Who Ate What? A Historical Guessing Game for Food Lovers written by Rachel Levin, illustrated by Natalia Rojas Castro. This is a journey across time through a shared human pastime: making and eating food. If you’ve ever wondered what pirates ate (eggs, hardtack), or how the Aztecs feasted (on cacti and chocolate), or what an ancient Egyptian meal might have included (hippos!), this book has a fascinating array of answers. Readers of all ages will enjoy pouring over the facts and pictures! (Non-Fiction)

written by David Obuchowski and illustrated by Sarah Pedry is the answer to the question: Where do birds go at night? The stunning illustrations accompany fascinating facts about birds all over the world and how they spend the night, whether it’s a barn owl who stays awake and vigilant or vernal hanging parrots in Thailand, who sleep upside down from a tree branch. This is a wonderful bedtime read that will hopefully inspire more curiosity about the natural world. (Non-Fiction)

by Jon Klassen is a masterful tale that strikes a balance between spookiness and coziness, a darker story based on a folktale that still emphasizes the warmth of friendship. The story is about Otilla, a young girl who is running away from home when she gets lost in a deep dark forest and finds an abandoned house with only one occupant: a talking skull. Surprisingly, Otilla and the skull strike up a wonderful friendship, as she helps the skull do things that he normally can’t do without a body, like dancing a waltz or drinking tea by the fire. But when the skull tells Otilla that he is being chased by a terrifying headless skeleton, she decides to use her wits and bravery to help rescue her friend. (Early Chapter Books)

The Sea of Terror by Stuart Gibbs is another hilarious adventure from the Once Upon a Tim series that weaves in elements of mythology and classic literature with a rollicking sense of humor and fun. This time, junior knights Tim, Belinda, and Ferkle are off in search of the Golden Fleece, which was stolen from the Queen of Merryland by the Kingdom of Dinkum. In order to recover the fleece, and the magical amulet it contains, the three knights have to brave a journey through the Sea of Terror. Will they survive the dangerous journey and succeed in their mission? (Early Chapter Books)

by Elaine Dimopoulous, illustrated by Doug Salati is an epic tale of friendship and bravery that reads like an instant classic. Butternut the rabbit lives in a burrow with her nine siblings and their mother, who passes down time-honored wisdom and wonderful stories from their grandmother rabbit, Sage. Butternut is a born storyteller herself and learns from her family’s stories that rabbits use their brains to survive, which often means sticking together in times of crisis. But when Butternut befriends other animals, like a cheerful, poetry-spouting robin, Piper, she begins to yearn for adventures beyond the rabbit burrow. When Butternut and Piper join forces to rescue an injured fawn, Butternut realizes she must find the courage deep within her to help her friends. The animal community depicted in the novel is utterly charming, as are the cozy illustrations. (Early Chapter Books)

Adventures in Fosterland: Super Spinach by Hannah Shaw tells the tale of a superhero kitty’s journey to her forever home. Spinach is a plucky young kitten whose malformed chest means that she needs special surgery to fasten a metal plate in her body. Spinach thinks this gives her special powers, especially when she moves to Fosterland on her way to adoption and meets her trusty sidekick, another kitten named Chickpea. Together, Spinach and Chickpea work to rescue other kittens, but will they find a forever home of their own?  (Early Chapter Books)

Yenebi’s Drive to School/El viaje de Yenebi a la escuela by Sendy Santamaria is a bilingual narration of a Latine child’s unusual drive to school. Yenebi and younger sister, Melanie, and Mami leave at 5 a.m. to begin a journey to school that takes several hours and brings them across the border from Mexico into the United States. Mami’s encouragement as the family’s car ventures through long lines of traffic at the international checkpoint shows her devotion to giving her children a better education, and Yenebi’s observant eyes take in small details along the journey. The book’s illustrations beautifully capture the border towns in both Mexico and the U.S.

100 Mighty Dragons All Named Broccoli by David LaRochelle and Lian Cho is a clever, fun book that encourages simple math practice. High atop a windy mountain, there are 100 dragons of all different shapes, sizes, and colors, but they’re all named Broccoli! As the book progresses, the dragons all meet with different adventures: taking a rocket to the moon, starting a heavy metal band in New York, playing for the Green Bay Packers, and moving to West Virginia. Each time, the reader is prompted to add or subtract how many dragons are left until, finally, there’s just one dragon remaining…although not for long!

