Deep Secrets

Smith, Nikki Shannon. Deep Secrets

April 21, 2026 by Scholastic Inc.

Copy provided by Edelweiss Plus

Collette lives in Greenwich Village, New York City, in 1929 with her mother, older sister Genevieve, and younger brother Antoine. Their father died in a factory accident when Collette was two, and she has always been frail. Her mother won't allow her to work, even though times are tough and the family could use the income. She is only allowed out once a week to get groceries at Walter's store. A clerk there, Claude, has captured her attention. On a weekly grocery run, Collette sees Walter crying. It turns out it would have been his brother William's 40th birthday, but he died on the Titanic in 2012. Perhaps emboldened by this personal exchange, and realizing that the store is short staffed, Collette offers to help clean and organize the store in order to pay down her mother's debt. She enjoys feeling useful, and working at the store is a timely move. The stock market crashes, and her family are concerned about their jobs. Antoine's pay is cut, and he considers leaving school. At the mother's work, all of the Negro women (the term used at the time, and also in the book) are let go. Collette is a little surprised at how vehemently her mother defends Black people, and is surprised at how people like her mother's friend, Nadine, are treated. As she continues to work at the store, she hears more and more about Walter's experiences on the Titanic. Collette has long had dreams about being saved from drowning, and these all start to make more sense. Some of her mother's obsessions, like making sure she and her siblings stay out of the sun, also are easier to understand when family secrets are revealed. Eventually Collette's disobedience is found out, but life improves for the family.
Strengths: There are some great twists in this that I don't want to spoil because they are very clever and make a lot of sense. Looking at both the Titanic disaster and the Great Depression was a good idea, especially with the multicultural inclusions. Hearing details from Walter was a good way to introduce them. The way Collette's poor health was treated didn't surprise me, since her treatment of complete rest all the time was fairly widespread, but it was good to see her break out on her own and get a job to help support her family. This is exactly the kind of book I would have adored in middle school. The light romance between Claude and Collette was a nice touch as well.
Weaknesses: I could have used fewer repetitions of Collette's dream, since this book is already a bit long. I could tell the major plot twists early on, but young readers won't necessarily grasp why Collette couldn't be out in the sun.
What I really think: Readers who liked Nielsen's Iceberg might find this lacking in details about the Titanic, although there are plenty. It's a book more like Haddix's Uprising or books about the Great Depression. It makes perfect sense to combine these two historical events, and I will definitely purchase this for my collection.

Life on the Moon and The Lovely Dark

Swanson, Matthew and Behr, Robbi (illus.) Life on the Moon

April 14, 2026 by Knopf Books for Young Readers 

E ARC provided by Netgalley

Leo Brightstar is going to live on the moon in the first colony with his father, a scientist, who has recently separated from Leo's mother, who will remain on earth to work in a zoo. Before he even gets settled, his father gets a message that there is a rover on the wrong side of the moon, and he has to investigate. Leo is left in their "dome", where an advanced smart speaker takes care of him. The dome gives him the rules: number one is that there is no life on the moon, and number two is not to ask questions! This is very difficult, and the dome does answer some, since Leo has many! There is a Constable, who is evil, and a Deputy, who visits Leo and tells him not to admit that his father is missing. The Deputy takes Leo to school, where Leo is reminded by his teacher Ms. Dulcet that children should not ask questions. Leo meets Bobby, and witnesses a large green bug, which is cleaned up by a space Roomba. Eventually, he steals a rover to go search for his father, and gets drawn into an odd world with space creatures. Bobby follows him out, which is great when Leo crashes the rover, but Bobby is eaten by a Hortle! Leo meets friendlier creatures, the Valrooten, the leader of which he names Mitchell. When Mitchell is eaten by a Hortle on his 100th birthday, Leo is sad, but the Valrooten all share a common hive mind, so he consoles himself by talking to Mitchell 2. Eventually, Leo locates Bobby, his father, and his father's friend Sally in a Hortle hairball, but decides that the colony government should not be trying to hide or kill the native species and vows to fight for them, and sends Bobby back to earth with a message. 

Strengths: I love the illustrations, and the way that the text is woven around them. The idea of living on the moon is always intriguing, and this has some more space adventure, rather like Bradford's Lunar, Landers' Blastaway or Swiedler's In the Red. The space creatures are a little goofy, but the message about saving indigenous creatures is a timely one. Bonus points for having Leo's parents separated instead of dead. 
Weaknesses: Like Swanson and Behr's Ben Yokoyama and the Cookie of Destiny, this book got a bit goofy. Even though Leo is supposedly 12, he seems much younger, and even with the illustrations, 320 pages is a long book for elementary students. I also found the ending confusing. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for reader who liked Lubar's Emperor of the Universe series, Barnett's The Two-Headed Chicken, or Angleberger's The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza. 

Fox, Matthew. The Lovely Dark

April 21, 2026 by Union Square Kids

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Eleanor lost her grandmother in the first wave of the COVID pandemic. She saw her ghost briefly right after her death, but hasn't seen her since, even though that would be a welcome occurrence. Her father is a history teacher in their Croyden neighborhood, where Ellie likes to hang out with her neighbor and best friend Justin. After Ellie recuperates from a bad round of flu, her parents tell her that her mother is expecting. Riding on the trains, Ellie and Justin both see children who look exactly like them, which is worrying, since Ellie's grandmother told her to watch out for "fetches". On a school field trip to see some Roman mosaics, there is a flood in the area, and Ellie and Justin both drown. They've recently heard the story of the Underworld and Orpheus and Eurydice, and after traveling on the river Styx, they find themselves trapped there. Ellie really wants to get back home to meet her new brother, but will she and Justin be stuck there?

 
My daughter Eleanor lost both of her grandmothers in the pandemic, so this is certainly a true to life premise. The use of mythology is interesting, and readers who liked DeStefano's The Girl with the Ghost Machine, Edge's The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, or Shusterman's Skinjackers series will enjoy this book. 

MMGM- Double Crossed and Anna-Jane and the Infinite Summer

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

Barone, Rebecca E.F. Double Crossed: The WWII Spies Who Saved D-Day

April 28, 2026 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

If you have avid readers of World War II narrative nonfiction, this is the book they need! It's a cross between Seiple's Nazi Saboteurs: Hitler's Secret Attack on America and Janeczko's Secret Soldiers: How the U.S. Twenty-Third Special Troops Fooled the Nazis (both published in 2019), but centers on Operation Bodyguard and several of the double agents that were instrumental in making it a success. Starting with a list of the many historical figures involved, Barone draws us in to the world of espionage and intrigue that existed during this time period. The thing that baffled me was how some of these agents were able to be hired by the government with absolutely no skills or background at all in intelligence work!

Two of these people, Johnny Jebsen and Duško Popov, were wealthy and looking for adventure. Juan Pujol Garcia was a poultry farmer who had a lot of trouble being accepted, and only got taken on when his wife approached the US with his "credentials". Perhaps my favorite is Lily Sergueiew, who was Russian, and was recruited by the Abwehr. She wanted to be sent to Britain so that she could be a double agent, but really wanted to take her small dog, Babs, with her. She was promised that she could, but this didn't work out, and she harbored a lot of ill will against the British when she had to leave the dog behind.

