Welcome to February! This is another great list, especially for picture books!
Unfortunately, I don’t have sequels on the Spotlight this week. There were several sequels, but they were lost to an update error on my site last week. I didn’t realize it until right before the Spotlight publication date.
Sequels aside, here’s what’s great about this week’s Spotlight books:
- West Africa-inspired YA fantasy
- YA fantasy set in the jungles of Jamaica
- middle grade treasure hunt mystery set in creepy old mansion
- a new Rick Riordan Presents title for middle grades
- so many picture books with multiple starred reviews!
- picture book for older readers set in Czechoslovakia in the late-1930s
- Popular authors include: Mike Thayer, Alan Gratz, Stacey Lee, Grace Lin, Marla Frazee
This week’s Spotlight titles are #3050-#3069 on The Ginormous book list.
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Daughters of Oduma by Moses Ose Utomi
Debut author!
Eat. Dance. Fight. This is the life of the girls who compete in the Isle’s elite, all-female fighting sport of Bowing. But it isn’t really Dirt’s life anymore. At sixteen, she is old and has retired from competition. Instead, she spends her days coaching the younger sisters of the Mud Fam and dreading her fast-approaching birthday, when she’ll have to leave her sisters to fulfill whatever destiny the Gods choose for her.
Dirt’s young sisters are coming along nicely, and the Mud Fam is sure to win the upcoming South God Bow tournament, which is crucial: the tiny Fam needs the new recruits that come with victory. Then an attack from a powerful rival leaves the Mud without their top Bower, and Dirt is the only one who can compete in the tournament. But Dirt is old, out of shape, and afraid. She has never wanted to be a leader. Victory seems impossible–yet defeat would mean the end of her beloved Fam. And no way is Dirt going to let that happen.
Publishers Weekly starred.
- Genre(s): fantasy
- Setting: West African–inspired world
- Recommended for: Grades 7-12
- Themes: martial arts, competition, dancing, family, worldbuilding, pidgin, community
- Protagonist description: female, age 16, Black
Mindwalker by Kate Dylan
Eighteen-year-old Sil Sarrah is determined to die a legend. But with only twelve months left before the supercomputer grafted to her brain kills her, Sil’s time is quickly running out.
In the ten years she’s been rescuing field agents for the Syntex corporation – by commandeering their minds from afar and leading them to safety – Sil hasn’t lost a single life. And she’s not about to start now.
But when a critical mission goes south, Sil is forced to flee the very company she once called home.
Desperate to prove she’s no traitor, Sil infiltrates the Analog Army, an activist faction working to bring Syntex down. Her plan: to win back her employer’s trust by destroying the group from within. Instead, she and the Army’s reckless leader, Ryder, uncover a horrifying truth that threatens to undo all the good she’s ever done.
With her tech rapidly degrading and her new ally keeping dangerous secrets of his own, Sil must find a way to stop Syntex in order to save her friends, her reputation – and maybe even herself.
Kirkus starred.
- Genre(s): science fiction, dystopia, adventure, cyberpunk, thriller
- Setting: corporate-run dystopian world
- Recommended for: Grades 9-12
- Themes: evil corporations, teens with jobs, technology, brainwashing, cyborgs, enemies-to-lovers
- Protagonist description: female, age 18, cyborg
This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang
Eliza made her essay up. She’s never been in a relationship before, let alone in love. All good writing is lying, right?
Desperate to hide the truth, Eliza strikes a deal with the famous actor in her class, the charming but aloof Caz Song. She’ll help him write his college applications if he poses as her boyfriend. Caz is a dream boyfriend–he passes handwritten notes to her in class, makes her little sister laugh, and takes her out on motorcycle rides to the best snack stalls around the city.
But when her relationship with Caz starts feeling a little too convincing, all of Eliza’s carefully laid plans are threatened. Can she still follow her dreams if it means breaking her own heart?
Publishers Weekly starred.
- Genre(s): romance
- Setting: Beijing, China
- Recommended for: Grades 7-12
- Themes: going viral, international schools, student internships, writing, journalism, secrets and lies, fake dating
- Protagonist description: female, age 17, Chinese
Wildblood by Lauren Blackwood
Eighteen-year-old Victoria is a Wildblood. Since she was kidnapped at the age of six and manipulated by the Exotic Lands Touring Company, she’s worked as a tour guide ever since with a team of fellow Wildbloods who take turns using their magic to protect travelers in a Jamaican jungle teeming with ghostly monsters.
