by Xiran Jay Zhao

This middle grade story is a beautiful mix of Chinese history, fantasy, mythology, and science fiction technology. It has all the adventure of a Rick Riordan gods & goddesses mythology book, but using the stories of ancient Chinese Emperors and their complex machinations as the myths. These are the stories of China that have been passed down and have been woven into modern Chinese and world culture, including manga & video gaming. The story centers around Zachary Ying, a modern Chinese American kid who loves to play the video game Mythrealm using his special portal goggles. Things go awry when the ancient Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang, tries to possess Zach, but ends up stuck fused to his portal goggles. They embark on an epic adventure with several others to try to stop the spirits from breaking more completely into our world from the spirit realm. The book is sprinkled with history lessons to help familiarize students with Chinese history they may have never learned – like Zack and me. Water dragons, crazy battles between immortals, and trying to find one’s moral compass make this action-packed adventure worth the read. Those unfamiliar with Chinese names, may mentally destroy & horribly mispronounce some of the names of characters or could find it a stumbling block. It’s worth reading despite that and might be an opportunity to share the audiobook version as a way of learning how to pronounce some of the names. (It helped me!) I think students who love mythology adventures will probably love this addition to the genre. This appears to be a first book in a series as it leaves a major cliffhanger at the end of the book.

Having just moved to a new town, Bones Malone is trying to fit in and make new friends and keep his temper in check. This is not easy for Bones, especially since he’s often misunderstood and judged unfairly. Things in this new town get complicated as Bones and then several other new friends start sharing the nightmares of each other. Also, the adults in town start acting like vacant, alien-zombie librarians (AZL). The kids team up to solve the problem and fix the adults in their life from all succumbing to the weird AZLing. To do this, they take on the big corporation that employs many of the town’s adults, but who are definitely up to something shady. The book is a mystery wrapped up in a “Stranger Things” vibe – spooky and suspenseful. Some of the kids’ nightmares are downright scary!  The book is full of diverse characters, including Kyle who has autism. I liked that his friends get to experience the way Kyle views the world when they end up in his nightmare. It helps them relate to him better in the real world once they understand how intense sounds, lights, and other stimuli can be for him. Bones is black with a Mom and siblings starting over away from his violent dad. His background has left Bones often feeling the need to protect his Mom and siblings, but also gets him into trouble. Friendship, courage, and facing fears all take center stage in this sometimes scary story. I know this is going to be a hit with students!

Zia Angelis loves words and stories, especially her mother’s funny little “lightning bugs”, stories that make her feel better.  Zia also makes up words like “grizzy” (Greek + frizzy), “weirsh” (weird + wish), or “Shadoom” (a room full of shadows).  It’s the Shadoom that causes Zia so much trouble in this story as she tries to solve the problem of it opening up inside of her by using a magical eraser in her Yiahyia’s special dictionary, the C.Scuro Dictionary, to get rid of the words that she thinks are causing the problem. Erase the word with a special eraser and the actual thing in the world also disappears. The book includes many pages that mimic actual dictionary pages – something readers today may be less familiar with. I liked that some of the definitions were real & many seemed to be written just for Zia. While the story seems magical in some ways, it really tackles some serious, important issues like depression, anxiety, dementia, poverty, and finding one’s own power to speak up. And while it is never easy to face the darker sides of life, Zia learns that without the dark, the light is not possible. I think this book will speak to students, many of whom struggle to speak about what scares them inside. The book includes an author’s note at the back with some resources for students struggling with depression and mental health.

A graphic novel about a smart, spunky girl intent on discovering the secrets of the hidden-from-the-world Utley Island and a mysterious voice on an old radio she’s fixed. Bright, bold colors and crazy mad-scientist inventions fill this energetic adventure. The main character is an inspirational girl who loves science and solving mysteries, namely how to rescue her grandfather from inside a giant Shiverstone crystal on the island. I love that she finds a place for herself in a location that honors diverse thinkers and inventors while also protecting the mainland from dangerous technologies. This island is a prison that no one living there seems to mind because it allows them to be themselves. A fun graphic adventure with weird sci-fi inventions is sure to please middle grade readers.

Set in New Orleans, Wildseed Witch is a charming story about Hasani’s journey to a magical charm school, her goals of becoming a well-known and popular YouTuber, and her quest to find herself and fix her family. A little bit of Harry Potter-esque magic set in the deep South, the story blooms with a riot of floral characters all trying to grow up with charm and controlled magic. Hasani learns she needs to find balance and lean on her friends – old and new – as she struggles to fix her parents’ broken marriage. I enjoyed the realistic aspects of the story about friendships and family challenges with the touches of magic woven through the story. While this book says it’s the first in a new series, the ending felt complete. Future books may follow Hasani as she grows older, but this book’s plot felt done. No huge hanging cliffhangers to frustrate a reader wanting completion on the final page. I also liked the bits of unvarnished history of sugar cane plantations that seep into the story as well. Overall, a nice diverse addition to an often white fantasy section of the library.

Earthquakes, tornados, pandemics, and more are highlighted and explained in this bold, colorful book. Using infographics to share facts about each type of disaster, a reader will find many questions explained by easy to understand illustrations, charts and graphs. The book includes a glossary of terms and a bibliography to back up facts shared. I liked that the infographics help make concrete the often-abstract numbers and ideas. For example, we often hear about the Richter Scale when earthquakes are discussed. The clear images and explanations for each number on the scale is the first time I think I’ve ever had a clear understanding of how those numbers relate to damage seen on news footage. An easy book to browse & flip through or to dig in and read every page, this will be a popular non-fiction read, I’m sure.

One of the most unique and beautiful biographies I’ve ever read. Ibi Zoboi tells the story of science fiction author Octavia E. Butler’s life in quotes, poems, short blurbs, photographs, her own writing, and drawings. I particularly like the poems that frame each short section of prose and add depth to the account of her life. The mix of writing styles adds to the retelling, giving the reader a mix of Octavia’s own words with those speculative ones of the author as she imagines what Octavia might have been thinking through some of her early experiences. The book tells the life of Octavia Butler from a childhood facing the Great Depression, World War II, the space race, the red scare, and the Civil Rights movement. Through all of it, Octavia loved reading and writing stories, especially science fiction though she rarely saw characters that looked like her in the pages. She set out to get paid to write the fantastical worlds she saw in her head, collecting many rejections along the way before she eventually became an award-winning and respected author.  I really enjoyed this artistic take on a woman who was such a pioneer in the field of science fiction writing.

During the summer of 1965, Eden gets to hang out with her cousin from Mississippi in Los Angeles where she lives. Winter is on a secret mission to find his father who went missing many years ago. With Eden’s help, they investigate his old neighborhood in the Watts area of LA for clues. In the midst of this, the folks in the Watts neighborhood and the police clash for 6 horrible days and much of Los Angeles goes into lockdown. This verse novel is a sweet story of cousins investigating their own family history while intense history is playing out around them. It’s especially interesting for today’s young readers living in new times of racial clashes with modern day police around the country. As the mystery of Winter’s father unravels, readers come to see that all is not what was assumed. As it is often the case, there is so much more to the story.