MJHS New Books!

2023-2024 ADDITIONS

Zoe knows that the only thing harder than middle school is losing a best friend. She and Laura used to do everything together! But lately things have been weird between them. Zoe is heartbroken--all she wants is for things to go back to normal. But then a magical app downloads on her phone...and things get even weirder! Suddenly Zoe can travel back to moments where her and Laura started drifting apart. As Zoe goes back to moments of middle school drama--she realizes that second chances don't always go as planned;
Twelve-year-old Alex Carlisle loves football almost as much as she loves her father but when she joins the Orville Middle School football team, not all of the boys, or parents, are pleased.
Convinced that if she looks like a monster on the outside (a blood tumor covers half of her face), she must be a monster on the inside as well, Sophie tries to find a cure before her mother finds out the truth.
While Petey the Cat has reevaluated what matters most in his life, Li'l Petey is struggling to find the good in the world.
A beautifully illustrated story by Trung Le Nguyen that follows a young boy as he tries to navigate life through fairytales, an instant classic that shows us how we are all connected. The Magic Fish tackles tough subjects in a way that accessible with readers of all ages, and teaches us that no matter what—we can all have our own happy endings.
Twelve-year-old Jake's middle school is about to be shut down. Jake and his friends know their school's worth saving-if they could only figure out how! When Jake spies a bowl of jellybeans at the hotel where his mom works, he eats them. But uh-oh--those weren't just jellybeans, one of the scientists at his mom's conference is in the process of developing the first ingestible information pills. And THAT'S what Jake ate.
Noah is an artist. Ever since he learned to draw, people have been impressed by his remarkable skills. When there's an art contest at The Club, Noah is certain that he'll win the big prize, until he sees Milo's painting. Noah is scared. Everyone expects Noah to win the contest. If he loses, he believes he'll lose the one skill he's most proud of. Noah is determined to beat Milo, but at what cost? Is winning worth compromising his values?
When a mysterious virus breaks out in the U.S. settlement on Mars, Bell and his friends must work together to save not just their home, but all the other international settlements on the planet.

MARCH

The curse is finally broken, but Prince Rhen of Emberfall faces darker troubles still. Rumors circulate that he is not the true heir and that forbidden magic has been unleashed in Emberfall. Loyalties are tested and new love blooms in a kingdom on the brink of war.
Haunted by the ghost of the stronger conjoined twin who did not survive their separation, Isabel struggles to find a place for herself in the world against a backdrop of the hardscrabble life of circus sideshow performers.
Maureen and Francine are twins and best friends. They do everything together! But just before they start sixth grade, Francine becomes Fran - a girl who wants to be set apart from her sister. The girls are growing apart and there's nothing Maureen can do to stop it. Are sisters really forever? Or will middle school change things forever?
Escaping from the prison where he was born, Pong discovers harrowing truths about the gap between the world's privileged ruling class and impoverished laborers, while the prison warden's daughter who is hunting him uncovers other daunting secrets.
Moving abruptly from Seoul to Alabama, a Korean teen struggles in a hostile blended home and a new school where she does not speak English before forging unexpected connections in a local comic drawing class.
ZJ's friends Ollie, Darry and Daniel help him cope when his father, a beloved professional football player, suffers severe headaches and memory loss that spell the end of his career.
When a Connecticut teenager inherits vast wealth and an eccentric estate from the richest man in Texas, she must also live with his surviving family and solve a series of puzzles to discover how she earned her inheritance.
With an impostor leading ThunderClan, threatening to exile any cats who challenge him, a small but growing group of cats must find a way to expose the truth and return ThunderClan's rightful leader-before the tensions among the Clans erupt into war.
Sara Martinez is a hacker. She recently broke into the New York City foster care system to expose her foster parents as cheats and lawbreakers. However, instead of being hailed as a hero, Sara finds herself facing years in a juvenile detention facility and banned from using computers for the same stretch of time. Enter Mother, a British spy who not only gets Sara released from jail but also offers her a chance to make a home for herself within a secret MI6 agency.
Avid baker Zoe Washington receives a letter on her twelfth birthday from her biological father, who is in prison for a terrible crime.
 Biracial sixth-grader Stephen questions the limitations society puts on him after he notices the way strangers treat him when he hangs out with his white friends and learns about the Black Lives Matter movement.
After an incident shatters their family, eleven-year old Samantha and her older sister Caitlin are sent to live in rural Oregon with an aunt they've never met. Sam wants nothing more than to go back to the way things were before she spoke up about their father's anger. When Aunt Vicky gives Sam a mysterious card game called "A Game of Fox & Squirrels," Sam falls in love with the animal characters, especially the charming trickster fox, Ashander. Then one day Ashander shows up in Sam's room
King, a Black child living by the bayous of Louisiana, is dealt the double blow of losing his beloved older brother while trying to contain an identity he is sure will cause his father to stop loving him. When his former best friend, the gay son of the local sheriff, runs away, the weight of expectations and secrets leads King to examine everything he thinks he knows about being himself. 
Winnie-the-Pooh meets Wallace and Gromit in this fresh odd-couple series. Newbery Honor author Amy Timberlake has created an instant classic with illustrations by Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen.
Chinese American Mia Tang continues helping to run her now family-and-worker-owned motel in California. Business is going well, but negative political ads demonizing undocumented immigrants occupy the media landscape. At school, Mia forms a club where she and other marginalized classmates find validation and share instances of racism in their daily lives. Mia's best friend Lupe reveals a long-kept secret, describing being undocumented as "being a pencil, when everyone else is a pen...You worry you can be erased anytime." Matters intensify when Lupe's mother struggles to return from Mexico after attending Lupe's abuelita's funeral, and then her father is threatened with deportation. 