I'm not sure how it occurs to someone that it's a good idea to be a "XX agent" (double cross; this tripped me up when I read it!). The stakes are high, and the amount of lying one would have to keep straight would be enormous. Since the British had managed to crack the codes developed by the German Enigma machine, but the Germans didn't know this, there was a lot of work involving codes.

Operation Bodyguard was essentially a plan to distract the Germans from fortifying the area around Normandy ahead of the planned Allied D Day operation. The planning surrounding this was enormous. Not only were there the messages and misleading information passed by the double agents, but a vast infrastructure of fake harbors and equipment. I'd read about the soldiers parachuting into areas with gramophones and records of gunfire and talking, but even with the pictures in the book and Barone's excellent descriptions, it's hard to imagine how vast the operation was.

Of course, D Day was as successful as something that contributed to the death of so many men could be. The Nazis were turned back, and the war changed. What was interesting was how the double agents were involved, and what happened to them afterwards. Again, I was fascinated with Sergueiew. There are excerpts from her journal (which things like a horrible thing for a double agent to keep!), and she was so bitter and disenchanted with the whole experience, but kept going more or less out of spite, and because she enjoyed having the power to take down the whole operation.

While WWII is not my favorite thing to read about, (and I struggled mightily to keep all of the moving pieces of this narrative straight!) there are always students who want more information. Double Crossed is a great length, has plenty of pictures and facsimiles of things like the initial plan for Project Bodyguard, and ends with resources for additional reading. The teachers at my school are requiring that students read more narrative nonfiction, so this is a perfect book to purchase for a middle school or high school collection, along with Barone's other titles like Race to the Bottom of the Earth: Surviving Antarctica, Unbreakable: The Spies Who Cracked the Nazis' Secret Code, and Mountain of Fire: The Eruption and Survivors of Mount St. Helens. Of course, what I am really looking forward to is her Mind Not the Timid, a fictional book about the women's suffrage movement in 1917, set to potentially come out in 2027!

Classey, Paige. Anna-Jane and the Infinite Summer

E ARC provided by Netgalley 

April 28, 2026 by Random House Books for Young Readers

**Spoilers** 

In this novel in verse, Anna-Jane, who has just finished 7th grade, is excited to return to Camp Chester to be with her friend Amaya. She will miss her mother, who works as a waitress and saves up all year in order to send her to camp, and even then relies on a scholarship. Anna-Jane has brought several books with her and is keeping a journal on the advice of her language arts teacher, Ms. Zhang, who encourages her to write. Camp starts out fairly normally, with a helpful but reserved counselor, Bridget, and a cabin full of girls, including the shy Morgan. Anna-Jane is worried when she sees Bryce, who just graduated from her middle school, because she is afraid that he will tell people that she is poor. She also thinks he is rather cute. When the cabin is allowed to go to town for pizza and a movie, they realize that something is wrong. They only see four people in town, and they have spotty cell service. Anna-Jane does hear from her mother, but only a cryptic text that something is wrong and her mother is coming to get her. Back at the camp, the girls eavesdrop on the counselors, and know that something has taken out all of the internet, phone, and cable service, and people are ill. Some parents show up to retrieve their children, but Anna-Jane's mother never comes. Hayes, the director, tries to establish control, which the counselors like Rob don't like, and Nurse Collins tries to let the children know what is going on, and also takes good care of them. When a little boy, Thomas, is found in the woods, more details about the problem emerge. There is a sickness, and his parents left him alone while they went to the hospital. There is talk that it's an act of bioterrorism that has infected the food. As the summer drags on, the campers are put to work, and all supplies must be pooled. Morgan starts trying to determine what is wrong with the spiders around the camp; there's already been a dead, mutated wolf that the children found. Some counselors leave, and Anna-Jane has a falling out with Amara when she spends time with the charismatic Pooja. The children start hunting and fishing, but try to hold on to a routine schedule of camp activities. Things get worse when Thomas becomes ill and dies, and Rob talks about leaving camp and taking children with him. Bryce's sister Zoe, who is Rob's girlfriend, manages to talk him in to leaving with just her. Morgan thinks she has some insight into why the campers haven't gotten sick, but Nurse Collins collapses and sinks into a diabetic coma. Since Hayes has already abandoned the campers, things become even more dire. Luckily, Zoe shows up to let the children know that while most of the people in the US have died and things are not looking good for their relatives, there are people who have survived, and they are banding together. Amaya chooses to remain at the camp, but Anna-Jane goes with Zoe, Bryce, and Pooja with the team of survivors.
Strengths: I loved the premise of this and could totally see the 7th grade me constructing a rich fantasy of me leading all of the campers at Camp Kiwatani as we survived with Nurse Collins as the only adult. Anna-Jane and I would have made short work of the idiots Rob and Cody. One of the best parts of this was the sweet romance with Bryce; if the world is ending, a tween romance would definitely make things a little better. Bioterrorism and the concomitant disabling of the communication infrastructure would definitely be my top two ways that a dystopia would actually roll out. It makes sense that a camp would have decent food stores, and taking supplies from Thomas' neighborhood enables the group to survive without too much difficulty. There's just enough tween drama to make this realistic. Having read this, I'm a little surprise there aren't more surival type stories that start at summer camp and continue When Things Go Wrong.
Weaknesses: At the beginning of the pandemic, my daughters, who both read their fair share of dystopian titles, made the observation that they thought living in a dystopian world would involve a lot more running around setting cars on fire. The bioterrorist act was absolutely devastating, but the children in the camp were largely spared. Food was somewhat scarce, they had no winter clothing, and they were on alert for the camp to be attacked, but aside from some interpersonal conflicts, nothing exciting happened. The ending was bleak.
What I really think: The cover and title, combined with the fact that this is a novel in verse, might make this a book that needs to be hand sold. The description of the book tours it as "an ode to books, friendship, and the power of women". It's somewhat along the lines of Nelson's The Girl Who Owned a City and O'Brien's Z for Zachariah, but not as action packed as Walter's Rule of Three, Smith's The Switch, Freeman's Zap, or Philbrick's The Big Dark. Like Lettrick's camp-based Frenzy, the ending is fairly dire. The most mentioned comparison is Freeman's Alone, and that is pretty accurate.

Drones and Rayana Johnson's Giant Leap

Berne, Emma Carlson and Lopez, Sareki (illustrations).
Drones: A Graphic History (Amazing Inventions)
Copy provided by the publisher

Drones are in the news all of the time, whether they are being used in the war in Ukraine or sighted in the US near airports. Some tweens might have a drone of their own that they play with, or know of someone who uses them to take aerial footage of neighborhoods or even weddings. How did this piece of technological equipment become so popular? 

