It's New Release Tuesday! This week's spotlight includes 38 new titles, about half of which are YA. I'm most excited about Nemesis, Our Chemical Hearts, Replica, When the Moon Was Ours, and A Bike Like Sergio's. I've added lots of these to my next book order!
YOUNG ADULT (grades 8+):
  | Replica (Lauren Oliver) Replica, book 1. Two books, each told from a different character's perspective. Gemma has been in and out of hospitals since she was born. 'A sickly child', her lonely life to date has revolved around her home, school and one best friend. But when she discovers her father's connection to a top secret research facility, Gemma decides to leave her sanctuary to find the institute and determine what is going on there and why her father's name seems inextricably linked to it. Give it to fans of The Jenna Fox Chronicles (Pearson). Science fiction. |
  | The Black Key (Amy Ewing) The Lone City, book 3. A key player in a rebellion, Violet has something more personal at stake—her sister, Hazel, has been taken by the Duchess of the Lake. Now, after fighting so hard to escape the Jewel, Violet must do everything in her power to return to save not only Hazel, but the future of the Lone City. Dystopia. |
  | Holding Up the Universe (Jennifer Niven) Libby, once dubbed "America's fattest teen," struggles with grief after her mother's death. Jack seems to have it all together, but he has a secret--he cannot recognize faces, even the faces of his own brothers. Realistic fiction. |
  | Children of Eden (Joey Graceffa) Co-written by a YouTube celebrity. As an illegal Second Child, Rowan has been hidden away in her family's compound for sixteen years. Now, restless and desperate to see the world, she recklessly escapes for what she swears will be only one night of adventure. Though she finds an exotic world, and even a friend, the night leads to tragedy. Soon Rowan becomes a renegade on the run – unleashing a chain of events that could change the world of Eden forever. Dystopia. |
  | Goldenhand (Garth Nix) Abhorsen, book 5. Lirael is no longer a shy Second Assistant Librarian. She is the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, with Dead creatures to battle and Free Magic entities to bind. She’s also a Remembrancer, wielder of the Dark Mirror. High fantasy. |
  | Nemesis (Anna Banks) Princess Sepora of Serubel is the last Forger in all the five kingdoms. The spectorium she creates provides energy for all, but now her father has found a way to weaponize it, and his intentions to incite war force her to flee from his grasp. Tarik has just taken over rulership of Theoria, and must now face a new plague sweeping through his kingdom and killing his citizens. Fantasy. |
  | Last Seen Leaving (Caleb Roehrig) Flynn's girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking questions he can't answer, and her friends are telling stories that don't add up. All eyes are on Flynn—as January's boyfriend, he must know something. But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January's disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself. Mystery. |
  | Remember Yesterday (Pintip Dunn) Forget Tomorrow, book 2. It’s Callie’s seventeenth birthday and, like everyone else, she’s eagerly awaiting her vision―a memory sent back in time to sculpt each citizen into the person they’re meant to be. A world-class swimmer. A renowned scientist. Or in Callie’s case, a criminal. Dystopia. |
  | Our Chemical Hearts (Krystal Sutherland) Grace isn't who Henry pictured as his dream girl—she walks with a cane, wears oversized boys' clothes, and rarely seems to shower. But when Grace and Henry are both chosen to edit the school paper, he quickly finds himself falling for her. Romance. |
  | The Lovely Reckless (Kami Garcia) Great for fans of Perfect Chemistry! Seventeen-year-old Frankie Devereux would do anything to forget the past. Marco Leone is the fastest street racer in the Downs. Tough, sexy, and hypnotic, he makes it impossible for Frankie to ignore him—and how he makes her feel. Romance. |
  | Something In Between (Melissa de la Cruz) Jasmine de los Santos has always done what's expected of her. Pretty and popular, she's studied hard, made her Filipino immigrant parents proud and is ready to reap the rewards in the form of a full college scholarship. And then everything shatters. A national scholar award invitation compels her parents to reveal the truth: their visas expired years ago. Her entire family is illegal. That means no scholarships, maybe no college at all and the very real threat of deportation. Realistic fiction. |
  | When the Moon Was Ours (Anna-Marie McLemore) Holy smokes, this one sounds interesting! Best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable. Roses grow out of Miel’s wrist. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees. Both know to stay away from the Bonner girls, four sisters rumored to be witches. Now The Bonners want the roses that grow from Miel’s skin, convinced that their scent can make anyone fall in love. Magical realism, GLBT (transgender). |