FEBRUARY TITLES

Twelve-year-old Henry Khoo embarks on a forbidden journey from Australia to Singapore to prove his independence to his overprotective family, while working out some problems with friends. Told in comics and prose. 
Told in multiple voices, sixteen-year-old Savannah Taylor is abducted after her kung fu class and must figure out how to escape and rescue fellow prisoner Jenny Dowd. 
Something is wrong with twelve-year-old Zee, who has returned after a year's absence; nobody knows where he was or what happened to him, but now he is distracted and violent, freaking out when he sees his friends, Justin, Nia, and Lyric, playing an odd game of hide-and-seek.
 "While her grandmother was alive, Emma's world was filled with enchantment. But now Gram is gone, and suddenly strange spots are appearing on Emma's skin. But when Emma writes one last story in the journal she shared with Gram, something strange happens. Someone writes back to her, just like Gram used to. 
Referring to his late father's journal for advice on how to be the man of the house, young Isaiah taps the support and ideas of two school friends who help him navigate rules and manage without superpowers. 
Despite her parents' divorce, her father's coming out as gay, and his plans to marry his boyfriend, ten-year-old Bea is reassured by her parents' unconditional love, excited about getting a stepsister, and haunted by something she did last summer at her father's lake house. 
At sixteen, Hadley Moore knows exactly who she is--a swimmer who will earn a scholarship to college. When a guy dressed as Hollywood's latest action hero, Heath Hall, crashes her swim meet, she isn't amused. Instead, she's determined to make sure he doesn't bother her again. Only she's not sure exactly who he is. The swim meet isn't the first event the imposter has interrupted." 
In a predominately white California beach town, the only two black seventh-graders, Alberta and Edie, find hidden journals that uncover family secrets and speak to race relations in the past. 
"A history of racist and antiracist ideas in America, from their roots in Europe until today, adapted from the National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning" 
Who are you? What is racism? Where does it come from? Why does it exist? What can you do to disrupt it? Learn about social identities, the history of racism and resistance against it, and how you can use your anti-racist lens and voice to move the world toward equity and liberation. 
Seventh-grader Frankie, who has various sensory disorders, is determined to find her missing best friend, Colette, before it is too late. 
Now in Paris with her parents who are filming their TV show about the world's haunted cities, Cassidy Blake (who can see ghosts) and her friend Jacob (who is a ghost) are alert for trouble, especially when the filming takes them into the underground Catacombs, the empire of the dead, where Cassidy accidentally awakens a powerful poltergeist spirit--one whose mystery she must solve before his power in unleashed on the whole city. 
 "A fast-paced thrill ride of a book. . . it's Batman meets Annie." --Stuart Gibbs, New York Times best-selling author of the Spy School series "An adventure-filled read with a twisty mystery and spunky friendships. I loved it!" -Melissa de la Cruz, New York times best-selling author of The Descendants series 
Ascendant King Jaron believes that his kingdom, Carthya, is at peace, so he and his bethrothed, Imogen, are sailing home from a trade mission when their ship is attacked by Prozarians, and Jaron and several of his friends are taken prisoner.
A survival story based on true events follows the experiences of a young Jewish photographer who is forced to go into hiding and make a perilous journey to the free zone when Germany seizes France during World War II. 
Since his father's death, Ever Barnes has secretly been in charge of an amazing mechanical building but now, ruffians are after him and his new friend Hannah, the building owner's spunky daughter. 
Sick of an administration that puts football before female health, four friends band together to make a change, all while grappling with everything from crushes to JV track. Then one of the girls goes rogue and tests the limits of their friendship. 
Born with a gift for music, Nannerl Mozart has just one wish--to be remembered forever. But even as she delights audiences with her masterful playing, she has little hope she'll ever become the acclaimed composer she longs to be. She is a young woman in 18th century Europe, and that means composing is forbidden to her. She will perform only until she reaches a marriageable age--her tyrannical father has made that much clear.
In small-town Wicapi, Minnesota, in 1991, twelve-year-old Justin struggles to pick up the pieces of his life after the unexpected death of his father. 
