New Release Spotlight: October 2026, Week 3

This week’s Spotlight is still catching up with the amazing titles released earlier this month, particularly on October 6. I’ve also added a new feature to each title, called MY NOTES. This is where I talk about why I chose each book, possible readalikes, and ideas for using them in the library.

All these titles (and more!) have been added to my New Release Spotlight Amazon List for October 2026. The full list is now up to 53 titles. I wish I could Spotlight them all!

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Bowie is a little bit lost in his small Texas town. As he starts his senior year, the only thing he’s pretty sure of is that he has a crush on Comet Jensen, a girl who’s such a firecracker that she actually sets off a firecracker on the first day of school.

Since Comet is one wrong move away from getting expelled, Bowie steps in and takes the blame for the stunt. His punishment? Community service at a local radio station run by an anti-social, antiestablishment anti-hero named Marlon. Suddenly, Bowie finds he not only has something to do, but he also has something to say. And, possibly, a future with Comet.

In the tradition of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Eleanor & Park, and any other book or movie that’s nailed what it’s like to be lost and then found when you’re in high school, this is a funny, touching story about how growing up, like love, is never a solo project.

MY NOTES

I mean YES! You seriously had me at Libba Bray and 70s rock music. But also, set in a small Texas town, in 1980. And anti-establishment radio on top of that? Do you know how much I loved the movie Pump Up the Volume when I was in high school? I will 100% be reading this!

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Selma Wijnberg is a criminal, a prisoner. Because she is Jewish. For this crime, in the depths of Hitler’s occupation of Holland, Selma is deported to the Sobibor death camp, sentenced to sort the clothes of the dead while a smoke made of thousands blackens the sky. And in the light of this enormous funeral pyre, at the end of a Nazi pistol, Selma is ordered to dance. The hand that offers to dance with her is strong. Steady. It belongs to Chaim Engel. Chaim is a Polish Jew and also a prisoner. Chaim and Selma don’t speak the same language. But sometimes, love doesn’t need a language.

Who falls in love in the middle of hell? Chaim and Selma do. And who knew that love could kindle so much hope.

But when the prisoners of Sobibor hatch a daring plan of escape, it is time to kill or be killed. The gate or the fire. Chaim and Selma will go out on their feet, or out with the smoke. In an hour of terror and panic, of bullets and bloodshed, Chaim and Selma discover that hope–and two hands twined tightly together–can be the key to keeping two people alive.

Based on the remarkable true story of Selma Wijnberg and Chaim Engel, and the infamous revolt and escape of the Sobibor death camp prisoners, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Light in Hidden Places, Sharon Cameron crafts an extraordinary and evocative thriller that celebrates how hope and love can conquer even the most impossible of odds.

MY NOTES

I read and loved Andrew Fukuda’s This Light Between Us (2020) a few years ago. Up From the Ashes reminds me a bit of that story, so I definitely plan to read this one, too. Holocaust stories are always so difficult to read, but there are so many great ones.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

It’s the late 1990s, and seventeen-year-old Christian is content with his summer plans to work and hang out with his cat, when he gets a phone call from his best friend that will change his life forever. James invites Christian to Arizona for a whitewater rafting trip, even though he knows Christian is terrified of water. But James is persuasive, and Christian relents.

In Salt River Canyon, the heat is scorching, and so is James’s pretty girlfriend, Freya. However, something seems off between the couple as bitter words fly. When James and the others disappear in the second raft, Christian and Freya are left to face the rapids alone. Disaster strikes when Freya falls into the river, and Christian is frozen with fear.

One year later, Christian is still wracked with guilt over Freya’s death. Now, he’s a freshman at Arizona State University, and he thinks he sees Freya on campus. It can’t be her. Freya is dead, after all. They found her body. Didn’t they? Christian follows Madison, the girl who looks like Freya, everywhere. He was certain Freya had died that day, but now he’s certain Madison is Freya. Will he ever find out what’s real? Or will his obsession be his downfall?

MY NOTES

Whoo, this sounds so fabulous! Was Freya’s death an accident? Did Christian actually kill her? Dusti Bowling is a master of adventure books set in Arizona, this title focusing on an ill-fated whitewater rafting trip. The Drowning Game is Bowling’s first YA book, and I’m so here for it! I think this concept would make a great movie or series.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Twelve-year-old Nash is a self-proclaimed cowboy. She sleeps with her riding boots on, takes lessons at the local barn, and reads True Grit for life advice. There’s just one thing missing— a horse of her own.

Enter the Extreme Mustang Makeover contest, a chance to receive and tame a newly-captured mustang for the summer. Signing up will guarantee Nash one hundred days with a horse; and if she wins, she can use the prize money to bring him home for good. It’s the miracle Nash has been waiting for.

