List

Category
Audience
Tags

My Father, The Panda Killer

Jamie Jo Hoang

A poignant coming-of-age story told in two alternating voices: a California teenager railing against the Vietnamese culture, juxtaposed with her father as an eleven-year-old boat person on a harrowing and traumatic refugee journey from Vietnam to the United States.

“A profoundly moving, achingly resonant story of love, family, and coming of age amid the lingering echoes of war; a luminous tapestry woven from the many threads of American dreams.”

―Jeff Zentner, award-winning author of The Serpent King and In the Wild Light


San Jose, 1999. Jane knows her Vietnamese dad can’t control his temper. Lost in a stupid daydream, she forgot to pick up her seven-year-old brother, Paul, from school. Inside their home, she hands her dad the stick he hits her with. This is how it’s always been. She deserves this. Not because she forgot to pick up Paul, but because at the end of the summer she’s going to leave him when she goes away to college. As Paul retreats inward, Jane realizes she must explain where their dad’s anger comes from. The problem is, she doesn’t quite understand it herself.

Đà Nẵng, 1975. Phúc (pronounced /fo͞ok/, rhymes with duke) is eleven the first time his mother walks him through a field of mines he’s always been warned never to enter. Guided by cracks of moonlight, Phúc moves past fallen airplanes and battle debris to a refugee boat. But before the sun even has a chance to rise, more than half the people aboard will perish. This is only the beginning of Phúc’s perilous journey across the Pacific, which will be fraught with Thai pirates, an unrelenting ocean, starvation, hallucination, and the unfortunate murder of a panda.

Told in the alternating voices of Jane and Phúc, My Father, The Panda Killer is an unflinching story about war and its impact across multiple generations, and how one American teenager forges a path toward accepting her heritage and herself.

View Details >>

A Rover's Story

Jasmine Warga

 

 

New York Times bestseller * Best Book of the Year from The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library

 

 

The One and Only Ivan meets The Wild Robot in this unique and deeply moving middle grade novel about the journey of a fictional Mars rover, from the Newbery Honor-winning author of Other Words for Home.

Meet Resilience, a Mars rover determined to live up to his name.

Res was built to explore Mars. He was not built to have human emotions. But as he learns new things from the NASA scientists who assemble him, he begins to develop humanlike feelings. Maybe there's a problem with his programming....

Human emotions or not, launch day comes, and Res blasts off to Mars, accompanied by a friendly drone helicopter named Fly. But Res quickly discovers that Mars is a dangerous place filled with dust storms and giant cliffs. As he navigates Mars's difficult landscape, Res is tested in ways that go beyond space exploration.

As millions of people back on Earth follow his progress, will Res have the determination, courage, and resilience to succeed... and survive

View Details >>

Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy

Angie Thomas

Instant #1 New York Times bestseller!

Internationally bestselling superstar author Angie Thomas makes her middle grade debut with the launch of an inventive, hilarious, and suspenseful new contemporary fantasy trilogy inspired by African American history and folklore.

It's not easy being a Remarkable in the Unremarkable world. Some things are cool--like getting a pet hellhound for your twelfth birthday. Others, not so much--like not being trusted to learn magic because you might use it to take revenge on an annoying neighbor.

All Nic Blake wants is to be a powerful Manifestor like her dad. But before she has a chance to convince him to teach her the gift, a series of shocking revelations and terrifying events launch Nic and two friends on a hunt for a powerful magic tool she's never heard of...to save her father from imprisonment for a crime she refuses to believe he committed.

View Details >>

Parachute Kids

Betty C. Tang

**National Book Award Longlist Title**

**Asian/Pacific American Award Honor Book**

This funny, fast-paced, and heartrending story about three siblings living on their own as undocumented new immigrants is perfect for fans of New Kid and Front Desk.

 

A DREAM TRIP TO AMERICA TURNS INTO A NIGHTMARE!

Feng-Li can't wait to discover America with her family! But after an action-packed vacation, her parents deliver shocking news: They are returning to Taiwan and leaving Feng-Li and her older siblings in California on their own.

Suddenly, the three kids must fend for themselves in a strange new world--and get along. Starting a new school, learning a new language, and trying to make new friends while managing a household is hard enough, but Bro and Sis's constant bickering makes everything worse. Thankfully, there are some hilarious moments to balance the stress and loneliness. But as tensions escalate--and all three kids get tangled in a web of bad choices--can Feng-Li keep her family together?

