MMGM- Let's Hear It For the Girls!

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Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

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Unleashing Readers

Acevedo, Chantel and Sylvester, Natalia. No Way Never Sisters

March 10, 2026 by Aladdin

ARC provided by the publisher

Meli and Roxy go to the same school in Florida and know each other, but have never really gotten along. Roxy is the class president and popular soccer player, while Meli is happy hanging out with her two best friends, James and Janette. When their parents are dating, the girls aren't happy, but their brothers, Ben and Benji, are ecstatic, because they are friends. Carlos, Roxy's dad, is a real estate agent who has helped, Eva, Meli's mom, look for a new house. When the parents announce their engagement over a family dinner on the last day of school AND drop the bombshell that they will all be moving into the same house that they need to renovate before the August wedding, the girls are not at all pleased. They are each dealing with things in their own lives, like Meli's scoliosis and her father who is working in Spain, and Roxy's mean friends and her mother who is struggling with her mental health and has moved to New Jersey to be with her own mother. . After some time together, they realize that their parents seem to be complete opposites, so they come up with a "Disaster Plan" to break them up. It doesn't seem hard to do when Eva gets up early on the weekends and starts vacuuming before everyone is awake, but the girls help the process along by giving the father decaf coffee and escalating any differences. They pretend that there are bats in the house (but real bats are found), and eventually ramp up their sabotage to involve paint, styrofoam peanuts, and a fan. This, as well as foundational problems in the house, causes their parents to fight, and even though invitations have already been mailed, the wedding is called off. Both Meli and Roxy realize that they actually want their parents to get together. They enlist their friends and brothers to do work around the house in hopes of making their parents happy enough to go through with the wedding, but will it work?
Strengths: See how easy it is to get parents out of the picture WITHOUT killing them? It's much more common to have parents have to work out of town or struggle with issues that make it hard to take care of their children. Also, there are a lot of students dealing with blended families, and there is all manner of different kinds of drama involved in that. I liked that Meli and Roxy didn't get along at first mainly due to perceived differences and misunderstandings rather than any visceral dislike of each other. It was cute that their brothers were such great friends. I also enjoyed the fact that the parents had very different styles, so there was some work to be done. The other big positive of this was the casual inclusion of Meli's scoliosis brace! I'm always glad to see that health issue represented, since I wore a brace in middle school and have had two students recently who do as well. This was a humorous, upbeat look at what could have been a difficult situation if people hadn't had more grace. 
Weaknesses: The Choco Taco was discontinued in 2022, so the characters are unlikely to be eating one. Is that picky or what? I wasn't a huge fan of the Disaster Plan, but the girls do come to regret it. (Ms. Sylvester let me know that an editor caught that and it was removed from the final text!)
What I really think: This is a great choice for readers who want to read about blended families, like Burke's An Occasionally Happy Family,  Leavitt's North of Supernova, Lynch's Reel Life,  Palmer's Love You Like a Sister, or Youngblood's Love Like Sky. I'm definitely ordering a copy and think it will circulate very well. 

Hitchcock, Shannon. Wild Mountain Ivy

March 3, 2026 by Carolrhoda Books ®

E ARC provided by the publisher

Ivy is an avid violinist whose mother Charlotte is a math teacher and whose father travels with his Bluegrass band, Will Presnell and the Misty Mountain Boys. When Ivy gets sick, she and her best friend Priya don't think it's serious, but it turns out to be COVID. Two months later, Ivy is still weak and tired, suffering from long Covid. Since her Uncle Cam and his husband Steve run a bed and breakfast in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, they invite Ivy and her mother to stay there for the summer, even offering to pay Charlotte to help out, since she won't be able to teach summer school. Everly House is in a building that had been a tuberculosis sanitarium, and there's even a portrait of Jessie Pearl, one of the patients, with a dulcimer, and Ivy stays in the Jessie Room. When she naps, which she does frequently, she dreams about Jessie, who communicates about things like using a feather pick for the dulcimer, and also provides flashbacks to what her life was like in the sanitarium. When her strength allows, Ivy learns to play dulcimer, makes biscuits with the cook, Celeste, takes trips into town with her mother, and does some research into Jessie's life, even reading Murphy's Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure She finds that the portrait was painted by another patient named Louise Hall, who got better and married the groundskeeper. Louise turns out to be Celeste's great grandmother! Ivy finds a necklace of Jessie's buried in a box, but loses it when she goes back home for a visit. Charlotte has decided to look for a job so that the family can move to Asheville, so they need to pack up their belongings. Ivy texts Priya to look for it, but she dreams that Jessie tells her that the necklace is where it belongs, and finds it back with the contents of the box. In her research, Ivy finds out that after two years, Jessie was well enough to leave, and had a number of children. She manages to find one of them, Mrs. Williams, who visits Everyly House. When Ivy sings the ballad about Jessie that she has been composing for Mrs. Williams, it turns out to be a tune that her mother sang frequently! Ivy's parents buy a new house, start marriage counseling, and Jessie performs her ballad with her dad's band since she is finally feeling better. 

Strengths: Occasionally, there are historical novels that are so good that I have to buy them, even though I don't have as many readers for historical fiction as I would like. This is definitely one of them. I loved the representation of Ivy's illness, the bed and breakfast setting, the parent's marital problems, and the way that the two stories were woven together. I also enjoyed the quiet ways that Ivy found to amuse herself, and how she was able to combine her father's love of the violin with her mother's love of classical music. Ivy's research is realistically portrayed, and it was such fun that she was able to hunt down Jessie's daughter... especially when she calls and ends up talking to a neighbor who is related. I would have absolutely adored this when I was in middle school. 
Weaknesses: The house that Ivy's family buys is described as having painted brick that is fresh and inviting. No! Painting brick should be a federal crime. You can't unpaint it. The same goes for wooden furniture. Just... don't. The book has a quiet feel to it, which some readers won't like, but but historical fiction fans will appreciate all of the details about the past. 
What I really think: This is a great addition to a middle school collection, since there are so few good representations of COVID, and today's readers barely remember it. Wendell's Light and Air is another good title, and readers who liked Fusco's The Secret of Honeycake, Johnson's The Blossoming Summer, or Jensen's Lilac and the Switchback will be glad to pick this one up as well. 

Hannigan, Kate and Moore, Sofia (illus.). Louisa Learns to Write

January 20, 2026 by Calkins Creek

Copy provided by the publisher

It's hard to believe that Little Women has remained in print for over 150 years, but the fact that it still captures the imagination of young readers is no doubt rooted in the fact that Alcott based the book on her own family and life. Framing Alcott's life around ten habits for becoming a writer, Hannigan shows how these habits helped Alcott develop the skills she needed to not only enable her to provide for her family through her writing, but how she was able to fashion such long enduring classics. 