I didn't know that the Wright brothers had been approached by the military to use their planes for bombs, or that Elmer Sperry achieved unpiloted flight in 1917, but I'm not surprised. Luckily, the war ended before the Sperry Bomber could be used. Of course, in 1935 the UK military had a similar piece of equipment called the Queen Bee, which was radio controlled and could return to the base. When more of these were produced, they were called "drones" in honor of the first one. 

These drones were used for surveillance during the Vietnam War, and in the 1960s, toy companies made smaller versions for play. Both government and civilian drones kept evolving and being used more and more, and there were even competitions in 1974 for drone enthusiasts. Like many technological innovations, wars and the military contributed to many of the developments. In the early 2000s, Abraham Karem developed the Albatross drone, and eventually, the Predator. Now, drones have many uses, from monitoring weather patterns to collecting climate data. 

I have to admit that I never really thought about the history of drones, and don't really remember hearing about them until they were used in the War in Afghanistan. It was interesting to see the development of commercially available hobby drones alongside the military uses. This makes sense, much like the Postal Service using surplus Army Jeeps to deliver mail or Tang becoming popular after astronauts drank it!

Nonfiction books are a great way for young readers to learn more about the world around them. Since graphic novels are hugely popular, a series like Amazing Inventions will entice elementary and middle school students to learn about ordinary objects like skateboards, comic books, electric guitars, and even sneakers in an entertaining and accessible way. 

 

Tew, Jill. Rayana Johnson's Giant Leap

April 21, 2026 by Freedom Fire

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Rayanna is very excited to attend Galaxy Camp, but concerned about leaving her best friend, Kaya, whose father has recently passed away from cancer. Since Rayanna has very supportive parents in her mother, an accountant, and her father, a professor of paleobotany, she feels like she has to be extra attentive to her friend. She wants to be an astronautical engineer when she grows up, so she hopes the ten days at camp will help her. Rayanna struggles with anxiety, so over plans everything from her packing list to her reminders on her phone to check in with Kaya, so she's dismayed when the camp wants her to turn in her phone. Her cute counselor, Isaiah, allows her to keep the phone as long as she uses it wisely. The other campers in the Armstrong Crew include Fiona McCall, Lily Choi, and Michelle Whitaker. Rayanna would love to earn her own NASA bomber jacket, so she wants to do well in all of the competitions, and gets along with all of the girls. The boys, however, are a different matter, since Travis is not only a bit of a jerk, but wearing his older brother's jacket, which Rayanna thinks is not right. When Rayanna scans an unusually placed QR code with her phone, she gets drawn into a secret scavenger hunt, and she suspects Travis is working on it as well, which further annoys her. Camp does not go as Rayanna wants it to; she gets her period, her team loses several competitions, and Michelle is subjected to prejudice from the director of the school. Michelle is very helpful and supportive when it comes to Rayanna's period, which is especially helpful because Rayanna feels there's something odd going on with her parents when she talks to them. While she keeps in contact with Kaya, Kaya eventually gets annoyed with her friend's attempts to cheer her up when sometimes she just wants to be sad. The Armstrong Crew endures some team building exercises to help them work better together, and this helps quite a bit. Will Rayanna be able to get her jacket, make up with her best friend, figure out what's going on with her parents, and eventually find a boy who likes her?
Strengths: Rayanna is a typical thirteen year old who is anxious about a lot of things, deeply devoted to her best friend, and passionate about her interest in space. She is a good kid, but occasionally struggles with the camp rules, and is devastated when things don't go her way. I liked that there was a diverse group of kids who all had to learn to work together; there's a Travis in every group, isn't there? The story ARC concerning Rayanna's parents is very true to life. I was glad to see that Rayanna's anxiety eased up a little the more she got involved with activities. The cover is great and will immediately appeal to STEM oriented readers who have their own dreams of space (or supporting space missions from the ground, which I heartily endorse!).
Weaknesses: While it seems perfectly reasonable that Rayanna wants to find a boyfriend at camp, and even that she has a crush on Isaiah, it seemed odd that she would think about changing her last name. Aren't the days when girls would write out their names if they got married on their notebooks long past? The scavenger hunt was less exciting than I hoped it would be.
What I really think: I just realized that Kaya was the main character in Tew's Kaya Morgan's Crowning Achievement, which also involved a summer camp. Camps revolving around specialized interests seem more common than traditional outdoor summer camps, and space camp sounds really fun! This is a great book to hand to students who want a generally upbeat story, and certainly romance in books is having a bit of a comeback, at least in my library. I'm curious to see if there will be further adventures in Rayanna and Kaya's world.

Saturday Morning Cartoons- Harper Sharp: Kid Detective: (A Graphic Novel)

Williams, Jarrett. Harper Sharp: Kid Detective: (A Graphic Novel)
March 3, 2026 by Random House Graphic
E ARC provided by Netgalley 

Harper is a big fan of the Detective Kim podcast and is well known for solving mysteries at Starview Elementary school for Principal Toughcook. He carries his magnifying glass everywhere he goes, and is a keen observer. His best friend, Marcos, is very invested in the Sunset Showdown video game. Loof is the school bully who has it in for Harper ever since he stole basketball cards and got in trouble when Harper found him out. There is an Inventors' Fair in the works, and Mrs. Maple leaf is very excited about it, so when someone defaces her sign with "Beware the fair", Harper is called on to find out who did it after someone also toilet papers the gym. His sister Harlow, Grandma, and parents are all super supportive, especially when Harper is threatened to let the investigation go. After intensive investigation, Harper discovers the culprit and reveals him at the Inventors' Fair. 

This was a fun, brightly colored graphic novel with a LOT going on. Elementary school readers who like the graphic novel adaptations of Gibbs' Spy School or Springer's Enola Holmes series or Goerz's Shirley and Jamila books might want to pick this one up. I'll be curious to see if this becomes a series. 

Gibbs, Stuart and Sarkar, Anjan (Illustrator) 

Spy School Secret Service (Spy School Graphic Novels #5)

April 28, 2026 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

E ARC Provided by Edelweiss Plus

The graphic novel adaptations of this series adhere very closely to the original plots, and seem to even preserve some of the prose. I didn't reread the original, but some of the letters are reproduced, and the language seems very familiar. The illustrations are done in a particularly pleasing style, somewhere between Raina Telgemaier's work and a comic book. It's fun to see the school, as well as the locations. I'm not sure I agree with depicting Erica Hale in all black most of the time; she's a good enough spy that I feel like she would be more nuanced. I do enjoy the thumbnail sketches and descriptions of the agents.

These are not as popular in my library as the novels; there's a LOT of text. I've only bought the first two because of budget constraints, but do have additional volumes on my wish list for possible future purchases.

Guy Friday- The List

Gray, Keith. The List 
April 7, 2026 by Union Square & Co.