View Details >>

The Way I Say It

Nancy Tandon

Sixth-grader Rory's story of his impossible-to-hide speech challenge and middle-school drama is perfect for fans of Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind.

Rory still can't say his r's, but that's just the beginning of his troubles. First Rory's ex-best-friend Brent started hanging out with the mean lacrosse kids. But then, a terrible accident takes Brent out of school, and Rory struggles with how to feel.

Rory and his new speech teacher put their heads together on Rory's r's (as well as a serious love of hard rock and boxing legend Muhammad Ali), but nobody seems to be able to solve the problem of Rory's complicated feelings about Brent. Brent's accident left him with a brain injury and he's struggling. Should Rory stand up for his old friend at school--even after Brent failed to do the same for him?

View Details >>

The Mystery of the Radcliffe Riddle

Taryn Souders

From the Edgar-nominated author of Coop Knows the Scoop comes an exciting mystery perfect for fans of From the Desk of Zoe Washington and Holes.

When Grady and his dad learn that the town oddball, Eudora "Kooky" Klinch left something for them in her will, they can only imagine what it might be. When it turns out it's an old scrap of 300-year-old tapestry, they are bitterly disappointed. But the cloth comes with a note saying, "This is no ordinary piece of needlework. It's a treasure map. Riddles and Clues. To the victor go the riches." Grady's dad dismisses it, but Grady thinks this could be the chance of a lifetime. With the help of his friends Thad, Clemmie, and the town dog Ophelia, Grady is determined to crack the clues and find the treasure.

But when someone tries to break into Grady's house one night, and then the local antiques expert who examined the tapestry is found unconscious, Grady realizes that he's not the only one who knows about the treasure map. There's more at risk than he bargained for, and solving this mystery just got a lot more dangerous.

You will love Grady and his adventures if you are looking for:

  • Mystery books for kids 9-12
  • Heartfelt and quirky stories for young readers
  • Kids detective books
  • 5th grade mystery books
View Details >>

It's the End of the World and I'm in My Bathing Suit

Justin A. Reynolds

A hilarious new middle-grade from justin a. reynolds that asks: What happens when five unsupervised kids face the apocalypse under outrageously silly circumstances?

 

Twelve-year-old Eddie Gordon Holloway has concocted his most genius plan ever to avoid chores . . . especially the dreaded L-A-U-N-D-R-Y. If he can wears every item of clothing in his wardrobe, summer will be halfway over before he has to do laundry!

 

On the day of the highly anticipated Beach Bash, Eddie ends up grounded until he can get his clothes clean. While left home alone to do his laundry, the power goes out mid-cycle. With his first load of laundry soaking wet and the rest still filthy, Eddie sets out to explore the seemingly empty neighborhood in just his swim trunks and flip-flops.

 

As he meets up with other neighborhood kids to find out what happened, they realize that their families aren't coming back anytime soon. And as night falls, the crew realizes they aren't just the only people left in the neighborhood -- they might be the only people left . . . anywhere.

View Details >>

Frizzy

Claribel A. Ortega

Winner of the 2023 Pura Belpré Award for Children's Text
Winner of the 2023 Eisner for Best Publication for Kids
October 2022 Indie Bestseller


New York Times-bestselling author Claribel A. Ortega and star debut artist Rose Bousamra's Frizzy is about Marlene, a young Dominican girl whose greatest enemy is the hair salon! Through her struggles and triumphs, this heartwarming and gorgeous middle-grade graphic novel shows the radical power of accepting yourself as you are, frizzy curls and all.

Marlene loves three things: books, her cool Tía Ruby and hanging out with her best friend Camila. But according to her mother, Paola, the only thing she needs to focus on is school and "growing up." That means straightening her hair every weekend so she could have "presentable", "good hair".

But Marlene hates being in the salon and doesn't understand why her curls are not considered pretty by those around her. With a few hiccups, a dash of embarrassment, and the much-needed help of Camila and Tia Ruby—she slowly starts a journey to learn to appreciate and proudly wear her curly hair.

View Details >>

Good Different

Meg Eden Kuyatt

A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book

 

An extraordinary novel-in-verse for fans of Starfish and A Kind of Spark about a neurodivergent girl who comes to understand and celebrate her difference.

