Archives de catégorie : Middle Grade

THE ROYAL WITCH d’Emily Kaye

The Fate of a Kingdom: in the hands of two kids who just can’t get along. By YouTube Silver-Play-Button recipient Emily Kaye.

THE ROYAL WITCH
by Emily Kaye
TBD
(via The Lennon-Ritchie Agency)

Each generation, a grand ceremony in the Kingdom of Alveria binds its crown prince to a powerful witch. Jointly, future king andwitch must protect their realm.

Enter timid and awkward Gus. He’s trained his entire life to become the Royal Witch and is absolutely terrified to meet the – sogorgeous – prince. Prince Emilio: confident, self-absorbed, and Gus’s opposite in every way.

In a partnership that seems doomed from the start, things go from bad to worse when Emilio announces in the middle of theceremony that he hates magic and doesn’t want to be the Royal Witch at all. A fight breaks out. Everyone watches in horror asthe two boys, meant to protect their country, brawl it out on the palace floor.

Despite their disastrous tantrum, the ceremony is concluded, leaving them bound together and forced to cooperate.

THE ROYAL WITCH follows the many misadventures of Gus and Emilio as they learn to work together to protect their kingdom.

Based on a Webtoon featured as a Rising Star, Staff Pick, Hot Series, and one of the faces of Webtoon’s 2022 LGBTQ+ Prideevents.

Emily Kaye got her start in social media, writing skits for YouTube and TikTok which gained over 100,000,000+ views and earned her YouTube’s SilverPlay-Button. She branched out into writing webnovels that had millions of views. Her most popular, HERO VS VILLAIN, is ranked as the #1 LGBTQ+novel and the #4 romance novel on Wattpad and is the fourth most liked free-to-read novel on Tapas. HERO VS VILLAIN received a manhwa (comic)adaptation by the Korean studio Toomics and has been optioned for an animated series. Emily specializes in writing queer and female-led stories andwas one of the main faces for Webtoon’s 2021 Pride. She wrote and co-directed the prize-winning short film FREELY WE SERVE, which screened atfestivals including Newfest, Genreblast, the Seattle Queer Film Festival, and PRISM.

A BITE ABOVE THE REST de Christine Virnig

Welcome to Samhain . . .

A BITE ABOVE THE REST
by Christine Virnig
Aladdin, August 2024
(via Dystel, Goderich & Bourret)

Imagine moving to a town where every day is like Halloween: where costumes are worn daily, Halloween decorations stay up year-round, and the town hall looks like a vampire’s castle. Sounds pretty amazing, right? Well, not if you’re Caleb Fisher. Caleb thinks Samhain, Wisconsin, is the strangest place he’s ever been—and not strange in a good way. Strange in a creepy something-is-definitely-not-right-around-here way.

Then things become even stranger when a terrifying run-in with the mayor leaves Caleb wondering: Are the citizens of Samhain really just humans playing dress-up as monsters? Or are actual witches and werewolves and blood-sucking vampires hiding in plain sight?

With the help of his best friend, Tai, Caleb sets out to uncover the truth . . . ideally before a werewolf devours them for breakfast, or a witch turns them into earwigs. But if Caleb’s growing suspicions are correct—and he and Tai are the only ones who realize what’s actually going on—can they find a way to save a town that doesn’t want saving?

Christine Virnig makes her kidlit debut with Dung for Dinner. Christine is a pediatric physician specializing in allergies where—in addition to dodging the occasional snot rocket or projectile vomit—she gets to talk about topics that most adults find downright repulsive, like phlegm, snot, and dust mite poo. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband, two children, and two hairball producers.

THE LIBRARY OF CURIOSITIES de Jenny Lundquist

11-year-old Rowan Fitzgerald discovers the library her estranged grandfather runs is filled with magical objects—but only one holds the key to her family’s mysterious past.

THE LIBRARY OF CURIOSITIES
by Jenny Lundquist
Holiday House, July 2025
(via KT Literary)

After being expelled from boarding school—again—Rowan isn’t sure what to expect upon arriving at Fitzgerald Manor. But it sure isn’t this.

The estate is opulent. Lush. Grand. Mind-boggling. And at the heart of it all is Cillian Fitzgerald, her enigmatic grandfather, and his pride and joy: the Library of Curiosities.

Now, everyone knows that libraries are the best. But the Library of Curiosities is the best of the best, because its collection contains a vast trove of magical objects from which lucky patrons can borrow to fix their everyday problems. Still stuck on that language arts story assignment? Try writing it on the enchanted typewriter and see if that doesn’t get the words flowing. Hoping to land the lead in the school musical? Check out a wishing sock. (Use high heat to activate.)

It doesn’t take long for Rowan to realize that in this wondrous place, her own problems—her painful want of family, her deep desire for friends—might actually be solved for the first time in her life.

Except.

Except that library curiosities have started going missing, and suspicion is falling squarely on Rowan’s shoulders.

Except that Cillian’s dangerous archenemy, the vengeful and slippery Silverjack, now has Rowan in his sights, too.

Except that there is the ongoing matter of the Everhart curiosity, which hasn’t been seen in years, but if found could help Rowan at last unsnarl her family’s tangled, strange history.

To clear her name, to avoid capture, to locate the Everhart, Rowan will have to fight forces both within and outside of the library that threaten everything she’s only just begun to hold dear.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.

Jenny Lundquist xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

 

THE HUNDREDTH VOICE de Caitlin Like

Uriel Driscoll was born into a family with an amazing gift…and a terrible curse.

THE HUNDREDTH VOICE
by Caitlin Like
Dark Horse Books, October 2023
(via KT Literary)

Invited to the exclusive Aisling Academy, run by his own mysterious grandfather, Uriel finds the curse is the least of his problems: horrible accidents keep befalling the students, ghosts roam the halls, and Uriel isn’t sure he can sing in the first place! And if Uriel can’t find a way to break his family’s curse, he’ll have to leave his new school, and his new friends, forever…

Pefect for fans of Neil Gaiman, The Phantom of the Opera, ghosts, and fae!

Caitlin Like is a cartoonist from Portland, Oregon. THE HUNDREDTH VOICE is her debut graphic novel.

GLASS: A CINDERELLA TALE de Kathryn Lasky

Newbery Honoree Kathryn Lasky delivers a riveting upper middle grade fairytale from the perspective of the fairy godmother in Cinderella.

GLASS: A CINDERELLA TALE
by Kathryn Lasky
HarperCollins Children’s Books, July 2024

Set in a stunning glass house surrounded by crystalized flower gardens and alluring forests, Bess is a young woman growing into her powers and learning to overcome evil. An enchanting story of magic, family conflict, identity, and rebellion, in a gorgeous and dark world made of glass.

Everyone knows the story of Cinderella, but not many know the one about her fairy godmother, a tale that Glass infuses with a darker edge of magic and mystery that will certainly intrigue young readers as Bess must defeat her family’s dark magic to save the kingdom and herself.

Kathryn Lasky is a New York Times bestselling author of many books, which include her Tangled in Time series; her bestselling series Guardians of Ga’Hoole , which was made into the Warner Bros. movie Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole ; and her picture book Sugaring Time, awarded a Newbery Honor.