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
 

Jake's neighbor and best friend Denny is moving away with his mother. Before he goes, he wants to complete five items on a list he has made. The two live in a neighborhood that backs up to a golf course, but since they aren't members, they have never been allowed to go there. They hop over the fence and take some selfies; that's all Denny uses his phone for, and Jake doesn't have a phone since he lost his and his parents won't replace it. Next up is getting revenge on Mal, who pushed Denny two years ago and messed up his shoes. He and Jake take buckets of muddy water and dump them through Mal's window... only they have picked out his older brother Harry's room! The brother is furious, but Mal is happy, because his brother hits them. He helps the boys with the list. Denny also wants to relive his first kiss, so hunts down Tabby, who obliges him with another one. Tabby joins the group as they go to apologize to their teacher, Mrs. Hubler. Denny had drawn an unflattering picture of her on on the school walls and playground. When she isn't home to hear the apology, the kids decide to chalk a huge apology on her driveway. Her neighbor gather around, and Mrs. Hubler looks flabbergasted rather than angry. Denny has to return something he stole, which ends up being Jake's phone. Jake is very angry, but ends up forgiving his friend after he borrows a horse, Burdock, from a local farmer, Mr. Clem, and rides to Jake's house. While it's still sad that Denny is leaving, Jake now has Mal and Tabby to hang out with at school. 

Strengths: This is one of Barrington Stokes books for emerging readers, so is only 128 pages, and in a dyslexia friendly font. I wish there were so many more of this kind of realistic fiction books; boys having funny adventures. A lot of emerging readers struggle with fantasy or mystery books, because the stories are harder to follow, but this is laid out in a very predictable way, since Denny sets out with a list. I can see this being perfect for students who need to do a book project but struggle with longer titles. I loved that Denny's adventures leave Jake with two new friends to pick up the slack in Denny's absence. 
Weaknesses: There is a decidedly British feel to this that I loved, but which my students may not. Who knows? Maybe they will read this and start using the word "gutted". 
What I really think: Readers who felt comfortable with Maldonado's Tight but need something shorter than Ross' The Amazing Beef Squad will find this to be the perfect read. 

Flirting with Murder

Sellet, Amanda. Flirting with Murder
April 21, 2026 by Wednesday Books

ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Virginia Tillis is traveling to visit her grandmother Lainey at her retirement condo in Florida, and also to attend the funeral of their friend Claude, who was responsible for the quirky nature of the building. The pink, rococo style resident was home to a number of elderly theatrical retirees, and hosted Murder Most Fowl dinner parties (where fried chicken was served) as well as regular games of Killing Me Softly. Virginia willingly plays along, donning a vintage dress for the reading of the will. At the airport, she has met Felix, who is the grandson of another resident, and the two hit it off. Virginia is not as happy to meet Bradley, the college aged step nephew of Claude's sister Berneice. He's a little too familiar and creepy, and he and Berneice are not happy to find that Claude has left Berneice only his apartment, and not the entire building. Not only that, but his sister must stay in the apartment for three months and take care of his cat. When the unpleasant Bradley is found dead under the pool table, Virginia and Felix step in to investigate, even though it is assumed that one of Bradley's many allergies killed him. Bradley has taken some of Claude's paintings to a local thrift store, hoping to get money for them; one was painted by Felix's grandfather, and the two buy it back. Bradley's father runs a redevelopment company, which seems to be interested in the building, since it sits on a prime piece of real estate and has been attractive to other developers as well, even though Claude steadfastly refused to sell. As details emerge about Bradley's past as well as about suspicious things at Castle Claude, like a neglected garden full of poison plants, Virginia and Felix become closer as they participate in some of the residents' investigative parties, and also come closer to solving the crime. 

There are so many cozy murder mysteries for adult readers that it should be no surprise that young adult readers would like some as well. Even middle grade readers are thrilled by books like Souders' Secrets of the Broken House. What better setting than a condo filled with quirky, theatrical retirees who love putting on murder mystery parties? Virginia and Felix both wholeheartedly enjoy the older people around them, and have learned a lot about detection during the course of the many scenarios. The fact that Castle Claude might cease to exist adds a layer of anxiety to the proceedings as well. 

Bradley is a stereotypical heel, so it's hard to take his death too seriously. Berneice works against the residents in a way that makes her unsympathetic as well. There's some unexpected community in a local taxi service run by several sisters, a lawyer who doesn't have the best intentions, and a twist that will make readers who want to see justice served happy. 

Felix and Virginia have a charming new romance, and this will play well with middle school readers as well as high school ones. Recommend this to fans of young adult mysteries like Johnson's Death at Morning House, van Draanen's The Steps, or Cavalanchia's Murder Royale, or even readers who enjoy the grandfather in Ponti's Hurricane Heist and the similar residence involved in that second book of The Sherlock Society mysteries. 
 

Happy Earth Day!

A big thank you to Astra Books for Young Readers for the delightful collection of Earth Day books. I can't say I really remember the first Earth Day in 1970, but I do remember the anniversary in 1990-- and I still have my Save a Tree reusable cloth grocery bag. I've had to replace the handles, and it's a little alarming that the same bag is in the Smithsonian, but I love anything to do with recycling and being a good steward of our planet. Share these books with young readers! 

Peters, Lisa Westberg and Ridolfi, Danielle (Illustrator). 

We Can Hear Without Ears: And Other Things You Didn't Know We Plants Could Do    

April 7, 2026 by Astra Young Readers

Copy provided by the publisher

Told from the point of view of plants, this overview of the way that plants have untold talents points out some of the things plants can do. While mice roam around looking for food, but tulips are their own food factories. Sunflowers collect solar energy, and willows are water wizards! Plants and animals often face enemies like birds and animals, but do have some natural defenses like sap, warning chemicals, and thorns and spikes. There is a discussion of the titular statement; plants can sense vibrations, and have even more senses than animals do because they can't run away. Unusual plants, like Venus flytraps, that need certain nutrients have ways to lure in bugs so they can satisfy their carnivorous cravings. The plants offer a lot of convincing arguments for why they are not a "green bunch of slackers"! 

The mixed media collage illustrations are reminiscent of Leo Lionni's iconic 1967 Frederick, and there's even a little mouse sniffing a flower! Each two page spread evokes different environments, and are quite lovely. I especially enjoyed the tomatoes, as well as the clouds that occasionally have words written in them! 

The end of the book has some additional information about what nonplants can learn from flora. Paying more attention to our surroundings, relying on renewable energy, adapting, and staying connected to other life forms would benefit that world. It would have been nice to see a bibliography or list of resources, but this would make a great read aloud to start a unit on plants and lead into other research. 

Aamodt, Louise M.  and MacKay, Elly   (illustrator)A Forest Begins Anew  

May 12, 2026 by Astra Young Readers

Copy provided by the publisher

While forest fires are devastating, they are also sometimes necessary. In  nicely cadenced, rhyming verse, we follow the stages of a fire from the beginning of a blaze through the devastating aftermath and the regeneration of the area. There are all manner of people involved in manWhile the forest may look dead, there are animals who help with the regrowth by eating the plants and spreading the seeds. 