The Brilliant Ms. Bangle written by Cara Devins, illustrated by K-Fai Steele. It’s a new school year and the school’s beloved librarian, Mrs. Stack, has moved away. The children are so upset about it that they “refuse, refuse, REFUSE” to read with Ms. Bangle, the brand-new librarian, during storytime. Even when she picks out a great book and tells some amazing jokes, the kids are still not convinced. Can Ms. Bangle change their minds and win them over? This is a wonderful back-to-school book about dealing with change!

Pageboy by Elliot Page is an emotional memoir about the Oscar-nominated trans actor’s coming of age, his struggles with gender dysphoria, eating disorders, and sexual assault, and finally, his transition and self-acceptance. Recounted in nonlinear, lyrical vignettes and memories, Page’s story captures the turmoil that accompanied his acclaimed career rise, first as a child actor, feeling a sense of liberation through acting, and then as a breakout star with the film “Juno” in 2007. His immediate fame trapped him, and he describes his gender dysphoria, exacerbated by Hollywood’s demands, felt like “the most uncomfortable, mortifying thing you could wear.” Page’s story also contains moments of true joy, like his first queer kiss and his mother’s love and support throughout. Page’s perspective is both intimately personal and universal, a portrait of one person’s specific pain and joy. “Let me just exist with you, happier than ever,” he writes.

The Forgotten Girls: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America by Monica Potts is a tender, personal examination of girls’ and women’s lives in rural Arkansas. Potts, a journalist, wants to answer the question of why poor white women in rural areas of the country are dying at an increasing rate. She uses her hometown of Clinton, Arkansas, to investigate, and the book also has a deeply personal connection. Potts and her childhood best friend, Darci, led very similar lives until middle school when Darci began to get involved with boys and drugs and began missing school. While Potts’s more disciplined upbringing led her to Bryn Mawr and Washington, DC, Darci’s life spiraled out of control as she slid into violent relationships, drug addiction, and homelessness. Potts shows how systemic problems–lack of healthcare access, widespread unemployment, and a failing local economy–lead someone like Darci to struggle.

Zero Days by Ruth Ware focuses on a wife trying desperately to clear herself of suspicion of murdering her husband. Jacintha Cross and Gabriel Medway were business partners as well as a married couple, running a London-based security systems company together. But, when Jacintha returns from a business assignment to find Gabriel dead in their home, she makes the crucial mistake of not calling the police immediately, therefore placing herself in the target of suspicion. To make things worse, she learns that Gabriel recently took a million-pound life insurance policy on himself and named her the beneficiary–a solid motive. While on the run, Jacintha has to try to solve the case and find the real killer before the police catch up to her.

by Rachel Koller Croft is a domestic thriller about the perfect match between a successful advertising executive and the heir to an old money fortune. Bea’s ambition and drive have driven her to the top of her corporate field, but she wants the more permanent wealth that only marriage to someone in the top one percent can bring. Collin Case, blue-blooded and wealthy, is the ideal target and she sets out to not just marry him but to gain full acceptance into his family and social circle. But Bea’s past has some secrets–and some people in Collin’s orbit may be determined to find them out.

Somebody’s Fool by Richard Russo returns to the fictional town of North Bath, New York. After the death of Russo’s beloved character, Donald “Sully” Sullivan, the protagonist of Nobody’s Fool and Everybody’s Fool, Somebody’s Fool examines the lives of the characters Sully leaves behind in the depressed community of North Bath: his son, Peter, his old flame, Ruth, and his old adversary, Police Chief Douglas Raymer. Even the dour town of North Bath itself is changing, as it’s being dissolved and absorbed into its more prosperous neighbor, Schuyler Springs. In the midst of these changes, and the shutting down of the town’s police department, Raymer finds himself involved with both his ex-girlfriend, Charice Bond, the police chief in Schuyler Springs, and a potential murderer. Fans of the trilogy will be curious to see how the series wraps up.

