March 1, 2024
From beautiful mermaids and gentle unicorns to fire-breathing dragons and bloodthirsty vampires, mysterious beings and magical beasts appear in stories told all around the world. This book highlights 20 legendary beings. Twenty types of mythical creatures creep, stalk, hustle, fly or swim through this fun graphic novel. From Bigfoot to dragons, vampires to giants, we are treated to surprising facts, a sense of how their mythologies came into being, and how they live – not just their preferred environment, but what they eat and whether they’re hostile or friendly to human beings. We even learn what movies they’ve starred […]
February 2, 2024
On the edge of town, a boy named Dawz lives with his sister and their uncle-turned-adoptive-father, Pop. No one in their ramshackle house knows that a monster – who is smaller than a bear cub – lives in Dawz’s bedroom closet. She calls herself Mim. When a series of events forces Mim to leave her closet, she sets out on a quest to unlock the magic of books, but will Dawz be willing to help her? The story of a monster who desperately wants to be seen and the reluctant boy who wishes he weren’t the only one who could, […]
January 5, 2024
What if talking about racism was as easy as baking a cake, frying plantains or cooking rice? The Antiracist Kitchen: 21 Stories (and Recipes) is a celebration of food, family, activism and resistance in the face of racism. In this anthology featuring stories and recipes from 21 diverse and award-winning North American children’s authors, the authors share the role of food in their lives and how it has helped fight discrimination, reclaim culture and celebrate people with different backgrounds. They bring personal and sometimes difficult experiences growing up as racialized people. I opened the cover of this book with […]
January 5, 2024
Jay doesn’t believe in Bigfoot. His dad loves hunting for Bigfoot, but searching for a mythical creature in the dark isn’t Jay’s idea of fun. Especially because he always gets stuck looking out for his little sister while his dad plays with the cool gear, like night-vision goggles. But while out on a camping trip, a large creature starts hunting them, and then Jay’s father goes missing. Jay is forced to start tracking the creature himself while still keeping his sister safe. It turns out that not only is Bigfoot real but it isn’t the only threat in the woods. […]
January 5, 2024
Ignacio “Iggy” Garcia is an Ohio-born Colombian-American teen whose world is spun around when he bumps into Marisol at school. As he stresses over how to get Marisol to like him, his grandfather comes to the rescue. The thing is, not only is his abuelito dead, but he also gives terrible love advice. This is the story of Iggy searching for his place in his family, school, community and country. The novel challenges assumptions about Latino-American identity while reaffirming belief in the hope that all young people represent. Quirkiness aside, this graphic novel has a lot to offer aside […]
October 6, 2023
Thirteen-year-old Jonah is determined to prove that anxiety won’t stop him from succeeding as his hockey team’s goalie in this dynamic novel in verse. This contemporary ice hockey-story for pre-teens is rather unusual for being written in lyrics. That makes it not only a fast-moving, engaging story (especially to hockey fans), but a book likely to turn readers on to verse. Seriously! It’s all in Jonah’s point of view, and he’s 13 (though he often feels younger). Like so many his age, he aspires to be a professional hockey player, his best friends have the same ambitions and he’s passionate […]
July 7, 2023
Thien’s first memory isn’t a sight or a sound. It’s the sweetness of watermelon and the saltiness of fish. It’s the taste of the foods he ate while adrift at sea as his family fled Vietnam. After the Pham family arrives at a refugee camp in Thailand, they struggle to survive. Things don’t get much easier once they resettle in California. And through each chapter of their lives, food takes on a new meaning. Strawberries come to signify struggle as Thien’s mom and dad look for work. Potato chips are an indulgence that brings Thien so much joy that they […]
July 7, 2023
What does the perfect song sound like? Normally, Malcolm Kid wouldn’t give this type of question the time of day. As a straight-B student with a heart of copper, he is far more concerned with overcoming mediocrity than he is with achieving perfection. But that all changes when he stumbles across the LK-2000—a strange keyboard cursed with the soul of an old jazz musician. Malcolm soon learns that the only way to free this musician’s soul is by performing the perfect song. With much hesitation, and the help of a lifelong friend, Malcolm embarks on a musical journey across the […]
June 2, 2023
From the author of Restart, the story of two boys who are losing their memories… to each other. Reef and Theo don’t know what’s happening to them. They’ll be going about their days and then suddenly they’ll have these strange flashes of memory — but the memories don’t belong to them. And at the same time, their own memories are starting to… vanish. For Reef, this is a big problem, because memories are all he has left of his mom. For Theo, it’s strange because the new memories give him a freedom he doesn’t have with his domineering dad. Twelve-year-olds […]
May 5, 2023
Secret ballrooms, hidden artwork and unlikely friends—welcome to the Regency. The city plans to demolish it. Jake feels powerless. And then he’s summoned to apartment 713, an apartment he has been told is off-limits. When he opens the door… he travels to the past. Alongside Beth, his new friend and guide, Jake begins searching for any clue that might help him save the Regency. As their friendship blooms, the mystery around the building’s makers deepens. The Regency’s own storied past will give Jake the key to saving his own future—if only he knows where to look. Jake Simmons hates his […]