New Titles

A Different Mirror for Young People : A History of Multicultural America.

Stefoff, Rebecca


Drawing on Takaki's vast array of primary sources, and staying true to his own words whenever possible, A Different Mirror for Young People brings ethnic history alive through the words of people, including teenagers, who recorded their experiences in letters, diaries, and poems. Like Zinn's A People's History, Takaki's A Different Mirror offers a rich and rewarding "people's view" perspective on the American story.
Date Published:2012

Drawing on Takaki's vast array of primary sources, and staying true to his own words whenever possible, A Different Mirror for Young People brings ethnic history alive through the words of people, including teenagers, who recorded their experiences in letters, diaries, and poems. Like Zinn's A People's History, Takaki's A Different Mirror offers a rich and rewarding "people's view" perspective on the American story.

Date Published:2012

Innovative Octopuses, Half-brained Birds, and More Animals with Magnificent Minds

Couch Christina


At first glance, this offering might seem to be a simple overview of the comparative cognitive abilities of various animals. In reality, this is an inviting and accessible introduction to neuroscience and brain function. There are six chapters, each dedicated to one type of critter. Interviews with researchers and animal handlers, as well as profiles of individual animals, effectively demonstrate various aspects of intelligence, incorporating multiple examples and kid-friendly facts (herrings communicate through farts).
Date Published:2025

At first glance, this offering might seem to be a simple overview of the comparative cognitive abilities of various animals. In reality, this is an inviting and accessible introduction to neuroscience and brain function. There are six chapters, each dedicated to one type of critter. Interviews with researchers and animal handlers, as well as profiles of individual animals, effectively demonstrate various aspects of intelligence, incorporating multiple examples and kid-friendly facts (herrings communicate through farts).

Date Published:2025

A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee

Van Dusen, Chris


In this story full of slapstick humor, a bumbling bear, noses around a campsite and accidentally unhitches Mr. Magee's camper from his Rambler, sending it careening into the river. It becomes lodged above a fifty-foot waterfall with Mr. Magee and his dog stuck inside.
Date Published:2003

Skippyjon Jones Snow What

Schachner, Judith Byron


Skippyjon Jones, the Siamese cat that thinks he is a Chihuahua dog, stars in a fairy tale set in the winter wonderland of his imagination.
Date Published:2014

Strictly No Elephants

Mantchev, Lisa


Forlorn, the boy and little elephant stumble on, the boy’s warm-toned shirt popping against the background of people in dark blues, blacks, and teal. They find another outcast, a little girl with a skunk, and they decide to start their own club. Soon, owners with other unusual pets join them: a girl with a giraffe, a boy with a hedgehog, even a kid with a tiny narwhal in a glass bowl! Eagle-eyed little ones will notice new friends before they make their way to the pet parade.
Date Published:2015

Forlorn, the boy and little elephant stumble on, the boy’s warm-toned shirt popping against the background of people in dark blues, blacks, and teal. They find another outcast, a little girl with a skunk, and they decide to start their own club. Soon, owners with other unusual pets join them: a girl with a giraffe, a boy with a hedgehog, even a kid with a tiny narwhal in a glass bowl! Eagle-eyed little ones will notice new friends before they make their way to the pet parade.

Date Published:2015

Waiting

Henkes, Kevin


A pig with an umbrella, a spotted owl, a puppy on a sled, a bear holding a kite, and a rabbit with a long accordion body. These five little toys look out a tall window at nothing much, waiting. Pig waits for rain; Owl, the moon; Bear, the wind; Puppy, the snow; and Rabbit just waits. One day they are joined by a round wobble of a cat. She tumbles over and out come nested cats of decreasing size, who join the friends on the windowsill to wait and watch.
Date Published:2015

A pig with an umbrella, a spotted owl, a puppy on a sled, a bear holding a kite, and a rabbit with a long accordion body. These five little toys look out a tall window at nothing much, waiting. Pig waits for rain; Owl, the moon; Bear, the wind; Puppy, the snow; and Rabbit just waits. One day they are joined by a round wobble of a cat. She tumbles over and out come nested cats of decreasing size, who join the friends on the windowsill to wait and watch.