Fans of Alcott's work will be familiar with the basics of her life, and the text shows the deprivations the family suffered without laboring over the fact that the father's strange habits were responsible for the often horrible conditions. If you've read Whelan's 2008 Fruitlands, you'll know that Bronson Alcott had some very strange ideas that caused his family endless grief. The book also touches on the family's relationships with notable authors of the time, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo Emerson. There's even a bit about Alcott's involvement in nursing during the Civil War. 

Moore's brightly colored illustrations capture the spirit of both watercolors and pencil drawings, and capture details of life in the 1800s well. Clothes, toys, furniture, and even outdoor environments offer a visual background to Alcott's family and writing life. The end notes include daguerreotypes and artwork of all four sisters; I don't know that I've ever seen depictions of the other sisters before. There's also a photograph of the Alcott's writing desk and the interior of Orchard House. 

There is a wealth of back matter in the book, including a list of the ten habits for becoming a writer (which really needs to be made into a poster!), a great timeline, and a list of resources (which includes Samanta Seiple's 2019 Louisa on the Front Lines: Louisa May Alcott and the Civil War, a book I haven't read but need to!). There is also a chart comparing the people and events of Alcott's real life with those in her books, which is the best listing of these similarities that I have seen. 

There is no shortage of books about Alcott, from Noyes' A Hopeful Heart , McNees' The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, and MacCall's The Revelation of Louisa May for adults to  picture books like Krull's Louisa May's Battle: How the Civil War Led to Little Women. I liked that this book focused on the process of writing and showed how Alcott's adherence to these principles served her well. 

Animal Titles

Warga, Jasmine. The Unlikely Friendship of Chase and Finnegan

March 3, 2026 by Balzer + Bray

ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central
 

Finnegan is a dog who has run away from his home with Samuel after a misunderstanding, and he finds himself out in the wilderness in a world of trouble when he is attacked by another animal. Luckily, he is rescued by Ryan, who takes him to the vet and then adopts him. Chase is a cheetah cub born in a zoo to a mother who was rescued from the wild. Unfortunately, when her mother is taken for a veterinary procedure, she passes away. Chase must be fed and trained by Basma, one of the zoo workers. Finnegan is very scared of storms and causes some trouble at home. Ryan lives with Basma, who thinks that Finnegan and Chase could help each other out. They do a lot of training so that Chase can perform in a zoo presentation meant to draw attention to the plight of animals in the wild, but also comfort each other. Chase misses her mother and is leery of leashes, since her mother was taken away wearing one and never came back, and Finnegan is worried that Ryan and Basma will discover the secrets in his past and not want him to live with them anymore. The friendship that helps out both animals is based on a real life program at the Cincinnati Zoo.

The Vivienne To cover will make this book immediately appealing to younger readers who like animal stories or who frequent the zoo; who doesn't harbor a secret wish to cuddle with a tiny cheetah? I loved that Finnegan was a rescue dog with a hidden past; so many bad things can happen to dogs, and they can't tell their new homes about them! At least Finnegan can confide in Chase when his humans don't quite understand why he is so upset when they are packing up to move to a new home. 

There are just enough things going on with the humans in the book to add another level of interest. At one point, Ryan wants to ask Basma to marry him, and is quite nervous about proposing. The workings of the zoo are also quite interesting; I haven't been to the Cincinnati zoo in a long time, but was always impressed with the work they do. 

Warga has quite a range of topics in her list of middle grade works; an immigrant tale in Other Words for Home (2019), a problem novel in The Shape of Tunder (2021), the sci Fi A Rover's Story (2022),  a fantasy with some community issues A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall (2024), and even a horror book in the second of the The Last Resort series, The Claiming (2026). This animal tale will be popular with readers who liked the unlikely friendships and animal perspectives in Applegate's The One and Only Bob, Bruce Cameron's Dogs with a Purpose tales, Robertshaw and Danka's Life in the Doghouse books. 

Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. Phoenix (Ride On #1) 

March 3, 2026 by Dial Books
E ARC provided by Netgalley

Harper and her mother Beth move suddenly from Knoxville, Tennessee to Sommer Springs after Harper's father has an affair with the mother of Harper's best friend Cat, who lives across the street. Unwilling to put up with the gossip, Beth finds another nursing job and a very small house to rent where their Great Pyrenees dog, Harvey, is welcome. The rural community is very different; on the way into town, Harper sees dead chickens strung up on a clothesline, and the home they are renting is right next to a horse stable. This is run by Miss Chelsea, whose wife is a doctor. Several children from Harper's 6th grade class ride at the stables, and she meets Dante, Night (who uses they/them pronouns), and Emma. Harper is very angry about the reasons for moving, and has fallen out with Cat, so feels very isolated. She spends a lot of time watching the others ride, and talks to them briefly on the bus. Dante knows that Harper isn't talking because she is sad, and doesn't push her. When a "kill truck" shows up at the stables when everyone is done, Harper ends up with a very sick horse given to her! She and her mother do an internet search for how to properly care for the ailing animal, and end up feeding it tiny bits of hay around the clock. Miss Chelsea agrees to help with the horse, although she wants to buy it from Harper, who refuses to sell it. Harper equates the horses experience of being "thrown away" with her own father's dismissal of her. There is a lot of concern about the cost of owning a horse, which is considerable, but Harper is adamant that she be allowed to keep the horse, whom she names Phoenix, although her mother inquires about perhaps turning the animal over to a horse rescue. Harper ends up working at the stable in the morning to help pay for Phoenix's upkeep. When she returns from a tense weekend at her father's, she sees a woman, Ms. Rawlings, who is attempting to feed Phoenix and has called the police about what she considers an abused animal. There is a tense standoff, complete with nasty microaggressions where Ms. Rawlings assumes Dante is a stable groom because he is Latine. Carine Rawlings and her horse start participating in the lessons and practices, but it takes a while for her to fit in. Phoenix continues to improve, although the path is rocky. This is the first book in a purported series. 

I'm always looking for books for readers who would love to own their own horses, but I'm debating this one. While there are good details about caring for an ailing horse, as well as about riding and stable life, there is a lot of discussion about the father's affair, even though Bradley is so circumspect in her treatment of the topic that younger readers won't even understand that an affair occurred. Harper is 11, and there is talk about her attending therapy, but she doesn't manage to get to a therapist even though she is having a very difficult time. Readers who like horses will have to make it far enough into the book, and they may not, since Harper is afraid of horses at the beginning, and doesn't really want anything to do with the stables. 

