Archives de catégorie : Middle Grade

A FRIGHT TO REMEMBER d’Adrianna Cuevas

The first book in a fangtastic new series inspired by Nickelodeon’s animated show Monster High!

A FRIGHT TO REMEMBER (Monster High #1)
by Adrianna Cuevas
Amulet/Abrams, October 2023

As Monster High prepares for its annual talent show, Frankie Stein is left wondering what they could perform. When Torelei Stripe mocks Frankie’s music playing abilities, Frankie is left even more confused about which of their brain parts is exciting enough for the talent show. Luckily, Headmistress Bloodgood presents Frankie with new information about their brain that might hold the answer. Except Frankie discovers that their brain part is from a disgraced scientist accused of unethical experiments. Plagued by dreams from the scientist’s life, Frankie teams up with Draculaura and Clawdeen to discover the truth about their past—and save Monster High in the process.

Adrianna Cuevas is the author of the Pura Belpre honor book The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, Cuba in My Pocket, The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto, and Mari and the Curse of El Cocodrilo. She is a first-generation Cuban-American originally from Miami, Florida. A former Spanish and ESOL teacher, Adrianna currently resides in Austin, Texas with her husband and son. When not working with TOEFL students, wrangling multiple pets including an axolotl, and practicing fencing with her son, she is writing her next middle grade novel.

SUPER SLOTH EPISODE 1: THE SHAR-WOLF OF NEW YORK CITY d’Aleesah Darlison & Cheri Hughes

Crime-fighting and mutant animals in this super-fun new series from award-winning author, Aleesah Darlison.

SUPER SLOTH EPISODE 1:
THE SHAR-WOLF OF NEW YORK CITY
by Aleesah Darlison
illustrated by Cheri Hughes
Big Sky Publishing, April 2023
(via Randle Editorial & Literary)

In this origin story, pygmy sloth, Romeo Fortez, is born on remote Escudo Island. At his naming ceremony, a once-in-a-millennium event imbibes him with powers of speed, intelligence, and irresistibly hypnotic good looks. When Romeo moves to New York he discovers that Professor Ian Weird-Warp, a geneticist obsessed with splicing animal genes together, has unleashed a gigantic mutant shar-wolf on the city. With the help of some new human and animal friends, Romeo forms a team of crime fighters to save the city from the evil Professor Weird-Warp and his mutant creation.

Aleesah Darlison is a multi-published, award-winning Australian children’s author. She has written over fifty books for children including picture books, chapter books, novels, and series. In January 2021, Aleesah received an Australia Day Award from the Sunshine Coast Council. Aleesah has also won numerous awards for her writing including the 2015 Environment Award for Children’s Literature (Our Class Tiger – Non-Fiction) and an Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Mentorship. Her picture book, Warambi, was a 2012 CBCA Notable Book and was shortlisted for the Eve Pownall Award and the Environment Award. Her picture book, Emerald: The Green Turtle’s Tale was shortlisted for the 2018 Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards. Aleesah travels extensively, delivering talks and workshops to children and adults at preschools, schools, libraries, literary festivals, and writers’ centres. She also works as a writing mentor and tutor.

THE BRAVEST WARRIOR IN NEFARIA d’Adi Alsaid

Phineas and Ferb meets the Despicable Me series in this hilarious and heartwarming middle-grade debut from acclaimed author Adi Alsaid about a wannabe hero who lives in a goofily evil kingdom where nefarious schemes abound.

THE BRAVEST WARRIOR IN NEFARIA (Book 1)
by Adi Alsaid
Alladin/Simon & Schuster, September 2023
(via Park & Fine Literary)

Welcome to Nefaria, where nearly every day the kingdom faces another evil scheme. Most are harmless, though, so the citizens of Nefaria simply learn to live with the latest hijinks and go on with their lives. This includes Bobert Bougainvillea, who is much more concerned with the fact that he seems to be invisible. From the teachers in his school to his classmates, almost no one notices Bobert, no matter how visible he tries to be. Then everything changes when Bobert follows his classmates to a cursed gumball machine.
Before he knows it, Bobert is sucked into one of Nefaria’s most villainous evil schemes, a plot that has been a long time in the making—too long, in the evil wizard Matt’s opinion. And retreating into invisibility this time won’t do, not when Bobert is the only one with the drive, knowledge, and—if his newfound courage doesn’t fail him—bravery to foil Matt’s plan.