The illustrations were made by photographing three dimensional scenes drawn in ink and pencil, which gives a smoky, blurred quality to the scenes, perfect for the fire and its aftermath. It also allows the animals and people to really pop and stand out. I did enjoy the hopeful colors that were introduced as the forest was coming back to life. 

As well done as the main part of the book is, the best part of this book might be the back matter! There is extensive discussion of "Are fires good for the enviroment?", Hot Story Facts with a lot of excellent information about facets of fires, and an absolutely amazing bibliography and further reading. This is a perfect companion to Collard's 2015 Fire Birds: Valuing Natural Wildfires and Burned Forests, which is the first selection listed under additional resources! This would make an excellent read aloud for classes starting a unit on climate change or forest life cycles. 

McCloskey, Kevin. Wild About Capybaras : Toon Level 1

May 19, 2026 by TOON Books

Copy provided by the publisher

A little boy is telling his friend that he LOVES capybaras and would like one for a pet. She dissuades him, telling him that the rodent can get to be very large (150 pounds!), likes to be in the water, and prefers being around other animals. The two discuss other facts about capybaras and different rodents, so we learn that they like to eat a lot of produce, rub their scent glands on everything, are have different names around the world. In Japan, there is a television show about a capybara, and the animals are treated to hot tubs in the zoos! Later, the little boy has a capybara themed birthday party, and reveals that he has a new pet... a guinea pig, who is closely related to his favorite animal but requires less room and specialized care. 

The artwork depicts a variety of animals nicely, and there is a good use of texture in the acrylic gouache and india ink pictures. The use of eco friendly materials makes this an even more appealing book, which is even printed on recycled paper! 

It's nice to have the story framed around the idea of making a large, wild animal a pet, and the information presented certainly makes a guinea pig sound like a better choice. I appreciated that McCloskey cited the source of his information in a note in the back. My favorite part might have been the listing of different "fad" animals, although I wished that the reason for the 1972 interest in pandas had been mentioned. I like near Washington, D.C. at that time, and my class went to the National Zoo in order to see the pandas that had been given to the US by China!

Mixed Feelings

Amini, Sara and Amin, Shadia.(Illustrator) Mixed Feelings: A Graphic Novel
April 7, 2026 by Graphix
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In this graphic novel, we meet Sara. She is a 6th grader who has just moved to a different neighborhood in Houston to be closer to her father's electronics repair shop, so she is not near her best friend Monica, although they will still attend the same school. Sara's mother is from Colombia, and her father is from Iran, so the family (which includes younger siblings Davud and Mimi) speaks both Spanish and Farsi. Monica has attended a dance camp over the summer and become close to Aneliese, who calls Sara "Chapstick" and isn't really Sara's favorite person. Sara's father wants her to get involved in school activities, and she takes a shine to drama club, where she wins the role of an elf in the production of Santa's Space Jamboree. She also has to attend Persian school to reinforce her language skills, but the other students are mean and don't consider her Persian enough. She wishes they were nicer, since she is dealing with increasingly hairy legs, arms, sideburns, and even a unibrow. Her mother says she can't shave, but she does. Dealing with itchy arms and the occasional cut is something another girl in her Persian class seems to understand, but no one else seems to. Sara loves acting so much that she and her mother wait all day for an audition for a local cooking show, only to be turned away when the auditions close at 4:00 by a woman who berates Sara's mother for not speaking English. Throughout the book, Sara deals with her mixed race identity, and there will be more of her story when the sequel, Mixed Signals, releases.

This was an interesting look at the life of a tween in 1999. There are not too many cultural references, so modern readers will feel right at home. It's a bit odd that Sara's hair seems to appear suddenly, ut the only other book that addresses this issue is Wientge's Karma Khullar's Mustache. The illustrations style is similar to Gale Galligan's or Michelle Mee Nutter's, which will make this popular with readers who can't get enough brightly colored graphic novels about tweens who are anxious about their own personal identity. I will probably purchase a copy.

Could We Time Travel and The Genie Game

O'Brien, Cynthia. Could We Time Travel?
January 1, 2026 by Lerner Publications ™
Copy provided by the publisher

I love the idea of time travel so much that I usually have a time travel outfit in my closet. A longer skirt, prim blouse, wool shawl, leather boots-- something that would be acceptable in the past and maybe a bit quirky in the future. Books like Finney's Time and Again and movies like the 1980 Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour Somewhere in Time captivate me. But what is the science behind time travel, and could it really happen?

This starts with a helpful introduction to what time is, and how time is processed by the human brain. The brief overview of ways that society has measaured time includes a picture of an Aztec calendar, something my daughter replicated for a 6th grade social studies project! Readers who have consumed a lot of science fiction will appreciate the explanation of light years. 

The second chapter addresses the problems with time in space, discussing the differences in twin astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly. Albert Einstein is introduced,  but it made me sad that he didn't think people would ever be able to travel back in time. Most of my students, when polled, would rather travel back in time than into the future! 

The book is rounded out by descriptions of wormholes, Tipler's cylinder, and black holes as possible scientific phenomenon that might be able to be used for time travel. Sadly, they all have significant drawbacks. Black holes seem most promising, however, and there's a shout out to Professor Ronald Mallet and his idea to use spinning laser light to create a black hole and twist time into a loop. The burning question is this-- how many laser lights do I need, and how fast do I need to spin them? Could this be done on a playground whirl-a-round, because I have tried to time travel that way, just without the lights! 

This finishes with an important warning about not changing the past if we do time travel, as well as a glossary and index. I would have love to see a list of middle grade time travel novels included with this, since readers who enjoyed Tash's  The Queen of Ocean Parkway, Garrett's The Forgotten Summer of Seneca, Otheguy's Cousins in the  Time of Magic or O'Brien's White House Clubhouse
are always looking for more time travel books to read. 

Ifuenko, Jordan. The Genie Game (#1)
April 21, 2026 by Amulet Books

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Valentine Adesanya lives in Gloss Angeles in a world where everything is controlled by three big companies, called the Trio Trust. Her older sister, Mango (aka Vanessa) has gone to college and gotten a job, like their Nigerian parents could wanted her to, but didn't study business. She's been missing, but her parents seem to have completely forgotten about her. When Valentine gets a text to go to a boba shop, she meets the strange Gabe, who says he can grant her a wish. Valentine wishes for her sister to be here, and before she knows it, Gabe is leaving and she is held hostage by The Boba Bubble, or Bubby. She's now in thrall to GENIE, the General Employee Network of Immortal Engineers, and the only way she can be released is to grant wishes and gain points. She really wants to get back home, especially since Mango is nowhere to be found, and return to her parents even if they don't support her career goals of being a filmmaker. Instead, she is drawn into the world where she must earn points to furnish her "bottle", and to eventually be free of her contract. She works to get points, and when she reaches her 300,000 point goal, spends them on something that surprises the organization that runs the game. This ends on a cliffhanger, so there is definitely more to the story. 

