BLOGS > APRIL 8, 2024
Browse the hottest new releases of 2024!
By Heather Fawcett
Audience: Upper Elementary
This summer story has everything – the trials and pleasures of friendship, a rousing feud and a touch of adventure, a beautiful exploration of healing after grief, a very moving finale, and a whole lot of whale-watching fascination!
By Chanel Miller
Audience: Upper Elementary
“Wildly funny, charming, and deeply heartfelt.”
– Kirkus Reviews, starred review
This tale of friendship and community centers around Magnolia Wu, a ten-year-old sock detective bent on returning all the lonely socks left behind in her parents’ New York City laundromat.
By Sarah Tolcser
Audience: Upper Elementary
Jurassic Park meets Once There Was in this page-turning middle grade fantasy adventure set at a nature preserve for magical beasts, where two girls find themselves on a wilderness expedition gone disastrously wrong.
By Alison McGhee
Audience: Upper Elementary
“Employing spare, sensory language, McGhee explores the painful negative space created by loss and the devastation of a friendship cut short, as well as the healing found in moving forward while remembering that ‘there’s more… so much more.’”
– Publishers Weekly
This is an unforgettable story of grief that follows a young girl and her community faced with aching loss as they begin to understand that what we love will always be with us.
By Stacey Lee
Audience: Young Adult
“This twisty mystery, brought to life by a vibrant cast and abundant historical details, will keep readers in suspense until the very end. Riveting.”
– Kirkus Reviews
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Downstairs Girl comes a YA murder mystery noir set in 1930s Los Angeles’s Chinatown. Lulu Wong, star of the silver screen and the pride of Chinatown, has a face known to practically everyone, especially the Chow sisters, who instantly know its her body they just discovered!
By Randy Ribay
Audience: Young Adult
Told in multiple perspectives, Everything We Never Had unfolds like a beautifully crafted nesting doll. Each Maghabol boy forges his own path amid heavy family and societal expectations, passing down his flaws, values, and virtues to the next generation, until it’s up to Enzo to see how he can braid all these strands and men together.
By Ellen Hopkins
Audience: Young Adult
This latest novel in verse from #1 New York Times best-selling author Ellen Hopkins is a searing and unforgettable account of two teens caught in the labyrinth of the foster care system, fighting their way out and back to each other.
By Kate Sweeney
Audience: Young Adult
Follow a teenage girl as she does whatever it takes to find her missing – and seemingly deceased – cousin. This dark and powerful mystery is perfect for fans of true crime podcasts!
An Author Interview with Don Everts
December 17, 2025
What peculiar thread connects secret superpowers, chicken farming, Victorian architecture, and the impossible awkwardness of being 14? Debut middle grade author Don Everts weaves it together for us in this conversation about his new book, Oscar and the Mystery of...
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An Author Interview with Sara Amini and Illustrator Shadia Amin
December 17, 2025
Author Sara Amini and artist Shadia Amin team up for this charming, semi-autobiographical middle grade graphic memoir that explores evolving friendships, puberty mishaps, and finding a place to belong. Navigating life as a multiracial girl has never been more hilarious...
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An Author Interview with Katherine Applegate
December 17, 2025
Go behind the scenes with Newbery Medal-winning author and literary superstar Katherine Applegate as she discusses her returns with two exciting new titles releasing in spring! First up is The Littlest Elephant, a picture book adaptation of the best-selling middle grade...
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An Author Interview with Amy Timberlake and Illustrator Jon Klassen
December 17, 2025
Award-winning author Amy Timberlake and illustrator Jon Klassen team up to bring you the latest in the Skunk and Badger trilogy. Rock Paper Incisors follows odd-couple roommates Skunk and Badger as they explore the complexity of friendship and the meaning...
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What We're Reading: Best of 2025
November 17, 2025
As the year wraps up, we’re highlighting the top books that sparked curiosity, inspired learning, and kept students turning pages in 2025. These eight standout titles – from award-winning historical fiction to imaginative adventures and engaging picture books – are...
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Get Ahead of the 2026 ALA YMAs with These 5 Must-Read Contender Titles
November 1, 2025
This month, we’re diving into the most buzzworthy books of the year – handpicked by our Curation Team from our ALA Youth Media Award Contenders book list. These standout titles are generating serious award chatter, and we’re reading them now to...
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