TREE. TABLE. BOOK. by Lois Lowry, Clarion Books, April 23, 2024, Hardcover, $18.99 (ages 8-12) Tree. Table. Book., a middle-grade novel by Lois Lowry, is the story of an unlikely friendship that defies age. 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 ..read more

MISS CAT: THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS CANARY, by Joëlle Jolivet and Jean-Luc Fromental, Thames & Hudson, April 16, 2024, Paperback $12.95 (ages 6-10) A detective sets out to find a missing bird in Miss Cat: The Case of the Curious Canary, an early chapter/graphic novel hybrid by Joëlle Jolivet and Jean-Luc Fromental. Sad, old Mr. Maximus comes to see Miss Cat at the old dairy she uses as an office. Someone has kidnapped his canary, Harry, his pride and joy. Mr. Maximus begs the detective to help find him. Following the trail of the missing canary, Miss Cat encounters the allurin ..read more

A FIELD GUIDE TO SPRING: Play and Learn in Nature (Wild by Nature, 1), by Gabby Dawnay, Dorien Brouwers, Louise Black, Thames & Hudson, April 2, 2024, Hardcover, $14.95 (ages 6-9) Inspired by the Forest School movement, A Field Guide to Spring aims to teach kids how to play and learn in nature. A Field Guide to Spring is a pocket-sized introduction to spring, inspired by the Forest School movement. Building on children’s natural curiosity about the world around them, this book aims to establish a connection with nature at an early age that will go on to last a lifetime! Hunt ..read more

KEEPING PACE, by Laurie Morrison, Harry N. Abrams, April 9, 2024, Hardcover, $18.99 (ages 10-14) Two former friends rethink their relationship while training for a half-marathon in Keeping Pace, a novel by Laurie Morrison. Grace has been working for years to beat her former friend Jonah Perkins’s GPA so she can be named top scholar of the eighth grade. But when Jonah beats her for the title, it feels like none of Grace’s academic accomplishments have really mattered. They weren’t enough to win—or to impress her dad. And then the wide, empty summer looms. With nothing planned and no more g ..read more

SUNNY PARKER IS HERE TO STAY, by Margaret Finnegan, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, April 23, 2024, Hardcover, $17.99 (ages 8-12) A girl stands up for her affordable housing community in Sunny Parker is Here to Stay, a middle-grade novel by Margaret Finnegan. Sunny Parker loves the Del Mar Garden Apartments, the affordable housing complex where she lives. And she especially loves her neighbors. From her best friend, Haley Michaels, to Mrs. Garcia and her two kids—developmentally disabled son AJ and bitter but big-hearted daughter Izzy—every resident has a story and a special p ..read more

PAINTING THE GAME, by Patricia MacLachlan, Margaret K. McElderry Books, April 16, 2024, Hardcover, $16.99 (ages 8-12) A girl tries to untangle her love of baseball from her complicated relationship with her professional pitcher father Painting the Game, by Patricia MacLachlan Lucy’s father is a minor league baseball player, a professional pitcher hoping to get called up to the majors, and Lucy inherited his passion for the game. But she’s never played pitcher. She worries her skills would be compared to her dad’s and she’d never measure up. And his pitching may mean big things for his car ..read more

SLEEPING SPELLS AND DRAGON SCALES, by Wendy S. Swore, ‎ Shadow Mountain, April 2, 2024, Hardcover, $18.99 (ages 8-12) Two friends utilize fairy tale knowledge as they search for the cause of a mysterious illness in Sleeping Spells and Dragon Scales, by Wendy S. Swore. Something is wrong with Liam. He collapses during soccer practice, he can’t stay awake in class, and he’s starting to see a ghostly white fox that disappears into smoke. His parents and teachers accuse him of being lazy and staying up too late, but he knows it’s something worse. He feels like he’s disappearing bit by bi ..read more

MEET ME ON MERCER STREET, by Booki Vivat, Scholastic Press, April 2, 2024, Paperback, $12.99 (ages 8-12) A girl tries to make sense of her changing neighborhood through observation and sketching in Meet Me on Mercer Street, a graphic novel by Booki Vivat. Aspiring artist Kacie spends most of her time on Mercer Street with her best friend, Nisha, people-watching and doodling whatever is happening in their neighborhood. But when she comes back from a summer away, the local corner store is boarded up, the adults in town are all on edge, and Nisha is nowhere to be found! Everything is changin ..read more

CONTINENTAL DRIFTER, by Kathy MacLeod, First Second, April 2, 2024, Hardcover, $22.99, Paperback $14.99 (ages 8-12) A biracial girl struggles to find where she fits in in Continental Drifter, a contemporary middle-grade graphic novel by Kathy MacLeod. With a Thai mother and an American father, Kathy lives in two different worlds. She spends most of the year in Bangkok, where she’s secretly counting the days till summer vacation. That’s when her family travels for twenty-four hours straight to finally arrive in a tiny seaside town in Maine. Kathy loves Maine’s idyllic beauty and all the ex ..read more

THE NIGHT WAR, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Dial Books, April 9, 2024, Hardcover, $17.99 (ages 9-12) A Jewish girl finds herself hiding in a French Catholic boarding school during WWII in The Night War, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. “We don’t choose how we feel, but we choose how we act.” It’s 1942. German Nazis occupy much of France. And twelve-year-old Miriam, who is Jewish, is not safe. With help and quick thinking, Miri is saved from the roundup that takes her entire Jewish neighborhood. She escapes Paris, landing in a small French village, where the spires of the famous Chateau de C ..read more