Baby:
Get Ready For School by Dorling Kindersley, Editors
(Dorling Kindersley, July 2015)
Are you already worried about your child’s first day of preschool? Dorling Kindersley has published a great interactive book to help prepare you and your toddler for his or her exciting new adventure.
Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo and Flo! by Laurel Molk
(Penguin Books for Young Readers, July 2015)
Four brother mice delight in aggravating the animals in the jungle. Little sister Flo wants to tag along too. As they make their way among the animals, Flo keeps popping up in the funniest ways. This is a great picture book for your family to share.
Night World by Mordicai Gerstein
(Little Brown Books For Young Readers, June 2015)
A young boy and his cat go outside into the night. The boy learns the beauty of the night and nature in this quiet book to be shared on a summer evening. Gerstein’s illustrations shine.
Emerging:
No Way…Way! Roadtrip by Tracey West
(National Geographic Books, June 2015)
If you are going on a road trip this summer, here’s a fun and wacky guide for the whole family. It is chock full of facts and activities to occupy everyone.
Princess & The Pony by Kate Beaton
(Scholastic Books, June 2015)
In a laugh out loud picture book that young readers will want to read to their parents, the princess wants a big, strong warrior horse. When she receives a chubby little pony instead, she has to learn that good things can come in different packages.
One Word From Sophia by Jim Averbeck
(Simon & Schuster Books, June 2015)
Sophia wants only one thing for her birthday: a giraffe. But no one in the family is responding to her request. In a playful exploration of negotiation, in this adorable book Sophia tries to convince the judge, the businessman, the politician, and her grandmother. It fuels creative thinking for the young set.
Tween:
Fog Diver by Joel Ross
(Harper Collins Children’s Books, June 2015)
In a world of the future, where a dangerous nanobot fog covers the surface of the earth and survivors live on mountaintops above it, Chess is a fog diver – a kid from the slums who risks his life scavenging from the ruins of cities below. He and his crew are a tight-knit unit who protect one another from the other desperate people of the slum and from the wealthy folks who live farther up the mountain top, including Lord Kodoc, the ruler of Rooftop, who wants Chess, who has a special immunity to the fog, to work for him. Chess and his friends must find a way to avoid capture and reach the top of a mountain where a cure for fog sickness can be found.
From The Notebooks of a Middle School Princess
by Meg Cabot
(Feiwel & Friends, May 2015)
Cabot returns to the world of the Princess Diaries series by introducing us to Olivia, a twelve year old who is living an average life with her aunt, uncle and cousins. One day, a limo carrying Princess Mia of Genovia arrives at her school, and Olivia is whisked away to meet her father and her Grandmere, and she learns that she’s a princess, too! In this very fun continuation of a popular series, Cabot gets the voice exactly right.
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mulally Hunt
(Nancy Paulsen Books, February 2015)
Ally has a bad reputation. Fellow students think she’s a dummy, and teachers think she’s a trouble maker. She likes art and math, well at least until this year, when math started using word problems. She hates reading and writing and uses behavior to get out of doing assignments she simply can’t do. When her teacher goes on maternity leave, she gets another chance with Mr. Davis, who suspects that Ally may be a whole lot smarter than she acts. With his help, and some new-found friends, Ally develops mechanisms to help her overcome her dyslexia, and she starts enjoying school.
Teen:
Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas
(Blooomsbury USA Children’s Books, June, 2015)
Ollie and Moritz are pen pals who are destined never to meet. Ollie has an allergy to electricity that requires him to live in a remote part of Northern Michigan, and Moritz has a weak heart that is maintained by a pacemaker and lives in Germany. In spite of their differences, they develop a strong friendship that is tested when their shared past is revealed. It’s an ode to perseverance, letter writing and friendship.
Emmy and Oliver by Robin Benway
(Harper Teen, June 2015)
Emmy and Oliver live next door to each other and are best friends. When they are in second grade, Oliver’s father abducts him from their suburban Pacific coast town, and everyone in the community is devastated, especially Emmy. Fast forward ten years when Oliver is “found” in New York City and returned to his mother. Time has marched on and everyone needs to figure out how to belong in this changed world.
Devoted by Jennifer Mathieu
(Roaring Brook Press, June 2015)
Seventeen year old Rachel Walker is one of ten children in a family who has already prescribed her future — to become a wife and mother and to serve the Lord. But Rachel is not sure that is the life she wants; she loves to read and she wonders about the world outside her own. When she commits the sin of contacting Lauren, who has left her family’s church, her father wants to send her to a camp that will reprogram her to become obedient again. Rachel escapes with Lauren’s help and tries to build a life away from her family and all she has ever known. This is a balanced, engaging story of a girl’s search for her own identity.
