Acorn Was a Little WildJen Arena, illustrated by Jessica GibsonFrom an oak-tree perch, Acorn longs for adventure and becomes the first of his friends to jump down into the wider world. New experiences fill him with excitement until a squirrel buries him deep underground. Forced to remain still in darkness for a long time, the young acorn begins a journey that leads to transformation.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD630LATOS Book Level 4.1View book detailsCBC Favorites Awards 2023
The 2023 edition contains 482 selections published by the Children's Book Council. The source uses 12 audience or subject sections, including Kids Favorites, Kindergarten through 2nd Grade, Kids Favorites, 3rd through 5th Grade, Kids Favorites, 6th through 8th Grade, and Kids Favorites, 9th through 12th Grade. It is one year of the CBC Favorites program, whose results may be grouped by Kids, Teachers, and Librarians.
2023 CBC Favorites AwardsSee the original list
Selections482
Published byChildren's Book Council
Sections12 sections
Browse sections12 sections
Kids Favorites — K–2nd Grade
41 selections
Acorn Was a Little WildJen Arena, illustrated by Jessica GibsonFrom an oak-tree perch, Acorn longs for adventure and becomes the first of his friends to jump down into the wider world. New experiences fill him with excitement until a squirrel buries him deep underground. Forced to remain still in darkness for a long time, the young acorn begins a journey that leads to transformation.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD630LATOS Book Level 4.1View book details
Being Friends with DragonsKatherine Locke, illustrated by Diane EwenA story about friendship with dragons, whose company can be wonderful but not always easy. The central challenge is a dragon’s fiery temper: can it be tamed well enough for a lasting friendship to develop? The book frames the relationship around the difficulties that can arise when a dragon’s temper flares and the effort to form a bond despite them.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Big and Small and In-BetweenCarter HigginsThis book considers the world through differences in size, from a family of bears to a reflection in a puddle. It includes things that can be touched or seen as well as things that are felt. An imaginative visual exploration, it connects physical objects and emotional experiences, inviting readers to notice what they might collect from the world around them.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure NP0LATOS Book Level 0.1View book details
Blue Baboon Finds Her TuneHelen Docherty, illustrated by Thomas DochertyUnder an orange moon, Blue Baboon sets off carrying her bassoon. A monsoon interrupts her musical outing, but a large balloon helps bring her to a dune. There, Blue Baboon and her friends play music together. The story is told as a rhyming picture book built around music, weather, and the journey to join her friends.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Blue Bison Needs a HaircutScott Rothman, illustrated by Pete OswaldBlue Bison likes to look clean and neat, but his hair begins to grow wild. He tries to stay patient while barber shops are closed, leaving his need for a haircut unresolved. The story follows Blue Bison’s efforts to wait through a frustrating situation involving his appearance and a changing routine.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD560LATOS Book Level 3.7View book details
Blurp’s Book of MannersCindy Derby, illustrated by Cindy DerbyPicklepop is teaching an etiquette lesson when she spills a bucket of paint and a living paint blob appears. Blurp is not frightening or wicked, but the messy creature repeatedly interrupts the lesson with paint splatters, burps, and other distractions. As Picklepop tries to continue teaching manners, Blurp turns the session upside down and may have something to teach the etiquette coach in return.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD610LATOS Book Level 4View book details
Come On In: There’s a Party in this Book!Jamie Michalak, illustrated by Sabine TimmLemon searches for a party in a world filled with unusual friends. Along the way are cats in boots, fruit in suits, bread dogs, and a pigeon named Fred. The book asks readers to help Lemon locate the celebration, making the search part of the story. Its characters and party setting create an imaginative gathering of animals and food-inspired figures.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
The CometJoe Todd-Stanton, illustrated by Joe Todd-StantonNyla mourns the home she has left behind after moving to the city with her dad. One night, a comet inspires her to seek connections between her old home and her new one. The story follows Nyla as she responds to displacement and change, finding a way to hold both places in mind while making sense of life in a new city.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Creepy Crayon!Aaron ReynoldsJasper Rabbit would rather play than do schoolwork, and he is failing at school. He finds a magic—or possessed—crayon that supplies the right answers and helps him improve his grades. The crayon soon becomes a source of trouble. This horror story follows Jasper as he uses the unusual crayon to change what happens with his schoolwork, bringing together school pressure, supernatural help, and consequences.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD500LATOS Book Level 3.3View book details
Dodos Are NOT Extinct!Paddy Donnelly, illustrated by Paddy DonnellyThis playful book invites readers to look closely for extinct animals hiding in disguise. Dodos, woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and dinosaurs may be closer than they seem, concealed throughout the pages. The animal-filled story turns its search into a guessing game, asking readers to spot creatures that are famous for having disappeared. Its premise combines extinct animals with silliness and visual discovery.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD670LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
Does a Bulldozer Have a Butt?Derick WilderOn a walk to school with their dad, a child keeps asking a very serious question: what has a butt? Their search takes them through the city, where the illustrations include details to spot along the way. The book approaches the question with playful humor, following the child’s curiosity as everyday sights become part of the investigation.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD460LATOS Book Level 3.1View book details
DoggieNancy Armo, illustrated by Nancy ArmoA little boy hopes for a dog, but a cat unexpectedly comes to live at his house instead. The story follows the surprise of receiving a different kind of pet than the one he expected, including a cat named Doggie. It centers on the relationship between people and pets, as the boy’s wish and the new arrival reshape what he finds at home.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Don’t Hug the QuokkaDaniel Errico, illustrated by Mia PowellA quokka may look cute, but it does not want to be hugged. It says no, introducing consent through an animal’s response to unwanted touch. The book stresses asking before a hug and makes clear that a hug should happen only when the other person agrees. Even adorable creatures can reject physical contact. Its central encounter distinguishes appearance from permission.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD450LATOS Book Level 3.1View book details
Every Dog in the NeighborhoodPhilip C. SteadLouis and his grandmother go door to door through their neighborhood to determine whether it already has enough dogs. Louis counts the dogs as part of making his case. Their survey becomes an adventure through the community, where they encounter details and humor along the way. By the end, Louis discovers that one particular dog needs a home, changing the purpose of his count.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD510LATOS Book Level 3.4View book details
FarmhouseSophie BlackallSophie Blackall imagines the lives of a white family who once lived in a farmhouse she purchased. Twelve children were born and raised there, amid music, books, chores, sickness, dreams, arguments, and changing seasons. The children eventually leave one by one, and the empty house slowly erodes as nature enters its rooms. Later, Blackall discovers objects in the ruins, including wallpaper scraps, books, maps, dresses, handkerchiefs, and a shell button, and imagines the family’s earlier life.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure 870LATOS Book Level 5.6View book details
Gold!David Shannon, illustrated by David ShannonMaximilian Midas is unlike the other children: he does not care much for chocolate or toys, and his first word is “Gold!” Rather than trying to make friends, Max sets out to make millions. He spends his money on gold, collecting enormous piles of it and building a golden castle above them. His fixation on wealth leads to unexpected consequences.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeWord Count 822View book details
Have You Eaten?: A Story of Food, Friendship, and KindnessSu Youn LeeCoco the chipmunk loves sweet potatoes and shares them with everyone around her, often asking, “Have you eaten?” Other animals initially find the question strange, but Coco shares food with animals who need a friend. When she becomes ill, those new friends care for her by sharing food in the way she taught them. The story links food with friendship and care.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Hey, Bruce!: An Interactive BookRyan T. Higgins, illustrated by Ryan T. HigginsBruce the bear becomes the reluctant subject of an interactive reading game guided by Rupert, Thistle, and Nibbs, mice in his expansive family. Readers are asked to turn pages, rotate the book, and carry out increasingly silly directions. Those actions send Bruce tumbling and flying, while he looks directly toward the reader. The mice direct the action as Bruce resists the starring role.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Howard the Average GeckoWendy Meddour, illustrated by Carmen SaldañaHoward believes he is the rainforest’s most exceptional creature because of his camouflage. He is so impressed with himself that he does not notice other camouflaged animals. When he learns that other creatures also blend into their surroundings, he no longer feels special and worries about being an ordinary gecko. The story follows his pride, disappointment, and question of whether someone could love him as he is.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeWord Count 447View book details
Hush, Little TruckerKim Norman, illustrated by Toshiki NakamuraA mother and child move through a vehicle-filled bedtime lullaby after the child loses a toy truck. Their search introduces machines including a bulldozer and a front-end loader. The book reshapes the familiar “Hush, Little Baby” song into a truck-themed story, following the pair as they discover different vehicles together before sleep.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeWord Count 203View book details
I Can’t DrawStephen W. Martin, illustrated by Brian BiggsMax loves making drawings, although he believes he is not very good at it. Wanting to improve, he asks a talented friend to show him how to draw. This picture book follows Max’s effort to learn from someone else while pursuing the activity he enjoys, placing drawing and friendship at the center of the story.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
I Want to be a VaseJulio TorresA toilet plunger wants to become a vase rather than remain in its expected role. As it becomes its true self, other household furnishings are encouraged to do the same. The book visits the personal dramas of everyday shapes and objects, with the plunger’s desire to change driving its unusual journey.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD520LATOS Book Level 3.4View book details
Is This Your Class Pet?Troy Cummings, illustrated by Troy CummingsArfy, a dog who visits schools as a reading buddy, arrives home one day with a turtle hidden in his vest pocket. The turtle has come from a classroom terrarium, so Arfy writes to teachers and the principal to identify the class that is missing her. He sets out to return the little terrapin to its proper classroom and home.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD540LATOS Book Level 3.6View book details
It’s A Sign!Mo Willems, Jarrett Pumphrey, Jerome Pumphrey, illustrated by Jarrett Pumphrey, Jerome PumphreyOne, Two, Kat, and Four decide to form a club. Each prospective member has something they do well, but the group has difficulty choosing what to call itself. Their search for a club name becomes the central question: they need a sign that points them toward the right one. The book follows their shared effort to name their new group.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
King Kong’s CousinMark Teague, illustrated by Mark TeagueJunior wishes he were as large, strong, and exceptional as his cousin Kong. Their lives seem very different: Kong climbs skyscrapers and acts freely, while Junior fears heights and has chores to do. When Junior's cat becomes stuck in a tree, he faces the chance to act. The rescue asks him to confront his fear and decide whether he can be a hero.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD530LATOS Book Level 3.5View book details
Moody Moody CarsEileen Kennedy-Moore, Michael FurmanA group of cars becomes a cast of “auto-friends” whose personalities express changing feelings. The book invites readers to ride along as these vehicles embody the turns and shifts of emotions. Through talking cars and a journey on the road, it connects transportation imagery with the different moods that can arise and change.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Music Is a RainbowBryan Collier, illustrated by Bryan CollierAfter loss and illness affect his family, a young boy finds solace and healing in music. He recalls sitting quietly as his father reads the newspaper and drinks coffee. As the music fills the room, he experiences it as color and light. The book centers the boy’s memories of his father and presents music as a source of comfort while his family faces difficult change. Music becomes a vivid part of those recollections, surrounding the room with color and light.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure 549LATOS Book Level 3.6View book details
Never Teach a Stegosaurus to Do SumsRashmi Sirdeshpande, illustrated by Diane EwenA stegosaurus learning sums prompts a playful what-if adventure. The dinosaur’s new grasp of math leads to imagined possibilities that include coding and building a rocket ship. Centered on the question of what could happen if a dinosaur learned to calculate, the story combines numbers with unruly comic situations and lets the animal’s mathematical skills propel the action. It presents learning and numerical ideas through a dinosaur’s unexpected activities.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Noodle and the No Bones DayJonathan Graziano, illustrated by Dan TavisNoodle is an older pug who usually enjoys favorite activities with his human, Jonathan. One morning, though, Jonathan finds Noodle still comfortable in bed. When he picks him up, Noodle flops over: it is his first No Bones Day. The story follows Noodle and Jonathan as they navigate a day centered on rest and being kind to oneself.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD510LATOS Book Level 3.4View book details
Not a CatWinter Miller, illustrated by Danica NovgorodoffSunny Hills Mice School opens with Miss Mouse teaching her pupils how to recognize danger. She shows the class pictures of things that are cats and things that are not. The lesson asks the young mice to identify a kitty among the images, turning a classroom exercise into a warning about the threat cats pose to mice.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Not Enough LollipopsMegan Maynor, illustrated by Micah PlayerAlice feels fortunate after winning a wagon filled with lollipops. The prize, however, creates a difficulty when she must share it with the other children in her class. Her lollipops are at the center of the story, as Alice faces the complication of dividing a large treat among classmates. The book focuses on the shift from her initial excitement to the challenge posed by sharing.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD460LATOS Book Level 2.2View book details
Octopus Shocktopus!Peter Bently, illustrated by Steven LentonAn octopus arrives on a village roof and remains there. The village children quickly become its friends, while the adults are wary of the unusual visitor. The octopus proves helpful in unexpected ways: it serves as a slide, helps with painting, and rescues a cat from a tree. After the neighbors decide they would each like an octopus, it disappears, leaving open the question of where it has gone and whether it will return.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeWord Count 389View book details
Our World is a FamilyMiry Whitehill, Jennifer JacksonWhen someone new comes to the neighborhood, this picture book asks how people can help that person feel safe, loved, and important. It focuses on welcoming immigrant and refugee neighbors seeking a better life. The story presents the world as a shared home and encourages gestures of kindness, compassion, and community so newcomers know they are not alone.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Polar BearCandace FlemingA mother polar bear and her two cubs spend their first year facing predators and dwindling Arctic ice. After leaving the den hungry, the mother travels with the cubs toward the ice, fends off wolves, and hunts ringed seal. As temperatures rise and the ice melts, finding enough food becomes harder, and the family must wait through summer for the ice to return.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeWord Count 1580View book details
Pretty Perfect Kitty-CornShannon Hale, illustrated by LeUyen PhamUnicorn wants to look the way others expect him to look, but a fumble leaves him feeling like an awkward failure. He worries that Kitty, his best friend, may not want him if he is not always perfect and majestic. When Kitty tries to paint him, Unicorn confronts the pressure to appear flawless and the possibility of sharing his imperfect self.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeWord Count 468View book details
The Sour GrapeJory John, illustrated by Pete OswaldThe Sour Grape holds onto resentments over small slights, including a borrowed scarf that was not returned and an unanswered call. After another friend resents the grape without hearing an explanation, the grape recognizes the unfairness of this response. A painful experience has shaped the grape's personality, and the story follows its effort to release those grudges.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD430LATOS Book Level 2.9View book details
A Spark in the DarkPam Fong, illustrated by Pam FongThis book explores feelings such as anger, sadness, fear, and feeling lost in darkness. Its central image is a small light that can guide someone home through dark moments. It contrasts darkness with the possibility of finding a spark of light, presenting hope as something to seek when difficult emotions feel close or overwhelming.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
The Three Billy Goats GruffMac BarnettIn this retelling of the Norwegian folktale, the three Billy Goats Gruff want to cross a bridge to reach a grassy ridge. A hungry troll waits beneath the bridge and plans a goat meal. The first two goats avoid being eaten by telling the troll that a larger, tastier goat is coming next. Muted mixed-media illustrations accompany the goats’ passage and the troll’s heightened demands.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Twelve Dinging DoorbellsTameka Fryer Brown, illustrated by Ebony GlennTold as a cumulative holiday carol, this book gathers aunties, uncles, cousins, grandparents, neighbors, and other family members for celebrations. They come together to eat, sing, and celebrate life. The story includes food, love, and Black joy, and its family occasions encompass holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as graduations and other shared gatherings. As doorbells ring, the cumulative structure builds the sense of relatives and neighbors arriving.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Wake Me Up in 20 CoconutsLaurie Keller, illustrated by Laurie KellerThe helpful resident of apartment 2C is known for having an answer to every question, and neighbors rely on that knowledge. Then someone asks a question he does not understand. Afraid that this gap will damage his know-it-all reputation, he must work out how to help his neighbor while facing the fact that he does not know the answer.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
A Wee BooJessica Boyd, illustrated by Brooke KerriganWee Boo is a ghost who wants to earn a haunting license like other ghosts, but she is too cute to frighten anyone. After failing twice, she receives another opportunity with a reduced requirement: she needs only one startled response. She tries several approaches, including attempting to scare a baby, whose laughter produces an unexpected result. The other ghosts offer encouragement while doubting that Wee Boo can succeed.Kids Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD510LATOS Book Level 3.4View book detailsKids Favorites — 3rd–5th Grade
40 selections
Animal BFFsSophie Corrigan, illustrated by Sophie CorriganAnimal BFFs looks at best friendships in the animal world. It describes animal companions who are there for one another in hard times and good ones alike. These pairs help each other in the familiar ways friends do, presenting animals as having close, dependable bonds. The book follows The Not Bad Animals and focuses on what it means for animals to have a best friend in their lives and relationships.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Bake Infinite Pie with X + YEugenia Cheng, illustrated by Amber RenX and Y dream of making an endless supply of pie but are unsure whether such a pie can exist. With flour, butter, and help from Aunt Z, they use math in their baking. The story follows their effort to find out whether mathematics can help them make infinite pie, combining numerical ideas with a cooking project.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Because of You, John LewisAndrea Davis PinkneyTen-year-old Tybre Faw dreams of meeting Congressman John Lewis, and when this happens, their friendship begins. The book tells the story of the young activist alongside Lewis, a civil rights leader whose own youth included a consequential friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. It follows a bond between generations of activists and includes watercolor images, poetic text, photographs, and other back matter. It identifies both people as connected through activism and friendship.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeLexile Text Measure 720LATOS Book Level 3.9View book details
Big Nate: Beware of Low-Flying Corn MuffinsLincoln PeirceThis collection of Big Nate comics puts Nate Wright and his school friends amid gossip, rivalries, classroom trouble, and a projectile launched by Nate. Dee Dee competes with Nate’s gossip-gathering, while Godfrey discovers that she and Nate share an obsession. Coach John also encounters a Nate-powered flying object. The school is on alert as Nate returns with his schemes and mishaps.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Big Nate: Destined for AwesomenessLincoln PeirceBig Nate: Destined for Awesomeness is a graphic novel by Lincoln Peirce. Its three stories each draw on a different episode of the Big Nate animated series, which appeared on Nickelodeon and Paramount+. The book uses full-color computer-generated artwork. Andrews McMeel Publishing released it on August 30, 2022.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Blast Off!: How Mary Sherman Morgan Fueled America into SpaceSuzanne SladeThis biography follows Mary Sherman Morgan, identified as America's first female rocket scientist. Growing up on a North Dakota farm in the 1920s, Mary discovers an interest in learning and excels in science, especially chemistry. During World War II, she works in a laboratory on rocket fuel. Later, as the United States enters the space race, she leads a team developing the fuel that launches America's first satellite.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Breaking Through the Clouds: The Sometimes Turbulent Life of Meteorologist Joanne SimpsonSandra Nickel, illustrated by Helena Perez GarciaThis picture-book biography follows meteorologist Joanne Simpson, whose discoveries helped explain how weather works. As a child, she sailed beneath the clouds of Cape Cod; later, as a pilot, she flew her plane high among them. During World War II, after moving to the University of Chicago, she was asked to teach Air Force officers about clouds and weather-changing winds.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Bristlecone: The Secret Life of the World’s Oldest TreeAlexandra Siy, illustrated by Marlo GarnsworthyThis book examines ancient bristlecone pines, which can live for more than five thousand years and are described as the oldest trees on Earth. Its storyline stretches across 5,000 years and considers what tree rings record about climate and a changing planet. It also looks at how these pines persist in harsh environments, including a past volcanic eruption recorded in their rings.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Building an Orchestra of Hope: How Favio Chavez Taught Children to Make Music from TrashCarmen Oliver, illustrated by Luisa UribeThis illustrated true story follows music teacher Favio Chavez in Cateura, Paraguay, where families live and work among landfill waste. Hoping to offer music lessons to local children, Favio soon faces a practical obstacle: there are more students than instruments. He responds with an unusual idea rooted in the town’s recycling work, imagining an orchestra made from recycled materials. The book centers on music, shared effort, and inventive responses to limited resources.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Built By AnimalsChristiane Dorion, illustrated by Yeji YunBuilt By Animals looks at structures made by animals and the ways their building methods have informed human construction. It includes termite mounds whose scale, compared with their builders, surpasses that of a skyscraper, along with intricate nests created by social birds and spiders’ lethal traps. The book connects these animal constructions with materials and techniques used in modern building, placing animal engineering alongside human technology.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Cat & Cat Adventures: The Goblet of InfinitySusie Yi, illustrated by Susie YiSquash and Ginny continue their journey through magical portals in search of the Goblet of Infinity, a treasure said to provide an endless supply of drinks. At the goblet's supposed hiding place, the treasure is missing. Instead, the cats meet Fern, a unibear who believes the Dragon Witch took it. As they investigate the disappearance, Squash and Ginny discover that appearances can be misleading.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Cat Kid Comic Club #3: On PurposeDav Pilkey, illustrated by Dav PilkeyCat Kid Comic Club #3: On Purpose belongs to Dav Pilkey’s Cat Kid Comic Club, a children’s graphic-novel series he writes and illustrates. The series grew out of Dog Man. Dog Man, in turn, developed from the Captain Underpants books, placing this volume within a connected sequence of Pilkey series.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Counting in Dog Years and Other Sassy Math PoemsBetsy FrancoThis collection brings together twenty-nine math poems illustrated by Priscilla Tey. Its verses weave geometry, arithmetic, and puzzles into poetic stanzas. Gouache artwork accompanies the poems, while imaginative illustrations and number-centered verse shape the collection. Mathematical ideas appear through poetry and visual art rather than a continuous narrative. The poems have a playful tone and are illustrated in colorful, imaginative gouache.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Dressing Up the StarsJeanne W Harvey, illustrated by Diana ToledanoThis biography follows Edith Head from a lonely, creative childhood in Searchlight, Nevada, to work in Hollywood costume design. As a child, she dressed animals and toys with ribbons and feathers, collected fabric scraps for doll clothes, and made costumes for friends’ plays. After college, she began as a sketch artist despite lacking drawing skill, then practiced, faced an early failure, and advanced from costumes for animals and dancers to designs for movie stars.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Eighteen Vats of WaterJi-Li JiangSet in fourth-century China, this book tells of Xian, a renowned calligrapher who wants to become skilled in the art practiced by his father. At six, he begins his studies, following his father’s approach and disciplined work habits. As he develops as an artist, Xian also forms a style of his own. Ink and digital illustrations accompany the account, which includes back matter.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
The Gardener of AlcatrazEmma Bland Smith, illustrated by Jenn ElyThis picture-book biography tells of Elliott Michener, who was imprisoned at Alcatraz after counterfeiting. Determined to escape the odds, he turns to gardening, and the account presents this work as his route toward freedom. The narrative concerns his experience in prison, his resolve to get out, and the garden work that becomes central while he is incarcerated.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
The Girl in WhiteLindsay CurrieMallory has not settled into Eastport, a town widely concerned with its reputation for being cursed. Since arriving, she has had nightmares, scarcely sleeps, and feels watched. When she meets the same elderly woman who appears in those dreams, the experience leaves her certain that something more is happening in town and that she has to do something about it.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeLexile Text Measure 600LATOS Book Level 3.9View book details
Her Name Was Mary Katharine: The Only Woman Whose Name Is on the Declaration of IndependenceElla Schwartz, illustrated by Dow PhumirukThis picture-book biography focuses on Mary Katharine Goddard, born in 1738 in colonial Connecticut as the country moved toward the American Revolution. It recounts how she became the only woman whose name appeared in print on the Declaration of Independence. Her story is set against the changing politics of the colonial era and the nation’s approach to revolution.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Hispanic Star: Celia CruzClaudia Romo Edelman, William AlexanderThis biography follows Celia Cruz from her childhood in Havana, Cuba, where she loved singing, to a prominent career in salsa. It traces her work with Sonora Matancera and the Fania All-Stars, alongside the growth of salsa, a genre rooted in Afro-Cuban musical styles. Across more than six decades and seventy albums, Cruz's career and musical influence form the focus of the book.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