When the boss denies Victoria an earned promotion to team leader in favor of Dean, her backstabbing ex, she’s determined to prove herself. Her magic may be the most powerful on the team, but she’s not the image the boss wants to send their new client, Thorn, a renowned goldminer determined to reach an untouched gold supply deep in the jungle.
Thorn is everything Victoria isn’t–confident, impossibly kind, and so handsome he leaves her speechless. And when he entrusts the mission to her, kindness turns to mutual respect, turns to affection, turns to love. But the jungle is treacherous, and between hypnotic river spirits, soul-devouring women that shed their skin like snakes, and her ex out for revenge, Victoria has to decide – is promotion at a corrupt company really what she wants?
- Genre(s): fantasy
- Setting: Jamaican jungle
- Recommended for: Grades 8-12
- Themes: magic, monsters, ghosts, teens with jobs, kidnapped children, colonialism, slavery
- Protagonist description: female, age 18, Black
This One’s for You by Kate Sweeney
After their high school graduation, former best friends Cass and Syd are gearing up for their futures. Cass has planned to go to college to become an engineer, while Syd–despite the fact that her family thinks she’s messed up her whole life–has lined up a sound internship at a historic music venue.
But Cass is keeping secrets. Though his dad has forbidden it, Cass has been playing music, taking trips to San Francisco BART stations to play and make money. Somehow, it’s become a way for Cass to connect with his mother–who was also a musician–who died in a drunk driving accident on the way back from a gig when he was one.
But after Syd catches Cass playing at the BART station, and Cass finds out his mom’s old band the Darlas is going on a reunion tour, everything changes. On impulse, Cass invites Syd to the first Darlas show, and without telling anyone, they make a break for it. Turning one show into a cross-country journey, the two former friends throw away all their plans for the future and embark on a life-altering road trip following the tour, keeping it a secret from their friends and family.
Along the way, they’ll untangle the messy threads of how they became “ex”-best friends, experience the power of nature and music, and decide what they really want their lives to be. Maybe, through it all, Cass and Syd can find a way back to each other, too.
Booklist starred.
- Genre(s): realistic fiction, romance, coming of age
- Setting: cross-country road trip to California
- Recommended for: Grades 7-12
- Themes: secrets, musicians, busking, fatal drunk driving accidents, road trips, friendship, former friends reconnecting, grief, mental health
- Protagonist description: male and female, both post-HS graduation, both white
NerdCrush by Alisha Emrich
Debut author! Ramona Lambert is a typical shy, artistic sixteen-year-old. She has a best friend whom she’s known since they were in diapers; parents who love her; a love for cosplay; and a crush on the cute boy in her class.
The only problem? Her best friend moved away; her parents don’t quite understand her love of cosplay; and she is pretty sure her crush has no idea she exists.
To escape her troubles, Ramona turns to cosplay and her original character, Rel, who gives her the confidence and freedom that she lacks in real life. Embracing this confidence, she decides to strike up an email conversation with her crush, Caleb Wolfe, from her cosplay account in the hopes getting to know him…and maybe win his heart.
Then as Caleb and Ramona are swept up in their emails back and forth to each other, and Ramona falls even harder as he opens up about his hopes, insecurities, and his own geeky loves. However, as Caleb starts to grow closer and closer to Rel, he also strikes up a friendship with Ramona, who knows she can’t keep the truth about Rel from Caleb but isn’t sure she is ready to risk losing him.
With an important cosplay convention coming up and the anxiety of her double-life weighing on her, Ramona has to decide if she’ll hide behind her cosplay character forever or take the chance and let Caleb see the real her–because he might actually like her for who she is.
- Genre(s): romance
- Recommended for: Grades 7-12
- Themes: cosplay, friendship, best friend moving away, nerd culture, secrets, double lives, interracial relationship
- Protagonist description: female, age 16, Black, HS junior; male love interest is white
*The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln
On the day they are born, every Swift child is brought before the sacred Family Dictionary. They are given a name, and a definition. A definition it is assumed they will grow up to match.
Meet Shenanigan Swift: Little sister. Risk-taker. Mischief-maker.
Shenanigan is getting ready for the big Swift Family Reunion and plotting her next great scheme: hunting for Grand-Uncle Vile’s long-lost treasure. She’s excited to finally meet her arriving relatives–until one of them gives Arch-Aunt Schadenfreude a deadly shove down the stairs.
