Recommendations for Kids

An action-packed story about a group of children with a unique ability to jump into paintings and move around in them!

Thirteen-year-old Vincent has a very special talent: He can jump into paintings and move around inside them! When the painting The Thunderstorm by an old Dutch painter is stolen from a London mansion, Vincent decides to track it down. During his search, to his great surprise, he meets Holly, who can dive into paintings just like him. The two make a bet: Whoever finds The Thunderstorm first wins! Vincent is sure that he will be faster than Holly, but the search turns out to be unexpectedly difficult. And suddenly something is also wrong with Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night. Why is it that when Vincent jumps into it, the painting feels like a fake?

Travel through time with National Book Award Finalist Kekla Magoon in a page-turning fantasy adventure about family secrets and finding the courage to plot your own life story.

Since Grandpa died, Dally's days are dull and restricted. She's eleven and a half years old, and her exacting single mother is already preparing her to take over the family business. Starved for adventure and release, Dally rescues a mysterious envelope from her mother's clutches, an envelope Grandpa had earmarked for her. The map she finds inside leads straight to an ancient vault, a library of secrets where each book is a portal to a precise moment in time. As Dally "checks out" adventure after adventure--including an exhilarating outing with pirates--she begins to dive deep into her family's hidden history. Soon she's visiting every day to escape the demands of the present. But the library has secrets of its own, intentions that would shape her life as surely as her mother's meticulous plans. What will Dally choose? Equal parts mystery and adventure--with a biracial child puzzling out her identity alongside the legacy of the past--this masterful middle-grade fantasy rivets with crackling prose, playful plot twists, and timeless themes. A satisfying choice for fans of Kindred and When You Reach Me.

Wishes do come true--with some help from Felix and his quirky mentor, Mr. Beewinkle--in this magical adventure brimming with the power of hope.

When ten-year-old Felix drops a penny in the wishing fountain at the center of town, he really doesn't expect his sixteen-year-old sister to suddenly like him again, or to offer to share a cinnamon bun or watch cartoons like they used to. She hasn't even remembered she was supposed to give him a ride home! But someone else is at the fountain too: a strange old man with a fishing pole who claims to be invisible. To Felix's amazement, he learns that the old man is a Wishkeeper, and he needs an apprentice! But being a Wishkeeper's apprentice isn't just about organizing incoming wishes and untangling wish snags: a strange wolf-man who's been haunting Felix's dreams is real and a threat to every wish that has ever been granted in the town of Whittlestone, the town's Wishkeeper, and Felix himself. With lively illustrations, this sweet adventure bubbles with charm and heart.

For more than a decade, readers have been enchanted by the modern classic The One and Only Ivan, a Newbery Award winner and a #1 New York Times bestseller, and by its bestselling sequels, The One and Only Bob and The One and Only Ruby. Powerhouse author Katherine Applegate invites readers back into Ivan's world for one last adventure--his most exciting yet.

Ivan has been happily living in a wildlife sanctuary, with his friend Ruby next door in the elephant enclosure, frequent visits from his canine friend Bob, and his mate Kinyani by his side. And in the happiest turn of all, Ivan and Kinyani have welcomed a set of twins to their family!

Ivan loves being a papa, even though it can be hard sometimes. But as he navigates the joys and challenges of parenthood, he can't help but recall his life before the glass walls of the mall circus, his own childhood in the jungle--and his own twin.

In the tradition of timeless classics like Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, the one and only Katherine Applegate has crafted a poignant, delightful, heartbreaking, unforgettable final foray into the world of Ivan, the world's favorite silverback.

From two-time Newbery medalist Lois Lowry comes this warm and resonant story of an unlikely friendship, which unfolds as a revelation on how we hold on to--and pass on--what matters most.