I Hate Borsch!Yevgenia NaybergA young Ukrainian girl cannot stand borsch, despite the expectation that Ukrainians should love the red soup. As she grows older, however, she comes to miss it and feels nostalgic for the food she once rejected. Told with whimsy and humor, the story considers how a familiar dish can carry complicated cultural ties. It follows the changing connection between one girl, borsch, and the place and heritage associated with it.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
InvestiGators: Heist and SeekJohn Patrick GreenWhen paintings disappear from a museum, the InvestiGators are called to investigate the theft. Mango and Brash are alligators who work as a crime-fighting pair. Their adventures feature puns, silly supervillains, and giant talking chickens. In an earlier adventure, the duo goes undercover in a bakery to find chef Gustavo after he is kidnapped and to keep his recipes out of the wrong hands.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
It’s So DifficultRaúl Nieto Guridi, illustrated by Raúl Nieto GuridiFor a nonverbal child, school is a noisy, crowded place with many things to keep track of. Even a greeting can feel difficult, despite adults’ assurances that these moments will become easier. Counting and working through calculations offer comfort when the routine becomes chaotic. The book uses stark white lettering against black pages and rough-textured drawings to convey the child’s feelings.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
A Land of Books: Dreams of Young Mexihcah Word PaintersDuncan TonatiuhA young Mexihcah girl tells her younger brother about the value of language, culture, and tradition. She describes how their parents create painted manuscripts, or codices, and connects their work to bookmaking among the Maya, Mixtecs, Mexica, and other peoples of Mesoamerica. The story centers on Mesoamerican storytelling and the making of books in a world the narrator calls a land of books.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeATOS Book Level 4.3AR Interest Level Lower Grades (LG K-3)View book details
Let’s Play DdakjiIm Seo-Ha, illustrated by Jang Joon-YoungWoo is looking forward to vacation because it will take him to his aunt's home. During the visit, he expects to play ddakji with his friends. The book centers on this anticipated trip and Woo's chance to spend time with both his aunt and his friends through the game. Ddakji is the activity that connects the visit, Woo's excitement, and the time he plans to share with his friends.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
A Life of Service: The Story of Senator Tammy DuckworthChristina SoontornvatThis picture-book biography traces Senator Tammy Duckworth's life of public service. It covers her childhood, including her family's struggle to avoid homelessness; her service in the U.S. Army; and her recovery after injuries sustained while serving. The book also recounts her election to Congress as the first Thai American woman and her service in both chambers as the first woman with a disability to do so.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Masato’s GardenJerry Ruff, illustrated by Maya OnoderaJohnny encounters Masato's garden, which is unlike any garden he has previously known. The book presents this distinctive garden alongside loved ones and meditation practiced in nature. Its focus connects the quiet experience of a natural setting with relationships and meditative reflection, all through Johnny's experience of a garden that stands apart from the others he has seen in his life.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Monster and Me 1: Who’s the Scaredy-Cat?Cort Lane, illustrated by Ankitha KiniFreddy von Frankenstein lives on a supernatural mountain with his monster older brother, F.M., and Riya, his adopted werecat sister. Together, the three explore their unusual home and meet fantastical creatures that live there. Their adventure includes danger, laughter, and encounters that require them to face what frightens them.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
The Mother of a MovementRob Sanders, illustrated by Sam KaldaJeanne Manford is the subject of this true account, which depicts a parent’s support and unconditional love. The book identifies Manford as PFLAG’s founder and spells the initials out with parents, families, friends, lesbians, and gays. Written by Rob Sanders, it was published by Magination Press ® - American Psychological Association on 2022-10-04 and has a stated page count of 40.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Otters: River or Sea?Cathleen McConnellThis nonfiction comparison explores how river otters and sea otters live in the wild. It introduces the thirteen otter species and contrasts those adapted to freshwater, where they move on land and in water, with sea otters that live among kelp forests and use tools to eat favored foods. The book considers both shared traits and major differences between these aquatic mammals.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Out of This World: Star-Studded HaikuSally M. WalkerA collection of haiku pairs poetry with scientific ideas about the universe. Beginning with the cosmos’s origin, it moves through subjects including planets, stars, moons, galaxies, and eclipses, while also considering people’s encounters with space. Mixed-media artwork accompanies the poems, using detail, texture, and movement to evoke a night sky. Telescopes and astronauts appear among the book’s ways of exploring and observing the vastness beyond Earth.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Penguins: A Compare and Contrast BookCher VatalaroThis nonfiction picture book surveys all eighteen penguin species through comparison. It notes that penguins are not confined to cold regions, because many live in warm climates. It also looks at how flippers help them travel in water, then considers variation in habitats, coloration, eyes, feathers, and other adaptations between species.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Pooper SnooperJennifer Keats Curtis, Julianne Ubigau, illustrated by Phyllis SaroffSome dogs use their powerful sense of smell to assist scientists studying endangered animals. As members of wildlife detective teams, they are trained to find the scent of animal scat. Scientists can use this work to investigate and track wild animals without attracting them or trapping them. The book focuses on the dogs’ role in gathering information about wildlife through scent.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
The Spoiled Boy With The Terribly Dry Throat (English-Ukrainian Edition)Idries Shah, illustrated by Silvara KossemWritten by Idries Shah, this 42-page English-Ukrainian edition begins when a little boy wakes with a dry throat. The people around him hurry about while trying to determine the cause of his condition. His dry throat and their effort to discover what caused it provide the stated circumstances of the book. Hoopoe Books published this edition on June 30, 2022.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
The Sweetest Scoop: Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream RevolutionLisa Robinson, illustrated by Stacy InnerstBen Cohen and Jerry Greenfield first met at age twelve and later entered the ice-cream business together. Their early work included a summer job on an ice-cream truck. After other career plans fell through, they rented and renovated an abandoned gas station, developed recipes, and added ingredients such as cookies and candy. Their shop opened in 1978, and they later invited flavor ideas from the public while working through business obstacles.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
SylvieJean Reidy, illustrated by Lucy CumminsSylvie is a graphic memoir about a young artist living in a French school, where her father is the principal. Her joyful childhood there gives her the means to make art and choose a life direction beyond other people’s expectations. The book portrays her pursuit of art and a self-directed path through cartoon-like artwork. Jean Reidy wrote this 352-page book.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeLexile Text Measure AD660LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
The Tryout: A Graphic NovelChristina SoontornvatAt the start of seventh grade in a predominantly white Texas town, Thai American Christine worries about where she belongs. When her Iranian American best friend Megan suggests cheerleading tryouts, Christine is interested but anxious about performing before the whole school and facing a student-body vote. The tryouts put their friendship under pressure when Megan chooses a different partner, hoping it will improve both girls’ chances. Christine and Megan eventually discuss Christine’s hurt and Megan’s reasoning as they navigate friendship, identity, and the competition.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeLexile Text Measure GN360LATOS Book Level 3.2View book details
Want a Hug?Christine Babinec, illustrated by Vivan MinekerThis picture book focuses on consent, boundaries, and communication around hugs. It presents listening, mutuality, understanding, and love as part of those conversations. The book makes room for both choices: children can refuse a hug, and they can also agree to one. Its approach treats practicing consent skills as a positive part of communicating with others.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
When the Sky GlowsNell C. Beckerman, illustrated by David LitchfieldThis nonfiction picture book explores why natural events can make the sky appear luminous. It addresses sunrise and lightning alongside rainbows, volcanoes, meteors, and eclipses. Rather than focusing on a single event, the book brings together a range of light-filled natural phenomena and explains the science that accounts for their glowing appearances.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeLexile Text Measure AD920LATOS Book Level 6View book details
Why?Laura Vaccaro SeegerRabbit repeatedly asks Bear a single question: “Why?” The changing seasons frame their exchanges, while the illustrations and Bear’s replies reveal what Rabbit is asking about. Rabbit wonders about flowers, geese, the wind, a dead bird, and other moments in the natural world. Bear’s responses do not always provide an answer, but their relationship continues through Rabbit’s curiosity, tension, and sadness.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
The Yippee StickRoel Seidell, illustrated by Roel SeidellBear is sad when he meets Mouse, who is cheerful because she has a yippee stick. Mouse lets Bear borrow it, since the stick brings happiness. This brief story follows the contrast between Bear’s sadness and Mouse’s delight, with the two animal characters sharing the object that changes Bear’s mood.Kids Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsKids Favorites — 6th–8th Grade
41 selections
All Through the Night: Important Jobs That Get Done at NightPolly Faber, illustrated by Harriet HobdayIn a city, a young girl completes her evening routine while her mother prepares to leave for work. As the night continues, the mother's trip introduces people whose jobs keep the city functioning, including nurses, cleaners, delivery workers, doctors, police officers, and journalists. The book places the girl's bedtime alongside the work undertaken by many people during the same nighttime hours.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
1-2-3 Scream!R. U. Ginns, illustrated by Javier EspilaA fully illustrated collection of frightening tales combines horror with humor. Its stories include the Boogerman, a gooey creature connected to mirrors, and Instagrave, an app that tells children how they will die. The book gathers several alarming stories, with supernatural menace and technology among the sources of fear. Those threats range from a creature in mirrors to a deadly app.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
12 to 22Jen CalonitaHarper is excited to receive her parents’ permission to create social-media accounts on her twelfth-and-a-half birthday. When she tries to post her first photograph, she finds an unfamiliar filter that shows how she might look when older. The mysterious TikTok filter sends her into the future, where she experiences life at age twenty-two and encounters unexpected changes.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 660LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
Agent 9: Mind Control!James BurksAgent 9 returns to the Super-Secret Spy Service to stop the Wolf, a canine working for the organization DiViSiON. The Wolf is searching for the last pieces of a mind-control device, making the assignment especially urgent. For the mission, Nine must work with a partner: Traps, a mouse skilled in covert operations and knitting. The story combines espionage, crime-fighting, and an unusual new partnership.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Aliens: Join the Scientists Searching Space for Extraterrestrial LifeJoalda Morancy, Amy Grimes, illustrated by Amy GrimesThis nonfiction book examines the scientific search for life beyond Earth. It separates ideas and myths about extraterrestrials from the evidence and methods scientists use to look for alien lifeforms. The subject is the ongoing search for life elsewhere in space, presenting the science behind that effort rather than treating aliens as established fact. It considers the possibility of discovering life beyond Earth as well.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Amari and the Great GameB. B. AlstonAfter finding her brother and saving the supernatural world, Amari Peters expects an easier summer as a Junior Agent. Instead, she faces a Head Minister’s anti-magician agenda, rivalry among Junior Agents, and her brother Quinton’s worsening curse. The League of Magicians asks her to become its leader, but when she declines, another magician steps forward with dangerous plans for the League.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeWord Count 94173View book details
Amira & Hamza: The Quest for the Ring of PowerSamira AhmedAmira and Hamza return from the magical jinn world of Qaf as heroes, hoping for a quiet period. Hamza wants one last large adventure before summer ends, so the siblings explore an abandoned castle. What begins there becomes a dangerous quest involving the Ring of Power and a threat to the worlds. The siblings face a formidable new opponent during their magical adventure.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Answers in the PagesDavid LevithanAn adventure novel about two characters pursuing an evil genius becomes the center of a community dispute when people question whether its main characters are gay. Donovan’s mother seeks to remove the book from the school curriculum, leaving him caught between the controversy and his own belief that a story should not be banned because two boys might fall in love. Fifth graders’ reactions, first loves, and homophobia shape the story.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
The Antiracist KidTiffany Jewell, illustrated by Nicole MilesThe Antiracist Kid introduces racism and antiracism, including systemic racism and tools for opposing it. It asks readers to consider identity, reflect on themselves, and examine questions of power and bias. The book connects this work to equity, justice, and activism, inviting readers to become advocates for change. Bold spot illustrations and extensive back matter accompany the text as additional material.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
An Atlas of Lost KingdomsEmily Hawkins, illustrated by Lauren BaldoAn Atlas of Lost Kingdoms travels around the world through lost kingdoms, phantom islands, and legendary continents that explorers once sought but are now considered mythical. Maps and illustrations introduce familiar and lesser-known places, including Atlantis, El Dorado, the Seven Cities of Gold, Hy-Brasil, and Zerzura. It considers the long history of people imagining and searching for elusive worlds across centuries and places.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Attack of the Black RectanglesAmy Sarig KingMac notices that words have been covered in his classroom copy of The Devil’s Arithmetic. Once he and his friends learn what has been removed, Mac is angry that someone at school is restricting access to the complete text. He decides to challenge that restriction, drawing on lessons from his mother and grandad, while also coping with his father’s worsening mental-health problems.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Batpig: Too Pig to FailRob Harrell, illustrated by Rob HarrellGary Yorkshire, also known as Batpig, is settling into superhero work while hiding his identity behind a tiny mask. With Brook the bat and Carl the fish, he faces villains, a math class that seems to last forever, and an attack from beyond the world. This graphic-novel adventure also brings him up against tougher bullies, bigger fights, and a meeting with his superhero idol.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Camp ScareDelilah S. DawsonTwelve-year-old Parker Nelson looks forward to summer camp, hoping for fun and new friends after a difficult seventh grade shaped by bullies. Her plans change when the girl who made her life miserable is assigned to Parker’s cabin. Other campers soon turn against Parker as well, and the camp experience becomes an eerie nightmare involving a haunting secret.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 900LATOS Book Level 5.8View book details
Diper Överlöde (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #17)Jeff Kinney, illustrated by Jeff KinneyGreg goes along with Löded Diper, his brother Rodrick’s band, without knowing what the decision will bring. Time with the group brings late nights and gigs without pay. Fights break out between band members. Money troubles are another part of the band’s rock-and-roll life. As Greg gets involved, he learns that each of these problems belongs to the rock-and-roll lifestyle itself.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Door of No ReturnKwame AlexanderIn 1860, Kofi Offin lives in the fictional Asante village of Upper Kwanta, where he looks up to his brother Kwasi, listens to his grandfather Nana Mosi’s stories, and spends time with his friend Ebo. He clashes with a teacher who demands English instead of Twi and with a cousin who challenges him to a swim. After Kwasi kills a nearby leader’s son during a festival wrestling match, the brothers are abducted. Kwasi is beaten to death, while Kofi and other boys are taken to a fortress before a voyage on the USS Georgetown.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure NP0LATOS Book Level 5.9View book details
Empty SmilesKatherine ArdenThree months after Ollie vanished following a bargain with the smiling man, Coco, Brian, and Phil fear they may never be able to save her. The smiling man had promised them a chance, but they suspect he deceived them. A frightened boy who disappeared from a traveling carnival suddenly appears at the town swimming hole, rambling about what happened, and provides a possible clue to Ollie’s disappearance.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure HL500LATOS Book Level 3.7View book details
F.A.R.TPeter BakalianA tween boy known as Furious Popcorn mistakes a manual for a cookbook, then finds a secret guide aimed at parents. The guide is tied to F.A.R.T., or Families Against Rotten Teens, a covert group of parents whose history stretches back to antiquity. His discovery turns his world upside down and sets children against adults in the story.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
The First Cat in Space Ate PizzaMac BarnettA cat, a toenail-trimming robot, and a princess from the moon join forces when rats begin consuming the moon. Their task is to stop the threat before it is too late, while the cat still hopes to get a slice of pizza. Shawn Harris illustrates this offbeat space adventure, which combines a lunar rescue mission with an unusual group of companions.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Ghosts Come RisingAdam PerrySet in mid-nineteenth-century America, this story takes place during the spread of Spiritualism, a movement whose followers believed the living could communicate with the dead. Twelve-year-old Liza Carroll and her younger brother stay at a frightening Spiritualist commune. There, they look for answers while trying to keep a secret hidden. Ghostly black-and-white photographs accompany the historical tale.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
HardcourtFred Bowen, illustrated by James E. RansomeHardcourt looks back over the National Basketball Association’s first seventy-five years. Its illustrated account focuses on athletes, coaches, and teams associated with changes in basketball and its development into a national phenomenon. The book places the NBA within one of the United States’ most beloved sports, tracing people and teams connected to the league’s history and growth over time.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Hooky Volume 2Míriam Bonastre Tur, illustrated by Míriam Bonastre TurIn the second Hooky volume, twins Dani and Dorian are pursued by powerful magical families looking for the prophesied King of Witches. Royals are also searching for missing princes. The twins had missed the ride to magic school and were trying to find a teacher before their parents discovered it; a series of mishaps led others to label them traitors.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
I Will Protect You: A True Story of Twins Who Survived AuschwitzEva Mozes Kor with Danica DavidsonA true story recounts the lives of identical twin sisters Eva and Miriam, who had a mostly happy childhood before surviving Nazi experimentation during the Holocaust. The account identifies Eva as one of the sisters and records their survival despite that persecution. Their relationship as twins places sisterhood alongside the history and violence of the Holocaust. The book is credited to Eva Mozes Kor with Danica Davidson.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Iveliz Explains It AllAndrea Beatriz ArangoTold in verse, this novel follows twelve-year-old Iveliz as she begins junior high. She is coping with grief and mental-health concerns while trying to handle school. Her grandmother questions the medication that helps her, adding to the strain Iveliz feels at home. As she works through these challenges, Iveliz looks for a way to explain what she needs and ask others to support her.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 940LATOS Book Level 6.2View book details
Jennifer Chan Is Not AloneTae KellerChinese American Jennifer Chan is fascinated by extraterrestrial life, an interest she once shared with her late father. Her neighbor Mallory Moss, who worries about belonging, initially admires Jennifer’s willingness to be herself but later distances herself after school begins. When Jennifer runs away, Mallory fears that cruel treatment from Mallory’s friend Reagan, and Mallory’s own participation and silence, helped cause Jennifer’s disappearance. The novel follows the missing girl and Mallory’s search for the truth.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 640LATOS Book Level 4.1View book details
Legends of FunlandMelanie FlorenceBuddy is determined to show his older brother that he is no longer a frightened little kid. That wish is set against a rumor that the local theme park is haunted. Buddy has heard the rumor for as long as he can remember. His relationship with his brother and the question of whether the park is haunted establish the book’s premise.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
The Little Bad Book #1Magnus Myst, illustrated by Thomas HussungThis interactive book places the reader inside its story through puzzles, riddles, and funny but eerie tales. Its narrator addresses the reader directly and invites them to help with mischief, even suggesting they be bad or evil. The book combines problem-solving activities with a plot in which the reader has an active role rather than remaining only an observer.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Lolo’s LightLiz Garton ScanlonTwelve-year-old Millie babysits a neighbor’s infant, then learns the next morning that the baby died overnight. The loss leaves her confronting guilt alongside grief. The novel follows Millie through the connected experiences of loss, responsibility, and acceptance, presenting a coming-of-age story centered on the difficult aftermath of a devastating event and the emotions that follow it.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Maizy Chen’s Last ChanceLisa YeeEleven-year-old Maizy Chen and her mother leave Los Angeles for the summer to help at the Golden Palace, their family’s Chinese restaurant in Last Chance, Minnesota, while Maizy’s grandfather is ill. Maizy has met her grandparents only once, and tension remains between them and her mother. At the restaurant, she befriends regulars and spends time with Opa, who shares the story of her great-great-grandfather’s journey from China to California and later to Last Chance.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 670LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
My Own LightningLauren WolkSet in 1944, this sequel to Wolf Hollow follows Annabelle after lightning strikes her and leaves her able to understand animals’ emotions. She meets Nora, who quietly cares for animals that have been injured or mistreated. When a dog goes missing, Annabelle is led to face earlier injustices and an adversary she has encountered before. The story connects Annabelle’s unusual ability with her growing awareness of harm done to animals and people.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure HL710LATOS Book Level 4.5View book details
Omar RisingAisha SaeedOmar receives a scholarship to Ghalib Academy Boarding School, an opportunity he sees as a way to change his future. He hopes to join science club and the soccer team, but first-year scholarship students are barred from both and assigned menial chores. Omar then learns that the school requires scholarship students to earn much higher grades than students who pay tuition, making graduation extremely difficult.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure HL540LATOS Book Level 3.6View book details
PAWS: Gabby Gets It Together (Book 1)Nathan Fairbairn, illustrated by Michele AssarasakornGabby Jordan, Priya Gupta, and Mindy Park are classmates and best friends. Though their personalities, interests, and families differ, they all love animals. Each girl has her own reason for being unable to have a pet. They share a love of animals and the fact that none of them can keep a pet. The graphic-novel series follows the friends, cute dogs, and the fun and trouble around them.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Pride: An Inspirational History of the LGBTQ+ MovementStella CaldwellThis history follows the LGBTQ+ community’s timeline around the world. It introduces figures including Harvey Milk and events such as Stonewall, then addresses campaigns for equality and the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in different countries. The book places these people and events beyond familiar symbols such as rainbow flags or Pride month, setting them within broader LGBTQ+ history.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
The Road to AfterRebekah LowellThis novel in verse follows two young sisters and their mother after they flee an abusive home. Away from their father, the family begins to learn how to live without fear. The girls make friends and find comfort in art and the natural world as they adjust to a new life. The story focuses on recovery after abuse, the family’s changing circumstances, and the solace the sisters find in creative expression and nature.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Spy School the Graphic NovelStuart Gibbs, illustrated by Anjan SarkarBen Ripley is a middle-school student who wants to join the CIA, though he is awkward and accident-prone in everyday life. Recruited to a science-focused magnet school because of his nerdiness, he learns that the school is actually a cover for a junior CIA academy. This graphic-novel adaptation follows Ben as he enters that secret-agent setting and faces its chaos.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure GN400LATOS Book Level 3.2View book details
Swim TeamJohnnie ChristmasBree is the new student at her school and is pushed beyond her comfort zone when she must learn to swim. She faces a fear of water while finding her place in an unfamiliar school community. As she gains confidence in the pool, Bree ultimately joins the school swim team. Told as a graphic novel, the story connects a newcomer’s adjustment to school with the challenge of learning a new skill and taking part in a team effort.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeWord Count 9986View book details
Team Chu and the Battle of Blackwood ArenaJulie DaoSiblings Clip and Sadie Chu approach school life very differently. Clip is popular and athletic, hoping to become the first seventh-grade soccer captain, while Sadie is a high-achieving student determined to show she can match her boastful brother. Their common interest is laser tag. The story centers their shared pastime within an adventure shaped by competition between the siblings.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky: The Graphic NovelKwame Mbalia, illustrated by Olivia StephensThis graphic-novel adaptation features a Black boy who uses storytelling to help folk heroes and gods. It transforms the children’s novel that opened the Tristan Strong trilogy into a visual narrative. African and African American characters appear in the book, where storytelling brings its central boy into contact with heroic figures and deities.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Twin CitiesJose PimientaTwins Fernando and Teresa have always attended school and spent their free time together in Mexicali. Their relationship changes when Teresa decides to go to seventh grade in Calexico, across the border in California, while Fernando remains in Mexico. The distance between their schools puts their close sibling connection under pressure. This graphic novel follows the twins as a new educational choice tests a bond that had long been part of their shared daily life.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Wait Till Helen Comes Graphic NovelMary Downing Hahn, illustrated by Meredith LaxtonIn this graphic adaptation, Molly and her brother Michael are living with their new stepsister, Heather, after their mother remarries. Molly and Michael try to befriend Heather, but she lies, tattles, and causes trouble that leaves them blamed. As Heather tries to separate her father from their mother, the siblings must protect her from a vengeful ghost that threatens the family.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 491LATOS Book Level 3.3View book details
What Is Juneteenth?Kirsti Jewel, Who HQ, illustrated by Manuel GutierrezWhat Is Juneteenth? explains the United States holiday marking the end of chattel slavery. On June 19, 1865, enslaved people in Texas heard a Union soldier announce that they were free and that forced, unpaid labor was illegal throughout the United States. Their response included excitement, dancing, and tears of joy, turning the news into a cause for celebration. Kirsti Jewel and Who HQ created the book.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 960LATOS Book Level 6.3View book details
Your Pal FredMichael RexIn a harsh future where survival belongs to the savage, a life-size toy suddenly activates. Fred is an exceptionally kind figure who believes that even very bad people have goodness within them. He remains loyal through threats ranging from exile from a castle to a mechanical giant, a lightning storm, and an all-night dance party. Fred aims to bring rival warlords together.Kids Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure GN260LATOS Book Level 2.1View book detailsKids Favorites — 9th–12th Grade