by Caroline O’Donoghue is a charming novel about college friendships and first love. It’s 2009 in Cork, Ireland, in the midst of the recession, and Rachel is an English literature student worried about the bleak job market as she nears the end of her university days. Meanwhile, she’s working at a bookstore, forming a close bond with her coworker and eventual roommate, James. Rachel’s life becomes more complicated when she falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne.  Her attempts to seduce him wind up entangling both her and James in the complex web of deceptions holding together Dr. Byrne’s marriage. The book is honest, funny, and heartbreaking: fans of Sally Rooney should pick it up!

by Peter Heller chronicles the life of a Yellowstone National Park ranger, Ren Hopper. Living a solitary life in a remote cabin, Ren spends most of his time-saving tourists from dangerous wild animals and going after drunk or reckless drivers. But, his job snaps into clearer focus when he begins to track a new predator: the human responsible for tracking down and killing Yellowstone’s wolf population. Things get more personal when Ren’s friend Hilly, a wolf biologist, gets caught in a trap that seems to have been set deliberately. Ren and Hilly’s investigation leads them to encounter poachers, shadowy ranchers, and a potential land grab scheme that’s turning dark.

by Mark Billingham is the first in a new series featuring the charming, acerbic British Det. Sgt. Declan Miller, whose hobbies include ballroom dancing, caring for pet rats, and talking about his cases with the ghost of his murdered wife, Alex. Just six weeks after his wife’s death, a grieving, emotionally unready Miller is back at work with his new partner, Sara Xiu, and a puzzling case involving the murder of two seemingly unrelated hotel guests, an IT consultant and the heir to an organized crime family. Could the two crimes be related? Once Miller starts delving into his network of connections, he realizes that danger might be a lot closer to home than he realized.

by Elizabeth Acevedo is a magical realist exploration of family and female bonds in particular. All her life, Flor has been blessed with the gift–or curse–of knowing exactly when and how someone will die. When she announces that she’s holding a living wake for herself, with her whole family invited, her sisters and daughter are puzzled: Has she predicted her own death? Or someone else’s? As Flor’s sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila, prepare for the wake, each must confront her own secrets.

by S.A. Cosby is a riveting tale of a small town on the verge of being blown apart by secrets and violence. After years of experience working for the FBI, Titus Crown became the first Black sheriff of Charon County, Virginia. In Crown’s small hometown, his first year as sheriff is marred by a school shooting that’s made even more horrific by the implication that the crimes may be part of a chain of abuses leveled against Black children in the community. And then, as the investigation dredges up more crimes and terrible secrets, evidence of a serial killer emerges, whose killings are creepily steeped in religious iconography. In a small town haunted by its history, Crown can trust no one.

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf is a historical novel set during the race riots of May 13, 1969, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that led to violence between Chinese and Malay factions. Sixteen-year-old Melati is dealing with obsessive-compulsive disorder, which she conceptualizes as a djinn who has taken over her consciousness and will make horrible things happen if she doesn’t assuage it with her compulsive behavior. When the riots start, Melati, who is of Malay descent, is separated from both her mother and her best friend and rescued by Auntie Bee, a stranger who is Chinese, and whose son, Vince, becomes Melati’s biggest ally in looking for her mother. The book is riveting and shows how Melati must face her own internal djinn as well as the violence of the outside world. (Young Adult Books)

by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner with Carlyn Greenwald is a queer teen romance described as “Heartstopper meets Friday Night Lights”. Barclay is a high school basketball star who chooses a momentous time to come out to his school: on his 16th birthday, during his captain’s speech at the school pep rally. He expects to be met with supportive cheers, but his declaration is met with an awful silence that leads to Barclay being ostracized and excluded by his teammates. So he quits basketball and joins the school newspaper instead, where he’s fired up to report on the hypocrisy and corruption he sees in his local community–and where he meets Christopher, who is smart, handsome, and full of opinions. (Young Adult Books)

Forever is Now by Mariama J. Lockington focuses on the way that one teen deals with her anxiety. Sadie is managing her generalized anxiety disorder enough to take on an exciting internship at a local creative writing center for the summer. But then her girlfriend, the one person who really made her feel safe, dumps her, and moments later both teens witness an act of violent, racist brutality on the street. Sadie’s anxiety is triggered into overdrive and she has to figure out how she can exist in her own body again. Sadie’s narration conveys her thoughts while snippets of her social media posts show the support building around her so that, even as she’s mostly confined to the house through the book, Lockington conveys a real sense of community. (Young Adult Books)

