Featured Reads

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Middle Spoon

Alejandro Varela

Middle Spoon subverts the ordinary novel with intelligence and vulnerability. . . . Varela has made a sly, analytical opera of the heart.” —Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less and Less Is Lost

“A rollicking delight! . . . Varela asks provocative questions about the shape of family and the nature of love.” —Ada Calhoun, New York Times bestselling author of Crush

One of Today’s 50 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2025 · Named a Must-Read Book of Fall 2025 by Town & Country, W Magazine, and more

A whip-smart, blazingly funny novel about heartbreak, unconventional love, and the way society could be, from National Book Award finalist Alejandro Varela

The narrator of Middle Spoon appears to be living the dream: He has a doting husband, two precocious children, all the comforts of a quiet bourgeois life—and a sexy younger boyfriend to accompany him to farmers markets and cocktail parties. But when his boyfriend abruptly dumps him, he spirals into heartbreak for the first time and must confront a world still struggling to understand polyamorous relationships. Faced with the judgment of friends and the sting of rejection, he’s left to wonder if sharing a life with both his family and his lover could ever truly be possible.

With a big heart and just the right dose of the anxieties that define the modern era, Middle Spoon skewers the unspoken rules we still live by—from taboos around intimacy to the shortcomings of Oscar season, pop culture, and gluten-free food—offering a surprising perspective on love, loss, and reinvention. Equal parts heart-wrenching and uproariously funny, Middle Spoon is for anyone who has longed, nursed a broken heart, or grappled with love at its messiest.

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Galatea

Madeline Miller

From the internationally bestselling and prize-winning author of The Song of Achilles and Circe, an enchanting short story that boldly reimagines the myth of Galatea and Pygmalion.

**Featuring a new afterword by Madeline Miller**

In Ancient Greece, a skilled marble sculptor has been blessed by a goddess who has given his masterpiece – the most beautiful woman the town has ever seen – the gift of life. Now his wife, he expects Galatea to please him, to be obedience and humility personified. But she has desires of her own, and yearns for independence. 

In a desperate bid by her obsessive husband to keep her under control, she is locked away under the constant supervision of doctors and nurses. But with a daughter to rescue, she is determined to break free, whatever the cost...

_________________________

Praise for CIRCE

'A thrilling tour de force of imagination' Mail on Sunday

'A bold and subversive retelling' New York Times 

'A novel to be gobbled greedily in one sitting' Observer

'A remarkable achievement' Sunday Times
 

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Hiding Mengele

Betina Anton

"A tremendous work of non-fiction" about the network that hid the "Angel of Death," the Nazi doctor who escaped justice for more than three decades ( Forbes). 
In 1985, six-year old Betina Anton watched Brazilian authorities apprehend her kindergarten teacher for allegedly using documents to bury in secrecy the remains of Josef Mengele, known worldwide for cruel human experiments and for sending thousands to the Auschwitz gas chambers. Decades later, as an experienced journalist disturbed by the mysteries surrounding the departure of Austrian expat Liselotte Bossert, Anton set out to find her and see if the rumors were true. She could not imagine how deeply into Mengele's life-on-the-run her investigation would take her. 
Josef Mengele was a fugitive in South America for thirty-four years after World War II, sought by the Israeli secret service and Nazi Hunters. Hidden for half that time in Brazil, thanks to a small group of expatriate Europeans, Mengele created his own paradise where he could speak German with new friends, maintain his beliefs, stay one step ahead of the global manhunt, and avoid answering for his crimes. 
Translated from the Brazilian Tropical Bavaria edition and based on extensive research, including revelatory interviews and never-before-seen letters and photos, Hiding Mengele is a suspenseful narrative not only haunted by the doctor's horrific actions but also by the motivations driving a community to protect an evil man. 
"The definitive book on Josef Mengele . . . Part history, part detective story, this book grabs the reader from the first heart-thumping page to the last." —James McMurty Longo, author of Hitler and the Habsburgs

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This Is How You Lose the Time War

Amal El-Mohtar

* HUGO AWARD WINNER: BEST NOVELLA * NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARDS WINNER: BEST NOVELLA *

“[An] exquisitely crafted tale...Part epistolary romance, part mind-blowing science fiction adventure, this dazzling story unfolds bit by bit, revealing layers of meaning as it plays with cause and effect, wildly imaginative technologies, and increasingly intricate wordplay...This short novel warrants multiple readings to fully unlock its complexities.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From award-winning authors Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone comes an enthralling, romantic novel spanning time and space about two time-traveling rivals who fall in love and must change the past to ensure their future. 

Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandment finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.

Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?

Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.

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Apostle's Cove

William Kent Krueger

The New York Times bestselling Cork O’Connor Mystery series—a “master class in suspense and atmospheric storytelling” (The Real Book Spy)—continues with Cork O’Connor revisiting a case from his past and confronting mysterious deaths in the present. 

A few nights before Halloween, as Cork O’Connor gloomily ruminates on his upcoming birthday, he receives a call from his son, Stephen, who is working for a nonprofit dedicated to securing freedom for unjustly incarcerated inmates. Stephen tells his father that decades ago, as the newly elected sheriff of Tamarack County, Cork was responsible for sending an Ojibwe man named Axel Boshey to prison for a brutal murder that Stephen is certain he did not commit.

Cork feels compelled to reinvestigate the crime, but that is easier said than done. Not only is it a closed case but Axel Boshey is, inexplicably, refusing to help. The deeper Cork digs, the clearer it becomes that there are those in Tamarack County who are willing once again to commit murder to keep him from finding the truth.

At the same time, Cork’s seven-year-old grandson has his own theory about the investigation: the Windigo, that mythic cannibal ogre, has come to Tamarack County…and it won’t leave until it has sated its hunger for human blood.

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Wreck

Catherine Newman

"Wreck is a delight. What an absolute joy to be reunited with Rocky and her family, the characters we all fell in love with in Sandwich. Newman's prose is laugh-out-loud funny. It's also profound. I couldn't stop reading, even though I didn't want it to end."--J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of The Cliffs

"Wreck is the kind of book that pulls up a chair, pours the wine, and dives deep--equal parts hilarious, sharp, and achingly sincere. I didn't just read it--I felt known by it. A luminous, laugh-out-loud triumph."--Alison Espach, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding People

The acclaimed bestselling author of Sandwich is back with a wonderful novel, full of laughter and heart, about marriage, family, and what happens when life doesn't go as planned.

If you loved Rocky and her family on vacation on Cape Cod, wait until you join them at home two years later. (And if this is your first meeting with this crew, get ready to laugh and cry--and relate.)

Rocky, still anxious, nostalgic, and funny, is living in Western Massachusetts with her husband Nick and their daughter Willa, who's back home after college. Their son, Jamie, has taken a new job in New York, and Mort, Rocky's widowed father, has moved in.

It all couldn't be more ridiculously normal . . . until Rocky finds herself obsessed with a local accident that only tangentially affects them--and with a medical condition that, she hopes, won't affect them at all.

With her signature wit and wisdom, Catherine Newman explores the hidden rules of family, the heavy weight of uncertainty, and the gnarly fact that people--no matter how much you love them--are not always exactly who you want them to be.

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Poems & Prayers

Matthew McConaughey

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the Academy Award–winning actor and author of Greenlights comes an inspiring, faith-filled, and often hilarious collection of personal poetry and prayers about navigating the rodeo of life and chasing down the original dream, belief. 

My prayers are my poems are my prayers.

I’ve always relied on logic to make sense of myself and the world.

A prescriptionist at heart, I’ve always looked to reason to find the rhyme, the practical to get to the mystical, the choreography to find the dance, the proof to get to the truth, and reality to get to the dream.

I’ve been finding that tougher to do lately. It’s more than hard to know what to believe in; it’s hard to believe.

But I don’t want to quit believing, and I don’t want to stop believing in . . . humanity, you, myself, our potential.

I think it’s time for us to flip the script on what’s historically been our means of making sense, and instead open our aperture to enchantment and look to faith, belief, and dreams for our reality.

Let’s sing more than we might make sense, believe in more than the world can conclude, get more impressed with the wow instead of the how, let inspiration interrupt our appointments, dream our way to reality, serve some soul food to our hungry heads, put proof on the shelf for a season, and rhyme our way to reason.

Forget logic, certainty, owning, or making a start-up company of it; let’s go beyond what we can merely imagine, and believe, in the poetry of life.

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Red City

Marie Lu

DELUXE EDITION—a stunning hardcover edition featuring dark crimson sprayed edges

The Godfather meets The Magicians in the sweeping adult debut from #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu. Perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab, Red City is a dark and deadly contemporary fantasy of magical warfare, star-crossed ambition, and the pursuit of perfection at any cost, set in a glittering alternate Los Angeles. 

Alchemy is the hidden art of transformation. An exclusive power wielded by crime syndicates that market it to the world’s elites in the form of sand, a drug that enhances those who take it into a more perfect version of themselves: more beautiful, more charismatic, simply more.

Among the gleaming skyscrapers and rolling foothills of Angel City, alchemy is controlled by two rival syndicates. For years, Grand Central and Lumines have been balanced on a razor’s edge between polite negotiation and outright violence. But when two childhood friends step into that delicate equation, the city—and the paths of their lives—will be irrevocably transformed.

The daughter of a poor single mother, Sam would do anything to claw her way into the ranks of Grand Central in search of a better life. Plucked away from his family as a boy to become a Lumines apprentice, Ari is one of the syndicates' brightest rising stars. Once, they might have loved each other. But as the two alchemists face off across opposite sides of an ever-escalating conflict, ambition becomes power, loyalty becomes lies, and no transformation may be perfect enough for them both to survive the coming war.

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Remain

Nicholas Sparks

A one-of-a-kind novel that grapples with the supernatural mysteries of life, death, and human connection—an unprecedented collaboration between the globally bestselling author of love stories like The Notebook and the renowned writer and director of blockbuster thrillers like The Sixth Sense

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • COMING SOON AS A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN AND STARRING JAKE GYLLENHAAL AND PHOEBE DYNEVOR

The stunning hardcover of Remain features a premium dust jacket, beautiful endpapers, and a deluxe case stamped with replica images of the authors’ signatures! These stamped “signatures” are reproduced in gold foil.

When New York architect Tate Donovan arrives in Cape Cod to design his best friend’s summer home, he is hoping to make a fresh start. Recently discharged from an upscale psychiatric facility where he was treated for acute depression, he is still wrestling with the pain of losing his beloved sister. Sylvia’s deathbed revelation—that she can see spirits who are still tethered to the living world, a gift that runs in their family—sits uneasily with Tate, who struggles to believe in more than what reason can explain. But when he takes up residence at a historic bed-and-breakfast on the Cape, he encounters a beautiful young woman named Wren who will challenge every assumption he has about his logical and controlled world.

Tate and Wren find themselves forging an immediate connection, one that neither has ever experienced before. But Tate gradually discovers that below the surface of Wren’s idyllic small-town life, hatred, jealousy, and greed are festering, threatening their fragile relationship just as it begins to blossom. Tate realizes that in order to free Wren from an increasingly desperate fate, he will need to unearth the truth about her past before time runs out . . . a quest that will make him doubt whether we can ever believe the stories we tell about ourselves, and the laws that govern our existence. Love—while transformative—can sometimes be frightening.

A story about the power of transcendent emotion, Remain asks us all: Can love set us free not only from our greatest sorrows, but even from the boundaries of life and death?

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Strong Ground

Brené Brown

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Brené Brown returns with an urgent call to reimagine the essentials of courageous leadership. In a time when uncertainty runs deep and bluster, hubris, and even cruelty are increasingly framed as acceptable leadership, Brown delivers practical, actionable insights that illuminate the mindsets and skill sets essential to reclaiming focus and driving growth through connection, discipline, and accountability.

Over the past six years, Brené Brown, along with a global community of coaches and facilitators, has taken more than 150,000 leaders in 45 countries through her Dare to Lead courage-building work. In Strong Ground, Brown shares the lessons from these experiences along with wisdom from other thinkers. This is a vital playbook for everyone from senior leaders developing and executing complex strategies to Gen Z-ers entering and navigating turbulent work environments. It is also an unflinching assessment of what happens when we continue to perpetuate the falsehood that performance and wholeheartedness are mutually exclusive. 

With equal amounts of optimism and caution about AI, Brown writes, “I hear a lot of experts trying to soothe people’s anxiety about the pace of technological change by offering platitudes like, What makes us human will ensure our relevance. This is dangerous simply because, right now, we’re not especially good at what makes us human. We’re not hardwired for this level of uncertainty, and many of us feel as if the constant need to self-protect is driving the humanity right out of us. This is why organizational transformation today must foster deep connection, deep thinking, and deep collaboration. We need the courage to lead people in a way that honors and protects the wisdom of the human spirit.”

