Gr. 9-12 In the otherwise quiet butterfly sanctuary of El Rosario, Mexico, Juan Pablo (JP), a thoughtful teen who loves playing his violin, recognizes the sound of drug traffickers that have taken over his town. His abuela, a doctor and naturalist, lies on her deathbed, from which she directs him to follow the butterflies’ migration…
I See London, I See France by Sarah Mlynowski
Gr. 10-12 What could go wrong when you’ve mapped out a four-and-a-half-week backpack trip through Europe with your best friend? Plenty, it turns out. Nineteen-year-old Sydney and Leela planned to trek around Europe, see the sights, kiss hot boys, and have a summer they’d never forget. But when Leela’s ex-boyfriend shows up unexpectedly, even the…
Felix Yz by Lisa Bunker
Gr. 5-8 Eighth grade, like every other year of Felix Yz’s life, isn’t easy, but right now, it’s increasingly intense. Why? He is inhabited by a fourth-dimensional creature, Zyx, whose presence forces Felix’s body into a hunched stance he calls “the Pose.” One month before undergoing a procedure designed to separate the boy from his…
That Thing We Call a Heart by Sheba Karim
Gr. 8-12 It’s the summer before college, and Shabnam Qureshi is lonely. She and her BFF, the feisty Farah, are on the outs since Farah showed up at school wearing a hijab without consulting Shabnam first—and Shabnam didn’t exactly defend her friend from the judgmental onslaught that followed. Eventually, Shabnam meets the free-spirited Jamie, who…
Deep Water by Katherine Nichols
Gr. 9-12 Seventeen-year-old Eddie Otero craves the thrill of adventure, and in 1971, he gets in over his head. A strong and talented swimmer, he accepts the challenge to swim a waterproof package of weed from Mexico back to his small California town near San Diego. The danger fuels his desire to succeed, as does…
Momotaro: Xander and the Dream Thief (Book 2) by Margaret Dilloway
Gr. 4-7 This sequel to Momotaro: Xander and the Lost Island of Monsters (2016) begins on the heels of Xander Miyamoto learning he’s the new Momotaro, a demon-fighting warrior. He should be thrilled, but his powers have waned, he’s plagued by nightmares, and his long-absent mother has returned without warning. Xander’s grandmother gives him a…
Grace and the Fever by Zan Romanoff
Gr. 7-12. ***Starred Review*** The minute obsessive fandom bleeds into real life, there’s bound to be trouble. Grace Thomas is a self-proclaimed ordinary person, but as music blogger Gigi, she’s an integral part of boy band Fever Dream’s fandom. One night during the summer after graduation, Grace finds herself face-to-face with the band’s heartthrob, Jes….
Speed of Life by Carol Weston
Gr. 6-9. ***Starred Review*** Fourteen-year-old Sofia Wolfe moves through life smiling with friends and hiding the sorrow of having lost her Spanish mother almost a year earlier. The only people she has to talk to are her abuelo in Spain, and—regarding girl things—“Dear Kate,” a teen-advice columnist with whom she can anonymously discuss personal matters….
The Girl with the Ghost Machine by Lauren DeStefano
Gr. 3-6. For the past two years, 12-year-old Emmaline Beaumont’s father has been working day and night in the basement on a ghost machine intended to bring his wife back from the dead. Emmy feels abandoned, until one night, in anger, she flings her cup of tea into the machine’s mouth, and before she knows…
Worthy by Donna Cooner
Gr. 7-10. Linden Wilson’s life is looking up. She’s involved with prom, she plans to enter a writing contest for a scholarship, and she just started dating Alex Rivera, the cute catcher for the school’s baseball team. Meanwhile, Worthy, a new polling app that ranks couples based on the worthiness of the girl, becomes a…
Love and Vandalism by Laurie Boyle Crompton
Gr. 9-12. When Rory’s dad forbids her from being an artist, because he believes art destroyed her mother, Rory surreptitiously creates graffiti all over town, leaving angry, aggressive lions in her wake. The thrill of her covert hobby is threatened, however, when hot, out-of-towner Hayes discovers her secret. Hayes puts forth a simple bargain: if…
How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake
Gr. 9-12. Grace wants nothing more than to spend her summer at home in Cape Katherine, focusing on her upcoming audition for the Manhattan School of Music and working alongside her best friend at LuMac’s Diner. However, when Grace returns from a piano workshop in Boston, she finds that her unpredictable and needy mother, Maggie,…