In this adaptation of the fairy tale Snow White, the huntsman follows the queen's order to kill Sophie, but the princess is brought back to life by the seven men of the woods, who, along with other brave friends, help Sophie overcome the story's true villain and reclaim her throne. 
In July, 1916, Chet is fascinated by accounts of a great white shark said to be attacking people along the New Jersey shore near his home, but when he goes swimming in Matawan Creek he discovers the truth of the stories, in chapter-book format. 
It is 1805 and Mary Lambert has always felt safe among the deaf community of Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard where practically everyone communicates in a shared sign language, but recent events have shattered her life; her brother George has died, land disputes between English settlers and the Wampanoag people are becoming increasingly bitter, and a "scientist" determined to discover the origins of the islands' widespread deafness has decided she makes the perfect "live specimen"--and kidnapped her. 
Boarding the Titanic with his aunt and little sister, ten-year-old George explores the ill-fated ship's first-class storage cabin when the ship is rocked by a collision with an iceberg and begins to sink, in chapter-book format.
Graphic novel about a young girl who befriends her town's witch and discovers the strange magic within herself. 
Tavia is already at odds with the world, forced to keep her siren identity under wraps in a society that wants to keep her kind under lock and key. Nevermind she's also stuck in Portland, Oregon, a city with only a handful of black folk and even fewer of those with magical powers. At least she has her bestie Effie by her side as they tackle high school drama, family secrets, and unrequited crushes.
In 1986, as the country waits expectantly for the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger, three middle-graders struggle with personal challenges and connections while working on a space-based science project. 
Omar and his younger brother Hassan live in a refugee camp, and when an opportunity for Omar to get an education comes along, he must decide between going to school every day or caring for his nonverbal brother in this intimate and touching portrayal of family and daily life in a refugee camp.
Hall-of-famer Elgin Baylor was one of basketball's all-time-greatest players, an innovative athlete, team player, and quiet force for change. One of the first professional African-American players, he inspired others on and off the court. But when traveling for away games, many hotels and restaurants turned Elgin away because he was black. One night, Elgin had enough and staged a one-man protest that captured the attention of the press, the public, and the NBA. 
A lyrical, heart-lifting love letter to black and brown children everywhere. 
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. 
Suspended unjustly from elite Middlefield Prep, Donte Ellison studies fencing with a former champion, hoping to put the racist fencing team captain in his place. 
Follows the experiences of two grieving sisters who navigate the loss of their father and the impact of his death on their relationship.
 While his father works two jobs, seventh-grader Efren Nava must take care of his twin siblings, kindergartners Max and Mia, after their mother is deported to Mexico. Includes glossary of Spanish words. 
Del has had a crush on Kiera Westing since kindergarten. And now, during their junior year, she's finally available. So when Kiera volunteers for an opportunity at their church, Del's right behind her. Though he quickly realizes he's inadvertently signed up for a Purity Pledge. But Del's not about to lose his dream girl. With other boys circling Kiera like sharks, Del needs to make his move fast. But as he plots and plans, he neglects to ask the most important question: What does Kiera want? 
A chilling ghost story based on real Chicago history about a malevolent spirit, an unlucky girl, and a haunting mystery that will tie the two together. Claire has absolutely no interest in the paranormal. She's a scientist, which is why she can't think of anything worse than having to help out her dad on one of his ghost-themed Chicago bus tours. She thinks she's made it through when she sees a boy with a sad face and dark eyes at the back of the bus. There's something off about his presence, especially because when she checks at the end of the tour...he's gone. Claire tries to brush it off, she must be imagining things, letting her dad's ghost stories get the best of her. But then the scratching starts. Voices whisper to her in the dark. The number 396 appears everywhere she turns. And the boy with the dark eyes starts following her. Claire is being haunted. The boy from the bus wants something...and Claire needs to find out what before it's too late.  