The Witch of Woodland by Laurel Snyder is a quirky, authentic exploration of the awkwardness and magic of being thirteen. Zipporah Chava McConnell, or Zippy, is preparing for her bat mitzvah and exploring Judaism for the first time since her parents aren’t particularly religious. But what Zippy really feels passionate about is witchcraft: she collects all kinds of witchy artifacts like black candles and tries out spells. As she studies the Torah, the Hebrew letters she’s learning start to feel as exciting and magical as witchcraft, a kind of spell in themselves. And then, to her surprise, Zippy accidentally summons a magical winged being. Could it be an angel or a witch? Why can Zippy suddenly read Hebrew overnight? Zippy’s journey to find and define herself will resonate honestly. (Middle-Grade Books)

by James Patterson and Keir Graff is the first in a planned series about twelve-year-old Minerva, a budding sleuth in Chicago whose powers of deduction and knack for being in the right place at the right time often put her a few steps ahead of the cops in solving crimes. When Minerva’s mathematician father travels to Melbourne on business, leaving her and her accident-prone younger brother, Heck, with an absent-minded relative, mischief is inevitable. But when Minerva’s neighbor is poisoned and falls dead while playing chess with her, Minerva herself becomes a suspect and has to launch into an investigation, with the help of Heck and her classmate Santos, to prove her innocence. This mystery’s charm comes from eccentric characters, slapstick antics, and goofy humor. (Middle-Grade Books)

The Golden Swift by Lev Grossman follows The Silver Arrow in a series of books about the magical train that rescues animals in danger. Kate and her brother, Tom, were given the locomotive by their rich uncle, Herbert, with the mission to help struggling animals whose natural habitats were crumbling or disappearing around them. But now, Uncle Herbert is missing, Tom seems more interested in learning martial arts than in helping her with the train, and even the Silver Arrows’ heroic efforts to help the environment fall out from climate change don’t seem to be enough. But then, she meets Jag, conductor of another mythical train, the Golden Swift, who feels that just rescuing the animals isn’t enough and wants to take even more drastic action. Kate feels inspired but soon learns that the consequences of actions aren’t always straightforward. (Middle-Grade Books)

by R.L. Toalson is about a precocious tween who adopts a summer plan to impress her dad. Twelve-year-old Victoria hadn’t seen her father in two years when he left her mom and it was revealed that he had a second family, “The Replacements”. In order to win him back, she thinks, she’s got to impress him with her wit and maturity, by reading grown-up books, and by always being cheerful. But she’s quickly reminded how domineering and difficult to please her dad really is and is hurt by the way he clearly seems to prefer her brother just because he’s a boy. Matters only get worse when she gets her first period and has to deal with it on her own. Can Victoria salvage her summer and stay true to herself? (Middle-Grade Books)

by Ariel Bernstein, illustrated by Marc Rosenthal, is all about taking on new challenges! Two friends, Cat and Duck, are excited to discover a new slide at their favorite playground. Duck wants to go down it right away, but Cat isn’t so sure and tries to stall. What both of them discover is that sometimes friendship and encouragement are just what you need to find the courage to try something new.

by Jack Wong captures the magic and excitement of swimming. An adult accompanies a child on each page, narrating the freedom, sense of adventure, and reassurance that come with learning how to be safe in the water. “When you can swim,/ first I’ll take you to the ocean//… to receive the water’s welcome.” Wong combines beautiful illustrations of light and water with lyrical text to give the reader the feeling of floating. A great book for summer!

by Emily Gravett is a whimsical counting book that shows cats getting into some very silly situations! Gravett’s adorable illustrations show the ten cats of the title dipping their paws into different colored paints, hiding, playing, and rolling around on the pages, just as real cats like to do! This is a fun read-aloud book with small details in each picture that little readers will enjoy pouring over.

by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Lisa Congdon is a brightly illustrated book that celebrates the sights, sounds, and experience of rain. It shows how the birds, trees, and squirrels know the rain is coming long before it begins. It shows children on the playground hurrying home with umbrellas and rain boots, and cats who know by their whiskers that rain is coming. And, when the rain does start to fall, it shows how excited the ducks are to splash around in the “wonderful, free rain”

by Andrea Cáceres is a sweet book about a young girl’s experience navigating two languages, English and Spanish. After moving to the United States, Aurora is trying to learn English. To help, she puts post-it notes all over the house with both the English and Spanish words for each item: shoes (zapatos), lamp (lámpara). But Aurora’s dog, Nena, will only respond to words in Spanish. Some funny moments ensue as Aurora tries to include Nena in her English lessons! But, even as Aurora and Nena are trying to learn English, they also discover that many new friends they encounter know Spanish as well!

