New Release Spotlight – Week of February 27, 2024

We’ve got another somewhat shorter list this week, so I’ve combined it all into one list of 10. YA books are first, then middle grades, then picture books.

Once again, YA looks best to me this week.

My top picks:

• Snowglobe by Soyoung Park (YA)
• Max in the House of Spies by Adam Gidwitz (MG)
• The Gabi That Girma Wore by Fasika Adefris and Sara Holly Ackerman (PB)

Links to the Google Slides presentation, printable list, Ginormous Book List, and the Middle Grade and Picture Book Spotlights for this week are all at the bottom of this post.

 

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Enclosed under a vast dome, Snowglobe is the last place on Earth that’s warm. Outside Snowglobe is a frozen wasteland, and every day, citizens face the icy world to get to their jobs at the power plant, where they produce the energy Snowglobe needs. Their only solace comes in the form of twenty-four-hour television programming streamed directly from the domed city.

The residents of Snowglobe have everything: fame, fortune, and above all, safety from the desolation outside their walls. In exchange, their lives are broadcast to the less fortunate outside, who watch eagerly, hoping for the chance to one day become actors themselves.

Chobahm lives for the time she spends watching the shows produced inside Snowglobe. Her favorite? Goh Around, starring Goh Haeri, Snowglobe’s biggest star—and, it turns out, the key to getting Chobahm her dream life.

Because Haeri is dead, and Chobahm has been chosen to take her place. Only, life inside Snowglobe is nothing like what you see on television. Reality is a lie, and truth seems to be forever out of reach.

Translated for the first time into English from the original Korean, Snowglobe is a groundbreaking exploration of personal identity, and the future of the world as we know it. It is the winner of the Changbi X Kakaopage Young Adult Novel Award.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Once, the war was fought with kindlings—elite, magic-wielding warriors whose devastating power comes at the cost of their own young lives.

Now the war is over, and kindlings have been cast adrift—their magic outlawed, their skills outdated, their formidable balar weapons prized only as relics and souvenirs.

Violence still plagues the countryside, and memories haunt those who remain. 

When a village comes under threat of siege, it offers an opportunity for seven kindlings to fight one last time. 

But war changed these warriors. And to reclaim who they once were, they will have to battle their pasts, their trauma, and their grim fates to come together again—or none of them will make it out alive.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Rosy is a bone familiar, gifted with the power to shift into animals marked with exposed bone.

She spends most of her days in the magical Bone Forest, caring for her feral grandmother and hiding her powers to avoid conscription by the Witch King’s army.

Until the day that Princess Shaw, a witch known as Death’s Heir, visits the Forest. When Rosy saves Shaw’s life, the princess offers her the chance to attend the prestigious school, Witch Hall, as payment.

Though Rosy is wary of Shaw’s intentions, she cannot pass up the opportunity to find the cure for her grandmother’s affliction.

But at Witch Hall, Rosy finds herself embroiled in political games she doesn’t understand. Shaw wants Rosy for her entourage, a partner to help lead the coming war.

All Rosy wants is to stay out of trouble until she can graduate and save her grandmother, but she can’t deny her attraction to Shaw or the comfort Shaw’s magic gives her. Will Rosy give in to her destiny, or will the Bone Forest call her home once and for all?

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

On the remote isle of Rosevear, Mira, like her mother before her, is a wrecker, one of the seven on the rope who swim out to shipwrecks to plunder them.

Mira’s job is to rescue survivors, if there are any. After all, she never feels the cold of the frigid ocean waters and the waves seem to sing to her soul.

But the people of Rosevear never admit the truth: that they set the beacons themselves to lure ships into the rocks.

When the Council watch lays a trap to put an end to the wrecking, they arrest Mira’s father. Desperate to save him from the noose, Mira strikes a deal with an enigmatic wreck survivor guarding layers of secrets behind his captivating eyes, and sets off to find something her mother has left her, a family secret buried deep in the sea.

With just nine days to find what she needs to rescue her father, all Mira knows for certain is this: The sea gives. The sea takes. And it’s up to her to do what she must to save the ones she loves.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Liska knows that magic is monstrous, and its practitioners are monsters.

She has done everything possible to suppress her own magic, to disastrous consequences.

Desperate to be free of it, Liska flees her small village and delves into the dangerous, demon-inhabited spirit-wood to steal a mythical fern flower. If she plucks it, she can use its one wish to banish her powers.

Everyone who has sought the fern flower has fallen prey to unknown horrors, so when Liska is caught by the demon warden of the wood—called The Leszy—a bargain seems better than death: one year of servitude in exchange for the fern flower and its wish.