40 selections
The 99 Boyfriends of Micah SummersAdam SassMicah Summers runs a popular Instagram full of drawings of his numerous imaginary boyfriends (ninety-nine so far)--though he's never had a real boyfriend before.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Aces Wild: A HeistAmanda DeWittAces Wild: A Heist follows Jack Shannon, whose father is a Las Vegas casino mogul. At his private school, Jack operates an underground blackjack game in the basement. After his mother is arrested over the family’s organized-crime connections, his sister Beth sees a chance for them to go straight, while Jack believes something is still wrong. An online friendship group of asexual people also plans to enter a gambling club.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
African TownIrene Latham, Charles Waters, introduction by Jocelyn M. DavisAfrican Town is a historical fiction novel by Irene Latham and Charles Waters about the Clotilda, identified as the final known ship to transport enslaved people to the United States. Survivors who were illegally brought to America establish a community despite adversity. The account uses free verse and fourteen distinct voices, and includes a map, spot illustrations in black and white, and substantial back matter.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 790LATOS Book Level 5View book details
The AgathasKathleen Glasgow, Liz LawsonAfter Alice Ogilvie’s boyfriend Steve breaks up with her, Alice disappears for five days and refuses to explain where she went. Then Brooke Donovan, another of Steve’s girlfriends and Alice’s former best friend, vanishes and seems unlikely to return. Alice joins forces with her tutor, Iris Adams, to investigate. The two teens come from opposite sides of their town’s social divide and uncover secrets while solving a classmate’s murder.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure HL660LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
Ain’t Burned All the BrightJason ReynoldsA Black teenager narrates his family’s experience during the first months of COVID-19. The family faces the pandemic alongside racism and violence in the United States, with the struggle to breathe serving as a central concern. Jason Reynolds tells the story through sparse prose, while Jason Griffin’s notebook-style artwork forms much of the book’s visual narrative.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeATOS Book Level 5.2AR Interest Level UGView book details
Akata WomanNnedi OkoraforA sequel to Akata Witch and Akata Warrior, Akata Woman continues Sunny’s story in a world shaped by juju, spirits, and Leopard People. After navigating divisions between America and Nigeria and between ordinary and spiritual life, Sunny faces a dangerous quest. With her friends, she searches an otherworldly realm for a precious object; failing to act could destroy the world. Her abilities and hard-won lessons are tested along the way.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure HL650LATOS Book Level 4.6View book details
All of Our DemiseAmanda Foody, C.L. HermanAll of Our Demise closes Amanda Foody and C. L. Herman’s duology, continuing the tournament introduced in All of Us Villains. This contest belongs to an ancient, bloodstained story, yet something changes here: for the first time, the tournament itself begins to break. The book brings that competition to its conclusion with a notably brutal tone, marking the end of the duology’s central contest.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Alone Out HereRiley RedgateIn 2072, Leigh Chen flees after scientists determine that methane accumulation will cause volcanic eruptions that destroy Earth’s atmosphere. The first eruption arrives months ahead of schedule while Leigh is visiting California, where the Lazarus, a prototype rescue ship, is located. The pilot’s daughter launches it as the world erupts. Its fifty-three passengers are all under eighteen and include children of leaders, scientists, historians, and preservationists. Leigh, the U.S. president’s daughter, helps form a leadership council while concealing her feelings and trying to find a middle path.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
An Arrow to the MoonEmily X. R. PanIn 1991, Luna Chen and Hunter Yee, children of Taiwanese immigrants, fall in love even as both families oppose the other. Hunter, an archer, is troubled by his family’s past and an ancient Chinese artifact they stole. Luna faces pressure to make her parents proud and discovers their lies, while supernatural events and growing fissures unsettle their town. Their relationship develops amid family conflict, questions of identity, and a crumbling world.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Bad Things Happen HereRebecca BarrowLuca Laine Thomas lives on an island said to be cursed. In its town, deaths from the past remain unsolved. Luca is determined to investigate the mystery behind those deaths. Her search takes place in an island community where a troubling history has left questions without answers. The central conflict connects an unresolved past with one girl’s effort to learn what happened.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Ballad & DaggerDaniel José OlderBallad & Dagger is an urban fantasy by Daniel José Older in which two teenagers come to know one another while fighting for their diaspora community. Nearly sixteen years earlier, Mateo Matisse’s island homeland disappeared beneath the sea. The book is presented by Rick Riordan and includes magic connected to deep traditions. Mateo’s lost homeland forms part of the novel’s premise.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Batter RoyaleLeisl Adams, illustrated by Leisl AdamsBatter Royale is a 240-page graphic novel by Leisl Adams. A talented young chef earns a place on a baking reality program, where the competition brings rivalry as well as romance. Baking is central to the contest, while the chef must navigate the tensions that arise among its participants. The book pairs a cooking competition with a romantic thread.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
BitterAkwaeke EmeziAfter spending much of her childhood in foster care, Bitter attends Eucalyptus, a residential school for young artists led by Miss Virtue. Beyond the school, activists in Lucille protest racial and economic injustice, often facing violent police responses. Though Bitter wants the refuge of school, serious harm done to friends draws her into the conflict. In anger, she makes art and brings a creation to life with her blood. The being calls itself Vengeance and is neither harmless nor short-lived.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
The Dragon’s PromiseElizabeth LimPrincess Shiori must fulfill a promise made at a deathbed by returning a dragon’s pearl to its proper owner. Her search takes her into the dragon kingdom as conflict grows between humans and dragons. Thieves want the pearl, while others threaten Shiori because of her magic. The unpredictable object can protect her or put her family and her relationship with Takkan at risk, forcing Shiori to defend what matters to her.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Drizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck ThingsMaya PrasadDrizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things is a multi-viewpoint romantic comedy about four sisters and four love stories. Its narrative is organized around four seasons and follows the sisters on an island near the Pacific Northwest coast. The book connects their separate perspectives with romance, sibling relationships, seasonal structure, and an island setting over the course of the four seasons.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Food-Related Stories (Pocket Change Collective)Gaby Melian, illustrated by Ashley LukashevskyChef and activist Gaby Melian gives a personal account of her journey with food. She considers food in connection with love, loss, hard work, and finding a passion, while addressing relationships with food that may be simple or complicated. Food connects these personal stories with Melian’s view that building a relationship with it can itself be a form of activism.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
GallantV. E. SchwabOlivia Prior has grown up at Merilance School for girls with only her mother’s journal to connect her to the past. A letter brings her to Gallant, though no one expects her there. Determined to remain in the first place that feels like home, Olivia faces a hostile cousin and glimpses half-formed ghouls in the manor’s corridors. The novel also centers on dark family secrets and a setting where the supernatural intrudes on reality.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 899LATOS Book Level 5.8View book details
The GetawayLamar GilesSet in a near future where climate change, racism, and economic inequality have intensified, The Getaway follows Black teenager Jay, whose family works at Karloff Country, a Virginia resort. The job gives his family food and economic security, while the resort’s billionaire owner seems suspect to Jay’s friend Zeke. As a global crisis unfolds, the resort’s true function is revealed: it shelters wealthy Trustees. Employees are forced to remain and serve them amid escalating racist microaggressions and painful control.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 920LATOS Book Level 6View book details
The Gilded Ones #2: The Merciless OnesNamina FornaIn Otera, a dark force is growing. Deka and her army must try to stop this merciless power. At the same time, hidden secrets endanger everything Deka has previously known. The stated conflict combines the threat posed by the rising force with revelations that could undo Deka’s understanding of her world, leaving Deka and her army to confront both a powerful danger and damaging secrets.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Girl OverboardSandra BlockDuring a cruise to Bermuda, Izzy meets Jade, a daring new friend who transforms an ordinary family vacation into something far more exciting. When Jade disappears, investigators say she fell overboard, but Izzy is not convinced. Jade had secrets, and Izzy suspects those secrets may be connected to her death. As Izzy investigates, she uncovers clues while recognizing that someone is determined to keep the truth hidden. The mystery unfolds aboard a cruise ship as Izzy tries to understand what happened to her friend and why.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
A Girl’s Guide to Love & MagicDebbie RigaudCicely Destin eagerly awaits the West Indian Day Parade, a neighborhood celebration of Caribbean culture. She looks forward to waving a Haitian flag, tasting foods, and cheering for floats. The day also brings time with her stylish aunt, an influencer who practices Haitian Vodou, and the possibility of seeing Cicely’s crush, Kwame. But events do not unfold as she expects.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeATOS Book Level 5.3AR Interest Level Upper Grades (UG 9-12)View book details
Girls Who Green the World: Thirty-Four Rebel Women Out to Save Our PlanetDiana Kapp, illustrated by Ana JarénGirls Who Green the World presents profiles of 34 women working toward environmental change. Combining biography with a guide to the contemporary environmental movement, it introduces activists, social entrepreneurs, visionaries, and other changemakers. The featured women are shown pursuing environmental work and social change, with the book focusing on their roles as leaders, founders, inventors, and advocates for the planet’s future.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Golden BoysSonya HartnettColt Jenson, 12, and his brother Bastian arrive in a working-class Australian neighborhood with their parents. Colt’s dentist father welcomes local children into their home, but Colt feels uneasy about the man’s physical friendliness and knows it has happened before. Nearby, Freya, the eldest of six, lives with a father whose drinking makes evenings tense and potentially dangerous. She confides in Mr. Jenson, while her brother Declan voices fears about his behavior.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
The Greatest ThingSarah Winifred SearleAt the beginning of sophomore year, Winifred arrives at high school without her two closest friends. Both have transferred to a private school, leaving her to manage the new school year on her own. The book presents this change in friendship as she confronts high school without the two friends who had been her only ones. Sarah Winifred Searle's 352-page book was published by First Second in 2022.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
The HoneysRyan La SalaRyan La Sala’s horror novel takes place at an isolated summer retreat. Mars has long lived in the shadow of twin sister Caroline, whose brilliance eclipsed his own. When Caroline dies in horrific circumstances after becoming distant from Mars, he seeks to understand more about her. Mars is genderfluid and is frequently shut out of the customs and expectations maintained by his politically connected family.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
I Must Betray YouRuta SepetysSet in Bucharest during Romania’s communist dictatorship in 1989, this historical novel follows seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu. A member of the Securitate confronts him at school over an illegal American dollar and pressures him to become an informer. Cristian agrees after the officer promises medicine for his grandfather, Bunu, who has leukemia. He is ordered to spy on the teenage son of an American diplomat, while knowing that surveillance and informers permeate daily life under the Ceaușescu regime. Rising tensions lead toward the Romanian revolution.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 550LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
Killing TimeBrenna EhrlichAfter the murder of her favorite teacher, Natalie Temple refuses to let rumors shape the story. The true-crime-obsessed girl investigates despite her mother’s disapproval, joining forces with a new boy in town. As Natalie learns more, the mystery leads her toward secrets that were not meant to surface. Killing Time follows her effort to find answers after a devastating loss.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
LegendbornTracy DeonnTracy Deonn’s fantasy novel follows Bree, a sixteen-year-old Black student grieving her mother’s death. At UNC–Chapel Hill, where her mother studied, Bree encounters the Order of the Roundtable, a hidden group that battles Shadowborn. After a magic-user’s attempt to erase her memory fails, she connects the event to the night her mother died. Seeking answers, Bree joins the Order as a Page and learns that Rootcraft, a form of African American magic, runs in her family.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure HL730LATOS Book Level 4.7View book details
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic SchoolSonora ReyesMexican American Yamilet starts Catholic high school alongside her younger brother Cesar, hoping to keep him out of trouble. After being outed at her former school, she plans to remain closeted, but develops a crush on Bo, a queer Chinese American classmate who openly supports gay rights. Yami’s judgmental religious mother is unaware that Cesar is bisexual, so Yami pretends to date his boyfriend. Her relationship with her deported father grows fraught when she comes out to him by text.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 681LATOS Book Level 4.4View book details
Medusa: The Girl Behind the MythJessie Burton, illustrated by Olivia Lomenech GillMedusa is sent by the gods to a distant island, where the snakes on her head are her only company. The story examines what happened to her and what follows her exile. Perseus, Zeus’s son, is sent to find and behead Medusa after Athena transforms her hair into serpents. Full-color illustrations accompany this retelling of the myth and Medusa’s isolation.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Murder for the Modern GirlKendall KulperSet in the Gatsby era, the book brings together Roaring Twenties extravagance, romance, and the risks of vigilante justice. Its young heroine can read minds and moves through streets at night in kitten heels. She hunts men whom she intends to kill. The stated elements combine glamorous 1920s surroundings with a love story and a dangerous campaign of private retribution.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
My Dearest DarkestKayla CottinghamFinch Chamberlin is the newest transfer student identified in My Dearest Darkest. It is described as a sapphic horror debut by Kayla Cottingham. The novel asks what price people would be willing to pay in order to achieve their deepest desires. This 2022 Sourcebooks book introduces Finch through her recent transfer and sets the question of desire within a horror premise.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
My Name Is Jason. Mine Too.Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jason GriffinJason Reynolds and Jason Griffin set out with the shared aim of moving to New York City. The two Jasons hope that the move will let them realize their personal dreams. Their journey is defined by a common destination as they each look toward a future they want to make for themselves.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
The New GirlJesse Q SutantoAt school, a teenage boy becomes deeply entangled with a mysterious newcomer whose blond hair, ghostly pallor, and eerie beauty make her unforgettable. His fascination with her is powerful and difficult to escape, turning his encounter with the new classmate into an unsettling mystery. Presented as a Fear Street horror book, the novel brings together teenage attraction, an enigmatic student, and the uneasy atmosphere surrounding her arrival at school. Her presence gives the familiar setting a distinctly eerie charge.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
SeoulmatesSusan LeeSeoulmates brings Hara Wilson to Seoul as she searches for her birth mother. In the city, Hara meets Choi Yujun, the first man she sees after arriving. She did not expect romance to become part of her search, yet she finds him irresistible. Susan Lee wrote this 336-page book, published by Penguin Publishing Group on January 25, 2022. The recorded ISBN for this edition is 9780593100165.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Tokyo Dreaming: A NovelEmiko JeanThe available description presents a young woman who has already faced scheming cousins, invasive press coverage, and an imperial scandal. She has eventually found a sense of belonging. Her former bodyguard is now her boyfriend. These stated circumstances place family conflict, public scrutiny, and a romantic relationship alongside the belonging she ultimately finds.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
The Weight of BloodTiffany D. JacksonIn fictional Springville, Georgia, Maddy Washington is a biracial high school senior whose racist father has made her pass as white and straighten her hair. A rainstorm restores Maddy’s natural hair, revealing her heritage. A video of classmates bullying her spreads online and exposes racism at Springville High. Tiffany D. Jackson’s horror novel is also described as a retelling of Carrie.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
When You Call My NameTucker ShawAdam falls in love with Callum after accepting an offer that leaves his heart racing. Ben, an eighteen-year-old who is interested in fashion, leaves his upstate home after his mother finds the gay magazines he had kept hidden. The book places Adam’s new relationship alongside Ben’s departure from home after a private part of his identity is discovered.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
You’ve Reached Sam: A NovelDustin ThaoJulie is heartbroken after Sam’s death. She avoids his funeral, gets rid of his belongings, and tries to put him out of mind. Then she finds a message Sam left in her yearbook. The message brings memories back despite Julie’s efforts to forget. This novel follows her response to that reminder of Sam and the memories she has been trying to set aside after his death.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Zyla & KaiKristina ForestZyla & Kai is a teen romance about Zyla Matthews and Kai Johnson, high school seniors whose first love is marked by uncertainty. During a stormy school trip to the Poconos, they leave together, baffling the friends and family who are left behind. Their relationship unfolds amid the consequences of that departure.Kids Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsTeacher Favorites — K–2nd Grade
40 selections
Abdul’s StoryJamilah Thompkins-BigelowAbdul loves telling stories but finds it hard to write them down. His letters will not stay straight or face the right way, and repeated erasing leaves his papers covered in smudges. Feeling self-conscious at school, he decides his stories may not belong on the page. Then a visitor to his class helps Abdul see that mistakes are part of writing, including for accomplished writers and superheroes.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD540LATOS Book Level 2.9View book details
Beatrice Bly’s Rules for Spies 2: Mystery GooSue Fliess, illustrated by Beth MillsSpy-in-training Beatrice Bly investigates an unexplained sticky substance that appears on her desk. Eager for a fresh case after locating a missing class hamster, she focuses on discovering where the goo came from. At the same time, Beatrice and her friend Nora need to develop a science-fair project. Their investigation draws on observation, deduction, and scientific inquiry as they work to address both problems.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Beautiful You, Beautiful MeTasha Spillett-Sumner, illustrated by Salini PereraWhile curled up on Mama’s lap one evening, Izzy sees something new about their appearances. Izzy’s skin is described as chocolate-colored, whereas Mama’s is sand-colored. The book centers this moment of recognition between mother and child, placing the difference between their skin colors within a close family setting during their nighttime cuddle.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Because ClaudetteTracey Baptiste, illustrated by Tonya EngelBecause Claudette traces a chain of events begun when a student who had been learning about Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth refused to surrender her seat to a white woman. Her arrest came before Rosa Parks’s sit-in nine months later and the organization of the Montgomery movement. The account links classroom learning about abolitionists to resistance against racial segregation and its wider consequences.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsBeing Friends with DragonsKatherine Locke, illustrated by Diane EwenA story about friendship with dragons, whose company can be wonderful but not always easy. The central challenge is a dragon’s fiery temper: can it be tamed well enough for a lasting friendship to develop? The book frames the relationship around the difficulties that can arise when a dragon’s temper flares and the effort to form a bond despite them.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsBig and Small and In-BetweenCarter HigginsThis book considers the world through differences in size, from a family of bears to a reflection in a puddle. It includes things that can be touched or seen as well as things that are felt. An imaginative visual exploration, it connects physical objects and emotional experiences, inviting readers to notice what they might collect from the world around them.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure NP0LATOS Book Level 0.1View book detailsBlurp’s Book of MannersCindy Derby, illustrated by Cindy DerbyPicklepop is teaching an etiquette lesson when she spills a bucket of paint and a living paint blob appears. Blurp is not frightening or wicked, but the messy creature repeatedly interrupts the lesson with paint splatters, burps, and other distractions. As Picklepop tries to continue teaching manners, Blurp turns the session upside down and may have something to teach the etiquette coach in return.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD610LATOS Book Level 4View book details
Brave Every DayTrudy Ludwig, illustrated by Patrice BartonCamila worries intensely and prefers hiding, even during games of hide-and-seek. When her class visits an aquarium, her fears build. An anxious classmate then asks Camila for help, and helping someone else lets her recognize that her capacity for courage is greater than the fears she carries. The story follows Camila through anxiety, a school outing, and a moment of support for a peer.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD620LATOS Book Level 4View book detailsCreepy Crayon!Aaron ReynoldsJasper Rabbit would rather play than do schoolwork, and he is failing at school. He finds a magic—or possessed—crayon that supplies the right answers and helps him improve his grades. The crayon soon becomes a source of trouble. This horror story follows Jasper as he uses the unusual crayon to change what happens with his schoolwork, bringing together school pressure, supernatural help, and consequences.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD500LATOS Book Level 3.3View book detailsDon’t Hug the QuokkaDaniel Errico, illustrated by Mia PowellA quokka may look cute, but it does not want to be hugged. It says no, introducing consent through an animal’s response to unwanted touch. The book stresses asking before a hug and makes clear that a hug should happen only when the other person agrees. Even adorable creatures can reject physical contact. Its central encounter distinguishes appearance from permission.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD450LATOS Book Level 3.1View book details
Fox: A Circle of Life StoryIsabel Thomas, illustrated by Daniel EgnéusFox: A Circle of Life Story portrays a mother fox searching for food in an early-spring forest. Frost covers the forest, and the fox has three cubs to feed. The book takes a scientific look at the fox’s place in the circle of life. Isabel Thomas wrote the 48-page book; Bloomsbury Children's Books published it on November 30, 2021.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Go Wild! ElephantsMargie MarkarianAn introduction to elephants covers their body parts, what they eat, and the size they can reach. The book invites readers to picture elephants stomping, tromping, clomping, and trumpeting. Its stated focus stays with the animals themselves: their physical features, their food, and their growth. These elements present elephants through movement and sound as well as information about their bodies and scale.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
The Good Egg and the Talent ShowJory John, illustrated by Pete OswaldThe Good Egg is excited for a talent show but has no act to perform. He decides he will simply watch from the audience. When his friends need help onstage, he steps in and discovers a talent through helping them. The story centers a talent-show day, friendship, kindness, and the Good Egg’s realization that he does not need a conventional act.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure 281LATOS Book Level 2.2View book details
Gotcha!: A Funny Fairy Tale Hide-and-SeekClotilde Perrin, illustrated by Clotilde PerrinDuring a fairy-tale hide-and-seek game, a child searches for hiding spots in homes linked with the Three Little Pigs, Sleeping Beauty, and Hansel and Gretel. Flaps open onto places including a bathroom, an oven, and a stopped clock. The child uses knowledge from storybooks to send villains away, and monsters run from the game. Hidden surprises wait in these familiar fairy-tale locations.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsHave You Eaten?: A Story of Food, Friendship, and KindnessSu Youn LeeCoco the chipmunk loves sweet potatoes and shares them with everyone around her, often asking, “Have you eaten?” Other animals initially find the question strange, but Coco shares food with animals who need a friend. When she becomes ill, those new friends care for her by sharing food in the way she taught them. The story links food with friendship and care.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsHey, Bruce!: An Interactive BookRyan T. Higgins, illustrated by Ryan T. HigginsBruce the bear becomes the reluctant subject of an interactive reading game guided by Rupert, Thistle, and Nibbs, mice in his expansive family. Readers are asked to turn pages, rotate the book, and carry out increasingly silly directions. Those actions send Bruce tumbling and flying, while he looks directly toward the reader. The mice direct the action as Bruce resists the starring role.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
I Am Amazing!Alissa Holder, Zulekha Holder-Young, illustrated by Nneka MyersAyaan loves imagining himself as a superhero and acts helpfully on the playground. He assists a friend who has fallen, pushes friends on swings, and boosts others at the rock wall. His fun changes when two friends say he does not seem like a superhero and that no one will take him seriously. The book follows his superhero hopes in the face of their doubts.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD510LATOS Book Level 3.4View book details
I Hope / nipakosêyimonMonique Gray Smith, Translated by Delores Greyeyes Sand, illustrated by Gabrielle GrimardI Hope / nipakosêyimon reflects on the hopes people carry for the children in their lives. It expresses a wish that young people will thrive and encounter life's possibilities. The book also acknowledges a protective feeling toward them, placing care alongside the desire for their growth. Written by Monique Gray Smith, it was published by Orca Book Publishers in 2022.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
LikeAnnie Barrows, illustrated by Leo EspinosaLike uses playful comparisons and contrasts to consider the ways people resemble one another and the ways they differ. Its text approaches those ideas through surprises and silliness, inviting readers to look at themselves alongside other people. Rather than presenting likeness as a single fixed idea, the book places similarities and differences side by side. The result centers on noticing connections while recognizing individual distinctions.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD540LATOS Book Level 3.6View book details