  | Aerie (Maria Dahvana Headley) Sequel to: Magonia. Aza Ray is back on earth. Her boyfriend Jason is overjoyed. Her family is healed. She’s living a normal life, or as normal as it can be if you’ve spent the past year dying, waking up on a sky ship, and discovering that your song can change the world. As in, not normal. Part of Aza still yearns for the clouds, no matter how much she loves the people on the ground. Fantasy. |
  | Everyone We've Been (Sarah Everett) Addison Sullivan has been in an accident. In its aftermath, she has memory lapses and starts talking to a boy that no one else can see. It gets so bad that she’s worried she’s going crazy. Realistic fiction, mystery. |
  | Blood, Bullets, and Bones: The Story of Forensic Science From Sherlock Holmes to DNA (Bridget Heos) Uses real-life cases to tell the fascinating history of modern forensic science, from the first test for arsenic poisoning to fingerprinting, firearm and blood spatter analysis, DNA evidence, and all the important milestones in between. Narrative nonfiction, forensic science. |
  | This Adventure Ends (Emma Mills) Sloane isn't expecting to fall in with a group of friends when she moves from New York to Florida—especially not a group of friends so intense, so in love, so all-consuming. Yet that's exactly what happens. Romance. |
  | Spare and Found Parts (Sarah Maria Griffin) In a city devastated by an epidemic, where survivors are all missing parts—an arm, a leg, an eye—her father is the famed scientist who created the biomechanical limbs everyone now uses. But Nell is the only one whose mechanical piece is on the inside: her heart. Since the childhood operation, she has ticked. Like a clock, like a bomb. Science fiction. |
  | Secrets in the Snow (Michaela MacColl) Jane Austen's family is eager to secure her future by marrying her off. But Jane is much more interested in writing her novels, and finds every suitor lacking—until the mysterious Mr. Lefroy arrives. Could he be the one? Retelling, romance. |
  | Transcendent (Katelyn Detweiler) When terrorists bomb Disney World, seventeen-year-old Iris Spero is as horrified as anyone else. Then a stranger shows up on her stoop in Brooklyn, revealing a secret about the mysterious circumstances surrounding Iris’s birth, and throwing her entire identity into question. Dystopia. |
MIDDLE GRADES (grades 5-8):
  | Ashes (Laurie Halse Anderson) Seeds of America, book 3. As the Revolutionary War rages on, Isabel and Curzon have narrowly escaped Valley Forge—but their relief is short-lived. Before long they are reported as runaways, and the awful Bellingham is determined to track them down. With purpose and faith, Isabel and Curzon march on, fiercely determined to find Isabel’s little sister Ruth, who is enslaved in a Southern state—where bounty hunters are thick as flies. Historical fiction. |
  | Gertie's Leap to Greatness (Kate Beasley, Jillian Tamaki) When her absent mother decides to move away from their small town, Gertie sets out on her greatest mission yet: becoming the best fifth grader in the universe to show her mother exactly what she'll be leaving behind. Jillian Tamaki is also the illustrator of 2015 Caldecott Honor winner This One Summer. Realistic fiction, absent parent. |
  | The Doorway and the Deep (K.E. Ormsbee) Sequel to: The Water and the Wild (which happens to be $1.99 on Kindle right now!). Even after escaping from the Southerly Kingdom, Lottie Fiske and her friend Eliot have returned to the magical Albion Isle, despite the fact that she is a wanted criminal there. Lottie seeks answers about her abilities and her parents--but war is threatening Limn, and the answers she needs seem to lie in the Northerly Kingdom, along a road full of dangers. Fantasy. |
  | The Hammer of Thor (Rick Riordan) Sequel to: The Sword of Summer. Thor's hammer is missing again. The thunder god has a disturbing habit of misplacing his weapon--the mightiest force in the Nine Worlds. But this time the hammer isn't just lost, it has fallen into enemy hands. Mythology, fantasy. |
  | Impyrium (Henry Neff) Impyrium, book 1. Two unlikely allies—the Faeregine princess Hazel and the servant boy Hob—confront a conspiracy that will shake the world of Impyrium to its core. Fantasy. |
  | When the Sea Turned to Silver (Grace Lin) I read Grace Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon with my then-8-year old son. He LOVED it! We will most definitely read this one together as well. Pinmei's gentle, loving grandmother always has the most exciting tales for her granddaughter and the other villagers. However, the peace is shattered one night when soldiers of the Emperor arrive and kidnap the storyteller. Set in China against a backdrop of rich storytelling and full-color illustrations. Adventure, Chinese culture. |
  | Stick Dog Slurps Spaghetti (Tom Watson, Ethan Long) Stick Dog, book 6. This series is great for fans of Big Nate and Captain Underpants. Stick Dog and his gang of hungry hounds want to play tug-of-war. Their search for rope leads to something even better—spaghetti! Once they get a taste, they must get some more. Humor. |
