Happy May!! There are a TON of new books releasing this week – I couldn’t even fit all of the ones I wanted into this list. My library holds list is maxing out this week! Let’s take a look:
Books for Kids – Board Books and Picture Books
The Crayons’ Book of Feelings (Board Book) – Board book about feelings starring the delightful characters from The Day the Crayons Quit.
The Bruce Swap – Bruce’s friends start to think he is never any fun, but when Bruce goes fishing without telling anyone and his fun cousin shows up unexpectedly for a visit, they start to think Bruce might have a fun side after all. I can’t wait to read this one!
Hair Twins – A father helps his daughter with her hair every day, but her favorite look is when hers matches his joora which he wears under his turban. Pair this with Hair Love.
I Am the Shark – A group of sharks talk about what makes them all different, but still great. This will be a HUGE hit!
30,000 Stitches: The Inspiring Story of the National 9/11 Flag – The story of the restoration of the flag that hung across from Ground Zero in the days following 9/11. This will be a fascinating story!
I Affirm Me: The ABCs of Inspiration for Black Kids – An alphabet book celebrating and honoring Black children. This looks beautiful!
Books for Kids – Early Readers and Chapter Books
Sabrina Sue Loves the Sea – A barnyard chicken longs to visit the sea in this new Early Reader.
The Invincible Girls Club: Home Sweet Forever Home AND Art with Heart – The first two books in the new Invincible Girls Club series about a group of girls and their acts of empowerment. In the first book, the girls help senior shelter animals. In the second, they deal with bullying.
Let’s Go Swimming! – Book 4 in the Hello, Hedgehog! series. Hedgehog and Harry head to the pond to cool down on a hot day, but Harry is not yet ready to swim underwater.
Pea, Bee, & Jay: Lift Off – Book 3 in this early graphic novel series. When some super cool birds show up at the farm and invite Jay to join them in their games, he needs to learn to fly as soon as possible.
Unicorn Academy Nature Magic: Lily and Feather AND Phoebe and Shimmer – The first two books in this new chapter book series (a sub-series of Unicorn Academy) about the environment. In both books, the girls and their unicorns are facing some unusual weather that endangers Unicorn Island.
The Story of Kamala Harris AND The Story of Nelson Mandela – Two new chapter book biographies.
She Persisted: Nellie Bly – A chapter book biography.
Sofia Valdez’s Big Project Book for Awesome Activists – Sofia Valdez, one of the Questioneers, shares a collection of projects with kids centered around activism, government, and politics.
Books for Older Kids/Teens
The Adventure Is Now – An ostracized kid gets the chance to be the naturalist he always wanted to be (and the one he gets to pretend to be in a video game) when his parents ship him off to an uncle who is a researcher on an island in peril. But if Milton and his new friends can decipher the clues in a field guide, they might be able to make a difference. This sounds terrific!
Bea Is for Blended – A girl negotiates the blending of her family while also fighting for a girls soccer team at school. I’ll be reviewing this one soon. (Sneak Peek – It’s AMAZING!)
Best Nerds Forever – A group of “nerds” band together when one of their own is targeted. This is on my list for this week.
Finding Junie Kim – Junie uses a history assignment where she interviews her grandparents about the Korean War to help her find her voice to fight back against racism at her middle school. I’ve heard rave reviews of this one!
Glitter Gets Everywhere – When Kitty’s mom dies, her dad decides to move their family from London – where all of her memories of her mom are – to New York.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Road Trip – The kids head out on a road trip to a High School Musical convention.
I Speak Boy (Older Middle Grade) – An Emma (Jane Austen) retelling. When Emmy’s matchmaking attempts go awry, a mysterious new app on her phone helps her to understand boys.
The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter: Narwhal I’m Around – Book 2 in this series about a boy who is cursed to be visited by ghostly animals looking for his help. In this book, Rex is trying to solve the death of a narwhal. This series sounds delightfully quirky!
The Last Fallen Star – A new debut from Rick Riordan Presents. When her non-magical adopted sister, Riley, feels like an outsider in their community, Hattie devises a plan to share her magic with her. But when the plan backfires and Hattie’s life is hanging in the balance, Riley is sent on a quest to find the “last fallen star,” whatever that is, to save her sister.