Little Black Girl: Oh, the Things You Can Do!Kirby Howell-Baptiste, illustrated by Paul DaveyWritten by Kirby Howell-Baptiste, this picture book addresses little Black girls with a message of confidence and possibility. It encourages them to reach for their most ambitious dreams while presenting that encouragement in a joyful, affirming mode. The book centers Black girlhood, self-belief, and dreams of what might be achieved.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Little Homesteader: A Summer Treasury of Recipes, Crafts and WisdomAngela Ferraro-Fanning, illustrated by AnneliesDrawsThis summer collection gathers cooking, crafting, and gardening projects alongside seasonal wisdom and facts about nature. Activities include making natural shampoo, learning about honey harvesting, decorating a picnic blanket with handprints, creating a sun catcher, and preparing summertime treats such as watermelon popsicles. Its projects focus on hands-on ways to explore summer, food, plants, and materials from the natural world.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Little Kids First Big Book of Baby AnimalsMaya MyersThis nonfiction book introduces young readers to baby animals through examples including panda cubs, prairie dog pups, beluga calves, and flamingo chicks. Alongside photographs or descriptions of these appealing young animals, it provides fascinating information about them. The wide range of animal babies gives the book a broad focus, moving from land-dwelling mammals to aquatic belugas and birds such as flamingos.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Little Pine Cone: Wildfires and the Natural WorldJohanna Wagstaffe, illustrated by Julian McLaughlinJacky, a Jack pine cone, lives in the woods among animal friends while the climate changes and summers grow hotter and drier. When a forest fire begins, the animals flee and firefighters battle the flames. The fire approaches a nearby village, where residents and the fire crew take steps intended to keep everyone safe. Jacky watches the emergency unfold from the forest.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Little Red Riding Hood and the DragonYing Chang Compestine, illustrated by Joy AngThis version of Little Red Riding Hood places Little Red in a village near the Great Wall in China. Rather than a woodsman and the familiar wolf story, the tale is told as a different account, with a gentle wolf narrating. Little Red trains in kung fu and faces a dragon, reshaping the classic fairy tale through a Chinese setting.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Nervous NigelBethany Christou, illustrated by Bethany ChristouNigel is a young crocodile from a family of swimming champions, and they enter him in a contest. He is afraid of competitions and worries about disappointing his family. The story asks whether Nigel can follow his own path while facing the expectations attached to his champion family and the swimming event they have chosen for him.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsNever Teach a Stegosaurus to Do SumsRashmi Sirdeshpande, illustrated by Diane EwenA stegosaurus learning sums prompts a playful what-if adventure. The dinosaur’s new grasp of math leads to imagined possibilities that include coding and building a rocket ship. Centered on the question of what could happen if a dinosaur learned to calculate, the story combines numbers with unruly comic situations and lets the animal’s mathematical skills propel the action. It presents learning and numerical ideas through a dinosaur’s unexpected activities.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
The Nocturnals Nighttime Animals: Awesome Features & Surprising AdaptationsTracey HechtThe Nocturnals Nighttime Animals examines traits of nocturnal animals, including athletic abilities, senses, and protections. It names foxes, sugar gliders, bats, pangolins, wombats, kinkajous, possums, chinchillas, and snakes as animals from around the world. Science resources for home accompany a glossary of animals, a glossary of words, and more than 60 color photographs. Written by Tracey Hecht, this 64-page book was published by Fabled Films Press on October 18, 2022.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsNot Enough LollipopsMegan Maynor, illustrated by Micah PlayerAlice feels fortunate after winning a wagon filled with lollipops. The prize, however, creates a difficulty when she must share it with the other children in her class. Her lollipops are at the center of the story, as Alice faces the complication of dividing a large treat among classmates. The book focuses on the shift from her initial excitement to the challenge posed by sharing.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD460LATOS Book Level 2.2View book detailsOur World is a FamilyMiry Whitehill, Jennifer JacksonWhen someone new comes to the neighborhood, this picture book asks how people can help that person feel safe, loved, and important. It focuses on welcoming immigrant and refugee neighbors seeking a better life. The story presents the world as a shared home and encourages gestures of kindness, compassion, and community so newcomers know they are not alone.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Powwow DayTraci SorellRiver hopes to dance at her tribal powwow, but she is still regaining her energy after an illness. She cannot take part in the Grand Entry, intertribal dance, or the jingle dance she especially wants to join. When River is discouraged, her friend Dawn dances for her. Watching her community dance for the Creator, ancestors, families, and everyone’s health helps River imagine returning to dance at a future powwow.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD610LATOS Book Level 2.5View book details
Pumpkin and MeAlicia Acosta, illustrated by Mercè GalíAfter the narrator’s dog, Pumpkin, dies, sadness fills the home. The next day, the narrator feels followed by a dark cloud, with sore, tearful eyes and a tight feeling around the heart. The story addresses the loss of a pet and grief, while also turning to the memories connected with Pumpkin. It follows one family’s emotional response after the dog’s death.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Quacks Like a DuckStephanie Campisi, illustrated by Maria LebedevaPetunia, a platypus newly arrived from Australia, goes to her first party with a present, party hat, and pavlova. It is a costume party, but she has no costume. Other guests repeatedly question what she is, comparing her to a duck and asking about her webbed feet and eggs. Their questions leave Petunia wondering whether she can fit in without a disguise.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
The Secret Life of the Sea OtterLaurence Pringle, illustrated by Kate GarchinskyThe book follows a female sea otter, Lutris, across the course of a year on California’s Northern Pacific coast. She lives among giant kelp, searches creatively for food, and avoids a great white shark. Her story also includes the birth of her pup. Through these events, the book focuses on one otter’s life in a coastal ocean environment and the dangers and needs she encounters there.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsThe Sour GrapeJory John, illustrated by Pete OswaldThe Sour Grape holds onto resentments over small slights, including a borrowed scarf that was not returned and an unanswered call. After another friend resents the grape without hearing an explanation, the grape recognizes the unfairness of this response. A painful experience has shaped the grape's personality, and the story follows its effort to release those grudges.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD430LATOS Book Level 2.9View book details
Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic SpiritualCarole Boston WeatherfordThis picture book draws on a classic African American spiritual and reworks its lyrics to trace African American history. Its pages highlight historical milestones alongside struggles, tragedies, and triumphs. The retelling also centers the resilience of the Black community, connecting a traditional spiritual with moments from Black history. The book brings together music, cultural heritage, history, and community perseverance in a modern picture-book form.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsThe Three Billy Goats GruffMac BarnettIn this retelling of the Norwegian folktale, the three Billy Goats Gruff want to cross a bridge to reach a grassy ridge. A hungry troll waits beneath the bridge and plans a goat meal. The first two goats avoid being eaten by telling the troll that a larger, tastier goat is coming next. Muted mixed-media illustrations accompany the goats’ passage and the troll’s heightened demands.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Tiny CedricSally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Rowboat WatkinsTiny Cedric, King ME the First, dislikes being small and orders everyone taller than him out of his palace. Only babies remain, leaving them responsible for royal duties. Cedric must then handle tasks such as kissing boo-boos and reading bedtime stories. The story follows the tiny king as he confronts the consequences of his order and considers becoming a kinder ruler.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD580LATOS Book Level 3.8View book details
A Very Mercy ChristmasKate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van DusenStella Endicott decides to go caroling during the holidays and hopes to bring friends and neighbors along. Her brother Frank resists the unplanned idea, while the Watson family is occupied with an uncertain fruitcake project. The Watsons send their pig, Mercy, out for the caroling occasion. The story brings together Stella, Frank, Mercy, and other familiar characters for a holiday celebration.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeWord Count 990View book detailsA Wee BooJessica Boyd, illustrated by Brooke KerriganWee Boo is a ghost who wants to earn a haunting license like other ghosts, but she is too cute to frighten anyone. After failing twice, she receives another opportunity with a reduced requirement: she needs only one startled response. She tries several approaches, including attempting to scare a baby, whose laughter produces an unexpected result. The other ghosts offer encouragement while doubting that Wee Boo can succeed.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD510LATOS Book Level 3.4View book details
Wondering AroundMeg Fleming, illustrated by Richard JonesAn outdoor exploration prompts questions and imaginative attention to the natural world. The book moves from footprints on a forest path to reflections of water on sand, showing how these sights can stir curiosity. Its focus is wandering outside, noticing nature’s details, and wondering about what might be found there along the way.Teacher Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD410LATOS Book Level 2.8View book detailsTeacher Favorites — 3rd–5th Grade
40 selections
Africana: An Encyclopedia of an Amazing ContinentKim Chakanetsa, illustrated by Mayowa AlabiAfricana is an illustrated encyclopedia about the African continent’s history and diversity. It organizes its material by broad geographic areas, covering the people, landscapes, and wildlife associated with different regions. Entries range from the continent’s place as the origin of the first humans to ancient Egypt, the Benin Empire, the Kingdom of Kush, and modern cities. Kim Chakanetsa wrote the 96-page book.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsAnimal BFFsSophie Corrigan, illustrated by Sophie CorriganAnimal BFFs looks at best friendships in the animal world. It describes animal companions who are there for one another in hard times and good ones alike. These pairs help each other in the familiar ways friends do, presenting animals as having close, dependable bonds. The book follows The Not Bad Animals and focuses on what it means for animals to have a best friend in their lives and relationships.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsBake Infinite Pie with X + YEugenia Cheng, illustrated by Amber RenX and Y dream of making an endless supply of pie but are unsure whether such a pie can exist. With flour, butter, and help from Aunt Z, they use math in their baking. The story follows their effort to find out whether mathematics can help them make infinite pie, combining numerical ideas with a cooking project.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsBecause of You, John LewisAndrea Davis PinkneyTen-year-old Tybre Faw dreams of meeting Congressman John Lewis, and when this happens, their friendship begins. The book tells the story of the young activist alongside Lewis, a civil rights leader whose own youth included a consequential friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. It follows a bond between generations of activists and includes watercolor images, poetic text, photographs, and other back matter. It identifies both people as connected through activism and friendship.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeLexile Text Measure 720LATOS Book Level 3.9View book detailsBlast Off!: How Mary Sherman Morgan Fueled America into SpaceSuzanne SladeThis biography follows Mary Sherman Morgan, identified as America's first female rocket scientist. Growing up on a North Dakota farm in the 1920s, Mary discovers an interest in learning and excels in science, especially chemistry. During World War II, she works in a laboratory on rocket fuel. Later, as the United States enters the space race, she leads a team developing the fuel that launches America's first satellite.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsBreaking Through the Clouds: The Sometimes Turbulent Life of Meteorologist Joanne SimpsonSandra Nickel, illustrated by Helena Perez GarciaThis picture-book biography follows meteorologist Joanne Simpson, whose discoveries helped explain how weather works. As a child, she sailed beneath the clouds of Cape Cod; later, as a pilot, she flew her plane high among them. During World War II, after moving to the University of Chicago, she was asked to teach Air Force officers about clouds and weather-changing winds.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsBuilding an Orchestra of Hope: How Favio Chavez Taught Children to Make Music from TrashCarmen Oliver, illustrated by Luisa UribeThis illustrated true story follows music teacher Favio Chavez in Cateura, Paraguay, where families live and work among landfill waste. Hoping to offer music lessons to local children, Favio soon faces a practical obstacle: there are more students than instruments. He responds with an unusual idea rooted in the town’s recycling work, imagining an orchestra made from recycled materials. The book centers on music, shared effort, and inventive responses to limited resources.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Bunnicula: The Graphic NovelJames Howe, Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Stephen GilpinBunnicula: The Graphic Novel turns the long-running Bunnicula classic into a graphic-novel adaptation. Its description highlights a hare and a deliberately spooky, comic tone, pairing scares with laughter. The book revisits a classic associated with more than forty years of history, presenting its animal focus and frightful humor in a graphic format. The available description does not provide a fuller plot outline.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
The Day the Earth Rose UpAlfreda Beartrack-Algeo, illustrated by Alfreda Beartrack-AlgeoFar within a forest, seven Lakota sisters collect chokecherries. A giant bear startles them and pursues them through the woods. The sisters take refuge together on a rock ledge, where they pray for help. The earth rises beneath them, carrying them beyond the bear’s reach. Their gathering trip becomes an escape from danger shaped by their shared plea for aid and the earth’s response.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Dazzlin’ Dolly: The Songwriting, Hit-Singing, Guitar-Picking Dolly PartonSuzanne Slade, illustrated by Edwin FotheringhamThis biography follows Dolly Parton from her childhood in East Tennessee to performing at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. As a young girl, Dolly sings to cornhusk dolls and pigs, makes a drum from a pot, and creates a guitar from a broken mandolin. The book traces her early connection to music and her later work as a singer, songwriter, and humanitarian.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsDressing Up the StarsJeanne W Harvey, illustrated by Diana ToledanoThis biography follows Edith Head from a lonely, creative childhood in Searchlight, Nevada, to work in Hollywood costume design. As a child, she dressed animals and toys with ribbons and feathers, collected fabric scraps for doll clothes, and made costumes for friends’ plays. After college, she began as a sketch artist despite lacking drawing skill, then practiced, faced an early failure, and advanced from costumes for animals and dancers to designs for movie stars.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsThe Gardener of AlcatrazEmma Bland Smith, illustrated by Jenn ElyThis picture-book biography tells of Elliott Michener, who was imprisoned at Alcatraz after counterfeiting. Determined to escape the odds, he turns to gardening, and the account presents this work as his route toward freedom. The narrative concerns his experience in prison, his resolve to get out, and the garden work that becomes central while he is incarcerated.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
H Is for HarlemDinah JohnsonAn alphabetical book explores Harlem’s Black history and culture through people, buildings, institutions, works of art, landmarks, performance spaces, museums, community centers, and traditions. Entries include places such as the Apollo Theatre, Liberation Bookstore, and Uptown. Different elements of Harlem’s past and present are brought together in an illustrated archive of a neighborhood that has shaped American culture across generations.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsHer Name Was Mary Katharine: The Only Woman Whose Name Is on the Declaration of IndependenceElla Schwartz, illustrated by Dow PhumirukThis picture-book biography focuses on Mary Katharine Goddard, born in 1738 in colonial Connecticut as the country moved toward the American Revolution. It recounts how she became the only woman whose name appeared in print on the Declaration of Independence. Her story is set against the changing politics of the colonial era and the nation’s approach to revolution.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsHispanic Star: Celia CruzClaudia Romo Edelman, William AlexanderThis biography follows Celia Cruz from her childhood in Havana, Cuba, where she loved singing, to a prominent career in salsa. It traces her work with Sonora Matancera and the Fania All-Stars, alongside the growth of salsa, a genre rooted in Afro-Cuban musical styles. Across more than six decades and seventy albums, Cruz's career and musical influence form the focus of the book.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
How Was That Built?Roma Agrawal, illustrated by Katie HickeyThis book examines the engineering behind major architectural structures around the world. It considers how skyscrapers achieve great heights and how bridges cross deep, wide rivers. Through these examples of built structures, the book focuses on the engineering challenges involved in architecture and construction. Its subject is the design and creation of large-scale structures that shape the built environment.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsInvestiGators: Heist and SeekJohn Patrick GreenWhen paintings disappear from a museum, the InvestiGators are called to investigate the theft. Mango and Brash are alligators who work as a crime-fighting pair. Their adventures feature puns, silly supervillains, and giant talking chickens. In an earlier adventure, the duo goes undercover in a bakery to find chef Gustavo after he is kidnapped and to keep his recipes out of the wrong hands.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsIt’s So DifficultRaúl Nieto Guridi, illustrated by Raúl Nieto GuridiFor a nonverbal child, school is a noisy, crowded place with many things to keep track of. Even a greeting can feel difficult, despite adults’ assurances that these moments will become easier. Counting and working through calculations offer comfort when the routine becomes chaotic. The book uses stark white lettering against black pages and rough-textured drawings to convey the child’s feelings.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsA Land of Books: Dreams of Young Mexihcah Word PaintersDuncan TonatiuhA young Mexihcah girl tells her younger brother about the value of language, culture, and tradition. She describes how their parents create painted manuscripts, or codices, and connects their work to bookmaking among the Maya, Mixtecs, Mexica, and other peoples of Mesoamerica. The story centers on Mesoamerican storytelling and the making of books in a world the narrator calls a land of books.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeATOS Book Level 4.3AR Interest Level Lower Grades (LG K-3)View book detailsLet’s Play DdakjiIm Seo-Ha, illustrated by Jang Joon-YoungWoo is looking forward to vacation because it will take him to his aunt's home. During the visit, he expects to play ddakji with his friends. The book centers on this anticipated trip and Woo's chance to spend time with both his aunt and his friends through the game. Ddakji is the activity that connects the visit, Woo's excitement, and the time he plans to share with his friends.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsA Life of Service: The Story of Senator Tammy DuckworthChristina SoontornvatThis picture-book biography traces Senator Tammy Duckworth's life of public service. It covers her childhood, including her family's struggle to avoid homelessness; her service in the U.S. Army; and her recovery after injuries sustained while serving. The book also recounts her election to Congress as the first Thai American woman and her service in both chambers as the first woman with a disability to do so.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Literary Critters: William Shakesbear’s Journey for InspirationSophie Corrigan, illustrated by Sophie CorriganLiterary Critters is a picture book by Sophie Corrigan that introduces classic literary figures. It connects those figures with imaginative engagement, inviting readers to use their imaginations. The book's title names William Shakesbear and a journey for inspiration. Zonderkidz published it in 2022, with Corrigan credited as both writer and illustrator.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsMasato’s GardenJerry Ruff, illustrated by Maya OnoderaJohnny encounters Masato's garden, which is unlike any garden he has previously known. The book presents this distinctive garden alongside loved ones and meditation practiced in nature. Its focus connects the quiet experience of a natural setting with relationships and meditative reflection, all through Johnny's experience of a garden that stands apart from the others he has seen in his life.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Mason Mooney: Doppelgänger DetectiveSeaerra Miller, illustrated by Seaerra MillerIt is Halloween in Grimbrook, where Mason Mooney and his assistant Iris plan to attend their middle school dance. Their plans change after the discovery of a haunted mirror. Mason and Iris investigate the mystery and face doppelgängers emerging from a mirror dimension. The adventure combines a school event with paranormal investigation, magic, and a threat to their town.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsThe Mother of a MovementRob Sanders, illustrated by Sam KaldaJeanne Manford is the subject of this true account, which depicts a parent’s support and unconditional love. The book identifies Manford as PFLAG’s founder and spells the initials out with parents, families, friends, lesbians, and gays. Written by Rob Sanders, it was published by Magination Press ® - American Psychological Association on 2022-10-04 and has a stated page count of 40.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
National Geographic Kids Dinosaur Atlas: When They Roamed, How They Lived, and Where We Find Their FossilsNational Geographic KidsThis atlas examines dinosaurs through illustrations, fossil discoveries, and maps. It considers when dinosaurs lived, how they lived, and the places where their fossils have been found. The book brings together prehistoric animals, fossil evidence, and maps made for young readers. Its illustrated approach pairs dinosaur material with geographic information about fossil finds, offering a map-based look at dinosaurs and the remains used to trace their history.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
One and EverythingSam Winston, illustrated by Sam WinstonA story that has taken in every other story declares itself the only one left. The absorbed stories, however, insist that their voices must also be heard. The book considers stories, written languages, and the need to preserve them through a narrative about competing voices. Watercolor and typographic illustrations accompany the text, along with a map. Back matter describes the language systems that appear in the book.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
The Real Dada Mother Goose: A Treasury of Complete NonsenseJon ScieszkaThis book takes six familiar Mother Goose rhymes and reworks each through a series of Dada-inspired, absurd variations. Every traditional rhyme appears first in its customary form, followed by six new versions. Humpty Dumpty’s story becomes a telephone-style translation and a postcard from camp; “Jack Be Nimble” is transformed into a book report and a multiple-choice quiz. Other rhymes become a comic strip, recipe, pop quiz, hieroglyphic puzzle, crossword, anagram, or a version crowded with similes. Humor and unconventional forms drive these playful revisions of nursery-rhyme material.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
The Replay: 25 Greatest Moments in SportsAdam Skinner, illustrated by Mai Ly DegnanThe Replay presents 25 notable moments and achievements in sports. It tells stories of athletes from the 1800s through the present, including women and men, able-bodied athletes, and Paralympians. Its subjects include trailblazers, Olympians, and record holders across more than 20 sports. Illustrations accompany these accounts, which range across different eras and athletic fields while focusing on individual accomplishments and significant sporting moments.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
The Secret Life of BirdsMoira Butterfield, illustrated by Vivian MinekarThis guide combines stories and facts about birdlife around the world. It introduces birds’ ways of navigating, the many ways they call to one another, and their striking range of sizes. Speedy the Swift leads the exploration of birds and their journeys. The book focuses on the hidden features, communication, and movement of birds in different parts of the world.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Sheet Pan ScienceLiz Lee HeineckeSheet Pan Science contains 25 physics, biology, and chemistry projects designed to be done with a sheet pan. The projects include directions, explanations of the science involved, and step-by-step photographic guides. The book focuses on hands-on activities across three scientific fields, with each project presented through simple instructions and images that show the stages. Its experiments combine practical project guidance with explanations of the underlying science.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsThe Spoiled Boy With The Terribly Dry Throat (English-Ukrainian Edition)Idries Shah, illustrated by Silvara KossemWritten by Idries Shah, this 42-page English-Ukrainian edition begins when a little boy wakes with a dry throat. The people around him hurry about while trying to determine the cause of his condition. His dry throat and their effort to discover what caused it provide the stated circumstances of the book. Hoopoe Books published this edition on June 30, 2022.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
The Storyteller’s HandbookElise Hurst, illustrated by Elise HurstThis wordless picture book is made of double-page illustrated scenes that can prompt many possible stories. An introduction describes an old man drawing fragments of wisdom collected during his life, suggesting that the resulting drawings make up the book. The scenes combine whimsical, surreal, fantastical, and realistic details. Black-pen crosshatching and touches of watercolor shape images designed to invite readers to imagine their own adventures.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsThe Sweetest Scoop: Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream RevolutionLisa Robinson, illustrated by Stacy InnerstBen Cohen and Jerry Greenfield first met at age twelve and later entered the ice-cream business together. Their early work included a summer job on an ice-cream truck. After other career plans fell through, they rented and renovated an abandoned gas station, developed recipes, and added ingredients such as cookies and candy. Their shop opened in 1978, and they later invited flavor ideas from the public while working through business obstacles.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Totality!: An Eclipse Guide in Rhyme and ScienceJeffrey BennettAn eclipse guide in rhyme and science, this book links a 2017 total solar eclipse in the United States with two later US eclipses. It notes that millions watched the 2017 event, the first total solar eclipse there in nearly four decades. The later pair includes an annular eclipse dated October 14, 2023, followed by a total solar eclipse dated April 8, 2024.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsWant a Hug?Christine Babinec, illustrated by Vivan MinekerThis picture book focuses on consent, boundaries, and communication around hugs. It presents listening, mutuality, understanding, and love as part of those conversations. The book makes room for both choices: children can refuse a hug, and they can also agree to one. Its approach treats practicing consent skills as a positive part of communicating with others.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsWhen the Sky GlowsNell C. Beckerman, illustrated by David LitchfieldThis nonfiction picture book explores why natural events can make the sky appear luminous. It addresses sunrise and lightning alongside rainbows, volcanoes, meteors, and eclipses. Rather than focusing on a single event, the book brings together a range of light-filled natural phenomena and explains the science that accounts for their glowing appearances.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeLexile Text Measure AD920LATOS Book Level 6View book detailsWhy?Laura Vaccaro SeegerRabbit repeatedly asks Bear a single question: “Why?” The changing seasons frame their exchanges, while the illustrations and Bear’s replies reveal what Rabbit is asking about. Rabbit wonders about flowers, geese, the wind, a dead bird, and other moments in the natural world. Bear’s responses do not always provide an answer, but their relationship continues through Rabbit’s curiosity, tension, and sadness.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Wonderful Hair: The Beauty of Annie MaloneEve Nadel CatarevasThis book recounts the work of Annie Turnbo Malone, a Black business leader of the early twentieth century. Malone developed hair-care products and built them into an industry, distributing hair and cosmetic products for Black women. Her Poro Colleges taught the Poro method. The book also describes her as the first self-made African American woman millionaire. Detailed illustrations and back matter accompany this account of her work, business, and products.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsThe Yippee StickRoel Seidell, illustrated by Roel SeidellBear is sad when he meets Mouse, who is cheerful because she has a yippee stick. Mouse lets Bear borrow it, since the stick brings happiness. This brief story follows the contrast between Bear’s sadness and Mouse’s delight, with the two animal characters sharing the object that changes Bear’s mood.Teacher Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsTeacher Favorites — 6th–8th Grade
40 selections