Strengths: The magical world into which Valentine is thrust has lots of delightful details. It is very gamified, and at times was a bit like a magical version of the Sims games my children loved fifteen years ago, especially when Valentine is trying to furnish her bottle. It's interesting that her parents forget Mango, and even Valentine! The competition is interesting, and Valentine is very clever in using her points. It will be interesting to see what the next book in the series is like. 

Weaknesses: Like Riordan's The Lightning Thief and related books, The Genie Game has a ton of characters that pop up during Valentine's travels. While the author's note outlined her reasons for making a fun, magical world, the world has a rather sinister underlayment that took away from the fun a little bit. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Saunders' oddly dark The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop or Giles's The Last Last-Day-of-Summer.
 

MMGM- Music Everywhere

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

Wolitzer, Meg and Panek, Charlie. Found Sound

April 21, 2026 by Dutton Books for Young Readers

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Felix Frank's family spends their summers away from their cramped New York City apartment in Blissfield, Massachusetts. They swap houses with the Lees, and Felix attends a Fun in the Sun summer camp while his "genius" younger brother Miles goes to the Young Achievers of Massachusetts program at the Institute of Science. The house is much nicer, but has a problem with the basement steps this year, so they can't go down there. Older brother Dylan was a problem teen, who had altercations with Felix, and he lives on his own and rarely visits. When Felix's camp is closed due to a septic tank explosion, he is at loose ends until he meets quirky next door neighbor, Marigold Tanizaki-Weathers. When the two open a box in Danny Lee's room that says "Open Me", they embark on a curious scavenger hunt involving a lot of sounds. They find the "tallest thing" in town at Crest Creek Forest, and there's an "old fashioned" library circulation card in the tree. At the library, the book related to the card isn't in the system, but they find it on the shelf. It has a musical clue in it that leads them to the historical society, where they learn about musical cryptograms. Following the notes spelling ADEADBED up at the cemetery, they are instructed to find a room without echoes, and Miles says that there is one at the Institute. The anechoic chamber makes both children sick, but Felix gets a tune stuck in his head... which ends up being an ice cream truck tune. They sneak out at night to find the truck, which has a website listed on it, but they get in trouble when the owner calls their parents. They end up creating a song of "found sounds" to submit to a website, and eventually enter a contest with the local DJ Midnight. Felix is a little creeped out by one of the clues, but this doesn't stop him and Marigold from venturing around town to gather them. He reaches out to his parents, who are not concerned, and his brother Dylan for comfort, but gets no help. Eventually, the two friends figure out the answers and who was responsible for the scavenger hunt. Felix is also able to come to terms with his relationship with his brother.
Strengths: This was a nicely paced, very readable book that I enjoyed spending time with. The idea of a house swap is fantastic; I'd love to hear about what the Lee family did in New York City. Blissfield is a fun town, with plenty of places within biking distance for the kids to visit. Marigold and Felix, both rising 6th graders, feel a bit unseen and friendless, and since both are at a loss for things to do (Marigold is an only child) for the summer, are more than happy to hang out together. They complement each other well. Felix's family dynamics simmer in the background, and I had my suspicions about who was behind the scavenger hunt, but everything came together well. The clues are fairly easy to find, and not hidden in areas too difficult to access. There's a little bit of friction between Felix and Marigold at one point, but that makes sense. At 226 pages, it's a great length. The publisher website lists this for grades 2-6, but I think even my 8th graders would read this.
Weaknesses: It seemed odd that no one was concerned about who put all the clues around town, but perhaps the parents were in on the ruse. I know that Mr. Pacek is a sound engineer, but some of the science of sound bogs the story down a tiny bit. Did like learning about the anechoic chamber, though.
What I really think:Readers who are interested in sound engineering will certainly be glad to see this title, and it's also a great book to hand to readers who enjoyed summer tales involving new towns or scavenger hunts, like Janowitz's All the Ways to Go, Durst's Spy Ring, Renn's The Owl Prowl Mystery, St. Antoine's Three Bird Summer and Little's Worse Than Weird.

 

Weaknesses: The petals of the Rose Chord were ridiculously easy for the girls to find, and the fight scenes were laughably short. It reminded me of a Scooby Doo or Josie and the Pussycats cartoon where the mystery is easily solved in twenty minutes. This does make the book and fast and enticing read, and I am not the target demographic for this book!
What I really think: Yun, who wrote the Pippa Park series, has created a fast moving K-Pop Demon Hunters-esque novel that will be popular with fans of this musical genre or the movie. It's a bit cheesy, but so were the 1970s Patridge Family mystery books. This reminds me a little of Yee's foray into the Super Hero High books. Readers who enjoyed Goldie's Skylar and the K-Pop Principal, Bowman's Generation Misfits, or Kim's Make a Move Sunny Park will definitely enjoy this. Is it great literature? No. Will I buy a copy for my K-Pop obsessed fans? Absolutely. Stacia Deutsch also has a series out, K-Pop Demon Detectives (Bluestone Books), but I haven't been able to get ahold of any copies.  (But it is available through Follett. I like Deutsch's writing, and it seems like a fun series for the librarian who replaces me to find in fifteen years!)

Roggio, Sarah. K-Pop's Big Wave: A Global Phenomenon

January 1, 2026 by Lerner Publications ™

Copy provided by the publisher 

Popular culture is nature's way of showing us how old we are. It seems likely that most people fossilize their love and knowledge of popular music during their high school years, so it makes perfect sense that I don't know anything about K-Pop. Since it really started to crystallize as a phenomenon in the late 1980s and early 90s, when I was already teaching, it's never been on my radar. It's a little alarming that I remember South Korea's transition to a Western style democracy in 1987, but I did enjoy learning that the country is roughly the size of Indiana!

That said, I do have many students who are interested in the genre, and with the success of the Netflix series K-Pop Demons Hunters, there's a good chance that more and more young people will become fans. This book lays out the history of the style in a short, well illustrated book that includes many groups that readers might want to investigate. It was a good call to start with the Rosé and Bruno Mars collaboration in 2024, since that will still be fresh in many people's memories.

One of the very interesting bits of information was that the K-Pop music industry carefully trains and superintends new groups in a way that made me think of The Monkees. From songs to clothes to make up, there is a deliberate attempt to make these groups as appealing and commercially successful as possible. While this makes perfect sense for tween audiences, it seems a bit odd when viewed from the lens of organic artistry-- again, I can remember the backlash against the Monkees because they were an engineered group, even though their songs were quite catchy.

There are plenty of sidebars with information about tangential culture; Korean words that were entered into the OED, the kimchee craze, Korean beauty trends, and even an entry about the 2024 martial law's effect on the industry. It was nice to see the inclusion of the different ways in which the K-Pop community has stepped up to help out with social causes, as well as a brief look at K-Pop controversies. The book ends with a timeline, source notes, and a selected bibliography. Fans won't need a playlist, but I wouldn't have minded one!

I haven't seen any other books about K-Pop except for BTS: Icons of K-Pop by Adrian Besley, which a volunteer found at Half Price Books and donated. Since music classes occasionally study different types of music, this Lerner title is a great addition to middle school collections. I had several students request my copy after I added it to my library database, so there's definitely an interest, which I suspect will only continue to grow.

