Here are some of the new books releasing this week!
Books for Kids
Big Bird (Board Book) – A board book celebrating a Sesame Street favorite.
Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck (Board Book) – Board book celebrating Cookie and his foodie truck.
I Am Brave (Board Book) AND I Am Caring (Board Book) – Board book versions of Meltzer’s Ordinary People Change the World series of picture book biographies.
Between Us and Abuela: A Family Story from the Border – A family travels to the border of California and Mexico to celebrate Christmas with their Abuela.
Fairy Science – The latest picture book from the delightful Ashley Spires. Esther the fairy believes in science instead of magic which is handy. When a tree in the forest stops growing, Esther uses her science skills to look for the cause. I cannot wait to read this one!!
I Am Marie Curie AND I Am Walt Disney – The latest picture book biographies in the excellent Ordinary People Change the World series.
Musical Mac – A shy millipede wants to compete in a talent show, but he’s too shy to compete by himself. When he tries to join a band there’s no group that will take him. The sample pages I have seen look delightful! I can’t wait to read this one, too!
A Mustache Baby Christmas – Mustache Baby becomes Elf Baby at Christmas time, and he’s eager to help his friend Javier whose beard turned white so he can be Santa Baby. But when Elf Baby finishes helping with all the new toys, he decides to keep them for himself. This is another one I will be looking for this week!
You’re In Good Paws – His distracted parents accidentally take Leo to the animal hospital to have his tonsils removed. This looks fantastic!
Didi Dodo Future Spy: Robo-Dodo Rumble – Book 2 in the series. Koko’s cookie shop is in trouble when a Robo-Dodo starts selling cookies for only a penny.
Judy Moody, Book Quiz Whiz – Book 15 in the Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald. This time Judy, Stink and their friends are competing in a quiz tournament about books. This was delightful! I’ll be posting a full review tomorrow.
Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue AND Kitty and the Tiger Treasure – The first two books in a new early chapter book series about a superhero cat.
The World Series Kids – Part of the Ballpark Mysteries series.
Books for Older Kids/Teens/Young Adults
Astronuts – First in a new series. Four hybrid animals created to find planets suitable for life after the Earth is destroyed check out the Plant Planet. Addresses some environmental issues in a fun, space-related story. I can’t wait to read this one!
Kid Normal and the Rogue Heroes – Sequel to Kid Normal. Kid Normal and his friends meet up with the world’s worst supervillain.
Max Eintsein: Rebels with a Cause – Book 2 in the Max Einstein series, the latest from the team up of James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein. Max and her genius friends are off to tackle a water crisis while dodging kidnappers.
Magic Misfits: The Minor Third – Book 3 in the Magic Misfits series by Neil Patrick Harris. I enjoyed the first book and felt it had a Lemoncello-esque feel to it. In this book, Theo the violinist is the central character, and the kids are up against a suspicious ventriloquist.
Stargazing – A middle grade graphic novel. Two kids become friends and one confesses to the other that she sometimes has other-worldly visions. But those visions have an earthly cause and soon the girl is in the hospital. How does a kid be a best friend to someone fighting for her life in a hospital? This one is going to be amazing.
The Art of Harry Potter Mini Book of Magical Places – Small gift book with art from the Harry Potter films.
Broken Strings (Older Middle Grade) – When a middle schooler gets cast in Fiddler on the Roof, she thinks her Jewish grandfather might have things in his attic the school production can use. But she discovers an old violin with broken strings and some secrets of her grandfather’s past that he wants to keep to himself. This is one of the best books I have read all year! I will be posting a full review of this tomorrow. The intended audience for this is older middle grade readers – kids 10 and up.
Cracking the Bell – A teen who finds order and structure on the football field after a family tragedy wonders if the costs of football are worth it after he suffers a concussion. This is a timely story for teens. I have this on my library list.
Frankly in Love – When a Korean teen falls in love with a white girl, going against his family’s expectations, he turns to a Korean friend for a fake dating scheme to keep their parents off their backs. But things don’t go the way they planned.
The Liar’s Daughter – A teen raised in a cult is reunited with her biological mother when the government raids the cult. But she is determined to get back to her Family no matter what.
Lost and Found – A teen with a “micropower” of finding lost things thinks his power is a waste because it only makes people think he is a thief. But a police detective thinks his power could be a gift for the case of a missing girl.
The Magnolia Sword – A story of Mulan.
A Match Made in Mehendi – A teen in a long line of Indian matchmakers accidentally sets up her cousin and everyone thinks she has the family “gift.” But when she starts making matches at school via an app, she turns the social hierarchy upside down and people are NOT happy.
Rebel Girls – A punk rock teen at a conservative Catholic school puts her girl-power vibe to work when her older sister is accused of having an abortion, an act that could get her expelled from school.
Tiger Queen – A princess who must fight in the arena to keep her kingdom must flee to the desert when she faces a fight she cannot win. I am intrigued by this one.