The Last Shadow Warrior – Described as Percy Jackson meets Thor. Abby is a young Aesir who has been training to hunt Grendel when she finds out a Grendel is hunting her instead, but no one believes her. When Abby goes on a quest to discover the truth about what happened to her parents and what’s after her, she discovers a sinister plot. Yes, please! This is at the very top of my list for the week.
Metropolis Grove (Graphic Novel) – Everyone in Metropolis Grove knows Superman isn’t real. But a new-comer convinces a couple kids to believe when they discover a cave full of memorabilia. But they are in for some surprises about their discovery. This sounds fun!
The Mouse Watch: Underwater – Book 2 in the fun Mouse Watch series. Bernie and Jarvis are now level one agents and are sent on a mission to find a lost spy vessel under the sea.
Truly Tyler – Book 5 in the Emmie & Friends series. Tyler is feeling torn between art and basketball when he teams up on an art assignment with Emmie. You can read my full review here.
Wings of Fire: Forge Your Dragon World – An interactive journal for fans of the Wings of Fire series.
Basher Science: Pandemic – A mini Basher book about Covid-19.
Give This Book a Cover – An interactive book full of writing and drawing prompts by Jarrett Lerner.
A Kid’s Guide to Fandom: Exploring Fan-Fic, Cosplay, Gaming, Podcasting, and More in the Geek World – A celebration and how-to guide for fandom, including history and artist spotlights. This looks awesome!
Star Wars Galactic Baking: The Official Cookbook of Sweet and Savory Treats from Tatooine, Hoth, and Beyond – A Star Wars-themed cookbook releasing on May the Fourth (Be With You)/Star Wars Day? Brilliant marketing plan!
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy (Older Middle Grade) – A frank conversation about race and racism for kids 10 and up from the creator behind the Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man videos and book. I’ll be reviewing this one soon – it’s exceptionally good!
Books for Teens/Young Adults
10 Truths and a Dare – A companion novel to 10 Blind Dates. Olivia discovers she is half a credit short for graduation, and she needs to fix things before her family finds out. You can read my full review here.
Better Than the Movies – A girl looking for her romcom moment with the crush who got away starts to fall for the annoying neighbor who is supposed to be helping her get her crush. This sounds fun! I have this one on hold at the library already.
Blade of Secrets – Book 1 in the new Bladesmith series by the author of the fantastic The Shadows Between Us. A young magical blacksmith makes a sword that can steal secrets. But when she discovers what a warlord plans to do with it, she and her sister flee, trying to keep the sword safe until they can find someone worthy to wield it. I have this on hold as well!
Counting Down with You – When her parents return to Bangladesh for a month, Karina agrees to ignore their rules in order to fake-date the “bad boy” she’s been tutoring at school. I’ll be reviewing this one soon.
Ember of Night – The protagonist is biding her time until she turns 18 and can take her sister and build a better life, but then she’s caught up in a battle between Heaven and Hell. I have this one on my list for the week.
Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry – When Quinn’s journal of lists, including all the things that scare her, goes missing, and one of her lists gets posted on IG for the whole school to see, she is blackmailed by the thief to face her greatest fears. I have this one on hold as well.
The Fourth Kinetic: Clairvoyants – Kinetics are Clairvoyants who can move things with their minds, and Rion is one, although he doesn’t know there are others in the world. When Rion is separated from the mother who has protected him, he finds himself on the run from military forces who want to exterminate him. I’m intrigued by this one which is supposed to be more about Rion’s journey to self-discovery than good vs evil.
Hurricane Summer – Tilla’s father regularly leaves their family to return to his home in Jamaica. When Tilla gets a chance to spend the summer there, she hopes to discover what keeps drawing him there, but secrets and a hurricane bring unexpected challenges to her trip.
Meet Cute Diary (LGBTQ+) – Noah is the author of a popular blog of trans happily-ever-after stories, but all of his stories are fake. When a troll tries to expose the truth, Noah finds a friend, Drew, who is willing to fake date him to save these stories which have become important to so many people. I’ve got this one on hold, too.
