New Release Spotlight: April 7, 2026

Welcome to April! I am excited for our Genre Book Club this week. I read The Companion by Katie Alender for our genre of the month, which was gothic literature. I can’t wait to hear what everyone else read!

This week’s top picks:

• Piper at the Gates of Dusk by Patrick Ness (YA science fiction)
• A Potion, a Powder, a Little Bit of Magic by Philip Stead (MG fantasy)
• Just One Oak by Maria Gianferrari (picture book)

You can see a cumulative list of all the Spotlight books for April here. I will add to it as the month continues.

This week’s titles are #5142 – #5152 on The Ginormous Booklist.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Mira Kyler runs the court of Virdei from the shadows. Ever since she helped her half-brother Luc cheat his way into the role of Virdei’s leader, she’s used her lie-powered magic to collect secrets from members of court, then used them as blackmail to keep her brother in power.

Kaidren Vale has magic of his own-magic that can detect the precise nature of someone else’s power with a single touch. Kaidren is after the throne, and Mira knows it could be his for the taking if he so much as brushes against her and discovers Mira has been manipulating the court with her power for years.

As Kaidren and Luc compete for the throne in The Trials-three deadly challenges-Mira realizes, even as she fights to keep her brother in power, that no matter who wins, she’ll be stuck serving someone else. She’s done hiding in the shadows. She wants the throne for herself.

To get it, she’ll have to betray both her own brother and Kaidren-but the fiercer the competition gets, the more Mira realizes that the one boy who could destroy everything is the one boy she might not be able to resist.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

It’s been twenty years since the monstrous war that almost tore New World apart, and there’s a new generation on the planet. Todd and Viola’s sons Ben and Max have known only peace growing up on the family farm outside a bustling human settlement. They dream of the usual things, like school and adventure, until the nightmares begin…

A sudden sickness has infected the young people of New World with Noise in the form of their worst thoughts about themselves. Some suspect the Spackle, the indigenous people with whom humans have a very uneasy truce. Others wonder about a connection to a mysterious object looming in the sky. And then, one by one, the children of New World begin to disappear.

Ben, with his mother’s logical mind, and Max, with his father’s courageous heart, become caught up in separate quests for answers, journeys that will test their beliefs in their parents, each other, and in their very existence on the planet.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Six months ago, season four of The Escape Game ended in horror when contestant Alicia Angelos was found murdered on set.

Now season five is underway, and new contestants are ready to put their skills to the test solving the show’s trickiest escape rooms. There’s Adi, the cryptographer; Carter, the math whiz; Beck, the wannabe game master; and…Sierra Angelos, the girl who got away with her sister’s murder. Or so everyone believes.

But Sierra’s not just here to win. She’s here for justice.

When the contestants begin uncovering clues that hint at the identity of Alicia’s true killer, it becomes clear that the stakes aren’t high just in this competition—they’re deadly. If these teens want to win—and survive—the game, they must solve the biggest mystery of all: who killed Alicia Angelos?

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Chianti goes to stay with her maternal grandmother, Ambuya, an eccentric and formidable ex-freedom fighter in Zimbabwe’s civil war.

Ambuya’s closest neighbors are the gogos: her three best-friends-turned-business-partners, who take Chianti under their wings. They make a living by upcycling choice items of secondhand clothing―when their supply chain’s not being disrupted by thieves.

In between helping with the gogos’ business, Chianti becomes fascinated by a box of her grandmother’s old photos. As she wrestles with the ghosts of their past as well her own, she realizes that time is slippery, that family isn’t defined by blood, and that it’s never too late for a transformation.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

In a kingdom ruled by a capricious king, the castle rests on the backs of twenty-four goats, and the welfare of those goats rests on the back of a girl called Bernadette. So when one goat escapes, it’s up to her—with the help of a very forgetful wizard and a Boat That Does Not Grant Wishes—to bring it back safely.

Her task may be straightforward, but this book is anything but. Like a swirling herd of restless goats, the chapters are all out of order. The ending may prove to have been the beginning all along. All the while, the author of Bernadette’s saga—a character himself—hurries to write her a resolution, with very mixed results. And if you’re feeling lost, don’t worry; the story has twenty-four morals, of varying advisability, to edify you along the way.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

In 1941, as America stood on the brink of World War II, the country was in sore need of a diversion at home. They found exactly that on the baseball diamond, where the rivalry between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees captivated fans as superstars Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio went head to head, breaking every record imaginable.

But the pastime known as “America’s game” wasn’t really a game that welcomed everyone: Black citizens were segregated into the widely dismissed Negro Leagues, and though women had played baseball for years, they struggled for acceptance and to establish a professional league of their own. As the country reached a turning point, so, too, did the sport of baseball–and after 1941, neither would ever be the same.

Through extensive archival photographs and thrilling accounts of the game and the country that became obsessed with it, Martin W. Sandler and Craig Sandler vividly portray the season that would change baseball forever.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Things are getting hairy!

What could go wrong on the first day of sixth grade?

A: You wake up with leg hair out of nowhere.

B: You have zero classes with your BFF and watch her run off with her new (annoying) friend.

C: You struggle to decide which school club to join because being mixed race makes you feel like you don’t belong anywhere.

D: All of the above. SERIOUSLY?!

At first, Sara’s got mixed feelings about middle school. But she finds comfort in TV — whether she’s watching it, performing her favorite scenes, or imagining her life is a show itself. So when she joins drama club, Sara discovers a community where she can be anything she wants — including herself. Has Sara finally found a place to fit in? Or will she instead find herself buried under her growing leg hair and off-stage friendship drama?

In Sara Amini’s semi-autobiographical story, navigating life as a mixed-race girl has never been more hilarious or heartfelt, with family, friendship, and fuzz all at the forefront of this laugh-out-loud and painfully relatable middle-school memoir.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Frank is nipped by a dog on his ninth birthday, and his life turns inside out. 

His nights fill with mysterious dreams and eerie adventures. A wild beast is reported roaming the town after dark.

Frightening encounters lead to Frank’s discovery that he is the shapeshifter. But he can’t understand why everyone is afraid. Even in his monster form, Frank is still a boy inside―just one who feels a strong urge to have his tummy scratched.

Forced to own his new identity, Frank learns about the town’s secret underbelly. Beneath the library live other monsters, hiding from the humans. Perhaps he has found a place to belong.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

An oak tree is so much more than meets the eye. From tiny fungi to mighty mammals, this amazing tree contains a whole world.

For insects and birds, the oak’s leaves, branches, and bark are a home. For bears and squirrels, the thousands of acorns the oak produces are a nutritious superfood. Owls, deer, foxes, and many more creatures are drawn to the rich and healthy environment an oak creates. Because of a single oak tree, its many neighbors flourish.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

The sun is going down and creatures outside and inside the house are ready for sleep. But where do they go? Come along as a young girl spends her evening learning just where butterflies and kittens go to get their rest.

Through soothing and interactive dialogue, the creatures answer the question “where do you go when the sun goes down?” until the girl finally makes her way safe and sound to bed.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

In the wide, wide world with its wide, wide skies,

There are wild, wild words waiting to be spoken.

Where the stream twists and sparkles? That’s SUNGLITTER.

Where the sunset touches the sky? That’s CLOUDBLOOM.

Come take a walk full of the joy of real nature words―mayflies, sea snails, blackbirds, brambles―and full of the joy of new words just waiting to be discovered.