New Release Spotlight: September 30, 2025

Welcome to the last Spotlight of September 2025! Some stats on the September 2025 Spotlight:

• 208 total books made the first cut (have at least one review in Titlewave)

• That does not count the 59 sequels, favorite characters, and graphic novel adaptations, all of which are listed in the September Canva presentations linked below

• Making the final Spotlight: 25 picture books, 21 middle grade titles, 25 YA titles

Of these, I picked LOTS of possible award contenders for 2026! Look in the “Notes” area of each title below for this week’s predictions. For the full month of September, I picked these possible award winners:

• 7 Caldecott
• 2 Newbery
• 3 Sibert
• 6 Printz
• 2 Coretta Scott King Awards

Looking for the Canva presentations for the September 2025 Spotlight? I now send those only to my email list on the last Tuesday of each month. For this month, look for the email on September 30, 2025.

Not on my email list or need the Canva links sent again? Enter your email here, and I will send them to you FREE!

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Did you know President Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralyzing stroke that his wife and doctors concealed for months? Or that Mrs. Wilson took total charge of his presidential duties? Neither did the American public. Did you know President John F. Kennedy suffered from Addison’s disease and was heavily medicated for years? Neither did most people.

Too often when a president is sick or dying, he and the people around him have hidden his condition from the public, wanting to project an image of strength and power.

In this fascinating and provocative new installment in her acclaimed Medical Fiascoes series, author Gail Jarrow explores presidential cover-ups from the 19th to the 21st century—from James Garfield to Joe Biden. White House Secrets provides the historical context to help young readers understand issues of media literacy and presidential candor that are more relevant than ever in the 21st century.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Hunter’s life is at a turning point: After years of fighting his father for it, he’s gotten top surgery. He’s finally starting to feel comfortable in his own skin…only to be attacked by a strange creature in his backyard.

Luckily, his best friend Gabe intervenes, and Hunter is able to walk away from the incident with his life—and new body—mostly intact. Still, something isn’t right. First, his wounds are healing…strangely. Then there are the feverish nightmares, and his teeth…they’re falling out of his head.

Enter Mars, Hunter’s other best friend, who points out the obvious: That mysterious creature was a werewolf, and Hunter is becoming one too—unless they can figure out a way to kill it.

Now, Hunter, Gabe, and Mars are in a race against time. A voice that could only belong to the creature itself is worming its way into Hunter’s head, and as the days pass, it’s getting louder. It promises revenge on Hunter’s transphobic peers if he succumbs to his lycanthropic transformation. Or he can reject the monster and fight alongside his friends before the body—and life—he’s fought so hard for slips away for good. The choice is Hunter’s.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Alex Wilson hasn’t been back to Indigo Harbor, the seaside village where she grew up, in years. In fact, she can barely remember anything about it. But when her grandmother dies unexpectedly, Alex will have to return to her childhood home to say goodbye.

Accompanied by her best friend, Grim, Alex travels back to her hometown and begins cleaning out her grandmother’s house, but the longer they stay, the stranger things get.

Indigo Harbor isn’t your average town—there are falling stars, witches running tea shops, and a name that comes up again and again: Elizabeth. Who was this woman, and how did she know Alex’s grandmother?

As she explores the town and sorts through her grandmother’s belongings, Alex reconnects with her past and tries with increasing desperation to uncover the greatest secret of all, the identity of the mysterious Elizabeth.

Tackling grief, acceptance, and how to honor a loved one’s life, Bex Glendining has crafted a beautiful and moving graphic novel perfect for readers who loved The Dark Matter of Mona Starr, Girl From the Sea, and the Magic Fish.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

As a newly certified mortician’s assistant at her parents’ funeral home, her days are not for the faint of heart. Luckily her boyfriend Noah isn’t squeamish, and Meka is finally feeling ready to say the three little words that will change everything.

