Archives de catégorie : Middle Grade

REBELLION 1776 de Laurie Halse Anderson

From New York Times bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson comes an eerily timely historical fiction middle-grade adventure about a girl struggling to survive amid a smallpox epidemic, the public’s fear of inoculation, and the seething Revolutionary War.

REBELLION 1776
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Simon & Schuster, April 2025
(via Writers House)

In the spring of 1776, thirteen-year-old Elsbeth Culpepper wakes to the sound of cannons. It’s the Siege of Boston, the Patriots’ massive drive to push the Loyalists out that turns the city into a chaotic war zone. Elsbeth’s father—her only living relative—has gone missing, leaving her alone and adrift in a broken town while desperately seeking employment to avoid the orphanage.

Just when things couldn’t feel worse, the smallpox epidemic sweeps across Boston. Now, Bostonians must fight for their lives against an invisible enemy in addition to the visible one. While a treatment is being frantically fine-tuned, thousands of people rush in from the countryside begging for inoculation. At the same time, others refuse protection, for the treatment is crude at best and at times more dangerous than the disease itself.

Elsbeth, who had smallpox as a small child and is now immune, finds work taking care of a large, wealthy family with discord of their own as they await a turn at inoculation, but as the epidemic and the revolution rage on, will she find her father?

Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity. She’s twice been a National Book Award finalist, for Chains and Speak; Chains also received the 2009 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Laurie was chosen for the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award and received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2023, presented to her by the Crown Princess of Sweden. She lives in Pennsylvania, and you can follow her adventures on X (previously known as Twitter) @HalseAnderson or visit her at MadWomanintheForest.com

ANOMALIES 53 #1: INTO THE SHADOWS d’Angela Cervantes

Men in Black meets Fablehaven in this exciting, new middle-grade fantasy-adventure about magic, identity, and the worlds we cannot see.

ANOMALIES 53 #1: INTO THE SHADOWS
by Angela Cervantes
HarperCollins Children’s Books, April 2025

Next door to the notorious Area 51 sits Area 53, the underground lab where the government secretly holds what they call “the anomalies.” These are the Earth-born mythical- and magical creatures – fairies, wyverns, manticores, and more – that have been captured and brought in for study. It’s also where eleven-year-old Oliver Robles, the only son of Area 53’s lead researcher, has grown up. He’s lived his whole life safely within these cement-and-steel halls … That is, until the day he accidentally freed seven anomalies. Now it’s up to Oliver and his best (and only) friend Garen Jackson to round-up these magical beings before they can escape back into The Shadows they came from. But along the way, the truths the two kids discover about the world, and themselves, will change everything, forever.

Angela Cervantes is the Mexican American author of several children’s novels, such as 2020 Pura Belpré Honor Book Lety Out Loud. In addition to her original novels, Angela authored the junior novelizations for Disney/Pixar’s animated film Coco and Disney’s animated film Encanto.

SO OVER SHARING d’Elissa Brent Weissman

In this timely contemporary middle-grade novel from award-winning author Elissa Brent Weissman, two girls find their private struggles against their influencer mothers going very public.

SO OVER SHARING
by Elissa Brent Weissman

Dial Books for Young Readers, May 2025
(via DeFiore and Company)

Quiet, introverted Hadley and rough-around-the-edges Willow have one big main thing in common: both their moms have gained a huge online following sharing every detail of their lives. Hadley’s mom—Phoebe of @PhoebeAndJay fame—loves to share all the terrible, down and dirty bits about raising kids while Willow’s mom Rosalind at the up-and-coming @MoonbeamsAndMarigold basks in the glow of motherhood.

If getting all her life’s moments (including an almost decade old viral potty-training video) shared online isn’t enough, Hadley’s starting a new school in a new neighborhood and desperately trying to keep her mom’s identity a secret while Willow is struggling with a recent life-changing announcement from her mom who, it turns out, is not getting out of the influencer world anytime soon.

As the two girls build a friendship on a private Instagram page and share the pains of having a momfluencers, they come up against the same question—how long will they have to share their lives with everyone?

