SELECTED NEW BOOKS
MAY 2024
The days and nights of the Rabinovitch family--a rabbi, his wife, and their nine children who live in the Jewish quarter of Lublin, Poland, in the 1920s--are filled with joy, adventure, and ritual, but the biggest adventure occurs one summer when the oldest daughter Adina is betrothed to a young man from Warsaw. Based on the history of the author's Nana Nomi.
While twelve-year-old Wyatt rides out the zombie apocalypse on his crew's cobbled together train, a mysterious girl arrives with stories of a potential cure for the zombie parasite.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a young boy named Archie learns about community, genuine connection, and how not to lose hope.
The kids in these humorous short stories each have a minor superpower they're learning to live with. One can shapeshift--but only part of her body, and only on Mondays. Another can always tell whether an avocado is perfectly ripe. One can even hear the thoughts of the animals in the pet store. But what these stories are really about is their young protagonists 'owning' a power that contributes to their individuality, allows them to find their place in the world, that shows them a potential they might not have imagined.
Ten-year-old Lina wants to create a viral video to help her mom's business, but as she navigates the world of likes and views with her two best friends, Lina must find the courage to stay true to her authentic self.
For their next adventure in the Kingdom Beyond, twins Kiya and Kinjal must help the flying horses with a sudden invasion of their lands. It turns out that the tree ghosts are losing their forest! To save the trees, and the Kingdom, they must use their collective knowledge of this world and of course their magic!
New York Times bestselling team Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton invite readers to hang out with them in their 169-story treehouse the thirteenth and final book in the illustrated chapter book series filled with Andy and Terry's signature slapstick humor!
Frostpaw was told to trust no cat, but a brutal attack has left her gravely injured, and she'll need to depend on someone. When help arrives in the form of a young warrior, she convinces him to protect her as she follows StarClan's cryptic directions toward the roots of RiverClan, where Riverstar has promised she'll find the answers she's been so desperately seeking. Back at the lake, the tension between ShadowClan and its neighbors might be easing, but the peace is fragile: until StarClan's chosen leader is found, the slightest push could lead the Clans back into outright war.
Penny and her friends find an old map that takes them on a search through their town for hidden treasure.
Jack, June, Quint, and Dirk face their biggest challenge yet: creating the sequel to their hit graphic novel! And like all sequels, it must be BIGGER, BETTER, and PACKED WITH EVEN MORE NEAT STUFF! While the kids get to work, their superhero alter-egos make a startling discovery: supervillains do not come up with their own evil plans! The shocking truth? Every supervillain scheme comes from the mind of a single, mysterious bad guy. Now, Jack, June, Quint, and Dirk's BIGGEST SEQUEL IN HISTORY has our superheroes in a mad-dash, puzzle-filled race across Apocalyptia to stop the BIGGEST EVIL PLAN IN HISTORY!
After a spill at the science fair turns Stan and Gene invisible, one boy uses his powers for good while the other makes trouble.
With his French village under Nazi control, Paul Colbert joins a secret resistance after rescuing an American paratrooper and gets his chance to make a difference during the largest invasion in history, working to do his part in turning horror into hope.
Hilo's friends Polly the warrior cat and her brother Pip are sent to a magical boarding school for bad kids.
Taylor Swift always knew she wanted to be a country music artist, so at age thirteen, she convinced her parents to move their family out of Pennsylvania to Nashville. As a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Taylor wrote songs about teenage heartbreak and fitting in with her peers, and she performed these and other tunes at open mic nights and karaoke events. Breaking into the music industry took longer than she expected because record executives thought there was no place in country music for her songs. But Taylor was fearless and proved them wrong. Since the release of her self-titled debut album in 2006, Taylor Swift has dominated the music charts, reinvented her sound, won numerous awards, shaken off public criticism, and spoken up for herself and others.
Sarah Brenner might have come from an all-of-a-kind family (five sisters who all dressed alike), but she was always one of a kind. Growing up in a Jewish immigrant family on New York's impoverished Lower East Side, Sarah loved visiting the library, celebrating holidays with her family, and taking free dance classes at the Henry Street Settlement. But she was always aware of things that weren't fair--whether it was that women couldn't vote, or how girls were treated in her school, or that her parents had had to leave Europe because they were Jewish. When she grew up, Sarah changed her name to Sydney and became an actress and a dancer, but she never forgot the importance of fighting unfairness, whether it was anti-Semitism at her job or the low wages of workers. And when her daughter complained that it wasn't fair that there were no books about Jewish children like her, Sydney put pen to paper and wrote a one-of-a-kind children's book.
From #1 New York Times bestselling authors Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz, hosts of the #1 kids podcast Wow in the World, comes another page-turning book filled with 250 amazing facts, photos, and illustrations.
An unusually warm winter day resulted in 2.3 million gallons of molasses flooding the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The disaster killed 21 people and injured 150 others. Rescue missions were launched to save people from the sticky and deadly mess, led by the Red Cross, the Army, the Navy, and the Massachusetts Nautical School. With the help of hundreds of volunteers over several weeks, the streets were cleaned up. But the smell of molasses and the horror of the preventable tragedy lingered for decades to come.
On July 1, 1916, witnesses watched in horror as twenty-three-year-old Charles Vansant was attacked and killed by a shark in shallow water at Beach Haven, New Jersey--the first recorded shark attack in American history. Scientists claimed a shark could not be responsible, but more deadly attacks soon followed along the Jersey Shore and up the freshwater Matawan Creek, setting off a nationwide panic that led the White House to declare a war on sharks.
An exciting first guide to the magnificent world of horses. Learn all about horses, from how to care for them to how to ride one, in this informative children's guide to horse and pony care. Covering favorite breeds, from Shire horses to Shetland ponies, what kit to use, and equestrian sports, this visual book is something that every young horse enthusiast aged 5-7 will want to own. Eye-catching images are featured alongside friendly illustrations, giving children plenty to take in and enjoy. This informative horse book for children offers clear and accessible text on horse care and characteristics using annotations, friendly language, and a clear structure. Fact files on more than 20 breeds, with top-trump style comparisons and digestible information. An introduction to new and interesting information in this successful series for young learners.
An interactive introduction to musical instruments with 50 original compositions to listen to--from the kazoo to the bassoon.
Loaded with superb color photographs of Viking ships and swords, clothes and shields, memorial stones and beautiful brooches, this revised and updated edition of Eyewitness: Viking offers a unique view into the lives of the Norse people and their outstanding achievements.
New Middle Reader Books
(Grades 3-6)