Date Published:2015

Creepy Carrots

Reynolds, Aaron


Playing on the something-is-stalking-me-but-when-I-turn-around-nothing-is-there fears that have fueled countless scary movies, this goose-pimpler introduces a young bunny named Jasper who “couldn’t get enough carrots . . . until they started following him.” Tired of heart-racing, sleepless nights, Jasper concocts a master plan and builds an alligator-filled moat and sky-high fence around Crackenhopper Field to keep those nasty carrots at bay. Turns out, their plan to keep that nasty rabbit from eating their carrot buddies has a similarly happy ending.
Date Published:2012

Playing on the something-is-stalking-me-but-when-I-turn-around-nothing-is-there fears that have fueled countless scary movies, this goose-pimpler introduces a young bunny named Jasper who “couldn’t get enough carrots . . . until they started following him.” Tired of heart-racing, sleepless nights, Jasper concocts a master plan and builds an alligator-filled moat and sky-high fence around Crackenhopper Field to keep those nasty carrots at bay. Turns out, their plan to keep that nasty rabbit from eating their carrot buddies has a similarly happy ending.

Date Published:2012

Dragons Love Tacos 2 : The Sequel.

Rubin, Adam


Brace yourselves, readers, for this sequel to the best-selling Dragons Love Tacos (2012) begins on a tragic note. There is a taco shortage! The despair is palpable, as dragons sprawl on the ground with tears streaming from their eyes. Moved by the dragons’ plight, Robbie and his canine pal get the idea to travel back in time to the very celebration captured in the first book. Once there, they’ll grab some tacos, return to the present, and plant them for a plentiful taco harvest—this tasty treat grows on trees, don’t you know—so that the dragons will never run out again. As luck would have it, there’s an old time machine in Robbie’s garage, but the mission isn’t as simple as it seems. Miscalculations and machine malfunctions lead to riotous trips through space-time that will leave kids cackling.
Date Published:2017

Brace yourselves, readers, for this sequel to the best-selling Dragons Love Tacos (2012) begins on a tragic note. There is a taco shortage! The despair is palpable, as dragons sprawl on the ground with tears streaming from their eyes. Moved by the dragons’ plight, Robbie and his canine pal get the idea to travel back in time to the very celebration captured in the first book. Once there, they’ll grab some tacos, return to the present, and plant them for a plentiful taco harvest—this tasty treat grows on trees, don’t you know—so that the dragons will never run out again. As luck would have it, there’s an old time machine in Robbie’s garage, but the mission isn’t as simple as it seems. Miscalculations and machine malfunctions lead to riotous trips through space-time that will leave kids cackling.

Date Published:2017

Up, Up, Ever Up : Junko Tabei: a Life ini the Mountains.

Yasuda, Anita


Using simple yet lyrical text, Yasuda chronicles the life of Junko Tabei, a Japanese mountain climber and the first woman to scale Mt. Everest. Junko loved hiking as a child and as an adult joined a mountaineering club in Tokyo. She led a mostly female expedition to Mt. Everest and remained a passionate climber throughout her life, tackling peaks in numerous countries and working to preserve mountain landscapes.
Date Published:2024

Using simple yet lyrical text, Yasuda chronicles the life of Junko Tabei, a Japanese mountain climber and the first woman to scale Mt. Everest. Junko loved hiking as a child and as an adult joined a mountaineering club in Tokyo. She led a mostly female expedition to Mt. Everest and remained a passionate climber throughout her life, tackling peaks in numerous countries and working to preserve mountain landscapes.

Date Published:2024

There was a Party for Langston

Reynolds, Jason


Inspired by a photo of Maya Angelou and Amiri Baraka boogeying down at a 1991 gathering at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center, this high-stepping shoutout to the honoree of that historic “hoopla in Harlem” pays tribute to the “king of letters,” celebrating the man “who wrote Maya and Amiri into the world” with his “wake-up stories / and rise-and-shine rhymes,” who answered would-be “word breakers” and book burners with courage and laughter.
Date Published:2023

Inspired by a photo of Maya Angelou and Amiri Baraka boogeying down at a 1991 gathering at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center, this high-stepping shoutout to the honoree of that historic “hoopla in Harlem” pays tribute to the “king of letters,” celebrating the man “who wrote Maya and Amiri into the world” with his “wake-up stories / and rise-and-shine rhymes,” who answered would-be “word breakers” and book burners with courage and laughter.

Date Published:2023

Inky the Octopus

Guendelsberger, Erin


This jaunty tale of derring-do imagines Inky the octopus’ real-life escape from the National Aquarium of New Zealand from Inky’s point of view. The golden-hued fellow can see the ocean from his tank and wants nothing more than to explore its waters, though it would mean leaving his aquarium friends behind. One night the lid to his tank isn’t secured, and the crafty critter gets his chance, oozing over its glass wall, down a drain in the floor, and out to the sea.
Date Published:2018

This jaunty tale of derring-do imagines Inky the octopus’ real-life escape from the National Aquarium of New Zealand from Inky’s point of view. The golden-hued fellow can see the ocean from his tank and wants nothing more than to explore its waters, though it would mean leaving his aquarium friends behind. One night the lid to his tank isn’t secured, and the crafty critter gets his chance, oozing over its glass wall, down a drain in the floor, and out to the sea.