If You Were Here

Johnson, Abigail. If You Were Here

April 28, 2026 by HarperCollins

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

**Spoilers in strengths and weaknesses.**

Lili Gardner, her mother Mia, and younger sister Goldie all come from Arizona to spend the summer in the Nantucket house that the sisters have been willed after their father's death. The parents divorced six years ago, in part because the father was devoted to staying in Nantucket, but obsessed with finding out information about his family, especially the purported pirate, Kezia Gardner. Lili starts right in on her own research using her father's files, ignoring her mother's requests to help renovate the old house and spend time with Goldie before going off to college. After being turned away from the museum she suspects has information she wants because her father had been banned, Lili takes the advice of a neighbor and visits the quirky Mermaid Museum run by Wren McCleaves and his single father. Wren is in a wheelchair after an accident, and the museum staff includes his friend Tate, who is much better at running the tour, and his girlfriend of several years, Eryn, who is the mermaid who poses out on the rocks for the boat tours. Wren doesn't trust Lili, since his mother was also a "tourist" and left him and his father, but offers to help her with research in exchange for working at the museum for free. Lili really wants to prove that Kezia wasn't a pirate, and is excited to find another volume of her diary in the mermaid museum. The research takes up almost all of Lili's time, so we see only brief glimpses of her mother, who is spending a lot of time with Graham, and of Goldie, who misses her sister. Feelings start to develop between Lili and Wren, but since Wren is still dating Eryn (who may of may not be interested in fellow cafe employee Elliot), the romance is very slow to develop. As the summer draws to a close, what direction will Lili's life take?
Strengths: Nantucket is a place about which I have read, but have never visited, so a virtual vacation there was delightful. The Mermaid Museum, while sadly not a real place, was quirky and fascinating. Given Lili's family history, it made sense that she was willing to pursue her father's obsession with Kezia Gardner, even though it didn't improve her life any more that it did his. Tate and Eryn welcomed Lili, so there was a nice, close cast of characters with which to spend the summer. I even liked the outcome of the research. Ms. Johnson was also injured in an accident, so her portrayal of Wren's occasional struggles with being in a wheelchair are true to life. It's especially nice that while it is a condition he has, it isn't his entire personality. Even though Lili has graduated from high school and Wren seems to have been out for a couple of years, there is no mature language or situations other than a kiss or two. The ending is a fairly happy one.
Weaknesses: There is a lot of history of the area, which my middle school readers might not enjoy. There also isn't as much romance as they like, since Wren and Eryn are dating but pulling away from each other, but Lili and Wren are mostly respectful of this prior committment. I enjoyed the book, but I was really looking for a YA ROMANCE that was also middle grade appropriate. Wren seemed like an odd choice for a male name; I kept thinking of Marie Killilea's book Wren: The Story of Karen. Wren does share a beer with his father, but that's not anything I would keep from middle school students.
What I really think: Fans of Dalton's summer romances like Pulled Under or West's Maybe This Time who can stand a really long lead up to a romance will enjoy this one, but I was a bit appalled that Lili gave up her college plans so that she could stay on the island with Wren. Luckily, at least Eryn was able to get back on track and was planning on leaving Nantucket and studying to become a pastry chef.  

Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters and My Sister the Freak

Nayberg, Yevgenia. Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters: A Graphic Memoir

April 14, 2026 by Neal Porter Books

ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central

Born in 1975 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Genya struggles with many things in her life. Her father has gone to the US, so she is not allowed any contact with them. While her grandfather, a gerontologist, and her grandmother, an engineer, are very supportive, her mother, an artist, thinks that many of Genya's ideas are "banal", and doesn't hesitate to tell her so. Despite this, Genya decides that she wants to be an artist. A critical step in this is to take the exam for the Secondary School of Art when she is 11. Her mother doesn't think her artwork is as good as it needs to be, especially since the family is Jewish, and the Academy takes very few Jewish students. Genya is tutored along with Kolya and Vera, and must practice painting a scene from the news over and over, and must master the "academic art" style before she can experiment on her own. She also has to deal with new stepfather Leon as well as a baby brother. When the Chernobyl nuclear power plant experiences a meltdown in 1986, Genya's family is very concerned about the radiation fallout, even though their city is 90 kilometers away. Genya's mother demands not only that all of the rugs are thrown out because they might capture radiation, but also that Genya's long braid that she has been growing for five years be cut off. The school even arranges for all of the students to spend months at a summer camp, but a cousin of her mother's, Aunt Elena, offers to let the mother and two children stay with her and her husband and daughter, Masha, in Volgograd. It's crowded, and Genya is afraid that she will not be able to return to Kyiv in order to take the art school exam. She is able to, and eventually the family is able to return home. When Leon borrows a Geiger counter from work, and the braid that Genya has secretly saved sets it off! 

There have been several books about the Chernobyl meltdown, including Marino's Escape From Chernobyl, McGowan's Dogs of the Deadlands, and Blackman's The Blackbird Girls, but I haven't read anything as close to an eyewitness account as this. Of course, since the author was young, there is a focus on her own life, and the information about Chernobyl was not easy to find at the time. I loved the detail about her braid; that definitely sold me on the value of seeing a disaster through such a personal lens. 

Eastern European drawing has a rather distictive look to it; I kept thinking about Yelchin's The Genius Under the Table, which takes place a decade before this book. It has a more raw, unfinished feel to it and is angular in surprising ways. The ARC I read was in black and white, but the finished book will be in full color, and the two pages that were rendered this way had a nice watercolor feel to them. 

It's always fascinating to see what artists feel compelled to share in graphic style memoirs. Include this in a group of global reminiscences that includes Huang's  Singing Yellow Sail: A Memoir of an Only Child in China, Chang's How to Draw a Secret,  Chan's Uprooted, Martin's MexiKid, Russo's Why Is Everybody Yelling,  and Kantorovitz's Sylvie. 

Jones, Dani. My Sister the Freak

April 14, 2026 by HarperAlley

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Mary and Al are sisters, but have wildly different interests. Mary is in middle school, and is bringing her own unique spin to her role of a monkey in the school production of The Wizard of Oz. Al is in high school, has just accepted an invitation to a school dance, and doesn't want to deal with Mary's noise and general weirdness. When their parents have to visit their grandmother who has had a fall, Al says she can hold down the fort in her absence. She goes out with her friends, and Mary tries to follow her. She is attacked by monsters, but wakes up in her own bed. Al is dealing with her unpleasant friend Camryn's plans for the dance, which involve unattractive dresses. There are more monster attacks, but only the school custodian believes Mary. When Camry is dumped, she asks new boy Patrick to the dance, and he agrees to go only if his sister Meg can go as well. Camryn thinks Meg is too drab to hang out with, but she and Al share several interests. There are secrets revealed about Al, as well as Mary's teacher Mr. Fine, and an epic showdown at the performance of The Wizard of Oz. In the end, the sisters make peace with each other and Meg and Al go together as a couple to the dance. 