But Nash’s attention is divided when her cousin Benny arrives to stay for the summer. While Nash and Benny were once like sisters, the six years since Nash moved away have driven a wedge between them. Benny is everything Nash isn’t: gentle and well-behaved, and Deaf like Nash’s parents are. Sometimes she wonders if they’d rather have a daughter like that than a headstrong cowboy CODA like Nash.

A brave girl and a horse no one believes can be tamed: it’s a tale as old as time, brought to sizzling new life through Nash’s one-of-a-kind voice. Amy Alznauer weaves cowboy bravado, growing pains, and Deaf culture inspired by life in her Deaf-hearing family into a debut middle grade novel that will lasso you tight by the heart.

MY NOTES

Horse stories are always a hit with readers who love books about animals. Give this to readers who loved The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Asher Abrams has his ADHD under control―most of the time–even if he asks a lot of questions, can be forgetful, and is often impulsive. But he’s also creative and clever and fearless when it comes to standing up for the people he loves.

Like his best friend, Gillian Benjamin. At least, she used to be his best friend until last summer when they had a huge fight, one that he’s never quite understood. After he catches her shoplifting in the grocery store, Asher learns that Gilly’s life has changed dramatically; her mom has disappeared, leaving her and her dad with nothing but a pile of debt.

When Gilly’s period arrives unexpectedly at school, she is bullied. Asher is determined to normalize periods so no one gets shamed about this natural part of life. It doesn’t bother him that he’s a boy talking about the stigma around periods–that’s the whole point, isn’t it? Asher convinces Gilly to help film a movie about periods for his school passion project. When their silly PSA goes viral will their newly healed friendship be able to handle the attention?

Author Joanne Levy captures the heartbreakingly funny story of a remarkable protagonist living with ADHD. In pitch-perfect first-person narration, readers gain insight into the challenges and celebrations of this neurodevelopmental disorder. Asher’s doodles, (semiotics like footnotes, sketches, storyboards) featured throughout the book, amplify the storytelling and give further insight into how Asher’s mind works.

MY NOTES

Though not very realistic for a middle school boy, at least not in my experience, I do love that this book features a boy advocating to normalize the stigma around menstruation. This is the story of two former friends (a boy and a girl) who find each other again through understanding and empathy. This also has doodles throughout the pages, plus a bright cover with a dog on it, which will make this middle grade title easy to booktalk.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

After nineteen days of “induction chemotherapy,” Dasia Monae Riley knows no one else should be in her hospital room…

But there she is: Jameson “Jimmy” Jeffs. Another cancer patient who’s seemingly everything Dasia is not: rich, well cared for, and a smidge childish (in Dasia’s opinion).

However, Dasia soon discovers that their commonalities go beyond a random, incurable disease…like older brothers who are gone, baby brothers who need them, and struggles with friends at school.

As Dasia and Jimmy chat, Dasia’s memories unfold in the unsent “letters” (read: poems) Dasia wrote to her incarcerated older brother. And over the course of one life-changing night, two girls who are at their lowest fight to keep each other uplifted. When you hit rock bottom, what does it take to survive and allow yourself to hope again?

In a standalone spin-off to the Dear Martin series, New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone delivers a heart-wrenching story of resilience, connection, and the fight to stay alive.

MY NOTES

Since I was young, I have loved books about young people dealing with a lot of hardship. Thirteen-year old Dasia is not only in cancer treatment, she also has an older brother in prison, a mother dealing with depression, and a deceased father who was abusive. WOW.

This story happens mainly over one overnight chemotherapy treatment, where Dasia meets a fellow chemo patient and finds support and friendship despite their surface differences.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

It took her a while to get used to me, but she was a fast learner. Kiki did everything for me. She watered me, kept me warm, groomed me, and fed me. Kiki loved me. And I loved her.

Kiki and her horse explore the landscape together and are inseparable. But Kiki grows older and things change. One day, the horse is alone―and thinks it will be forever.

Delicate black-and-white drawings alternate with rich, dramatic paintings to tell a poignant story about inseparable friends and growing up.

MY NOTES

Do not miss this one. That’s all I’m going to say.

Oh, and have tissues on-hand for storytime read-alouds.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

When a small stone Buddha falls off a cyclist’s wagon, he lands in a neglected part of a busy city street. People often throw trash here, turning this part of the city into a rather unpleasant sight.

But as passersby begin to notice the little stone Buddha, they start to wonder: what if we each made a small change that brightened this shared part of our community?

Inspired by a true story, The Little Stone Buddha shows us how a small action―or, in this case, a small Buddha―can change a moment, which can change a decision, which can change the spirit, which can, in the end, change everything.

MY NOTES

I love stories inspired by little-known real events! This video is a local CBS news story about the Oakland Buddha. It’s less than 2 minutes long, and I think it’s okay to show elementary students. Please note that the beginning of the video mentions that drug dealing was happening in the space before the temple was put there. I recommend taking two minutes to watch it before showing to your classes.