So what if everyone thinks she’ll never be more than a troublemaker, just because of her name? Shenanigan knows she can become whatever she wants, even a detective. And she’s determined to follow the twisty clues and catch the killer.
THREE starred reviews!
- Genre(s): mystery, humor
- Setting: ramshackle family manor house in the country
- Recommended for: Grades 5-8
- Themes: family, treasure hunts, murder, detectives, manor houses, hidden rooms, wordplay, eccentric characters, family reunions
- Protagonist description: female, age 13; family members have varying skin tones
*The Talent Thief by Mike Thayer
Tiffany Tudwell is cursed. She once tripped over a backpack and fell face-first into a trashcan. She had pink eye on picture day. One time she tried to hold back a sneeze and farted on the cutest boy in class. She longs for the spotlight, but it’s safer to stay hidden in the shadows where the curse can’t reach her and no one can make fun of her.
Until the night two meteors collide over her backyard giving Tiffany the ability to steal people’s talents for a day–like stealing mean girl Candace’s beautiful singing voice in the middle of play rehearsal, or drawing an incredible self-portrait after borrowing the teacher’s pencil. Her power even gets the attention of the most popular boy in school, the smooth-talking Brady Northrup.
But her powers can’t solve everything–or can they? When a local philanthropist announces a fundraiser contest, Tiffany, with Brady’s help, decides to use her powers to save her dad’s failing planetarium. And maybe discover her own talent along the way…
Kirkus and Publishers Weekly starred.
- Genre(s): magical realism, realistic fiction, humor
- Recommended for: Grades 3-7
- Themes: curses, powers, family businesses, talents, cosmic events, ethical dilemmas, bullying, being oneself, friendship, trying to avoid attention, intergenerational friendships
- Protagonist description: female, age 12, white
Captain America: The Ghost Army by Alan Gratz (Author) and Brent Schoonover (Illustrator)
In this thrilling historical adventure set during World War II, Steve Rogers (AKA Captain America) and his young sidekick, Bucky Barnes, encounter threat like none they’ve ever seen–a Ghost Army. The dead of this war and wars past are coming back to life, impervious to bullets, flames, or anything else the Allies can throw at them. The armies rise from the ground in the night and seem to disappear without a trace.
How can Cap and Buck fight something that’s already dead? And just what does the mysterious Baron Mordo–sitting in his castle atop nearby Wundagore Mountain–have to do with this?
Booklist starred.
- Genre(s): historical fiction, graphic novel
- Setting: WWII
- Recommended for: Grades 4-7
- Themes: superheroes, Captain America, WWII, ghosts, military, Marvel Comics, soldiers
- Protagonist description: adult male, white
The Big Sting by Rachelle Delaney
Eleven-year-old Leo is an “armchair adventurer.” This, according to Dad, means he’d choose adventures in books or video games over real-life experiences. And while Leo hates the label, he can’t argue with it. Unlike his little sister Lizzie, Leo is not a risk-taker.
So when he, Lizzie, Mom and Dad leave the city to visit Grandpa on Heron Island, Leo finds all kinds of dangers to avoid — from the deep, dark ocean to an old barn on the verge of collapse. But nothing on the island is more fearsome than Grandpa himself–Leo has never met anyone so grumpy! According to Mom, Grandpa is still grieving the recent death of his wife, a beekeeper beloved by everyone on the island.
Despite Leo’s best efforts to avoid it, adventure finds him anyway when Grandma’s beehives go missing in the dead of night. Infuriated, Grandpa vows to track down the sticky-fingered thieves himself…with risk-averse Leo and danger-loving Lizzie (plus a kitten named Mayhem) in tow.
- Genre(s): mystery, adventure
- Setting: Heron Island, British Columbia, Canada
- Recommended for: Grades 3-7
- Themes: video gaming, taking risks, playing outdoors, unplugged, grandfathers, beekeeping, thieves, theft, detectives
- Protagonist description: boy, age 11, white
Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies by Stacey Lee
Twelve-year-old Winston Chu is supposed to learn impulse control at the cooking academy his mom enrolled him in. But learning to think before he acts won’t happen overnight.
While skateboarding home with a pie in hand, Winston inadvertently stops a robbery at Mr. Pang’s Whimsies, an oddities shop in Chinatown. As a reward, Mr. Pang invites Winston to choose any item in the store. But the strange old man warns Winston to browse carefully, for the first thing Winston touches will be the thing he gets. Before Winston can decide, a magpie flies under a shelf, and he impulsively grabs an old broom to sweep it out.