Everyone knows the two Sophies are best friends. One is in elementary school, and one is . . . well . . . in a little trouble of late. She's elderly, sure, but she's always been on her game, the best friend any girl struggling to fit in could ever have. The Sophies drink tea, have strong opinions about pretty much everything, and love each other dearly. Now it seems the elder Sophie is having memory problems, burning teakettles, and forgetting just about everything. It looks like her son is going to come and get her and steal her away forever. Young Sophie isn't having that. Not one bit. So she sets out to help elder Sophie's memory, with the aid of her neighborhood friends Ralphie and Oliver. But when she opens the floodgates of elder Sophie's memories, she winds up listening to stories that will illustrate just how much there is to know about her dear friend, stories of war, hunger, cruelty, and ultimately love.

For fans of Sisters and Netflix’s The Baby-sitter’s Club, a contemporary series for the siblings who always come in last.

Santana Barnes is tired of playing second fiddle to her ballet protégé, honor student older sister Victoria. Casey Hammond is sick of her cute-as-a-button, adventurous little sister Sage, who steals all of their dad’s attention.

When the girls meet in their middle school library, they learn they have a lot in common: they both love reading, they hate after-school activities, and most important, they are clearly their parents’ second-favorite children.

So they decide to do something about it. They create the Second Favorite Daughters Club. The members? Just the two of them. The mission? To become their parents' favorite children by undermining their love-hoarding siblings. But is it possible to cheat your way to becoming your parents’ favorite? And is being in the spotlight really what they want after all?

Bestselling author Colleen Oakes’s middle grade debut, SISTER SABOTAGE is a celebration of friendship and family in all its challenging forms, and a reminder that there’s no one way to stand out.

A heartfelt novel praised by Tom Hanks in the New York Times as including "a conclusion nearly impossible to divine and yet so perfect it includes that most tactile of memories..."

Being a typewriter is not as easy as it looks. Surrounded by books (notorious attention hogs) and recently replaced by a computer, Olivetti has been forgotten by the Brindle family—the family he’s lived with for years. The Brindles are busy humans, apart from 12-year-old Ernest, who would rather be left alone with his collection of Oxford English Dictionaries. The least they could do was remember Olivetti once in a while, since he remembers every word they’ve typed on him. It’s a thankless job, keeping memories alive.

Olivetti gets a rare glimpse of action from Ernest’s mom, Beatrice—his used-to-be most frequent visitor—only for her to drop him off at Heartland Pawn Shop and leave him helplessly behind. When Olivetti learns Beatrice has mysteriously gone missing afterward, he believes he can help find her. He breaks the only rule of the “typewriterly code” and types back to Ernest, divulging Beatrice’s memories stored inside him.

Their search takes them across San Francisco—chasing clues, maybe committing a few misdemeanors. As Olivetti spills out the past, Ernest is forced to face what he and his family have been running from, The Everything That Happened. Only by working together will they find Beatrice, belonging, and the parts of themselves they’ve lost.

In this debut spooky adventure, Jerry and her trusty wheelchair move into a creepy motel at the edge of the woods where nothing is as it seems. When her mom disappears, it's up to Jerry to brave the forest and its demons so she can save what's left of her family.

Ever since her dad died, 11-year-old Jerry Blum and her mom have bounced around dead-end towns, staying in a series of rundown motels where her mother picks up housekeeping work and Jerry can get around in her wheelchair.

But the Slumbering Giant motel is different. Lights blink on and off in the surrounding trees, a mysterious radio station plays only at midnight, and people disappear into the woods, never to been seen again. Not to mention that Jerry's mom keeps vanishing to do "special work" that she refuses to discuss. When her mother doesn't come home one morning, Jerry springs into action.

Luckily, she's not alone. Paul, a pocket-size imaginary dragon, and Chapel, a new friend with a penchant for the supernatural, join Jerry's search for her missing mom. But along the way Jerry discovers her mother's terrible secret: she's not a housekeeper at all; in fact, she's been defending the town from demons that have been haunting it for generations.

