PASSIONATE ABOUT SCHOOL LIBRARIES
Sunburst
– Susan May Warren –
Sky King Ranch #2
Revell
Published 7 June 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
Another breathtaking romantic suspense novel from Susan May Warren. If the first book in this series took readers to Alaska, Sunburst is a celebration of Nigeria. From escaping terrorists to outrunning men intent on revenge, Nigerian weddings, secrets and a romance revived, Sunburst is the perfect mix of romance and action.
When The Meadow Blooms
– Ann H Gabhart –
Revell
Published 3 May 2022
♥♥♥♥
Ann Gabhart has crafted a heartwarming story of overcoming loss and grief and finding a place to truly live and love in When The Meadow Blooms.
Calla and her younger sister have been living in the Home for Girls for two years while their mother recovers from Tuberculosis in an sanitarium. For two years they have endured abuse, waiting for the day they can go home. Scared they will be separated, Calla is lead to reach out to her uncle, rumoured to live in isolation on the family farm, Meadowland. When Dirk receives a letter from his niece asking for rescue, he throws caution away and hurries to retrieve the two girls and their mother. Taking them back to Meadowland requires a change in his habits, it might even mean opening his heart to the women, big and small, who have entered his world. But secrets from the past bring up grief and hurt he’s never let go. If he can’t heal, will he risk losing his new family?
TJ Powar Has Something to Prove
– Jesmeen Kaur Deo –
Viking Books for Young Readers
Published 7 June 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
Brilliant, just brilliant. This book has the perfect mix of super cute romance, powerful societal issues commentary, friendship, family and self identity discovery that makes it the sort of YA realistic fiction I just adore. Add a touch of sport and I was all in on this fantastic story.
Gideon Green in Black and White
– Katie Henry –
Katherine Tegen Books
Published 17 May 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
When you laugh at the dedication and then snort laugh and fist pump at the end of the first chapter you know you are going to love the book and laugh a lot. Which is exactly how it went down reading Gideon Green in Black and White. Looking at the author, who is the author of some of my all time favourite and go-to humour novels, it’s no surprise that this book is funny. Like really, unexpectedly, dry-humour funny. But what was surprising was the mystery (very cool), sleuthing, totally platonic male-female best friend relationship (finally, yes!!) and cute but not attention demanding, just perfect romance.
Thunderous
– Mandy Smoker Broaddus, Natalie Peeterse, Dale Ray Deforest –
Dynamite Entertainment
Published 26 April 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
I am always on the lookout for new graphic novels for my school library and Thunderous is going to be a must-buy.
A beautiful story of adventure and identity, Thunderous is the story of Aiyana. She just wants to fit in at school, get followers online and be liked. She’d rather not listen to yet another Lakota story from her grandmother or her dorky cousin. When on a school field trip, three girls who Aiyana wants desperately to impress, deal Aiyana to climb on top of a building in a storm, Aiyana finds herself accidentally plunged into a strange world where animals talk and she must complete four challenges if she is to be allowed to return home.
Some Mistakes Were Made
– Kristin Dwyer –
Harper Teen
Published 26 April 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
I knew that Some Mistakes Were Made would be gut wrenching. And it was. It was also incredibly hard to put down, tear-jerking and made my heart ache. In a good way. Such a delicious, agonising way.
For all the readers who love books about brothers, this one is for you. For all the readers who love resilient, angry and strong survivors who have to face so much more than is imaginable, this book is for you. And readers who love tortured, broken relationships romance, you need to read this book RIGHT NOW!
A Magic Steeped In Poison
– Judy I. Lin –
The Book of Tea #1
Feiwel and Friends
Published 22 March 2022
♥♥♥♥
Like Mulan but more focus on the tea ceremonies. That’s how i think of this book. And don’t get me wrong, that makes it an awesome book. Imagine all of Mulan’s fight and guts and “I have what it takes” and take that energy and put it into making tea that can bewitch and enchant. It is super cool and unique and just the start of an exciting series.
Ning’s sister is dying. Poisoned by the same poison that killed their mother. Ning knows the only way to save her sister’s life is to lie to everyone she cares about and risk everything. Ning enters the competition to find the next shénnóng-shi, master of the ancient and magical art of tea making. The winner will be bestowed a favour from the princess and Ning plans to win and get the best healers available to tend to her sister. Ning was once trained by her mother, who was a master shénnóng-shi once, but she knows if anyone in the imperial city discovers her true identify, her life will be forfeit. But she has only just arrived in the city when she is drawn into the mystery of The Shadow, court politics and a corrupt competition. Winning and escaping with her life seem more and more unlikely, but Ning is determined to not give up.
Always Jane
– Jenn Bennett –
Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published 29 March 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
It took me about 40 seconds to figure who was our narrator and which brother was which when I started reading Always Jane. And then it took me about .02 seconds to fall in love with Fen. Completely and for always. But, by the end of the book it was the author Jenn Bennett to whom I felt the need to confess my undying love, for writing such a beautiful and powerful novel.
In true Jenn Bennett fashion, Always Jane is a compelling and addictive contemporary YA novel, a find-your-voice-and-own-way coming of age novel, with steamy romance, and delightful and complicated family dynamics.
This Golden State
– Marit Weisenberg –
Flatiron Books
Published 1 March 2022
♥♥♥♥/♥
This Golden State is a delicious book that features mystery in a very realistic fiction style, sweet summer romance with a more serious side of family secrets.
The synopsis is vague. Poppy’s whole life is a little vague. She knows only what her parents have told her and lives by the rules they have set. Never use your name, don’t get close to anyone. Poppy, her sister and their parents have spent their life living off the grid and moving from town to town. Never staying long, always being ready to leave at a moment’s notice, taking nothing with them. For Poppy, it means never having friends, never getting far with her school work, never growing roots. But they must live that way if they are to stay together. Poppy doesn’t know what they are running and hiding from or who, just that her parents are scared and that it would be bad if they were ever caught. Really bad. So she follows the rules. But this latest move is different. Her mother is acting strange. There are mysteries surrounding the house they are staying in and her father seems even more on edge. But he does allow Poppy one luxury she’s never had before – access to a summer school. Finally, Poppy gets to see how well she can really do at something, to test herself and fall in love with the wonders of the world of mathematics. Then there is the mysterious boy who sits next to her in class who everyone seems to know but no one talks to. And then Poppy breaks the rules. It will have far reaching consequences and reveals truths she didn’t even know to look for.
Air
– Monica Roe –
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published 15 March 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
Air is a powerful and impressive middle grade novel about finding your voice and following your dream, while managing the transition to high school, friendship, adults who think they know best and the ways society limits the potential of all.
Air is a book I’m going to force upon a lot of people. Staff and teachers at my school, my principal, students. It’s a book I think everyone should read. The author so perfectly captures Emmie’s voice. That of a young girl who has just started seventh grade. She loves racing and jumping on ramps in her wheelchair. Chair skating. She’s an athlete and entrepreneur. She and her best friend run a small business selling plants and wheelchair bags. Emmie is saving up for a new wheelchair, one that is made for skating. But when she takes a fall at school – totally not her fault! – her new principal demands that she has a full time aide. Emmie is horrified. When the principal announces that the school plans to raise money to buy Emmie her new chair, she’s super excited, but it seems it might come at a cost and she has to decide what she wants and how to speak up for herself.
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