New Release Spotlight – October 2024

It’s October – my favorite month of the year! Here in Mexico, we are looking forward to our next big celebration, Dia de los Muertos! I will post some photos from around town on my Instagram page as soon as I see them going up. Should be soon!

The October Spotlight is rolling along nicely! I am especially digging my new Spotlight format, where I create downloadable Canva presentations instead of full blog posts. Those involved a ton of scrolling, especially on mobile devices. This format also saves me a lot of time, which makes me so happy!

If you are new here, here’s how the Spotlight works: The October Spotlight post will be this same post and URL for the entire month. There will not be a new post each week of October.

The Canva presentations will change each week as I add new titles. You can download the Canva presentations any time using the link beneath each presentation. I will also update the Ginormous Booklist daily with new titles.

As always, if you need help, please feel free to send me an email or DM on Facebook or Instagram. You can also find my contact form at CONTACT tab on any page of this site.

The three Canva presentations are each linked below. Scroll to see the book covers, plot summaries, and my breakdown of themes, grade level, protagonist, starred reviews, setting, etc. The newest titles for each week come first in the presentation.

These are so great to scroll on an infinite loop in the library! Please feel free to share the presentations with your students and faculty.

MY TOP PICKS – YA (Grades 7+)

• Killer House Party by Lily Anderson – Escape room haunted house story – perfect for Halloween!
• Twenty-Four Seconds from Now by Jason Reynolds – YA contemporary romance
• Under the Heron’s Light by Randi Pink – YA magical realism with two timelines, set in 1722 and the present
• Thief of the Heights by Son M. – YA graphic novel dystopia set in a North Africa-like vertical city

MY TOP PICKS – Middle Grades (3-8)

• The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen – A nice blend of science fiction and fantasy! And what a gorgeous cover!
• The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys – new historical fiction set in England in 1940
• Boy vs. Shark by Paul Gilligan – graphic memoir set in 1975 and featuring fear of the Jaws movie at the time (and other more serious themes like bullying and peer pressure)
• The Shape of Lost Things by Sarah Everett – a 6th grader deals with the return of her abducted older brother
• Slouch by Christina Wyman – a very tall middle school girl navigates family financial problems and sexual harassment at school

MY TOP PICKS – Picture Books and Chapter Books

• Mr. Lepron’s Mystery Soup by Giovanna Zoboli – The artwork and story have a classic picture book feel to them.
• Drawn Onward by Daniel Nayeri – Gorgeous artwork, with palindromes
• How to Pee Your Pants by Rachel Michelle Wilson – funny and relatable for many young readers!
• A Map for Falasteen: A Palestinian Child’s Search for Home by Maysa Odeh – a young Palestinian girl wonders why she cannot find Palestine on a map

All titles have been added to The Ginormous Booklist. For this month’s titles see lines #4355 – #4421.

YA BOOKS – GRADES 7+ – OCTOBER 2024

Click here to add the YA presentation about to your Canva account. This will allow you to edit.

MIDDLE GRADES – GRADES 3-8 – OCTOBER 2024 SPOTLIGHT

Click here to add the MG presentation about to your Canva account. This will allow you to edit.

PICTURE BOOKS AND EARLY ELEMENTARY- OCTOBER 2024 SPOTLIGHT

Click here to add the Picture Book presentation about to your Canva account. This will allow you to edit.

PREVIOUS NEW RELEASE SPOTLIGHTS

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?

All the titles on this list have been added to a giant spreadsheet of books. The Ginormous Booklist is an invaluable collection development tool, and it’s 100% FREE! It includes all New Release Spotlight titles and analysis since October 2019. It’s searchable, too! Check it out!