Welcome to May! This month is historically quite good for new book releases, as you will see with today’s Spotlight! This Spotlight could have been double the size if I had added every book I wanted to add. The books that made it have a wide variety of genres, protagonists, and interesting storylines!
YA and picture books look best to me this week. My top picks are:
- The Isles of the Gods by Amie Kaufman (YA)
- Four Eyes by Rex Ogle (MG)
- Big by Vashti Harrison (picture book)
This week’s Spotlight titles are #3266-#3284 on The Ginormous book list.
My second-ever “Spotlight of the Spotlight” video! This is where I say a bit more about the books I’m most excited about from this week’s New Release Spotlight:
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*Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli
Imogen Scott may be hopelessly heterosexual, but she’s got the World’s Greatest Ally title locked down.
She’s never missed a Pride Alliance meeting. She knows more about queer media discourse than her very queer little sister. She even has two queer best friends. There’s Gretchen, a fellow high school senior, who helps keep Imogen’s biases in check. And then there’s Lili–newly out and newly thriving with a cool new squad of queer college friends.
Imogen’s thrilled for Lili. Any ally would be. And now that she’s finally visiting Lili on campus, she’s bringing her ally A game. Any support Lili needs, Imogen’s all in.
Even if that means bending the truth, just a little.
Like when Lili drops a tiny queer bombshell: she’s told all her college friends that Imogen and Lili used to date. And none of them know that Imogen is a raging hetero–not even Lili’s best friend, Tessa.
Of course, the more time Imogen spends with chaotic, freckle-faced Tessa, the more she starts to wonder if her truth was ever all that straight to begin with…
THREE starred reviews!
- Genre(s): realistic fiction, rom-com
- Setting: spring break at a college campus
- Recommended for: Grades 9-12
- Themes: LGBT+, activism, coming out, sisters, friendship, sexual identity
- Protagonist description: female, bisexual, white, HS senior
*Where You See Yourself by Claire Forrest
Debut author! By the time Effie Galanos starts her senior year, it feels like she’s already been thinking about college applications for an eternity–after all, finding a college that will be the perfect fit and be accessible enough for Effie to navigate in her wheelchair presents a ton of considerations that her friends don’t have to worry about.
What Effie hasn’t told anyone is that she already knows exactly what school she has her heart set on: a college in NYC with a major in Mass Media & Society that will set her up perfectly for her dream job in digital media. She’s never been to New York, but paging through the brochure, she can picture the person she’ll be there, far from the Minneapolis neighborhood where she’s lived her entire life. When she finds out that Wilder (her longtime crush) is applying there too, it seems like one more sign from the universe that it’s the right place for her.
But it turns out that the universe is full of surprises. As Effie navigates her way through a year of admissions visits, senior class traditions, internal and external ableism, and a lot of firsts–and lasts–she starts to learn that sometimes growing up means being open to a world of possibilities you never even dreamed of. And maybe being more than just friends with Wilder is one of those dreams…
Kirkus and Publishers Weekly starred.
- Genre(s): realistic fiction, rom-com
- Setting: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- Recommended for: Grades 7+
- Themes: wheelchair-bound protagonist, college applications, ableism, disabilities, non-compliance with ADA accessability laws, advocating for oneself, disability advocacy, friendship, identity, community
- Protagonist description: female, HS senior, white, has cerebral palsy, wheelchair-bound
*Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley
Perry Firekeeper-Birch has always known who she is – the laidback twin, the troublemaker, the best fisher on Sugar Island. Her aspirations won’t ever take her far from home, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. But as the rising number of missing Indigenous women starts circling closer to home, as her family becomes embroiled in a high-profile murder investigation, and as greedy grave robbers seek to profit off of what belongs to her Anishinaabe tribe, Perry begins to question everything.
In order to reclaim this inheritance for her people, Perry has no choice but to take matters into her own hands. She can only count on her friends and allies, including her overachieving twin and a charming new boy in town with unwavering morals. Old rivalries, sister secrets, and botched heists cannot – will not – stop her from uncovering the mystery before the ancestors and missing women are lost forever.
THREE starred reviews!
- Genre(s): mystery, thriller
- Setting: Sugar Island, Michigan, USA
- Recommended for: Grades 9-12
- Themes: twins, sisters, summer internships, indigenous peoples, murder, justice, heists, sexual assault, colorism, U.S. repatriation laws, teens with job
- Protagonist description: female twins, age 16, Black and Anishinaabe
Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa
The Santos Vista neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas, is all Ander Martínez has ever known. The smell of pan dulce. The mixture of Spanish and English filling the streets. And, especially their job at their family’s taquería. It’s the place that has inspired Ander as a muralist, and, as they get ready to leave for art school, it’s all of these things that give them hesitancy. That give them the thought, are they ready to leave it all behind?
