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Dear Friends

Lisa Greenwald

From Lisa Greenwald, the beloved author of the TBH and Friendship List series, comes a novel about one girl's quest to discover the ins and outs of friendship--how and why of some friendships end--and to prove that despite some friendship fails, she's totally best friend material!

Eleni is the kind of person who's always had a BFF--an automatic, guaranteed by-her-side person--at home, at school, and at camp. And since before she was even born, her very best friend has been Sylvie Bank.

But when Sylvie's end-of-summer birthday party becomes the end of their friendship, Eleni can't picture starting middle school without her BFF by her side. She can't picture anything without her BFF--especially the looming school overnight. Who will she even room with?

So before the big overnight, Eleni sets out on a mission: to figure out where her friendships went wrong, what's wrong with her, and what makes a good friend. But if she's totally honest, there's only one real goal: to win back Sylvie Bank!

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Best Friends, Bikinis, and Other Summer Catastrophes

Kristi Wientge

For fans of Barbara Dee and Shannon Hale, this poignant coming-of-age middle grade novel explores the ups and down of best friends, crushes, and backyard projects during a summer full of changes and possibilities.

Alex has always known her best friend and next-door neighbor, Will, will be there for her. That’s just how it’s always been. Until a girl from the pool named Rebekah comes over to them and says hi. Suddenly, Will is changing his clothes, restyling his hair, and breaking all of their summer plans and Alex is not happy about it.

Every summer, she and Will come up with a new challenge. This year, it’s a treehouse. Now Alex is wrangling up summer jobs and keeping tabs on the new girl, hoping that in completing their treehouse, she can keep from losing her best friend and her summer from falling apart.

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The Next Great Jane

K. L. Going

From award-winning author K. L. Going comes a happily-ever-after story of a girl who discovers the true secret to all good writing--through an unlikely friendship, some well-intentioned matchmaking, and little bit of science.

Jane Brannen wants nothing more than to become a famous author like Jane Austen--she just needs to figure out the key to literary success Her chance to uncover the secret arrives when famous author J. E. Fairfax visits the tiny lobster town of Whickett Harbor, Maine. Unfortunately, a hurricane rolls in and Jane gets stuck with the author's snobbish son, Devon, instead. But when the skies clear, Jane realizes the wind has blown in something worse than annoying boys: Her mother, Susan, and Susan's new fianc , Erik, have flown all the way from Hollywood to file for custody and bring Jane back to California. Now she needs to find a mate for her marine biologist father and figure out what's truly important about Whickett Harbor, so she can prove to her mother that this is where she's meant to stay.

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Apple Crush

Lucy Knisley

After finally adjusting to life on a family farm with two brand new step-sisters, a young girl faces an even bigger challenge - figuring out where she fits in at her first year in middle school. This middle grade graphic novel explores family, friendship, and change!

Jen is just getting used to her life on Peapod Farm with her new stepsisters, Andy and Reese. But when the school year starts, there are even more changes in store for her. Jen has to navigate new friends and new challenges--but at least she'll have Andy with her, right? As she starts the sixth grade, she finds that her stepsister seems way more interested in crushes and boys than hanging out with her, while Jen wants to know when the world decided boys and girls couldn't be just friends anymore.

Jen's story continues in the standout sequel to Stepping Stones that captures everything awesome (and scary) about growing up.

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Realm of the Blue Mist

Amy Kim Kibuishi

Enter the rich and fantastical world of Rema in the first installment of this middle-grade graphic novel series with sweeping adventure and light romance!

 

Tabby Simon is determined to learn what happened to her father, who was found dead after researching a tree that leaks a mysterious mist in her neighborhood. She is unexpectedly led to Rema, a distant world of magic and beauty that is periodically invaded by a nearby planet desperate for resources. While Tabby searches for the truth surrounding her father's death, she meets a handsome blue-haired boy named Philip. He has his own dangerous secrets, but has promised to help Tabby get home. As she learns more about this strange world, Tabby discovers that she is destined for something far greater than she ever could have imagined.

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Much Ado About Baseball

Rajani LaRocca

"Much Ado About Baseball is the best children's book I've read in the past 10 years!" -Brad Thor, New York Times bestselling author of the Scot Harvath series

"A moving tale of baseball, magic, and former rivals who come together to solve a problem." -Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

In this companion novel to Midsummer's Mayhem, math and baseball combine with savory snacks to cause confusion and calamity in the town of Comity by Newbery-Honor winner Rajani LaRocca.

Twelve-year-old Trish can solve tough math problems and throw a mean fastball. But because of her mom's new job, she's now facing a summer trying to make friends all over again in a new town. That isn't an easy thing to do, and her mom is too busy to notice how miserable she is.