Elissa Brent Weissman is an award-winning author of novels for young readers including The Length of a String and The Renegade Reporters. Her debut picture book, Hanukkah Upside Down, illustrated by Omar Hoffmann was a Sydney Taylor Book Honoree. Best known for the popular Nerd Camp series, she and her books have been featured in Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, NPR’s “Here and Now,” and more. Originally from Long Island, New York, Elissa spent many years in Baltimore City, where she taught creative writing to children, college students, and adults. She currently lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her husband and their two super cool nerds-in-training.

THE HOUSE OF FOUND OBJECTS de Jo Beckett-King

For fans of The Swifts and The Strangers comes an exciting mystery filled with cryptic clues and wonderful word puzzles as Bea and her cousin Celine must locate their grandmother’s precious painting and the mysterious individual leading them from clue to clue.

THE HOUSE OF FOUND OBJECTS
(Bea Bellerose, Book 1)
by Jo Beckett-King
Simon & Schuster BYR, August 2025
(via DeFiore and Company)

THE HOUSE OF FOUND OBJECTS introduces a great new middle-grade detective, in the tradition of Enola Holmes and Flavia DeLuce but entirely contemporary.

Twelve-year-old Bea is visiting family in Paris for the summer when her grandmother’s most precious heirloom—a drawing by Henri Matisse—goes missing. After a clue arrives on Bea’s doorstep suggesting its whereabouts, Bea is determined to pursue the lead. From the first page, readers are immersed in the quaint and cozy Parisian setting and her grandmother’s quirky antique store.

Without the French skills to navigate her way around the landmarks of Paris, she teams up with her cousin, Céline, whose clear-eyed French directness makes her a perfect partner for curious, problem-solving Bea. The girls embark on a city-wide search, deciphering riddles, solving puzzles, and cracking codes as they try to locate the Matisse and catch a thief.

In Book Two, the cousins will reunite in New York to catch a thief whose celebrity jewel heist has cast suspicion on the girls’ aunt Juliette.

Originally from the North East of England, Jo Beckett-King studied Art History at the University of York before moving to Paris, where she worked for several years, honing her skills as a translator. Her writing for children and adults has been longlisted for the Bath Children’s Novel Award and the Bristol Short Story Prize, and shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. She currently lives in San Francisco.

ELLA PORTER, TELEPORTER de Dori Hillestad Butler

Bestselling author Dori Hillestad Butler brings teleportation to life in her new middle-grade series.

ELLA PORTER, TELEPORTER
by Dori Butler
Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, TBD 2025
(via JABberwocky)

Meet spunky nine-year-old named Ella, who lives with her mother after her father died when she was young. Ella never met a rule she didn’t want to break. Her favorite thing is to do secret acts of random kindness with her best friend, Manny.

One day Ella meets her dad’s uncle Geoff and learns a family secret. Some people on her dad’s side of the family can teleport. Ella has part of the family mark—a dot on one of her pinkie toes. Ella can’t teleport at first, but if she develops the ability, she and her mother are to alert Great Uncle Geoff immediately and he will train her properly at his home.

Great Uncle Geoff lives alone at a lighthouse on a rock in the middle of the ocean. Ella is intrigued by the idea of teleportation, but the last thing she wants to do is go live with a stranger in the middle of nowhere. So when Ella discovers she can indeed teleport, she doesn’t tell anyone other than Manny. She decides she doesn’t need to be trained. She’s doing just fine figuring things out on her own. And by being able to teleport, she and Manny can now do even bigger secret acts of random kindness than they were ever able to before.

But teleportation doesn’t always work the way Ella wants or expects it to. She doesn’t always feel so good after teleporting. She doesn’t always end up exactly where she thinks she will. And sometimes it doesn’t even work. She’s also been almost caught teleporting. More than once.

When Ella is finally caught teleporting by her mother, she must admit the truth about her powers and learn how to use them properly.

Dori Hillestad Butler has published magazine stories, educational materials, plays, book reviews, characters for a board game, and over sixty children’s books. A two-time Geisel Honor Book winner for King & Kayla and the Case of the Missing Dog Treats and King & Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth, she has also been nominated for children’s choice awards in nineteen different states and won the 2011 Edgar Award for the best juvenile mystery for Buddy Files: Case of the Lost Boy. She lives in Washington.