To keep Ander from becoming complacent during their gap year, their family “fires” them so they can transition from restaurant life to focusing on their murals and prepare for college. That is, until they meet Santiago López Alvarado, the hot new waiter. Falling for each other becomes as natural as breathing. Through Santi’s eyes, Ander starts to understand who they are and want to be as an artist, and Ander becomes Santi’s first steps toward making Santos Vista and the United States feel like home.
Until ICE agents come for Santi, and Ander realizes how fragile that sense of home is. How love can only hold on so long when the whole world is against them. And when, eventually, the world starts to win.
Booklist starred.
- Genre(s): realistic fiction
- Setting: San Antonio, Texas
- Recommended for: Grades 9-12
- Themes: teens with jobs, taking a gap year, preparing for college, family businesses, working in a restaurant, US immigration enforcement (ICE), undocumented immigrants, artists, LGBT+, mural art, coming-of-age
- Protagonist description: Ander is nonbinary (they/them), age 19, Mexican American, gay
The Isles of the Gods by Amie Kaufman
Selly has salt water in her veins. So when her father leaves her high and dry in the port of Kirkpool, she has no intention of riding out the winter at home while he sails off to adventure.
But any plans to follow him are dashed when a handsome stranger with tell-tale magician’s marks on his arm commandeers her ship. He is Prince Leander of Alinor, and he needs to cross the Crescent Sea without detection so he can complete a ritual on the sacred Isles of the Gods.
Selly has no desire to escort a spoiled prince anywhere, and no time for his entitled demands or his good looks. But what starts as a leisure cruise will lead to acts of treason and sheer terror on the high seas, bringing two countries to the brink of war, two strangers closer than they ever thought possible and stirring two dangerous gods from centuries of slumber…
Publishers Weekly starred.
- Genre(s): fantasy, adventure, mythology, romance
- Setting: high seas
- Recommended for: Grades 7-12
- Themes: seafaring, living on a ship, gods, war, princes, secrets, worldbuilding, lots of action
- Protagonist description: teen female; diverse characters; includes LGBT+ representation
Liar’s Beach by Katie Cotugno
Michael Linden–or just Linden to his preppy boarding school pals–doesn’t belong in wealthy, storied Martha’s Vineyard. But when his roommate Jasper invites him to spend the end of summer at his massive beachfront home, August House, Linden tries his best to fit in. Linden wouldn’t call it lying, exactly. Though it turns out August House is full of liars.
Then someone is found unconscious in Jasper’s pool, and everyone has something to hide–Jasper, his beautiful sister Eliza, their older brother Wells, and their friends. The accident is written off as just that–an accident–but Linden begins to wonder…
Enter: Holiday Proctor. Linden’s childhood friend, and the one person on the island who knows the truth about Linden. There’s nothing Holiday loves more than a good old-fashioned mystery and she’s convinced there’s a potential killer on the Vineyard. The only question is…who?
Booklist starred.
- Genre(s): mystery
- Setting: Martha’s Vineyard, summer
- Recommended for: Grades 7-12
- Themes: boarding school, wealth and privilege, murder, detectives, friendship
- Protagonist description: male, white
*America Redux: Visual Stories from Our Dynamic History by Ariel Aberg-Riger
America Redux explores the themes that create our shared sense of American identity and interrogates the myths we’ve been telling ourselves for centuries.
With iconic American catchphrases as chapter titles, these twenty-one visual stories illuminate the astonishing, unexpected, sometimes darker sides of history that reverberate in our society to this very day–from the role of celebrity in immigration policy to the influence of one small group of white women on education to the effects of “progress” on housing and the environment, to the inspiring force of collective action and mutual aid across decades and among diverse groups.
Fully illustrated with collaged archival photographs, maps, documents, graphic elements, and handwritten text, this book is a dazzling, immersive experience that jumps around in time and will make you view history in a whole different light.
THREE starred reviews! This nonfiction book contains 21 chapters, each about a different issue and/or time period. Highly visual with lots of mixed-media collages.
