From the J.P. Delaney, bestselling author of The Girl Before (2013), comes Believe Me, a twisty psychological thriller about a woman playing both sides of a murder investigation. The trailer features a changing checkerboard overlay as the novel is introduced: Claire Wright likes to play other people… to trap them in her web. Her rules are clear: Don’t get […]
J. R. Ward (of Black Dagger Brotherhood series fame) is at it again with a fiery protagonist, a fiery romance, and actual fires in her new novel. coming this October. When the consequences from a rash decision leaves adrenaline-junkie Anne unable to continue her work as a firefighter, she turns to arson investigation, starting with […]
Jo Watson Hackl debuted last month with Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe (Random), a middle-grade novel that places an art mystery in a Mississippi ghost town. The story is narrated by 12-year-old Cricket, who Booklist reviewer Carolyn Phelan describes as “idiosyncratic, intrepid, and wholly likable.” Cricket grew up hearing about a secret room, and when […]
Tomi Adeyemi’s debut novel, which already has a movie deal in the works, is a feast for fantasy lovers. A world stripped of magic, a people feared and oppressed, and a ruthless king create the foundation for Zélie’s story. Her quest to avenge her mother’s death and return magic to her people will keep readers […]
David Arnold’s latest novel, The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik (Viking, May 2018), follows 16-year-old Noah Oakman as his quirky interests and highly specific observations intensify after he believes he’s been hypnotized. The live action trailer shows clips of Noah in various settings—at home, at a party, at the pool—all with his eyes closed as the world […]
With stunning textures and lyrical storytelling, this tale of a young girl with an insatiable creativity will inspire any creator who peruses its pages. Samantha Berger and Mike Curato collaborate to give life to a protagonist who daydreams how she would express her creativity if, say, she no longer had a pencil. She could certainly […]
My Plain Jane, out last week from HarperTeen, is the second in the Lady Janies series from Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. Each title in the series re-imagines and re-tells the story of a famous Jane—first Lady Jane Grey, now Jane Eyre, and eventually Calamity Jane—but with a fun, supernatural twist. Jane Eyre author Charlotte Brontë […]
Through the collaborative efforts of writers Terry Blas (collaborative author for The Amazing World of Gumball graphic novel) and Molly Muldoon (contributor to the Cardboard Kingdom graphic novel) and illustrator Matthew Seely comes their debut graphic novel, Dead Weight: Murder at Camp Bloom (Oni). Featuring a diverse cast of teenage-campers and counselors, Dead Weight takes readers on […]
Furyborn, out from Sourcebooks / Fire last month, begins the new epic fantasy Empirium Trilogy from author Claire Legrand. The book, which debuted at #4 on the New York Times bestseller list, tells the story of two fiercely independent girls—a thousand years apart and on either side of a war—who are connected by a prophecy. […]
Six years after her debut novel, The Song of Achilles, the latest from American author Madeline Miller shows readers a rewrite of classic Greek myths from the perspective of the titular sidelined sorceress, Circe. Truly a woman in a man’s world, Circe is simultaneously too weak (having not inherited the powers of her father, Helios) and too threatening […]
Encouraging Middle-Schoolers to Choose Books
There’s been a lot of discussion among the librarians I know about what to do with middle-schoolers: they just don’t seem to read as much as they used to. I know that here in Chicago, we have a unique perspective on this situation, since our schools run K–8. In my former school system in Maryland […]
Getting Started with the Global Read Aloud
The 2017 Global Read Aloud kicked off yesterday, and I’m here to help. Author and educator Pernille Ripp founded the program as a way to connect students and teachers from different locales around the topics of books. (Think One Book One School or One Book One City, but on a global scale.) Each year, Ripp […]
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Practice Recognizing Fake News
Cindy: There have been a number of YA fiction books with the title “Two Truths and a Lie,” but we’ve found a creative, informational book for middle-grade students that reinforces evaluating information for truth. Fake news, anyone? Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive (2017) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson is the first […]
Encouraging Middle-Schoolers to Choose Books
There’s been a lot of discussion among the librarians I know about what to do with middle-schoolers: they just don’t seem to read as much as they used to. I know that here in Chicago, we have a unique perspective on this situation, since our schools run K–8. In my former school system in Maryland […]
Getting Started with the Global Read Aloud
The 2017 Global Read Aloud kicked off yesterday, and I’m here to help. Author and educator Pernille Ripp founded the program as a way to connect students and teachers from different locales around the topics of books. (Think One Book One School or One Book One City, but on a global scale.) Each year, Ripp […]
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Practice Recognizing Fake News
Cindy: There have been a number of YA fiction books with the title “Two Truths and a Lie,” but we’ve found a creative, informational book for middle-grade students that reinforces evaluating information for truth. Fake news, anyone? Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive (2017) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson is the first […]
Follow the Booklist Reader