JANUARY TITLES

A sequel to Watch Hollow finds Lucy and Oliver's move into their new home complicated by the arrival of a strange English governess and two young twins who claim to be the rightful heirs to Blackford House.
During World War II, a Czechoslovakian Jewish boy is sent to northern Scotland to live in a castle that houses gifted children who are learning to harness their magical powers to support the Allies' cause.
Eleven-year-old twins Fox and Fibber have been rivals for as long as they can remember. Only one of them will inherit the family fortune, and so a race is afoot to save the dwindling Petty-Squabble empire and win the love of their parents.
Casper Tock hates risks and is allergic to adventures. So it comes as a nasty shock to him one day when he hides from bullies in an ancient grandfather clock—and ends up finding an entire world inside.
Continuing their efforts to solve the Morningstarr cipher in the aftermath of their home's destruction, the Biedermann twins and their friend Jaime encounter dangerous enemies who are attempting to claim the cipher's treasure.
Coo, a ten-year-old girl raised by a flock of pigeons, delights in finally making human contact, but quickly learns that our world is more cruel and complicated than she could have guessed.
After changing the fate he has known since birth, twelve-year-old Tor Luna, accompanied by his friends Engle and Melda, must visit the notorious Night Witch to break the curse he now faces.
Retells a Malaysian folk tale in which a lonely girl, Suraya, inherits from her grandmother a pelesit, a ghostly demon, who proves to be a good companion, bringing both danger and hope.
 Found abandoned in a bear cave as a baby, Yanka has always wondered about where she is from. She tries to ignore the strange whispers and looks from the villagers, wishing she was as strong on the inside as she is on the outside. But, when she has to flee her house, looking for answers about who she really is, a journey far beyond one that she ever imagined begins:
A sequel to Bloom finds Seth, Anaya and Petra locked away in a government lab with other immune kids while the outside world is overrun by an alien infestation of giant insects that spread disease, undermine building foundations and carry of human victims.
An extraordinary retelling of the Baba Yaga myth, this debut novel will wrap itself around your heart and never let go.
When the rebels are captured Letta goes on the run, still striving to preserve language while the vicious new ruler of Ark plans to eliminate it once and for all.
When eleven-year-old Tilly Pages joins Oskar and his family on a Christmas trip to Paris, she and her friend book wander into the land of fairy tales, where someone--or something--is causing chaos.
There is magic deep within Arranmore Island, and Fionn Boyle is discovering how much it's woven its way through generations of his family's history. But Arranmore is in trouble; illness has swept across the land, giving rise to widespread fear and suspicion. 
Cordelia Clay and her father work together saving and healing the remarkable creatures around Boston at the end of the nineteenth century. Their home on Cedar Street is home to dragons, squelches, and diggles, and Cordelia loves every one of them. Their work must be kept secret to protect the beasties from the public. One morning, Cordelia awakens to discover that her father has disappeared--along with nearly all the monsters. 
Twelve-year-old Max, who loves the legend Buelo tells him about a mythical gatekeeper who can guide brave travelers on a journey into tomorrow, sets out on a dangerous quest to discover if he is true of heart and what the future holds, armed with a treasured compass, a mysterious stone rubbing, and Buelo's legend as his only guides.
In this contemporary fantasy, Maya's search for her missing father puts her at the center of a battle between our world, the Orishas, and the mysterious and sinister Dark world.
While helping her best friend, Danny, film his latest horror flick, Mellie discovers a scraggly cat behind a dumpster outside the YummCo Foods factory. Mellie names the stray Bert and hides him in her room, knowing her parents won't let her keep him. But soon Bert has decapitated all her stuffed animals, and before long he is leaving the headless corpses of birds and mice as gifts for her. Danny is convinced the cat is a zombie, living on the brains of his victims. But is that what is really going on? 
Fionn Boyle, terrified of the sea, must spend the summer with this older sister, Tara, and their grandfather on Arranmore, an island that has been known to make people disappear, and seems to be restless again.
 In Amberland, where natives rely on a dwindling supply of magical fluid and foreigners are unwelcome, ten-year-old Mira juggles her loyalty to her immigrant roots and her desire for acceptance.
When Lily, her sister Sam, and their mother move in with her sick grandmother, Lily traps a tiger and makes a deal with him to heal Halmoni.
Baron Dire haunts Cape Fen, striking magical bargains, demanding unjust payment, and sending the Wolf to hunt those who do not pay, but Eliza and Winnie Serling are determined to stop him.

DECEMBER TITLES

Project Apogee had one mission: to create biologically engineered perfect teenagers.  
Sequel to New KidEighth grader Drew Ellis recognizes that he isn't afforded the same opportunities, no matter how hard he works, that his privileged classmates at the Riverdale Academy Day School take for granted. Drew begins to feel as if his good friend Liam might be one of those privileged kids and is finding it hard not to withdraw.