Brown offers a broad assessment of the skill sets and mindsets we need moving forward, including the capacity for respectful and difficult conversations, increased productive urgency and smart prioritization rather than reactivity, and strategic risk-taking, paradoxical thinking, and situational and anticipatory awareness skills. She identifies the toughest skill set as the discipline, humility, and confidence to unlearn and relearn. 

Brown writes, “Individuals and organizations are building new muscles. Finding our strong ground—that athletic stance—is the only thing that can provide both unwavering stability in a maelstrom of uncertainty and a platform for the fast, explosive change that the world is demanding.”

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Nobody's Girl

Virginia Roberts Giuffre

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The unforgettable memoir by the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the woman who dared to take on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell

“Make no mistake: this is a book about power, corruption, industrial-scale sex abuse and the way in which institutions sided with the perpetrator over his victims. . . . But it is also a book about how a young woman becomes a hero. . . . Important [and] courageous.” —The Guardian

The world knows Virginia Roberts Giuffre as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim: the woman whose decision to speak out helped send both serial abusers to prison, whose photograph with Prince Andrew catalyzed his fall from grace. But her story has never been told in full, in her own words—until now.

In April 2025, Giuffre took her own life. She left behind a memoir written in the years preceding her death and stated unequivocally that she wanted it published. Nobody’s Girl is the riveting and powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront extraordinary adversity.

Here, Giuffre offers an unsparing and definitive account of her time with Epstein and Maxwell, who trafficked her and others to numerous prominent men. She also details the molestation she suffered as a child, as well as her daring escape from Epstein and Maxwell’s grasp at nineteen. Giuffre remade her life from scratch and summoned the courage to not only hold her abusers to account but also advocate for other victims. The pages of Nobody’s Girl preserve her voice—and her legacy—forever.

Nobody’s Girl is an astonishing affirmation of Giuffre’s unshakable will—first, to claw her way out of victimhood, and then to shine light on wrongdoing and fight for a safer, fairer world. Equal parts intimate and fierce, it is a remarkable narrative of fortitude in the face of depravity and despair.

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I, Medusa

Ayana Gray

From New York Times bestselling author Ayana Gray comes a new kind of villain origin story, reimagining one of the most iconic monsters in Greek mythology as a provocative and powerful young heroine.

The first edition hardcover will feature stunning sprayed edges, a premium dust jacket with foil, and a gorgeous custom-stamped case—while supplies last!

“Ayana Gray brings her fresh, dynamic storytelling to one of the most monstered, maligned, and misunderstood women of Greek myth, imagining all the girls that Medusa was and could have been.”—Jennifer Saint, bestselling author of Ariadne

Meddy has spent her whole life as a footnote in someone else’s story. Out of place next to her beautiful, immortal sisters and her parents—both gods, albeit minor ones—she dreams of leaving her family’s island for a life of adventure. So when she catches the eye of the goddess Athena, who invites her to train as an esteemed priestess in her temple, Meddy leaps at the chance to see the world beyond her home.

In the colorful market streets of Athens and the clandestine chambers of the temple, Meddy flourishes in her role as Athena’s favored acolyte, getting her first tastes of purpose and power. But when she is noticed by another Olympian, Poseidon, the course of Meddy’s promising future is suddenly and irrevocably altered.

When her locs are transformed into snakes as punishment for a crime she did not commit, Medusa must embrace a new identity—not as a victim, but as a vigilante—and with it, the chance to write her own story as mortal, martyr, and myth.

Exploding with rage, heartbreak, and love, I, Medusa portrays a young woman caught in the crosscurrents between her heart’s deepest desires and the cruel, careless games the Olympian gods play.

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Black-Owned

Char Adams

**A November LibraryReads Pick**

Longtime NBC News reporter Char Adams writes a deeply compelling and rigorously reported history of Black political movements told through the lens of Black-owned bookstores, which have been centers for organizing from abolition to the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter.

In Black-Owned, Char Adams celebrates the living history of Black bookstores. Packed with stories of activism, espionage, violence, community, and perseverance, Black-Owned starts with the first Black-owned bookstore, which an abolitionist opened in New York in 1834, and after the bookshop’s violent demise, Black book-lovers carried on its cause. In the twentieth century, civil rights and Black Power activists started a Black bookstore boom nationwide. Malcolm X gave speeches in front of the National Memorial African Book Store in Harlem—a place dubbed “Speakers’ Corner”—and later, Black bookstores became targets of FBI agents, police, and racist vigilantes. Still, stores continued to fuel Black political movements.

Amid these struggles, bookshops were also places of celebration: Eartha Kitt and Langston Hughes held autograph parties at their local Black-owned bookstores. Maya Angelou became the face of National Black Bookstore Week. And today a new generation of Black activists is joining the radical bookstore tradition, with rapper Noname opening her Radical Hood Library in Los Angeles and several stores making national headlines when they were overwhelmed with demand in the Black Lives Matter era. As Adams makes clear, in an time of increasing repression, Black bookstores are needed now more than ever.

Full of vibrant characters and written with cinematic flair, Black-Owned is an enlightening story of community, resistance, and joy.

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The Burning Library

Gilly Macmillan

From the internationally bestselling author of The Nanny and What She Knew comes a thrilling dark academic tale of murder, obsession and ruthless ambition, set in remote St Andrews, Scotland.



 

A deadly rivalry.

A chilling secret.

One woman who can decipher the truth.



 

On a frigid, windswept day in Scotland's Western Isles, Eleanor Bruton's body is discovered on the shore. To her family Eleanor was an ordinary middle-aged woman. She did flower arrangements and plumped kneeler cushions at church. Little did they know she was harboring a dark and all-consuming secret. A scrap of fraying embroidery that seems worthless at first glance.

For over a century, two rival organizations of women have gone to deadly lengths to secure the valuable artifact in the hopes of finding the original medieval manuscript from which it was torn. The Order of St. Katherine: devoted to the belief that women must pull strings in the shadows to exercise control. And the Fellowship of the Larks, determined to amass as many overt positions of power for women as possible...so long as their methods of doing so never come to light.

When Dr. Anya Brown garners international attention for her translation of the cryptic Folio 9, she is handpicked by Diana Cornish, a professor and high-ranking member of the Fellowship, to join the exclusive Institute of Manuscript Studies in St. Andrews. Unbeknownst to Anya she's been recruited at great personal danger to translate ancient texts that the Fellowship believes critical to their mission.

Meanwhile at Scotland Yard, Detective Constable Clio Spicer begins a private investigation into the death of Eleanor Bruton.

As all the women grow further entangled in this ancient web, circumstances spin wildly out of control and their lives may be in grave danger.

Perfect for fans of Alex Michaelides and Ruth Ware, The Burning Library is the story of a centuries-old secret set to divide and consume those who seek to unearth it.

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Cursed Daughters

Oyinkan Braithwaite

A young woman must shake off a family curse and the widely held belief that she is the reincarnation of her dead cousin in this wickedly funny, brilliantly perceptive novel about love, female rivalry, and superstition from the author of the smash hit My Sister, the Serial Killer ("A bombshell of a book... Sharp, explosive, hilarious'--New York Times)

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK: New York Times, Washington Post, People, Goodreads, E! News, Kirkus, LitHub, Book Riot

"A triumph: bold, searing, and utterly original. From the first page, it grips with an electric pulse....Impossible to put down."
--Abi Daré, New York Times bestselling author of Girl with the Louding Voice

When Ebun gives birth to her daughter, Eniiyi, on the day they bury her cousin Monife, there is no denying the startling resemblance between the child and the dead woman. So begins the belief, fostered and fanned by the entire family, that Eniiyi is the actual reincarnation of Monife, fated to follow in her footsteps in all ways, including that tragic end.

There is also the matter of the family curse: "No man will call your house his home. And if they try, they will not have peace..." which has been handed down from generation to generation, breaking hearts and causing three generations of abandoned Falodun women to live under the same roof. 

When Eniiyi falls in love with the handsome boy she saves from drowning, she can no longer run from her family's history. As several women in her family have done before, she ill-advisedly seeks answers in older, darker spiritual corners of Lagos, demanding solutions. Is she destined to live out the habitual story of love and heartbreak? Or can she break the pattern once and for all, not only avoiding the spiral that led Monife to her lonely death, but liberating herself from all the family secrets and unspoken traumas that have dogged her steps since before she could remember?

Cursed Daughters is a brilliant cocktail of modernity and superstition, vibrant humor and hard-won wisdom, romantic love and familial obligation. With its unforgettable cast of characters, it asks us what it means to be given a second chance and how to live both wisely and well with what we've been given.

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Mamba & Mambacita Forever

Vanessa Bryant

A beautiful and moving testament to the enduring life of Kobe Bryant and the Mamba Mentality.

When Kobe and Gianna Bryant died, tragically and unexpectedly, in 2020, the world mourned with a wholehearted ferocity. In perhaps the largest and most intense outpouring of public art the world has ever seen, murals went up on seemingly every available wall in Los Angeles and around the globe. The paintings were both professional and amateur, some public and some private, many of them colossal. All of them expressed love and respect for Kobe and Gianna Bryant as athletes, as a father and daughter, as heroes who will not be forgotten.

In Mamba & Mambacita Forever, Vanessa Bryant brings together the images and stories of more than a hundred murals honoring her husband and daughter. Taken together, what emerges is the story of a man who became even more than he himself could have imagined, an avatar of determination, discipline, and competitiveness. He was also a worldwide icon, one of the greatest athletes of our time, a man committed to his family and to fatherhood. Kobe was a figure of transformation and hope.

Mamba & Mambacita Forever ensures that the legacy of Kobe and Gianna Bryant will live on even after the most monumental murals themselves have all crumbled.

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The Tower and the Ruin J.R.R. Tolkien's Creation

Michael Dc Drout

No writer has surpassed the epic achievement of J.R.R. Tolkien, who spent decades refining his Middle-earth--a world that has felt so real to so many readers that it is almost impossible to imagine that any single person could have simply created it, seemingly out of thin air. In The Tower and the Ruin, Michael D. C. Drout takes us deep into Tolkien's genius, allowing us to glimpse the making of not only The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion but also lesser-known books such as The Fall of Gondolin as well as Tolkien's poetry and innovative scholarship.

Drout, who has spent decades reading, studying, and teaching Tolkien, allows us to understand the author's methods and to embrace his works as never before. With great erudition and sparkling prose, Drout shows us how Tolkien invented myths, legends, cultures, languages, histories, and an intricate, multivocal narrative. We come to understand how Tolkien drew upon and modified material he found in Beowulf, the Kalevala, and other medieval literature from northern Europe, using the subtle qualities of those famous works as inspiration for his own. We also see the process by which he created the complex form of sorrow that is the primary emotional effect of his mature works, a sadness "blessed without bitterness," carefully woven through a tapestry of themes that has resonated with generations of readers.

Sweeping and hugely perceptive--and enhanced throughout by Drout's personal reflections on how Tolkien has shaped his own life and relationships--The Tower and the Ruin illuminates Tolkien anew and will come to be seen as an essential work for anyone who has journeyed to Middle-earth.

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Frostlines A Journey Through Entangled Lives and Landscapes in a Warming Arctic Neil Shea

Neil Shea

A sweeping exploration of the Arctic--and how it's being transformed by climate change--from National Geographic writer Neil Shea

As warming reshapes our planet, the Arctic--a region that once seemed unchangeable, beyond the reach of modern problems--is quickly coming undone. While the old cold world can still be glimpsed in the movements of caribou, the hidden lives of wolves, and the hunting skill of an Iñupiaq elder, look closer and you'll find a new Arctic appearing in its place.

In Frostlines, Neil Shea blends natural history, anthropology, and travel writing to explore how the beauty, chaos, and power of change in the far north are reflected in the lives of people and animals. He sojourns with a wolf pack on Canada's Ellesmere Island and travels with Indigenous hunters in Alaska, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories. He tracks dwindling caribou herds across the top of North America, searches for vanished Vikings in Greenland, and visits the front line of the new Cold War rising between Russia and Europe. What Shea finds is not one Arctic but many--all still linked by shattering cold, seasons of darkness, and a pure, inimitable light.

Written with masterful prose and a spark of adventure, Frostlines is an expansive yet intimate revelation of the Arctic during a time of transformation, and a journey along the threshold of a stunning and sometimes frightening world that's emerging right before our eyes.

