From Maggie Stiefvater, author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes The Raven Boys, a YA love story that avoids the recent dystopian phenomena. While the characters aren’t living in a post-apocalyptic world, Blue Sargent can’t exactly call her family normal. Raised in a family of clairvoyants, the first line of the prologue foreshadows a key element of this novel- “Blue Sargent had forgotten how many times she’d been told that she would kill her true love.”

Blue only enhances her family’s magic, but it’s not until she is forced in the path of four Aglionby boys, members of a rich & elite local school, that she realizes her power may be greater than she thinks. These boys are on a fantastical quest on their own, but when Blue sees a spirit of Gansey, the leader of their group on a “soon-to-be dead” walk on St. Marks Eve, chaos ensues. Each character in this book is dramatically drawn, and you can’t help to read and figure out if their fates will pan out…

Can seeing the future ultimately change it?

From Maggie Stiefvater, author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes The Raven Boys, a YA love story that avoids the recent dystopian phenomena. While the characters aren’t living in a post-apocalyptic world, Blue Sargent can’t exactly call her family normal. Raised in a family of clairvoyants, the first line of the prologue foreshadows a key element of this novel- “Blue Sargent had forgotten how many times she’d been told that she would kill her true love.”

Blue only enhances her family’s magic, but it’s not until she is forced in the path of four Aglionby boys, members of a rich & elite local school, that she realizes her power may be greater than she thinks. These boys are on a fantastical quest on their own, but when Blue sees a spirit of Gansey, the leader of their group on a “soon-to-be dead” walk on St. Marks Eve, chaos ensues. Each character in this book is dramatically drawn, and you can’t help to read and figure out if their fates will pan out…

Can seeing the future ultimately change it?

We all know the drill. One tiny, towheaded tyrant systematically wreaks havoc on the home of a family of bears, leaving a trail of upended porridges, splintered chairs, and lumpy comforters in her wake. Enter James Marshall, and the rote story gets uncommonly funny. “I don’t mind if I do” is the refrain of this Goldilocks as she breezes past one hilarious visual cue after another on her spree, oblivious to the fact that she is, in fact, in a den of bears. A favorite page pictures a smug Goldie in baby bear’s bed, comforter pulled to her chin with those marvelous Marshallian sausage fingers, as crayon-drawn portraits of the furry family look on. This 1989 Caldecott Honor Book gets the art of retelling just right.

We all know the drill. One tiny, towheaded tyrant systematically wreaks havoc on the home of a family of bears, leaving a trail of upended porridges, splintered chairs, and lumpy comforters in her wake. Enter James Marshall, and the rote story gets uncommonly funny. “I don’t mind if I do” is the refrain of this Goldilocks as she breezes past one hilarious visual cue after another on her spree, oblivious to the fact that she is, in fact, in a den of bears. A favorite page pictures a smug Goldie in baby bear’s bed, comforter pulled to her chin with those marvelous Marshallian sausage fingers, as crayon-drawn portraits of the furry family look on. This 1989 Caldecott Honor Book gets the art of retelling just right.

Fans of dystopian teen fiction, think back to your first experience with the horror and wonder of a dystopian world. Was it Lois Lowry’s The Giver? Good news: the fourth installment in Lowry’s series about a dystopian future, Son, releases this October, and it doesn’t disappoint. Lowry’s clean writing and compelling characters are as classic as ever, and fans will enjoy meeting Claire, a young girl whose path intersects with many familiar characters from the first three books. Lowry expertly weaves together themes of love, loss, motherhood, and the classic struggle between the good and evil parts of oneself in this final book of the quartet. One caveat: if you haven’t reread the earlier books recently, it might be worth doing so; subtleties of Son may be lost in the reading otherwise.

Fans of dystopian teen fiction, think back to your first experience with the horror and wonder of a dystopian world. Was it Lois Lowry’s The Giver? Good news: the fourth installment in Lowry’s series about a dystopian future, Son, releases this October, and it doesn’t disappoint. Lowry’s clean writing and compelling characters are as classic as ever, and fans will enjoy meeting Claire, a young girl whose path intersects with many familiar characters from the first three books. Lowry expertly weaves together themes of love, loss, motherhood, and the classic struggle between the good and evil parts of oneself in this final book of the quartet. One caveat: if you haven’t reread the earlier books recently, it might be worth doing so; subtleties of Son may be lost in the reading otherwise.

This illustrated novel, W.H. Beck’s debut, was featured on the middle-grade editors buzz panel at BEA this year, and I got lucky enough to snag an ARC. Malcolm at Midnight is a classic “miniature world” book like Abel’s Island or The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and our hero is a rat. Yes, a rat.

Malcolm the rat is new to being a class pet and has much to learn, especially about joining the Midnight Academy, a secret society of pets that runs his new school. As he soon realizes, all is not well at McKenna Elementary: pets disappear, villains lurk in the shadows, and no one can be trusted—especially not Malcolm, as the Midnight Academy collectively thinks all rats are “skuzzy.” But to unravel all the mysteries, Malcolm will need to become his best rat self.

It’s a compelling narrative with an inspiring message, and the package is perfect for middle-grade readers, with black-and-white interior illustrations by Brian Lies (whose animals have beautifully expressive faces). But Malcolm at Midnight really stands out because of its wry narrative voice, replete with footnotes* and humorous asides. The many secrets, including the narrator’s identity, are revealed at the very end with a lovely sense of “a-ha! Of course!”
All the elements of a classic told in a fresh way—charming, funny, and sure to appeal to all.
*Yes, footnotes.

This illustrated novel, W.H. Beck’s debut, was featured on the middle-grade editors buzz panel at BEA this year, and I got lucky enough to snag an ARC. Malcolm at Midnight is a classic “miniature world” book like Abel’s Island or The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and our hero is a rat. Yes, a rat.

Malcolm the rat is new to being a class pet and has much to learn, especially about joining the Midnight Academy, a secret society of pets that runs his new school. As he soon realizes, all is not well at McKenna Elementary: pets disappear, villains lurk in the shadows, and no one can be trusted—especially not Malcolm, as the Midnight Academy collectively thinks all rats are “skuzzy.” But to unravel all the mysteries, Malcolm will need to become his best rat self.

It’s a compelling narrative with an inspiring message, and the package is perfect for middle-grade readers, with black-and-white interior illustrations by Brian Lies (whose animals have beautifully expressive faces). But Malcolm at Midnight really stands out because of its wry narrative voice, replete with footnotes* and humorous asides. The many secrets, including the narrator’s identity, are revealed at the very end with a lovely sense of “a-ha! Of course!”
All the elements of a classic told in a fresh way—charming, funny, and sure to appeal to all.
*Yes, footnotes.