Realm Breaker – I am a sucker for a book with a sword on the cover! This is the first book in a new series by the author of Red Queen (♥♥♥♥). An unlikely band of heroes go up against an army that wants to burn their world to the ground. I am intrigued by this one, but it’s described as “monster fiction” which isn’t always a good fit for me. I’ll probably wait and see about this one.
Take Me Home Tonight – Two girls plan to spend one glorious night in New York City, but everything that can go wrong with their plan does. Someone at my local library loves me because they already have this one for me to request. *place hold*
They Better Call Me Sugar: My Journey from the Hood to the Hardwood – An autobiography from WNBA star, Sugar Rodgers.
Books for Adults
Arsenic and Adobo (Trade Paperback) – First in the new Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series. When her ex drops dead right after a confrontation in her family’s restaurant, Lila becomes the prime suspect for his murder. This is on my library wish list – my hold list is full!
The Bookshop of Second Chances (Trade Paperback) – When Thea’s life is falling apart, her inheritance of a cottage and antique book collection in Scotland sounds like a perfect escape. And she loves everything about the cottage and the area – except the cranky bookseller she’s trying to get to buy the book collection. I’ll be reviewing this one soon.
For Batter or Worse (Mass Market Paperback) – Book 13 in the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series. Mel, Joe, and their friends have their minds on weddings until a murder interrupts the plans.
The Ghost and the Haunted Portrait (Mass Market Paperback) – Book 7 in the Haunted Bookshop Mystery series. Pen turns to her ghostly PI friend when an old painting seems cursed.
The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes (Trade Paperback) Book 1 in a new series. Toni tries out for an up-and-coming band, The Lillys, but the ex who broke her heart is moonlighting as their manager. This is on my wish list, too.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Illustrated (Hardcover) – An illustrated version of the classic novel.
The Jam and Jelly Nook (Trade Paperback) – The fourth and final book in the Amish Marketplace series. A widow and a widower, each with troubled teens, start to fall for one another.
Just Last Night (Trade Paperback) – The four of them have been best friends since they were teens, but in one moment everything changes and Eve’s world turns upside down.
Let It Be Me (Trade Paperback) – Book 2 in the Misty River Romance series. When Leah gets unexpected results on a DNA scan, she enlists Sebastian to help her dig for answers. But as they grow closer, Sebastian resists because he knows his best friend has his heart set on her.
Like Cats and Dogs (Trade Paperback) – Book 1 in the Whitman Street Cat Café series. A new veterinarian moves in next to Lauren’s Cat Café, and sparks fly.
The Newcomer (Hardcover) – Tonya always told her sister Letty that if anything ever happened to her, it would be because of her ex. So when Letty finds Tonya dead, she grabs the woman’s go-bag and her four-year-old niece and they go on the run, trying to follow fleeting clues to what happened. I have requested this one from the library.
Project Hail Mary (Hardcover) – From the author of The Martian. The lone survivor of a desperate space mission has to puzzle out what he’s mission was and what he can do now to achieve it because he has lost his memories.
The Secret Bridesmaid (Trade Paperback) – Sophie is such a good bridesmaid, she has turned it into her job. She’s hired by a former model to work the woman’s daughter’s wedding, but the bride makes it exceedingly difficult. Sophie’s attraction to the bride’s very much off-limits brother doesn’t help either. This is on my wish list, too.
Star Wars Insider Fiction Collection (Hardcover) – A collection of Star Wars stories.
A Woman of Words (Trade Paperback) – Book 3 in the Jerusalem Road series. Jesus’ mother, Mary, asks Matthew to compile a record of Jesus’ life and teachings.
40 Days on Being a One AND 40 Days on Being a Four (Hardcover) – Two new Enneagram-based devotionals, edited by Suzanne Stabile. The one written for Enneagram 2s (my type) was fantastic. I highly recommend these.
Dogwinks: True Godwink Stories of Dogs and the Blessings They Bring (Hardcover) – The Godwinks series releases a collection of dog-based stories.
Star Trek Shipyards: Borg and the Delta Quadrant (Hardcover) – Explore the ships of the Delta Quadrant.