Armed with nothing but a Ren Faire sword and a backpack, Jerry and her friends venture into the forbidden woods to save Jerry's mother. But the "demons" hiding there aren't what they seem, and Jerry must unravel the truth behind the town's legend, or risk losing what's left of her family.

In a world in the clouds where only the rich own dragons, a poor boy named Remy finds a wild baby dragon-believed to be extinct-and becomes the focus of an evil pirate's vengeance.

REMY spends his days trying to survive the mean streets of Cutthroat Wedge-one of the many islands floating in the gravitational pull of the magical Maelstrom raging below. But his life changes forever when a violent storm brings a baby dragon to his doorstep, and he feels a bond he has never felt with anyone. Remy names the dragon Storm and vows to protect this new friend, no matter the cost.

GEM longs for the day when she call herself a true mage. That is, if she can convince her teachers and peers that just because she's a princess doesn't mean she's lazy and spoiled. But when Gem learns that the floating islands that make up her kingdom are rapidly sinking into the Maelstrom, she makes it her mission to save her world. Against the king's wishes, she accesses forbidden research and discovers the secret to saving humanity may lie in a True Dragon-a dragon capable of intelligent thought and able to cast and use magic. But True Dragons are extinct . . . aren't they?

Remy's and Gem's lives will never be the same when their fates collide, thanks to Storm. With an evil pirate mage named Jhaeros determined to claim the rare dragon for himself, the two must learn to trust in each other as they team up with a shifty pirate captain and her crew, stand together against impossible odds, and embark on the adventure of a lifetime.

Kiya and Kinjal return to the Kingdom Beyond.

For their next adventure in the Kingdom Beyond, twins Kiya and Kinjal must help the flying horses with a sudden invasion of their lands. It turns out that the tree ghosts are losing their forest! To save the trees, and the Kingdom, they must use their collective knowledge of this world and of course their magic!

The instant #1 New York Times bestseller!

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Refugee, Ground Zero, and Two Degrees comes this heart-pounding, inventive, and powerful new novel about the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor... as only Alan Gratz can tell it!

December 6, 1941: Best friends Frank and Stanley have it good. With their dads stationed at the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii, the boys get to soak up the sunshine while writing and drawing their own comic books. World War II might be raging overseas, but so far America has stayed out of the fight. There's nothing to fear, right?

December 7th, 1941: Everything implodes.

Frank and Stanley are touring a battleship when Japanese planes zoom overhead, dropping bomb after bomb. As explosions roar and sailors screa, Frank and Stanley realize the unthinkable is happening: Japan is attacking America! The war has come to them.

Frantically, the boys struggle to find safety. But disaster and danger are everywhere--from torpedoes underwater to bullets on the beach... to the shocking cruelty that their friends and neightbors show Stanely. Because his mom is Japanese-American, Stanely is suddenly seen as the "enemy." And Frank, who is white, cannot begin to understand what his friend is now facing.

If the boys make it through this infamous day, can their friendship--and their dreams--survive? Or has everything they know been destroyed?

Told with the immediacy, high-stakes action, and inventive storytelling that make Alan Gratz (Refugee, Ground Zero) one of today's biggest authors, this riveting look at the attack on Pearl Harbor explores themes of prejudice, power, and what it truly means to be a hero.

Plus: The book ends with an all-original, 10-page black & white comic that brings to life the comic book idea that Frank and Stanley brainstorm in the novel. The comic is written by Alan Gratz and illustrated by Judit Tondora.

From #1 New York Times-bestselling author Dan Gemeinhart comes a standalone companion to the critically-acclaimed The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise about a father and daughter who venture on a moving, uplifting, and rollicking cross-country road trip.

It's been almost a year since Coyote and her dad left the road behind and settled down in a small Oregon town. . . time spent grieving the loss of her mom and sisters and trying to fit in at school. But just as life is becoming a new version of normal, Coyote discovers a box containing her mom’s ashes. And she thinks she might finally be ready to say goodbye.