Date Published:2018

Chooch Helped

Rogers, Andrea L.


Sissy notices two-year-old Chooch is always interfering and making a mess. Much to her dismay, the adults always say, “He’s just usdi” (baby, young). Chooch “helps” patient family members sew moccasins, paint, and cook—but when his “help” ruins Sissy’s clay pot, she loses her temper! Siblings everywhere will recognize themselves in this universal story of family dynamics.
Date Published:2024

My Daddy is a Cowboy

Seales, Stephanie


Saddle up for the absolute joyride of this exuberant father-daughter adventure, perfect for fans of My Papi Has a Motorcycle (2019) and G. Neri. Dad wakes the young girl long before dawn, the strength of their bond and mutual excitement as palpable as the promise of the day. They cross the city first on a motorcycle, through “a new kind of quiet” while “the sky is midnight black, and the stars are still twinkling,” to reach a ranch where their horses await. “But today we ride together, and today I get to ride on the street, like a cowboy.” .
Date Published:2024

Saddle up for the absolute joyride of this exuberant father-daughter adventure, perfect for fans of My Papi Has a Motorcycle (2019) and G. Neri. Dad wakes the young girl long before dawn, the strength of their bond and mutual excitement as palpable as the promise of the day. They cross the city first on a motorcycle, through “a new kind of quiet” while “the sky is midnight black, and the stars are still twinkling,” to reach a ranch where their horses await. “But today we ride together, and today I get to ride on the street, like a cowboy.” .

Date Published:2024

Dragons Love Tacos

Rubin, Adam


Tacos are high on the list of dragon-friendly foods. Who knew? There is, however, a major qualification: the salsa must be mild (“even a speck of hot pepper makes a dragon snort sparks”). Rubin and Salmieri, the creators of Those Darn Squirrels! (2008), offer up a how-to guide to throwing one heck of a dragons’ taco party. First, you’ll need tacos—“pantloads of tacos”—and mild salsa, of course. Then, throw in a few decorations (taco-shaped balloons will work) and some music and—voilà. Unfortunately, in this tale, someone didn’t read the fine print on the Totally Mild Salsa jar, and the hosts are in for a toasty surprise.
Date Published:2012

Tacos are high on the list of dragon-friendly foods. Who knew? There is, however, a major qualification: the salsa must be mild (“even a speck of hot pepper makes a dragon snort sparks”). Rubin and Salmieri, the creators of Those Darn Squirrels! (2008), offer up a how-to guide to throwing one heck of a dragons’ taco party. First, you’ll need tacos—“pantloads of tacos”—and mild salsa, of course. Then, throw in a few decorations (taco-shaped balloons will work) and some music and—voilà. Unfortunately, in this tale, someone didn’t read the fine print on the Totally Mild Salsa jar, and the hosts are in for a toasty surprise.

Date Published:2012

One Step Forward

Atkins, Marcie Flinchum


Atkins’ excellent novel in verse tells the story of the fight by suffragists for women’s right to vote, as seen through the eyes of Matilda Young, a real person who is also the protagonist of this novel. Readers meet her when, in 1913, she is 14 and secretly watching the Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, DC. She becomes a volunteer sorting mail at National Woman’s Party headquarters and, as the years pass, becomes more involved in the movement, becoming, at 19, a full-time worker operating the switchboard at NWP headquarters. She joins picket lines and becomes the youngest suffragist and the youngest to be jailed for her actions. The text brings the 15 days Matilda spends in jail to vivid life, dramatizing the inhumane treatment the suffragists received. Though sometimes exhausted and discouraged, Matilda never gives up, continuing her protests and getting arrested and jailed again and again as the movement slowly makes progress toward eventual victory.
Date Published:2025

Atkins’ excellent novel in verse tells the story of the fight by suffragists for women’s right to vote, as seen through the eyes of Matilda Young, a real person who is also the protagonist of this novel. Readers meet her when, in 1913, she is 14 and secretly watching the Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, DC. She becomes a volunteer sorting mail at National Woman’s Party headquarters and, as the years pass, becomes more involved in the movement, becoming, at 19, a full-time worker operating the switchboard at NWP headquarters. She joins picket lines and becomes the youngest suffragist and the youngest to be jailed for her actions. The text brings the 15 days Matilda spends in jail to vivid life, dramatizing the inhumane treatment the suffragists received. Though sometimes exhausted and discouraged, Matilda never gives up, continuing her protests and getting arrested and jailed again and again as the movement slowly makes progress toward eventual victory.

