List

Longlisted for the National Book Award

A tender-souled boy reeling from the death of his best friend struggles to fit into a world that wants him to grow up tough and unfeeling in this stunning illustrated middle grade novel in verse “full of vulnerability and hope” (Booklist, starred review) from the Newbery Honor–winning author of Genesis Begins Again.

It’s the last few months of eighth grade, and Isaiah feels lost. He thought his summer was going to be him and his boys Drew and Darius, hanging out, doing wheelies, watching martial arts movies, and breaking tons of Guinness World Records before high school. But now, more and more, Drew seems to be fading from their friendship, and though he won’t admit it, Isaiah knows exactly why. Because Darius is…gone.

A hit and run killed Darius in the midst of a record-breaking long wheelie when Isaiah should have been keeping watch, ready to warn: “CAR!” Now, Drew can barely look at Isaiah. But Isaiah, already quaking with ache and guilt, can’t lose two friends. So, he comes up with a plan to keep Drew and him together­­­—they can spend the summer breaking records, for Darius.

But Drew’s not the same Drew since Darius was killed, and Isaiah being Isaiah isn’t enough for Drew anymore. Not his taste in clothes, his love for rock music, or his aversion to jumping off rooftops. And one day something unspeakable happens to Isaiah that makes him think Drew’s right. If only he could be less sensitive, more tough, less weird, more cool, less him, things would be easier. But how much can Isaiah keep inside until he shatters wide open?

A Coretta Scott King Honor Book
Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award

A thoughtful celebration of Black girlhood by award-winning author and poet Renée Watson.

In this semi-autobiographical collection of poems, Renée Watson writes
about her experience growing up as a young Black girl at the intersections of race, class, and gender.

Using a variety of poetic forms, from haiku to free verse, Watson shares recollections of her childhood in Portland, tender odes to the Black women in her life, and urgent calls for Black girls to step into their power.

Black Girl You Are Atlas encourages young readers to embrace their future with a strong sense of sisterhood and celebration. With full-color art by celebrated fine artist Ekua Holmes throughout, this collection offers guidance and is a gift for anyone who reads it.

An Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (APALA) Honor Book

An Eisner Award Nominee

From rising star Zachary Sterling comes a humorous and heartwarming middle-grade graphic novel that celebrates food, family, and folklore.

Can two kids save the world and work their family food truck?

First-generation Filipino siblings JJ and Althea struggle to belong at school. JJ wants to fit in with the crowd, while Althea wants to be accepted as she is. To make matters worse, they have to help their parents run the family food truck by dressing up as a dancing pig and passing out samples. Ugh! And their mom is always pointing out lessons from Filipino folklore -- annoying tales they've heard again and again. But when witches, ogres, and other creatures from those same stories threaten their family, JJ and Althea realize that the folklore may be more real that they'd suspected. Can they embrace who they really are and save their family?

Can a guarded gamer girl lower her shield for a new friend… or more-than-friend?

"EARNEST AND LAUGH-OUT-LOUD... PITCH PERFECT."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Thirteen-year-old Ingrid’s been living a double life. At school, she’s her popular friend Rachel’s charity case. Online, she crushes it in her favorite MMORPG, geeks out in her favorite fantasy fandom, and runs a popular social media account. If only real life were that easy.

But when Ingrid finally stands up to Rachel, it suddenly feels like she has no life at all.

Until she gets a super-sweet wrong-number text from a mystery boy at her school. Spending time together gaming as “Stitches” and “Traveler” makes her feel like she’s really connecting with someone. But when she begins to suspect that Traveler may be a popular classmate who is WAY above her in the cool-kid food chain—and whose original text was actually intended for Rachel—she faces a difficult choice. Can they be friends IRL? She wants to open up, but getting close to people has hurt her before. Is making real friends only fantasy after all?

Bye Forever, I Guess is the fresh, funny, and deeply sweet middle-grade debut of New York Times bestselling author Jodi Meadows (MY LADY JANE). Speaking to the messiness of middle-school friendships (and first loves), this is a warm, witty, enormously entertaining book—and a love letter to geek culture, gaming, and the healing power of fantasy.

"HILARIOUS... Charming, funny, and endearing."—Kirkus Reviews

"The most DELIGHTFUL middle-grade romcom I've ever read!"—Ellen Oh, award-winning author of Finding Junie Kim

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year • A Booklist Best Book of the Year • A Bookshop.org Best Book of the Year • An American Booksellers Association Indie Next Selection • A Staff Pick at Parnussas Books, Bookmarks, Belmont Books, Broadway Books, and Many More

What would you do if no one could see you? In this surreal adventure, a boy who is used to being overlooked literally becomes invisible, only to realize there may be far more dangerous threats in his school than bullies.