Whisked away to The Leszy’s crumbling manor, Liska soon makes an unsettling discovery: she is not the first person to strike this bargain, and all her predecessors have mysteriously vanished. If Liska wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her taciturn host’s spool of secrets and face the ghosts—figurative and literal—of his past.

Because something wakes in the woods, something deadly and without mercy. It frightens even The Leszy…and cannot be defeated unless Liska embraces the monster she’s always feared becoming.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Lyla is thrilled when her seventh-grade English language arts class begins a daily creative writing project.

For the past year, she’s been writing a brilliant fantasy novel in her head, and here’s her chance to get it on paper! The plot to Lyla’s novel is super complicated, with battle scenes and witches and a mysterious one-toed-beast, but at its core, it’s about an overlooked girl who has to rescue her beautiful, highly accomplished older sister.

But writing a fantasy novel turns out to be harder than simply imagining one, and pretty soon Lyla finds herself stuck, experiencing a panic she realizes is writer’s block. Part of the problem is that she’s trying to impress certain people—like Rania, her best friend who’s pulling away, and Ms. Bowman, the coolest teacher at school.

Plus, there’s the pressure of meeting the deadline for the town writing contest. A few years ago, Lyla’s superstar teen sister Dahlia came in second, and this time, Lyla is determined to win first prize.

Finally, Lyla confides about her writing problems to Dahlia, who is dealing with her own academic stress as she applies to college. That’s when she learns Dahlia’s secret, which is causing a very different type of writer’s block. Can Lyla rescue a surprisingly vulnerable big sister, both on the page and in real life?

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Max Bretzfeld doesn’t want to move to London.

Leaving home is hard and Max is alone for the first time in his life. But not for long. Max is surprised to discover that he’s been joined by two unexpected traveling companions, one on each shoulder, a kobold and a dybbuk named Berg and Stein.

Germany is becoming more and more dangerous for Jewish families, but Max is determined to find a way back home, and back to his parents. He has a plan to return to Berlin. It merely involves accomplishing the impossible: becoming a British spy.

The first book in a duology, Max in the House of Spies is a thought-provoking World War II story as only acclaimed storyteller Adam Gidwitz can tell it—fast-paced and hilarious, with a dash of magic and a lot of heart.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Written in the cadence of The House That Jack Built, this vibrant and lushly illustrated tale pays tribute to the Gabi— a traditional Ethiopian cloth that is used to celebrate both community and culture.

From the tiny seed to the fluffy white cotton, from the steady hands of the farmer to the swift fingers of the weaver, from the busy shopkeeper, to a gift for a loved one, follow the journey of the Gabi that Girma wore in this lively and rhythmic tale that’s perfect to read aloud.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

A drum circle is forming on the beach, and one fascinated child would love to join in. Soon there’s everything from a conga’s pat-a-pat-a, pat pat to some bongos’ taka taka, ta ta—and it looks like so much fun! But what do you do when you don’t have a drum? Well, when you let the music move you, you just might find other ways to jam, too!

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Just what will these two babies do today? Well, this baby meows like his cat, and that baby barks like her dog. This mellow baby listens to a story, and that rambunctious baby sings a song.

Soon enough, both babies get hungry…and a bit cranky. How will this Mama and that Papa help them feel better? Perhaps a play date in the park will help!

Critically acclaimed and award-winning creators–author Cari Best and illustrator Rashin Kheiriyeh–team up for this delightful read-aloud that will have listeners clapping and giggling right alongside this baby and that baby.

THE LINKS YOU’LL NEED FOR FEBRUARY

• February 2024 – YA Books – Google Slides presentation – click “use template” to make a copy – share with students and teachers! This presentation is now complete for February 2024. I do not plan to add any additional titles.
• February 2024 – Middle Grade Books – Google Slides presentation – click “use template” to make a copy – share with students and teachers! This presentation is also complete for February 2024.
• February 2024 – Picture Books – Google Slides presentation – click “use template” to make a copy – share with students and teachers! Also complete for February 2024.
• Printable list of all February 2024 Spotlight titles – sorted by genre and grade level group; click “use template” to make a copy
• The Ginormous Book List – this week’s titles are #3883 – #3892 on The Ginormous.

 

LAST WEEK’S NEW RELEASE SPOTLIGHTS

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.

Each week, school librarian Leigh Collazo compiles the New Release Spotlight using a combination of Follett’s Titlewave, Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble. Recommended grade levels represent the range of grade levels recommended by professional book reviewers. See the full selection criteria here.

Inevitably, there are far more books that meet my criteria than can make it on the Spotlight. When I have to make the tough decisions on what to include, I just use my “librarian judgment.” Would I buy this book for my own library? Would my students want to read this book? Is the cover appealing? Does it fill a need?