But at her first baseball practice, Trish realizes one of her teammates is Ben, the sixth-grade math prodigy she beat in the spring Math Puzzler Championships. Everyone around them seems to think that with their math talent and love of baseball, it's only logical that Trish and Ben become friends, but Ben makes it clear he still hasn't gotten over that loss and can't stand her. To make matters worse, their team can't win a single game. But then they meet Rob, an older kid who smacks home runs without breaking a sweat. Rob tells them about his family's store, which sells unusual snacks that will make them better ballplayers. Trish is dubious, but she's willing to try almost anything to help the team.

When a mysterious booklet of math puzzles claiming to reveal the "ultimate answer" arrives in her mailbox, Trish and Ben start to get closer and solve the puzzles together. Ben starts getting hits, and their team becomes unstoppable. Trish is happy to keep riding the wave of good luck . . . until they get to a puzzle they can't solve, with tragic consequences. Can they find the answer to this ultimate puzzle, or will they strike out when it counts the most?

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Danny Constantino's First (and Maybe Last?) Date

Paul Acampora

Between going out with his celebrity crush and his mom's campaign to be the next town mayor, Danny's got a lot to learn about life in the spotlight.

When Danny Constantino asks his old-friend-turned-Hollywood-movie-star, Natalie Flores Griffin, to his local school dance and homecoming parade, she surprises him . . . by saying yes! Unfortunately, now everyone in Cuper Cove has something to say about Danny's love life--especially since Natalie is the hometown hero. Throw in herds of TV reporters and NFG groupies, his mom using Natalie's arrival for free publicity, and a pep rally gone horribly, horribly awry, and Danny's left absolutely clueless in this new world of crushes and becoming (kind of) famous.

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I Speak Boy

Jessica Brody

A phone-obsessed twelve-year-old girl, frustrated by the cryptic boys in her life, discovers a magic app that can read boys' thoughts in this modern-day retelling of Emma by Jane Austen.

After a matchmaking attempt for her best friend, Harper, goes wrong, Emmy is fed up. Why are boys so hard to figure out? But then something amazing happens--she wakes up with a new app on her phone: iSpeak Boy! Suddenly Emmy has the information every girl wants to know--the super-secret knowledge of how boys think . . . and who they like!

Now Emmy is using her magical app to make matches left and right. But can she use it to help Harper, the only person who doesn't seem to buy into Emmy's "gift"? And when her secret gets out and the app ends up in the wrong hands, can Emmy figure out how to undo the damage she's caused?

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Maya and the Robot

Eve L. Ewing

From award-winning author Eve L. Ewing comes an illustrated middle grade novel about a forgotten homemade robot who comes to life just when aspiring fifth-grade scientist Maya needs a friend -- and a science fair project.

Maya's nervous about fifth grade. She tries to keep calm by reminding herself she knows what to expect. But then she learns that this year won't be anything like the last. For the first time since kindergarten, her best friends Jada and MJ are placed in a different class without her, and introverted Maya has trouble making new friends.

She tries to put on a brave face since they are in fifth grade now, but Maya is nervous! Just when too much seems to be changing, she finds a robot named Ralph in the back of Mr. Mac's convenience store closet. Once she uses her science skills to get him up and running, a whole new world of connection opens up as Ralph becomes a member of her family and Maya begins to step into her power. In this touching novel, Eve L. Ewing melds together a story about community, adapting to change, and the magic of ingenuity that reminds young readers that they can always turn to their own curiosity when feeling lost.

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Maddie and Mabel

Kari Allen

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Meet Maddie and Mabel, two spunky sisters who navigate their relationship with humor and heart. Maddie is the big sister. Mabel is the little sister. But who is actually in charge? Mabel, who never stops asking questions? Or Maddie, who can be bossy and demanding? Readers will see that being in charge might not be as important as working together. The first book in this early chapter book series introduces two relatable characters who make mistakes as they learn important life lessons.

Friendship between siblings can often be a heart-warming work in progress. Through joyful storytelling and story-sharing, Maddie and Mabel exemplify the best of what these young years can offer us: imagination, joy, play, forgiveness, and family. In a way that's accessible for new readers and enjoyable for anyone who has also made mistakes and made amends with their own sibling, Maddie and Mabel endears, entertains, and delights.

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Ways to Grow Love

Renée Watson

Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Award winner Renée Watson continues her charming young middle grade series starring Ryan Hart, a girl who is pure spirit and sunshine.