Mr. Pang hands him the broom, along with a dustpan. “Two for one. Congratulations.”
Deflated, Winston returns home, determined to put the broom incident behind him. Or at least in the closet. But when some of his most beloved possessions go missing, all Winston can think about are the broom and dustpan. Did they somehow take his stuff? And what–or who–will they dispose of next?
It’s time to break into Mr. Pang’s Whimsies, where clearly there’s more going on than meets the far-seeing eyeball. It’s time to fight magic with magic. And this time, Winston better have a plan.
- Genre(s): fantasy
- Setting: Chinatown, San Francisco, California, USA
- Recommended for: Grades 3-7
- Themes: magical objects, brooms, changelings, bad luck, Chinese superstitions, Chinese folklore, grief, previous death of a parent (father)
- Protagonist description: male, age 12, Chinese American
*Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport by Caren Stelson (Author) and Selina Alko (Illustrator)
This story is told from the collective perspective of the children who were rescued from Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II, as Hitler’s campaign of hatred toward Jews and political dissidents took hold.
The narrative starts in 1938 and follows the children as they journey to foster families in England for the duration of the war, return to Prague afterward in an unsuccessful search for their parents, and eventually connect with Nicholas Winton, a British former stockbroker who was instrumental in bringing them to safety. Winton and the Czech Kindertransport ultimately rescued 669 children from Nazi persecution.
THREE starred reviews!
- Genre(s): nonfiction picture book; picture book for older readers
- Setting: Czechoslovakia, late-1930s
- Recommended for: Grades 2-6
- Themes: WWII, Nazi Germany, foster children, world history, anti-Semitism, refugees, war
- Protagonist description: children on the Czech Kindertransport
*Evergreen by Matthew Cordell
Evergreen the squirrel is afraid of many things: thunder, hawks, and the dark paths of Buckthorn Forest. But when her mother tasks Evergreen with delivering soup to her sick Granny Oak, the little squirrel must face her fears and make the journey.
Along the way, Evergreen is met by other forest dwellers–some want to help her, but some want her mother’s delicious soup! It’s up to Evergreen to stay the course, and those who help her will surprise and delight young readers.
FOUR starred reviews!
- Genre(s): early chapter book
- Setting: woodland, forest
- Recommended for: PreS-Grade 3
- Themes: woodland animals (squirrel, rabbit, hawk, toad, bear), fear, grandmothers, helping others
- Protagonist description: young female anthropomorphic squirrel
A Take-Charge Girl Blazes a Trail to Congress by Gretchen Woelfle (Author) and Rebecca Gibbon (Illustrator)
Jeannette Rankin was always a take-charge girl. Whether taking care of horses or her little brothers and sisters, Jeannette knew what to do and got the job done. That’s why, when she saw poor children living in bad conditions in San Francisco, she knew she had to take charge and change things.
But in the early twentieth century, women like Jeannette couldn’t vote to change the laws that failed to protect children. Jeannette became an activist and led the charge, campaigning for women’s right to vote. And when her home state, Montana, gave women that right, Jeannette ran for Congress and became America’s first congressWOMAN!
Booklist starred.
- Genre(s): picture book biography
- Setting: Montana, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and New York City; early 20th Century
- Recommended for: Grades K-5
- Themes: women in politics, Women’s History Month, female firsts, US Congress, activism, women’s suffrage, 19th Amendment
- Protagonist description: female, white, from childhood to adulthood
*Woven of the World by Katey Howes (Author) and Dinara Mirtalipova (Author)
As rhythmic as the swish of a loom, and as vibrant as a skein of brightly dyed wool, this lyrical picture book shares the history and practice of weaving through the centuries and around the world, as imagined by a young weaver learning her craft. Her family’s weaving practice helps her feel connected to the past and hopeful for the future.
It shows her that each of us is a tapestry: a unique, rich, and beautifully interwoven combination of traits and traditions, with a pattern that is still emerging.
At once a celebration of a time-honored art and a meditation on the ways we are interconnected, this artfully woven narrative gathers the threads of weaving as a technical skill, a cultural tradition, and as a metaphor for how our lives are knit together, into a radiantly intertwined whole.
Kirkus and Publishers Weekly starred.
