October 7, 2025 by Scholastic Press
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
When Abby and Jonah's parents break the news that the family might have to move back to Naperville after barely a year in Smithville, Abby is devastated. Not only would she miss her new friends Frankie, Robin, and Penny, but leaving their current home would mean leaving the enchanted mirror that housed Maryrose. Desperate to find out their fate, the two call on their favorite fairy and are swiftly whisked away to a fairy tale world, still in their pajamas! Things look a bit familiar, and when they meet some of Snow White's dwarves, they realize they are back in Zamel. Snow and Prince Trevor's wedding is in a few days, so Snow thinks they have come for that, but in reality, Maryrose has asked them to help Gabrielle, another fairy trapped in a mirror, this time by her twin, the evil Gluck, who is currently trapped in the story of Peter Pan. Doing their research, Abby and Jonah discover that they have the best chance of freeing Gabrielle if they can assemble eleven fairies from their previous journeys. While they are inviting these fairies to the wedding, the realize that Prince Trevor is acting very oddly. This is just part of an enormous magical problem they have to solve with the help from characters from their past. Will they be able to free Gabrielle and figure out a way to continue their adventures even if their parents move them back to Naperville?
This was a fantastic final volume in the Whatever After series, which was first published in 2012. Mlynowski manages to tie together both the siblings' magical and realistic journeys, and to reconnect them with pivotal allies from the past. The parallel construction of Maryrose and Gabrielle's entrapment is clever, and there is a bit of a dark turn where Abby finds herself trapped in the mirror! Prince the dog is a steadfast character, and he gets to stay with the children, which was a huge relief.
The magical elements align nicely, and there are some explantions that are helpful if one has followed the entire series. Revisiting the Snow White tale and having Abby and Jonah help with the wedding is a nice touch, as was having their grandmother's fairy tale book feature them in all of the updated stories.
There isn't as much attention paid to Abby's friends in Smithville, but that's understandable since there are so many threads to be woven together to end this tale. It was heartening to see that not only will the children be closer to their Nana, who has stayed in Naperville, but to watch as they start off on a new adventure with her at the end of the book.
Stead, Rebecca. The Experiment
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Baskin, Nora Raleigh and Mass, Wendy. The Planet, the Portal, and a Pizza
October 7, 2025 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Reintgen, Scott. The Rise of Neptune (The Dragonships #2)
While I am not normally a fan of series that last twenty books (including super special editions), each book is rather short, and the stories move quickly. Fans of Baker's The Wide Awake Princess series, Zahler's fairy tale retellings, or Colfer's Land of Stories books will enjoy Abby and Jonah's fractured fairy tale adventures, and revel in this all inclusive finale.
September 16, 2025 by Feiwel & Friends
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Nathan from New York has always know that he and his mother and father are Kast, who are living on Earth as an experiment. While his father is an accountant, his mother studies HIM, weighing his food, making sure he brushes with pink toothpaste, and spending twenty minutes a day collecting data about everything he's done. It's been hard hiding this from his best friend, Victor, but when the family has to report back to Hester at the Wagon, the Kast headquarters, he finally comes clean. For some reason, Nathan has grown a tail, which is a first for the Kast community. At first, Nathan thinks he's in trouble, especially since other Kast kids his age have stopped showing up at the monthly video chat. He especially misses Izzy, whom he had once met, and who sent him a cell phone with which the two could communicate. He suspects she is at the Wagon, and when the family arrives at the U-STORIT center behind a mall in Pennsylvania that masquerades as the Kast facility, he does find her. She is living in horrible conditions, and Nathan would like to help, but after Hester evaluates him and sends him home, there's not much he can do. Reconnecting with Victor, the two decide to travel back to Pennsylvania and try to rescue Izzy. Once back, Nathan leaves Victor at the mall and is plunged into a vast history of secrets about who the Kast are and are NOT, and must struggle to reconfigure his world view. (I don't want to spoil the twists!)