Sixth grade takes a turn for the weird when Hector Griggs discovers he has the ability to turn invisible. Sure, ever since Hector’s former best friend Blake started bullying him, he’s been feeling like he just wants to disappear…but he never thought he actually would. And then, Hector meets another invisible boy, Orson Wellington, who has an ominous warning: “I’m stuck here. Stuck like this. It’s been years. The gelim’s hunting me and it’ll get you, too.” 

It turns out, there is more than meets the eye at St. Lawrence’s Catholic School for Boys, and if Hector is going to save Orson--and himself—from the terrifying creature preying on students’ loneliness and fear, he’ll need to look deeper. With the help of a mysterious new classmate, Sam, can Hector unravel the mysteries haunting his school, and discover that sometimes it takes disappearing to really be seen?

PURA BELPRÉ HONOR WINNER



BEST OF THE YEAR

New York Times · Kirkus · Booklist · Chicago Public Library



The follow-up to Newbery and Pura Belpré Award-winning The Last Cuentista



For 400 years, Earth has been a barren wasteland. The few humans that survive scrape together an existence in the cruel city of Pocatel - or go it alone in the wilderness beyond, filled with wandering spirits and wyrms. They don't last long.



13 year-old pickpocket Leandro and his sister Gabi do what they can to forge a life in Pocatel. The city does not take kindly to Cascabel like them - the descendants of those who worked the San Joaquin Valley for generations.



When Gabi is caught stealing precious fruit from the Pocatelan elite, Leando takes the fall. But his exile proves more than he ever could have imagined -- far from a simple banishent, his consciousness is placed inside an ancient drone and left to fend on its own. But beyond the walls of Pocatel lie other alebrijes like Leandro who seek for a better world -- as well as mutant monsters, wasteland pirates, a hidden oasis, and the truth.



From Donna Barba Higuera, Newbery and Pura Belpré Medal-winning author of The Last Cuentista, comes another novel to astonish us and create a whole new imaginative world, that holds a mirror to our own.



7 STARRED REVIEWS



★ "An instant classic."

--School Library Journal (starred)



★ ""Breathtaking... A ferociously epic and beautiful middle-grade dystopian novel."

--Shelf Awareness (starred)



★ "Combines humanity and technology with imaginative splendor."

--Foreword (starred)



★ "This heartfelt adventure signals hope for humanity, even in the aftermath of darkness."

--Kirkus (starred)



★ "High-stakes adventure... Beautiful, imaginative writing fills this dystopian sf novel. Though it exposes cruelty and corruption, it raises up storytelling, culture, and kindness as stronger yet... A wondrous addition to any collection."

--Booklist (starred)



★ "This stellar speculative narrative explores themes of identity across circumstance, centering an adolescent without structural power working to protect family and community."

--Publishers Weekly (starred)



★ "Higuera brilliantly balances the heaviness of a dystopian future of a ruined Earth with her own blend of science fiction and Mexican folkloric elements once Leandro leaves his human body... Leandro and his unflinching dedication to an uplifting view of humanity that will spark engagement from the first page and linger in the minds of readers well after they finish the novel."

--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred)



"With its social and environmental commentary, this fast-paced and imaginative novel tackles issues of deception and control and leaves one with a sense of wonder that a single flap of a wing or a solitary voice can bring about unimaginable change."

--Horn Book

Four starred reviews!
“The book we all need at the time we all need it.” —Katherine Applegate, Newbery Award–winning author of The One and Only Ivan

In this “tale of intergenerational friendship forged through a shared understanding of loss…told with spellbinding grace” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) from #1 New York Times bestselling author Gayle Forman, a boy assigned to spend his summer volunteering at a senior living facility learns unexpected lessons.

Alex is twelve, and he did something very, very bad. A judge sentences him to spend his summer volunteering at a retirement home where he’s bossed around by an annoying and self-important do-gooder named Maya-Jade. He hasn’t seen his mom in a year, his aunt and uncle don’t want him, and Shady Glen’s geriatric residents seem like zombies to him.

Josey is 107 and ready for his life to be over. He has evaded death many times, having survived ghettos, dragnets, and a concentration camp—all thanks to the heroism of a woman named Olka and his own ability to sew. But now he spends his days in room 206 at Shady Glen, refusing to speak and waiting (and waiting and waiting) to die. Until Alex knocks on Josey’s door…and Josey begins to tell Alex his story.

As Alex comes back again and again to hear more, an unlikely bond grows between them. Soon a new possibility opens up for Alex: Can he rise to the occasion of his life, even if it means confronting the worst thing that he’s ever done?