  | Rebel Genius (Michael Dante DiMartino) Twelve-year old protagonists are difficult to classify between YA and MG. I went with MG on this one because I think many 5th graders who love Percy Jackson and Harry Potter will really enjoy this book. Also, the author is one-half of the duo that created the Avatar series, and the book has lots of illustrations to break up the text. In twelve-year-old Giacomo's Renaissance-inspired world, art is powerful, dangerous, and outlawed. Every artist possesses a Genius, a birdlike creature that is the living embodiment of an artist's creative spirit. Those caught with one face a punishment akin to death, so when Giacomo discovers he has a Genius, he knows he's in serious trouble. Action-adventure, art. |
  | A Tale of Camelot (Julie Leung, Lindsey Carr) Mice of the Round Table, book 1. Young mouse Calib Christopher dreams of the day when he will become a Knight of Camelot like his father and grandfather before him. For generations, Calib’s family has lived among the mice that dwell beneath the human Knights of the Round Table, defending the castle they all call home. Calib just hopes he will be able to live up to the Christopher name. Pair with A Tale of Despereaux or Redwall. Animal fantasy. |
  | Foxheart (Claire Legrand, Jamie Zollars) Twelve-year-old Quicksilver dreams of becoming the greatest thief in the Star Lands. With her faithful dog and partner-in-crime Fox, she’s well on her way—even if that constantly lands them both in trouble. She's lonely, but at least no one can abandon her. But the seemingly peaceful Star Lands are full of danger. Witches still exist—although the powerful Wolf King and his seven wolves have been hunting them for years. Fantasy. |
EARLY CHAPTER BOOKS (grades 1-4)
  | Skunked (Jacqueline Kelly, Teagan White, Jennifer Meyer) When soft-hearted Travis discovers an abandoned baby skunk, he can't help but bring him home and take care of him. Stinky, as Travis names him, settles in pretty well. But when Travis discovers Stinky's litter-mate, Winky, who is in need of some help, things get complicated around the Tate house. Set in 1901. Historical fiction. |
PICTURE BOOKS (all ages):
  | The Liszts (Kyo Maclear, Júlia Sardà) The Liszts make lists. They make lists most usual and lists most unusual. They make lists in winter, spring, summer and fall. They make lists every day except Sundays, which are listless. Mama Liszt, Papa Liszt, Winifred, Edward, Frederick and Grandpa make lists all day long. So does their cat. Then one day a visitor arrives. He's not on anyone's list. Will the Liszts be able to make room on their lists for this new visitor? Buy it for the gorgeous illustrations and the puns. |
  | The Pruwahaha Monster (Jean-Paul Mulders, Jacques Maes, Lise Braekers) A five-year-old boy has gone with his father to swing on his favorite swing near the woods. But while he's been having fun swinging, a huuuuuge monster has woken up nearby from a very long nap. The monster is ravenous, and there's only one thing that will satisfy its hunger: little children! |
  | Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes (James Dean, Kimberly Dean) Pete the Cat and his friends are busy as can be baking cupcakes for a cupcake party, and Pete can’t wait to perform with his groovy band. But some of the cupcakes have gone missing. Who could have taken them? |
  | The Magic Word (Mac Barnett, Elise Parsley) When Paxton C. Heymeyer’s babysitter tells him to say the magic word, she could never have imagined that what would happen next would be a walrus chasing her, an elephant in the living room playing cards, and a full water park and moat in the front yard. And that’s just the beginning… |
  | Bunny Slopes (Claudia Rueda) Time to tackle the bunny slope! Shake to help Bunny make it snow, tilt to help Bunny ski down the slope, and turn to help Bunny escape a cliff in his path. Is there any obstacle Bunny can't conquer? |
  | A Bike Like Sergio's (Maribeth Boelts, Noah Z. Jones) Ruben feels like he is the only kid without a bike. His friend Sergio reminds him that his birthday is coming, but Ruben knows that the kinds of birthday gifts he and Sergio receive are not the same. After all, when Ruben’s mom sends him to Sonny’s corner store for groceries, sometimes she doesn’t have enough money for everything on the list. So when Ruben sees a dollar bill fall out of someone’s purse, he picks it up and puts it in his pocket. But when he gets home, he discovers it’s not one dollar or even five or ten—it’s a hundred-dollar bill, more than enough for a new bike just like Sergio’s! But what about the crossed-off groceries? And what about the woman who lost her money? |
  | A Is For Angry: An Animal and Adjective Alphabet (Sandra Boynton) "Because you can't stand another apple, ball, or cup," Sandra Boynton presents an alphabet book of animals and adjectives. An Angry Animal Assortment Along an Arrow starts off the whimsy as a Big Bashful Bear, a Cute Clean Cat, a Tangled Turkey, a Wide Walrus, a Yellow Yak, and others in between romp through the letters A-Z. |
  | Metropolis (Benoit Tardif) Translated from French. Metropolis explores the sights, sounds, and tastes of 34 of the greatest cities on earth. |