This powerful tale of race and American culture and history seamlessly weaves a popular middle grade topic, football, with crucial lessons about justice and humanity for tween and younger teens. This is Barnes at his best and is a required purchase for middle school libraries.
A rollicking good tale with all the magic, dragons, and talking cats to recommend to any young fantasy reader who enjoyed the first installment.
Fans of Jasper Rabbit will love this new addition to the popular series.
This is an elegant novel that offers an authentic view of family and community life.
While cozy in tone, the story follows a well-worn holiday arc grounded in magic, loss, and wish fulfillment.
An unnecessary purchase for library collections.
A visually appealing introduction to winter and Christmas, perfect for adults to share with toddlers and early school-aged children.
A warm, visually appealing addition to holiday collections.
This solid addition to most holiday board book collections will be an extra hit with the youngest dinosaur fans.
A well-fit addition to any Christmas holiday literature collection.
Sullivan and Persico make these friendly monsters heartwarming; readers will enjoy welcoming them to their holiday storytimes.
Lovers of historical fiction will thoroughly enjoy this novel, which is recommended for all junior high and high school collections.
A sweet romance with underdeveloped worldbuilding for general purchase.
Colloquialisms will primarily appeal to readers in upper-elementary and middle school, but teens breaking into crafting zines will benefit from ingesting the story arc and the author’s endnotes. A must-purchase.
A first purchase, especially where the English version circulates well.
This fun, Spanish-language search-and-find is sure to provide enjoyable moments, especially during the holidays. A great addition to picture book collections.
A strong addition for library collections looking to expand their Sapphic sports and rom-com offerings.
An excellent choice for Spanish-speaking communities and libraries.
A breathtaking picture book about the beauty of the water and the magic of swimming, perfect for Spanish-language collections for children.
A deeply human, absolutely riveting, and expansively inclusive marine biology nightmare.
A whimsical novel for readers who enjoy more character-driven work. Consider as an additional purchase.
While this story has an interesting conceptual premise around generational trauma, it lacks the thrills many mystery readers crave and an accurate representation of the groups it seeks to portray.
A serious commentary on the obstacles, institutions, and society that teens face, offering a mirror and important issues. To be recommended with caution.
Give this to readers struggling with changing friend dynamics and those starting to ask questions that too often are answered with opinions rather than fact.
This book will appeal to readers looking for a Christian faith-based historical crime thriller with fantastical elements.
Recommended for general purchase in a holiday board book collection.
A perfect book to include in any young adult holiday display year round.
Perfect to read with a family member around the holidays.
Not an essential buy for libraries, but may be useful if additional holiday craft and family activities are needed.
Festive and educational, this title is an excellent choice for expanding holiday collections and introducing young readers to the traditions and spirit of Hanukkah.
This sensitive book addresses family change during an emotional time of year. A recommended purchase for social-emotional collections.
A sweet, realistic story of family, culture, and emotional resilience.
This book about an ambitious Nepali girl detective will capture readers’ attention before the first chapter is done; recommended.
A middle grade must-read highly recommended for fans science fiction and books like A Wrinkle in Time.
This heartfelt story takes readers through one boy’s coming of age, and the joy of rescuing an animal mixed with the heartbreak of loving it enough to let it go. Highly recommended for youth fiction collections.
A skillful tale of family lost and found, one that skillfully weaves discussion of heavier and relevant topics into a comedic plot.
An adventurous novel about family, friendship, love and self-discovery that will be enjoyed by older tweens who find themselves at a crossroads of who they are and who they wish to become.
A solid purchase, this story will resonate with middle schoolers who have endured similar shifting family structures.
Readers will eagerly join Edwin in this twisty, action-packed story that throws in a dollop of financial literacy and art history for good measure.
A plucky, engaging series debut that will resonate with theater-loving tweens. Perfect for middle school collections where Wicked is the musical du jour.
A perfect book for tweens seeking realistic fiction that beautifully captures the emotions and challenges of middle school. Highly recommended for all library shelves as many resonant topics are expertly woven into one satisfying story.
Readers don’t need to be animal lovers to pick up this story about love after loss.
This visually appealing anthology provides interesting new seasonal read-alouds perfect for December story times or family reading traditions. Librarians will appreciate the variety of selections that can be incorporated into holiday programming.
Joyful illustrations and vibrant backgrounds make this a delightful addition to holiday collections.
This is a comprehensive, attractive, and accessible volume, similar in format and scope to Marilyn Singer’s Awe-some Days, Leslie Kimmelman’s Dance, Sing, Remember, and Alfred Kolatch’s Let’s Celebrate Our Jewish Holidays.