The fact that this starts with the description of the dead chickens and Harper's reaction to them doesn't do this book any favors. I usually enjoy Bradley's books, but this was far more like Fighting Words than her popular historical titles like The War That Saved My Life. 

A Bunch of Stuff

Bemis, John Claude and Miles, Nicole (illustrator).
Rodeo Hawkins and the Daughters of Mayhem: A Graphic Novel
Published September 9th 2025 by Holiday House
ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central

Sidney Poblocki has finally found a foster care placements where he has a friend, Walt, but things go bad quickly when a group identifying themselves as Paladins appear out of thin air and tell him that they have to take him away to train with them! He ends up in their world, but is relegated to a dungeon, which doesn't seem quite right. Sure enough, Rodeo Hawkins, who identifies herself as a Daughter of Mayhem, shows up and claims that the Paladins have killed a number of other Sidney Poblocki's, and he is the last one standing in their way. She whisks him off to the treehouse fortress of her "femininjas", who are a bit put out that this Sidney is a boy. They try to explain the multiverse to him, and that fact that they are currently in the WoBeWo; the World Between Worlds, where things go when they vanish from other worlds. The Paladins release 400 dragonfly spies to try to locate Sidney, and Sidney meets up with Chainsaw Charlie as well as Madame Zoltana, who is working with the Paladins and won't tell him the prophecy in which he is mentioned. The Paladins eventually locate the treehouse, which leads to an altercation in the forest, where the Paladins tell Rodeo that if she hands over Sidney, everyone else can go free. Sidney manages to muster powers to bring everyone into his plane of existence on Earth, where they manage to regroup. Rodeo discovers that there are demon lords still around, even though the Paladins claim to have dispatched them, and Sidney comes up with a plan to steal the necklace that binds them and send them into a black hole. Will the Daughters of Mayhem keep the multiverse from imploding, and if they do, how will they feel about Sidney becoming one of their ranks?

Multiverse stories are often frenetic and goofy, and this graphic novel is no exception. There is a being from another planet who manifests herself as a 1950s style robot named Go, Bugbear, who seems to speak a language everyone but Sidney can understand, and two girls named Tori, one of whom has green, leafy hair that lets her synthesize food! Rodeo seems to have a lot of unrelated side missions that occasionally pop up, like when she sends Sidney to demand a vanilla soda from Chainsaw Charlie as a distraction so she can threaten him because he owes her money, or when we find out that she was raised by the cave lion Mama Onca. With so much going on, it makes perfect sense to have demon lords suddenly appear and need to be sealed in the shadow dimension! 

Miles' illustrations (which also show up in McAnulty's Save the People and Where are the Aliens?, Rubin's The Ice Cream Machine, Jewell's The Anti Racist Kid, and Ross' Alley and Rex) have a great teen look to them, and show the various levels of the multiverse to good effect. I'll be interested to see a final edition with full color, since Tori's green hair is no doubt spectacular!

While there are several middle grade novels that deal with multiverses, like Wilson's Me vs. The Multiverse, Caprara's Mission Multiverse, Lubar's Emperor of the Universe series, and Cypess and Molebash's Future Me Saves the Universe, this is the first graphic novel treatment of that theme I have seen. Fans of goofy, fantastical romps like Barnett and Harris' The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza or Angelberger's The Two Headed Chicken will love following Sidney's adventures with Rodeo as he tries to avoid being killed by the Paladins!

Kurtz, Scott. Sneak Attack (Table Titans #2)

March 10, 2026 by Holiday House 

ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central

Interpersonal relationships were difficult in Table Titans Club, and while Val is getting along better with Alan, Andrew, and Darius, Kate is especially prickly as the group heads off to Camp Owlcare, a LARPing camp. Val is very excited about every aspect of the camp, and is fully embracing the experience by being in costume at all times, but is devastated when she is not put in a cabin with the rest of her friends. Since quests are undertaken with these groups, it's important to get along with the others. Some campers, like Maria, are nice, while others, like Lilith, aren't happy with anyone or anything. There are different competitions for archery, swimming, relay racing, and going through a labyrinth, and Val is not always happy with her cabin's progress. When she sees a troll near the dumpsters, she is sure it is real, and gathers the Table Titans to investigate, especially after the obstacle course is vandalized. Val wants to make Kate less angry, and finally convinces Alan to bring her character back by using his wish school, but also encourages him to apologize for the remarks that hurt Kate's feelings. The secret of the troll comes out, and camp is generally a success. 

The illustrations add a nice level of goofiness to this engaging camp story, and there is a little touch of fantasy with the possibility of the ogre being real. The counselors are all a bit goofy, which works well to balance the darker themes of friendship problems. 

The friend drama between Kate and Alan spills over in a natural way to the rest of the group. Val is understandably upset when she is not with any of her friends, but she does manage to connect with other campers. 

There are quite a number of graphic novels similar to Table Titans, including Durfey-Lavoie's Just Roll with It, Stevenson and Agarwal's  Alexis vs. Summer Vacation, Ostertag and Bouma's Dungeon Club: Roll Call as well as the great graphic history, Sattin and Steenz's Side Quest: A Visual History of Roleplaying Games. A few other novels have plots involving Dungeons and Dragons, including Boyce's Dating and Dragons and Formato's Roll for Initiative, so fans of the game should have plenty to read.  

Sutherland, Tui. The Hybrid Prince

March 3, 2026 by Scholastic Press

** Spoiler alert! ** 

One of my students wanted to read this SO MUCH that he asked for a copy for his birthday. He got it, read it, and immediately brought it to school so he could loan it to me. I promised to read it and return it tomorrow.

I have read this entire series, but have no memory of any of the books. Fantasy amnesia is a real thing, at least for me. My student did point out that the location of this book appears on the map in other books, but the Court of Refuge is very far away (over three days flying time?) from Pantala.

Sora has murdered two dragons who were involved with the death of a sibling? (See? Already forgotten even though I took notes.) Umber doesn't want to turn her in, but feels he should watch over her, so the two run away. They end up on islands that are dangerous; there are even notes on them that say so. On one, Umber is dragged into the sea by a kraken, but he is saved by Mulberry, a Leafwing/Skywing hybrid. Umber feels very attracted to Mulberry, and the feeling seems to be returned. He wants the two to be safe, so leads them to the Court of Refuge.