- Genre(s): nonfiction
- Setting: US, late 1700s-present
- Recommended for: Grades 8-AD
- Themes: social issues, US history, political activism, bullying, immigration, annexation of Hawaii, LGBTQ+, disabilities, incorrect US history, HIV/AIDS
We Don’t Swim Here by Vincent Tirado
Bronwyn is only supposed to be in rural Hillwoods for a year. Her grandmother is in hospice, and her father needs to get her affairs in order. And they’re all meant to make some final memories together.
Except Bronwyn is miserable. Her grandmother is dying, everyone is standoffish, and she can’t even go swimming. All she hears are warnings about going in the water, despite a gorgeous lake. And a pool at the abandoned rec center. And another in the high school basement.
Anais tries her hardest to protect Bronwyn from the shadows of Hillwoods. She follows her own rituals to avoid any unnecessary attention–and if she can just get Bronwyn to stop asking questions, she can protect her too. The less Bronwyn pays attention to Hillwoods, the less Hillwoods will pay attention to Bronwyn.
She doesn’t get that the lore is, well, truth. History. Pain. The living aren’t the only ones who seek retribution when they’re wronged. But when Bronwyn does more exploring than she should, they are both in for danger they couldn’t expect.
- Genre(s): paranormal, thriller, horror
- Setting: Arkansas, USA; rural area with a lake
- Recommended for: Grades 7+
- Themes: grandmothers, local ghost stories, cousins, swimming, prejudice, systemic racism, local history
- Protagonist description: female, HS junior, Black
*Ellie Engle Saves Herself by Leah Johnson
Ellie Engle doesn’t stand out. Not at home, where she’s alone with her pet fish since her dad moved away and her mom has to work around the clock . Not at the bakery, where she helps out old Mr. Walker on the weekends. And definitely not at school, where her best friend Abby–the coolest, boldest, most talented girl in the world–drags Ellie along on her never-ending quest to “make her mark.”
To someone else, a life in the shadows might seem boring, or lonely. But not to Ellie. As long as she has Abby by her side and a comic book in her hand, she’s quite content.
Too bad life didn’t bother checking in with Ellie. Because when a freak earthquake hits her small town, Ellie wakes up with the power to bring anything back to life with just her touch. And when a video of her using her powers suddenly goes viral, Ellie’s life goes somewhere she never imagined–or wanted: straight into the spotlight.
Surviving middle school is hard enough. Surviving middle school when paparazzi are camped out on your front lawn and an international pop singer wants you to use your powers on live tv and you might be in love with your best friend but she doesn’t know it? Absolutely impossible.
THREE starred reviews!
- Genre(s): supernatural, magical realism
- Recommended for: Grades 3-8
- Themes: parental separation, abandonment by a parent (father), single parents, mother who works all the time, earthquakes, supernatural abilities, friendship, going viral, paparazzi, LGBT+, reading comic books
- Protagonist description: female, age 12, 7th grader, Black, queer
*The Firefly Summer by Morgan Matson
For as long as Ryanna Stuart can remember, her summers have been spent with her father and his new wife. Just the three of them, structured, planned, and quiet. But this summer is different. This summer, she’s received a letter from her grandparents–grandparents neither she nor her dad have spoken to since her mom’s death–inviting her to stay with them at an old summer camp in the Poconos.
Ryanna accepts. She wants to learn about her mom. She wants to uncover the mystery of why her father hasn’t spoken to her grandparents all these years. She’s even looking forward to a quiet summer by the lake. But what she finds are relatives…so many relatives! Aunts and uncles and cousins upon cousins–a motley, rambunctious crew of kids and eccentric, unconventional adults. People who have memories of her mom from when she was Ryanna’s age, clues to her past like a treasure map. Ryanna even finds an actual, real-life treasure map!
Over the course of one unforgettable summer–filled with s’mores and swimming, adventure and fun, and even a decades-old mystery to solve–Ryanna discovers a whole new side of herself and that, sometimes, the last place you expected to be is the place where you really belong.
Kirkus and Publishers Weekly starred.
- Genre(s): realistic fiction
- Setting: summer; Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania, USA
- Recommended for: Grades 3-7
- Themes: grandparents, death of a parent (mother), estranged family, stepfamilies, large extended family, summer
- Protagonist description: female, age 11, white
The Storyteller by Brandon Hobson
Ziggy has ANXIETY. Partly this is because of the way his mind works, and how overwhelmed he can get when other people (especially his classmate Alice) are in the room. And partly it’s because his mother disappeared when he was very young, making her one of many Native women who’ve gone mysteriously missing. Ziggy and his sister, Moon, want answers, but nobody around can give them.