by Helen Yoon is a cute story about a child with an unusual friend: an invisible dinosaur. Sadly, this dinosaur is lost! He got muddy, went for a bath, and now the child can no longer find him. The child tries to lure him back by making his favorite food (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, of course), and putting up “Lost” posters, although since the dinosaur is invisible, the picture on the poster is blank! Readers will chuckle at the visual comedy of the invisible dinosaur and be won over by the child’s charming ways of finding him!

by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros is a beautiful, funny story about friendship. Frank the fox and Bert the bear love playing hide and seek together, except, in Frank’s opinion, Bert isn’t very good at it. He closes his eyes, counts to ten, and finds Bert “hiding” in the most obvious places! What if Frank counts to 100? Will Bert win the game then? The end result is a lovely lesson about friendship and fairness.

by Vashti Harrison is an incredibly moving story about self-acceptance and love. The book uses the interplay of pictures and a few sparse words to tell the story of a child who doesn’t quite fit in and the way she feels when left out, the subtle shift in language where being a big kid goes from being a positive thing to something that sets her apart. Harrison’s book gives an important, beautiful lesson about the power of words.

Sweet Enough by Alison Roman is a guide to desserts that are, as Roman characterizes them, “rustic”, “carefree”, and “approachable”. They’re perfect to whip up for a picnic, a casual evening dining outside, a birthday, or even just a rainy afternoon. Highlights include her “almost one bowl” raspberry ricotta cake, or bowl of salted chocolate pudding, or cookies and cream parfait, which layers vanilla ice cream and wafer cookies into an irresistible frozen dessert. (Cookbooks)

by America’s Test Kitchen arrives just in time for your summer barbecue. It’s a definitive guide to classic grill staples and sides, like lamb kebabs, Texas-style barbecue brisket, blistered shishito peppers, grilled lettuce, and of course, burgers. But there are also some surprises as well, like a recipe for grilled French toast or smoky tomato and eggplant phyllo pie.  (Cookbooks)

by David, Grann has all the elements of a great story: a quest for treasure, a shipwreck, and a wild sequence of events that culminated in acts of either courage and heroism or mutiny and murder, depending on whose version of events you trust. In January 1742, thirty ghostly-looking survivors of the British ship The Wager washed up on the shores of Brazil with an incredible tale of survival at sea. But, six months later, three other men from The Wager also arrived in Brazil, also looking barely alive, and told a very different, much darker, version of the shipwreck. Grann pieces together the convoluted true story with expert detail and characterization. (Non-Fiction)

The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende tells the story of two refugees that, though decades and continents apart, share similar experiences. In 1938, after his father disappears during Kristallnacht, five-year-old Samuel is sent out of Nazi-occupied Austria to safety in England via a Kindertransport train, leaving his mother behind. In Arizona in 2019, seven-year-old Anita and her mother are fleeing El Salvador when they’re separated at the U.S. border. Allende traces the journey of two children with different paths to show the plight of migrants throughout history.

by Fiona Davis is a mystery set in the glamorous world of show business in 1950s New York City. Dance teacher Marion Brooks is about to settle down with her fiancé into the life of a housewife when, on an impulse, she decides to audition for the famed Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall and, incredibly, she makes the cut. But, her excitement at starting a new life in the big city is undercut by the fear inspired by a terrorist known only as the Big Apple Bomber, who has been going after New York City landmarks and has already bombed Radio City Music Hall. When he targets it again, Marion will find herself pulled into the world of criminal investigations as an intriguing psychiatrist, Peter Griggs, tries to get into the mind of a killer.