Things are pretty weird when they arrive. Beryl, Mulberry's mother, is kind of creepy, and Snakeroot, his father is completely unhinged. I thought maybe he had some cognitive decline. They are unpredictable and evil, and there's also a "ghost" warning Umber to this effect, but this turns out to be a disgraced dragon, Platypus, who has been hiding and popping out long enough to protest. There are a bunch of other dragons who support Platypus' agenda, and Umber might have to fight them, because Beryl wants Umber to train her guard, known as the King's Teeth. No real indication that Umber is qualified; Beryl's just not happy with the group.

But wait! It turns out that the Court of Refuge is actually a Dungeon Isle and no one but Mulberry can leave. He routinely goes on scouting missions to bring back other dragons to "keep them safe" even though he knows they CAN NEVER LEAVE. He doesn't seem to feel too bad about that.

Sora, in the meantime, is captivated by the musician Aurora, and feels "sane" when she listens to Aurora's music; it's the only time she doesn't replay the various murders in her head. Sora is working with the library, but the guards are starting to take scrolls and burn them. Sora tries to save them, and she and Umber happen upon the lair of the tiny metal SharpWings who are like small drone like creatures that do security details. Umber fixes one of them, so they get along okay.

Mulberry doesn't agree with what his parents have done, but doesn't want to make them angry because that wouldn't help him. There's a lot of history that is revealed in the Memory Room, and lots of different characters and scenarios are revealed. I really had trouble keeping those all straight. Aurora has another concert, and Snaketroot gets up and says a prophecy poem (the book didn't start with one this time because there were spoilers). There's a lot to do with only descendants of two of the original evil queens being the only ones to be able to leave. Mulberry runs away, and Aurora finds eggs (can't read my notes), and whoever raises the eggs will be able to leave, and then the dragonets will come back in three years and save everyone else.

Eventually Snakeroot, Beryl, and Taipan, who shows up and has tried to kill Mulberry, are sent to the dungeon, and Umber, Mulberry and the others are hatching dragonets.

So that's the gist of it. I didn't enjoy it because just about every setting was unpleasant, and there were so many dragons (both past and present) to keep straight. There's a little romance between Mulberry and Umber, but it felt... kind of creepy? I didn't know how old Mulberry was, and knew that Umber was a school aged dragon, and the talon stroking and fact that Mulberry could sort of mind control others felt weirdly out of place. Also, it didn't really go anywhere-- the two didn't hang out or talk very much because everything around them was a dragon dumpster fire.

I thought the series had ended, but apparently not. I need to make better notes so that I remember a little bit about where the books are going. I'll buy a copy for my middle school library, but I am NOT the target demographic for this one!

Yasha's Amazin' Bar Mitzvah

Gurevich, Margaret. Yasha's Amazin' Bar Mitzvah

March 17, 2026 by Penguin Workshop

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Yasha's family has moved from Brighton Beach nieghborhood of New York City to Rockwood, N.J. where his father doesn't have to commute as far to his engineering job and his mother is working at the Heavenly Skies assisted living community. It's a big change for Yasha, since not only does he have to leave his best friends, but there is only one other Russian family in the area. Their realtor, Katie (need Katya) and her son, Alex, try to convince Yasha to go by the name of Jake and to wear Alex's preppy hand-me-downs instead of more urban attire in order to fit in. Since Yasha is working on his upcoming bar mitzvah, he has to learn a lot of text and also do a service project. He ends up at Heavenly Skies, visiting with an older man, Bernie, who is a Mets fan like he is. Yasha (whom Bernie calls "YaJake") is impressed that Bernie was at a pivotal 1969 game, but sad that it was the last time Bernie saw his son Boris before the two fell out, and comes up with a plan to get the two of them together again at an upcoming World Series game. Alex's bar mitzvah is a huge party, with expensive swag and Americanized food, and Yasha approached his family about making changes to his own celebration. Since they aren't happy with many of the changes he is making to become less Russian, this doesn't go well. Yasha also takes money from the family cottage cheese container to pay for tickets for Bernie, planning on paying it back undetected when his gets money for his birthday. When the game he wants Bernie to attend ends up being on the same day as his bar mitzvah, and his new friends think the game is more important, Yasha questions some of his choices. There's some drama, but in the end, Yasha is more comfortable in his new home.
Strengths: Moving homes in middle school can be very traumatic, even when the houses are not haunted. Moving from a largely urban, culturally connected community to a homogenized suburban one would be particularly stressful. Yasha sees the benefits of "fitting in", and certainly in the 1980s this was far more crucial than it is now. Styles of clothing, as evidenced by Alex's extreme preppy wardrobe, defined the type of person you wanted to be in a way that clothing in middle school doesn't as much in 2025, when everyone sees to wear pajama pants and hoodies every day. There is a good balance of bar mitzvah details, school issues, and baseball, as Yasha shares his love for the Mets with Bernie. There's also just enough friction with Yasha's parents shown. I had a friend who wanted to be Gary instead of Gerhard, and it did NOT go over well with his German parents, so this seems very accurate! The cover on this is particularly good.
Weaknesses: I would have loved to see a lot more 1980s details in the book. Other than the preppy clothes, there wasn't as much of a feel for the time period to distinguish this book from novels set in the present day.
I really think: There are a good number of bar mitzvah books, which makes sense for middle grade literature. Pair this with Levy's Finn and Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop or The Jake Show, Rosenberg and Shang's This is Just a Test, or Rosen's short story collection, Coming of Age: 13 B'Nai Mitzvah Stories. 