Once Ziggy gets it in his head that clues to his mother’s disappearance may be found in a nearby cave, there’s no stopping him from going there. Along with Moon, Alice, and his best friend, Corso, he sets out on a mind-bending adventure where he’ll discover his story is tied to all the stories of the Cherokees that have come before him.
Ziggy might not have any control over the past–but if he learns the lessons of the storytellers, he might be able to better shape his future and find the friends he needs.
Kirkus starred.
- Genre(s): mystery, adventure, supernatural
- Setting: small town in New Mexico, USA
- Recommended for: Grades 4-7
- Themes: anxiety, missing indigenous women, magic, siblings, missing mother, grandmothers, storytelling, talking animals, tricksters
- Protagonist description: male, 6th grader, age 11, Native American, Cherokee
A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner
Will is the only round kid in a school full of string beans. So he hides…in baggy jeans and oversized hoodies, in the back row during class, and anywhere but the cafeteria during lunch. But shame isn’t the only feeling that dominates Will’s life. He’s also got a crush on a girl named Jules who knows he doesn’t have a chance with–string beans only date string beans–but he can’t help wondering what if?
Will’s best shot at attracting Jules’s attention is by slaying the Will Monster inside him by changing his eating habits and getting more exercise. But the results are either frustratingly slow or infuriatingly unsuccessful, and Will’s shame begins to morph into self-loathing.
As he resorts to increasingly drastic measures to transform his appearance, Will meets skateboarder Markus, who helps him see his body and all it contains as an ever-evolving work in progress.
Publishers Weekly starred. Illustrated with black and white sketches. Black scribble balls represent Will’s anxiety and fears.
- Genre(s): realistic fiction, novel in verse
- Recommended for: Grades 3-7
- Themes: bullying, weight issues, hiding, body image, self-confidence, eating disorders, diary format, self-acceptance, anxiety, fear, shame
- Protagonist description: male, 4th grade and 7th grade, overweight, skin tone is the white of the page
Four Eyes by Rex Ogle (Author) and Dave Valeza (Illustrator)
Sixth grade isn’t as great as Rex thought it would be. He’s the only kid who hasn’t had a growth spurt, and the bullies won’t let him forget it. His closest friend is unreliable, at best. And there’s a cute girl in his class, who may or may not like him back.
With so much going on, everything is a blur–including Rex’s vision! So when he discovers that he needs glasses, and his family can only afford the ugliest pair in the store, any hope Rex had of fitting in goes completely out of focus.
In this true coming-of-age story, Rex has his sights set on surviving sixth grade, but now he’s got to find a way to do it with glasses, no friends, and a family that just doesn’t get it!
- Genre(s): graphic memoir, humor
- Setting: middle school; Texas, USA
- Recommended for: Grades 3-7
- Themes: getting glasses, vision problems, middle school, family problems, poverty, bullying, grandmothers, loneliness
- Protagonist description: male, 6th grade, Mexican American
*The Book of Turtles by Sy Montgomery (Author) and Matt Patterson (Illustrator)
Everyone loves turtles. And no wonder: long-lived, unhurried, and ancient, these shelled reptiles are fascinating.
Turtles are also endlessly surprising. There are turtles with soft shells, turtles with googly eyes, turtles with necks longer than their bodies, and turtles whose shells glow in the dark!
And each turtle, of each of the more than 300 kinds, is an individual. You’ll meet some of them here: Lonesome George, the last of his kind on Earth. And Myrtle, the 90-year-old green sea turtle, who has 7,000 followers on Facebook.
What questions might you ask a turtle? You’ll find many of the answers in this gorgeous compendiumand perhaps be inspired to help at a time that these reptiles, who evolved at the same time as the dinosaurs, face the deadliest dangers of their more than 380-million year history.
Kirkus and Booklist starred. Author Sy Montgomery is a Sibert Award Winner (informational books).
- Genre(s): nonfiction picture book, fact book
- Setting: worldwide
- Recommended for: Grades K-4
- Themes: turtles, wildlife, conservation, animal species, Lonesome George, sea turtles, tortoises, endangered animals
*Big by Vashti Harrison
Praised for acting like a big girl when she is small, as a young girl grows, ‘big’ becomes a word of criticism, until the girl realizes that she is fine just the way she is.
With spare text and exquisite illustrations, this emotional exploration of being big in a world that prizes small is a tender portrayal of how you can stand out and feel invisible at the same time.