Date Published:2025

Make Me a Monster

Bayron, Kalynn


Meka’s life is pretty perfect, albeit a bit weird. She has a nice group of friends, an adoring boyfriend who she’s ready to take the next step with, loving parents, and a certificate to be a practicing mortuary assistant. Though the other kids at school find her family’s funeral-home business creepy, she couldn’t care less with the joy she experiences helping people with their mourning (even if, sometimes, children get a little creepy about death). Then, tragedy strikes, and Meka is sure she’ll only ever feel sadness. Unfortunately, she can’t really wallow in her sadness, as she’s followed by strangers and circled by ravens, and mysterious folks keep showing up at her door, harassing her father. When her dad is kidnapped, Meka must reckon with the truth of the car-crash nightmare that haunts her dreams and the familiar figure keeping her safe.
Date Published:2025

Meka’s life is pretty perfect, albeit a bit weird. She has a nice group of friends, an adoring boyfriend who she’s ready to take the next step with, loving parents, and a certificate to be a practicing mortuary assistant. Though the other kids at school find her family’s funeral-home business creepy, she couldn’t care less with the joy she experiences helping people with their mourning (even if, sometimes, children get a little creepy about death). Then, tragedy strikes, and Meka is sure she’ll only ever feel sadness. Unfortunately, she can’t really wallow in her sadness, as she’s followed by strangers and circled by ravens, and mysterious folks keep showing up at her door, harassing her father. When her dad is kidnapped, Meka must reckon with the truth of the car-crash nightmare that haunts her dreams and the familiar figure keeping her safe.

Date Published:2025

Death in the Jungle : Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown.

Fleming, Candace


Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple have remained a subject of fascination long after the horrifying, infamous events in Guyana in the 1970s, and Fleming brings her trademark deep research and thoughtful approach to this account of Jones’ ascension and violent downfall. Working roughly chronologically, she begins with Jones’ early life in the Midwest, the initial idea behind the Peoples Temple in Indiana, the opportunistic ways he used rhetoric of social justice and spirituality to attract followers, and the increasing paranoia and conspiratorial thinking that led him to uproot (and, in some cases, kidnap) his followers to Jonestown. Fleming focuses largely on Jones’ increasingly unsettling behavior, but she clearly works hard to give voice to many survivors of Jonestown, allowing them to describe their own reasons for following Jones and how they have dealt with the aftermath. Notably, Fleming emphasizes that Jones’ final violent act was not, as it is often assumed, the consenting suicide of almost 1,000 people; rather, she carefully notes the many documented dissents of his victims.
Date Published:2025

Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple have remained a subject of fascination long after the horrifying, infamous events in Guyana in the 1970s, and Fleming brings her trademark deep research and thoughtful approach to this account of Jones’ ascension and violent downfall. Working roughly chronologically, she begins with Jones’ early life in the Midwest, the initial idea behind the Peoples Temple in Indiana, the opportunistic ways he used rhetoric of social justice and spirituality to attract followers, and the increasing paranoia and conspiratorial thinking that led him to uproot (and, in some cases, kidnap) his followers to Jonestown. Fleming focuses largely on Jones’ increasingly unsettling behavior, but she clearly works hard to give voice to many survivors of Jonestown, allowing them to describe their own reasons for following Jones and how they have dealt with the aftermath. Notably, Fleming emphasizes that Jones’ final violent act was not, as it is often assumed, the consenting suicide of almost 1,000 people; rather, she carefully notes the many documented dissents of his victims.

Date Published:2025

A Guide to Falling off the Map

Arnot, Zanni L.