Ryan Hart loves her family and friends. She's looking forward to summer vacation, spending time with loved ones, and her first trip to sleepaway camp! But when an unexpected camper shows up, Ryan finds it's hard to share your best friend and harder to be a friend to someone who isn't a good friend to you. She's also waiting for her new sister to be born -- and hoping the baby doesn't ruin everything. The Hart family is experiencing a lot of changes, and Ryan needs to grow her patience in many ways, find ways to share the love, meet new challenges, and grow into the leader her mom and dad named her to be. This summer and the start of fifth grade just might give Ryan the chance to show how she grows and glows!

Acclaim for Ways to Make Sunshine:
A New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year | A Parents Magazine Best Book of the Year | A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year | A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year | A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year | A WORLD Magazine Best Book of the Year | An Amazon Best Book of the Year

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The Ghoul Next Door

Cullen Bunn

For fans of Ghosts and Hilo, New York Times bestselling author Cullen Bunn and acclaimed artist Cat Farris deliver a fun, spooky, full-color middle grade graphic novel about a supernatural adventure and friendships that go beyond the grave.

"A thoroughly charming story of friendship, sweet and funny and haunting all in equal measure." --Tony Cliff, creator of the Delilah Dirk series

"Incredible artwork and a sweet, cool, and just creepy enough story that really hooked me." --Jeff Lemire, creator of Sweet Tooth, Black Hammer, and the Essex County trilogy

"A fun story with art that'll knock readers dead."--Kirkus

"Imaginative with the right number of chills."--Booklist

Eleven-year-old Grey lives in the legend-haunted New England town of Ander's Landing, and he can't help but feel like a pair of eyes is watching his every move.

He discovers odd, gruesome bits and pieces from the graveyard that are left for him as gifts like art carved from bones or jewelry made from (hopefully not human) remains. Soon Grey is caught up in something bigger than he could ever have imagined.

He finds himself drawn into a strange mystery involving a race of reclusive subterranean creatures--ghouls, the eaters of the dead! Turns out, his secret admirer is a ghoul named Lavinia. An unlikely friendship forms between them. The only problem is, their friendship breaks traditions--and the punishment is a fate worse than death.

Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection * Kids' Indie Next List

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PAWS: Gabby Gets It Together

Nathan Fairbairn

Are you a fan of Raina Telgemeier or Shannon Hale? Then don't miss PAWS, a new graphic novel series about best friends, cute dogs, and all the fun (and trouble) that comes with them. Perfect for fans of Real Friends, Roller Girl, and Allergic, this funny and heartwarming series is the Baby-Sitters Club for pets!

Meet best friends Gabby Jordan, Priya Gupta, and Mindy Park. They're different in just about every way--personalities, hobbies, family, and more--but they have a few important things in common: they're all in the same class, they absolutely love animals, and for reasons that are as varied as the trio themselves none of them can actually have any pets.

Unable to resist the adorable temptation any longer, the girls decide to come up with a way to finally get their hands on some furry friends. And, as luck would have it, it seems like their neighborhood is in need of some afterschool dog-walkers. So, just like that, PAWS is born!

But it turns out that running a business is harder than it looks, especially with three co-owners who are such different people. The girls soon argue about everything, from how to prioritize their commitments to the best way to keep their doggy clients happy. And when their fighting ultimately leads to a doggo crisis, will it tear their business and friendship apart or will they be able to get it together to save the day?

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Swan Lake

Rey Terciero

"A fun, unexpected, action-packed reimagining of a classic story." --Molly Knox Ostertag, author of The Witch Boy

Frozen meets The Wizard of Oz in this swashbuckling adventure perfect for fans of Amulet and The Okay Witch, from the acclaimed author of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy.

Odette and Dillie are supposed to be enemies. Their kingdoms have been feuding since before they were born.

But when the two princesses meet each other at the lake that separates their castles, it's clear they were destined to be best friends. Odette--who lives with a curse that magically transforms her into a swan when the sun rises--is happy to find someone who treats her like everyone else. And Dillie has finally met someone who understands her dream of having an adventure instead of sitting on a throne.

When they discover that Odette's curse is the reason for tension between their families, they decide to follow an ancient legend that could lead them to someone who can set everything right. As they travel through enchanted lands, meet new allies, and fight terrible foes, Odette and Dillie are put to the ultimate test.

But when the time comes, will they choose their deepest wishes or the fragile fate of their world?

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Forget Me Nat

Maria Scrivan

Companion to the New York Times bestseller Nat Enough!

 

It's called a crush for a reason...For the first time in her life, Natalie feels confident. Her talents are being recognized, she has supportive friends, and she's spending a ton of time with her crush, Derek! But when Derek tells Natalie that he just wants to be friends, Natalie's self-confidence quickly changes to self-doubt. As she tries to recover from her broken heart, Natalie casts aside her talents and even her friends. With no one to turn to, Natalie will have to pull herself out of this mess on her own.