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In the Arena Theodore Roosevelt in War, Peace, and Revolution David S. Brown

David S. Brown

From acclaimed historian and author of the “marvelous” (The New York Times Book Review) The Last American Aristocrat comes a captivating new biography of Teddy Roosevelt, exploring the life of America’s 26th president and his pivotal role in shaping the dawn of the American Century.

Theodore Roosevelt was one of America’s most fascinating presidents—a complex man both publicly and privately. In this sweeping biography, historian David S. Brown takes us on an electrifying journey through Theodore Roosevelt’s life—from his privileged New York upbringing to his transformative presidency that reshaped America’s role on the global stage.

In the Arena vividly brings Roosevelt to life as a man of striking contradictions: a rugged outdoorsman with a love for books, a war hero who earned a Nobel Peace Prize, and a larger-than-life figure whose energy seemed boundless. Through compelling storytelling and meticulous research, Brown explores the pivotal moments that forged Roosevelt’s indomitable spirit, from battling childhood asthma to witnessing the deaths of both his mother and his wife on the same day, to wrangling cattle in the West and preserving 150 million acres of national land.

Challenging traditional views, In the Arena offers a fresh perspective on Roosevelt’s groundbreaking political legacy, including his Square Deal policies that laid the groundwork for modern social welfare programs. It also unpacks his bold foreign policy, which expanded America’s global influence and set the stage for its rise as a world power. Brown argues that Roosevelt’s charisma and performative presidency helped bridge the old Victorian values with the new industrial age, capturing the attention of the middle-class and making him a leader that the people loved.

Drawing comparisons to works like David McCullough’s Mornings on Horseback, Brown’s narrative stands out for its rich detail and sharp insights. More than just an account of a presidency—it’s an exploration of a life lived on the edge of greatness and is a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand this critical period of American history.

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Birdwatcher

Jacquelyn Mitchard

A Zibby's Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2025!



From New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard comes a page-turning drama that explores the beauty of female friendship; the relationship between money, power, and sex; and the very human desire to protect the ones we love most.



When she is convicted of a double murder, Felicity Wild, a brilliant grad student turned high-priced escort, declares, "I may not be innocent, but I'm innocent of this."



Reenie Bigelow never doubted it. A jury may have given Felicity a life sentence, but Reenie knows that her childhood best friend is not capable of murder. And so Reenie, a journalist, decides to use her deep connections to Felicity's past to unravel the truth.



The more she uncovers, the more Reenie is convinced that the story the prosecution told is wrong, despite the puzzling fact that Felicity said not one single word in her own defense. But there's one thing Reenie knows for certain: Felicity would never lie.

 

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Silent Bones

Val McDermid

"Powerful, moving and wise - Val McDermid's books are always enthralling."--Harlan Coben

"A beautifully structured, witty and twisty novel."--Anne Cleeves

The new installment in the "relentlessly engrossing series" (Wall Street Journal) finds Karen Pirie and her team investigating the murder of a journalist paved under a motorway--but was it his work or his private life that put him there?

Scotland, 2025. When torrential winter rain causes a landslide on a motorway, it dislodges more than mud and asphalt - it reveals a skeleton, concealed when the road was built eleven years prior.

Sam Nimmo, an investigative journalist who'd been poking his nose into the murky politics of the Scottish independence referendum, had become the prime suspect in the brutal murder of his girlfriend when he vanished. Now he's reappeared, buried under the motorway. It's the perfect cold case for DCI Karen Pirie, chief of Police Scotland's Historic Cases Unit. What was Nimmo investigating that was worth killing over? Or was it revenge for murdering his girlfriend? Meanwhile, an allegation of murder has surfaced over the supposedly accidental death of a hotel manager. It may have links to another accident on a remote Highland road. It's a series of puzzles that tests Karen and her team to their limits. And possibly beyond . . .

A darkly propulsive thriller of secrets hidden at the core of a Scottish Highlands town, Silent Bones reaffirms Val McDermid as a crime writer of inimitable power.

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Spasm

Robin Cook

From the "master of the medical thriller" (The New York Times), Robin Cook, fan favorites Jack and Laurie return in another fast-paced spine chiller about a deadly bioweapon that could disrupt the world order as we know it.

“Masterful . . . Robin Cook is at the top of his game.” –#1 NYT bestselling author FREIDA MCFADDEN

When Laurie Montgomery temporarily steps down from her position as Chief Medical Examiner, she and Jack find themselves uncharacteristically free for a couple of weeks. And the timing couldn't be better when they receive a call from Jack's former medical school classmate, Robert Neilson, who is the sole family practitioner in Essex Falls, an idyllic town tucked away in New York State's Adirondack Mountains. Serving also as the Hamilton County coroner, Dr. Neilson is in over his head trying to explain the sudden death of a young, healthy pest control worker on top of an outbreak of rapidly progressive Alzheimer's-like cases, and he pleads with Jack and Laurie to come lend a professional hand. Unable to resist a good mystery and a vacation in one, Laurie and Jack agree to help and head upstate.

Essex Falls is beautiful enough and their accommodations are even better than they imagined. But they soon learn the town has suffered a major economic and social setback, which has shaken its residents to their cores. When the body of the pest control worker disappears without a trace just prior to an autopsy, Jack's penchant for solving forensic conundrums launches him into a full-scale investigation that uncovers the most frightening modus operandi of his career so far.

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Angelica and the Bear Prince

Trung Le Nguyen

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Being a teenager is no fairy tale . . . but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a little magic. A high schooler’s journey to recover from burnout leads to a surprising romance with a twist from the bestselling author of The Magic Fish.

A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Angelica was the girl who could do it all—until suddenly, she couldn’t. Burnout hit hard. Now, after some very low moments, she’s ready to get her life back together, thanks to her friends, and one very surprising source of comfort. 

A bear.

Peri is the mascot of the local theater. He’s been sending Angelica supportive messages from his social. They’ve become friends, and Angelica might even have . . . a crush?

Determined to find the human behind the bear costume, Angelica gets an internship at the theater. She might never go back to being the girl who can do everything, but perhaps she is becoming the girl who can magically have it all.

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Teen Titans: Starfire (Connecting Cover Edition)

Kami Garcia

#1 New York Times bestselling author KAMI GARCIA (Beautiful Creatures) and artist GABRIEL PICOLO, the creative duo behind the New York Times bestselling TEEN TITANS graphic novel series, are back with a first look at a new Titan!

Kori Anders' summer job at a ritzy Santa Monica beach club is fun, but she doesn't feel like she belongs there. She never breaks the rules, she doesn't care about keeping up with the current trends, and she can't be bothered rushing around to make an appearance at all the parties-in fact, Kori avoids rushing at all costs because of her Ehlers Danlos Syndrome diagnosis. What she does feel is an inexplicable draw to the stars.

Her older sister, Kira, on the other hand, is the most popular girl around. With the hottest clothes, an even hotter boyfriend (the Tate Fairweather), and a take-no-prisoners attitude, she's Kori's opposite in every way. Sadly, Kori doesn't think Tate is a good fit for her sister, and nothing she says will convince Kira to break up with him.

The summer heats up when Tate's uncle, Lynch Fairweather, CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, asks Kori and Kira to participate in a clinical trial designed to advance treatments for EDS. During treatment, Kori begins to discover some strange powers that she has never had before...and she might not be the only one.

Can Kori uncover the truth about her powers and find a way to persuade her sister to trust her before it's too late?

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Rhiannon

Kiara Brinkman

"I want to recommend this book to everyone."
—Jen Wang, author of Ash’s Cabin

Poignant and empathic, Rhiannon is a coming-of-age graphic novel in the vein of This One Summer.

Ever since she was little, Rhiannon has lived with her aunt in a sleepy, sun-drenched trailer park called the Golden Canyon Retirement Community. Growing up among senior citizens, Rhia is usually the only kid around—except during the summer. That’s when her best friend, Kit, comes for a long visit.

This summer, something has changed. Rhiannon and Kit’s easy friendship is no longer easy. Even worse, there’s a new teenager in the park—Elizabeth. She’s the polar opposite of Rhiannon: hip, confident, and a bit of a troublemaker. And Elizabeth has a secret that will put Rhiannon and Kit’s friendship to the test.

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Refugee: the Graphic Novel

Alan Gratz

The timeless #1 New York Times bestseller Refugee is brought to life in a stunning graphic novel adaptation!

 

JOSEF is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world...

ISABEL is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America...

MAHMOUD is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe...

All three kids must endure harrowing journeys. All face unimaginable dangers. But there is always the hope of tomorrow. And although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, shocking connections will tie their stories together in the end.

Refugee is a modern classic that has spent over 5 years on the New York Times bestseller list, and garnered several awards and much acclaim. Brought to life with rich, gorgeous illustrations by artist Syd Fini, this hotly anticipated graphic novel will attract a whole new generation of fans.

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My Hero Academia, Vol. 42

Kohei Horikoshi

Midoriya inherits the superpower of the world’s greatest hero, but greatness won’t come easy.

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks”? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

For a time, the fate of the world was balanced on a knife’s edge between salvation and doom, held in the palm of Midoriya’s hand. Everything was riding on the outcome of the Quirk-based war to end all wars. What became of the students and staff of U.A. High? How did they rebuild their lives after the epic conflict? Did superpowered society come away with the lessons it needed to learn? Find out in the final volume of My Hero Academia!

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Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit: A Graphic Novel

Kim Hyun Sook

Acclaimed creators Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada are back with a lightly creepy yet hilarious young adult graphic novel about first love and friendship—perfect for fans of Huda F Cares and Pumpkinheads. 

It's almost Daeboreum in 1980s South Korea—a holiday that celebrates the first full moon of the year. Taehee couldn't care less. All she wants is to spend time with her boyfriend Kiwoo, avoid her controlling father, and play music for her mask dance club. But Taehee's weird granny and her even weirder friends have other plans for Taehee: they drag her, Kiwoo, and the rest of the dance club to their remote farm to celebrate Daeboreum...the old-fashioned way.

As the group arrives at the farm, Taehee overhears her granny talking about ceremonies, ghosts, and possibly (probably) sacrificing her friends to evil spirits. And if that's not bad enough, Taehee just said those Three Little Words to Kiwoo that he can't seem to say back. Meanwhile, her friends are running wild with secrets—ones they definitely don't want the grannies to overhear. It seems like everyone is up to no good. 

The first full moon of the year is about to arrive, and with it confessions that threaten to change everything. That is, of course, if they all make it out alive. 

Featuring beloved characters from Banned Book Club and No Rules Tonight, Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit is a standalone story that melds tradition with the unexpected, and the spooky with the sweet.

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Curlfriends: Back in Business (a Graphic Novel)

Sharee Miller

The Curlfriends are back and hitting the dance floor in Sharee Miller's NAACP image award-nominated graphic novel series.



Nola Washington has never met a problem she can't solve. She's a fashionista and an honor roll student, and she knows her way around a comb. When she's not helping her mom at their family's hair salon, Nola's hanging out with her besties, the Curlfriends! This time, Ella has signed them up for the school talent show, and who better to lead them in a dance routine than Nola, with her amazing moves? All she needs is a stylish new outfit to perform in, but when one of the salon's hair dryers breaks down, Nola finds out her mom is having money trouble. If they can't pay the bills, will the salon go out of business?



Not on Nola's watch! She'll do anything to help, but her mom keeps shutting her out. It's hard to focus on dance practice with her girls, let alone school, when life at home is nowhere near perfect anymore. This doesn't feel like something Nola can fix on her own, but with the Curlfriends by her side, there's no problem they can't solve together!



In the Curlfriends series, follow four inseparable Black girls who show what it means to lean on one another when times are tough:



Curlfriends: New in Town

Curlfriends: Back in Business

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The Complete Full Tilt Boogie

Alex De Campi

"Saga meets Avatar the Last Airbender" - The Hollywood Reporter

INTERGALACTIC MAYHEM!

Out in the deep reaches of the cosmos, teenager Tee - together with her grandmother and a cat (called cat!) - is a wannabe bounty hunter operating from her patched-together spaceship, the Full Tilt Boogie. After rescuing the Luxine Prince Ifan from his debtors' prison, Tee finds herself on the run from various new enemies, including sacred knights and a deadly Anubite warrior, as war and unrest spread accross the universe.

This thrilling love letter to space anime sagas includes the complete run of the strip which originally appeared in the pages of 2000 AD.

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The Apothecary Diaries 14 (Manga)

Natsu Hyuuga

After breaking a "curse" on the imperial heirs, a palace servant with training in herbal medicine is promoted up the ranks to food taster...and right into the thick of palace intrigue in this lushly illustrated historical mystery series!