Vinnie Smith has her career as an actress all mapped out. She’ll be drama captain in year 12, and then she and best friend Lilah will go to New York City, where she will audition for Juilliard. Then, as if someone took her map and tilted it, everything comes crashing down. Lilah wins the drama captain title, and Ms. Montague, the drama teacher, is mentoring Lilah to audition for Juilliard, leaving Vinnie in the dust. On top of that, she starts experiencing headaches, double vision, and fatigue, all symptoms of multiple sclerosis, a disease that contributed to her mother’s death. She turns to her childhood best friend, Roo Abernathy, a talented photographer who dropped out of school to help support his mother. Together, they’ll revisit as many of the natural sites in Australia that they visited as children as possible. Roo will take pictures, and Vinnie will put together a showing. As they travel together, they grow closer, complicating matters. When Vinnie’s symptoms catch up with her, their trip is over, but their new relationship has just begun.
Date Published:2025

Vinnie Smith has her career as an actress all mapped out. She’ll be drama captain in year 12, and then she and best friend Lilah will go to New York City, where she will audition for Juilliard. Then, as if someone took her map and tilted it, everything comes crashing down. Lilah wins the drama captain title, and Ms. Montague, the drama teacher, is mentoring Lilah to audition for Juilliard, leaving Vinnie in the dust. On top of that, she starts experiencing headaches, double vision, and fatigue, all symptoms of multiple sclerosis, a disease that contributed to her mother’s death. She turns to her childhood best friend, Roo Abernathy, a talented photographer who dropped out of school to help support his mother. Together, they’ll revisit as many of the natural sites in Australia that they visited as children as possible. Roo will take pictures, and Vinnie will put together a showing. As they travel together, they grow closer, complicating matters. When Vinnie’s symptoms catch up with her, their trip is over, but their new relationship has just begun.

Date Published:2025

Up in Smoke

Brooks, Nick


Brooks (Promise Boys, 2024) offers up another compelling whodunit with this story of a shooting at protest. In the sweltering D.C. summer, Cooper’s feeling aimless, since the teen jobs program he was relying on was unceremoniously canceled. When his best friend, Jay, recruits him to stand watch during a smash-and-grab, he reluctantly follows. Soon, though, he’s toting thousands in stolen goods during a protest when a murder occurs, in which Jay’s the top suspect. Cooper joins up with Jay’s sharp, determined sister, Monique, to prove Jay’s innocence while trying to conceal his own involvement. Brooks’ cinematic mystery is full of twists involving crooked cops and charismatic leaders.
Date Published:2025

Brooks (Promise Boys, 2024) offers up another compelling whodunit with this story of a shooting at protest. In the sweltering D.C. summer, Cooper’s feeling aimless, since the teen jobs program he was relying on was unceremoniously canceled. When his best friend, Jay, recruits him to stand watch during a smash-and-grab, he reluctantly follows. Soon, though, he’s toting thousands in stolen goods during a protest when a murder occurs, in which Jay’s the top suspect. Cooper joins up with Jay’s sharp, determined sister, Monique, to prove Jay’s innocence while trying to conceal his own involvement. Brooks’ cinematic mystery is full of twists involving crooked cops and charismatic leaders.

Date Published:2025

War Games : A Novel of 1936 Berlin.

Gratz, Alan, 1972-


This exciting historical thriller set during Berlin’s 1936 Olympics features three young Olympic athletes and a daring plan to steal gold from the German National Bank. Evie, 13, is a white American gymnast whose struggling family fled the Oklahoma dust bowl. Karl is a gay twenty-something German wrestler, and, ironically, the actual Hitler Youth poster boy, and biracial Ursula is a teenage French diver. Solomon, a conniving British journalist, is the adult behind the plan and knows why each athlete is willing to break the law. The plot focuses mainly on the heist from Evie’s perspective and less on the Olympic Games, with less-developed secondary characters. Readers discover alongside Evie the horrors of Hitler’s Nazi Germany and all that’s at stake during the games. The omnipresent prejudice against certain groups of people will feel relevant to modern readers, and the mash-up of fictional characters with real people alongside plot twists will have everyone on the edge of their seats.
Date Published:2025

This exciting historical thriller set during Berlin’s 1936 Olympics features three young Olympic athletes and a daring plan to steal gold from the German National Bank. Evie, 13, is a white American gymnast whose struggling family fled the Oklahoma dust bowl. Karl is a gay twenty-something German wrestler, and, ironically, the actual Hitler Youth poster boy, and biracial Ursula is a teenage French diver. Solomon, a conniving British journalist, is the adult behind the plan and knows why each athlete is willing to break the law. The plot focuses mainly on the heist from Evie’s perspective and less on the Olympic Games, with less-developed secondary characters. Readers discover alongside Evie the horrors of Hitler’s Nazi Germany and all that’s at stake during the games. The omnipresent prejudice against certain groups of people will feel relevant to modern readers, and the mash-up of fictional characters with real people alongside plot twists will have everyone on the edge of their seats.

Date Published:2025