August 26, 2025 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Idalee's mother wants to be a country singer, but in the meantime is renting rooms out in her old and somewhat run down family home to a variety of quirky individuals. When she gets the opportunity to travel and perform, she rents out her room to the star struck Jackie and leaves the house under the capable care of Mrs. Randall, a teacher at Idalee's school. Idalee wants to win a song writing contest, and really wants a new guitar.
This would be a good choice for readers who liked guitar centered books like Ormsbee's 2023 Candidly Cline, Zarr's 2022 A Song Called Home, Sumner's 2021 Tune It Out, Larson's 2018 All Summer Long, or Kelly's 2016 Blackbird Fly.
This is a nice, short book that might do better in elementary libraries. Everyone seems to love O'Connor's work, but it's a bit too quirky and Southern for me. Not seeing how this relates to Wish (2016), but it's been a long time.
Expected publication August 12, 2025
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Readers who are familiar with Myracle's middle grade and young adult novels will be surprised by this elementary retelling of Burnett's 1905 A Little Princess. Penelope's mother and godmother are off on an adventure because the godmother, Queenie, is a fat positive social media star. Penelope would like to start a school for disadvantaged children, and in order to do so, needs to finally attend an educational institution. She struggles with fitting in with the girls at her boarding school, but the headmistress likes her... as long as she can spend Queenie's mother. When the mother and godmother go missing, all of the assets are frozen, and Penelope is made to do chores around the school. A secret about her ancestry is revealed, and there is a happy ending.
Read this yourself to see if your library needs another retelling of this classic novel. Gilded Girl (Gilded Magic, 1) by Alyssa Colman is another version, with a little touch of fantasy. I don't have the readers for it at my middle school library, since the language is rather young, but it might go over well in elementary libraries where readers are fans of Jane's character in Birdsall's The Penderwicks.
August 5, 2025 by Macmillan Children's Book
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Cassie goes to a school that requires uniforms, but is incredibly interested in the history of fashion. Her prized possession is a 1920s style flapper dress, and she also has a 1960s mini skirt that her grandmother wore. When her school announces a contest to create a more modern uniform, she's pleased to be working on the "dream team" with her friend Azra, who is into trendy, of the moment fast fashion and brand names, and Fern, who is more eco conscious. Cassie enjoys learning to knit, and working with a local KnitWit group. In the end, the head of the school decides that despite good entries from other teams, the school will work with the KnitWits to custom design uniforms for each girl in the school.
At which point, it's not "uniform" anymore, is it? This was a very British title that I really, really wanted to like, since I am a big fan of uniforms, fashion history, and knitting. All about "Me made" clothing! Even though the Louise Rennison Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging vibe was strong, I don't think this would resonate with my current students, who seem to live in hoodies and pajama pants. I have enough trouble getting readers to check out Taylor's Sew Zoe books.
At which point, it's not "uniform" anymore, is it? This was a very British title that I really, really wanted to like, since I am a big fan of uniforms, fashion history, and knitting. All about "Me made" clothing! Even though the Louise Rennison Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging vibe was strong, I don't think this would resonate with my current students, who seem to live in hoodies and pajama pants. I have enough trouble getting readers to check out Taylor's Sew Zoe books.
August 26, 2025 by Running Press Kids
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Guides to beauty and fashion generally become hilariously outdated; I have a collection of 1950s etiquette manuals that I bought in the 1970 and 80s, but what I should have been doing was buying brand new copies of books published in those decades, because I can only imagine how horribly the advice within them has held up.
Take Up Space, Y'all embraces the modern body positive zeitgeist with a vengeance. Tattoos figure largely, and the expectation that standards are bad and expectations should be ignored comes up frequently.
My mother was in my head as I was reading this, and she wants you all to sit up straight, get your hands out of your pockets, and for goodness sake, do SOMETHING about your HAIR. This would make a great gift from a cool aunt to a tween or teen struggling with body image, but I will pass on purchase for my school library, since the information will no doubt be completely different in five years, and budgets are tight right now.
August 19, 2025 by Christy Ottaviano Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
After a trip to Germany to visit relatives, Greta has to start the school year at Simmons Middle School. She has good friends in Isabell and Chloe, and has a mild crush on the cute Isaac. She's excited to be writing for the school newspaper, which is going to publish online twice a month instead of only once a month in print. At home, she's rather amused that her relative Ingrid has sent her a cuckoo clock she admired in Germany. It belonged to a girl who died, so is a little creepy, especially when one of the figures on the clock, Lulu, comes to life! Hiding Lulu from her parents and younger brother, Max, is a bit of a struggle, but not as hard as coming up with ideas for stories. Frantic to have something to turn in, Greta plants the ideas for several stories, including persuading someone to stage a birthday surprise for the orchestra teacher, putting puzzles around the building for people to work on, and posting positive sticky notes in the girls' restrooms. Of course, the journalism teacher wants her to investigate the last two and find out who was behind the initiatives, which Greta can't do. As her stress mounts, Lulu offers her a way out-- Greta can go into the world of the cuckoo clock, where everything will be pleasant. The catch? She can never leave.
I loved the idea of visiting relatives in Germany, and fell down quite a rabbit hole investigating Schultüte, but had a hard time accepting that Greta's staging of news stories was that problematic. Going into the clock struck me as being all too close to suicide, which creeped me out. Readers who are interested in journalism and who liked the magical realism in this author's J.R. Silver Writes Her World may not be as creeped out as I was. Love the cover, and the connections to German culture.
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