July 22, 2025 by Holiday House
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Rowan Fitzgerald doesn't have much luck with boarding schools, which is too bad, since her grandfather, Cillian, sends her off to them because her parents drowned when she was young. This last time, she has to go and live with him in Glassby Bay, but there's a lot he hasn't told her. Not only does he run a library of magical objects, but he lives in the same building. For the time being, Rowan will be homeschooled and volunteer at the library along with Henry, whose parents are caterers, and Lara, whose mother is head of records for the library. Rowan overhears family secrets being discussed and finds out that the family has an arch nemesis, Jack, who may or may not be responsible for her parents' deaths. There is an artifact called the Everheart that Jack wants, but which no one seems to have any clue about. Rowan gets introduced to some of the items in the library that are loaned out, like wishing socks, books that shrink for traveling, and some magical watering cans that have a few bugs. When objects start to go missing, Rowan is blamed, and must find out who is stealing from her family. Since her grandfather wants to send her back to boarding school to keep her safe, she doesn't have a lot of time. Will she be able to find out what the Everheart is, locate it, and keep Jack from destroying her family?
This reminded me a bit of Bell's The Crooked Sixpence, Magoon's The Secret Library, or Hannibal's The Lost Property Office , and was very similar to Shulman's 2010 The Grimm Legacy. There are plenty of fun magical things, and this seemed like a magical academy tales even though Rowan was homeschooled. The plot depended largely on Silverjack's backstory, but I wasn't as interested in that part of the narrative. I wanted to see more of Rowan, Henry, and Lara's exploits.
August 1, 2025 by Stone Arch Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Sawyer lives with his mom, dad, and older sister Stacey, and has a big secret! He's a shapeshifter, a trait he has inherited from his grandmother, who unfortunately is stuck as a record player. When he is bugging his sister as a spider, she takes a swat at him, so he turns himself into a dog. Since the family doesn't have a dog, he's shooed out of the house. This leads to him being taken to a dog pound, but he managed to break out, impersonate the mayor, and get a lot of dogs adopted before turning back into himself.
The explanation of how Sawyer got his powers could have come sooner, and he could have made better choices. This isn't supposed to make a lot of sense, but once he was shooed out of his house, why not just turn back into himself? Young readers won't care.
This is an early graphic novel that would be great for fans of Pilkey's Dogman, Steinke's Mr. Wolf's Class, or Blabey's Bad Guys Novels.
Thanks for sharing. I haven't read either of these- but I have a lot of kids in my life who love Dogman- so it is nice to have another book to recoomend to them. :)
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