencia on an epic quest to find the missing Virgil. Sometimes four can do what one cannot. Through luck, smarts, bravery, and a little help from the universe, a rescue is performed, a bully is put in his place, and friendship blooms.
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| Amina's Voice by Hena KhanFiction. Sixth grade may be a tough year for Amina: her best friend Soojin is changing in ways that Amina doesn’t understand, and her Pakistani-American parents have entered her in a Quran recitation competition even though her real talent is singing. You'll be rooting for Amina as she finds her confidence in this warm-hearted and authentic book that's just right for fans of Sherri Winston's The Sweetest Sound. |
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| The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre by Gail Carson LevineFantasy. Prickly 15-year-old Peregrine has always believed that her people, the Latki, are better than their Bamarre servants -- until a magical visitor delivers some shocking news that forces Perry to face who she really is and decide what she's willing to fight for. You don't need to have read The Two Princesses of Bamarre to savor the fairy-tale feel of this page-turning prequel. |
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Jack and the Geniuses : At the Bottom of the World
by Bill Nye
In Jack and the Geniuses: At The Bottom of The World, readers meet Jack and his foster siblings, Ava and Matt, who are orphans. But they’re not your typical kind of orphans—they’re geniuses. Well, Ava and Matt are, which sometimes makes life difficult for twelve-year-old Jack. Ava speaks multiple languages and builds robots for fun, and Matt is into astronomy and a whiz at math. As for Jack, it’s hard to stand out when he’s surrounded by geniuses all the time. When the kids try to spy on Dr. Hank Witherspoon, one of the world’s leading scientists, they end up working for him in his incredible laboratory. Soon, Hank and the kids travel to Antarctica for a prestigious science competition, but they find that all is not as it seems; a fellow scientist has gone missing, and so has any trace of her research. Could someone be trying to use her findings to win the contest? It’s up to Jack, Ava, and Matt to find the missing scientist and discover who’s behind it all.
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Sci-Fi Junior High
by Scott Seegert
Kelvin Klosmo isn't just the new kid at school - he's the new kid in the galaxy! Welcome to Sci-Fi Junior High: an inter-galactic space station with students of all shapes, sizes, smells, and... slime content. As the son of Earth's two most famous geniuses, Kelvin isn't just the smartest kid in the world....he's the smartest kid in the UNIVERSE. At least, that's what everybody at Sci-Fi Junior High thinks. So, maybe Kelvin lied a little about being a genius to fit in. And maybe a mad scientist is about to take over the universe unless Kelvin can stop him. Maybe everyone is doomed. Well, at least Kelvin won't have to worry about math homework anymore. Sci-Fi Junior High is an out-of-this-world story about friendship, accepting our differences, and the fight against evil... bunnies. Yes, evil bunnies - don't ask.
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The House of Months and Years
by Emma Trevayne
When her distant aunt and uncle die, Amelia Howling is forced to move into their home when they leave her parents in charge of their children. Her parents assure her that it will be like having a grand adventure with three new siblings, but Amelia is not convinced. Luckily, the house is large, filled with nooks and crannies perfect for hiding from her cousins. But the rumbling and crumbling rooms are more sinister than they seem. The house was built years ago by a creature named Horatio, and he’s been waiting for the perfect human inhabitant: Amelia. Horatio has the power to travel through time and memories, and lures Amelia into his world. But once she and Horatio visited a memory, it was gone forever. Horrified and scared, Amelia lets her cousins in on her secret, and asks them for help. Together, they must race through time to recover their minds and break the perfect clockwork of the evil Calendar House.
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| Bronze and Sunflower by Cao WenxuanHistorical Fiction. In 1960s China, orphaned city girl Sunflower is adopted by a loving, loyal, and desperately poor family of country farmers, and even though their son Bronze doesn't talk, he and Sunflower form an unbreakable bond. Written by a popular Chinese author, Bronze and Sunflower offers a moving, poetic glimpse into a particular time and place. |
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Beyond the Bright Sea
by Lauren Wolk
Twelve-year-old Crow has lived her entire life on a tiny, isolated piece of the starkly beautiful Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts. Abandoned and set adrift in a small boat when she was just hours old, Crow’s only companions are Osh, the man who rescued and raised her, and Miss Maggie, their fierce and affectionate neighbor across the sandbar. Crow has always been curious about the world around her, but it isn’t until the night a mysterious fire appears across the water that the unspoken question of her own history forms in her heart. Soon, an unstoppable chain of events is triggered, leading Crow down a path of discovery and danger.
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| We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf Hitler by Russell FreedmanNonfiction. How far would you go to stand up for what's right? Siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl put their very lives on the line as members of the White Rose, an anti-Nazi student resistance group in 1940s Germany. Filled with quotes and photos, this account of their bravery is both haunting and inspiring. For another look at daring young people during World War II, try Phillip Hoose's The Boys Who Challenged Hitler. |
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| The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan MealerMemoir. Bottle caps, a broken bike, old tractor parts, and some library books about electrical engineering: with these tools, inventive 14-year-old William Kamkwamba began building the windmill that would power irrigation in his tiny farming village of Masitala, Malawi, and help them survive a deadly drought. Holding special appeal for young scientists, this gritty yet hopeful memoir may encourage you to create change in your own community. |
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| Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March by Lynda Blackmon Lowery as told to Elspeth Leacock and Susan BuckleyMemoir. The youngest person to complete the Selma-to-Montgomery March in 1965 Alabama, Lynda Blackmon Lowery was one of many students who willingly risked jail time and brutal beatings in order to participate in the American Civil Rights Movement. Written in an easy, matter-of-fact style, this award-winning book provides vivid insight into the past and perspective on the present. |
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| Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World by Sy MontgomeryNonfiction. Dr. Temple Grandin is an animal scientist, a bestselling author, a college professor, one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people...and she has autism. This captivating authorized biography tells the story of her struggles and accomplishments, including her groundbreaking work for humane treatment of livestock. It also features a foreword by Temple herself, plus a special section of "Temple's Advice for Kids on the Spectrum." |
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| Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall by Anita SilveyBiography. As a young scientist living among chimpanzees in Tanzania, Jane Goodall used some methods that seemed unusual -- but her ability to connect with chimps led to breakthroughs in the way scientists understand and study great apes. If the eye-catching photos and fascinating details in Untamed leave you feeling curious, you may want to explore the lives of other female primatologists with Jim Ottaviani's Primates. |
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