Nightmare on Nightmare Street and Criminally Evil

Stine, R.L. Nightmare on Nightmare Street

February 17, 2026 by Blackstone Publishing

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In this mashup of and homage to his own work, Stine embraces an "everything bagel" philosophy in his approach to a horror story. Joe and Sadie Ferber move into an older home on Nightmare Street that has more than its fair share of scary features: gravestones in the basement, a cursed doll, and eerie voices. Joe complains, but his parents brush it off, explaining that it was the only house they could afford. Sadie, a year older than Joe, also gives him a hard time. Shawn screams at every turn, but the reasons end up being reasonable and benign. There's a sparrow that gets in the house, and the voices he hears are his parents talking downstairs, probably about the vague hotline his father hopes to set up, or the crocheted internal organs his mother sells online. When Joe is confronted by a vomiting, evil doll in his bed, we suddenly switch scenes to Shawn Hannigan, who is having a nightmare about Joe's life! He and his younger sister Addie also live on Nightmare Street with their single mother. The two attend Nightmare Academy, where the teachers wear animal masks "for fun". Shawn has to meet with the principal in a darkened office, where he is told that he can't take English and math, but instead must register for taffy pulling and animal surgery. When he leaves the office, he catches a glimpse of the principal, who seems to be a wolf. Late for class, he runs into the REAL principal, who doesn't believe his story. To corroborate it, they try to find Addie, but she's nowhere in the building. Going home, he finds his house is gone, but a woman in a van claims to be his mother and whisks him off to piano lessons... which he has never taken. Afterwards, both Addie and the house are back. Returning to the Ferber's story, Joe sneezes purple worms, and thinks he finds a dead body in his mother's new sewing room. Of course, it is just a mannequin. There's an instant camera that takes pictures from five minutes in the past, and Frisky the ventriloquist's dummy who comes to life. When both Joe and Sadie are turned into dummies, will they be able to escape and finally convince their parents that something is gravely wrong on Nightmare Street?
Strengths: There's an entire PhD thesis to be written about the relationship between brothers and sisters in Stine's books. Often, they are problematic, and the children torture each other. We see this a little in Sadie's reactions to Joe, but Shawn truly cares about Addie. Since I didn't read Stine's work until I was an adult, I'm sure I missed a lot of allusions to original Goosebumps books, although we certainly see a shout out to Slappy in the character of Frisky. Those mid century Charlie McCarthy dolls were certainly terrifying! The elements that make the Goosebumps books appealing are all here; short chapters with cliff hanger endings, an anxious feeling of unreality, and plenty of screaming at creepy occurrences. The cover is an important reminder to middle grade readers that if their family moves into an older home, it will definitely be haunted!
Weaknesses: The cover made me think that this would be more like the Fear Street books rather than the Goosebumps titles. This is best suited to the younger end of the middle grade spectrum who like fast paced horror stories where the threats are goofy rather than truly terrifying.
What I really think: Others have tried to replicate Stine's formula for humorous horror and failed. The closest anyone has come is K.R. Alexander, with his creepy doll books, but thos are a bit more serious. Elementary and middle school libraries will want to purchase at least one copy of this title, which is available in hardcover from Follett.

Burns, Jason M. Criminally Evil
January 1, 2026 by Darby Creek ™
Copy provided by Edelweiss Plus

Damon lives with his father, the chief of police, in Salem, Massachusetts. He and his friends Madelyn and Liam have been hunting demons and keeping their town safe, even though Liam is a demon himself! While out dealing with a snow demon on a day off school, they see a man breaking into a house and alert Damon's father. The owner of the house is injured, and Damon's father adds another lock to their door, but the man isn't caught. Damon has a demon of his own, Boo-en, who reads to him at night in exchange for sapping Damon's energy. When Boo-en warns Damon to hide, he finds himself dealing with the burglar. He allows Boo-en to possess him in order to deal with the intruder. While they manage to scare him off, the man runs into the street, and is killed by a snow plow. The body is taken to the morgue, and the town thinks the burglaries should stop, but they don't. The same methods is being used, and Damon finds out that the same man, Evan Wisdom, is still committing the robberies. His body is missing from the morgue, but how can this be? When Evan shows up at Damon's, he is determined to kill him. Damon fights against him with holy water and booby traps, but has to figure out what is really going on in order to keep himself safe. What is the dark secret that is reanimating Evan's body?

This did get a bit philosophical towards the end, which makes sense since it is a high interest/low level book aimed at older, reluctant or emerging readers. The debate over why Damon is being targeted is not too heavy, and there is plenty of demon killing to keep readers turning the pages.

Horror books are always in demand in my library, but many of them are longer. At just 100 pages, this book is perfect for readers who want a good scare but aren't quite ready for similar books like Krovatin's Awake, Duga's Ghost of the Harvest, or Lawrence's Many Hauntings of the Manning Family.

I did not know that this was a sequel, so was slightly confused, but got caught up quickly. This has some humor alongside the action and adventure; Madelyn is able to take out the demonic snowman who wants to "hug" everyone to death with a drone equipped with a flame thrower! Damon's relationship with Liam (who is a fairly good demon) and Boo-en (who is suspicious) is interesting, and I would be curious to see more of the Demon Hunters adventures.

The Demon Hunter series:
The Claw
Criminally Evil
Death at Dusk
The Deep End Demon
Every Witch Way
The Fallen

The Secret Winners Club and Birdy

Galanti, Donna. The Secret Winners Club
March 3, 2026 by Wild Trail Press
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

In Brownsville, New York, we meet three students whose lives intersect even though they are very different and have varied interests. Sunny, who has alopecia, lives in a manufactured home park with her single father who runs a scrapyard, and is determined to win the school Junkbot competition. Her friend  and neighbor Trev lives with his waitress mother, and his father who has left the family for a while but has returned. Both Trev and his father suffer from varying degrees of psoriasis. Their friend Vee is active on the swim team and has vitiligo. Trev, who is a big Frank Sinatra fan, wants to win a role in the school production of Grease so that he can hang out with his crush, Elliott, a big baseball star. The three friends put together a club to help them get motivated to make their dreams become reality. They make up a list of rules, challenge themselves to take risks, and call their group "The Secret Winners Club". They all need to consult someone who excels in their field to get advice to help them. Sunny talks to former Junkbot champion Chrissy, who works at the same diner as Trev's mother. Chrissy shares some of her expertise, but refuses to talk to Sunny after Sunny appears to be stealing her ideas. Trev talks to fellow dancer Jake, who agrees to help Trev practice for the audition. Vee looks up the record holder for her swim event. Ruby Janik set the record in 1963, when she was Vee's age, and agrees to talk to Vee, inviting her in for cocoa, and even agrees to coach her. Sunny has a partner in the competition, Jolie, who is very quiet. She lives in a nicer neighborhood adjacent to the shed where the club meets, and is caught eavesdropping on them. She tells them that she struggles with celiac disease, and would like to join their club. She is also a talented wood worker, although Sunny is reluctant to use her skills in constructing their Junkbot. The group meets regularly and celebrates their successes with the delicious (and gluten free) treats that Sunny's Dad makes. Trev wins a role in the play, and Jake admits that he has a crush on Trev, but Trev doesn't respond well. Trev also makes peace with a boy who has bullied him after Will, his understudy, admits that his father is in the Navy and never gets to see him perform. Sunny gets in trouble for copying someone else's design, and must finally rely on Jolie's help. Vee's swimming improves, and she breaks Ruby's record, although the victory isn't as sweet as she had hoped. Jolie has a fall in her workshop that imperils the Junkbot competition, and the mobile home park floods at a critical juncture. Will The Secret Winners Club be able to reach their goals despite the many setbacks they face? 

