FROM JANUARY 11th-JANUARY 31st SELECT TITLES WILL BE 20% OFF WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL LIST.
The first joint outing from two YA greats! This compassionate, inclusive tale will warm every cockle in your heart. Pick up if you loved Julie Murphy's Dumplin'.
Rebecca
Marie Lu's The Kingdom of Back is a historical fantasy featuring Nanerl--Mozart's older and often forgotten sister. Nanerl and her brother escape into a land they've created for themselves--a land full of faeries, upside down trees, and sonatas. The vibe I got while reading was very Hansel & Gretel--not all is as seems with the gingerbread house made of sweets. Marie Lu's illustrations of this magnificent world the two Mozart children have created is gorgeous! A dark, magical, and mysterious read. Definitely read this book--especially if you’re living in a constant state of escapism like I am.
Janaea
When Sideways Pike, social outcast and lesbian witch, gets hired to do real magic at a party for the three most popular girls at her high school, she doesn't expect to end up with best friends and a new coven. Perfect for getting you into the Halloween spirit this month. Think The Craft, but queer and with all the girls lifting one another up and supporting each other.
Ari
When orphaned Effie moves in with her Aunts, she's expecting it to be the worst. But her spunky aunts are more than they appear, and when Effie herself starts to exhibit magical talent, life gets interesting. Escabasse's characters are delightfully quirky, and her drawings effervescent. Sweet, smart, magical...this is a loving and lovely book. Readers will devour this graphic novel and beg for the two sequels!
Marika
The rhyming, cutesy (or is it), colorful, irreverent Halloween book your bookshelves need. It's absurd and has a great twist. Perfect.
Stacey
This follow-up to Dear Martin is the best kind of realistic-but-gratifying fight-the-system novel. Justyce, now in college, fights for his childhood friend Quan's freedom, both from jail and from the circumstances that led him there.
Sarah
This is a ghost story of sorts, and a love story of sorts, but mostly a story about a girl who doesn't want to live a stifled life and makes a deal with the devil to live forever. A beautiful, modern story.
Heather
Inspiring true story from Chicago's West Side in the turbulent 1990s. A group of young Black men from Manley High form the first black rowing team to save themselves. They are utterly transformed by the experience. Survivors, they reunite 20 years later to make a difference by offering the same opportunity to young black kids in their hometown. They also invite white members of the Chicago Police Department to join them in bringing people together to make a difference one stroke at a time. You will be moved to tears. Now available as a documentary on Peacock TV.
Ellen
This story about an okapi-talist whose pursuit of profit ravages a community--and the noodle-loving animals who come together to stop him--feels appropriate for October 2020. Packed with puns, delicious food, cute creatures, and heart. Kids and adults alike should give it a read.
83 years old, written and read during recessions, and somehow equal parts timely and timeless; Discouraging and hopeful.
John
With a deft hand, Strelow weaves together three compelling stories, spanning a century and set in the grandeur of the Pacific coast. Her prose is gorgeous, especially the way she lovingly renders the natural environment (including the titular birds). This is a book about both finding ourselves as individuals and the ways in which we are connected to the larger world around us. I adored it.
Kate
These stories are haunted not with ghosts, but with the loss of innocence, the debts that get demanded of girls when their hips start to curve, and the terror of not quite knowing what happens to the girls who venture behind closed doors with boys.
Meaghan
THIS. BOOK. I started this book and said that I was just going to read two chapters and then do something responsible, and instead I made it ten chapters and 100 pages before I was able to rip my eyes away from the page. This book is perfect for people who want something thrilling but not too scary. With patriarchal threads from The Handmaid’s Tale (and our own society), a puritanical setting, and a vibe that reminded me of the VVitch, this is a ‘carve out a day and don’t plan on moving until you’re done’ kind of book.
Katherine
As the title promises, a perfect Gothic novel: eerie and dark, with electric suspense. It cured my pandemic slump—I couldn’t seem to focus on anything until picking this one up, and then I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend the audiobook on Libro.fm as well!
Leila
I agonized over what to read after this book before giving in and just reading this book again. I wasn't ready to leave El, the stubborn sorcereress who doesn't want to murder all her classmates even though it would be so much easier. I wanted to stay with this magical school where the high death rate isn't a bug, it's a feature. I just loved everything about it so much. Is it too soon for me to read it again a third time?
Shana