After tangling with a ghost at the Diamond Palace and temporarily trading in her poisons for sweet treats, Maomao returns to the Jade Palace only to find a grave problem staring her in the face! Mere weeks before the heavily pregnant Consort Gyokuyo is due to bear her child, Maomao deduces that all is not well with the coming birth of the new Imperial addition. But even with her skills, Maomao knows she isn't up to the momentous task of seeing her lady through this trial. Who to turn to, then? The quack, sweet though he may be, is out of the question. That only leaves...Maomao's Pa! But while his plucky daughter would gladly vouch for Luomen, will the Inner Court really be willing to put the future of the empire into the hands of a criminal once more?

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White Lies

Ann Bausum

This powerful and unflinching examination of racism in America by award-winning historian Ann Bausum deconstructs the warped history of the Civil War, perfect for fans of STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING and JUST MERCY.

Warning: This is not your average U.S. history book.

After the Civil War, the Confederates may have laid down their arms, but they were far from accepting defeat. By warping the narrative around what really happened during and after the Civil War, they created an alternate history now known as the Lost Cause. These lies still manifest today through criticism of Critical Race Theory, book banning, unequal funding for education, and more.

This book sets the record straight and explains the true history of the Civil War, and its complex and far-reaching aftermath. Written by historian and award-winning author Ann Bausum, WHITE LIES is an impeccably researched chronicle filled with photos, robust back matter, additional resources, and more that fans of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States will enjoy.

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Nightmare Jones

Shannon Bramer

A collection of jaunty and mischievously unsettling poems for middle-grade readers from award-winning poet Shannon Bramer and artist Cindy Derby, who brought us Climbing Shadows (NCTE Notable Poetry Book and Verse Novel, shortlisted for the Rocky Mountain Book Award).

Shannon's twenty-eight poems in Nightmare Jones send delightful shivers down the spine. Written in a variety of styles and forms, they encompass magic realism and influences from fairy tales, folklore and ghost stories, alongside more contemporary explorations of unusual creatures, misunderstood monsters and commonplace human fears (both ridiculous and sublime!). Cindy Derby's evocative line and watercolor illustrations inhabit these weird and wonderful works with her characteristic flair for the strange and witchy wonders of the world.

In these poems what makes a person scared might also make them sad, or even make them laugh, as Bramer writes from a place of wonder, empathy, curiosity and reverence for the deep dark woods we all have inside us. If you've ever wanted to spend some time in a witch's garden or wondered what spiders do with our worries, this is the poetry book for you!


 

Key Text Features

dialogue

epigraph

illustrations

poems

recipes

table of contents

vignettes


 

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone

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Girls with Goals

Clelia Castro-Malaspina

The twisty, turny but triumphant rise of women's soccer is one of the most fascinating stories in sports – and women's – history.

From the very birth of the sport in 19th century England, girls and women have always found a way to play – and keeping playing – the sport they love, in spite of the bans, challenges, rules, and backward-looking attitudes.

Fast forward to today and women's soccer is now officially a global powerhouse. It is the most popular women's sport in the world with an ever-growing number of players, supporters, and viewers. 

With stunningly adept storytelling and a wealth of historical and up-to-date imagery Girls with Goals tells this fascinating story from its origins in working class England to the worldwide phenomenon it is today. 

Whether you are just starting out in your football journey or you are an experienced player who already loves the sport, you'll come to understand women's football in a completely new way through intriguing tales and anecdotes, and meeting important characters in the sport from past and present – including from the perspective of marginalized sportspeople.

A love letter to women's soccer and the female athletes who inspired girls all over the world to pull on their cleats, Girls with Goals will honor the women who fought hard to play the sport they loved and paved the way for athletes playing all women's sports today. 

The full story of the history of the women's game has yet to be told for the YA market so Girls with Goals is a book that every young soccer lover needs on their shelf.

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Golden Years Gerry Turner

Gerry Turner

From beloved inaugural Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner, an uplifting memoir about a fresh start after heartbreak and a peek behind the reality TV curtain. 



When his high school sweetheart and wife of over forty years passed away unexpectedly, Gerry Turner's life was indelibly changed. In that moment, his and Toni's shared vision of living out their retirement together was shattered. In the wake of this profound loss, Gerry had to move forward--for himself, for his daughters, and for Toni.



After years of grieving and uneven healing, Gerry finally felt ready to find the next woman he couldn't live without--to help him take on new adventures and live out his golden years the way Toni would have wanted him to. When he applied to star in ABC's The Golden Bachelor, he had no idea just how much his life was about to change.



In Golden Years, Gerry chronicles his grief after Toni's death, his unbelievable experiences on The Golden Bachelor, and the life-altering lessons he took away from both. Rich with behind-the-scenes insights into filming the show and hard-won rules he lived by when putting himself back into the dating world, Golden Years tells Gerry Turner's complete story for the first time.

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100 Rules for Living To 100 An Optimist's Guide to a Happy Life

Dick Van Dyke

On the eve of his 100th birthday, national treasure Dick Van Dyke brings us this autobiographical collection of life advice, stories, and reflections on how he's maintained a zest for life.



Dick Van Dyke danced his way into our hearts with iconic roles in Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. Now, as he's about to turn 100 years old, Dick is still dancing and approaching life with the twinkle in his eye that we've come to know and love. In 100 Rules for Living to 100, he reveals his secrets for maintaining your joie de vivre and making the most out of the life you've been given. 



Through stories of his pivotal childhood, moments on film sets, his expansive family, and finding love late in life, Dick reflects on both the joyful times and the challenges that shaped him. His indefatigable spirit and positive attitude will surely inspire readers to count the blessings in their own lives, persevere through the hard times, and appreciate the beauty and complexity of being human.

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From Cradle to Grave

Rhys Bowen

Lady Georgiana “Georgie” Rannoch is just like any other new mother, balancing responsibilities of being 34th in line for the British throne and solving the shocking deaths of several young men, in this new Royal Spyness novel from the queen of historical mystery, Rhys Bowen.

Georgie may be figuring out what it means to be a new mother but she does know one thing for sure: she absolutely despises the strict nanny who was foisted upon her by her meddlesome sister-in-law. In search of a new nanny, Georgie travels to London to see her old friend ZouZou only to find her about to depart for a funeral, after the unexpected death of a young man in her social circle. It quickly becomes clear there’s more than one mysterious death around town, when another friend reveals he’s also just returned from the funeral of a school friend, who seemingly died in a boating accident. But when word arrives that the son of family friend has also died tragically and unexpectedly, Georgie is certain it can’t be a coincidence. Yet the victims don’t seem to have any connection to one another.

ZouZou shares Georgie’s suspicions that the deaths were not an accident and begs Georgie to solve the case. As Georgie delves deeper, she can’t help worrying that her own husband, Darcy, may be next. It seems likely there is a serial killer at work and Darcy fits the bill to be their next victim. Will Georgie solve the murders before it’s too late for Darcy, and manage to find the perfect nanny all at the same time?

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Return of the Spider Alex Cross

James Patterson

Return of the Spider is the stunning companion to Along Came a Spider, the New York Times bestselling series debut that introduced Detective Alex Cross, "the real deal, a character who matters" (Rolling Stone).



The suspense classic Along Came a Spider introduced an unsurpassed rivalry: 

Detective Alex Cross; the "human superhero" (New York Times) versus Gary Soneji; the "most deliciously wicked character since Hannibal Lecter" (Lexington Herald-Leader). 

But that wasn't their first meeting...

Police discover that Soneji kept a murder book, Profiles in Homicidal Genius, detailing his transformation from substitute teacher to hardened serial killer--including clues that imply missteps that Alex Cross may have made a rookie homicide detective. 

Now, Alex must retrace the steps of that long-ago investigation and face...the Return of the Spider.



Enter the world of the #1 bestselling detective series behind the #1 streaming show Cross.









 

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War Stories

Gordon Korman

A story of telling truth from lies -- and finding out what being a hero really means.

There are two things Trevor loves more than anything else: playing war-based video games, and his great-grandfather Jacob, who is a true-blue, bona fide war hero. At the height of the war, Jacob helped liberate a small French village, and was given a hero's welcome upon his return to America.

Now it's decades later, and Jacob wants to retrace the steps he took during the war - from training to invasion to the village he is said to have saved. Trevor thinks this is the coolest idea ever. But as they get to the village, Trevor discovers there's more to the story than what he's heard his whole life, causing him to wonder about his great-grandfather's heroism, the truth about the battle he fought, and importance of genuine valor.

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The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA

Brenda Woods

The Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author tells the moving story of the friendship between a young white boy and a Black WWII veteran who has recently returned to the unwelcoming Jim Crow South. 

For Gabriel Haberlin, life seems pretty close to perfect in the small southern town of Birdsong, USA. But on his twelfth birthday, his point of view begins to change. It all starts when he comes face-to-face with one of the worst drivers in town while riding his new bicycle--an accident that would have been tragic if Mr. Meriwether Hunter hadn't been around to push him out of harm's way. 

After the accident, Gabriel and Meriwether become friends when they both start working at Gabriel's dad's auto shop, and Meriwether lets a secret slip: He served in the army's all-black 761st Tank Battalion in World War II. Soon Gabriel learns why it's so dangerous for Meriwether to talk about his heroism in front of white people, and Gabriel's eyes are finally opened to the hard truth about Birdsong--and his understanding of what it means to be a hero will never be the same.

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American Road Trip

Patrick Flores-Scott

A heartwrenching YA coming of age story about three siblings on a roadtrip in search of healing.

With a strong family, the best friend a guy could ask for, and a budding romance with the girl of his dreams, life shows promise for Teodoro “T” Avila. But he takes some hard hits the summer before senior year when his nearly perfect brother, Manny, returns from a tour in Iraq with a devastating case of PTSD. In a desperate effort to save Manny from himself and pull their family back together, T’s fiery sister, Xochitl, hoodwinks her brothers into a cathartic road trip.

Told through T’s honest voice, this is a candid exploration of mental illness, socioeconomic pressures, and the many inescapable highs and lows that come with growing up—including falling in love. 

A Christy Ottaviano Book

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The Ultimate Scholarship Book 2025

Tanabe

Information on 1.5 million scholarships, grants, and prizes is easily accessible in this revised directory with more than 300 new listings that feature awards indexed by career goal, major, academics, public service, talent, athletics, religion, ethnicity, and more.

Each entry contains all the necessary information for students and parents to complete the application process, including eligibility requirements, how to obtain an application, how to get more information about each award, sponsor website listings, award amounts, and key deadlines. With scholarships for high school, college, graduate, and adult students, this guide also includes tips on how to conduct the most effective search, how to write a winning application, and how to avoid scams.

 

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Write Your Way In

Rachel Toor

Writing, for most of us, is bound up with anxiety. It’s even worse when it feels like your whole future—or at least where you’ll spend the next four years in college—is on the line. It’s easy to understand why so many high school seniors put off working on their applications until the last minute or end up with a generic and clichéd essay. 
The good news? You already have the “secret sauce” for crafting a compelling personal essay: your own experiences and your unique voice.
The best essays rarely catalog how students have succeeded or achieved. Good writing shows the reader how you’ve struggled and describes mistakes you’ve made. Excellent essays express what you’re fired up about, illustrate how you think, and illuminate the ways you’ve grown. 
More than twenty million students apply to college every year; many of them look similar in terms of test scores, grades, courses taken, extracurricular activities. Admissions officers wade through piles of files. As an applicant, you need to think about what will interest an exhausted reader. What can you write that will make her argue to admit you instead of the thousands of other applicants? 
A good essay will be conversational and rich in vivid details, and it could only be written by one person—you. This book will help you figure out how to find and present the best in yourself. You’ll acquire some useful tools for writing well—and may even have fun—in the process.

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Dear Ally, How Do I Write a Book?

Ally Carter

Problem plot lines? Character chaos? Ask Ally! The definitive guide to writing from one of teen fiction's best-loved authors.

Writing finally has its own agony aunt in bestselling author, Ally Carter.

Always wanted to write? Not sure how to begin, or what to do with tricky characters or pesky plotlines? Ask Ally! Ally Carter is the internationally bestselling author of Gallagher Girls, Embassy Row and Heist Society. Known for her gripping plots and adventures that combine danger and glamour in equal measure, Ally knows how to write brilliant books for teen and YA readers.

Now Ally and her author friends want to help YOU write the book you've always dreamed of. Part agony aunt, part writing guru, this writing guide is thoughtful, witty and best of all, useful.

With advice from some of children's fiction's brightest stars including Holly Black, Cassandra Clare and Kody Keplinger.

