Carry On

Carry On
By Rainbow Rowell

Simon Snow and Baz Pitch are pretty much opposites; Simon is the Chosen One, Baz is a vampire. Simon is full of magic but not a very controlled magician, Baz is super capable with a wand. Simon is an orphan, Baz is from a wealthy, old-school family of Mages. These two teens are sworn enemies, as well as long-time roommates Watford School of Magicks. They are also secretly in love with each other.
In Rainbow Rowell's silly, fun spin-off from Harry Potter, good and evil are not as black and white as they first appear. There are mysteries to be solved and secrets to be revealed! If you enjoyed Harry Potter, and like the genre of magic boarding school stories, you're in for a treat with this one.

Snow & Rose

Snow & Rose
By Emily Winfield Martin

Two sisters, Snow and Rose, once lived a fancy life with their loving parents in a fancy house with a beautiful garden. But their father disappears one day, and the girls and their grieving mom move to a tiny cottage in the mysterious and possibly dangerous woods. Snow and Rose meet a quirky boy named Ivo, who has a vast knowledge of mushrooms, and they discover a library in the woods filled with magical objects (instead of books!). There is also a bear who befriends the girls and helps them out of some trouble...
This fairy tale is illustrated with gorgeous pictures and is full of mystery, magic, and bonds of friendship and sisterhood.

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street
By Karina Yan Glaser

I loved this fun, funny, and poignant story of a big biracial family trying to stay in their beloved Harlem brownstone home. The 12-year-old twins Isa and Jessie, along with their 9-year-old brother Oliver, and their two little sisters Hyacinth (6) and Laney (4), set out to save their home when their mysterious and mean landlord refuses to renew their rental contract. Without telling their parents, the kids try all kinds of things to convince their landlord to let them stay--and since each kid has their own quirky personality and special talents, the efforts are pretty funny! There is a sequel, The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden, which I also loved, and a third book coming out next fall about the lively Vanderbeeker family.

Turtles All the Way Down

Turtles All the Way Down
By John Green

From the author of A Fault in Our Stars, another heartbreaking story; this one about a teen with a mental health illness. But this book is both a romance and a mystery!
This review is from Publishers Weekly Annex:

Like many of Green's characters, Aza Holmes is whip smart, articulate, and tortured by worry. When she was eight, her father succumbed to a heart attack while mowing the lawn. Now 16, Aza takes meds (irregularly) to treat anxiety, which is manifesting in increasingly self-destructive ways. Her problems amplify when she reconnects with Davis, a boy she met years earlier at "Sad Camp," where both had gone to grieve their recently deceased parents. Now Davis's billionaire father is missing, running from a warrant for his arrest. Aza's best friend Daisy, in a classic sidekick role, pressures Aza to contact Davis, hoping they'll learn something about the disappearance-and maybe get a cut of the $100,000 reward. The reunion leads to romance, until Aza's anxiety won't allow it...

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
By Chris Grabenstein

This is a fun and unusual adventure, perfect for puzzle and secret code lovers!
Set in a fantastic new high-tech library designed by famous game master extraordinaire Mr. Luigi Lemoncello, a group of kids must solve puzzles and follow clues to get out of the library and win the incredible prize being offered!
I think I read somewhere that this book is kind of a cross between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Mr. Lemoncello seems inspired by Willy Wonka, for sure) and The Hunger Games...but takes place in a library...
If you enjoy it, there are several sequels too.

Refugee

Refugee
By Alan Gratz

We hear a lot about refugees in the news--all over the world people choose to leave their homes or are forced from their homes because of war and other violence, unfair government, religious beliefs, or ethnicity.
In Refugee, Alan Gratz tells the stories of three children and their families: Josef, fleeing from Nazi Germany in the 1930s; Isabel, fleeing Cuba in 1994; and Mahmoud, fleeing Syria in 2015. Each of the journeys is dangerous and terrifying, heartbreaking and true-to-life.
Although the three main characters live in different time periods in history and travel in separate parts of the world, their alternating stories overlap in surprising ways.
Get ready to read this powerful book quickly, because it is hard to put down. And get ready to have a fuller understanding of what people are able to endure and overcome, everyday. 