A note at the end of the book shares that the author deals with several autoimmune disorders, and felt it was important to represent these in her book. My cousin's son had alopecia, and there were few books that showed a tween dealing with that condition, although there is a more recent book, Wilson's Sparkle. There are good details about how Vee's vitiligo is commented on by mean girls on her swim team, how Sunny covers her head with scarves of her own design, and how Trev manages his psoriasis. This will allow readers to gain some empathy, but none of the children's conditions are the main point of the story. I'm a big fan of books where Kids Do Things, and the members of The Secret Winners Club is very invested in their various activities.  

Jolie's storyline has a bit of a twist to it, which added another level of interest to the book. Something about the cover made me think that this would be a story about kids investigating mysteries. It wasn't, so I was glad that Jolie was at least a bit enigmatic! 

This is a somewhat longer middle grade book with smaller print, but that's because there is so much going on! Not only is there a lot of detail about the production of Grease, as well as Trev's relationships, but characters like Ruby have complicated back stories that are sometimes quite surprising. There are also a lot of cultural references, including more information about Frank Sinatra than I have seen in a middle grade novel. 

I loved that Sunny and her friends supported each other in working towards their goals. Fans of novels with well developed group dynamics like Konigsber's The View From Saturday, Jahn's Rocky Road (Team Canteen #1),  and Korman's Swindle series, will enjoy following the exploits of The Secret Winners Club. 

N.B.  The Secret Winners Club is not available through Follett's Titlewave. 

Moss, N. West. Birdy
February 17, 2026 by Christy Ottaviano Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Birdy (May) and her younger brother Mouse (Michael), have had a hard life in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, with their mother. It seems she was at first a bit neglectful and prone to anger, and then passed away from cancer. With no father in the picture, the two children are sent to live with their "Aunt" Mitzi, a distant cousin, and her artist husband, Shadow, in upstate New York. Both are in their 70s, and Shadow has just fallen and broken his ankle. Mitzi is unsure about how to care for the children, but treats them gently, is quietly supportive, and allows them a lot of free time to do what they would like. There are a few rules, as well as light chores like cleaning up after themselves. Birdy is amazed at the amount of food in the house, since her mother often had none, and is concerned that she should have some money in case she and Mouse need to flee. She steals small amounts from Mitz's coffee can to bolster her reserves. Social services manages to locate Clay, a half brother of the mother's, and he comes to visit. He is a naturalist who works for a Maine parks department, and brings a goat and tame racoon with him. He, too, is very gentle with the children. Mouse takes to him right away, willingly leaving Birdy's side to sleep on the porch with Clay and the animals, and even Birdy reluctantly likes him. The children are sent to the Mighty Oak Day camp where they can interact with other children. Birdy, who bore the brunt of her mother's neglect and had to struggle to take care of Mouse, would prefer not to talk to anyone, and finds constantly being around people taxing. She frequently lashes out in her diary, and is standoffish with most people. She does develop a crush on an older counselor in training at the camp, and manages to make a friend. Clay decides that he will move to the area if it's okay with the children, and buys a run down property in which Shadow had been interested. After a social worker's visit, plans for a permanent placement are started. Birdy is relieved, but when her theft is finally realized, she worries that everything will fall through. Is there a happy ending for Birdy and Mouse?
Strengths: One of my favorite books as a child was Julie Andrews Edwards' 1974 Mandy, about a girl in an English orphanage who eventually gets placed in a loving family. Mitzi and Shadow's house in the country is very appealing, and Birdy is suddenly surrounded by nature (which she doesn't like), space, and adequate food and supervision. Understandably fearful, she is not pressed for interaction and given plenty of time to settle in. Uncle Clay brings another fun element to the story, with his animals and love of the outdoors. There are realistic scenes of Birdy having to interact with other children at camp. Her inner thoughts, expressed in her diary, are realistic; aren't there days when all of us hate EVERYONE? There's something oddly comforting about this story. Maybe I just want to hang out with Mitzi while she bakes in the kitchen.
Weaknesses: I wish that there had been more information about how Birdy and Mouse lived when they were with their mother. It's sketched in briefly, but the comfort of Birdy's new situation would have been even more of a relief if we had seen how bad her life was. Think about a book like Fipps' And Then Boom, where most of the book is about the neglect the character suffers; this is oddly appealing and comforting to my students. While I appreciate Birdy reading Voigt's 1981 Tillerman Cycle, I'm not sure how many people will understand this reference, since it's old enough that even most of our teachers would have missed it.
What I really think: This made me think of Fisher's Understood Betsy, and I enjoyed the gentle new situation in which Birday and Mouse found themselves. It has some similarities to other books about foster placements, including O'Shaughnessy's Lasagna Means I Love You, Farr's Pavi Sharma's Guide to Going Home, Little's Mostly the Honest Truth and Choldenko's The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman. I have a number of books like this that aren't getting read, so I may not buy this, although I would probably purchase this for an elementary school.