But then tragedy strikes, and Meka’s world is torn apart. Nothing makes sense, especially the strange things start happening. Ravens are circling her home. Strangers are following her. Someone is leaving mysterious items at her door. And worst of all…

The dead don’t seem to be staying dead.

Meka thought she understood death better than anyone. Turns out, the family business is a bit more complicated than it seems. And Meka isn’t the only one desperate to unearth their secrets…because the truth may be worth dying for.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

After a meltdown in her school cafeteria prompts an unwanted autism diagnosis, Cassie Davis moves back to her hometown in upstate New York, where her mom hopes the familiarity will allow Cassie to feel normal again. Cassie’s never truly felt normal anywhere, but she does crave the ease she used to have with her old friends.

Problem is that her friends aren’t so eager to welcome her back into the fold. They extend an olive branch by inviting her on their backpacking trip to Hollow Ridge, in the upper reaches of the Adirondacks. But when a fight breaks out their first night, Cassie wakes to a barren campsite—her friends all gone.

With severe weather approaching and nearing sensory overload, Cassie is saved by a boy named Kaleb, who whisks her away to a compound of artists and outcasts he calls the Roost. As Kaleb tends to her injuries, Cassie begins to feel—for the first time in her life—that she can truly be herself. But as the days pass, strange happenings around the Roost make Cassie question her instincts. Noises in the trees grow louder, begging the question: Are the dangers in the forest, on the trail, or in the Roost itself?

In a world where autistic characters rarely get to be the hero of their own stories, Cassie Davis’s one-step-back, two-steps-forward journey to unmasking makes Hollow as much a love letter to neurodiversity as it is a haunting tale you’ll want to read with the lights on.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads young readers through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are not—offering an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation’s collective history, and ourselves.

How the Word Is Passed illustrates how some of our country’s most essential stories are hidden in plain view—whether in places we might drive by on our way to school, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods (like downtown Manhattan) on which the brutal history of the trade in enslaved people has been deeply imprinted.

Informed by scholarship and brought alive by the story of people living today, this adaptation of Clint Smith’s #1 bestselling, award-winning work of nonfiction offers kids a new understanding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in making sense of our country, and shows how they can reckon with the past and present to become better stewards of their future.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Carlos, who lives in a small town in the Cuban countryside, loves to play baseball with his best friend, Alvaro, and to shoot home-made slingshots with his abuelo.

One day, a miracle happens: Carlos’ father, his papi, wins the lottery! He uses the money to launch his own furniture business and to move the family to a big house in the city.

Carlos hates having to move — hates leaving Abuelo and Alvaro behind — and hates being called country kid at his new school. But the pains of moving and middle school turn out to be the least of his problems.

When rebel leader Fidel Castro overthrows the existing Cuban president, the entire country is thrust into revolution. Then, suddenly, Papi disappears. Carlos’ mother tells him that Papi has gone to America, and that they will soon join him. But Carlos really doesn’t want to leave Cuba, the only home he’s ever known. Besides, how will they get to America when Castro’s soldiers are policing their every move? Will Carlos ever see his father again?

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Home is where the sinister lives. Rory Parker knows not to step a foot in, on, or around the house next door. He’s seen things creeping in the shadows, has had encounters with spirits, and lost a best friend to the house’s malevolence.

But when his new neighbors, Jack and his lovable family, move into the house next door, Rory makes it his duty to protect them at all costs.

But the vicious forces lying within the house are plotting something evil, something that puts Jack’s little sister in extreme danger. Soon, Rory understands he’ll need the help of his new friend and some friendly ghosts in order to stand a chance at defeating whatever lurks within its walls for good.

But what exactly lives in the house next door, and will Rory and Jack find out in time to save the day, or can its evil never be evicted?  

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

What do a raccoon, a skunk, and a moose have in common?

Okan, the raccoon, is a 13 year old whose mom works so hard he never sees her.

Sarah, the skunk, has been teased relentlessly about her body odor ever since her mom died.

And Marcus, the moose, is the bully, the rich kid who seems to have everything, except his parents’ love.