Loot by Tania James is a captivating tale involving a mechanical tiger, the looting of a sultan’s palace, and the journey one man takes to retrieve a lost artifact. In Mysore in 1794, a teenage artisan, Abbas, is recruited by Tipu Sultan to apprentice with a French clockmaker, Lucien du Leze, in order to create a remarkable object: an automaton tiger attacking a British soldier, to celebrate the return of Tipu’s sons from captivity. But, when Mysore falls into British control in 1799, Tipu Sultan’s palace is ransacked by the British, and the tiger is stolen, leaving Abbas to flee to France with Lucien and his daughter, Jehanne, where the three plot how to get the tiger back from an estate deep in the English countryside. Based on real events, Loot expertly tackles the long and thorny history of colonialism and the deep scars it leaves on history.

The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray is the second novel, following The Murder of Mr. Wickham, in which Gray fashions a romantic, cozy mystery around Jane Austen’s iconic characters. In the first book, Jonathan Darcy (son of Pride and Prejudice’s Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy) and Juliet Tilney managed to solve a crime while resisting their attraction to each other. Now, Juliet is invited to stay with her new friend, Sense and Sensibility’s Marianne Brandon, while Jonathan is visiting an old school nemesis, John Willoughby, who has remarried, moved nearby, and also has a scandalous past with Marianne. When Willoughby’s new young wife is murdered in the midst of a party, Juliet and Jonathan are thrown together once again to solve the case.

by Martin Cruz Smith finds his popular investigator, Arkady Renko, in the midst of Russia’s current war against Ukraine. Renko, always a maverick, is working for the Office of Prosecution in Russia in June 2021 when he’s asked by an acquaintance to investigate the disappearance of Karina, a young woman with ties to an anti-Putin political group. Although he’s aware of rumblings toward war within the Russian government, the search for Karina, along with troubles with his longtime lover, Tatiana, and a worrying health problem keep Renko preoccupied. When his investigation takes him to Kyiv, however, he finds that there may be more than one life in danger.

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul is a multi-generational story that unearths secrets and scandals from 1950s Hollywood. It begins with the death of Kitty Karr Tate, an elderly movie star from Hollywood’s Golden Age, who leaves her entire estate to her neighbors, the equally wealthy and famous Black St. John family. As the press buzzes with questions about why Kitty Karr’s past and her relationship with St. Johns, the book delves back into Kitty’s childhood in the segregated South and dazzling career to reveal the uglier side of sexism and prejudice in Old Hollywood. Fans of The Vanishing Half and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo should pick this up!

by Paul Doiron returns readers to another adventure with game warden Mike Bowditch and his girlfriend–now fiancée–Stacey Stevens. While they’re hosting their engagement party overlooking a picturesque lake, festivities are interrupted by what appears at first to be a hit-and-run speedboat accident. When two naked corpses emerge from the water, one with a severed arm, the “accident” takes a darker turn toward cold-blooded murder.

by Beatriz Williams dives into the drama of one eventful post-war summer. In 1946, the wealthy Peabody family is returning to their vacation home on Winthrop Island to celebrate the end of the war and the return of their son, Shep. But what really stirs things up is the visit from Olive Rainsford, the glamorous relative with tales of living in wartime Europe and a manner that hints at something mysterious, perhaps even dangerous. The Beach at Summerly combines the idyllic atmosphere of a summer vacation with the thrill of Cold War-era suspense.

by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Giovanni Rigano shows the challenges that climate change brings to communities in different parts of the world, through the eyes of children who are trying to save their homes. In a fishing village in the Bay of Bengal, 12-year-old Sami watches as rising sea levels and worsening storms make survival in his community harder. Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, 14-year-old Yuki, living in an Inuit community in Northern Canada, is trying her best to help the struggling population of growler bears, a hybrid of polar and grizzly bears whose existence is threatened by rising seas and melting Arctic ice. Told in tandem, these parallel stories warn readers about the danger of climate change by showing the impact on humans and animals that is already taking its toll. Gorgeous illustrations celebrate the beauty and ferocity of nature as the story of human connection in the face of disaster strikes an ultimately hopeful note. (Graphic Novels)