Wolf by Wolf

Wolf by Wolf
by Ryan Graudin

Wolf by Wolf was hard to put down!
Set in an alternative historical time--Hitler has won World War II and is in power--a girl named Yael has survived brutal treatment and escaped from a Nazi death camp.
Now a teenager, Yael is part of the underground Resistance force, and she has a top secret, very dangerous mission: impersonate a famous German teenager (who happens to be the winner of a prestigious annual motorcycle race) so that she can win the next race, meet Hitler in person, and kill him.
Luckily Yael has some special powers that allow her to "skinshift", the result of horrible human experimentation she underwent as a little girl in the concentration camp.
She can make herself look like anyone.
But that is the easy part...winning the fiercely competitive motorcycle race across the continents, and then figuring out a plan to assassinate Hitler--and escape alive--are two unfathomable challenges she faces.
The sequel to Wolf by Wolf is Blood for Blood...you won't want to miss it!

The Girl Who Drank the Moon

The Girl Who Drank the Moon
by Kelly Barnhill

This fantasy novel received the 2017 Newbery Medal.
It's about a sweet, kind witch--Xan--and the baby girl she adopts and raises, Luna.
It's also about a dysfunctional/dystopian town (reminded me of Jonas's town in The Giver) where every year a baby is sacrificed by the people in charge "for the good of everyone"...but really, it's just to keep the townsfolk scared and powerless.
As Luna approaches her 13th birthday and learns more about her past and her own magical powers, she embarks upon a great and dangerous adventure with her dear friends, a Swamp Monster and a Tiny Dragon....what unfolds is both creepy and beautiful.

Cloud and Wallfish

Cloud and Wallfish
By Anne Nesbet

1989, East Berlin, Germany.
The setting of this story may or may not be familiar to readers, but this was the year the Berlin Wall came down--the Wall that divided a city, separated families, distinguished very different governments, all within the same country! This Wall served as a literal Iron Curtain, dividing capitalist systems from communist systems.
Noah Keller, an American kid, travels to East Berlin with his parents who suddenly get official permission to cross the border and do "research". But there are some weird things going on; Noah's parents insist that his age, birthday, home town and even his name must be changed while they are living in East Berlin. There are serious Rules to follow, and Noah learns quickly that the secret police may be listening to anyone's conversations, anywhere.
What is Noah's family really doing there?
What is going on?

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
By Ransom Riggs

This is a real page-turner...and pretty spooky, too!
Jacob, 16 years old, was always been enchanted by his grandfather's crazy stories of growing up in an orphanage on a wind-swept island off the coast of Wales--along with a number of children with strange powers and abilities. Jacob has even seen the photos. But as he got older, his grandfather's stories seemed too fantastic to be true. After a mysterious "accident", Jacob is suddenly inspired to investigate the island and track down anyone still connected with the orphanage.
Set against the backdrop of World War II, this novel is a mix of fantasy, reality, mystery and horror...it will keep you guessing!!

This book is part of a trilogy; Hollow City and Library of Souls are the next two books. And Tales of the Peculiar is a collection of short stories that relates to the trilogy. Check them out!

The Lie Tree

The Lie Tree
By Frances Hardinge

The Lie Tree is part historical fiction, part fantasy--a mysterious, intriguingly dark story.
Fourteen year-old Faith Sunderly pretends to be a good, quiet girl because that's what is expected of her in Victorian England. But inside she is a gifted natural scientist, determined to win her famous scientist father's attention.
When he is mysteriously murdered, Faith does some detective work on her own. She discovers a fantastic tree her father has been hiding--a tree that feeds off of lies whispered to it in the dark. In order to learn more, and perhaps unable to resist the power of this strange specimen, Faith begins to spread her own lies. However, this becomes more dangerous that she ever could have imagined... 

Outrun the Moon

Outrun the Moon
By Stacey Lee

Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong will win you over with her spunky attitude, strength, sense of humor, and determination. And she will need all of that and more to survive San Francisco's 1906 earthquake; not only does Mercy face the destruction of her city and beloved Chinatown neighborhood, but she faces discrimination at being a girl AND as a Chinese American.
Against all odds, Mercy talks her way into a private, elite girls school because she's convinced it is her only ticket to becoming the businesswoman she wants to be...but the Great Quake shakes up her plans and brings many unexpected connections, along with devastation and tragedy.
I could not put this book down!

The Beast of Cretacea
By Todd Strasser

Maybe you've never read the classic Moby-Dick...I haven't (yet!)...but this sci-fi retelling of Herman Melville's epic adventure on a whaling ship may make you want to check it out!
Set in the future, when Earth is covered by a Shroud of thick pollution, food and all other resources are scarce.  Humans struggle to survive--at least most of them do.
Ishmael, age 17, has no other choice than to be transported to another galaxy to harvest resources from a different Earth-like planet--that way he can make money to get his parents off of Earth and somewhere safer.
Little does Ishmael know that by joining the crew of the mighty Pequod, dangerous adventures lie ahead: a giant, lethal underwater beast the captain of the Pequod is obsessed with hunting down, savage pirates, gentle islanders etching out an alternative way of life on land, new friends--and new enemies.
All of this for a boy who has never eaten solid food, taken a shower, nor seen the ocean...
A page-turner!