THREE starred reviews!
- Genre(s): picture book
- Setting: takes place over the course of a young girl’s life, from babyhood to elementary school
- Recommended for: PreS-Grade 3
- Themes: criticism, harsh words, body image, bullying, being invisible, self-acceptance, anti-fat bias, fat shaming, social-emotional learning
- Protagonist description: young girl, Black
Becoming Charley by Kelly DiPucchio (Author) and Loveis Wise (Illustrator)
Everyone is trying to teach Charley the right way to become a butterfly: Eat your milkweed! Think black! Think orange!
But Charley’s busy admiring the many beautiful things in the world. Like the swaying trees, and the tall mountains, and the turquoise sea. Is there really a “right” way for Charley to become a butterfly?
Young readers will see themselves in Charley–a little caterpillar with an emerging identity–in this dazzling picture book that beautifully explores the nature of self-love.
Kirkus starred.
- Genre(s): picture book
- Recommended for: PreS-Grade 2
- Themes: caterpillars, butterflies, growing up, self-love, conformity, marching to one’s own beat, individuality
- Protagonist description: young monarch caterpillar
Harmony & Echo: The Mermaid Ballet by Brigette Barrager
Harmony is chill. She is carefree and fun and loves to stop and smell the sea flowers. Echo is a worrier. She can always find something to fuss about. As her best friend, Harmony is determined for Echo to enjoy their debut performance in the Mermaid Ballet.
In a magical water world, the two mermaids practice their steps again and again. They dive through the water like seals, spin in circles like minnows, slither like eels, and more. But Echo is still worried that she’ll forget everything as soon as she faces the audience.
So Harmony decides that they should share a secret hand squeeze, one that tells Echo You are fine, you are okay, I’m right next to you. At the crucial moment when Echo is about to stumble, will their plan work so she gets all the moves correct?
- Genre(s): picture book
- Setting: ocean
- Recommended for: PreS-Grade 3
- Themes: mermaids, best friends, anxiety, worrying, dancing, performing, stage fright, compassion, supporting a friend
- Protagonist description: two mermaid friends; one light-haired with tan skin, one dark-haired with brown skin
Night Market Rescue by Charlotte Cheng (Author) and Amber Ren (Illustrator)
While resting on a stoop, Gogo smells something sweet and spicy on the breeze. It leads him to a place he’s never been–a bustling night market where vendors sell delicious treats.
As he wanders, sniffing for scraps, GoGo discovers something else as well: a little girl who has gotten separated from her parents. He knows he can help and guides her through the market…to where her worried parents wait for her–with open arms for their daughter and GoGo, their new pet!
- Genre(s): picture book
- Setting: Taipei night market, Taiwan, Asia
- Recommended for: PreS-Grade 2
- Themes: stray dogs, night markets, families, getting lost, helping others, adopting stray dog
- Protagonist description: stray dog and a young Taiwanese girl
The High Line: A Park to Look Up To by Victoria Tentler-Krylov
Imagine a very different New York City–one whose streets are filled with horses and buggies and people on foot. Now imagine the block-long freight trains that shared the same roads delivering goods to the westside factories. How did New York solve the problem of trains barreling through busy city streets? They built a train track above all the hustle and bustle, and the High Line was born.
Once trains were no longer needed to transport goods, the High Line sat abandoned, ready for demolition. But the City had other ideas. The High Line opened as a 1.45-mile-long park in 2009. It quickly became an iconic, must-see attraction and a marvel of landscape architecture, admired worldwide for its history, beauty, and creative union of urban design with greenspace. As the High Line became a global inspiration, longtime residents of the neighborhood surrounding it also advocated to keep the park feeling like home.
Packed with facts and gorgeously illustrated, The High Line: A Park to Look Up To is the story of an innovative idea and the people who made it possible–from the ingenuity of those who first built it for the needs of industry, to those who reimagined it as a community space for art, recreation, and the preservation of nature.
- Genre(s): picture book
- Setting: High Line Park, New York City, New York, USA; 2009
- Recommended for: PreS-Grade 5
- Themes: architecture, parks, urban renewal, gentrification, trains
- Protagonist description: diverse crowds of people
THIS WEEK’S SEQUELS (YA):
THIS WEEK’S SEQUELS (MIDDLE GRADES):
THIS WEEK’S SEQUELS & FAVORITE CHARACTERS (ELEMENTARY):
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.