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When Paige Miller wakes up, all she knows is that she fell asleep early the night before due to a fever. Except she soon finds that it wasn’t the night before, it was six days ago, and now her house is eerily quiet. Weak from being in a coma and fed by I.V. bags, Paige pulls herself from her room to look for her family, and finds that she is the only one in her house–and her town–still alive.
This delightful middle-grade graphic novel twines together mystery with messages about friendship and not basing judgments on first impressions. Sangiacomo perfectly captures the dread some students face as the summer ends and uncertainties can no longer be avoided.
This charming book will delight cat and word lovers as readers follow along to learn all the adjectives that fit the Bookstore Cat. Inspired by a Victorian parlor game, the Minister’s Cat, the Bookstore Cat is many things, and all of them are accompanied by adorable illustrations.
Charlie Thorn and the Curse of Cleopatra
Charlie Thorne is back and ready for another adventure! After *ahem* borrowing information from the CIA, Charlie races across the world to find the hidden treasure of Cleopatra. Of course, she doesn’t expect it to be easy, but a sudden change in the CIA’s leadership and a personal vendetta by a billionaire art collector turns dangerous into deadly. Add in cobras, Mossad operatives, and a landscape that has drastically changed from the time of the Egyptian Queen and even Charlie might not be able to solve Cleopatra’s clues.
Charlie Thorne and the Lost City
Charlie Thorne is one of the smartest people alive–don’t take her word for it? Don’t worry, she’s been tested. Unfortunately, being one of the smartest people alive happens to get her into a lot of trouble.
Katrina is used to going by many different names and constantly moving around the country with her parents, a necessary evil when you are in the Witness Protection Program, but everything she thought she knew changes when her mother goes missing. Suddenly, Katrina and her first-ever friend Parker are thrown into a dangerous adventure that will take every skill they have to not only survive, but also save Katrina’s family.
Dark Was The Night: Blind Willie Johnson’s Journey to the Stars by Gary Golio and E. B. Lewis
Gary Golio and E. B. Lewis bring the story of blues musician Blind Willie Johnson to life with rolling prose and imaginative watercolors. Inspiring while also somber, this book reminds all readers that even in the darkest moments there is still light. This book is also the perfect way to introduce young readers to blues and science, with facts about the Voyager I introducing the story of Blind Willie Johnson. The back matter includes more information about Voyager I and its mission.
Annie may only be a middle-schooler, but she has big dreams and they include performing on stage. After she is told during her elementary graduation that she can be anything she wants to be, Annie decides that she is going to try out for the community theater’s summer production of “Annie,” and does not understand why others laugh when she states she is trying out for the lead. Why should the fact that she is Asian-American have anything to do with what parts she can play? Unfortunately, for a small town in the 80s, it has everything to do with what parts she can act.
Good Dog Carl by Alexandra Day
As an adult, the beautiful illustrations and wordless plot of Good Dog Carl can still entertain me. Good Dog, Carl truly inspired my imagination, and I remember falling asleep many times to plotted adventures I would have if only Carl was my dog.
This heartwarming story shows the love between two grandparents even though one has passed, and that love is handed down to their granddaughter in the form of stories, pictures, and new adventures shared.
This mostly wordless graphic novel tells the moving story of a young girl, Marisol, as she is forced to leave her beautiful home in Cuba, and move to the gray city of Brooklyn. Surrounded by people she cannot understand, and a culture that seems dull in comparison to what she knew back home, Marisol struggles to find a place in the new world she inhabits.
Each Friday a student in John’s class gets to share a talent they have with the rest of the school during Sharing Gifts time. Today, it’s John’s turn. While John is excited to share his talent, he is also nervous about performing. What if the other kids don’t like his talent? What if they make fun of him for liking to dance?
When James and his family move from Texas to Oregon, he feels that life as he knew it is over, and that nothing good can come from the change of scenery. If only he knew how right he was. To make matters worse, the move feels even more doomed without the presence of their abuelita, who had passed shortly before, and not even her recorded stories can make it better. While the new house seems cool, and the neighbors perfect, the uncanny feeling James cannot shake soon takes physical form. In the midst of a prank war with his little sister, Ava, James finds a letter on his desk from someone named “The Keeper” warning him about their new neighborhood. At first, James decides that Ava must have written the letter as the next attack in their prank war, but when more letters arrive and accidents start to happen around James, he realizes just how dangerous their new home and neighbors are.
Owl has one goal and that is to become a knight. However, his small size and tendency to fall asleep in knight school makes it more difficult for him than for others to succeed. Yet he is determined and with the help from a few friends, he graduates knight school and becomes a knight. In fact, he gets put on night watch—a perfect time for him to guard the castle and not have to worry about falling asleep!