- Genre(s): picture book
- Setting: worldwide–China, Egypt, North Africa, Al-Andalus
- Recommended for: Grades K-4
- Themes: weaving, tradition, culture, arts, tapestries, interconnectedness, onomatopoeia, silk, ancient civilizations, human history
- Protagonist description: child and adult; both have brown skin and blue hair
*The Fire of Stars by Kirsten W. Larson (Author) and Katherine Roy (Illustrator)
Astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Payne was the first person to discover what burns at the heart of stars. But she didn’t start out as the groundbreaking scientist she would eventually become. She started out as a girl full of curiosity, hoping one day to unlock the mysteries of the universe.
With lyrical, evocative text by Kirsten W. Larson and extraordinary illustrations by award-winning illustrator Katherine Roy, this moving biography powerfully parallels the kindling of Cecilia Payne’s own curiosity and her scientific career with the process of a star’s birth, from mere possibility in an expanse of space to an eventual, breathtaking explosion of light.
THREE starred reviews!
- Genre(s): picture book biography
- Setting: England, early 20th Century
- Recommended for: Grades K-4
- Themes: Women’s History Month, female scientists, astronomers, STEM, stars, science history
- Protagonist description: female, white, English
*Stillwater and Koo Save the World by Jon J Muth
Today feels full of opportunities! “What would you like to do?” Stillwater asks Koo.
“Something important! Fix all the things that are wrong! Let us save the world,” says Koo (who always speaks in haiku).
But this is a very big idea for a little panda.
During the course of the day, Koo discovers that it’s the little acts of kindness that all add up to help make the world a better place.
THREE starred reviews! This is a planned 4-book series.
- Genre(s): picture book
- Recommended for: PreS-Grade 2
- Themes: pandas, haiku, poetry, Zen Buddhism, kindness, saving the world, uncles
- Protagonist description: two anthropomorphic pandas, one large and one small
*Once Upon a Book by Grace Lin (Author) and Kate Messner (Author)
Once upon a time, there was a girl. She went to a place alive with colors, where even the morning dew was warm.
Alice loves to imagine herself in the magical pages of her favorite book. So when it flaps its pages and invites her in, she is swept away to a world of wonder and adventure, riding camels in the desert, swimming under the sea with colorful fish, floating in outer space, and more! But when her imaginative journey comes to an end, she yearns for the place she loves best of all.
Paired with vibrant illustrations, this lyrical, expressive story invites the reader to savor each page and indulge in the power of imagination.
THREE starred reviews!
- Genre(s): picture book
- Setting: inside the pages of a book on a cold, wet day
- Recommended for: PreS-Grade 3
- Themes: magic, bookish, reading, imagination, dresses, color
- Protagonist description: young girl, Asian
*In Every Lif by Marla Frazee
In every life, there is love and loss, hope and joy, wonder and mystery. With glowing art and spare, powerful text, Caldecott Honor–winning creator Marla Frazee celebrates the moments, feelings, and experiences, both big and small, that make up a life.
THREE starred reviews! This book is a “call-and-response version of a Jewish baby-naming blessing.”
- Genre(s): picture book
- Recommended for: PreS-Grade 3
- Themes: living life, experiences, joy, sadness, grief, emotions, Jewish traditions, symbolism, details in the illustrations, community, family
- Protagonist description: family
*Finding Papa by Angela Pham Krans (Author) and Thi Bui (Illustrator)
No one can make Mai laugh like her Papa! She loves playing their favorite game—the crocodile chomp chomp! But then Papa leaves Vietnam in search of a new home for their family in America and Mai misses him very much.
Until one day, Mama and Mai pack a small bag and say goodbye to the only home Mai has ever known. And so begins Mai and Mama’s long, perilous journey by foot and by boat, through dangers and darkness, to find Papa.
SLJ and Booklist starred.
- Genre(s): picture book
- Setting: Vietnam
- Recommended for: PreS-Grade 3
- Themes: immigration, refugees, family, fathers and daughters, journeys, based on a true story, family separation
- Protagonist description: Vietnamese family – father, mother, and daughter
ABOUT THE SPOTLIGHT
The New Release Spotlight began in May 2016 as a way to help librarians keep up with the many new children’s and YA books that are released each week. Every Tuesday, school librarian Leigh Collazo compiles the New Release Spotlight using a combination of Follett’s Titlewave, Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble. Titles with a * by them received two or more starred professional reviews. Recommended grade levels represent the range of grade levels recommended by professional book reviewers.