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society
By Trenton Lee Stewart 

This is a very fun book (and series!) for people who love puzzles, mysteries, and secret missions...
Four specially-chosen, quirky, and orphaned children are sent to the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened to help solve a mystery they don't completely understand but are supposedly well-equipped to tackle. The challenge is for them to work together--and think WAY out of the box--to stop evil forces from controlling the world's population...hard to explain, but read it and enjoy!

Wildwood

Wildwood
By Colin Meloy
Illustrated by Carson Ellis

Since I used to live in Portland, Oregon, I particularly loved the setting of Wildwood. And since I love the music of the band The Decemberists, I had a hunch I would enjoy the writing by that band's lead singer and lyricist, Colin Meloy. And I did!
Wildwood is the first book in a trilogy of fantasy stories involving two 12-year-old kids, Prue and Curtis, who accidentally wander into an enchanted wood that borders the city of Portland. In these woods, talking forest animals and humans, some with (dark) magical abilities are preparing for a war--and Prue and Curtis find themselves more involved in the civil unrest than they could have imagined!
Full of adventure and wit, Wildwood will keep you reading and wondering how it will all work out...

The illustrations throughout the book by Carson Ellis are wonderful, too!

Akata Witch

Akata Witch
By Nnedi Okorafor

This book is kind of a Teens-Turned-Superheroes thriller set in Nigeria! Very original!
Full of magic--and black magic--strange twists and turns, realism and fantasy, I wasn't really sure how this wild story would unfold, up to almost the last page.
It has plenty of fantastical elements, but also stark realism--about fitting in, about racism, about being different, about accepting oneself...It's an interesting novel, for sure!

The Sleeper and the Spindle

The Sleeper and the Spindle

By Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by Chris Riddell

I love other books by Neil Gaiman that I've read--Coraline, The Graveyard Book--so I was intrigued by this slender, new book with incredibly detailed and beautiful illustrations by Chris Riddell.
It is a fairy tale...of sorts! Or perhaps a few different fairy tales you may recognize, but twisted together, distorted, and combined in a surprising way--with a little dark magic thrown in.
Who says Snow White has to wear a dress? Who says it must be a man who kisses Sleeping Beauty? Who says any given princess is even good?
Read this book and be challenged in what you've heard of princesses who go to sleep for a hundred years, and the heroes who rescue them...

Wonderstruck

Wonderstruck
By Brian Selznick

This thick, heavy book may look intimidating at first glance--but you will race through Wonderstruck, both because the plot is so compelling and because half of it is told through pictures!
I enjoyed trying to figure out the connections between the text-only story of a boy who just lost his mother (and his hearing, from a lightning strike) and the drawings of a deaf girl, many years before, who runs away from home to New York City.
Full of curious characters, unusual museum artifacts, and unexpected friendships, Wonderstruck is an unconventional half-graphic-novel you will no doubt enjoy!

The False Prince

The False Prince
By Jennifer A. Nielsen

California Young Reader Medal
2014-2015 Middle School Winner!

I had a hard time putting this book down once I'd started it--and the twists and turns in the story really surprised me!

Four similar-looking orphan boys, selected and purchased by a wealthy and powerful nobleman, are forced to compete with each other to be the new--false--prince who will be installed on the throne. The royal family has been disappeared, the kingdom is on the verge of war, and the dubious noblemen has a bizarre plan that may prevent war...or maybe he's just planning his own path to power...?

Shadows of Sherwood

 
Shadows of Sherwood: A Robyn Hoodlum Adventure
By Kekla Magoon

I've always loved the tales of Robin Hood, so when I heard about this brand-new series with a dystopian, urban twist--the Robyn Hoodlum Adventures--I was pretty excited!
This first book in the series, Shadows of Sherwood, introduces Robyn, a street-smart teen with a daring taste for adventure, and her eclectic merry band of new friends. From a mixed-race family of political importance and privilege, Robyn suddenly finds herself alone and terrorized one night when her parents are disappeared by the very creepy Sheriff Marissa Mallet.
Nott City is changing, and not for the better; an evil governor, Ignomus Crown, has taken power and Sheriff Mallet will stop at nothing to please him. Innocent people are being arrested all over town, and Robyn finds herself at the top of the Most Wanted list once she begins to bravely help the poor and needy citizens of the city....
Stay tuned for more from Kekla Magoon!