NOVEMBER TITLES

This book is an assortment of eerie short stories to thrill and chill  readers. Text includes violence. 
An eighth grader starts a podcast to protest the unfair dress code enforcement at her middle school and sparks a rebellion 
The Hollowell family is looking at disaster when fifteen-year-old Owen witnesses the theft of their mules. Learning that Hercules and Peaches will likely be sold to the mines, Owen sets out to track the rustler over the mountains. 
Four young teens find themselves in serious danger during a role-playing game in a supposedly abandoned hospital. 
Why does feminism matter? Are feminists man-haters? How do race and feminism interact? Malle answers these questions and more, in a comic that is as playful and hilarious as it is necessary. 

OCTOBER  TITLES

Traces the story of a boy who moves across the country to rural northern California, where his efforts to adjust are challenged by a fast-moving firestorm that places family homes and lives at risk. 
Cassie Hobbes and the rest of the Naturals are back in this conclusion to Jennifer Lynn Barnes's FBI thriller series. 
This book is filled with first-hand accounts of teenagers who survived the most unthinkable animal attacks. 
Because Rachel Walls has spent most of high school saying no. No to dances, no to parties, and most especially, no to boys. Now, for the first time in her life, there's nothing stopping Rachel from having a little fun--nothing, that is, except herself. So when she stumbles on a beat up old self-help book--A SEASON OF YES!--a crazy idea pops into her head: What if she just said yes to . . . everything? 
Book #3 in the Dragonwatch seriesAs the evil Celebrant conquers more and more dragon sanctuaries, Kendra must raise an army of friends and allies to fight him because her brother and Bracken are missing. 

SEPTEMBER  TITLES

In ten true stories, heroic law-enforcement officers battle wildfires, stop a murderous rampage, and take bullets to protect and serve others. 
These brave soldiers risked everything to pull off the largest invasion in military history—and turned the tide of World War II 
Real-life heroes risked their lives during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which forced America into World War II. You will never forget their courageous true stories. 
FBI special agents work together to solve the world's toughest crimes. 
 Ten African Americans recount stories about their participation in the American civil rights movement. 
Profiles the incredible true stories of ten American heroes who risked their lives while serving their country in Iraq. 
The heroes spotlighted in this book represent the many American troops who, with steadfast boldness, have been battling a ruthless enemy in knee-deep snow, scorching temperatures, and deadly close combat of militant-occupied villages. 
Ten true stories of teens who risked their lives to serve their countries in wartime. The text contains mild profanity and sensitive descriptions of the violence of war. 
the incredible true stories of ten American heroes who risked their lives while serving their country in Iraq. 
On the night of April 14, 1912, the ten young people in this book survived the crisis aboard the "Titanic." 
Ten unforgettable true stories of Jewish children who, through determination, bravery, and pure luck, survived the horrors of the Holocaust. 
Highlights ten brave men who risked their lives to serve their country in World War I. From U-boats to POW camps, courage and self-sacrifice overcame the horrors of war. 
The refugees in this book made desperate, often death-defying, journeys to escape war and persecution. 
Presents ten true stories of heroes in the second World War, from a group of Rangers on a secret D-Day mission to a teenaged soldier at the battle of Iwo Jima. 
A collection of 10 accounts about true Vietnam War heroes includes the story of U.S. platoon leader Lieutenant Hal Fritz, who led a small band of survivors through a devastating ambush by North Vietnamese forces. 
Ten separate stories give accounts of the true American heroes who risked their lives in New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001.  
Presents ten true stories of heroes of Hurricane Katrina, including a 13 year old boy who rescued his family, Terrence Gray, who rowed from home to home, saving twenty people in Gulfport, and the doctors and nurses who worked tirelessly to care for the survivors. 
Book 2 in the Pride Wars seriesPrince Leo's identity as a Spinner, once thought to be his greatest curse, may become his greatest weapon when his devious cousin siezes control of Singara, forcing Leo to flee into enemy territory. 
Seeking to avenge the murder of her true love while on a dredge ship searching for gold, fifteen-year-old captain Poe Blythe becomes the architect of new defenses designed to destroy her enemies. 
Book 2 in the Dactyl Hill Squad seriesMagdalys and the squad fly on pteroback to join the fighting in the South, where Magdalys's powers may be the Union's last hope. But Magdalys has another goal: to find Montez, her brother.
Seventh-grader Jordan Banks loves drawing cartoons about his life; but instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school, where he is one of the few kids of color. - Graphic Novel