List

Category
Audience
Tags

Apple Crush

Lucy Knisley

After finally adjusting to life on a family farm with two brand new step-sisters, a young girl faces an even bigger challenge - figuring out where she fits in at her first year in middle school. This middle grade graphic novel explores family, friendship, and change!

Jen is just getting used to her life on Peapod Farm with her new stepsisters, Andy and Reese. But when the school year starts, there are even more changes in store for her. Jen has to navigate new friends and new challenges--but at least she'll have Andy with her, right? As she starts the sixth grade, she finds that her stepsister seems way more interested in crushes and boys than hanging out with her, while Jen wants to know when the world decided boys and girls couldn't be "just friends" anymore.

Jen's story continues in the standout sequel to Stepping Stones that captures everything awesome (and scary) about growing up.

View Details >>

The Great Peach Experiment 2: The Peach Pit

Erin Soderberg Downing

Hammer together a mission to turn a crumbling mansion into a cozy bed-and-breakfast, a treasure map, and a family trying to figure out their new normal to build this charming middle grade bursting with humor, heart, and hope.

Much to their surprise, the Peaches had a great summer running their food truck business selling their pies across the Mid-West, but they’re happy to be back home in Duluth, Minnesota, where they can settle back into a routine just in time for the new school year.

That is until Great Aunt Lucinda drops a big surprise on them: She wants to gift them her historic mansion. But there are conditions: they’re to turn it into a cozy and welcoming bed-and-breakfast, something the Peach kids’ mom always dreamed of before she passed away. And they only have until Thanksgiving to do the renovations and prove they can make the business work. It looks like it’s a new chapter of The Great Peach Experiment.

But as the Peaches roll up their sleeves, they quickly realize the house is more of a pit than a welcoming escape. And as the family juggles builders, possible hauntings, doggie obedience training, a treasure hunt, and the demands and worries of work and school, they soon realize that there are wonderful secrets hidden within the house’s walls, if only they can take the time to see them.

Interspersed with sketches, recipes, lists, and more, The Peach Pit is a delicious sequel to When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Peach Pie, combining humor, heartache, a little mystery, and a lot of love, to build another incredible read.

View Details >>

James and the Giant Peach

Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl's children's classic will be rediscovered with wonder and delight in this handsome gift edition with all-new black-and-white illustrations by Caldecott Honor Book artist Lane Smith (who also designed the characters for the Disney animated film). How James escapes from his miserable life with two nasty aunts and becomes a hero to his new insect family, including Miss Spider, the Old-Green-Grasshopper, the Centipede (with his 21 pairs of gorgeous boots), is Dahl-icious fantasy at its best.

View Details >>

When Life Gives You Mangos

Kereen Getten

Named to Oprah Magazine's Best Caribbean Books for Your 2021 reading list, imagination and adventure run wild in the most talked about middle grade debut of the year!  
 
A small village on a Jamaican island. 
A girl who doesn't remember the previous summer. 
A best friend who is no longer acting like one; a new girl who fills that hole in her heart. 
A summer of finding fallen mangos, creating made up games and dancing in the rain. 
Secrets she keeps from others...and herself.
The courage to face the truth even in the toughest of storms. 
 
Inspired by the author's childhood experiences, When Life Give You Mangos is a celebration of island life as well as a rich, lyrical mystery.  
 
Read it...and don't spoil the unforgettable ending! 

A recommended read for classroom discussons and educators looking for diverse offerings. 


"A heartfelt and accessible debut about friendship, memory, and forgiveness." —Tae Keller, author of Newbery Medal winner When You Trap a Tiger

"A wonderful story with great heart, mystery, and insight. Kereen Getten is a bright new voice." —Clare Vanderpool, author of Newbery Medal winner Moon Over Manifest and Printz Honor book Navigating Early 

"A heartwarming yet suspenseful debut about the strength of family, the turmoil of friendships lost and found, and most importantly, remembering who you are." —Lynne Kelly, author of the Schneider award winner Song for a Whale 

View Details >>

The Great Peach Experiment 1: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Peach Pie

Erin Soderberg Downing

Mix together a used food truck, a road trip that doesn't exactly go as planned, and a lot of pie, and you have the recipe for this sweet middle grade series starter brimming with humor, heart, and a family you'll fall in love with. Perfect for readers who gobbled down The Penderwicks and The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street.

Sweet summer has taken a rotten turn . . .

After a tough year, Lucy, Freddy, and Herb Peach are ready for vacation. Lucy wants to read all of the books on the summer reading list. Freddy wants to work on his art projects (when he isn't stuck in summer school). Herb wants to swim every day.

Then their dad makes a big announcement: one of the inventions their mom came up with before she passed away has sold, and now they're millionaires!

But Dad has bigger plans than blowing the cash on fun stuff or investing it. He's bought a used food truck. The Peaches are going to spend the summer traveling the country selling pies. It will be the Great Peach Experiment--a summer of bonding while living out one of Mom's dreams. Summer plans, sunk. And there's one more issue Dad's neglected: none of them knows how to bake. . . .

A perfect blend of humor, heart, and family antics, When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Peach Pie is a delectable treat to be gobbled down or savored slowly. (Slice of pie on the side, optional, but highly recommended.)

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

View Details >>

Lemons

Melissa D. Savage

The search for Bigfoot gets juicy in this funny and touching story that's perfect for fans of Kate DiCamillo's Flora & Ulysses and the movie Smallfoot!

Lemonade Liberty Witt's mama always told her: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But Lem can't possibly make lemonade out of her new life in Willow Creek, California--the Bigfoot Capital of the World--where she's forced to live with a grandfather she's never met after her mother passes away.

Then she meets eleven-year-old Tobin Sky, the CEO of Bigfoot Detectives Inc., who is the sole Bigfoot investigator for their small town. After he invites Lem to be his assistant for the summer, they set out on an epic adventure to capture a shot of the elusive beast on film. But along the way, Lem and Tobin end up discovering more than they ever could have imagined. And Lem realizes that maybe she can make lemonade out of her new life after all.

"Melissa Savage's astoundingly good debut novel is packed with humor, mystery, friendship, family secrets, and even Bigfoot! I think you'll love it, too." --Karen Cushman, Newbery Medalist for The Midwife's Apprentice

View Details >>

Miss Quinces: a Graphic Novel

Kat Fajardo

Rising star Kat Fajardo's debut middle-grade graphic novel about a girl who would rather do anything other than celebrate her quinceañera! A funny and heartfelt coming-of-age story about navigating the expectations of family and cultural tradition.

 

Sue just wants to spend the summer reading and making comics at sleepaway camp with her friends, but instead she gets stuck going to Honduras to visit relatives with her parents and two sisters. They live way out in the country, which means no texting, no cable, and no Internet! The trip takes a turn for the worse when Sue's mother announces that they'll be having a surprise quinceañera for Sue, which is the last thing she wants. She can't imagine wearing a big, floofy, colorful dress! What is Sue going to do? And how will she survive all this "quality" time with her rambunctious family?

Miss Quinces/Srta. Quinces is the first graphic novel published by Scholastic/Graphix to be simultaneously released in English and Spanish editions!

View Details >>