Fantasy Round Up

Johnson, Micah. Aku: Journey to Ibra

March 3, 2026 by Random House Books for Young Readers

ARC provided by the publisher

Aku (a nickname using his initials) and his friends Benji and Trae like to play the video game Star Tribute, which is put out by astronaut Nash Altair's company. It takes Aku's mind off the fact that his grandfather went on a work trip and has been missing for a while. His mother, a high school nurse, and his father, an electrical contractor, are struggling with this, as is Aku. When he finds a space helmet in the basement, he is astonished when it telelports him away to the planet Ibra in the Void Galaxy. The helmet tells him that his grandfather is alive on the planet, so Aku wants to find him. He sees the Avalunas, small creatures who take care of the Lunaberry trees, but also is chased by Floratron Crunchers and is pulled back to Earth. The next time he travels, he takes Benji and Tae with him. They find out that the Lunaberries are crucial to the survival of the planet, and after an Avaluna steals the helmet, the kids travel to the city and find that Nash Altair has set this up and is drawing power from the berries. Aku's grandfather is most likely being held in the Retention Tower. I'm trying to escape Nash's men, the kids meet the Avaluna Queen Orax, and learn that his grandfather was trying to save Ibra from the devastation Nash is wreaking. They also meet Bizzy, an Avaluna who is an inventor and helps them. He has come up with a planetary shield that might save the day, but needs the helmet to scan the grandfather's retinas to put the shield up. With his helmet returned, and Benji and Tae fitted out with an AstroBeat and Holospecs, the group heads to the Retention Tower to try to free Grandpa Underwood. Will Aku and his friends be able to save his grandfather, capture Nash, and make sure that the Avalunas and the Lunaberry trees can survive?
Strengths: Aku's journey was a fast paced, exciting adventure on a troubled planet, and his desire to rescue his grandfather will resonate with young readers. Ibra is an interesting planet, and the Lunaberries reminded me a little of the Truffala trees in Seuss' The Lorax! It's great to see that Aku is interesting in inventing and science, and that Trae is a good computer hacker. While we don't see a lot of Aku's home life, what we do see is very supportive, and there's a nice thread about his father wanting to spend more time with him even though he is sad about the grandfather being missing. It was fun to see the family dinners. Making Nash Altair the villain was a good twist, and I loved that the kids stopped playing the video games put out by his company after their adventures. The teleporting technology of the helmet was very cool, and the end of the book makes it look like there could be more adventures in space. The author was motivated to create Aku after he heard a boy asking his mother if there could be Black astronauts, and he has worked to encourage young people to follow their dreams, which is certainly a positive message. 
Weaknesses: I'm a little conflicted about this title, since Aku started out as an NFT. I rarely buy books based on video games or YouTube channels, but NFTs are definitely new to the world of children's literature. There are a couple of instances of product placement in the story, when Aku's father is reading Time magazine, which featured Aku on the cover. Mr. Johnson is a baseball player, and I certainly have bought sports books written by sports stars. The writing is fine, although there are a lot of plot holes that younger readers will skip right over. (E.G. How do we know that ALL of the Lunaberry trees on the entire planet have been destroyed? And would Aku's few seeds really be able to revitalize Ibra?) I'm very curious to see what other readers think of this book. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed science fiction adventures like Richter's The Star of Moon Village,  Smith's Project Mercury, Cervantes' Anomalies 53: Into the Shadows, or Brooks' Nothing Interesting Ever Happens to Ethan Fairmont. 

Here are some other recent fantasy titles middle grade libraries may want to consider.  

Baptiste, Tracey. Kid X (Boy 2.0 #2)

February 24, 2026 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

The first book has circulated well, so I will buy this sequel. 

From the publisher:
The thrilling sequel to Boy 2.0 , from New York Times bestselling author Tracey Baptiste, perfect for fans of Amari and the Night Brothers and Into the Spiderverse.

Win “Coal” Keegan is starting to get the hang of his new life. He’s come to love his foster family, the McKays, and is getting more confident with his invisibility powers. Almost too much confident. At first, he uses his abilities for small favors. But soon, favors snowball into bigger asks and messier pranks. And when rumors surface about a “ghost” in the neighborhood, Coal realizes it might be best to keep his talents under wraps.

But that gets harder when Coal starts to suspect that someone—or something—might be tracking him. And as the evidence stacks up, Coal realizes he’s not the only one with powers. Is his pursuer friend or foe? What would it be like to meet someone just like him?

As the stakes rise and Coal finds allies and enemies in unexpected places, he’ll have to channel a new level of bravery to protect himself, his family, and his world. Packed with real-world themes of technology, race, and justice, this exhilarating follow-up to Boy 2.0 returns readers to the world of their new favorite superhero.

Roubique, Christopher. Mythspeaker

February 24, 2026 by Viking Books for Young Readers

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

This longer middle grade fantasy had a lot of Indigenous and Cajun folklore that might need a little more explanation for some readers. The cover is great, and it's a good choice for readers who want an action packed adventure fantasy like Marsh's Rougarou Magic, Hobson's The Storyteller, Young's Healers of the Water Monster, or Smith's On a Wing and a Tear.

For fans of Race to the Sun and the Aru Shah series, this epic fantasy adventure inspired by Indigenous American mythology follows a band of misfit children who must pull off an impossible heist in order to save the world!

Thanks to a prophecy revealed when he was little, thirteen-year-old Kyta always knew that he was destined to save the world. But waiting for that moment has kept him on edge his whole childhood, preventing him from having fun like other kids in his tribe. So when the ground quakes and the trees whisper that something is wrong, Kyta leaps into action, desperate to fulfill his destiny. 

He is horrified to find that the precious Egg of the World Turtle, on whose vast shell everyone and everything lives, has been stolen by invaders. The Turtle is angry and grief-stricken, threatening to upend the very land under their feet. The invaders refuse to heed the warning of the tribes and return the Egg . . . so Kyta comes up with a plan to steal it back! 

It's risky and dangerous . . . but abandoning the Egg is certain doom. Kyta assembles other kids who could sneak into the invaders' fortress and pull off the heist, but getting four very different personalities to work together is harder than he thought. And when they discover that the Egg is being guarded by an evil collector, his savage ogres, and a beast so terrible that it defies description, their odds seem all but impossible! Will Kyta be able to fulfill his destiny, or did he set himself up to fail . . . and the world to fall?

Inspired by the Indigenous American folktales, this thrilling and heartwarming fantasy shows the importance of teamwork, respect for nature, and believing in yourself.
 

Questlove, Cosby, S.A. and Akpan, Godwin (illus.)

Time for a Change (The Rhythm of Time #2) 

February 17, 2026 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

As much as I love a good STEM oriented fantasy with some time travel elements, they are a hard sell to my students, so I will sadly pass on this one. 

From the publisher: Book 2 in the electrifying middle-grade sci-fi trilogy.

On the heels of their thrilling appearance in Rhythm of Time, best friends Rahim and Kasia are back traveling through time in Time for a Change. Last time around, they were on their own—now they are working with Aevum, a mysterious organization from the future that tasks them with averting disaster and safeguarding the flow of history.

The first assignment sends Rahim to Hawaii to recover a rock that Aevum insists is key to stabilizing the future. But things take a dramatic turn when he inadvertently jeopardizes the mission, thrusting him and Kasia into a web of intrigue populated by a diverse cast of time-travelers with their own enigmatic motives. There are doppelgängers from parallel dimensions. There are robots who may be allies but may be enemies. As Rahim and Kasia move like pinballs through time, they must navigate a treacherous path to unveil the truth and avert a devastating future across multiple realities.

Alston, B.B. Amari and the Metalwork Menace (#4)

February 24, 2026 by Storytide

E ARC Provided by Edelweiss Plus

When Amari and the Night Brothers came out in 2021, I had high hopes for this series and even bought two copies of the first book. Sadly, my students now don't want to read ONE 400 page book, much less commit to a series of them. Since there is probably at least one more book in this series, I'm torn. I feel like I should buy a copy, but I'm not convinced anyone will ever check it out. (Looking at you, Duane's Games Wizards Play (2016) that has maybe been checked out once.)