There is nothing Petra wants more than to be a storyteller like her grandmother. However, with earth’s imminent destruction by a comet, Petra and her family are chosen to leave Earth, and travel to the nearest inhabitable planet.
Lily may be a small sailboat, but she can do mighty things! When all the big, speedy, and bossy boats in the harbor keep cutting in front of her to go into the lake, she tries her best to stay out of their way, and wait for her turn. Only thing is that in order to get the bridge to lower and pass into the lake, Lily needs to blow her horn in order to signal that she wants to pass, but no one can hear her small horn over those of the larger vessels!
Little Bat is back in this picturebook about what happens when a nocturnal animal tries to stay up all day! The ever-curious Little Bat wants to know how the world changes when the sun comes up, and decides that the only way to find out is to adventure beyond the familiarity of his attic home during the day.
Rich in worldbuilding and strong female characters, “The Lost Dreamer” introduces readers to a complex fantasy world inspired by ancient Mesoamerica with unforgettable characters, and an intricate plot. The chapters change between perspectives as the two main characters Indir and Saya uncover secrets surrounding themselves, and learn that they both have a fated place in the world that is changing around them.
Maizy Chen had only met her grandparents once in person, a brief visit that was over before it truly began. But when Maizy’s grandfather gets sick, she and her mother drive to Last Chance, Minnesota to spend a few days with him. Those few days turn into the entire summer as Maizy and her mother realize just how ill he is.
Ms. Too used to be Molly’s favorite librarian, but then Ms. Too married Molly’s father and became her stepmother and suddenly Molly’s father no longer splashed in the pool or spun with Molly in the park. Now, Ms. Too perches at the edge of the pool and reads on a bench instead of spinning Molly on the merry-go-round.
Milk and Juice: A Recycling Romance
When Milk and Juice meet, it is love at first sight, and they spend many happy days in the refrigerator together. However, when Juice is taken away to be recycled, their love faces an obstacle, but will not be destroyed.
It was bad enough that Bo and her mom were moving into her mom’s boyfriend’s home in Harlem, but no one told Bo that she would be sharing space with a dog, two cats, a bearded dragon, turtle, and chickens–in addition to another family and Bill’s daughter!
When Pineapple’s family gets a new cat, his quiet routine gets ruined, and he quickly grows annoyed when Kiwi copies everything he does. To make matters worse, Kiwi ruins everything that Pineapple likes to do.
When Hanna and her widowed father settle in the small town of LaForge in the Dakota Territory, Hanna is both excited and worried. Excited because after three years of traveling, they are finally in a town where they bought a store instead of renting–meaning her father intends to stay for longer than normal–and because she might be able to go to an actual school.
Mary’s family had lived on Martha’s Vineyard since the first English settlers arrived on the island, and her great-great-grandfather was the first deaf islander. While being born deaf elsewhere during the 19th century would lead to a life of struggle, on Martha’s Vineyard it is nothing out of the ordinary, and people like Mary and her father are supported and accepted by the community.
“Six Crimson Cranes” is an imaginative retelling of several classic stories including “The Wild Swans,” “Cinderella,” “the legend of Chang E,” and the “Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.” Lim expertly weaves together the core elements of each story with an original twist that will keep readers enthralled until the end, and then wishing for more. In true fashion of traditional fairytales, this story has all the hallmarks of a classic tale–a lost slipper, a cursed princess in disguise, an evil stepmother, and a monster who may not be so monstrous.
Julia loves visiting her grandma in the small town that is tucked against a mountain just outside of Mexico City. But even though her grandma travels with her, it will be the first time Julia will make the journey without her parents as they remain behind to get everything ready for Julia’s soon-to-be baby brother’s arrival.
A little girl decides she wants to go on an adventure alone to somewhere, somewhere she has never been before, and where new secrets can be found. While her father quietly watches to make sure she is safe, the little girl journeys out along an unfamiliar path to find new treasures to share with him.
Reminiscent of Studio Ghibli animations, this graphic novel introduces readers to a young witch named Sophie who travels to train under the guidance of her great aunt and cousin. While her magic is troublesome at times, Sophie is determined to prove to her family that she is powerful enough to be accepted into the Royal Magic Academy. Except instead of learning spells like she thought she would be, Sophie’s auntie Lan has her doing chores all day long and berates her for each little mistake.
The Unforgettable Logan Foster
After having been returned by six different foster families, Logan Foster does not expect to like–or be liked by–his newest foster family. Yet there is something about Gil and Margie, despite Gil’s horrible puns and Margie’s even worse cooking, that clicks with Logan. Whether it’s because they are secretly superheroes, or because they genuinely seem to care about him, Logan can’t quite decide. Of course, Logan isn’t supposed to know that they are superheroes, but with a brain like his, there is little he can’t figure out. And when explanations about why Gil and Margie are out all hours, never seem to eat, and the pretty intense security around the garage all fall short, Logan begins to wonder.