Pluto: Not a Planet? Not a Problem by Stacy McNulty, illustrated by Stevie Lewis is a wonderful introduction to Pluto! Did you know that it takes 248 years on Earth for Pluto to orbit the sun? Or that the average temperature on the distant dwarf planet is a frigid -387 degrees Fahrenheit? Readers will learn all this and more from the book, which is filled with facts and pictures that make Pluto look like the cuddly pet of the solar system. This a great read for space lovers or anyone who wants to know more about the solar system. (Non-Fiction)

by Yamile Saied Mendez is a story about the resilience and determination of its main character, 12-year-old Minerva, as she struggles with adult problems and fights for her ambitions. Minerva, her Mamá, and her two younger siblings live in a dank basement apartment that Mamá has to work two jobs to pay for. Minerva dreams of someday becoming president, but first, she’s focused on auditioning for a part in her school’s production of Peter Pan.  But then one-night Mamá doesn’t come home from her job and Minerva has to take charge of her younger siblings while worrying about what might have happened to her mother. (Chapter Books)

What My Daddy Loves by Raissa Figueroa is a sweet book about all the things a dad and his child love to do together! With a simple repetition of words– “My daddy loves…”– the book uses its rich illustrations to show the everyday activities that different dads and their kids share together. Whether it’s learning to ride a bike, making breakfast, studying, playing the guitar, or planting a garden, What My Daddy Loves shows how special these activities become when shared with loved ones.

Sugar in Milk by Thrity Umrigar, illustrated by Khoa Le is a beautiful story-within-a-story about family, immigration, and love. A young girl immigrates to New York to live with her aunt and uncle and describes her loneliness at being in a new place away from friends, family, and her beloved cats. To make her feel better, the girl’s aunt tells her an ancient tale about Persians forced to leave their home and a king in India who was reluctant to accept them. Both the historic tale and the modern story show how a gesture of friendship and a change of perspective can make a world of difference. This lovely story is accompanied by stunning illustrations that enrich the reading experience.

is a lovely, fittingly poetic book meant to inspire creativity and introduce kids to the idea of metaphor? “Begin with a question, Like an acorn waiting for spring”, the book starts, combining the lines of poetry with a gorgeous array of illustrations that mix pencil sketches and colorful collages. The book shows that poetry isn’t something difficult but can arise out of a feeling or an observation that we make every day.

by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by Matthew Rivera, is a goofy book that’s packed with scientific facts! Told from the point of view of a zombie who has just recently given up eating human brains, the book walks readers through brain functions and cool facts. For example, did you know that a sperm whale brain weighs 17 pounds (compared to a 3-pound human brain)? Or that you’re born with 86 billion neurons, which send signals to other neurons to create new pathways for learning? It’s all in this book!

by Chihiro Takeuchi is an adorable book that teaches kids to tell time while exploring the daily routines of a diverse variety of people. At different hours of the day, the book describes what people might be doing in the scene–at 7 a.m., people are baking bread, feeding the cat, and having breakfast–and asks the reader to look for a specific thing depicted in the scene, like a boy on a bicycle or a dog. The illustrations are bursting with color and detail and kids will have fun pouring over them to search for hidden clues.

ACTION, ADVENTURE, FANTASY–A Charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people in this hilarious and action-packed thrill ride critics are calling “the best movie of the year” (The Wrap). Starring Chris Pine, Michelle Rodrigues, Rege-Jean Page, and Hugh Grant.

by Anne, Glenconner is a captivating look at the life of a British aristocrat. Nonagenarian Glenconner grew up in a world of eccentricity and extraordinary privilege, expected to do her duty to her family by marrying a titled and wealthy man, Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner. Lord Glenconner owned an island in the Caribbean and hosted glamorous parties to which celebrities like Mick Jagger and David Bowie were often invited. Lady Glenconner also served as a lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, an experience which she chronicled in her first book, Lady In Waiting. But, Whatever Next also delves into the darker side of her life beneath the glitzy exterior: Glenconner’s husband was violently abusive, and she lost two of her five children to drug addiction and AIDS. Her memoir is an honest, entertaining, and poignant account. (Non-Fiction)

Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer asks an uncomfortable but important question: how can you approach the work of artists who have also been “monsters” in their personal lives? Dederer’s key example is Roman Polanski, an artist whose work she feels a deep connection to but whose past as a child rapist makes her question how she views his art. But Dederer also explores other artists who have done bad things: Woody Allen, Miles Davis, Norman Mailer, and Michael Jackson. Monsters arose out of Dederer’s well-received essay for The Paris Review and, in the book, Dederer doesn’t give easy answers to difficult questions, interrogating social norms and her own opinions with equal rigor. (Non-Fiction)