 

Selah knows her rules for being normal.

She always, always sticks to them. This means keeping her feelings locked tightly inside, despite the way they build up inside her as each school day goes on, so that she has to run to the bathroom and hide in the stall until she can calm down. So that she has to tear off her normal-person mask the second she gets home from school, and listen to her favorite pop song on repeat, trying to recharge. Selah feels like a dragon stuck in a world of humans, but she knows how to hide it.

Until the day she explodes and hits a fellow student.

Selah's friends pull away from her, her school threatens expulsion, and her comfortable, familiar world starts to crumble.

But as Selah starts to figure out more about who she is, she comes to understand that different doesn't mean damaged. Can she get her school to understand that, too, before it's too late?

This is a moving and unputdownable story about learning to celebrate the things that make us different. Good Different is the perfect next read for fans of Counting by 7s or Jasmine Warga.

View Details >>

Little Monarchs

Jonathan Case

A ten-year-old girl may be the only person who can save humanity from extinction in this exciting graphic novel adventure.

It’s been fifty years since a sun shift wiped out nearly all mammal life across the earth.

Towns and cities are abandoned relics, autonomous machines maintain roadways, and the world is slowly being reclaimed by nature. Isolated pockets of survivors keep to themselves in underground sites, hiding from the lethal sunlight by day and coming above ground at night.

10-year-old Elvie and her caretaker, Flora, a biologist, are the only two humans who can survive during daylight because Flora made an incredible discovery – a way to make an antidote to sun sickness using the scales from monarch butterfly wings. Unfortunately, it can only be made in small quantities and has a short shelf life.

Free to travel during the day, Elvie and Flora follow monarchs as they migrate across the former Western United States, constantly making new medicine for themselves while trying to find a way to make a vaccine they can share with everyone. Will they discover a way to go from a treatment to a cure and preserve what remains of humanity, or will their efforts be thwarted by disaster and the very people they are trying to save?

Little Monarchs is a new kind of graphic novel adventure—one that invites readers to take an intimate look at the natural world and the secrets hidden within. Elvie and Flora’s adventures take place in real locations marked panel-by-panel with coordinates and a compass heading. Curious readers can follow their travel routes and see the same landscapes—whether it be a secluded butterfly grove on the California coast or a hot-springs in the high desert. Through both comic narrative and journal entries, readers learn the basics of star navigation, how to tie useful knots, and other survival skills applicable in the natural world.

Creator Jonathan Case acquired the fact-based portion of Little Monarchs through intensive research and several expeditions to study monarchs across the western United States. Scientific support also came from the Xerces Society, the world leaders in monarch preservation.


An American Library Association Notable Children's Book
An ALA Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table Top Ten Best Graphic Novels for Children Selection
Named to the Little Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
An NPR Book We Love
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Editors’ Choice Selection

View Details >>

To Catch a Thief

Martha Brockenbrough

"To Catch a Thief is a page-turner of a mystery with a great big heart, and Amelia MacGuffin is the smart, funny kid sleuth we've all been waiting for. Readers will laugh and fall in love with the MacGuffin family as they follow the clues to crack this absolutely delightful case." --Kate Messner, New York Times bestselling author of Blackout

 

Urchin Beach isn't the sort of place where bad things happen. The little seaside town is too lucky for that. But then one day, a thief steals something precious--the town's dragonfly staff, which is the source of all its good fortune and the most important part of the upcoming Dragonfly Day Festival.

 

Amelia MacGuffin is no detective. She's eleven, quiet, and unlike her four younger siblings, she has no special talents. But Amelia loves her town. Her family has lived there forever. Her parents run the Pacific General Store, and she and her best friends, Birdie and Delphine, are about to start middle school. If Amelia doesn't find the staff, the Dragonfly Day Festival will be canceled .

 

The town needs that tourist money to survive. Unless she cracks the case, Amelia's family will lose everything--including the adorable stray dog they've fallen in love with. She only has seven days to solve Urchin Beach's crime of the century. It's not a lot of time, but Amelia has her list of suspects. It might be the new kids next door. Or the grumpy mystery writer who lives in the town's creepiest mansion. Or perhaps even someone closer to home.

 

Amelia wants to save the town. She wants to save the dog. She wants both, so much.

 

But first, she has to catch a thief.

View Details >>