Alice Austen Lived HereAlex GinoSam is nonbinary, as is their best friend, TJ. Sam’s family accepts Sam’s identity while still expecting chores, homework, and respectful conduct toward teachers. In history class, however, Sam struggles with a teacher whose view of history seems limited to dead, straight, cisgender white men. The book follows Sam’s queer identity, friendship, family life, and conflict with this classroom perspective.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsAliens: Join the Scientists Searching Space for Extraterrestrial LifeJoalda Morancy, Amy Grimes, illustrated by Amy GrimesThis nonfiction book examines the scientific search for life beyond Earth. It separates ideas and myths about extraterrestrials from the evidence and methods scientists use to look for alien lifeforms. The subject is the ongoing search for life elsewhere in space, presenting the science behind that effort rather than treating aliens as established fact. It considers the possibility of discovering life beyond Earth as well.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsAnswers in the PagesDavid LevithanAn adventure novel about two characters pursuing an evil genius becomes the center of a community dispute when people question whether its main characters are gay. Donovan’s mother seeks to remove the book from the school curriculum, leaving him caught between the controversy and his own belief that a story should not be banned because two boys might fall in love. Fifth graders’ reactions, first loves, and homophobia shape the story.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsThe Antiracist KidTiffany Jewell, illustrated by Nicole MilesThe Antiracist Kid introduces racism and antiracism, including systemic racism and tools for opposing it. It asks readers to consider identity, reflect on themselves, and examine questions of power and bias. The book connects this work to equity, justice, and activism, inviting readers to become advocates for change. Bold spot illustrations and extensive back matter accompany the text as additional material.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsAttack of the Black RectanglesAmy Sarig KingMac notices that words have been covered in his classroom copy of The Devil’s Arithmetic. Once he and his friends learn what has been removed, Mac is angry that someone at school is restricting access to the complete text. He decides to challenge that restriction, drawing on lessons from his mother and grandad, while also coping with his father’s worsening mental-health problems.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Coming Up CubanSonia ManzanoFour racially diverse young Cubans navigate the first years following the Cuban Revolution. Ana leaves for the United States with her mother after her father dies in government custody. Miguel is sent through Operation Pedro Pan to a New York orphanage, where he and other refugees challenge unequal treatment. In rural Cuba, Zulema welcomes literacy instruction amid growing tensions, while Juan pulls away from his friend Paco after Paco begins spying on neighbors.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsDoor of No ReturnKwame AlexanderIn 1860, Kofi Offin lives in the fictional Asante village of Upper Kwanta, where he looks up to his brother Kwasi, listens to his grandfather Nana Mosi’s stories, and spends time with his friend Ebo. He clashes with a teacher who demands English instead of Twi and with a cousin who challenges him to a swim. After Kwasi kills a nearby leader’s son during a festival wrestling match, the brothers are abducted. Kwasi is beaten to death, while Kofi and other boys are taken to a fortress before a voyage on the USS Georgetown.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure NP0LATOS Book Level 5.9View book details
A Duet for HomeKarina Yan GlaserAfter her father’s unexpected death, June and her family are evicted and move into Huey House shelter. She initially feels devastated when she cannot bring her viola inside, but Tyrell, who has lived at the shelter for three years, introduces her to its friendships, meals, and nearby music. As June reconnects with herself and joins other residents, the shelter faces a threat and the children work to save the home they share.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 800LATOS Book Level 5.1View book details
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Puberty—and Shouldn’t Learn on TikTok: For Curious GirlsGemma Hong, Sophie Young, illustrated by Amelia PinneyA fully illustrated guide addresses the changes of puberty. Its material includes physical changes, emotional changes, and social changes, looking at what happens both inside and outside a person’s body. The book frames these changes in a direct, humorous manner and uses an older-sister-like voice to accompany readers through them. It presents this information with frankness and an approachable tone.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Fight Like a GirlMike LewisFight Like a Girl combines memoir, opinion, and investigative journalism. It examines the continuing inequality women face in the world. The book also frames its argument as a manifesto for feminism and calls for true equality, bringing personal reflection, commentary, and reported investigation together to address women’s unequal treatment. Its materials range across personal experience, opinion writing, and investigative reporting.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
FreewaterAmina Luqman-DawsonTwelve-year-old Homer and his sister Ava escape from a plantation, leaving their mother behind. They reach Freewater, a hidden community in the Great Dismal Swamp made by formerly enslaved people. When outside danger threatens the community, Homer plans to defend his new friends and rescue his mother. The historical adventure centers the siblings’ search for refuge, family, and safety in the swamp.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 690LATOS Book Level 4.59View book details
Front CountrySara St. AntoineGinny Shepard spends a month in Montana preparing for backcountry camping before starting high school. She would rather hike through the mountains than attend the summer college-preparation classes her parents believe will help shape her future. Outside, the world is on fire, making the landscape around her part of a larger environmental crisis. Ginny must live with both the freedom and demands of the wilderness while confronting uncertainty about what comes next. The book brings together mountain adventure, family expectations, changing plans, and concern for a damaged planet.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsGhosts Come RisingAdam PerrySet in mid-nineteenth-century America, this story takes place during the spread of Spiritualism, a movement whose followers believed the living could communicate with the dead. Twelve-year-old Liza Carroll and her younger brother stay at a frightening Spiritualist commune. There, they look for answers while trying to keep a secret hidden. Ghostly black-and-white photographs accompany the historical tale.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsHardcourtFred Bowen, illustrated by James E. RansomeHardcourt looks back over the National Basketball Association’s first seventy-five years. Its illustrated account focuses on athletes, coaches, and teams associated with changes in basketball and its development into a national phenomenon. The book places the NBA within one of the United States’ most beloved sports, tracing people and teams connected to the league’s history and growth over time.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
How to Fight Racism: Young Reader’s EditionJemar TisbyThis guide addresses racism, social justice, and everyday prejudice. It discusses how prejudice affects young people and considers ways to create social change, maintain an anti-racist outlook, and make a positive difference. The book presents its approach through Christian principles alongside practical tools. It is concerned with confronting racial injustice and with actions people can take in response to it.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsI Will Protect You: A True Story of Twins Who Survived AuschwitzEva Mozes Kor with Danica DavidsonA true story recounts the lives of identical twin sisters Eva and Miriam, who had a mostly happy childhood before surviving Nazi experimentation during the Holocaust. The account identifies Eva as one of the sisters and records their survival despite that persecution. Their relationship as twins places sisterhood alongside the history and violence of the Holocaust. The book is credited to Eva Mozes Kor with Danica Davidson.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
In the Beautiful CountryJane KuoIn 1980, Ai Shi, who is called Anna in the United States, moves from Taiwan when her parents buy a restaurant in Los Angeles County. The business is far less successful than its former owner claimed, and the family cannot afford a car or easily connect with Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants. Anna is teased at school, the restaurant is vandalized, and financial pressures grow. Over time, friendships form and her mother’s Chinese recipes help bring customers to the restaurant.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 731LATOS Book Level 4.7View book detailsIveliz Explains It AllAndrea Beatriz ArangoTold in verse, this novel follows twelve-year-old Iveliz as she begins junior high. She is coping with grief and mental-health concerns while trying to handle school. Her grandmother questions the medication that helps her, adding to the strain Iveliz feels at home. As she works through these challenges, Iveliz looks for a way to explain what she needs and ask others to support her.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 940LATOS Book Level 6.2View book details
Journey to the Last RiverTeddy Keen, illustrated by Teddy KeenA mysterious map points the way to a hidden river in the Amazon. The journey involves entering unfamiliar territory and facing danger along the way. The place at the center of the expedition is not named in the available description, adding to the mystery around the river and its location. The book frames its expedition as an adventure into unknown lands, led by a map and focused on finding the last river.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable ArtsErika LewisThe Otherworld is at war, and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts prepares warriors for that conflict. Kelcie Murphy, a foster child brought up in the human world, wants to attend the academy. There she could meet Scáthach, the legendary teacher of Celtic heroes. As Kelcie discovers ancient powers, she must determine which side of a larger battle will claim her destiny.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 630LATOS Book Level 4.1View book details
The Last MapmakerChristina SoontornvatSai, an apprentice to celebrated mapmaker Paiyoon Wongyai, conceals that her father is a thief in a society that judges people by their family histories. After her island nation’s war, she travels with Paiyoon on a ship sent to chart unknown southern territory. On board, Sai befriends Rian and a stowaway named Bo while the expedition’s purpose becomes tied to the rumored Sunderlands. The fantasy story explores colonialism, resource exploitation, animal cruelty, and environmental preservation.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 740LATOS Book Level 4.7View book detailsMaizy Chen’s Last ChanceLisa YeeEleven-year-old Maizy Chen and her mother leave Los Angeles for the summer to help at the Golden Palace, their family’s Chinese restaurant in Last Chance, Minnesota, while Maizy’s grandfather is ill. Maizy has met her grandparents only once, and tension remains between them and her mother. At the restaurant, she befriends regulars and spends time with Opa, who shares the story of her great-great-grandfather’s journey from China to California and later to Last Chance.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 670LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
Me and White Supremacy: Young Reader’s EditionLayla F SaadLayla F. Saad adapts Me and White Supremacy for young readers, presenting material about racism and the work of dismantling it. The book includes definitions and historical background for its subjects, along with sections intended to help readers work through difficult ideas. It is not framed as a 28-day challenge; readers may spend as long as they need engaging with the content. Its material is described as applicable to readers with and without white privilege.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Middle School—Safety Goggles Advised: Exploring the Weird Stuff from Gossip to Grades, Cliques to Crushes, and Popularity to Peer PressureJessica Speer, illustrated by Lesley ImgartThis guidebook considers the unfamiliar and sometimes strange parts of middle school through insights from hundreds of students. It portrays a new school shaped by puberty, tests, homework, hormones, varied personalities, cafeteria food, and unpleasant smells. Alongside greater independence, new friends, and activities, it addresses harsh judgment, popularity, and drama. The book focuses on the mix of changes and social pressures that can make middle school feel confusing.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Operation SisterhoodOlugbemisola Rhuday-PerkovichAfter moving to Harlem, Bo lives with Mum and Mum’s boyfriend Bill. Their household also includes the parents of Lili and Lee, Bill’s daughter Sunday, chickens, a turtle, a bearded dragon, two cats, and a dog. So many people and animals are squeezed into the home that Bo questions whether there is space for her. Four new sisters join together in New York City.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsPride: An Inspirational History of the LGBTQ+ MovementStella CaldwellThis history follows the LGBTQ+ community’s timeline around the world. It introduces figures including Harvey Milk and events such as Stonewall, then addresses campaigns for equality and the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in different countries. The book places these people and events beyond familiar symbols such as rainbow flags or Pride month, setting them within broader LGBTQ+ history.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Professor Figgy’s Weather and Climate Science Lab for KidsJim Noonan, Martha StewartThis activity book presents 52 projects and learning activities about weather and climate. The projects take place both indoors and outside the home, and they explore weather as a changing subject shared by everyone. Jim Noonan, known as Professor Figgy, guides readers through the book’s weather and climate topics, using projects and activities as its organizing approach. The collection includes activities in each of those locations.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Realm of the Blue Mist: A Graphic Novel (The Rema Chronicles #1)Amy Kim Kibuishi, illustrated by Amy Kim KibuishiTabby Simon searches for answers about her father’s death after he was found dead while researching a tree that releases an unexplained mist near her home. Her search unexpectedly brings her to Rema, a distant realm of magic and beauty. Rema is periodically invaded by a nearby planet seeking resources. As Tabby pursues the truth about her father, she meets Philip, a blue-haired boy. This graphic novel begins the Rema Chronicles series.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
A Rover’s StoryJasmine WargaResilience, or Res, is a Mars rover built to explore the planet, but he gradually develops humanlike emotions while NASA scientists assemble and test him. On Mars, he travels with a drone helicopter called Fly and a distant satellite named Guardian. Res’s mission is to locate an older rover and seek evidence of ancient life while confronting dust storms, cliffs, and danger to Fly.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Science Art and Drawing GamesKaryn TrippScience Art and Drawing Games for Kids contains more than 35 hands-on art activities connected with science. It approaches art and science as subjects that belong together, instead of treating them as opposites. The projects combine making and drawing with science learning. By bringing practical art activities into contact with scientific ideas, the book explores the overlap between creative work and science.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire HuntingRoseanne A. BrownSerwa Boateng is a twelve-year-old Slayer who knows that some fireflies are adze, vampires able to change shape and linked to forests in southeastern Ghana. An adze enters her school, leaving Serwa to prepare classmates to fight before the vampires make them prey. The adventure draws on Ghanaian folklore and centers on Serwa’s confrontation with dangerous creatures that threaten her classmates.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 920LATOS Book Level 6View book details
Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle ButlerIbi ZoboiThis biography traces the early life of Octavia E. Butler through prose and poetry. It follows a Black child who loved speculative and science fiction but did not find herself represented in much of what she read and watched. Butler went on to invent worlds and create stories centered on Black and brown characters, often women. Her work helped shape Afrofuturism. Stars and the universe provide a recurring framework throughout the book: prose sections and connecting poems return to those ideas, while concrete poems also use their visual form to engage with them.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 1029LATOS Book Level 7View book detailsSwim TeamJohnnie ChristmasBree is the new student at her school and is pushed beyond her comfort zone when she must learn to swim. She faces a fear of water while finding her place in an unfamiliar school community. As she gains confidence in the pool, Bree ultimately joins the school swim team. Told as a graphic novel, the story connects a newcomer’s adjustment to school with the challenge of learning a new skill and taking part in a team effort.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeWord Count 9986View book detailsTeam Chu and the Battle of Blackwood ArenaJulie DaoSiblings Clip and Sadie Chu approach school life very differently. Clip is popular and athletic, hoping to become the first seventh-grade soccer captain, while Sadie is a high-achieving student determined to show she can match her boastful brother. Their common interest is laser tag. The story centers their shared pastime within an adventure shaped by competition between the siblings.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsTristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky: The Graphic NovelKwame Mbalia, illustrated by Olivia StephensThis graphic-novel adaptation features a Black boy who uses storytelling to help folk heroes and gods. It transforms the children’s novel that opened the Tristan Strong trilogy into a visual narrative. African and African American characters appear in the book, where storytelling brings its central boy into contact with heroic figures and deities.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
TumbleCelia C. PérezWhen Adela Ramirez’s stepfather asks to adopt her formally, Addie wants answers before deciding. A Mexican American girl, she searches for the identity of her biological father through family photographs and old yearbooks. Her investigation leads to local luchador Manny Bravo and the Bravo family, whose lives are deeply connected to lucha libre. Addie is welcomed by relatives with varied ties to wrestling, but her meeting with Manny raises difficult questions about parenthood, identity, and where she belongs within two families.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 660LATOS Book Level 4.5View book details
Two DegreesAlan GratzFour children confront dangerous natural events in different places. Akira is riding her horse in California woods when a wildfire ignites and rapidly spreads around her. In the snowy Canadian tundra, Owen and his friend George encounter a polar bear at close range. Natalie stays at home as a huge hurricane approaches Miami. The story follows these children as they try to survive threats from fire, wildlife, and severe weather.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeWord Count 64734View book detailsWait Till Helen Comes Graphic NovelMary Downing Hahn, illustrated by Meredith LaxtonIn this graphic adaptation, Molly and her brother Michael are living with their new stepsister, Heather, after their mother remarries. Molly and Michael try to befriend Heather, but she lies, tattles, and causes trouble that leaves them blamed. As Heather tries to separate her father from their mother, the siblings must protect her from a vengeful ghost that threatens the family.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 491LATOS Book Level 3.3View book detailsWhat Is Juneteenth?Kirsti Jewel, Who HQ, illustrated by Manuel GutierrezWhat Is Juneteenth? explains the United States holiday marking the end of chattel slavery. On June 19, 1865, enslaved people in Texas heard a Union soldier announce that they were free and that forced, unpaid labor was illegal throughout the United States. Their response included excitement, dancing, and tears of joy, turning the news into a cause for celebration. Kirsti Jewel and Who HQ created the book.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 960LATOS Book Level 6.3View book details
The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and ReconciliationCarey Newman, Kirstie HudsonFor over 150 years, residential schools across Canada separated thousands of Indigenous children from their families. Artist Carey Newman made the Witness Blanket so that this history would not be forgotten. The book connects the artwork with the history of residential schools and the children who were sent to them. It addresses remembrance through art while recognizing the lasting harm of forced separation.Teacher Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsTeacher Favorites — 9th–12th Grade
40 selections
The 99 Boyfriends of Micah SummersAdam SassMicah Summers runs a popular Instagram full of drawings of his numerous imaginary boyfriends (ninety-nine so far)--though he's never had a real boyfriend before.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsAces Wild: A HeistAmanda DeWittAces Wild: A Heist follows Jack Shannon, whose father is a Las Vegas casino mogul. At his private school, Jack operates an underground blackjack game in the basement. After his mother is arrested over the family’s organized-crime connections, his sister Beth sees a chance for them to go straight, while Jack believes something is still wrong. An online friendship group of asexual people also plans to enter a gambling club.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsAfrican TownIrene Latham, Charles Waters, introduction by Jocelyn M. DavisAfrican Town is a historical fiction novel by Irene Latham and Charles Waters about the Clotilda, identified as the final known ship to transport enslaved people to the United States. Survivors who were illegally brought to America establish a community despite adversity. The account uses free verse and fourteen distinct voices, and includes a map, spot illustrations in black and white, and substantial back matter.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 790LATOS Book Level 5View book detailsAin’t Burned All the BrightJason ReynoldsA Black teenager narrates his family’s experience during the first months of COVID-19. The family faces the pandemic alongside racism and violence in the United States, with the struggle to breathe serving as a central concern. Jason Reynolds tells the story through sparse prose, while Jason Griffin’s notebook-style artwork forms much of the book’s visual narrative.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeATOS Book Level 5.2AR Interest Level UGView book detailsAkata WomanNnedi OkoraforA sequel to Akata Witch and Akata Warrior, Akata Woman continues Sunny’s story in a world shaped by juju, spirits, and Leopard People. After navigating divisions between America and Nigeria and between ordinary and spiritual life, Sunny faces a dangerous quest. With her friends, she searches an otherworldly realm for a precious object; failing to act could destroy the world. Her abilities and hard-won lessons are tested along the way.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure HL650LATOS Book Level 4.6View book details
All My RageSabaa TahirSalahudin and Noor have grown up as outcasts in Juniper, California, where they have been closer than best friends. A fight ruptures their bond. Sal then tries to keep the family motel running as his mother’s health declines and his grieving father turns to alcohol. Earlier, Sal’s parents, Misbah and Toufiq, had come to the United States after tragedy disrupted their arranged marriage and opened the Clouds’ Rest Inn Motel.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure HL590LATOS Book Level 4.2View book details
Always JaneJenn BennettThe daughter of a chauffeur becomes involved in a romantic triangle with the two sons of her employer’s wealthy next-door neighbors. Her summer plans are disrupted by love and by Fen Sarafian. Set among neighboring households with unequal wealth, the story places the chauffeur’s daughter between two brothers while romance changes the course of her summer. It is a love story shaped by families, neighbors, and a three-person romantic conflict.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
American Murderer: The Parasite that Haunted the SouthGail JarrowThis book investigates hookworm’s devastating effects in the American South during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It explains how larvae could enter through skin, often bare feet, then travel through the body to the small intestine, where they fed on a host’s blood. The account covers Charles Wardell Stiles’s identification of the species and efforts to reduce its spread, including public education, testing, treatment, and improved sanitation advocated by the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
And We Rise: The Civil Rights Movement in PoemsErica MartinAnd We Rise is a poetry collection about the U.S. Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Erica Martin uses verse and historical photographs to cover major events and also bring forward lesser-known people and moments. The book begins with the Separate but Equal ruling and follows a longer struggle for justice and equality affecting Black people in the United States.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Anne of GreenvilleMariko TamakiIn this contemporary reworking of Anne of Green Gables, Anne is a queer Japanese American teen who loves ABBA and creates disco operas. She wants others to recognize her artistic abilities, but has just moved to Greenville and must begin at a new school. Anne tends to fall quickly and intensely in love, and she reacts strongly when confronted by people she considers jerks. In the new community, Anne and her two mothers encounter hate.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor’s LifeMarilyn Nelson, afterword by Tammi LawsonA biography composed in free verse and concrete poems follows sculptor Augusta Savage’s life and work in the Harlem Renaissance. It recounts her difficult childhood, her training in New York, and a lost opportunity to study in France after a committee learned she was Black. Savage’s sculptures depicted Black life and culture; she opened the Harlem Art Workshop and Harlem Community Art Center and created The Harp for the 1939 World’s Fair.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsBad Things Happen HereRebecca BarrowLuca Laine Thomas lives on an island said to be cursed. In its town, deaths from the past remain unsolved. Luca is determined to investigate the mystery behind those deaths. Her search takes place in an island community where a troubling history has left questions without answers. The central conflict connects an unresolved past with one girl’s effort to learn what happened.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsBallad & DaggerDaniel José OlderBallad & Dagger is an urban fantasy by Daniel José Older in which two teenagers come to know one another while fighting for their diaspora community. Nearly sixteen years earlier, Mateo Matisse’s island homeland disappeared beneath the sea. The book is presented by Rick Riordan and includes magic connected to deep traditions. Mateo’s lost homeland forms part of the novel’s premise.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Blood ScionDeborah FalayeIn this fantasy novel, Sloane is compelled to enter the Lucis army on her fifteenth birthday. She sees the army’s demanding training as a chance to work against Lucis from within. Her story involves magic, injustice, power, and revenge, and draws on Yoruba and Nigerian mythology. It is Deborah Falaye’s debut novel and the first book in a planned series.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Bone WeaverAden PolydorosIn the Kosa empire, tension grows between magic-endowed elites and a superstitious lower class as a proletarian revolution threatens the country. Seventeen-year-old Toma has remained apart from the conflict while living with her adoptive family of benevolent undead. She meets Vanya, a commoner branded a witch by his neighbors, and the dethroned Tsar Mikhail. The three join forces to restore Mikhail’s magic and defend the empire from Koschei, whose forces have taken the castle.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Crimson ReignAmélie Wen ZhaoCrimson Reign concludes the Blood Heir trilogy in an epic fantasy retelling of the Anastasia story. Princess Anastacya Mikhailov, known as the Red Tigress, has lost her blood Affinity after it was taken during a battle in Bregon. The stolen power is now held by Sorsha Farrald, a dangerous Affinite traveling toward Cyrilia and Ana’s aunt, Empress Morganya. Ana must join with a con man as she seeks to free her empire from terror.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil SandsKate Beaton, illustrated by Kate BeatonKate Beaton’s autobiographical comic recounts her time working in Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands. Originally from Atlantic Canada, she took the job to repay student loans. The book grew from a five-part webcomic she posted in 2014 and was published by Drawn & Quarterly in 2022. Its title refers to an incident in which hundreds of ducks landed in a toxic tailings pond and died.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsGallantV. E. SchwabOlivia Prior has grown up at Merilance School for girls with only her mother’s journal to connect her to the past. A letter brings her to Gallant, though no one expects her there. Determined to remain in the first place that feels like home, Olivia faces a hostile cousin and glimpses half-formed ghouls in the manor’s corridors. The novel also centers on dark family secrets and a setting where the supernatural intrudes on reality.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 899LATOS Book Level 5.8View book detailsThe GetawayLamar GilesSet in a near future where climate change, racism, and economic inequality have intensified, The Getaway follows Black teenager Jay, whose family works at Karloff Country, a Virginia resort. The job gives his family food and economic security, while the resort’s billionaire owner seems suspect to Jay’s friend Zeke. As a global crisis unfolds, the resort’s true function is revealed: it shelters wealthy Trustees. Employees are forced to remain and serve them amid escalating racist microaggressions and painful control.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 920LATOS Book Level 6View book detailsThe Gilded Ones #2: The Merciless OnesNamina FornaIn Otera, a dark force is growing. Deka and her army must try to stop this merciless power. At the same time, hidden secrets endanger everything Deka has previously known. The stated conflict combines the threat posed by the rising force with revelations that could undo Deka’s understanding of her world, leaving Deka and her army to confront both a powerful danger and damaging secrets.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Girl on FireAlicia Keys, illustrated by Brittney WilliamsLolo Wright always thought she was just a regular fourteen-year-old dealing with regular family drama: her brother, James, is struggling with his studies; her dad's business constantly teeters on the edge of trouble; and her mother . . . she left long…Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Gone DarkAmanda PanitchAfter a widespread power failure throws the country into chaos, seventeen-year-old Zara must guide her friends across the country. Their destination is the survivalist compound run by her estranged father. Zara had escaped that remote home five years earlier, but it becomes the group’s possible refuge during the crisis. The story follows their effort to reach safety amid a national breakdown and Zara’s uneasy connection to the father she left behind.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsThe Greatest ThingSarah Winifred SearleAt the beginning of sophomore year, Winifred arrives at high school without her two closest friends. Both have transferred to a private school, leaving her to manage the new school year on her own. The book presents this change in friendship as she confronts high school without the two friends who had been her only ones. Sarah Winifred Searle's 352-page book was published by First Second in 2022.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Hell Followed With UsAndrew Joseph WhiteSixteen-year-old Benji, a trans boy, flees the fundamentalist cult that raised him. The sect has brought about an apocalypse that devastates the population, and it has infected Benji with a bioweapon. While trying to find somewhere beyond the cult’s reach, he is pursued through a world changed by its destruction. When monsters corner him, a group of teens from the Acheson LGBTQ+ Center rescues him.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Hollow FiresSamira AhmedSafiya Mirza, editor of her school newspaper, dreams of working as a journalist. She has learned that reporting means finding facts instead of allowing personal biases to guide a story. An Iraqi American student who had gone missing is discovered dead, and Safiya begins an inquiry at her Chicago prep school into Islamophobia and racism. The narrative uses alternating voices: Safiya’s and the victim’s.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsI Must Betray YouRuta SepetysSet in Bucharest during Romania’s communist dictatorship in 1989, this historical novel follows seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu. A member of the Securitate confronts him at school over an illegal American dollar and pressures him to become an informer. Cristian agrees after the officer promises medicine for his grandfather, Bunu, who has leukemia. He is ordered to spy on the teenage son of an American diplomat, while knowing that surveillance and informers permeate daily life under the Ceaușescu regime. Rising tensions lead toward the Romanian revolution.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 550LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