From the Publisher:

The gripping fourth book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Supernatural Investigations series that began with Amari and the Night Brothers!

Perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and Nevermoor.

In the wake of the extreme losses to the Bureau during the war with Dylan Van Helsing and the magicians, Amari has stepped back from being a Junior Agent to spend the school year as a normal kid. But as she prepares to graduate eighth grade, she's faced with a decision: Return to the Bureau and join the elite new Junior Special Agent Program, or retire for good—which would mean safety, but also losing her memories of the supernatural world.

But soon she finds that she may not have a choice. A deadly new curse is threatening both the supernatural and mortal worlds as, beneath their skin, people are slowly becoming machines—and losing their very humanity. And it's somehow related to the First Magician.

Hundreds of cases have been cropping up, with no cure in sight. And when the curse hits someone close to Amari, it's up to her to get to the bottom of this deadly mystery—even if it means trusting an old enemy.

MMGM- Small Wonder and Writing Toward Justice

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

Montgomery, Ross. Small Wonder

March 3, 2026 by Candlewick

ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central

Tick and his younger brother Leaf have been raised by their grandfather in a remote cabin along the coast of Ellia. Since he has passed away, Tick is trying to prepare for the upcoming winter. When he and Leaf see Drene ships with black sails approaching, Tick remembers his grandfather's warnings and heads home to pack so the boys can flee to the Kings Keep. When he gets home, however, there is already a Drene Hunter there. Tick roots in his bag for supplies and grabs a handful of papers before he needs to escape. With their horse, Pebble, the boys take off across the Forest, planning on making the six day journey to the Keep so that they can shelter there. Along the way, they find a wagon overturned, and try to get some supplies, but get attacked by bandits. Later, they come across the bandits again, and Tick daringly frees the man they have captured. The current king, Cass, is the son of the Good King Avery, but has not done a good job ruling, and is even rumored to have killed his son Brandon and his wife Brianna. The emperor of Drene needs to conquer Ellia, because it is the gateway to the Five Kingdoms. Kings Keep is situated at a critical point of access to the other kingdoms, which is why it is so well fortified. The papers that Tick has found indicate that there is a weakness in the keep's walls, and he feels even more compelled to get there to warn everyone. At one point the boys stop at an old woman's house, and while she seems helpful, she ends up drugging their food and drink and stealing their supplies! Luckily, Pebble comes to the rescue. The mountains are the hardest part of the journey, and while Tick realizing some shocking information about his brother, Leaf becomes ill.  The boys are helped by Ffiona and Daniyal, knights of Ellia who have been banished by King Cass. They help Leaf recover, tell Tick to look for a knight named Lara, and help the boys take a daring ride up to the Keep. The narrowly make it inside, and luckily find Lara right away. Tick has an audience with king Cass. The king is determined to surrender Elia, but Tick confronts him with proof of his betrayal of the country. The Hunter who has been stalking Tick shows up, as does the entire Drene army and the emperor. Will Tick be able to use his knowledge and skills to save Ellia?

Even though there isn't any magic, Small Wonder does read like a medieval fantasy quest. There's even a map at the beginning of the book so that we can track our hero's journey. While the grandfather is dead, he is with Tick every step of the way, and the lessons he taught the boys save them many times. There are plenty of good details about riding through the Forest, across the Deep, and struggling up the mountains to the Keep. The Hunter is quite ominous, and his hawk frightening! Luckily, Tick is extremely clever, even pitted against the emperor of the Drene! 

There are some excellent twists and turns in this story that I don't want to ruin, and some great hidden identities. Some of these I got early on, but there was a big one that was quite a surprise! The pacing of this was extremely good, and I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. This is a perfect choice for young readers who desperately want to read Tolkein but are not quite ready for The Fellowship of the Ring. 

I'm not sure why the book description says this is "perfect for fans of Percy Jackson, Michael Morpurgo and Wild Robot". It's much more of a fantasy adventure title similar to Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series of Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain, and made me wistful for Banks' 1976 The Farthest-Away Mountain. It had a classic feel to it, and my feelings would not be hurt if this became a series. The Keith Robertson cover is fantastic! 

Thomas, Peggy and Engel, Tonya (illus.)

Writing Towards Justice: The Life and Reporting of Alice A Dunnigan

January 27, 2026 by Astra/Calkins Creek

Copy provided by the publisher

Born in 1906, Alice Allison was always passionate about education, equal rights, and writing. She demanded to go to school at a young age, and let people in her hometown in Kentucky know about the unequal treatment that Black residents faced. She wrote for the Owensboro Enterprise, and became the first high school and college graduate in her family. Career paths for women were limited, so she taught school for a while, but soon embarked on a difficult path to be a reporter. This became even more difficult during the Great Depression, but she was always looking for opportunities. When she saw an ad for typists in Washington, D.C., she got the job, and wrote stories for the Associated Negro Press in her part time. It wasn't easy, since she was often denied access due to her race. This was especially true when covering events for the White House or Congress. Eventually, after a heated congressional hearing, she because the first Black women reporter in the Capitol Press Corps. She traveled with President Truman's entourage on a cross country train trip, and managed to tell him about all of the problems that she and other Black people were having. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s made some more progress, but Alice A. Dunnigan was at the forefront of this cause. 

It's always fascinating to read about historical figures who haven't been celebrated, and Dunnigan's life is certainly worth learning about. I was amazed that she even wrote a 1974 memoir, A Black Woman's Experience: From Schoolhouse to White House, and yet I still had never heard of her! Peggy Thomas has done a great job of weaving historical facts in with messages about the qualities that propelled Dunnigan's work. Engel's acrylic paintings with oil finishes capture the feel of the early twentieth century nicely, and her use a colors underlines this period feel. 

There are great notes at the end of the book, and a complete list of resources, along with a photograph of Dunnigan. It's always good to see these things included, but I prefer picture book biographies to include relevant years in the text. I look for this as a way to place historical figures in context, and it's especially important for young readers, who might think the subject is still alive. 

Journalism continues to be an important career, even though traditional newspapers may not enjoy the readership that they once did. Include this with other picture book titles about groundbreaking writers like Christensen's The Daring Nellie Bly: America’s Star Reporter,  Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told by Myers, Christensen, Blumenthal, Baddeley, and McCartney's Revolutionary Mary: The True Story of One Woman, the Declaration of Independence, and America's Fight for Freedom,  The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne by Cline-Ransome, and Miss Mary Reporting: The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber by Macy and Payne. 

Didn't read as much this month, since we didn't have a full week of snow days!