Born and raised in Mexico City, Adi Alsaid is the author of several young adult novels including Let’s Get Lost, We Didn’t Ask for This, and North of Happy, a Kirkus Best Book nominee. He also edited Come on In: 15 stories about Immigration and Finding Home. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife and two cats, where he occasionally spills hot sauce on things (and cats).

SHOW STRIDES #1 de Rennie Dyball & Piper Klemm

A contemporary take on bestselling series such as The Saddle Club, SHOW STRIDES brings the world of horses, horse shows, and barn life to a new generation of readers.

SHOW STRIDES #1: SCHOOL HORSES AND SHOW PONIES
by Rennie Dyball & Piper Klemm
Andrews McMeel, Summer 2024
(via Gillian MacKenzie Agency)

SHOW STRIDES follows young equestrian Tally Hart and her stable of friends as they work together to succeed both in and out of the show ring.
As veteran horsewomen and leaders in the equestrian industry, Piper and Rennie want to draw as many children as possible into the magical world of horses. It is no secret that equestrian sports have historically been elitist. But as the sport expands and seeks to be more inclusive, a new generation of riders are now entering the ring and the bookstore—looking for stories they can connect to, but coming up short-handed. SHOW STRIDES is the contemporary, bestselling answer to the problems found in outdated classics like The Saddle Club and Thoroughbred. Gone is the “mean girl” that often populated the pages of those series; instead SHOW STRIDES embraces kids working together and lifting each other up. Gone is the stereotypical arrogant rich girl leading the charge; instead SHOW STRIDES stars Tally Hart, who mucks stalls, bathes ponies, fills water buckets, and sweeps aisles, all to pay for her riding lessons. (To Tally, this isn’t work. As anyone who has ever loved a horse knows, just being around the creatures is reward enough.)
With a diverse cast of characters, this inclusive series is aimed to appeal to everyone—from the kid actively competing in horse shows to the one just reading and dreaming about them from their bedroom. And based on the initial self-published success SHOW STRIDES has found, it looks it is on its way to earning a blue ribbon.

Piper Klemm is the owner and publisher of The Plaid Horse, the leading North-American equestrian magazine with more than 85,000 unique and meaningfully engaged readers; 400,000 monthly webpage views; and over 130,000 followers across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. In addition, The Plaid Horse gets over 1,000,000 monthly views on Pinterest. Co-author Rennie Dyball has been writing and riding her whole life. She worked for fifteen years at People magazine and has ghostwritten books for Christian Siriano, Andrea Barber, and most recently Terry Crews and Rebecca King Crews, among others. Piper Klemm and Rennie Dyball are a unique and powerful team, combining Piper’s many years as a staple of equestrian sports media, and Rennie’s tenure as an author and 20 years in mainstream media. Both are active members as the equestrian community, not just in media, but as competitors on a national level themselves.

SUPER BOBA CAFÉ de Nidhi Chanani

From award-winning author Nidhi Chanani comes a sweet and magical new middle-grade graphic novel about a boba café, an earthquake-causing monster, and an unforgettable summer!

SUPER BOBA CAFÉ
by Nidhi Chanani
Abrams, October 2023
(via Writers House)

In the fog laden hills of San Francisco sits a sleepy independent boba café. Run by Jing Li and guarded by her kitty Bao, it comfortably fades into the background. But inside the boba café, there’s a secret. Jing is the keeper of the monster of San Francisco. Each day she prepares one giant boba for nine hours to feed it.
When Jing’s granddaughter, Aria, comes to stay with her for the summer she makes it her mission to turn the café around. Aria is quickly aided by Bao, who gives birth to eight perfect kittens. Aria spreads the news of the boba cat café on social media and overnight it is overrun with excited customers. Each day Nainai Li (Grandma Li) finds reasons to close the cafe but the demand only increases.
When she opens, the hill monster is left hungry and small earthquakes begin to plague the city. When Aria secretly follows her Nainai to the hill monster cave she isn’t sure what awaits. Will Aria be able to reason with the monster or become its new favorite meal? Or will she disturb its underground existence and cause the Big One?

Indian American illustrator and writer Nidhi Chanani has published several books for young readers, including YA graphic novel Pashmina, which was a Junior Library Guild selection, Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year, Texas Maverick Graphic Novel, Northern California Indie Bookseller Association Long-List Title and a YALSA Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens. Born in Kolkata, India and raised in California, she holds a degree in literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and in 2012 she was honored by the Obama Administration as a Champion of Change.