If Anything Happens I Love YouWill McCormack, Michael Govier, illustrated by Youngran NhoRose watches from above as her parents slowly break down under the pain of their loss. Her soul tries to help them reconnect. The story presents human connection as a response to unimaginable loss, following the emotional distance between Rose’s parents and Rose’s continuing effort to bring them back together.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
The Killing CodeEllie MarneyA strange event unfolds, holding Beach enthralled as events develop much like an episode of The Twilight Zone. Alan, a detective with years of experience, watches despite the event's surreal nature. His experience and detective skills guide his close attention to details of this surreal event. The book's plot brings together conspiracy, action, suspense, and elements of hard science fiction.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsMedusa: The Girl Behind the MythJessie Burton, illustrated by Olivia Lomenech GillMedusa is sent by the gods to a distant island, where the snakes on her head are her only company. The story examines what happened to her and what follows her exile. Perseus, Zeus’s son, is sent to find and behead Medusa after Athena transforms her hair into serpents. Full-color illustrations accompany this retelling of the myth and Medusa’s isolation.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Mirror GirlsKelly McWilliamsTwin sisters Charlie Yates and Magnolia Heathwood are secretly separated as infants after their parents are lynched for loving across the color line. At the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, Charlie becomes a young Black organizer in Harlem. Magnolia, who passes as white, is heir to a cotton plantation in rural Georgia and does not know her racial heritage. The town’s slave-holding past remains present through its secrets and ghosts.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsMurder for the Modern GirlKendall KulperSet in the Gatsby era, the book brings together Roaring Twenties extravagance, romance, and the risks of vigilante justice. Its young heroine can read minds and moves through streets at night in kitten heels. She hunts men whom she intends to kill. The stated elements combine glamorous 1920s surroundings with a love story and a dangerous campaign of private retribution.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsMy Name Is Jason. Mine Too.Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jason GriffinJason Reynolds and Jason Griffin set out with the shared aim of moving to New York City. The two Jasons hope that the move will let them realize their personal dreams. Their journey is defined by a common destination as they each look toward a future they want to make for themselves.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Nothing More to TellKaren M. McManusFour years after leaving Saint Ambrose School, Brynn returns to a murder that was never solved. Her favorite teacher, Mr. Larkin, was found dead in woods behind the school, and three students discovered the body. Brynn begins an internship with a true-crime show and decides to learn what happened. The former students who found Mr. Larkin, including her ex-best friend Tripp Talbot, are her entry point into the case. The story follows an unresolved murder and the secrets around it.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure HL790LATOS Book Level 5.3View book details
Rust in the RootJustina IrelandIn a 1937 America divided by access to mystical arts, Laura Black leaves Pennsylvania for New York City hoping to gain a mage license and become a baker. With little money left, she accepts a government apprenticeship under Skylark of the Colored Auxiliary. Government policy favors industrial Mechomancy over nature-based Dynamism. Renamed Peregrine, Laura joins a mission to Ohio’s Deep Blight Zone, where destructive forces and white supremacists threaten the country’s fragile recovery.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
The Turning PointeVanessa L. TorresThe Turning Pointe is a novel about Rosa Dominguez, a sixteen-year-old Latinx girl living in 1980s Minnesota. Rosa finds freedom in dance while facing expectations that constrain her. She is a dancer whose pirouettes are described in poetic terms. The book presents dance as both a source of freedom and a way for Rosa to resist those expectations in her life.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Unequal: A Story of AmericaMichael Eric Dyson, Marc FavreauThis nonfiction history examines racism and resistance in the United States, connecting past systems of inequality with the present. Its chapters address forms of white supremacy and the suppression of Black people, including segregation, lynching, labor and housing inequality, voting rights, policing, environmental racism, and health-care inequities. Each chapter opens with a contemporary person affected by the issue before exploring its historical background. The book also considers activism and legal struggles against racial discrimination.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
We Weren’t Looking to Be FoundStephanie KuehnWritten by Stephanie Kuehn, the book brings Dani and Camila together as roommates at the Peach Tree Hills treatment facility. The rural Georgia facility is described as beautiful. At first, neither expects to get along with the other or believes getting better is possible. Their relationship unfolds alongside recovery and the possibility of finding one's people in an unexpected place.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsThe Weight of BloodTiffany D. JacksonIn fictional Springville, Georgia, Maddy Washington is a biracial high school senior whose racist father has made her pass as white and straighten her hair. A rainstorm restores Maddy’s natural hair, revealing her heritage. A video of classmates bullying her spreads online and exposes racism at Springville High. Tiffany D. Jackson’s horror novel is also described as a retelling of Carrie.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
What’s Coming to MeFrancesca PadillaWhat’s Coming to Me concerns a girl who needs money after being kicked out of school and left stranded during her mother’s latest hospitalization. She wants to escape the dead-end hometown where she is stuck. The book’s circumstances bring together financial need, exclusion from school, a parent’s hospitalization, and the hope of leaving an unpromising place.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsWhen You Call My NameTucker ShawAdam falls in love with Callum after accepting an offer that leaves his heart racing. Ben, an eighteen-year-old who is interested in fashion, leaves his upstate home after his mother finds the gay magazines he had kept hidden. The book places Adam’s new relationship alongside Ben’s departure from home after a private part of his identity is discovered.Teacher Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsLibrarian Favorites — K–2nd Grade
40 selections
100 Things to Know About ArtSusie Hodge, illustrated by Ben SandersThis 112-page guide introduces art through 100 selected terms. Each entry pairs a 100-word explanation with an illustration. Topics range from pottery and Pointillism to painting and sketching, while also covering materials, artistic elements, methods, movements, styles, places, and artists from the past and present. By organizing a broad field into compact entries, the book presents many ways of making, describing, and encountering art.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsAbdul’s StoryJamilah Thompkins-BigelowAbdul loves telling stories but finds it hard to write them down. His letters will not stay straight or face the right way, and repeated erasing leaves his papers covered in smudges. Feeling self-conscious at school, he decides his stories may not belong on the page. Then a visitor to his class helps Abdul see that mistakes are part of writing, including for accomplished writers and superheroes.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD540LATOS Book Level 2.9View book detailsAcorn Was a Little WildJen Arena, illustrated by Jessica GibsonFrom an oak-tree perch, Acorn longs for adventure and becomes the first of his friends to jump down into the wider world. New experiences fill him with excitement until a squirrel buries him deep underground. Forced to remain still in darkness for a long time, the young acorn begins a journey that leads to transformation.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD630LATOS Book Level 4.1View book details
All Are NeighborsAlexandra PenfoldWhen a new family arrives, children and neighbors welcome them into their street community. Together, the neighborhood introduces the newcomers to the people and places around them and celebrates the variety of those who live there. The story explores moving to an unfamiliar place and discovering that everyone can have a place in the community. Simple text and mixed-media illustrations show everyday elements of neighborhood life.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD300LATOS Book Level 2.3View book detailsAll Through the Night: Important Jobs That Get Done at NightPolly Faber, illustrated by Harriet HobdayIn a city, a young girl completes her evening routine while her mother prepares to leave for work. As the night continues, the mother's trip introduces people whose jobs keep the city functioning, including nurses, cleaners, delivery workers, doctors, police officers, and journalists. The book places the girl's bedtime alongside the work undertaken by many people during the same nighttime hours.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Armadillo AnticsBill Martin Jr., Michael SampsonRhyming couplets introduce an armadillo during its nighttime activities. The nocturnal animal runs, digs, and eats before returning to its burrow when the sun rises. Mixed-media artwork accompanies the animal’s journey through the night, and the book includes facts about armadillos. It combines a rhythmic account of one animal’s behavior with informational details about the species.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Bathe the CatAlice B. McGintyTwo dads and their three children need to clean the house before Grandma comes to visit. One dad sets out the chores with alphabet magnets on the refrigerator, including a plan to bathe the family’s orange cat. The cat rearranges the letters to avoid that bath, turning ordinary jobs into nonsense. As the family follows the altered instructions, chores become increasingly strange and chaotic.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD340LATOS Book Level 2.5View book details
A Bear, a Bee, and a Honey TreeDaniel Bernstrom, illustrated by Brandon James ScottIn this rhyming picture book, a hungry brown bear and an angry hive of bees both want the honey in a beehive. The bear is determined to work out how to take it, setting off a fast chase between bear and bees. The story uses alliterative wordplay, while expressive illustrated characters carry the pursuit across the pages. It is a conflict over honey told through the competing aims of a bear and a hive.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure 221LATOS Book Level 1.9View book details
Berry SongMichaela GoadeOn an island beside a wide sea, a Tlingit grandmother teaches her granddaughter how to live with the land. Together they gather herring eggs, seaweed, salmon, and forest berries through the seasons. Their journey includes songs of gratitude for the ocean, forest, and land that sustain them, as well as answers to the voices of their ancestors in song and Native language. A rhythmic list of berries appears alongside the main narrative.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure 740LATOS Book Level 2.9View book detailsBig and Small and In-BetweenCarter HigginsThis book considers the world through differences in size, from a family of bears to a reflection in a puddle. It includes things that can be touched or seen as well as things that are felt. An imaginative visual exploration, it connects physical objects and emotional experiences, inviting readers to notice what they might collect from the world around them.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure NP0LATOS Book Level 0.1View book details
Big Bold Beautiful Me: A Story That’s Loud and Proud and Celebrates YouJane Yolen, Maddison Stemple- Piatt, illustrated by Chloe BurgettChildren march and stand beside protagonists like themselves in a story centered on body positivity. The book presents a proud, outspoken response to negative or derogatory comments from other people. Its characters model positive attitudes toward their bodies while joining together in movement and solidarity. The story’s focus is on affirming self-image and facing hurtful remarks from others.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Black Boy, Black BoyAli Kamanda, Jorge Redmond, illustrated by Ken DaleyBlack Boy, Black Boy is a picture book that presents Black boys as inventors, leaders, athletes, scholars, artists, sons, dreamers, and doers. Its focus is on their possibilities, pride, confidence, and cultural heritage. The book encourages Black boys to see themselves as the heroes of their own stories and draws inspiration from Black history’s heroes. It pairs that message with illustrations and rhythmic text intended to be read aloud.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeWord Count 327View book detailsBlurp’s Book of MannersCindy Derby, illustrated by Cindy DerbyPicklepop is teaching an etiquette lesson when she spills a bucket of paint and a living paint blob appears. Blurp is not frightening or wicked, but the messy creature repeatedly interrupts the lesson with paint splatters, burps, and other distractions. As Picklepop tries to continue teaching manners, Blurp turns the session upside down and may have something to teach the etiquette coach in return.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD610LATOS Book Level 4View book details
Books Aren’t for EatingCarlie Sorosiak, illustrated by Manu MontoyaLeopold is a goat who owns a bookstore and knows how to match customers with books suited to their interests. One day, another goat comes in, but every title Leopold offers is eaten instead of read. Leopold must work out how to find a book that the visiting goat will enjoy without munching. The story follows this unusual bookseller’s attempt to solve a problem for a fellow goat.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeWord Count 514View book detailsCreepy Crayon!Aaron ReynoldsJasper Rabbit would rather play than do schoolwork, and he is failing at school. He finds a magic—or possessed—crayon that supplies the right answers and helps him improve his grades. The crayon soon becomes a source of trouble. This horror story follows Jasper as he uses the unusual crayon to change what happens with his schoolwork, bringing together school pressure, supernatural help, and consequences.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD500LATOS Book Level 3.3View book detailsDodos Are NOT Extinct!Paddy Donnelly, illustrated by Paddy DonnellyThis playful book invites readers to look closely for extinct animals hiding in disguise. Dodos, woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and dinosaurs may be closer than they seem, concealed throughout the pages. The animal-filled story turns its search into a guessing game, asking readers to spot creatures that are famous for having disappeared. Its premise combines extinct animals with silliness and visual discovery.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD670LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
Double Puppy TroubleDanica McKellar, illustrated by Josée MasseMoxie Jo wants more than anyone else, and she is determined to have the most of everything. When she discovers a magic stick that doubles objects, she quickly puts its power to use. But the stick’s button becomes jammed, leaving her to deal with far more than she expected, including a growing number of puppies. Her experience leads her to reconsider whether having more is always better.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD550LATOS Book Level 3.6View book details
Endlessly Ever After: Pick YOUR Path to Countless Fairy Tale Endings!Laurel SnyderThis choose-your-path picture book reshapes classic fairy tales into an interactive story. Readers make decisions that direct the course of the adventure and lead to different endings. The book uses fractured versions of familiar tales, with dramatic and sometimes grisly turns along the way. Because the path can change with each set of choices, the story can unfold differently across repeated readings.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsFarmhouseSophie BlackallSophie Blackall imagines the lives of a white family who once lived in a farmhouse she purchased. Twelve children were born and raised there, amid music, books, chores, sickness, dreams, arguments, and changing seasons. The children eventually leave one by one, and the empty house slowly erodes as nature enters its rooms. Later, Blackall discovers objects in the ruins, including wallpaper scraps, books, maps, dresses, handkerchiefs, and a shell button, and imagines the family’s earlier life.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure 870LATOS Book Level 5.6View book details
Gigi and OjijiMelissa IwaiGigi eagerly anticipates the arrival of Ojiji, her Japanese grandfather, and imagines playing games, reading, and teaching the family dog new tricks with him. When he moves in, their time together does not unfold as she expected, and his feelings about the dog add to her uncertainty. With reassurance from her mother, Gigi and Ojiji begin building a warm new relationship.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure 500LATOS Book Level 3.3View book detailsHave You Eaten?: A Story of Food, Friendship, and KindnessSu Youn LeeCoco the chipmunk loves sweet potatoes and shares them with everyone around her, often asking, “Have you eaten?” Other animals initially find the question strange, but Coco shares food with animals who need a friend. When she becomes ill, those new friends care for her by sharing food in the way she taught them. The story links food with friendship and care.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsHey, Bruce!: An Interactive BookRyan T. Higgins, illustrated by Ryan T. HigginsBruce the bear becomes the reluctant subject of an interactive reading game guided by Rupert, Thistle, and Nibbs, mice in his expansive family. Readers are asked to turn pages, rotate the book, and carry out increasingly silly directions. Those actions send Bruce tumbling and flying, while he looks directly toward the reader. The mice direct the action as Bruce resists the starring role.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Hurry, Little Tortoise, Time for School!Carrie Finison, illustrated by Erin KraanOn the first day of school, Little Tortoise sets out with a backpack full of new supplies and hopes not to arrive last. Cheetah, Llama, and even a snail riding a scooter pass her along the way. When Little Tortoise gets caught in the book's gutter, she becomes even more certain she will be the final pupil to reach school. The story follows her worried, determined trip there.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD430LATOS Book Level 2.9View book details
I’m a UnicornHelen YoonA young calf with a single horn insists that they are a unicorn. The calf builds the case from the words in the name: “uni” means one and “corn” means horn. A baby photograph, showing that the calf was born with one horn, becomes further evidence for that claim. The premise is presented as a comic disagreement driven by the calf’s determined logic and self-definition.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Kindest RedIbtihaj Muhammad, S. K. Ali, illustrated by Hatem AlyIt is picture day, and Faizah is eager to wear a red dress and matching hair ribbons that came from her mother and sister. Her teacher asks the class to imagine the kind of world they want, prompting Faizah and her friends to help one another throughout the day. Later, during sibling photographs, Faizah notices that she and her older sister, Asiya, do not match in the way some classmates do.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Mermaid DanceMatthew Van Fleet, illustrated by Mara Van FleetMerkids join sea-creature friends for a dance party beneath an ocean sky that changes from pink to purple as the sun sets. The dancers demonstrate moves such as the narwhal nod, seal spin, and polar bear twist. Six pull tabs let readers make the characters move during the dancing. The celebration builds toward a pop-up ending, with the changing season and underwater party forming the book's setting.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Monsters in the FogAli Bahrampour, illustrated by Ali BahrampourHakim the donkey continues on a foggy trip to visit a friend despite warnings about monsters on the way. As he travels, the threatening shapes he encounters may not be what they first appear to be. The story follows his persistence through uncertainty and asks whether the monsters are real or simply mistaken impressions in the fog.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
The Most Haunted House in AmericaJarrett Dapier, illustrated by Lee GatlinIn late October, a group of Skeleton Drummers receives an invitation from the first lady. They are asked to bring their instruments to a Halloween gathering at the White House. The band rises from the ground, prepares to travel, and heads to the presidential home to perform. Inside the house, the celebration is accompanied by spooky surprises and unsettling chills.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeWord Count 669View book details
My Love Will Never Leave YouStephen Hogtun, illustrated by Stephen HogtunA wise old tree cares for a tiny sapling and passes on what he knows. He teaches her to be gentle and kind, to offer shelter and share, and to stay strong in the wind while still bending. The leaves on his branches hold memories from his life. With the old tree's love and support, the young tree grows leaves of her own and begins to develop.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsNoodle and the No Bones DayJonathan Graziano, illustrated by Dan TavisNoodle is an older pug who usually enjoys favorite activities with his human, Jonathan. One morning, though, Jonathan finds Noodle still comfortable in bed. When he picks him up, Noodle flops over: it is his first No Bones Day. The story follows Noodle and Jonathan as they navigate a day centered on rest and being kind to oneself.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD510LATOS Book Level 3.4View book detailsNot Enough LollipopsMegan Maynor, illustrated by Micah PlayerAlice feels fortunate after winning a wagon filled with lollipops. The prize, however, creates a difficulty when she must share it with the other children in her class. Her lollipops are at the center of the story, as Alice faces the complication of dividing a large treat among classmates. The book focuses on the shift from her initial excitement to the challenge posed by sharing.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD460LATOS Book Level 2.2View book details
The Poem Forest: Poet W. S. Merwin and the Palm Tree Forest He Grew from ScratchCarrie Fountain, illustrated by Chris TurnhamThis picture-book account follows former U.S. Poet Laureate W. S. Merwin and his long effort to grow a palm-tree forest in Hawaii. Drawn to wild places, Merwin planted thousands of palms from around the world over forty years. His work ultimately created an extensive collection of palm trees, which he gave away. Poetic narration and artwork tell the story of a poet whose life also became a sustained act of planting.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Puppy BusDrew Brockington, illustrated by Drew BrockingtonAfter moving with his family, a boy faces his first day at a new school. He worries about unfamiliar teachers, making friends, and even finding the bathroom. Nervous when he boards the bus, he instead arrives at Puppy School, where everything feels strange and different. By the end of the day, new friends help him see that beginning somewhere unfamiliar may not be as bad as he feared.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeWord Count 311View book detailsThe Sour GrapeJory John, illustrated by Pete OswaldThe Sour Grape holds onto resentments over small slights, including a borrowed scarf that was not returned and an unanswered call. After another friend resents the grape without hearing an explanation, the grape recognizes the unfairness of this response. A painful experience has shaped the grape's personality, and the story follows its effort to release those grudges.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure AD430LATOS Book Level 2.9View book detailsA Spark in the DarkPam Fong, illustrated by Pam FongThis book explores feelings such as anger, sadness, fear, and feeling lost in darkness. Its central image is a small light that can guide someone home through dark moments. It contrasts darkness with the possibility of finding a spark of light, presenting hope as something to seek when difficult emotions feel close or overwhelming.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
Tell the Truth, PangolinMelinda Beatty, illustrated by Paola EscobarPangolin, the queen's trusted servant, is playing on the royal swing when its ropes break and he falls. Unsure how to explain what happened, he seeks advice from his friend Badger at the stables. Badger suggests blaming the missing rope on musicians who supposedly needed it for their lutes. Pangolin must decide what account to give the queen after breaking her swing.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsThe Three Billy Goats GruffMac BarnettIn this retelling of the Norwegian folktale, the three Billy Goats Gruff want to cross a bridge to reach a grassy ridge. A hungry troll waits beneath the bridge and plans a goat meal. The first two goats avoid being eaten by telling the troll that a larger, tastier goat is coming next. Muted mixed-media illustrations accompany the goats’ passage and the troll’s heightened demands.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book detailsA Very Mercy ChristmasKate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van DusenStella Endicott decides to go caroling during the holidays and hopes to bring friends and neighbors along. Her brother Frank resists the unplanned idea, while the Watson family is occupied with an uncertain fruitcake project. The Watsons send their pig, Mercy, out for the caroling occasion. The story brings together Stella, Frank, Mercy, and other familiar characters for a holiday celebration.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeWord Count 990View book details
Wolf GirlJo Loring-Fisher, illustrated by Jo Loring-FisherSophy is shy and finds it hard to fit into the outside world. At home, she likes playing in a wolf suit in her den because it makes her feel strong, fierce, and perhaps brave. She decides to wear the suit to school, where the day does not go well. Sophy's extraordinary adventure with a real wolf takes her to a magical land, where she faces a fearsome bear and discovers confidence.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeView book details
The World Belonged to UsJacqueline WoodsonIn this nostalgic picture book, children on a Brooklyn block spend a summer day outdoors while the adults around them stay busy. They cool off at an opened fire hydrant, play games including skully, double Dutch, stickball, kick-the-can, and tag, make cardboard forts, chase the ice-cream truck, and trade stories. Spanish, English, Polish, German, and Chinese are heard on the street as the children fill the time between breakfast and dinner with play.Librarian Favorites — K–2nd GradeLexile Text Measure 970LATOS Book Level 6.4View book detailsLibrarian Favorites — 3rd–5th Grade
40 selections