So Coyote and her dad gear up for an epic cross-country road trip to scatter the ashes at her mom’s chosen resting place. The only problem? Coyote has no idea where that resting place is—and the secret’s hidden in a book that Coyote mistakenly sold last year, somewhere in the country. Now, it’s up to Coyote to track down the treasured book . . . without her dad ever finding out that it’s lost.

It’s time to fire up their trusty bus, Yager, pick up some old friends, discover some new ones, and hit the road on another unforgettable adventure.

"Your heart needs this joyful miracle of a book." —Katherine Applegate, acclaimed author of The One and Only Ivan and Wishtree, on The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

*A MIBA Bestseller!

Wild meets Gilmore Girls on the trail in this indie bestselling story of resilience and the healing and restorative power of the nature from bestselling author Erin Soderberg Downing

"A fun, heartfelt tale of adventure, family, and determination that will make you just keep reading." -- Dan Gemeinhart, award-winning author of The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

Two years after her parents' surprising and painful split, twelve-year-old Jo and her mom find themselves on the 100-mile hike on the Superior Hiking Trail along Lake Superior's north shore--a journey that Jo had always looked forward to hiking with her dad. It's not a situation that either of them ever predicted they'd find themselves in, yet here they are in the wilderness with their entire lives stuffed into a pair of thirty-pound packs.

Along the trail, they'll suffer through endless aches and pains, scorching heat, and crippling self-doubt. They'll encounter bears, moose, and other wildlife and meet and collect an assortment of unlikely friends. Day after day, Jo will battle the incessant thoughts that come in and out of her head. But as one obstacle after the next continue to test her strength and ultimate survival, Jo will have to confront her greatest fears head on and learn how to be alone.

What begins as a journey to prove to her father that she and her mom can make it on their own turns into a quest to rediscover their strength, build resilience, and prove that they can survive--both for themselves and for each other.

"Kate DiCamillo's new children's novel is a balm for the soul." - The New York Times

The beloved author of Because of Winn-Dixie has outdone herself with a hilarious and achingly real love story about a girl, a ghost, a grandmother, and growing up.

It's the summer before fifth grade, and for Ferris Wilkey, it is a summer of sheer pandemonium: Her little sister, Pinky, has vowed to become an outlaw. Uncle Ted has left Aunt Shirley and, to Ferris's mother's chagrin, is holed up in the Wilkey basement to paint a history of the world. And Charisse, Ferris's grandmother, has started seeing a ghost at the threshold of her room, which seems like an alarming omen given that she is also feeling unwell. But the ghost is not there to usher Charisse to the Great Beyond. Rather, she has other plans--wild, impractical, illuminating plans. How can Ferris satisfy a specter with Pinky terrorizing the town, Uncle Ted sending Ferris to spy on her aunt, and her father battling an invasion of raccoons?

As Charisse likes to say, "Every good story is a love story," and Kate DiCamillo has written one for the ages: emotionally resonant and healing, showing the two-time Newbery Medalist at her most playful, universal, and profound.

Harriet sets out to solve a poisoning on Marble Island in the third book in the acclaimed cozy mystery series from award-winning author Elana K. Arnold.

There are some things you should know about Harriet Wermer:

• She used to lie a lot, but not anymore.Seriously, she only tells the truth now.Even though she hadn't wanted to come to Marble Island in the first place, now she doesn't want to leave.

It's the truth. With her mom and new baby brother home from the hospital, it's almost time for Harriet to pack up and head home from Marble Island and all the friends she's made. But Harriet doesn't have time to think about that--not when she discovers that Moneypenny, her Nanu's adorable basset hound, has been poisoned!

Harriet suspects the culprit is one of the guests staying at Nanu's bed-and-breakfast, and she and her best friend, Clarence, are once again on the case. But when someone else falls ill, Harriet's going to have to sleuth harder, spy sneakier, and be willing to see that sometimes the truth is more complicated than it seems.