Nathan from New York has always know that he and his mother and father are Kast, who are living on Earth as an experiment. While his father is an accountant, his mother studies HIM, weighing his food, making sure he brushes with pink toothpaste, and spending twenty minutes a day collecting data about everything he's done. It's been hard hiding this from his best friend, Victor, but when the family has to report back to Hester at the Wagon, the Kast headquarters, he finally comes clean. For some reason, Nathan has grown a tail, which is a first for the Kast community. At first, Nathan thinks he's in trouble, especially since other Kast kids his age have stopped showing up at the monthly video chat. He especially misses Izzy, whom he had once met, and who sent him a cell phone with which the two could communicate. He suspects she is at the Wagon, and when the family arrives at the U-STORIT center behind a mall in Pennsylvania that masquerades as the Kast facility, he does find her. She is living in horrible conditions, and Nathan would like to help, but after Hester evaluates him and sends him home, there's not much he can do. Reconnecting with Victor, the two decide to travel back to Pennsylvania and try to rescue Izzy. Once back, Nathan leaves Victor at the mall and is plunged into a vast history of secrets about who the Kast are and are NOT, and must struggle to reconfigure his world view. (I don't want to spoil the twists!)
Strengths: The idea of being a space alien and living on Earth will speak to MANY middle grade readers, who have a faint idea in the back of their mind that perhaps this is why their life is difficult! I loved the close relationship between Nathan and Victor, and the way that they bonded over Calvin and Hobbes and made sure to contact each other even when they weren't supposed to. The parents were also interesting, and their back story of being raised at the Wagon was really intriguing. The mother's attention to detail was explained nicely when it was revealed that she had wanted to go to college and become a scientist, but was denied the opportunity. Nathan's friendship with Izzy was also fantastic, especially the tiny bit of romance that didn't quite work out. Of course tweens are going to have these feelings even when they think they are going to have to return to their home planet! There were plenty of interesting details about the Wagon, and the other residents, to give this a science fiction feel, but there was a bit of suspense about whether or not the Kast really existed, which was fun.
Weaknesses: I really loved the beginning of this, with the details of being aliens living on Earth, but the plot took a turn that seemed odd. On the plus side, it was definitely new and innovative, but took the book in a completely different, somewhat goofy, direction.
What I really think: Stead has had a steady stream of books since her 2009 Newbery Winner When You Reach Me, but this might be my favorite so far. It's a good choice for readers who liked science fiction like Holm's Lion of Mars, van Eekhout's Weird Kid, or Schaefer's A Long Way From Home.
Waugh, Sylvia. Space Race
August 8, 2000 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Library copy
From the publisher:
Weaknesses: I really loved the beginning of this, with the details of being aliens living on Earth, but the plot took a turn that seemed odd. On the plus side, it was definitely new and innovative, but took the book in a completely different, somewhat goofy, direction.
What I really think: Stead has had a steady stream of books since her 2009 Newbery Winner When You Reach Me, but this might be my favorite so far. It's a good choice for readers who liked science fiction like Holm's Lion of Mars, van Eekhout's Weird Kid, or Schaefer's A Long Way From Home.
I think I was expecting something more like Waugh's Space Race which was a HUGE favorite back in the day.
August 8, 2000 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Library copy
From the publisher:
Every night before going to sleep, 11-year-old Thomas Derwent says to his father, "Nallytan, Vateelin mesht." It's the one thing he remembers from the language of The Other Place, and Thomas has never thought much about it. Until now. Now, because his father has told him that they're leaving. Not just the small town in England where they live, but Earth. They're returning to The Other Place, the planet of Ormingat, from which they came five years before. It was so long ago, though, that Thomas can't remember anything about his life there. All he knows is his life on Earth, and he can't imagine leaving the places and people he loves so much. But the only other option is to stay behind. Alone.