Animal BFFsSophie Corrigan, illustrated by Sophie CorriganAnimal BFFs looks at best friendships in the animal world. It describes animal companions who are there for one another in hard times and good ones alike. These pairs help each other in the familiar ways friends do, presenting animals as having close, dependable bonds. The book follows The Not Bad Animals and focuses on what it means for animals to have a best friend in their lives and relationships.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code: The Graphic NovelEoin Colfer, illustrated by Stephen GilpinThis graphic-novel entry is the third book in Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl series. It centers on Artemis Fowl, described as a criminal mastermind, and his conflict with dangerous fairies who are skilled with technology. Artemis plans to go straight after completing what he considers the greatest operation of his career, but he first intends to make a sale involving his C Cube.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Ballet Bunnies #6: Trixie Is MissingSwapna Reddy, illustrated by Binny TalibThe day before Millie's show at the town hall, she spends time around town with her mother and the Ballet Bunnies before going to rehearsal. After ballet class, Millie packs her bag and discovers that Trixie is missing. Millie and the other Ballet Bunnies retrace their route to work out where Trixie could be. The search unfolds as Millie prepares for her upcoming performance.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsBlast Off!: How Mary Sherman Morgan Fueled America into SpaceSuzanne SladeThis biography follows Mary Sherman Morgan, identified as America's first female rocket scientist. Growing up on a North Dakota farm in the 1920s, Mary discovers an interest in learning and excels in science, especially chemistry. During World War II, she works in a laboratory on rocket fuel. Later, as the United States enters the space race, she leads a team developing the fuel that launches America's first satellite.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Blippo and Beep: I Feel FunnySarah Weeks, illustrated by Joey EllisBlippo and Beep are robot friends who enjoy spending time together. When Blippo catches a cold, feeling ill leaves him uncomfortable and in a bad mood. Beep stays with his friend and helps him feel better. Their story focuses on a brief illness and on the care one friend offers another when ordinary fun has to pause. Blippo’s cold changes the day they expected to share, giving Beep a chance to respond.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Bodies, Brains and Boogers: All You Need to Know About the Gross, Glorious Human Body!Paul Ian Cross, illustrated by Steve BrownThis illustrated guide explores the human body through its messier and more unusual details, including poop, pus, and boogers. Alongside those topics, it explains the many ways bodies work to keep people alive. The book combines information about how the body functions with humorous illustrations and a light comic approach. Its broad tour ranges across strange, unpleasant, and remarkable aspects of human biology, presenting bodily processes as subjects for both laughter and investigation.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsBreaking Through the Clouds: The Sometimes Turbulent Life of Meteorologist Joanne SimpsonSandra Nickel, illustrated by Helena Perez GarciaThis picture-book biography follows meteorologist Joanne Simpson, whose discoveries helped explain how weather works. As a child, she sailed beneath the clouds of Cape Cod; later, as a pilot, she flew her plane high among them. During World War II, after moving to the University of Chicago, she was asked to teach Air Force officers about clouds and weather-changing winds.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsBristlecone: The Secret Life of the World’s Oldest TreeAlexandra Siy, illustrated by Marlo GarnsworthyThis book examines ancient bristlecone pines, which can live for more than five thousand years and are described as the oldest trees on Earth. Its storyline stretches across 5,000 years and considers what tree rings record about climate and a changing planet. It also looks at how these pines persist in harsh environments, including a past volcanic eruption recorded in their rings.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Build a HouseRhiannon Giddens, illustrated by Monica MikaiWritten as a song marking the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth, this illustrated picture book tells of Black people who refused to be moved. Their music carries them through history’s hardships and successes, preserving voices and stories connected to America’s musical past. Rhiannon Giddens’s text is paired with artwork by Monica Mikai, placing music, endurance, and Black history at the center of the book.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsBuilding an Orchestra of Hope: How Favio Chavez Taught Children to Make Music from TrashCarmen Oliver, illustrated by Luisa UribeThis illustrated true story follows music teacher Favio Chavez in Cateura, Paraguay, where families live and work among landfill waste. Hoping to offer music lessons to local children, Favio soon faces a practical obstacle: there are more students than instruments. He responds with an unusual idea rooted in the town’s recycling work, imagining an orchestra made from recycled materials. The book centers on music, shared effort, and inventive responses to limited resources.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsBunnicula: The Graphic NovelJames Howe, Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Stephen GilpinBunnicula: The Graphic Novel turns the long-running Bunnicula classic into a graphic-novel adaptation. Its description highlights a hare and a deliberately spooky, comic tone, pairing scares with laughter. The book revisits a classic associated with more than forty years of history, presenting its animal focus and frightful humor in a graphic format. The available description does not provide a fuller plot outline.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Can’t Get Enough Shark Stuff: Fun Facts, Awesome Info, Cool Games, Silly Jokes, and More!Andrea Silen, Kelly HargraveThis shark-focused nonfiction book combines facts, photographs, stories, games, jokes, quizzes, and activities. It covers prehistoric sharks, research on sharks in the wild, and newer findings about shark behavior. Diagrams, infographics, and a glossary game introduce shark-related information and terms, while expert accounts add another perspective on studying these ocean animals. Gallery sections look at sharks’ notable features and defenses, and the book also includes activities to try at home. Its varied format moves between research, visual information, and playful shark material.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Can’t Get Enough Space Stuff: Fun Facts, Awesome Info, Cool Games, Silly Jokes, and More!Stephanie Warren Drimmer, Julie BeerThis nonfiction book explores space beyond Earth's atmosphere through facts, stories, photographs, illustrations, diagrams, and infographics. Its subjects include black holes, the International Space Station, possible life on Mars, and current research into outer space. It also contains a glossary game for space terms, quizzes, jokes, games, and activities to try at home. Accounts from experts accompany articles that examine space research in greater depth.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsCat & Cat Adventures: The Goblet of InfinitySusie Yi, illustrated by Susie YiSquash and Ginny continue their journey through magical portals in search of the Goblet of Infinity, a treasure said to provide an endless supply of drinks. At the goblet's supposed hiding place, the treasure is missing. Instead, the cats meet Fern, a unibear who believes the Dragon Witch took it. As they investigate the disappearance, Squash and Ginny discover that appearances can be misleading.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Crab and Snail: The Tidal Pool of CoolBeth Ferry, illustrated by Jared ChapmanStarfish has a tidal pool full of friends and appealing things, but Crab and Snail have not been invited. The two beach friends try to get Starfish's attention and earn an invitation. As they work at this goal, Crab and Snail begin to recognize that kindness matters. Their story takes place among tidal-pool creatures and follows their response to being left out of Starfish's gathering.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsDazzlin’ Dolly: The Songwriting, Hit-Singing, Guitar-Picking Dolly PartonSuzanne Slade, illustrated by Edwin FotheringhamThis biography follows Dolly Parton from her childhood in East Tennessee to performing at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. As a young girl, Dolly sings to cornhusk dolls and pigs, makes a drum from a pot, and creates a guitar from a broken mandolin. The book traces her early connection to music and her later work as a singer, songwriter, and humanitarian.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
The Flower GardenRenée Kurilla, illustrated by Renée KurillaBest friends Anna and Tess plant a packet of seeds in a backyard, then fall asleep in the sun. When they wake, the flowers are as tall as buildings. They meet May, a garden gnome whose magic caused the change, and discover that they have become May's size. Following May through the flower garden, they visit her underground gnome home and encounter new parts of their world.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeWord Count 666View book detailsThe Gardener of AlcatrazEmma Bland Smith, illustrated by Jenn ElyThis picture-book biography tells of Elliott Michener, who was imprisoned at Alcatraz after counterfeiting. Determined to escape the odds, he turns to gardening, and the account presents this work as his route toward freedom. The narrative concerns his experience in prison, his resolve to get out, and the garden work that becomes central while he is incarcerated.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsH Is for HarlemDinah JohnsonAn alphabetical book explores Harlem’s Black history and culture through people, buildings, institutions, works of art, landmarks, performance spaces, museums, community centers, and traditions. Entries include places such as the Apollo Theatre, Liberation Bookstore, and Uptown. Different elements of Harlem’s past and present are brought together in an illustrated archive of a neighborhood that has shaped American culture across generations.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsHer Name Was Mary Katharine: The Only Woman Whose Name Is on the Declaration of IndependenceElla Schwartz, illustrated by Dow PhumirukThis picture-book biography focuses on Mary Katharine Goddard, born in 1738 in colonial Connecticut as the country moved toward the American Revolution. It recounts how she became the only woman whose name appeared in print on the Declaration of Independence. Her story is set against the changing politics of the colonial era and the nation’s approach to revolution.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsHispanic Star: Celia CruzClaudia Romo Edelman, William AlexanderThis biography follows Celia Cruz from her childhood in Havana, Cuba, where she loved singing, to a prominent career in salsa. It traces her work with Sonora Matancera and the Fania All-Stars, alongside the growth of salsa, a genre rooted in Afro-Cuban musical styles. Across more than six decades and seventy albums, Cruz's career and musical influence form the focus of the book.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Honestly ElliottGillian McDunnElliott feels unsure of where he belongs after his best friend moves away and his father and stepmother announce a new baby. He has ADHD, and his father does not seem to understand what that experience feels like for him. Cooking is the activity in which Elliott’s mind feels most connected. A school project brings him unexpected friendship and contributes to his process of self-discovery.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsInvestiGators: Heist and SeekJohn Patrick GreenWhen paintings disappear from a museum, the InvestiGators are called to investigate the theft. Mango and Brash are alligators who work as a crime-fighting pair. Their adventures feature puns, silly supervillains, and giant talking chickens. In an earlier adventure, the duo goes undercover in a bakery to find chef Gustavo after he is kidnapped and to keep his recipes out of the wrong hands.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Jordan and Max, Field Trip!Suzanne Sutherland, illustrated by Michelle SimpsonJordan and Max’s class takes a winter-semester trip to a museum. Jordan looks forward to seeing the mummies, while Max is eager to visit the big city without his older sisters supervising him. The outing gives each child a different reason for anticipation: Jordan wants to explore the museum’s displays, and Max wants to experience the city independently of his sisters.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Kaleidoscope of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric LifeGreer Stothers, illustrated by Greer StothersThis nonfiction look at dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals considers the colors and patterns they may have had. It explores a vividly colored view of these long-ago creatures rather than treating dinosaurs as a single uniform image. The book’s focus is on what prehistoric beasts might have looked like, using color as a way into the study of dinosaur life.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Miss Quinces: A Graphic NovelKat Fajardo, illustrated by Kat FajardoSue has plans for her summer, but her family has made plans of their own: a surprise quinceañera. The celebration clashes with what Sue hoped to do, and an unexpected dramatic development changes the situation. Told in graphic-novel form, the story follows Sue as family expectations and a cultural tradition reshape her summer. It is a coming-of-age story about negotiating family expectations around a quinceañera.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeLexile Text Measure GN370LATOS Book Level 3View book details
Noah and His WagonJerry Ruff, illustrated by Katrijn JacobsWhen Paloma feels lonely, she meets Noah and his cat, Mitzvah. Through wagon rides, Noah and Mitzvah show her the importance of kindness and community. The story centers on Paloma’s loneliness and on the companionship she finds with the boy and his cat. Their repeated wagon rides provide the setting for a small act of connection and care.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Onyeka and the Academy of the SunTolá OkogwuOnyeka has always felt insecure about her vivid curls, which draw attention from strangers and whispers from peers. When her best friend Cheyenne nearly drowns, Onyeka's hair moves on its own and pulls Cheyenne from the water. Her mother explains that Onyeka has psychokinetic abilities and is a Solari, part of a secret Nigerian group with superpowers. Her discovery leads toward a secret academy and a conflict involving truth and lies.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeLexile Text Measure 710LATOS Book Level 4.5View book detailsOut of This World: Star-Studded HaikuSally M. WalkerA collection of haiku pairs poetry with scientific ideas about the universe. Beginning with the cosmos’s origin, it moves through subjects including planets, stars, moons, galaxies, and eclipses, while also considering people’s encounters with space. Mixed-media artwork accompanies the poems, using detail, texture, and movement to evoke a night sky. Telescopes and astronauts appear among the book’s ways of exploring and observing the vastness beyond Earth.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsPenguins: A Compare and Contrast BookCher VatalaroThis nonfiction picture book surveys all eighteen penguin species through comparison. It notes that penguins are not confined to cold regions, because many live in warm climates. It also looks at how flippers help them travel in water, then considers variation in habitats, coloration, eyes, feathers, and other adaptations between species.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book details
Rocket: The Miniature Morgan HorseEllen F. Feld, illustrated by Heidi Osgood-MetcalfSara and her Shetland pony, Diva, are inseparable and share many adventures. When Diva gives birth to a foal named Rocket, Sara takes on the task of helping him learn the farm's rules as he grows. Later, Rocket is due to be weaned, but an unexpected escape sends events out of control. The story follows Sara, Diva, and Rocket through the changes brought by a new foal.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsSheet Pan ScienceLiz Lee HeineckeSheet Pan Science contains 25 physics, biology, and chemistry projects designed to be done with a sheet pan. The projects include directions, explanations of the science involved, and step-by-step photographic guides. The book focuses on hands-on activities across three scientific fields, with each project presented through simple instructions and images that show the stages. Its experiments combine practical project guidance with explanations of the underlying science.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsThe Sweetest Scoop: Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream RevolutionLisa Robinson, illustrated by Stacy InnerstBen Cohen and Jerry Greenfield first met at age twelve and later entered the ice-cream business together. Their early work included a summer job on an ice-cream truck. After other career plans fell through, they rented and renovated an abandoned gas station, developed recipes, and added ingredients such as cookies and candy. Their shop opened in 1978, and they later invited flavor ideas from the public while working through business obstacles.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsSylvieJean Reidy, illustrated by Lucy CumminsSylvie is a graphic memoir about a young artist living in a French school, where her father is the principal. Her joyful childhood there gives her the means to make art and choose a life direction beyond other people’s expectations. The book portrays her pursuit of art and a self-directed path through cartoon-like artwork. Jean Reidy wrote this 352-page book.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeLexile Text Measure AD660LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
The Good Guys Agency: Kind Like Fred RogersNick Esposito, illustrated by Ricardo TokumotoLucky, Rudy, and Red decide to work together and create the Good Guys Agency. The three boys share a purpose: they want to improve the world by inspiring boys like themselves. The story centers on their decision to form an agency and pursue that goal as a team. Their partnership puts cooperation alongside a wish to encourage others toward a better world.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsTotality!: An Eclipse Guide in Rhyme and ScienceJeffrey BennettAn eclipse guide in rhyme and science, this book links a 2017 total solar eclipse in the United States with two later US eclipses. It notes that millions watched the 2017 event, the first total solar eclipse there in nearly four decades. The later pair includes an annular eclipse dated October 14, 2023, followed by a total solar eclipse dated April 8, 2024.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsWhen the Sky GlowsNell C. Beckerman, illustrated by David LitchfieldThis nonfiction picture book explores why natural events can make the sky appear luminous. It addresses sunrise and lightning alongside rainbows, volcanoes, meteors, and eclipses. Rather than focusing on a single event, the book brings together a range of light-filled natural phenomena and explains the science that accounts for their glowing appearances.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeLexile Text Measure AD920LATOS Book Level 6View book details
Winnie Zeng Unleashes a LegendKatie ZhaoWinnie Zeng enters middle school determined to succeed and to outdo her rival, David Zuo. She has prepared by studying comic books and anime, but her plans do not account for evil spirits. While making mooncakes for a class bake sale, Winnie awakens legendary forces from her grandmother’s old cookbook. The result is otherworldly disorder in her town, and Winnie must use her ancestral powers against the legends she has released.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeLexile Text Measure 780LATOS Book Level 5View book detailsWonderful Hair: The Beauty of Annie MaloneEve Nadel CatarevasThis book recounts the work of Annie Turnbo Malone, a Black business leader of the early twentieth century. Malone developed hair-care products and built them into an industry, distributing hair and cosmetic products for Black women. Her Poro Colleges taught the Poro method. The book also describes her as the first self-made African American woman millionaire. Detailed illustrations and back matter accompany this account of her work, business, and products.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsThe Yippee StickRoel Seidell, illustrated by Roel SeidellBear is sad when he meets Mouse, who is cheerful because she has a yippee stick. Mouse lets Bear borrow it, since the stick brings happiness. This brief story follows the contrast between Bear’s sadness and Mouse’s delight, with the two animal characters sharing the object that changes Bear’s mood.Librarian Favorites — 3rd–5th GradeView book detailsLibrarian Favorites — 6th–8th Grade
40 selections
Alice Austen Lived HereAlex GinoSam is nonbinary, as is their best friend, TJ. Sam’s family accepts Sam’s identity while still expecting chores, homework, and respectful conduct toward teachers. In history class, however, Sam struggles with a teacher whose view of history seems limited to dead, straight, cisgender white men. The book follows Sam’s queer identity, friendship, family life, and conflict with this classroom perspective.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsAliens: Join the Scientists Searching Space for Extraterrestrial LifeJoalda Morancy, Amy Grimes, illustrated by Amy GrimesThis nonfiction book examines the scientific search for life beyond Earth. It separates ideas and myths about extraterrestrials from the evidence and methods scientists use to look for alien lifeforms. The subject is the ongoing search for life elsewhere in space, presenting the science behind that effort rather than treating aliens as established fact. It considers the possibility of discovering life beyond Earth as well.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsAmari and the Great GameB. B. AlstonAfter finding her brother and saving the supernatural world, Amari Peters expects an easier summer as a Junior Agent. Instead, she faces a Head Minister’s anti-magician agenda, rivalry among Junior Agents, and her brother Quinton’s worsening curse. The League of Magicians asks her to become its leader, but when she declines, another magician steps forward with dangerous plans for the League.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeWord Count 94173View book detailsAttack of the Black RectanglesAmy Sarig KingMac notices that words have been covered in his classroom copy of The Devil’s Arithmetic. Once he and his friends learn what has been removed, Mac is angry that someone at school is restricting access to the complete text. He decides to challenge that restriction, drawing on lessons from his mother and grandad, while also coping with his father’s worsening mental-health problems.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Black Bird, Blue RoadSofiya PasternackIn tenth-century Khazaria, twins Ziva and Pesah search for a way to treat Pesah’s leprosy. Pesah lives apart to prevent transmission, but Ziva continues caring for him and helping test salves. After Ziva learns that their uncle intends to send Pesah to a colony, the siblings escape in the family wagon toward Byzantium in hopes of finding doctors. Pesah’s vision of the Angel of Death on Rosh Hashanah makes their journey urgent, and they encounter a captive demon and the city of Luz along the way.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
CapriceCoe BoothTwelve-year-old Caprice returns to Newark after a summer program at Ainsley International School. She loves the school and has been offered a scholarship to attend full-time, but the choice is hard because she misses her best friend Nicole and her community center. Caprice also keeps private a nonconsensual kiss at Ainsley, which brings back memories of sexual abuse by her uncle when she was younger. Her grandmother’s illness further complicates her feelings as she faces questions about trust, friendship, family, and her future.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 590LATOS Book Level 4View book details
Different Kinds of FruitKyle LukoffAnnabelle begins a new school year expecting it to follow the familiar pattern of earlier years, with the same teachers and classmates. Instead, her life changes when she learns that her much-loved father is trans. As a rising seventh grader, Annabelle navigates gender and sexual identities within her family and community. The novel centers on the disruption of her expectations and the personal questions that emerge as she encounters this new understanding of her father and the people around her.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsA Duet for HomeKarina Yan GlaserAfter her father’s unexpected death, June and her family are evicted and move into Huey House shelter. She initially feels devastated when she cannot bring her viola inside, but Tyrell, who has lived at the shelter for three years, introduces her to its friendships, meals, and nearby music. As June reconnects with herself and joins other residents, the shelter faces a threat and the children work to save the home they share.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 800LATOS Book Level 5.1View book details
The Elephant GirlJames Patterson, Ellen Banda-Aaku, Sophia KrevoyTwelve-year-old Jama prefers elephants to people and spends time at the watering hole outside her village. She befriends a baby elephant called Mbegu, meaning “seed” in Swahili. After Mbegu’s mother stampedes because she is frightened by poachers, Jama and Mbegu are blamed for the deaths of an elephant and a person. Leku, the new boy whose father heads the conservancy, may be able to help them.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsEverything You Always Wanted to Know About Puberty—and Shouldn’t Learn on TikTok: For Curious GirlsGemma Hong, Sophie Young, illustrated by Amelia PinneyA fully illustrated guide addresses the changes of puberty. Its material includes physical changes, emotional changes, and social changes, looking at what happens both inside and outside a person’s body. The book frames these changes in a direct, humorous manner and uses an older-sister-like voice to accompany readers through them. It presents this information with frankness and an approachable tone.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Falling ShortErnesto CisnerosIsaac Castillo and Marco Honeyman enter sixth grade knowing the year will change their lives. Basketball player Isaac wants to improve his schoolwork, hoping better grades will ease his parents' arguments. Marco earns straight A's and hopes to win his father's approval by making the school basketball team. Though different, the two close friends support one another as they work toward the middle-grade students they want to become.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 701LATOS Book Level 4.5View book detailsFreewaterAmina Luqman-DawsonTwelve-year-old Homer and his sister Ava escape from a plantation, leaving their mother behind. They reach Freewater, a hidden community in the Great Dismal Swamp made by formerly enslaved people. When outside danger threatens the community, Homer plans to defend his new friends and rescue his mother. The historical adventure centers the siblings’ search for refuge, family, and safety in the swamp.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 690LATOS Book Level 4.59View book detailsFront CountrySara St. AntoineGinny Shepard spends a month in Montana preparing for backcountry camping before starting high school. She would rather hike through the mountains than attend the summer college-preparation classes her parents believe will help shape her future. Outside, the world is on fire, making the landscape around her part of a larger environmental crisis. Ginny must live with both the freedom and demands of the wilderness while confronting uncertainty about what comes next. The book brings together mountain adventure, family expectations, changing plans, and concern for a damaged planet.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Garvey in the DarkNikki GrimesTold in verse, this novel follows Garvey during the COVID-19 pandemic. Garvey has recently found happiness and feels closer to his father because they share a love of music. The pandemic brings shock and disruption to his life, while bullies are also part of his experience. Through Garvey’s perspective, the story addresses difficult times and the search for hope.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsHardcourtFred Bowen, illustrated by James E. RansomeHardcourt looks back over the National Basketball Association’s first seventy-five years. Its illustrated account focuses on athletes, coaches, and teams associated with changes in basketball and its development into a national phenomenon. The book places the NBA within one of the United States’ most beloved sports, tracing people and teams connected to the league’s history and growth over time.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
HummingbirdNicola Davies, illustrated by Jane RayA picture book follows ruby-throated hummingbirds on their twice-yearly movement between Mexico and Central America and the United States and Canada. Their behavior is woven into the experiences of a Latinx grandmother and her granddaughter, who watch the birds during the girl's visit to New York City. After they are apart, their mutual interest in the hummingbirds remains part of their connection. Brief factual passages on many pages add information about the birds alongside the story.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure AD750LATOS Book Level 4.6View book details
Isla to IslandAlexis CastellanosIn this wordless graphic novel, Marisol leaves Cuba and her family to begin a new life in Brooklyn through Operation Peter Pan. Her journey requires her to redefine what home means after moving from one island to another. Black-and-white illustrations, accented with color, convey the emotions and spirit of her transition. The story centers on separation from family, migration, and the challenge of building a life in an unfamiliar place.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Island of SpiesSheila TurnageOn Hatteras Island, North Carolina, twelve-year-old Stick Lawson lives where the rhythms of the tides shape daily life and mysteries can be found by looking closely. Stick and her friends Rain and Neb investigate wartime secrets amid danger on a changing island. This World War II spy mystery features the young detectives’ search for clues and their island setting.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 580LATOS Book Level 3.8View book detailsJennifer Chan Is Not AloneTae KellerChinese American Jennifer Chan is fascinated by extraterrestrial life, an interest she once shared with her late father. Her neighbor Mallory Moss, who worries about belonging, initially admires Jennifer’s willingness to be herself but later distances herself after school begins. When Jennifer runs away, Mallory fears that cruel treatment from Mallory’s friend Reagan, and Mallory’s own participation and silence, helped cause Jennifer’s disappearance. The novel follows the missing girl and Mallory’s search for the truth.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 640LATOS Book Level 4.1View book details