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The Language of Seabirds (Scholastic Gold)

Will Taylor

A sweet, tender middle-grade story of two boys finding first love with each other over a seaside summer.

The Language of Seabirds joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content!

Jeremy is not excited about the prospect of spending the summer with his dad and his uncle in a seaside cabin in Oregon. It's the first summer after his parents' divorce, and he hasn't exactly been seeking alone time with his dad. He doesn't have a choice, though, so he goes... and on his first day takes a walk on the beach and finds himself intrigued by a boy his age running by. Eventually, he and Runner Boy (Evan) meet -- and what starts out as friendship blooms into something neither boy is expecting... and also something both boys have been secretly hoping for.

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The Civil War of Amos Abernathy

Michael Leali

An ALA Rainbow Book List Top 10 Selection * Golden Kite Award Winner * New York Public Library Best Books for Kids * ALA Booklist Top 10 First Novels for Youth * Jane Addams Award finalist * Lambda Literary Award Finalist

A heartfelt debut novel about a boy's attempt to find himself in the history he loves--perfect for fans of Dear Sweet Pea and From the Desk of Zoe Washington.

Amos Abernathy lives for history. Literally. He's been a historical reenactor nearly all his life. But when a cute new volunteer arrives at his Living History Park, Amos finds himself wondering if there's something missing from history: someone like the two of them.

Amos is sure there must have been LGBTQ+ people in nineteenth-century Illinois. His search turns up Albert D. J. Cashier, a Civil War soldier who might have identified as a trans man if he'd lived today. Soon Amos starts confiding in his newfound friend by writing letters in his journal--and hatches a plan to share Albert's story with his divided twenty-first century town. It may be an uphill battle, but it's one that Amos is ready to fight.

Told in an earnest, hilarious voice, this love letter to history, first crushes, and LGBTQ+ community will delight readers of Ashley Herring Blake, Alex Gino, or Maulik Pancholy.

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Healer of the Water Monster

Brian Young

American Indian Youth Literature Award Winner: Best Middle Grade Book! Brian Young's powerful debut novel tells of a seemingly ordinary Navajo boy who must save the life of a Water Monster--and comes to realize he's a hero at heart.

When Nathan goes to visit his grandma, Nali, at her mobile summer home on the Navajo reservation, he knows he's in for a pretty uneventful summer, with no electricity or cell service. Still, he loves spending time with Nali and with his uncle Jet, though it's clear when Jet arrives that he brings his problems with him.

One night, while lost in the nearby desert, Nathan finds someone extraordinary: a Holy Being from the Navajo Creation Story--a Water Monster--in need of help.

Now Nathan must summon all his courage to save his new friend. With the help of other Navajo Holy Beings, Nathan is determined to save the Water Monster, and to support Uncle Jet in healing from his own pain.

The Heartdrum imprint centers a wide range of intertribal voices, visions, and stories while welcoming all young readers, with an emphasis on the present and future of Indian Country and on the strength of young Native heroes. In partnership with We Need Diverse Books.

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Elatsoe

Darcie Little Badger

One of TIME Magazine's Top 100 Fantasy Novels of All Time -- Now in Paperback! 

A Texas teen comes face-to-face with a cousin's ghost and vows to unmask the murderer.

Elatsoe--Ellie for short--lives in an alternate contemporary America shaped by the ancestral magics and knowledge of its Indigenous and immigrant groups. She can raise the spirits of dead animals--most importantly, her ghost dog Kirby. When her beloved cousin dies, all signs point to a car crash, but his ghost tells her otherwise: He was murdered.

Who killed him and how did he die? With the help of her family, her best friend Jay, and the memory great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother, Elatsoe, must track down the killer and unravel the mystery of this creepy town and its dark past. But will the nefarious townsfolk and a mysterious Doctor stop her before she gets started?

The breathtaking debut novel from Darcie Little Badger features an asexual, Apache teen protagonist--and combines mystery, horror, noir, ancestral knowledge, haunting illustrations, and fantasy elements, in one of the most-talked-about books in years.

W I N N E R

Locus Award Winner--Best First Novel 

Nebula Award Finalist

Lodestar Award Finalist

Ignyte Award Finalist

American Indian Youth Literature Award Finalist

P R A I S E

"Groundbreaking." --TIME

"Deeply enjoyable from start to finish."--NPR

"Utterly magical." --SyFyWire

"Atmospheric and lyrical...a gorgeous work of art."--BuzzFeed

"One of the best YA debuts of 2020. Read it."--Marieke Nijkamp

★ "A fresh voice and perspective."--Booklist (starred)

★ "A unique and powerful Native American voice."-BookPage (starred)

★ "A brilliant, engaging debut."--Kirkus (starred)

★ "A fast-paced murder mystery."--Publishers Weekly (starred)

★ "A Lipan Apache Sookie Stackhouse for the teen set." --Shelf-Awareness (starred)


BEST OF THE YEAR

NPR * Buzzfeed * BookPage * Chicago Public Library * Publishers Weekly * Kirkus * Shelf Awareness * Reactor * Booklist

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If I Ever Get Out of Here

Eric L. Gansworth

Now in paperback: The debut novel Laurie Halse Anderson praised for "fearlessly laying down the truth" about friendship, poverty, and the joys of rock 'n' roll.

Lewis "Shoe" Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the Fireball games, the snow blowing through his roof. What he's not used to is white people being nice to him -- people like George Haddonfield, whose family recently moved to town with the Air Force. As the boys connect through their mutual passion for music, especially the Beatles, Lewis has to lie more and more to hide the reality of his family's poverty from George. He also has to deal with the vicious Evan Reininger, who makes Lewis the special target of his wrath. But when everyone else is on Evan's side, how can he be defeated? And if George finds out the truth about Lewis's home -- will he still be his friend?

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Firekeeper's Daughter

Angeline Boulley

An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick! A Printz Medal AND Morris Award Winner!

Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground. 

“One of this year's most buzzed about young adult novels.” —Good Morning America

With four starred reviews, Angeline Boulley's debut novel, Firekeeper's Daughter, is a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, perfect for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange.

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team.

Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.

Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the victims.

Now, as the deceptions—and deaths—keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.

Return to Sugar Island in Warrior Girl Unearthed...

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Walking in Two Worlds

Wab Kinew

An Indigenous teen girl is caught between two worlds, both real and virtual, in the YA fantasy debut from bestselling Indigenous author Wab Kinew. Perfect for fans of Ready Player One and the Otherworld series.

In the real world, Bugz is a shy and self-conscious Indigenous teen who faces the stresses of teenage angst and life on the Rez. But in the virtual world, her alter ego is not just confident but dominant in a massively multiplayer video game universe.

Feng is a teen boy who has been sent from China to live with his aunt, a doctor on the Rez, after his online activity suggests he may be developing extremist sympathies. Meeting each other in real life, as well as in the virtual world, Bugz and Feng immediately relate to each other as outsiders and as avid gamers. And as their connection is strengthened through their virtual adventures, they find that they have much in common in the real world, too: both must decide what to do in the face of temptations and pitfalls, and both must grapple with the impacts of family challenges and community trauma.

But betrayal threatens everything Bugz has built in the virtual world, as well as her relationships in the real world, and it will take all her newfound strength to restore her friendship with Feng and reconcile the parallel aspects of her life: the traditional and the mainstream, the east and the west, the real and the virtual.

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The Others

Cheryl Isaacs

In this haunting sequel to her deliciously scary debut, Cheryl Isaacs (Mohawk) explores the sharp edges of lingering trauma and the bonds of love that heal us--for fans of She is a Haunting and Sawkill Girls!

Only weeks ago, Avery pulled her best friend, Key, from the deadly black water. The cycle from her family's Kanyen'kehá:ka (Mohawk) stories is finally broken, the black water is now a harmless lake, and her problems are far from supernatural: All Avery wants is a normal summer with Key, her now-boyfriend.

The trauma, however, casts a long shadow over the town. Some victims never returned. Terrifying memories threaten to resurface, but Avery pushes them down. Who she's really worried about is Key. The two are supposed to be closer than ever--so why does he feel so distant

Wracked by anxiety, Avery begins to see a chilling reflection in every mirror, one that moves on its own--and she's not the only one. With her family's safety in the balance, Avery must decide: Run away to the safety of normal life with Key, or return to lake's edge and face her reflection, before her home is subsumed by darkness once and for all....

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Glorious Rivals

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Millions, hearts, and lives are on the line in this heart-stopping sequel to The Grandest Game by #1 bestselling author Jennifer Lynn Barnes. 

Seven players arrived on Hawthorne Island, each with their own secrets and motivations to win the Grandest Game. Millions are at stake, but so are hearts--and lives. The players now must race to win the game, solve myriad mysteries, and survive the twists and turns of Glorious Rivals

The stakes get higher, the game gets twistier, and everything heats up in this newest installment in the TikTok sensation Inheritance Games Saga.

**Don't miss a moment of The Inheritance Games Saga, including the Grandest Game, the thrilling new series set in the world of the Inheritance Games

Reading them all? The ideal reading order is: The Inheritance Games, The Hawthorne Legacy, The Final Gambit, The Brothers Hawthorne, The Grandest Game, Games Untold, Glorious Rivals, and The Same Backward as Forward. 

Looking for more unputdownable reads from Jennifer Lynn Barnes? Check out The Naturals series (The Naturals, Killer Instinct, All In, Bad Blood, and the enovella, Twelve), The Debutantes duet (Little White Lies, Deadly Little Scandals), and The Lovely and the Lost.

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Sunrise on the Reaping

Suzanne Collins

The unforgettable fifth book in the Hunger Games series: Haymitch's story. Feature film scheduled for November 2026.

#1 USA Today Bestseller - #1 New York Times Bestseller - #1 Indie Bestseller - #1 Publishers Weekly Bestseller - A New York Times Editors' Choice

"A propulsive, brutal Hunger Games prequel is here. And it's great." The New York Times

When you've been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch's name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He's torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who's nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he's been set up to fail. But there's something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

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You've Reached Sam

Dustin Thao

This collectable trade paper edition of You've Reached Sam features gorgeous sprayed edges, an exclusive bonus scene and a sneak peek of Dustin's new novel, When Haru Was Here!

A heartfelt novel about love and loss and what it means to say goodbye.

Seventeen-year-old Julie Clarke has her future all planned out—move out of her small town with her boyfriend Sam, attend college in the city; spend a summer in Japan. But then Sam dies. And everything changes. 

Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his belongings, and tries everything to forget him. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces memories to return. Desperate to hear him one more time, Julie calls Sam's cell phone just to listen to his voice mail recording. And Sam picks up the phone.

The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam's voice makes Julie fall for him all over again and with each call, it becomes harder to let him go.

What would you do if you had a second chance at goodbye?

A 2021 Kids' Indie Next List Selection
A Cosmo.com Best YA Book Of 2021
A Buzzfeed Best Book Of November
A Goodreads Most Anticipated Book

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Toxic Summer

Derek Charm

“Laugh-out-loud humor and wildly fun" —Booklist

"A good choice for teen readers looking for a fun, LGBTQIA+, high-octane romp." —School Library Journal

Perfect summer plans become a nightmare beach party in this slimy, spooky, madcap summer mystery from Eisner Award winner Derek Charm (Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Jughead)!

Best friends Ben and Leo are ready to celebrate the summer after graduation by patrolling the beaches of idyllic seaside town Port Dorian as lifeguards—allowing them to also check out the hottest hunks and snag invites to the best parties, of course. But they arrive to find that a mysterious toxic spill has turned the water unswimmable and littered the shore with rotting fish carcasses. Their jobs become beach cleanup and the hunks are nowhere to be seen—like hermit crabs.

When they save a local historian with suspiciously glowing eyes from the water, and tentacled monsters begin snatching people in the night, Ben and Leo have to team up with the only other teens in town to uncover the cause of the spill, save their new friends and family, and try to get this sexy summer back on track before it’s too late.

Collecting Toxic Summer #1–3.

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Snapdragon

Kat Leyh

Kat Leyh's Snapdragon is a magical realist graphic novel about a young girl who befriends her town’s witch and discovers the strange magic within herself.

Snap's town had a witch.

At least, that’s how the rumor goes. But in reality, Jacks is just a crocks-wearing, internet-savvy old lady who sells roadkill skeletons online—after doing a little ritual to put their spirits to rest. It’s creepy, sure, but Snap thinks it’s kind of cool, too.

They make a deal: Jacks will teach Snap how to take care of the baby opossums that Snap rescued, and Snap will help Jacks with her work. But as Snap starts to get to know Jacks, she realizes that Jacks may in fact have real magic—and a connection with Snap’s family’s past.

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Divine Rivals

Rebecca Ross

When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever.