A lovely holiday story that speaks to the power of bringing community together during the holidays.
A short, sweet holiday board book for babies and toddlers, who may find the book’s odd shape appealing.
This picture book is a good fit for religious collections, especially in schools or libraries seeking Nativity stories with a contemporary flair and a strong, relatable heroine.
Though a touch saccharine in its conclusion, a charming and vibrant addition to most holiday collections.
A fine addition for libraries looking to add some lighthearted Christmas cheer to joke book collections.
Pokémon enthusiasts can deck the halls with their favorite characters in this interactive work, great to share with a buddy or enjoy independently.
Add this to the construction shelves, Christmas or not.
A highly recommended Christmas story that captures the magic of friendship, this title has something for the young at heart of all ages and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.
A must for holiday collections. This book will charm young children.
A fun and festive choice for holiday collections.
A gently playful addition for collections needing fresh holiday cheer for babies.
A fun and festive dive into Christmas celebrations with diverse families. Recommended for all libraries, especially where the authors’ other book is popular.
Recommended for story hours revolving around Christmas.
Though the rhyming is sometimes clunky, this book is recommended for all collections, and encourages families to teach small children about Kwanzaa.
A recommended purchase for holiday picture book collections.
Recommended as a general purchase for a holiday collection for the youngest readers. The unique layout of pages will certainly be appealing to toddlers and beyond.
An engaging book depicting a family’s fun and unique spin on their Hanukkah celebrations.
A modern city twist on a Christmas classic.
A heartfelt ode to the celebration of chosen family to welcome into every holiday library collection.
This rhyming Christmas story will appeal to young children who love dinosaurs.
A great addition to any picture book collection.
An adorable, romantic, sapphic rom-com perfect for fans of the original, but still accessible for new readers who just want a quick, fun romp.
An appealing and authentic introduction to Dongzhì for readers of any background.
A joyful title that emphasizes the importance of connection and togetherness, whether with family or found family.
A cozy, inclusive celebration of the season.
Look no further for fresh festive fun where search-and-find books are popular.
Freshen up holiday board book collections with this joyful read-aloud that encourages families to read, sing, talk, write, and play together
An excellent secular selection for any library serving young children.
Only fans of the show will enjoy this simple, short story that celebrates how life is sweeter with friends by your side.
Fans of the Christmas holiday and Adam Wallace’s “How to Catch” series will appreciate the story’s formula.
Children will love the beautiful artwork and hidden images in this heartfelt holiday book.
Full of humor and holiday spirit, this is sure to please Fenske’s existing fans and is a perfect suggestion for fans of Jan Thomas and Bob Shea.
An adorable mash-up of peas and the joy of Christmas activities with family and friends.
A sweet, meaningful addition to holiday collections.
Excelling in engagement, design, and joyful reading experience, this festive title will delight young browsers and enrich collections seeking high-interest seasonal books.
When these devils sing, audiences will have to keep listening.
Once on, listeners won’t exit this fatal highway until the bitter end.
Manansala has maintained aural consistency with her adult titles; hopefully, YA listeners can expect to hear Salvacion’s in future pairings.
Mourning has no easy antidote, but this notable lineup provides insight and comfort.
Brooks’s all-too-timely, aurally-proven, close-up ready thriller just needs that studio contract.
Brosgol’s groupies devoted to appreciating her memorable illustrations might opt for print, but Lee’s engrossing performance ensures an aural enhancement not to be missed.
Santana endows all-star treatment on Davis’s remarkable debut.
What’s most aurally notable here is not so much distinct characterizations, but the range of media contained within.
Rey deftly complements Medina’s first fantasy with graceful fluidity.
Fouhey expertly (mis)leads listeners with a marvelously convincing performance.
A virtuoso trio (with ending identifying credits!) connects then and now with gratifyingly healing results.
Sanderson gifts readers with a brilliantly distinctive, hair-raisingly convincing performance of Mackay’s brilliant debut.
Despite uneven wobbles, Sewak’s distinctly elevating performance will likely impel listeners to the final track.
Murder, of course, is highly dangerous, but Rey ensures it’s also twisty-turny deadly fun.
Libraries should be prepared for significant demand in all formats.
Gibson single-voicedly transforms an already electrifying read into a polyphonic marvel.
Clearer distinctions between Frankie’s narration and the 18-year-old interstitials of what happened then would have elevated Powers’s performance.
De Campo expertly captures Tremblay’s creepfest, adroitly building momentum as Casey’s alarm—and Morel’s transformation
Van Ness gloriously elevates these pages into empowering, enlightening entertainment.
Fixx expertly, convincingly enlivens the living and the (un)dead.
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