Karthik DeliversSheela ChariIn the summer of 2009, rising ninth-grader Karthik makes deliveries for his family’s failing grocery store. The South Asian American teenager is carrying family responsibilities while the business struggles. Without telling his family, Karthik also takes a role in a play about Leonard Bernstein. His delivery work unexpectedly leads him toward acting. The secret part in the production creates a pull between his family duties and his own aspirations. The novel places the grocery store’s financial difficulties beside Karthik’s growing involvement in theater.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 600LATOS Book Level 3.9View book detailsMaizy Chen’s Last ChanceLisa YeeEleven-year-old Maizy Chen and her mother leave Los Angeles for the summer to help at the Golden Palace, their family’s Chinese restaurant in Last Chance, Minnesota, while Maizy’s grandfather is ill. Maizy has met her grandparents only once, and tension remains between them and her mother. At the restaurant, she befriends regulars and spends time with Opa, who shares the story of her great-great-grandfather’s journey from China to California and later to Last Chance.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 670LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
MoonflowerKacen CallenderMoon is struggling with depression and fears that their mother hates them because they are sad. Therapy does not seem to help, so every night Moon escapes to a spirit realm, where their only friend is Wolf. There, Moon looks forward to endless adventures and hopes not to return to the living world. Moon must learn love and hope while trying to protect the spirit world and find self-worth.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 769LATOS Book Level 4.9View book detailsMy Own LightningLauren WolkSet in 1944, this sequel to Wolf Hollow follows Annabelle after lightning strikes her and leaves her able to understand animals’ emotions. She meets Nora, who quietly cares for animals that have been injured or mistreated. When a dog goes missing, Annabelle is led to face earlier injustices and an adversary she has encountered before. The story connects Annabelle’s unusual ability with her growing awareness of harm done to animals and people.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure HL710LATOS Book Level 4.5View book detailsOperation SisterhoodOlugbemisola Rhuday-PerkovichAfter moving to Harlem, Bo lives with Mum and Mum’s boyfriend Bill. Their household also includes the parents of Lili and Lee, Bill’s daughter Sunday, chickens, a turtle, a bearded dragon, two cats, and a dog. So many people and animals are squeezed into the home that Bo questions whether there is space for her. Four new sisters join together in New York City.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsThe Road to AfterRebekah LowellThis novel in verse follows two young sisters and their mother after they flee an abusive home. Away from their father, the family begins to learn how to live without fear. The girls make friends and find comfort in art and the natural world as they adjust to a new life. The story focuses on recovery after abuse, the family’s changing circumstances, and the solace the sisters find in creative expression and nature.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
SardinesSashi KaufmanAfter Lucas’s older brother dies, his mother disappears without warning and his father struggles to cope. Lucas, who is eleven, joins four classmates in an after-school program. Through a game, the group grows closer and works on one another’s problems. The story follows Lucas’s grief alongside the friendships that form among the classmates as they try to help each other.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Sharks Forever: The Mystery and History of the Planet’s Perfect PredatorMark Leiren-YoungThis nonfiction exploration of sharks covers their habitats, biology, habits, and personalities. It introduces sharks that form friendships, species small enough to fit in a soup can, and others that can walk on land or produce their own light. The book also considers ancient sharks from millions of years ago and newly discovered species. Alongside current science, it explains that many sharks are struggling to survive.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
Singing with ElephantsMargarita EngleIn 1947, eleven-year-old Oriol, a Cuban immigrant living in Santa Barbara, helps her parents care for injured animals at their veterinary clinic. She struggles with belonging but finds purpose in the work. When poet and diplomat Gabriela Mistral comes to town, Oriol begins learning to write poetry. After a baby elephant at the clinic is threatened, Oriol works with Mistral on a campaign to reunite the animal with its family.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 989LATOS Book Level 6.6View book detailsStar Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle ButlerIbi ZoboiThis biography traces the early life of Octavia E. Butler through prose and poetry. It follows a Black child who loved speculative and science fiction but did not find herself represented in much of what she read and watched. Butler went on to invent worlds and create stories centered on Black and brown characters, often women. Her work helped shape Afrofuturism. Stars and the universe provide a recurring framework throughout the book: prose sections and connecting poems return to those ideas, while concrete poems also use their visual form to engage with them.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 1029LATOS Book Level 7View book detailsSwim TeamJohnnie ChristmasBree is the new student at her school and is pushed beyond her comfort zone when she must learn to swim. She faces a fear of water while finding her place in an unfamiliar school community. As she gains confidence in the pool, Bree ultimately joins the school swim team. Told as a graphic novel, the story connects a newcomer’s adjustment to school with the challenge of learning a new skill and taking part in a team effort.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeWord Count 9986View book detailsTeam Chu and the Battle of Blackwood ArenaJulie DaoSiblings Clip and Sadie Chu approach school life very differently. Clip is popular and athletic, hoping to become the first seventh-grade soccer captain, while Sadie is a high-achieving student determined to show she can match her boastful brother. Their common interest is laser tag. The story centers their shared pastime within an adventure shaped by competition between the siblings.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
ThirstVarsha BajajMinni lives in a poor area of Mumbai where communal water taps operate only for a few hours each day and people wait in long lines. Severe shortages worsen when thieves steal water, a crime Minni sees one night. At the high-rise where she has begun working, she encounters plentiful running water and a rooftop pool. While studying for exams and handling family responsibilities, Minni investigates the theft ring affecting her neighborhood.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 700LATOS Book Level 4.4View book details
Trouble at Turtle PondDiana RennAt age eleven, Miles relocates to Marsh Hollow in a desperate search for a fresh beginning after a difficult period at his former school. At that school, difficulties he had with ADHD left him labeled as a troublemaker and separated him from friends. Losing a classroom pet he loved was especially associated with the loss of those friendships at school.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
True History: A New History of ImmigrationJaclyn BackhausTrue History: A New History of Immigration presents the United States as a nation shaped by immigrants and by people described as dreamers. It examines the familiar idea of America as a place where people may arrive and pursue the American Dream through grit and determination. The book focuses on this national narrative of immigration and aspiration. Written by Jaclyn Backhaus, it was published by Penguin Young Readers Group in 2022.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
True History: Indigenous AmericaLiam McDonaldThis history revisits the familiar account that the United States was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. It emphasizes that Native American history in what is now the United States reaches back tens of thousands of years before Columbus’s arrival and before the arrival of other colonizers. The book contrasts a commonly taught national origin story with a far longer Indigenous past.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsTumbleCelia C. PérezWhen Adela Ramirez’s stepfather asks to adopt her formally, Addie wants answers before deciding. A Mexican American girl, she searches for the identity of her biological father through family photographs and old yearbooks. Her investigation leads to local luchador Manny Bravo and the Bravo family, whose lives are deeply connected to lucha libre. Addie is welcomed by relatives with varied ties to wrestling, but her meeting with Manny raises difficult questions about parenthood, identity, and where she belongs within two families.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 660LATOS Book Level 4.5View book details
Unlawful Orders: A Portrait of Dr. James BBarbara BinnsThis nonfiction portrait recounts Dr. James B. Williams’s struggle for racial equality in both military service and medicine. It spans generations, from the Jim Crow era through the present. Williams is presented as a pioneering Black American alongside other important figures whose efforts against racism have often been overlooked. The account includes his roles as a Tuskegee Airman, surgeon, and activist.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book details
The VisitorsGreg HowardA twelve-year-old ghost remains bound to an abandoned plantation in Georgetown, South Carolina. He cannot remember his name, his past, or the circumstances of his death. When several living children arrive, he joins them to challenge the evil holding the place in its grip. Their search also begins to restore memories that may explain how he came to be there.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsWait Till Helen Comes Graphic NovelMary Downing Hahn, illustrated by Meredith LaxtonIn this graphic adaptation, Molly and her brother Michael are living with their new stepsister, Heather, after their mother remarries. Molly and Michael try to befriend Heather, but she lies, tattles, and causes trouble that leaves them blamed. As Heather tries to separate her father from their mother, the siblings must protect her from a vengeful ghost that threatens the family.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeLexile Text Measure 491LATOS Book Level 3.3View book details
Y onderAli StandishIn 1943, thirteen-year-old Danny Timmons is coping with several upheavals: his father is serving in World War II, his mother is expecting a baby, and he depends greatly on his friend Jack. After Jack, who has been abused, vanishes from their small Appalachian town, Danny sets out to learn what happened. His only lead is the name of a place called Yonder, and finding Jack becomes his determined purpose.Librarian Favorites — 6th–8th GradeView book detailsLibrarian Favorites — 9th–12th Grade
40 selections
Aces Wild: A HeistAmanda DeWittAces Wild: A Heist follows Jack Shannon, whose father is a Las Vegas casino mogul. At his private school, Jack operates an underground blackjack game in the basement. After his mother is arrested over the family’s organized-crime connections, his sister Beth sees a chance for them to go straight, while Jack believes something is still wrong. An online friendship group of asexual people also plans to enter a gambling club.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsAin’t Burned All the BrightJason ReynoldsA Black teenager narrates his family’s experience during the first months of COVID-19. The family faces the pandemic alongside racism and violence in the United States, with the struggle to breathe serving as a central concern. Jason Reynolds tells the story through sparse prose, while Jason Griffin’s notebook-style artwork forms much of the book’s visual narrative.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeATOS Book Level 5.2AR Interest Level UGView book detailsAll My RageSabaa TahirSalahudin and Noor have grown up as outcasts in Juniper, California, where they have been closer than best friends. A fight ruptures their bond. Sal then tries to keep the family motel running as his mother’s health declines and his grieving father turns to alcohol. Earlier, Sal’s parents, Misbah and Toufiq, had come to the United States after tragedy disrupted their arranged marriage and opened the Clouds’ Rest Inn Motel.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure HL590LATOS Book Level 4.2View book detailsAll of Our DemiseAmanda Foody, C.L. HermanAll of Our Demise closes Amanda Foody and C. L. Herman’s duology, continuing the tournament introduced in All of Us Villains. This contest belongs to an ancient, bloodstained story, yet something changes here: for the first time, the tournament itself begins to break. The book brings that competition to its conclusion with a notably brutal tone, marking the end of the duology’s central contest.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
As Fast As HerKendall CoyneIn As Fast As Her, Kendall Coyne recounts her path as a U.S. Olympian and hockey player. She describes drawing on grit and determination while facing significant obstacles and breaking barriers on the way toward her goals. The book connects her sporting career with persistence, personal ambition, and the effort to continue pursuing what matters despite adversity. It was published by Zonderkidz in 2022.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
At the End of EverythingMarieke NijkampAt Hope, teenagers labeled delinquent have been sent away and largely ignored by the rest of the world. Little hope is offered to the young people living there. When the guards begin behaving oddly, the isolated place becomes the setting for a troubling change whose cause is not yet clear.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
BravelyMaggie SteifvaterPrincess Merida of DunBroch longs for a life with adventure, challenge, purpose, and perhaps love beyond the unchanging rhythm of her peaceful kingdom. She cares deeply for King Fergus, Queen Elinor, and her triplet siblings. Merida must confront ancient Scottish gods in a magical journey where the fate of the family she loves is at stake, and she has one year to protect what matters most.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Curse of the Chosen VolAlexis Deacon, illustrated by Alexis DeaconCurse of the Chosen concludes Alexis Deacon's Geis series. As a great chief matriarch lies dying, she gives a final decree: after her death, a contest will take place. The fantasy universe contains magic, politics, class struggles, and cultures at war. This edition was given new branding and a format intended to sit alongside another Curse of the Chosen book in the series.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsDrizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck ThingsMaya PrasadDrizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things is a multi-viewpoint romantic comedy about four sisters and four love stories. Its narrative is organized around four seasons and follows the sisters on an island near the Pacific Northwest coast. The book connects their separate perspectives with romance, sibling relationships, seasonal structure, and an island setting over the course of the four seasons.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsDucks: Two Years in the Oil SandsKate Beaton, illustrated by Kate BeatonKate Beaton’s autobiographical comic recounts her time working in Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands. Originally from Atlantic Canada, she took the job to repay student loans. The book grew from a five-part webcomic she posted in 2014 and was published by Drawn & Quarterly in 2022. Its title refers to an incident in which hundreds of ducks landed in a toxic tailings pond and died.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsGallantV. E. SchwabOlivia Prior has grown up at Merilance School for girls with only her mother’s journal to connect her to the past. A letter brings her to Gallant, though no one expects her there. Determined to remain in the first place that feels like home, Olivia faces a hostile cousin and glimpses half-formed ghouls in the manor’s corridors. The novel also centers on dark family secrets and a setting where the supernatural intrudes on reality.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 899LATOS Book Level 5.8View book detailsThe GetawayLamar GilesSet in a near future where climate change, racism, and economic inequality have intensified, The Getaway follows Black teenager Jay, whose family works at Karloff Country, a Virginia resort. The job gives his family food and economic security, while the resort’s billionaire owner seems suspect to Jay’s friend Zeke. As a global crisis unfolds, the resort’s true function is revealed: it shelters wealthy Trustees. Employees are forced to remain and serve them amid escalating racist microaggressions and painful control.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 920LATOS Book Level 6View book details
The Ghosts of Rose HillR. M. RomeroSixteen-year-old Ilana spends the summer in Prague with her aunt. A biracial Jewish girl who wants to become a violinist, she faces pressure from her immigrant parents to choose a more secure career. Ilana takes on the restoration of a Jewish cemetery, begins a romance with a ghost, and faces a monster. The novel is told in free verse.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
The Gifts That Bind UsCaroline O’DonoghueIt is Maeve’s senior year, and she and her friends are developing their mystical abilities. Maeve is in a new relationship with Roe, while Roe’s ambitions as a rock star begin to take shape. As Fiona and Lily plan for colleges far away, Maeve worries about what life will be like without them. Meanwhile, Maeve and her friends face a threat to both their school and their city.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsThe Gilded Ones #2: The Merciless OnesNamina FornaIn Otera, a dark force is growing. Deka and her army must try to stop this merciless power. At the same time, hidden secrets endanger everything Deka has previously known. The stated conflict combines the threat posed by the rising force with revelations that could undo Deka’s understanding of her world, leaving Deka and her army to confront both a powerful danger and damaging secrets.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsGirl on FireAlicia Keys, illustrated by Brittney WilliamsLolo Wright always thought she was just a regular fourteen-year-old dealing with regular family drama: her brother, James, is struggling with his studies; her dad's business constantly teeters on the edge of trouble; and her mother . . . she left long…Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsA Girl’s Guide to Love & MagicDebbie RigaudCicely Destin eagerly awaits the West Indian Day Parade, a neighborhood celebration of Caribbean culture. She looks forward to waving a Haitian flag, tasting foods, and cheering for floats. The day also brings time with her stylish aunt, an influencer who practices Haitian Vodou, and the possibility of seeing Cicely’s crush, Kwame. But events do not unfold as she expects.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeATOS Book Level 5.3AR Interest Level Upper Grades (UG 9-12)View book detailsGirls Who Green the World: Thirty-Four Rebel Women Out to Save Our PlanetDiana Kapp, illustrated by Ana JarénGirls Who Green the World presents profiles of 34 women working toward environmental change. Combining biography with a guide to the contemporary environmental movement, it introduces activists, social entrepreneurs, visionaries, and other changemakers. The featured women are shown pursuing environmental work and social change, with the book focusing on their roles as leaders, founders, inventors, and advocates for the planet’s future.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
GleaningsNeal ShustermanThis collection returns to the world of the Arc of a Scythe series through stories set across its timeline. In this future, humanity has been protected from hunger, disease, and death, while Scythes serve as instruments of population control. The stories range from the period when the Thunderhead cared for humanity to the time when Scythe Goddard sought to overturn that world, introducing further tales and Scythes.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 830LATOS Book Level 6.3View book detailsGolden BoysSonya HartnettColt Jenson, 12, and his brother Bastian arrive in a working-class Australian neighborhood with their parents. Colt’s dentist father welcomes local children into their home, but Colt feels uneasy about the man’s physical friendliness and knows it has happened before. Nearby, Freya, the eldest of six, lives with a father whose drinking makes evenings tense and potentially dangerous. She confides in Mr. Jenson, while her brother Declan voices fears about his behavior.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsThe Greatest ThingSarah Winifred SearleAt the beginning of sophomore year, Winifred arrives at high school without her two closest friends. Both have transferred to a private school, leaving her to manage the new school year on her own. The book presents this change in friendship as she confronts high school without the two friends who had been her only ones. Sarah Winifred Searle's 352-page book was published by First Second in 2022.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Harley Quinn: ReckoningRachael AllenHarleen Quinzel begins an internship in a psychology lab at Gotham University, hoping a scientific discovery will earn a full college scholarship and let her leave her abusive father. After seeing women mistreated across STEM departments and experiencing harassment herself, she shifts her priorities. In this origin story, Harleen comes to value revenge and justice over the academic future she had planned.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsHell Followed With UsAndrew Joseph WhiteSixteen-year-old Benji, a trans boy, flees the fundamentalist cult that raised him. The sect has brought about an apocalypse that devastates the population, and it has infected Benji with a bioweapon. While trying to find somewhere beyond the cult’s reach, he is pursued through a world changed by its destruction. When monsters corner him, a group of teens from the Acheson LGBTQ+ Center rescues him.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsThe HoneysRyan La SalaRyan La Sala’s horror novel takes place at an isolated summer retreat. Mars has long lived in the shadow of twin sister Caroline, whose brilliance eclipsed his own. When Caroline dies in horrific circumstances after becoming distant from Mars, he seeks to understand more about her. Mars is genderfluid and is frequently shut out of the customs and expectations maintained by his politically connected family.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsI Must Betray YouRuta SepetysSet in Bucharest during Romania’s communist dictatorship in 1989, this historical novel follows seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu. A member of the Securitate confronts him at school over an illegal American dollar and pressures him to become an informer. Cristian agrees after the officer promises medicine for his grandfather, Bunu, who has leukemia. He is ordered to spy on the teenage son of an American diplomat, while knowing that surveillance and informers permeate daily life under the Ceaușescu regime. Rising tensions lead toward the Romanian revolution.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 550LATOS Book Level 4.3View book detailsIf Anything Happens I Love YouWill McCormack, Michael Govier, illustrated by Youngran NhoRose watches from above as her parents slowly break down under the pain of their loss. Her soul tries to help them reconnect. The story presents human connection as a response to unimaginable loss, following the emotional distance between Rose’s parents and Rose’s continuing effort to bring them back together.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsLegendbornTracy DeonnTracy Deonn’s fantasy novel follows Bree, a sixteen-year-old Black student grieving her mother’s death. At UNC–Chapel Hill, where her mother studied, Bree encounters the Order of the Roundtable, a hidden group that battles Shadowborn. After a magic-user’s attempt to erase her memory fails, she connects the event to the night her mother died. Seeking answers, Bree joins the Order as a Page and learns that Rootcraft, a form of African American magic, runs in her family.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure HL730LATOS Book Level 4.7View book details
The LuminariesSusan DennardWinnie Wednesday lives in Hemlock Falls, where monsters and nightmares emerge from the surrounding forest each night. She wants to join the Luminaries, an ancient group charged with protecting the town and humanity. Since her father was exposed as both a witch and a traitor, Winnie’s family has been shunned. On her sixteenth birthday, she can enter deadly hunter trials in hopes of proving her loyalty and restoring the family’s name.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeLexile Text Measure 810LATOS Book Level 5.7View book details
Monsters Born and MadeTanvi BerwahKoral, sixteen, and her older brother Emrik capture monstrous maristags in the black seas around their island so their family can eat. The ruling Landers have indentured the family to supply the creatures for the Glory Race, a deadly chariot contest reserved for the upper class. After the last maristag escapes, Koral cannot sell another one, leaving the family unable to afford medicine for her chronically ill younger sister.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
My Mechanical RomanceAlexene Farol FollmuthThis young-adult romance combines battle-robot building with attraction between opposites. Bel is introduced as someone who would prefer not to consider what lies ahead. The available description places her in a story where romantic connection and contrasting personalities accompany the construction of robots intended for battle. Robot building is central to the premise, alongside a relationship between two very different people.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsMy Name Is Jason. Mine Too.Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jason GriffinJason Reynolds and Jason Griffin set out with the shared aim of moving to New York City. The two Jasons hope that the move will let them realize their personal dreams. Their journey is defined by a common destination as they each look toward a future they want to make for themselves.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Nowhere GirlAmy ReedThe Nowhere Girls begins with three unlikely girls at a high school where misogyny shapes the culture. They start a movement and seek the truth about an alleged rape. One of the three, Grace Salter, is new in town after her family was driven from their former community. Her Southern Baptist preacher mother changed her political views after falling from a horse.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsSeoulmatesSusan LeeSeoulmates brings Hara Wilson to Seoul as she searches for her birth mother. In the city, Hara meets Choi Yujun, the first man she sees after arriving. She did not expect romance to become part of her search, yet she finds him irresistible. Susan Lee wrote this 336-page book, published by Penguin Publishing Group on January 25, 2022. The recorded ISBN for this edition is 9780593100165.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsThe Weight of BloodTiffany D. JacksonIn fictional Springville, Georgia, Maddy Washington is a biracial high school senior whose racist father has made her pass as white and straighten her hair. A rainstorm restores Maddy’s natural hair, revealing her heritage. A video of classmates bullying her spreads online and exposes racism at Springville High. Tiffany D. Jackson’s horror novel is also described as a retelling of Carrie.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure: A Graphic NovelLewis HancoxIn this graphic memoir, Lewis Hancox looks back on growing up in a small UK town during the early 2000s. Early memories include crushes, clothes, friendships, and difficulties at home, alongside a profound unease with his body. The narrative contrasts Lewis’s present-day perspective with his younger self, Lois, as identity and transition unfold. It also includes recollections from friends and relatives, while an art teacher’s encouragement leads Lois to find transgender community online.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsWhen You Call My NameTucker ShawAdam falls in love with Callum after accepting an offer that leaves his heart racing. Ben, an eighteen-year-old who is interested in fashion, leaves his upstate home after his mother finds the gay magazines he had kept hidden. The book places Adam’s new relationship alongside Ben’s departure from home after a private part of his identity is discovered.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
Wolves Are WaitingNatasha FriendFifteen-year-old Nora Melchionda’s life includes a tentative boyfriend, field hockey, strong grades, and close friends. After she is drugged and assaulted at the Frat Fair, Nora wants to put the experience behind her. That becomes more complicated when she discovers that her father, a well-regarded athletic director at the local college, has an indirect connection to what occurred. The book follows Nora as the familiar shape of her life is disrupted by this discovery.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
You Truly AssumedLaila SabreenAfter a terrorist attack near Sabriya’s home, anti-Islamic sentiment grows across the country and disrupts the summer she had carefully planned. Along with two other Black Muslim girls, Sabriya creates a space where they can challenge assumptions and share their own truths. The novel centers Black Muslim girls responding to a changed world and to prejudice following the attack.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details
YoungbloodSasha LaurensKat Finn and her mother are vampires who live quietly among humans and struggle to afford Hema, a synthetic blood substitute needed because human blood carries a deadly virus. At Harcote, an elite vampire boarding school, Kat shares a room with former best friend Taylor Sanger. Renewed attraction, old hurt, class divisions, and a troubling discovery lead the girls to investigate the school together.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book detailsZyla & KaiKristina ForestZyla & Kai is a teen romance about Zyla Matthews and Kai Johnson, high school seniors whose first love is marked by uncertainty. During a stormy school trip to the Poconos, they leave together, baffling the friends and family who are left behind. Their relationship unfolds amid the consequences of that departure.Librarian Favorites — 9th–12th GradeView book details