A Treason of Thorns – After seven years of exile after her father’s treason, Violet returns home to the magic of Burleigh, but the magic has become wild and tormented in her family’s absence.
When She Reigns – Fallen Isles, book 3. After the events of the first two books, everything in the Fallen Isles is being destroyed. But if Mira can find the bones of the very first dragon, she might be able to save the dragons and the people she loves.
Books for Adults
Captivating in Love (Trade Paperback) – Maverick Billionaires, book 6. When Rosie and Gideon agree to watch a friend’s son while that friend is on their honeymoon, they have no idea what sort of matchmaking trouble the boy and Rosie’s son can cause together. But when Rosie and her son are in danger, Gideon will put everything on the line to protect them.
Don’t You Forget About Me (Trade Paperback) – When a woman loses her job and finds out her boyfriend is cheating all in the same day, it sends her life spinning. To get some control back, she takes the first job she finds, as a bartender at a new pub. She has no idea it’s owned by “the one who got away.” And he doesn’t remember her at all. I have this on hold from the library.
The Girl with the Pearl Pin (Trade Paperback) – First in the Society of Single Ladies series about a crime-solving group made up of single lords and and overlooked ladies. In this book, it’s a case of a fake engagement to protect a young woman accused of a crime until the Society can ferret out the truth.
The Institute (Hardcover) – New from Stephen King. Kids with special gifts are kidnapped and taken to the Institute while their parents are murdered. The kids are manipulated into using their gifts by unscrupulous staff . Those who don’t cooperate are brutally punished. No one escapes the Institute. This sounds so interesting, but I’ve never met a creepy King story that couldn’t give me nightmares, so I will probably skip this one. I just need someone to tell me what happens so my curiosity is satisfied.
The Nobodies (Hardcover) – A thirty-something journalist who has been unemployed for almost a year takes the only job she can find – a junior copywriter at a new tech start up. But something about the company seems fishy. So she teams up with some of the other outcasts at her job to see if they can get to the truth. I’ll be reviewing this later this week.
One Christmas Star (e-book, September 12) – A woman with no musical talent in charge of a school Christmas program teams up with a washed out superstar to work on the program. This looks fun! I’m ready to start digging into Christmas books in preparation for the season.
Strands of Truth (Trade Paperback) – A woman who grew up in foster care discovers a half-sister with a similar story – dead mother, mysterious and unknown father. When the man who took Harper in as a teen is attacked, she and his son team up to find out what secrets are threatening everything they care about.
Survival Can Be Deadly: A Discount Detective Mystery (Trade Paperback) – First in the Cameron Chandler Mystery series. A single mom and new widow takes a job at a detective agency. When she picks up the runaway girl case her missing predecessor was on, she ends up at a survivalist camp armed with only a Swiss Army knife. This sounds fun and quirky.
The Testaments (Hardcover) – The highly anticipated sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. This picks up the story 15 years later.
The Vanished Bride (Hardcover) – First in the new Brontë Sisters Mystery series. The Brontë sisters of Yorkshire in 1845 are drawn into the mystery of a missing mother and gruesome crime scene. This sounds terrific! I have this on my library list.
Where the Light Enters (Hardcover) – Two women doctors in the late 1800s are called in to consult on a missing person’s case and a murder.
The Wonder of Now (Trade Paperback) – Book 3 in the Sanctuary Sound series. A breast cancer survivor is writing a memoir and reliving every trial when she’d rather be moving on from it all. She’s hoping her European book tour will give her a chance to consider other writing projects and think about her future, but her PR agent is determined to keep her on track and focused on her current project. Currently available for free through Kindle Unlimited.
Antoni in the Kitchen (Hardcover) – One of the Queer Eye guys from Netflix, Antoni Porowski is the food and wine guru for the show. This book is designed to help anyone become more confident in the kitchen.
The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 (Hardcover) – A unique look at the events of September 11, 2001 from those who experienced it directly.
A Republic if You Can Keep It (Hardcover) – Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch shares his journey to the Court and his views on his role in regard to the Constitution.
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know (Hardcover) – The latest from Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell uses real-world examples to talk about how our systems for evaluating the safety and integrity of people we don’t know are flawed.
The Truth about College Admission: A Family Guide to Getting In and Staying Together (Trade Paperback) – An “easy-to-follow” go-to guide for families gearing up for the college admissions process.
Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies that Created the Parkland Shooter and Endanger America’s Students (Hardcover) – A Parkland father teams up with an educational expert to investigate what allowed Parkland to happen and how to keep it from happening again. This seems to be less about gun control and more about school policies and procedures. I am curious about this one.
Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant (Hardcover) – This explores what it was like for the first groups of women to attend Yale University in the early 1970s.
Your Battles Belong to the Lord (Hardcover) AND Study Guide (Paperback) – The latest from Joyce Meyer. Recognize your true enemy and learn to overcome him by recognizing what tasks are yours to do and what belongs to the Lord.