I recognized Jones' work from the FrankinSchool series, and she certainly draws very effective monsters. This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed other graphic novels like Graley's Glitch and Davault's Misfit Mansion. 

Hoop Dreams and Fast Break

Marino, Max, Bolte, Mari and Diaz, Roman. Hoop Dreams
January 1, 2026 by Lerner Publications ™
Copy provided by the publisher

Beatriz is a soccer player, but wants to try something new. Since her college-aged brother Emilio plays basketball, she asks him about trying out for a new team. He says that she is too short and laughs off her interest, which makes her even more determined. She asks her best friend Aurora to practice with her, and prints out a schedule of activities to improve their skills. Both girls get assigned to Coach Partridge's team, and hope to learn a lot and have fun playing for Las Arañas (The Spiders). Beatriz is fast and good at passing, so Coach says she would make a good point guard. Sometimes, Beatriz thinks she should try to make the baskets herself, but that's not where her talents lie. After the pregnant Coach Partridge has to take time off to rest, Emilio becomes the new coach. The team plays a disastrous game against the Blue Jays under his direction, and the other point guard, Selena, twists her ankle. Emilio reluctantly puts Beatriz in after she practices a lot, and the team makes it to the playoffs against the Cobras after a really great game. Emilio apologizes to Beatriz for not taking her seriously, and Beatriz now feels like she can be both a good soccer player and a good basketball player. 

This is a short, easy to read sports book that would be great for elementary readers but also for emerging middle school ones. The font is large and clear, and the illustrations are attractive and support the text. 

Beatriz' determination to try something different was great to see, and I loved that she looked up a training plan and worked with Aurora to develop skills that would allow them both to make the team after her brother was less than supportive. The description of the point guard role on the court will help young readers who want to play basketball but are not particularly tall. At the end of the book, there is a short biography of Gabriela Jaquez, a player who also followed her brother's footsteps into the sport. 

Readers who enjoyed Lyons' Miles Lewis books or Harley's Charlie Bumpers tales but want more sports content will be glad to see this Lerner Sports Stories series, which is a good additions to books like  Capstone's Jake Maddox sport titles, or Sports Illustrated Kids Graphic Novels like Full Court Pressure. 

Coy, John and Morse, Joe (illustrator).
Hoop Genius:How a Desperate Teacher and a Rowdy Gym Class Invented Basketball
January 1, 2026 by Carolrhoda Books ®

Copy provided by the publisher  

In 1891, James Naismith took a job as a physical education teacher. Two other teachers had failed to curb the enthusiasm of the students, so Naismith tried active games to try to keep the attention of the students. Indoor football, soccer, and lacrosse were too violent, and led to injuries. Not wanting the students to be bored, Naismith drew on his own experience of playing a throwing game called Duck on a Rock and developed a game where soccer balls could be thrown into peach baskets a janitor found for him. He typed up rules that included not running with the ball and not touching other players. The game caught on through word of mouth. There was even a group of women teachers who wanted to play, and one of them eventually married Naismith! By 1936, this new sport was in the Olympics. There is a bit more biographical information about Naismith in the author's note at the end, as well as a short bibliography.

The illustration style is very distinctive, and seems to draw from the stylized Works Projects Administration murals popular in the 1930s. I was surprised that there were students with mustaches, but the artist must have consulted the photograph of Naismith and his students (which appears with the author's note), because there are indeed students sporting facial hair! There is a good sense of movement, and the clothing styles and depictions of rooms and buildings all give a historical feeling to the book.

This would be a great read aloud for elementary schools to celebrate March Madness along with Macy and Collins' Basketball Belles: How Two Teams and One Scrappy Player Put Women's Hoops on the Map, Diep and Giddings' Rising Above: The Wataru "Wat" Misaka Story, Slade and Tate's Swish!: The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters, and Jordan and Nelson's Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream.

 

Joshi, Anjali. Fast Break

April 14, 2026 by Orca Book Publishers 

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Twelve-year-old Arjun Arora has just moved from California to Port Hope, Canada for his mother's job as a doctor. He starts Thickson Middle School, and is surprised at the amount of vending machines and advertising for OmniBoost products. It turns out that the company has sponsored the school, renovating the cafeteria and gym as well as providing a new public address video system and new team uniforms. In exchange, the school sells its products and subjects the students to a lot of advertising. Most of the kids think it's great, because they can grab an energy drink from a machine or eat pizza and cookies in the cafeteria. Mr. Grood, from OmniBoost, even address the students in an assembly. Arjun meets Demar, who also plays basketball, which is a relief since hockey is the predominate sport. Jake is also trying out for the team and is welcoming, although Bobby is a jerk. Demar's sister, Denise, is active on the student council and is an anchor on the morning announcements. In health class with Mr. Rowland, a first year teacher, coach, and former hockey star, the students are working on a team project. One morning, Arjun forgets to eat breakfast and doesn't feel well. He asks permission to go to the cafeteria to get something to eat, and after downing an energy drink, he throws up. He is sent home, where his mother suggests he rest and hydrate. He starts to think about what he's been eating, and realizes the food at school isn't healthy, and that all of the sugar he has been consuming is making him tired. This is discussed at home, and his parents want to go to the school and complain, but he tells them he wants to deal with it himself. He talks to Mr. Rowland, who suggests he tread carefully with Principal Jones because of the sponsorship. This was good advice; Jones tells him just to bring things from home. When Arjun sees another student getting "caf cash" because he can't afford to bring food from home, he gathers his friends to fight back. They play their health class project on the dangers of OmniBoost on the morning announcements, and lose the company's sponsorship, putting the school $100,000 in debt. Thanks to social media, they get help, and have a new sponsor in the Toronto Raptors.
Strengths: Does anyone Remember Channel One News? From 1990 until 2018, schools could get free televisions and other media support in exchange for having students watch a 12 minute news program. Apple Computers also had a partnership with schools, and discounted their computers so that teachers would buy them. Corporate sponsorships do exist, but it's important for kids to know that there's no free lunch. I loved that Arjun was able to make friends and get involved in his school even though there was a big culture change. Mr. Rowland is well portrayed. Middle school students are always interested in food and often don't have great diets, so Fast Break delivers a timely message in a fun way. 
Weaknesses: While my school district has an exclusive agreement with a soda company, we haven't had student vending machines for years, nor any other sponsorships. Our cafeteria food is fairly healthy, although there is pizza brought in from a rotating selection of vendors. However, since I have witnessed a child eating blue Takis and gummy worms for breakfast, I will let this slide as something that goes on in Canada, because I love that Arjun makes the connection between diet and athletic performance and actively makes a change for his whole school.
What I really think: This series of Orca books is aimed at emerging readers, so books have fewer pages (144), larger font and more white space on the page. I will definitely order a copy, and it will be in constant circulation. This is a great, fast read for kids who are interested in basketball and care about their health. It's similar to Herbach's 2015 Gabe Johnson Takes Over, but is much shorter.