After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.

Shadow and Bone meets Lore in Rebecca Ross's Divine Rivals, an epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.

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The Flicker

H.E. Edgmon

Perfect for fans of The Marrow Thieves, Hatchet and The City of Ember, H.E. Edgmon's middle grade debut offers a bittersweet tale of hope and survival, a modern classic for the climate change generation.

One year ago, a solar flare scorched the Earth and destroyed life as we know it.

With their parents gone and supplies running dangerously low, step-sisters Millie and Rose only have one chance at survival: leave home with their infant half-brother and loyal dog Corncob in search of Millie’s grandma, a Seminole elder. As they navigate the burning land with a group of fellow survivors, dodging The Hive, a villainous group that has spent the last year hoarding supplies and living in luxury, the siblings have to learn to rely on each other more than ever, and discover how to build a new life from the ashes. 

Expertly balancing heartbreak and hope, The Flicker is both a thrilling survival story and a tender exploration of Indigenous ideas of identity and found family.

A Stonewall Honor Book

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Renegade Girls (a Graphic Novel)

Nora Neus

"Direct but not too heavy, bright with color and gentle in tone, Neus's graphic novel is an absolute dream of an afternoon read." --The New York Times

A swoonworthy queer romance set against a riveting story of social change in the 1880s, this historical graphic novel reimagines the life of America's first stunt girl--a young undercover reporter--and her whirlwind summer of romance and fighting injustice. 

Seventeen-year-old Helena "Nell" Cusack came to New York this summer looking for a story--a real story. She dreams of one day writing hard-hitting articles for the New York Chronicle, but so far she's only managed to land a job as a lowly society reporter. That is, until Alice Austen strolls into her life, an audacious street photographer who encourages Nell to shake up polite society...and maybe also take a chance on love.

When her best friend, Lucia, is injured while working in a garment factory, Nell is determined to crack the story wide open. Posing as a seamstress, she reports on the conditions from the inside, making a name for herself as the Chronicle's first ever stunt girl. But as Nell's reporting gains momentum, so do the objections of those who oppose her. Will Nell continue to seek justice--even if it hurts her in the end?

Based on real-life stunt girl Nell Nelson and photographer Alice Austen, this tenderly drawn narrative is about bringing buried stories to light and the bravery of first love.

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Kirby's Lessons for Falling (in Love)

Laura Gao

"I'm once again blown away by Laura Gao's ability to make me relate to someone completely different from myself. Get ready to experience the epic highs and lows of high school rock climbing." --Sonora Reyes, National Book Award finalist and bestselling author of The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

Once dubbed the Queen of Balance as her school's top rock climber, Kirby Tan suffers an injury that sidelines her for the rest of the season. Now she's forced to join the newspaper club for some desperately needed extra credit. Worse, she's recruited by crystal-wearing, tarot-reading Bex Santos for her astrology-based love advice column. As Kirby reluctantly agrees to orchestrate "matches made in heaven" with Bex, she begins to wonder if their own stars could be aligned. But loving who she wants isn't so easy when her family and church community are on the line. Can Kirby pull off her greatest balancing act yet

From Laura Gao, the acclaimed creator of Messy Roots, comes an authentic slow-burn romance and coming-of-age story perfect for fans of Heartstopper, lovers of astrology and tarot, and anyone looking for answers on the right way to fall (in love).

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Where You See Yourself

Claire Forrest (Young adult author)

A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book

What does it take to follow your dreams? Where You See Yourself is a relatable, romantic, and necessary story about a girl who has to figure out what--and who--will bring her the happiness she deserves.

By the time Effie Galanos starts her senior year, it feels like she's already been thinking about college applications for an eternity--after all, finding a college that will be the perfect fit and be accessible enough for Effie to navigate in her wheelchair presents a ton of considerations that her friends don't have to worry about.

What Effie hasn't told anyone is that she already knows exactly what school she has her heart set on: a college in NYC with a major in Mass Media & Society that will set her up perfectly for her dream job in digital media. She's never been to New York, but paging through the brochure, she can picture the person she'll be there, far from the Minneapolis neighborhood where she's lived her entire life. When she finds out that Wilder (her longtime crush) is applying there too, it seems like one more sign from the universe that it's the right place for her.

But it turns out that the universe is full of surprises. As Effie navigates her way through a year of admissions visits, senior class traditions, internal and external ableism, and a lot of firsts--and lasts--she starts to learn that sometimes growing up means being open to a world of possibilities you never even dreamed of. And maybe being more than just friends with Wilder is one of those dreams...

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Rabbit Rabbit

Dori Hillestad Butler

To rebuild their broken family, a pair of audacious tween cousins must confront the long-buried secrets that destroyed it in this upper middle grade novel told from dual perspectives.

Twelve-year-olds Alice and Bee are practically strangers when their grandparents’ anniversary party reunites their estranged families and ignites their own fast friendship. 

But their reunion doesn’t last long—Bee’s mother and grandfather are dead set on keeping the liberal Seattle faction of the family away from the conservative Minnesota crew. “It’s complicated,” the grown ups tell them over and over (and over!) again. 

Bee and Alice grow closer despite their geographical distance, determined to keep their friendship going—and to uncover the big family secret. What happened all those years ago, and why did it tear their family apart?

Just when they've started to make progress, the COVID pandemic strikes. Bee and Alice watch as the world shuts down and their loved ones grow further divided along their fractured lines. Somehow, it’s up to the twelve-year-olds to clean up the mess that the grown ups have made.

This powerful, timely story cuts deep, touching on recent historic events and intimate family details alike. With an age-appropriate approach, Rabbit Rabbit tackles religion, sexuality, bodily autonomy, and other juicy stuff you're not supposed to talk about at Thanksgiving. 

Readers will fall headfirst for Alice and Bee as the unforgettable tweens make space for their friendship and shifting identities while standing up to their far-from-perfect family, with all the love and grace they can muster.

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Pumpkinheads

Rainbow Rowell

A 2020 Tayshas Reading List Selection
A 2020 Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List Selection

In Pumpkinheads, beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell and Eisner Award–winning artist Faith Erin Hicks have teamed up to create this tender and hilarious story about two irresistible teens discovering what it means to leave behind a place—and a person—with no regrets.

Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends.

Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they’re reunited every September 1.

But this Halloween is different—Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye.

Josiah’s ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. Deja isn’t ready to let him. She’s got a plan: What if—instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut—they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he’s been mooning over for three years . . .

What if their last shift was an adventure?

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The Lady on Esplanade

Karen White

People and secrets from the past threaten to disrupt Nola Trenholm’s new life in New Orleans in the third novel of the Royal Street series by New York Times bestselling author Karen White.

Nola is ready to focus on starting over in the Big Easy. She wants to get back to work on the renovations of her Creole cottage, and she is eager to launch a new murder-house-flipping business with contractor, closet psychic, and part-time nemesis Beau Ryan. After a near-death ghostly encounter and the return of Beau’s missing sister, they are confident that the ghost of his mother can finally rest.

Nola believes the shotgun house on famed Esplanade Avenue is a prime fixer-upper for her first project. It may have been the site of a woman’s murder and the disappearance of an entire family, but the house will be perfect for new-to-town Cooper Ravenel—who happens to have caused Nola’s first heartbreak. 

That’s the least of Nola’s worries, though. In addition to the elusive spirit of an angry young woman who accompanied Cooper to New Orleans, the house on Esplanade has its own ghosts, including one that is becoming increasingly dangerous as he tries to hide his dark secrets. And the wet footprints from the spirit of Beau’s mother have returned to let them know there is still unfinished business before she can rest. Spectral danger is headed toward them, and it’s up to Nola to convince Beau to help before it’s too late. . . .

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Evil Bones

Kathy Reichs

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a twisty, magnetic thriller featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who finds herself enmeshed in a series of grisly animal killings that escalate into something far more sinister.

Small creatures—a rat, a rabbit, a squirrel—have been turning up throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, mutilated and displayed in a bizarre manner. But one day, as Tempe is relaxing at home alongside her aimless, moody great-niece Ruthie, she’s diverted by a disturbing call. The perp is upping the ante. This find could be human.

Tempe visits the scene and discovers that the victim is a dog. Someone’s pet. As one who has always found animal cruelty abhorrent, Tempe agrees to help apprehend the person responsible, and she acquires an equally outraged ally in semi-retired homicide detective Erskine “Skinny” Slidell. Needing a better understanding of possible motives, Tempe seeks input from a forensic psychologist. The doctor has no definitive answer but offers several possibilities, warning that the escalating pattern of aggression suggests even more macabre discoveries—and a shift in the perp’s focus to humans.

And then it happens. A woman is found disfigured and posed in a manner that mimics the animal killings. Subsequently, people Tempe cares about begin to go missing until it becomes clear she is being taunted, the target in a sick game that has her and Slidell racing against a ticking clock and facing a terrifying question: “What is pure evil?”

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Between Extremes

Elsie Olson

How does political extremism erode democracy? And what are people doing to stop it?

Throughout history, North American nations have faced serious threats to their democracy, including voter suppression and political extremism. Between Extremes explores how these nations have navigated threats to their democratic foundations. By investigating the origins and evolution of democracy, it highlights the enduring principles of liberty, equality, and civic participation. It reveals how activists and lawmakers tackle the growing threat of political extremism, working to safeguard democracy for future generations. Through a thoughtful exploration of the challenges and triumphs in preserving democratic ideals, you will gain insight into what it takes to build, protect, and strengthen the systems that uphold freedom and public engagement.

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Beyond the Board

Maya Gabeira

In this thrilling YA memoir, pro surfer Maya Gabeira tells the awe-inspiring true story of her journey from unstoppable teenager to the Guinness World Record-holding legend she is today.

Who am I, beyond the board? Surf legend Maya Gabeira is famous for her nerve. Her surfing journey began at the age of fourteen and reached a high when she set (and later broke) a Guinness World Record for highest wave conquered by any big wave surfer--man or woman--after bouncing back from a near-fatal accident.

Gabeira has been heralded as one of the top surfers of her generation. But who is the ferocious personality beyond the board? What are the stories behind the relationships and challenges that shaped her into the indomitable surfer, women's rights advocate, and champion for mental health awareness she is today?

For the first time ever, Maya looks back on her formative years: the romances, career highs, vulnerabilities, and setbacks that defined her at an early age.

At seventeen, she left her home in Rio de Janeiro in order to chase waves around the world, toting a single backpack and waiting tables to get by. Maya carved her own path as a teen, defining her own remarkable narrative: that of a vulnerable, passionate, and driven young woman who learned never to flinch--even in the face of death.

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Never Silent

Setsuko Thurlow

To be published on what will be the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, survivor Setsuko Thurlow shares her memories of that horrific event and her resulting lifelong commitment to activism to ban nuclear arms.

When Setsuko Thurlow was thirteen, she witnessed one of history's most horrific events. She experienced--and survived--the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Since then, she has worked tirelessly to educate people about the catastrophe and to ensure that it never happens again. As a leading member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), she gave the acceptance speech when the organization won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

Never Silent recounts Setsuko's earliest memories of her happy life in Hiroshima, followed by the devastating firsthand impact she witnesses after the dropping of the atomic bomb, and finally traces the steps she takes to rebuild a life in the aftermath of her experiences. With informational text scattered throughout the book to give historical context for the places and events, readers are given a full and profoundly affecting picture of what it was like after the bomb dropped, the struggle to return to normalcy, and the plea for activism to ban nuclear weapons.

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Daring: The Life and Art of Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun

Jordana Pomeroy

The dramatic life story of Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, one of the greatest portrait painters of all time.

Supremely talented and strategically charming, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) overcame tragedy and broke gender barriers to reach the height of success as a portrait painter, first in Paris, and then across Europe. After losing her father at age twelve and facing financial insecurity, she fought to gain access to artistic training and opportunity. She was coerced into marriage at age twenty, to an art dealer who both helped and harmed her career. Vigée Le Brun deployed her intelligence and beauty to attract powerful clients, who relied on her to style the personal identities they projected to the world.

Vigée Le Brun's salons were the talk of Paris, and she became court painter to Marie Antoinette. Then came the French Revolution, when marginalized groups demanded change to centuries-old systems of oppression. Vigée Le Brun was forced to reexamine her alliances and run for her life, taking her young daughter but leaving her husband behind. Making her way through the countrysides and capitals of Europe and Russia--including a stay at the imperial court of Catherine the Great--the artist conquered fear and adversity to refashion her life and her art.

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Exit Strategy Lee Child

Lee Child

Jack Reacher will make three stops today. Not all of them were planned for. The page-turning new Jack Reacher thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling authors Lee Child and Andrew Child.