When they hear a white wolf has been spotted in the nearby forest, this unlikely trio heads out on a quest that turns into an adventure of a lifetime.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

The only thing worse than having ghost hunters for parents is having fake ghost hunters for parents. Luna Catalano would know. Her moms are haunted house flippers who use their home reno skills and pretend psychic powers to turn spooky old houses into ghost-free modern homes.

Not only does their job require the family to move all the time–meaning Luna is completely friendless–but the only thing haunting any of those houses is bad decor. For once Luna wishes there was an actual, for-real ghost.

When they move yet again, Luna isn’t expecting much. But this house feels… different. Things start out innocent enough–items not where they should be, strange noises–but soon things turn sinister. Her moms are waking up with cuts and bruises, and disturbing drawings showing them with even worse injuries are being left in Luna’s room.

With the help of her next-door neighbors and a mysterious woman who seems to know a lot about the home, Luna starts to piece together what exactly happened in that house before she moved in. But not everything is as it seems. In order to save her moms, Luna will have to get the story right before everything goes completely wrong.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

It’s a cold, snowy night at Lac La Croix First Nation, and two siblings are too excited to fall asleep. The horses are coming tonight!

Amid the buzz of aunties and uncles and cousins, Nookomis tells a story that began many years ago, when their people shared the land with herds of wild ponies. In a symbiotic relationship, the people provided the horses with food and shelter, while the horses helped them run traplines and travel.

But after many years had passed, and the herd had dwindled to four, the government threatened to shoot them. It was time to move the remaining horses to safety—but getting them there would be harder than they thought!

Follow the true story of a “heist across the ice” from Ontario to Minnesota and learn how a small herd of hardy, indigenous horses returned years later to their native land. Rich illustrations honor the life of the Ojibwe people over time, as well as the land and living things that have survived under their stewardship.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Whether drawing or hiding or just saying HELLO or BYE-BYE, Cabin Head and Tree Head are irresistible buddies who have fun together, support one another’s ideas (digging for treasure without a map) and help one another overcome challenges (bad leafcuts!).

These are lighthearted tales of two pals who think differently — and entirely embrace it — set in a landscape of equally unforgettable characters such as Automobile Head, Volcano Head and Trash Can Head. Let’s go hang out with all the Heads!

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

In the warm, late afternoon sunlight, a girl sits on the couch reading a book. Her kitten dozes nearby. But when Kitten notices a mouse and dives after it through a framed poster on the wall, an epic chase through time, art, and history ensues.

Is it a dream? That’s up to the reader to decide, but for the kitten, every leap and bound is full of suspense and makes for a masterpiece.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Piccolo the stylish shrew is a list maker. On his list are all the favorite places he is eager to visit.  As his day begins he runs into his pal Mr. Rosso who needs help carrying his artwork to the museum. Piccolo can’t believe his luck: the museum is on his list of favorite places! In no time at all, Piccolo is helping all his friends solve problems as he zips around the city on his scooter. But with so many ways to lend a hand, Piccolo might not have time to visit the one place on his list he loves the most.  

Full of adventure, culture, and some tasty hazelnut gelato, this endearing tale of friendship and teamwork proves that helping others is the most powerful triumph of all.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Months have passed since the Grown-Ups were taken captive, forced to brush the teeth and scratch the backs of the Growlies. One day the children make a decision: Ratamacue! It means “no more waiting.” It means it’s time for a rescue mission! They set off on a wild and uncertain journey, forming a drumline to overcome the many obstacles in their way. In the end, the Growlies’ meanness is no match for the children’s magic: their collective music.

Ra! Ta! Ma! Cue! celebrates the power of kids accomplishing remarkable feats, even when up against seemingly undefeatable odds―especially when they are underestimated. With stunning illustrations and a distinctive blend of picture book and graphic musical score reminiscent of John Cage, this exciting book will inspire kids and adults alike.

An instant classic of bravery, courage, and persistence that empowers kids to pick up a drum and make some noise!