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October 7, 2025 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Piper lives in Rockdale with her parents, who make clocks and often have explosive experiments with them. She has a robotic dog, Roody, who is often left in charge of keeping her safe. She has a friend, Sofia, who is in her class at school. Raisa lives in the future, and her mother is working on a device to travel through the multiverse. It doesn't look at will work, so she and her friend Lev take her mother's scientific notebooks and try to use the device. It works, and they end up in an alternate version of Rockdale where someone else is living in Raisa's house, but there are some constants, like the kids favorite pizza restaurant, Toozy Patza. Piper notices that her parents are getting odder and odder, and they eventually go missing. In both timelines, the children consult the brown leather bound book, but not everyone can see the writing in it. Raisa and Lev lose the book, so can't get back to their own time, but luckily run into Raisa's mother, who is not her mother, but who helps take care of the children. The multiverse is a complicated place, and the kids have to figure out a lot of different things in order to keep their universes intact.
This had a bit of a Willow Falls vibe to it, so I can definitely see Mass' influence in the title, but fantasy is not something that Baskin normally writes. There seems to be a resurgence in middle grade science fiction that deals with alternate realities; Stead's The Experiment, Haddix's The Moonleapers, and Schaefer's A Long Way From Home all have a similar feel. They are rather realistic, and have some themes of friendship and identity, but also include fantasy elements that have a scientific flavor. Holm's upcoming Outside looks to have some of these elements.
October 7, 2025 by Aladdin
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
I loved the first book, The Last Dragon of Mars, and it's done really well in my library, so I will definitely purchase this one. But it's an object lesson in why it is so important to get children the right book at the right time.
Having just finished one 8th grade language arts project, I was all set to do another. Since I read books in the order they are published, I started reading The Rise of Neptune with the assignment packet next to me, taking notes. Lunar is now a leader of some sort (I never remember the endings of books, so forgot exactly what he was; something with the dragon Dread, aka Ares, aka the planet Mars being linked to him?), and so takes charge when Earth people arrive on his planet. But then Neptune starts sending ships, and when they don't respond to the Martian communications, Lunar has them blown up. But wait! It's really a way for the Neptune forces to create a net out of the space debris and surround Mars! Okay, cool. But then one of the moons of Neptune, a shape shifting dragon, Proteus, is discovered to have come to live in the house Lunar grew up in, and his sister, Nereid, is loyal to Neptune. Then, I just got confused and started to be more interested in cleaning the house and doing laundry than reading the book, and I knew it would make a disastrous project. It's also 432 pages, and if I had committed to doing the project on this book as a student, I might have just given up, grade or no grade.
I'm still trying to decide what book to use; it's looking like Avi's January 2026 The Road from Nowhere. Still, I'm having trouble restarting. So many students just pick completely random books, and when they have to spend a month reading the books, it's no wonder when they DO give up.
When the class visits this week, the teacher wants me to share this story with them. The Rise of Neptune is a great book. It just wasn't the best book for me at this time. I'm still not understanding how the dragons are planets. Here's the publisher description:
Lunar Jones and the Dread Knights have brought hope to Mars. Between Dread’s power and a newly formed alliance with Earth, the once-dying planet is headed for prosperity at last. The only shadow is the one cast by Dav Robinson’s warning: Neptune is coming.
As predicted, Neptune’s ships arrive in Martian space—and they’re not interested in talking. The ships launch an immediate attack. Lunar was prepared for hostilities, but the way the attack happens is unexpected. Neptune’s dragons seem divided, and its ships, while countless in number, are almost too easy to defeat. It’s clear there’s more to Neptune’s story than meets the eye, and Lunar and his Dread Knights must figure out the mystery behind their looming foe quickly…before those secrets doom Mars for good.
As predicted, Neptune’s ships arrive in Martian space—and they’re not interested in talking. The ships launch an immediate attack. Lunar was prepared for hostilities, but the way the attack happens is unexpected. Neptune’s dragons seem divided, and its ships, while countless in number, are almost too easy to defeat. It’s clear there’s more to Neptune’s story than meets the eye, and Lunar and his Dread Knights must figure out the mystery behind their looming foe quickly…before those secrets doom Mars for good.
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