Category: The Kids Are All Right

New from award-winning author Andrea Wang comes the story of how a class of ESL students bond over the shared language of tea. I love Hyewon Yum’s cheerful illustrations, especially the teacups featured in the end papers.

The Charlie Thorne series continues in this third book by prolific author and fantastic and hilarious human Stuart Gibbs. After tracking down incredible discoveries by Einstein and Darwin, Charlie the genius is back. This time, the great ruler Cleopatra has left behind an extremely valuable and powerful treasure, its location encoded on an ancient stone tablet. Can Charlie solve the two-thousand-year-old mystery to prevent the most powerful treasure of the ancient world from falling into the wrong hands?

Jae has just moved into a new country and a new apartment building, and he’s nervous about making friends, especially since he doesn’t speak the language. However, Rosa soon befriends him and teaches him to use his imagination to find home. He uses what she taught him to make new friends when she leaves suddenly and without warning. This is a lovely picture book based on the author’s childhood experiences.

Set in Mexico City, a little girl and her dog hear all sorts of city sounds on their way to the girl’s mother’s florería every morning, and those sounds form into a song. When an earthquake strikes, the city’s song at first falls silent, then changes as people begin to help one another. The girl wonders if she can find a way to help and join the city’s song when she finds the baker’s dog all alone and helps reunite them. This is a super fun, rhythmic read-aloud interspersed with Spanish.

This wonderful collection of short stories for middle grade readers takes place as children all over the world turn 11. These kids are all embarking on different journeys as they step out into the world and learn that people and life are much more complicated than they once seemed.

It’s Max’s first year of middle school and eighth-grade bully Johnny Pro torments Max relentlessly. In desperation, Max writes to imprisoned supervillain Master Plan, a “gentleman of size.” With Master Plan’s help, Max gets even with Johnny Pro… but is there a price to pay for getting help from a supervillain?

In this beautiful picture book, a grandmother takes time to wonder with her granddaughters as they look over their collection of rocks, crystals, seashells, and meteorites to see what marvels they have to show.

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For Pride Month, I wanted to highlight two queer new releases that I love. On Waikiki Beach, the māhū — third-gender people in Native Hawaiian and Tahitian cultures — left four stones that transfer healing powers, according to Native Hawaiin legend. This picture book tells of that exchange and is the first picture book published in both English and Olelo Niihau, the only form of Hawaiian that has been continuously spoken since before the arrival of foreigners. It’s gorgeously illustrated and based on a short animated film!

Alex Gino (author of Melissa and George) is back with another delightfully queer middle grade novel. Sam, who is nonbinary, is working on a school project highlighting an important local figure. They’re working on the project with their best friend, TJ, who is also nonbinary. Their teacher will nominate his favorite project to a committee choosing who the next Staten Island statue will commemorate. Sam and TJ decide to write their report on Alice Austen, a Staten Island queer photographer, but can they convince their homophobic teacher to take a queer woman’s history seriously? Sadly we all know the answer to this, but that doesn’t mean Alex and TJ are going to give up on their project.

I love Jess Keating’s wonderful nonfiction books featuring weird animals. In this nonfiction picture book, Jess gathers the world’s most gigantic animals such as a moose, a cassowary, a harpy eagle, and (of course) a giant snail. This book is full of interesting and informative facts!

I adore beautiful bedtime picture books, and this one is so lovely with lyrical words and terrific illustrations that capture the love between a caregiver and a baby.

Pam Munoz Ryan is an auto-buy for me. This middle grade fantasy features a soon-to-be princess named Solimar who encounters monarch butterfly magic and a greedy king prepared to do anything to overtake her kingdom.

This novel-in-verse is set in 1947 California, where homesick Oriol, grieving the loss of her grandmother, begins writing poetry to cope. Along the way, Oriol begins a petition to save a baby elephant that’s been separated from her mother and twin.

In this prequel to the School for Good and Evil series, two brothers (one good and one evil) are the ones who watch over the woods and choose students for the school—until something happens that throws everything into question.

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I loved this middle grade book by Lisa Yee. When Maizy and her mom leave their home in Los Angeles to head to Last Chance, Minnesota to spend time with Maizy’s ailing grandfather, Maizy works in the family restaurant and learns more than she could imagine about her family history.

In this sweet middle grade story, Miosotis is much more excited about fostering dogs than doing schoolwork. But her papi wants her to excel at school, so he strikes a deal: if Miosotis improves her grades in two classes, she can adopt a dog of her own in the summer.

This counting picture book features a young girl and her uncle as they travel ten blocks through Chinatown and encounter various scenes along the way: one giant panda ride, two lion statues, three swimming turtles, four bonsai trees, five tai chi practitioners… Chinatown in New York City is one of my favorite places, and I loved seeing a picture book set in a Chinatown!

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This is the companion to King of Kindergarten, this one focused on MJ, who brings herself and her tiara to the first day of school.

After a too-realistic active shooter drill, Avery and Sarah are bonded in friendship. Avery’s been struggling after a medical diagnosis has her fearing her independent life is over and coping with insensitive comments from people around her. Meanwhile Sarah’s been having panic attacks her parents insist can be cured by prayer. After the drill, Avery and Sarah lean on one another and discover their strength.

I love this collection of books by author Hena Khan and illustrator Mehrdokht Amini which celebrates the many diverse traditions of the Muslim world. Their previous book collaborations include Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns and Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets. This one focuses on counting and numbers.

This sweet picture book story is set in Juna’s father’s dry cleaning store where Juna helps every Saturday. When an expensive jacket goes missing, Juna tries to help her father locate it and ends up embarking on fantastical adventures along the way. I found the watercolor illustrations beautifully reminiscent of picture books I loved growing up.

This sequel to the Newbery Honor Winner Wolf Hollow follows life after the tragic events set in motion by bully Betty Glengarry. When searching for her brother’s missing dog, Annabelle is reunited with Andy Woodberry, who was complicit in Betty’s most terrible acts. This coming of age story is all about learning that life is always more complicated than it seems.

In this illustrated middle grade, Maggie’s feeling left out as all of her friends and classmates start to find their passions. Looking for her own, Maggie decides to join every club she can but soon learns juggling her school work, friends, and a long list of extracurriculars is harder than it seems.