Don’t miss the hit streaming series Reacher!

First—a Baltimore coffee shop. A seat in the corner, facing the door. Black coffee, two refills, no messing around. A minor interruption from two of the customers, but nothing he can’t deal with swiftly. As he leaves, a young guy brushes against him in the doorway. Instinctively Reacher checks the pocket holding his cash and passport. There’s no problem. Nothing is missing.

Second—a store to buy a coat. Nothing fancy. Something he can ditch when he heads to warmer climates. Large enough to fit a man the size of a bank vault. As he pulls out his cash, he finds something new in his pocket. A handwritten note. A desperate plea for help.

Third—wherever this bend in the road takes him. Impressed by the guy’s technique and intrigued by the message, Reacher makes it his mission to find out more . .

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A Most Perilous World

Kristina R. Gaddy

The stories of the four teenage children of prominent abolitionists before and during the Civil War combine to form a surprisingly familiar tapestry of struggle, disappointment, and ultimately hope.

"Impeccable research and incredible details bring the stories of these four young people to life as they come of age in the years leading up to and during the Civil War."—Kip Wilson, award-winning author of White Rose

Flowers in the Gutter author Kristina R. Gaddy tells the story of America’s tumultuous years leading up to the Civil War and of the war itself from the viewpoints of four children of famous abolitionists, including those of Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. Gaddy crafts a surprisingly contemporary coming-of-age narrative, supported by meticulous research and featuring dozens of primary documents. Each of these four young people—two white, two Black—was strongly committed to the anti-slavery cause but felt just as keenly a need to make their own names, away from the often over-protective or disapproving shadows of the famous adults in their lives. This is a true story of how a torch of resistance is passed and how a new generation makes its mark.

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Shift Happens

J. Albert Mann



 

For readers of Stamped and An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People, Albert J. Mann's Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States is an accessible and comprehensive YA history of the way the labor movement has shaped America and how it intersects with many of the major issues facing modern teens.

"Mann explores the often oppressive, abusive, and bloody history of labor conditions and the merciless rise of capitalism with wit, snark, and comprehensive context.... Riveting, enlightening, infuriating, and timely: compulsory reading." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Its edgy title may attract attention, but it's the compelling narrative and enlightening content that will keep readers engaged from cover to cover." --SLJ (starred review)

"In other hands, the snarky, conversational tone might feel like an adult's overreach, but Mann's simmering anger and clear passion for the working class will inspire readers just as much as the union leaders and organization efforts she covers." --BCCB (starred review)

"Mann's introduction to the history of labor is full of sharp, galvanizing points that will keep readers engaged and help them look critically at some of our entrenched systems." --ALA Booklist

"The narrative's laser focus on organizing heroes and essential employees, and the power of unions and striking workers to enact change, results in powerful storytelling." --Publishers Weekly

You need to work to live.

That's the truth for most people, and plenty of people in power have been abusing that truth for centuries.

Long before the first labor unions were formed, workers still knew what exploitation looked like. It looked like the enslavement of Black people. It looked like generations of children dying in dangerous jobs. It looked like wealthy people hiring private militaries to attack their employees.

But workers have always found a way to fight back. Lokono tribespeople resisted Columbus and his colonizers. Enslaved people led walkouts and rebellions. Textile workers demanded a wage that would let them have fun, not just survive. Miners died for the right to unionize. From 30,000 young seamstresses striking in the early 1900s to Uber drivers organizing for change today, people have learned we're stronger when we are united.

Shift Happens is a smart, funny, and engaging look at the history of the worker actions that brought us weekends, pay equality, desegregation, an end to child labor, and so much more.

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Fault Lines in the Constitution (Third Edition)

Cynthia Levinson

Many of the political issues we struggle with today have their roots in the US Constitution. This book explores 21 of the fault lines that were created in 1787 and are still causing problems today.

"Should be read by every single adult who lives in America." --Laurie Halse Anderson

Many of us take certain features in our political system for granted, even when we complain about them. But these fault lines didn't spontaneously arise--they have their roots in the Constitution itself, the result of disagreements and compromises made by the Framers in 1787--and we're still feeling the ramifications today.

Fault Lines in the Constitution takes readers back to the creation of this historic document and discusses the original intent and worldview of the Framers, when and how problems arose after the fact, and possible solutions for those problems, inspired by both constitutions of individual US states and other countries. Each chapter begins with a true story that connects directly back to a section of the document that forms the basis of our society and government.

Written by an award-winning middle grade author and a constitutional law scholar, this new edition includes updated content throughout; two new chapters on Impeachment and Secession; significant expansion of the chapters on Emergency Powers and Term Limits; and revisions throughout that reflect political and social changes leading up to and following the 2024 national election.

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Caitlin Clark: Basketball Superstar and Inspiration for a New Generation

Leanne Currie-McGhee

This book explores the life of professional basketball player Caitlin Clark, from her early days playing sports with her brothers to becoming a college basketball phenomenon and a rising WNBA star. Clark's story is not only about her athletic achievements but also about her resilience, determination, and the impact she's had on inspiring a new generation of young athletes.

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Strange Bedfellows

Ariel Slamet Ries

In this stunning graphic novel by two-time Ignatz award-winning graphic novelist Ariel Slamet Ries, Oberon must choose between fantasy and reality when he develops the ability to conjure his dreams in real life--including the facsimile of the boy who got away.

In the not-too-distant future, most of humanity resides on its last-ditch effort at utopia: Meridian, a remote alien planet where you're more likely to be born superhuman than left-handed.

None of that is important to Oberon Afolayan. Since his mildly public breakdown, his whole life seems to be spiraling out of control--from dropping out of university to breaking up with his boyfriend, it seems like only a karmic inevitability when he wakes up one day with the ability to conjure his dreams in the real world.

Oberon's newfound powers come with a facsimile of his high school crush, Kon, who mysteriously dropped off the face of the planet almost three years ago and who is a little more infuriating (if not also infuriatingly hot) than Oberon remembers.

Kon makes it his mission to turn Oberon's life around, and while they struggle to get a handle on his powers and his disastrous personal life (not to mention the appearance of strange nightmare creatures), it turns out this dream version of Kon has secrets of his own--dangerous ones.

Oberon might have more on his plate than he originally thought, but is giving up his dreams--even the one he might have accidentally fallen in love with--the only way to find happiness in reality?

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A Song for You and I

K. O'Neill

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Being a ranger means adventure, action, and protecting the weak. But who protects the ranger when they lose their way? From the bestselling author of The Moth Keeper and the Tea Dragon Society comes a must read MG graphic novel for fans of soft sweeping fantasy romances.

Rowan knows exactly what they want: to be a ranger, protecting their village alongside their trusted flying horse Kes. But when Rowan's eagerness to show off their worth gets Kes injured, Rowan is suddenly unsure if they're capable of being the protector they've always dreamed of becoming. 

With Kes needing to heal, Rowan is assigned a slow and winding expedition across the outlying lands. Paired with a lackadasical sheep hearder Leone, Rowan only finds frustration as they seem to fail even the simplest tasks. But Leone's own struggles, and endless support brings a new possibility to Rowan. Could their unlikely friendship be something more? And if it is, will Rowan be able to leave Leone behind to pursue being a ranger once Kes is healed?

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Lunar New Year Love Story

Gene Luen Yang

An NPR Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Best Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Best Book of the Year
A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year
A Horn Book Best Book of the Year
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year

Graphic novel superstars Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham join forces in this heartwarming rom-com about fate, family, and falling in love.

She was destined for heartbreak. Then fate handed her love.

Val is ready to give up on love. It's led to nothing but secrets and heartbreak, and she's pretty sure she's cursed—no one in her family, for generations, has ever had any luck with love.

But then a chance encounter with a pair of cute lion dancers sparks something in Val. Is it real love? Could this be her chance to break the family curse? Or is she destined to live with a broken heart forever?

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Hell Followed with Us

Andrew Joseph White

A furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors.

“A long, sustained scream to the various strains of anti-transgender legislation multiplying around the world like, well, a virus." —The New York Times

*INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.
 
But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.    
 
Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own. Perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and Annihilation.


"A defining voice of our generation." –H.E. Edgmon, author of The Witch King
"Hands down the best YA horror book I've read." ­–Aden Polydoros, author of The City Beautiful
"A chimera of horror, romance, and something stranger." –Rose Szabo, author of What Big Teeth
"A timely and riveting tale." –Ray Stoeve, author of Between Perfect and Real

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Remarkably Bright Creatures

Shelby Van Pelt

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Soon to be a Netflix Film

A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF SUMMER by: Chicago Tribune * The View * Southern Living * USA Today

"Remarkably Bright Creatures [is] an ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut. . . . Memorable and tender." -- Washington Post

For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

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Accountable

Dashka Slater

YALSA AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION WINNER

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The 57 Bus comes Accountable, a propulsive and thought-provoking true story about the revelation of a racist social media account that changes everything for a group of high school students and begs the question: What does it mean to be held accountable for harm that takes place behind a screen?

“Powerful, timely, and delicately written.” —Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times–bestselling and National Book Award-winning author

When a high school student started a private Instagram account that used racist and sexist memes to make his friends laugh, he thought of it as “edgy” humor. Over time, the edge got sharper. Then a few other kids found out about the account. Pretty soon, everyone knew.

Ultimately no one in the small town of Albany, California, was safe from the repercussions of the account’s discovery. Not the girls targeted by the posts. Not the boy who created the account. Not the group of kids who followed it. Not the adults—educators and parents—whose attempts to fix things too often made them worse.

In the end, no one was laughing. And everyone was left asking: Where does accountability end for online speech that harms? And what does accountability even mean?

Award-winning and New York Times–bestselling author Dashka Slater has written a must-read book for our era that explores the real-world consequences of online choices.

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Starter Villain

John Scalzi

Now a New York Times bestseller!

Featuring an exclusive short story from the perspective of your favorite feline!

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place.

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. 

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital. 

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.

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Divine Rivals

Rebecca Ross

When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever.

After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.

Shadow and Bone meets Lore in Rebecca Ross's Divine Rivals, an epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.

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Monstrous

Sarah Myer

"A beautiful, courageous book.”
Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese

Five Starred Reviews and a Finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize

Monstrous is a poignant, award-winning young adult graphic memoir about a Korean-American girl who uses fandom and art-making to overcome racist bullying. 

Sarah has always struggled to fit in. Born in South Korea and adopted at birth by a white couple, she grows up in a rural community with few Asian neighbors. People whisper in the supermarket. Classmates bully her. She has trouble containing her anger in these moments—but through it all, she has her art. She's always been a compulsive drawer, and when she discovers anime, her hobby becomes an obsession.

Though drawing and cosplay offer her an escape, she still struggles to connect with others. And in high school, the bullies are louder and meaner. Sarah's bubbling rage is threatening to burst.

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Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

Kirsten Miller

"Kirsten Miller has that rare ability to take a serious subject and make it very, very funny. I enjoyed this novel and you will too."--James Patterson

The provocative and hilarious summer read that will have book lovers cheering and everyone talking! Kirsten Miller, author of The Change, brings us a bracing, wildly entertaining satire about a small Southern town, a pitched battle over banned books, and a little lending library that changes everything.

Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books--none of which she's actually read. To replace the "pornographic" books she's challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she's sure the town's readers need.

What Lula doesn't know is that a local troublemaker has stolen her wholesome books, removed their dust jackets, and restocked Lula's library with banned books: literary classics, gay romances, Black history, witchy spell books, Judy Blume novels, and more. One by one, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean's library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Finally, one of Lula Dean's enemies discovers the library and decides to turn the tables on her, just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other to replace the town's disgraced mayor.

That's when all the townspeople who've been borrowing from Lula's library begin to reveal themselves. That's when the showdown that's been brewing between Beverly and Lula will roil the whole town...and change it forever.

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The House in the Cerulean Sea

TJ Klune

A NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, and WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER!
A 2021 Alex Award winner!
The 2021 RUSA Reading List: Fantasy Winner!
An Indie Next Pick!
One of Publishers Weekly's "Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2020"
One of Book Riot’s “20 Must-Read Feel-Good Fantasies”

Lambda Literary Award-winning author TJ Klune’s bestselling, breakout contemporary fantasy that's "1984 meets The Umbrella Academy with a pinch of Douglas Adams thrown in." (Gail Carriger)

A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.

Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. 

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.

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As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow

Zoulfa Katouh

A love letter to Syria and its people, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow is a speculative novel set amid the Syrian Revolution, burning with the fires of hope, love, and possibility. Perfect for fans of The Book Thief and Salt to the Sea.

Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She had a normal teenager's life. 

Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe. 

But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all. 

Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are--not a war, but a revolution--and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria's freedom.

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This Is My America

Kim Johnson

"Incredible and searing." --Nic Stone, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin

The Hate U Give meets Just Mercy in this unflinching yet uplifting first novel that explores the racist injustices in the American justice system.

Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time--her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy's older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a "thug" on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town's racist history that still haunt the present?

Fans of Nic Stone, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Jason Reynolds won't want to miss this provocative and gripping debut.

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Shut Up, This Is Serious

Carolina Ixta

WINNER OF THE PURA BELPRÉ YA AUTHOR AWARD

* A Morris Award Finalist * Parade Best Young Adult Books of All Time * Indie Next List Pick *

An unforgettable YA debut about two Latina teens growing up in East Oakland as they discover that the world is brimming with messy complexities, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Erika L. Sánchez.

Belén Dolores Itzel del Toro wants the normal stuff: to experience love or maybe have a boyfriend or at least just lose her virginity. But nothing is normal in East Oakland. Her father left her family. She's at risk of not graduating. And Leti, her super-Catholic, nerdy-ass best friend, is pregnant--by the boyfriend she hasn't told her parents about, because he's Black, and her parents are racist.

Things are hella complicated.

Weighed by a depression she can't seem to shake, Belén helps Leti, hangs out with an older guy, and cuts a lot of class. She soon realizes, though, that distractions are only temporary. Leti is becoming a mother. Classmates are getting ready for college. But what about Belén? What future is there for girls like her?

From debut author Carolina Ixta comes a fierce, intimate examination of friendship, chosen family, and the generational cycles we must break to become our truest selves.

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A Face for Picasso

Ariel Henley

A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book for Teens

"Raw and unflinching . . . A must-read!" --Marieke Nijkamp, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends

"[It] cuts to the heart of our bogus ideas of beauty." –Scott Westerfeld, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Uglies 

I am ugly. There's a mathematical equation to prove it.

At only eight months old, identical twin sisters Ariel and Zan were diagnosed with Crouzon syndrome -- a rare condition where the bones in the head fuse prematurely. They were the first twins known to survive it.

Growing up, Ariel and her sister endured numerous appearance-altering procedures. Surgeons would break the bones in their heads and faces to make room for their growing organs. While the physical aspect of their condition was painful, it was nothing compared to the emotional toll of navigating life with a facial disfigurement.

Ariel explores beauty and identity in her young-adult memoir about resilience, sisterhood, and the strength it takes to put your life, and yourself, back together time and time again.

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Rez Ball

Byron Graves

This compelling debut novel by new talent Byron Graves tells the relatable, high-stakes story of a young athlete determined to play like the hero his Ojibwe community needs him to be.

These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team--even though he can't help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident.

When Jaxon's former teammates on the varsity team offer to take Tre under their wing, he sees this as his shot to represent his Ojibwe rez all the way to their first state championship. This is the first step toward his dream of playing in the NBA, no matter how much the odds are stacked against him.

But stepping into his brother's shoes as a star player means that Tre can't mess up. Not on the court, not at school, and not with his new friend, gamer Khiana, who he is definitely not falling in love with.

After decades of rez teams almost making it, Tre needs to take his team to state. Because if he can live up to Jaxon's dreams, their story isn't over yet.

This book is published by Heartdrum, an imprint that publishes high-quality, contemporary stories about Indigenous young people in the United States and Canada.

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Looking for Smoke

K. A. Cobell

A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

In her powerful debut novel, Looking for Smoke, author K. A. Cobell (Blackfeet) weaves loss, betrayal, and complex characters into a thriller that will illuminate, surprise, and engage readers until the final word. A must-pick for readers who enjoy books by Angeline Boulley and Karen McManus!

When local girl Loren includes Mara in a traditional Blackfeet Giveaway to honor Loren's missing sister, Mara thinks she'll finally make some friends on the Blackfeet reservation.

Instead, a girl from the Giveaway, Samantha White Tail, is found murdered.

Because the four members of the Giveaway group were the last to see Samantha alive, each becomes a person of interest in the investigation. And all of them--Mara, Loren, Brody, and Eli--have a complicated history with Samantha.

Despite deep mistrust, the four must now take matters into their own hands and clear their names. Even though one of them may be the murderer.

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Plan A

Deb Caletti

A sixteen-year-old girl’s road trip across the country to get an abortion becomes a transformative journey of vulnerability, strength, and above all, choice. From the acclaimed author of A Heart in a Body in the World, this is both an achingly tender love story and a bold, badly needed battle cry about bodily autonomy and the experiences that connect us.

Ivy can’t entirely believe it when the plus sign appears on the test. She didn’t even know it was possible from . . . what happened. But it is, and now she is, and instead of spending the summer working at the local drugstore and swooning over her boyfriend, Lorenzo, suddenly she’s planning a cross-country road trip to her grandmother’s house on the West Coast, where she can legally obtain an abortion.

Escaping her small Texas town and the judgment of her friends and neighbors, Ivy hits the road with Lorenzo, who, determined to make the best of their “abortion road trip love story,” has transformed the journey into a whirlwind tour of the world: all the way from Paris, Texas, to Rome, Oregon . . . and every rest-stop diner and corny roadside attraction along the way.

And while Ivy can’t run from the incessant pressure of others’ opinions about her body or from her own expectations and insecurities, she discovers a new world of healing and hope. As the women she encounters share their stories, she chips away at the stigma, silence, and shame surrounding reproductive rights while those collective experiences guide her to her own rightful destination.

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Promise Boys

Nick Brooks

"Thrilling, captivating, and blade-sharp." —Karen M. McManus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying

"I was at the edge of my seat . . . A brilliant pulls-no-punches mystery with bruised hearts at its core." —Adam Silvera, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of They Both Die at the End

Three teen boys must investigate their principal's murder to clear their own names. Find out who killed Principal Moore in Nick Brooks's dark academia murder mystery, Promise BoysThe Hate U Give meets One of Us Is Lying. 

The prestigious Urban Promise Prep school might look pristine on the outside, but deadly secrets lurk within. When the principal ends up murdered on school premises and the cops come sniffing around, a trio of students—J.B., Ramón, and Trey—emerge as the prime suspects. They had the means, they had the motive . . . and they may have had the murder weapon. But with all three maintaining their innocence, they must band together to track down the real killer before they are arrested. Or is the true culprit hiding among them?

A Boston Globe-Horn Book Award 2023 Honoree. A New York Public Library and Kirkus Best Book of the Year!

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Dungeons and Drama

Kristy Boyce

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • When it comes to romance, sometimes it doesn't hurt to play games. A fun YA romcom full of fake dating hijinks!

A COSMOPOLITAN BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE YEAR

No one loves musicals more than Riley Morris—her dream is to be a Broadway director. But when the spring show is canceled, Riley has to figure out a way to bring it back. Easier said than done—she’s stuck working at her dad’s game store. The place that means more to him than his family does.

Riley can't waste time at a dead-end job when her entire future is resting on making a name for herself. So she convinces her co-worker Nathan Wheeler—the floppy-haired, glasses-wearing guy she barely knows from school—to help her. In exchange, she’ll help him make his gamer-girl crush jealous. Plus it won’t hurt to show her egotistical ex, Paul, just what he’s missing without her.

Soon Riley and Nathan are “a couple,” and people seem to believe it. But selling the ruse means joining Nathan’s role-playing game. To Riley’s surprise, the game is almost fun. And even more surprising, flirting with Nathan doesn’t require as much acting as she thought it would. . . .

And don't miss Kristy Boyce's next gaming romance, Dating and Dragons, out 12/31/24!

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You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

Kalynn Bayron

Instant New York Times bestseller!

At Camp Mirror Lake, terror is the name of the game . . . but can you survive the night?

This heart-pounding slasher by New York Times bestselling author Kalynn Bayron is perfect for fans of Fear Street.

Charity has the summer job of her dreams, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests pay to be scared in this full-contact terror game, as Charity and her summer crew recreate scenes from a classic slasher film, The Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business.

But the last weekend of the season, Charity's co-workers begin disappearing. And when one ends up dead, Charity's role as the final girl suddenly becomes all too real. If Charity and her girlfriend Bezi hope to survive the night, they'll need figure out what this killer is after. As they unravel the bloody history of the real Mirror Lake, Charity discovers that there may be more to the story than she ever suspected . . .

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A Royal Conundrum (The Misfits)

Lisa Yee

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • When a notorious thief is out for priceless treasure (gems! cats! general decorum!)—who're you gonna call? An elite team of crime-fighting underdogs, that's who! The Misfits are on the case in this hilarious illustrated series from Newbery Honoree Lisa Yee and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat!

“For any kid who’s felt like a misfit, this crackling adventure packs a wallop!” —Lincoln Peirce, creator of Big Nate and Max & the Midknights

Olive Cobin Zang has . . . issues. And they mostly aren’t her fault. (No, really!) Though she often slips under the radar, problems have a knack for finding her. So, imagine her doubts when she’s suddenly dropped off at the strangest boarding school ever: a former castle turned prison that's now a “reforming arts school”!

But nothing could’ve prepared Olive for RASCH (not “rash”). There, she’s lumped with a team of other kids who never quite fit in, and discovers that the academy isn’t what it seems—and neither is she. In fact, RASCH is a cover for an elite group of misfits who fight crime . . . and Olive has arrived just in time.

Turns out that RASCH is in danger of closing, unless Olive’s class can stop the heist of the century. And as Olive falls in love with this wacky school, she realizes it’s up to her new team to save the only home that’s ever welcomed them.

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Greenwild

Pari Thomson

The Secret Garden meets A Wrinkle in Time in Greenwild: The World Behind the Door, the first book in the most extraordinary new fantasy series.

*An Instant New York Times Bestseller*

"If you don't believe in magic, you will after you've read Greenwild" - A. F. Steadman
"An eco-thriller novel that every child should read" - The Telegraph

Open the door to a spellbinding world where the wilderness is alive and a deep magic rises from the earth itself . . .

Eleven-year-old Daisy Thistledown is on the run. Her mother has been keeping big, glittering secrets, and now she has vanished. Daisy knows it’s up to her to find Ma—but someone is hunting her across London. Someone determined to stop her from discovering the truth.

So when Daisy flees to safety through a mysterious hidden doorway, she can barely believe her eyes—she has stepped out of the city and into another world.

This is the Greenwild. Bursting with magic and full of amazing natural wonders, it seems too astonishing to be true. But not only is this land of green magic real, it holds the key to finding Daisy’s mother.

And someone wants to destroy it.

Daisy must band together with a botanical genius, a boy who can talk with animals, and a spunky cat to uncover the truth about who she really is. Only then can she channel the power that will change her whole world . . . and save the Greenwild itself.

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Parachute Kids

Betty C. Tang

**National Book Award Longlist Title**

**Asian/Pacific American Award Honor Book**

This funny, fast-paced, and heartrending story about three siblings living on their own as undocumented new immigrants is perfect for fans of New Kid and Front Desk.

A DREAM TRIP TO AMERICA TURNS INTO A NIGHTMARE!

Feng-Li can't wait to discover America with her family! But after an action-packed vacation, her parents deliver shocking news: They are returning to Taiwan and leaving Feng-Li and her older siblings in California on their own.

Suddenly, the three kids must fend for themselves in a strange new world--and get along. Starting a new school, learning a new language, and trying to make new friends while managing a household is hard enough, but Bro and Sis's constant bickering makes everything worse. Thankfully, there are some hilarious moments to balance the stress and loneliness. But as tensions escalate--and all three kids get tangled in a web of bad choices--can Feng-Li keep her family together?

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Warrior Girl

Carmen Tafolla

An insightful novel in verse about the joys and struggles of a Chicana girl who is a warrior for her name, her history, and her right to choose what she celebrates in life.

Celina and her family are bilingual and follow both Mexican and American traditions. Celina revels in her Mexican heritage, but once she starts school it feels like the world wants her to erase that part of her identity. Fortunately, she’s got an army of family and three fabulous new friends behind her to fight the ignorance. But it’s her Gramma who’s her biggest inspiration, encouraging Celina to build a shield of joy around herself. Because when you’re celebrating, when you find a reason to sing or dance or paint or play or laugh or write, they haven’t taken everything away from you. Of course, it’s not possible to stay in celebration mode when things get dire--like when her dad’s deported and a pandemic hits--but if there is anything Celina’s sure of, it’s that she’ll always live up to her last name: Guerrera--woman warrior--and that she will use her voice and writing talents to make the world a more beautiful place where all cultures are celebrated.

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