A gripping new novel in verse by the author of the Printz Honor-winning Starfish, featuring a poverty-stricken boy who bravely rides out all the storms life keeps throwing at him

Joe Oak is used to living on unsteady ground. His mom can’t be depended on as she never stays around long once she gets “the itch,” and now he and his beloved grandmother find themselves without a home. Fortunately, Joe has an outlet in his journals and drawings and takes comfort from the lessons of comic books—superheroes have a lot of “and then, boom” moments, where everything threatens to go bust but somehow they land on their feet. And that seems to happen a lot to Joe too, as in this crisis his friend Nick helps them find a home in his trailer park. But things fall apart again when Joe is suddenly left to fend for himself. He doesn’t tell anyone he’s on his own, as he fears foster care and has hope his mom will come back. But time is running out—bills are piling up, the electricity’s been shut off, and the school year’s about to end, meaning no more free meals. The struggle to feed himself gets intense, and Joe finds himself dumpster diving for meals. He’s never felt so alone—until an emaciated little dog and her two tiny pups cross his path. And fate has even more in store for Joe, because an actual tornado is about to hit home—and just when it seems all is lost, his life turns in a direction that he never could have predicted.

"A beautifully crafted tale of friendship, family, and forgiveness, with characters so vivid and real you can't help but root for them, on and off the court." --Matt Tavares, New York Times bestselling author-illustrator of Hoops: A Graphic Novel 



Competitive basketball takes center court in this fast-paced sports book about two girls finding the truth about themselves--and their families--against the backdrop of middle school and college hoops.



Cincinnati, Ohio, lives and dies by college basketball, with two elite Division I rivals separated by a mere three miles. Rory's dad just secured a new coaching gig at the University of Cincinnati, so it means yet another school and move for her, only this time to her dad's hometown. Rory's life revolves around basketball; she's never had a close friend outside of it. Could this be a chance for a fresh start?



Abby has always lived in Cincinnati, where her dad grew up playing ball and now coaches at Xavier University. But Abby has recently retreated from basketball after a frustrating season that left her confidence in shambles. This year, she finds herself on the outside looking in when it comes to her former teammates, and she could seriously use a new friend. 



The coaches' daughters connect over their shared love of the game when Abby chaperones Rory on her first day of school. But when Abby's dad practically forbids their friendship because of something that happened between him and Rory's dad when they were younger, Abby and Rory have no choice but to move their budding friendship underground.



Can the two of them get to the bottom of what went down between their dads in the 1990s before history repeats itself?



SPORTS BOOKS FOR GIRLS: This book stars two protagonists who love basketball in their own ways and features a spectrum of characters (including a basketball-playing nun!) who engage with the sport individually and distinctly. The breadth of athletes reflects the reality of sports for kids and young teens, making the story appealing to a wide range of readers.



AUTHENTIC & ACCESSIBLE NARRATIVE: Reluctant readers and book lovers alike will find a genuine story that conveys real emotions, family struggles, and insecurities driven by the tension of middle school sports.



FUN BASKETBALL BOOK: Unraveling like a mystery but moving like a he-said, she-said, and traveling through time and generations, this book has the right level of high stakes to keep readers hooked to the end.



ENDURING SPORT LEGACY: As one of the world's most popular sports, basketball is significant to people of all ages and carries a sense of nostalgia across generations. It's played in schools across the globe, on official sports teams and in gym class, and brings members of communities together in parks and recreational centers. This sport's positive influence on overlooked communities and students from economically impacted backgrounds also speaks to the importance of basketball at a social level.



Perfect for:

• Fans of basketball
• Anyone looking for basketball books for teens and tweens
• Parents, teachers, and librarians seeking positive children's friendship books
• Readers of YA sports novels like Pippa Park Raises Her Game by Erin Yun, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang, and Knockout by K.A. Holt

NEWBERY HONOR WINNER
SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD HONOR WINNER

Spanning over five hundred years, Pura Belpré Award winner Ruth Behar's epic novel tells the stories of four girls from different generations of a Jewish family, many of them forced to leave their country and start a new life.

In 1492, during the Spanish Inquisition, Benvenida and her family are banished from Spain for being Jewish. They journey by foot and by sea, eventually settling in Istanbul. Over four centuries later, in 1923, shortly after the Turkish war of independence, Reina’s father disowns her for a small act of disobedience. He ships her away to live with an aunt in Cuba. In 1961, Reina’s daughter, Alegra, is proud to be a brigadista, teaching literacy in the countryside. But soon Fidel Castro’s crackdowns force her to flee to Miami, leaving her parents behind. In 2003, Alegra’s daughter, Paloma, is fascinated by all the journeys that had to happen before she could be born. A keeper of memories, she’s thrilled to learn more about her heritage on a trip to Spain, where she makes a momentous discovery.

Though many years and many seas separate these girls, they are united by their desire to belong and to matter, and by the haunting beauty they find in sad Spanish songs--and each is lucky to stand on the shoulders of her courageous ancestors.