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Beak and Ally #1: Unlikely Friends

Norman Feuti

Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award winner! "What do you get when you cross a crusty alligator and a perky bird? A surprising friendship you'll be sure to cheer for. Beak and Ally is a warm, funny winner!" --Terri Libenson, author of the New York Times bestselling Emmie & Friends series

A brand-new early reader graphic novel series about finding friendship in unexpected places! This fun and funny buddy comedy is perfect for fans of Narwhal & Jelly, emerging readers, and all kids who love comics.

Ally the alligator is perfectly happy being alone . . . until one day a noisy bird named Beak lands on her snout.

Beak thinks Ally is lonely and needs a friend. He has all sorts of friendship goals in mind, like riding bikes together, going to the movies together, and even solving mysteries together! But when a Long-Billed Party Pooper crashes Beak's nest-warming party, Ally decides to show Beak something important to her: sticking up for what's right.

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Cornbread and Poppy

Matthew Cordell

Caldecott medalist Matthew Cordell debuts his first early reader series about two best friends who are as different from each other as can be.



Cornbread LOVES planning. Poppy does not. Cornbread ADORES preparing. Poppy does not. Cornbread IS ready for winter. Poppy...is not. But Cornbread and Poppy are the best of friends, so when Poppy is left without any food for the long winter, Cornbread volunteers to help her out. Their search leads them up, up, up Holler Mountain, where these mice might find a new friend...and an old one. Celebrating both partnership and the value of what makes us individuals, young readers will find this classic odd-couple irresistible as they encounter relatable issues with humor and heart.



Publishing simultaneously in hardcover and paperback.

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Katt Loves Dogg

James Patterson

In this funny and paw-some story, lifelong rivals Molly and Oscar are forced to team up and brave the great outdoors and help their families before it's too late.

Wilderness adventurers and expert trackers Molly the katt and Oscar the dogg go camping with their families: parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles. One big reunion! It would be fun if there weren't so many rules to follow at the campsite. ATTENTION KATTS AND DOGGS: No crossing the border, or you'll be asked to leave the Eastern Wilderness Reserve. If you're still alive.



Molly and Oscar must outsmart the rule-makers when they discover that their katt and dogg cousins have run away together--for reasons only Molly and Oscar will understand. Now the clever pair must find and warn their cousins before all four of them are in need of a serious rescue mission.

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Mindy Kim and the Fairy-Tale Wedding

Lyla Lee

Fresh off the Boat meets Junie B. Jones in this adorable chapter book series following Mindy Kim, a young Asian American girl—in this seventh novel, Mindy’s dad and Julie get married!

It’s time for a big celebration in Mindy Kim’s family: Dad and Julie are getting married! Mindy can’t wait to be the flower girl, wear her new hanbok, and officially welcome Julie into the family.

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How to Test a Friendship

Theanne Griffith

BOOM! SNAP! WHIZ! ZAP! The Magnificent Makers series is filled with science, adventure, and characters that readers will love! A modern-day Magic School Bus for chapter book readers!

This book includes two science activities kids can do at home! These quick educational activities (30 minutes or less) use items you probably already have on hand!

Violet and Pablo are best friends who love science! So when they discover a riddle that opens a magic portal in the Science Space at school, they can't wait to check it out! Along with their new classmate, Deepak, the friends discover a magical makerspace called the Maker Maze. It's a laboratory full of robots, 3D printers, an antigravity chamber, and more. Doors line the walls of the makerspace, with a new science adventure waiting behind each one.

With the help of a hilarious and odd scientist, the Magnificent Makers embark on out-of-this-world adventures that help them master the science concepts they are learning in school. This series will cover several scientific topics (at an age-appropriate level) ranging from human biology to ecology, while also exploring issues such as managing failure, teamwork, courage, and jealousy.

Don't miss any books in this STEM-tastic series!

#1: How to Test a Friendship
#2: Brain Trouble
#3: Riding Sound Waves
#4: The Great Germ Hunt
#5: Race Through Space

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Sydney and Taylor and the Great Friend Expedition

Jacqueline Davies

In this laugh-out-loud early chapter book with charming full-color illustrations, best-selling author Jacqueline Davies follows hedgehog Taylor and skunk Sydney as they set out on an adventure to make new friends, even through doubt and obstacles. Perfect for fans of the Mercy Watson and Owl Diaries series.

Sydney and Taylor have been best friends since before they can remember. But how does one make new friends? Taylor wants to try, so Sydney does what any best friend would do: accompany him on his biggest adventure yet! When sincere compliments and gifts of friendship don't lead anywhere, Sydney and Taylor may need to look where they least expect . . .

This hilarious chapter-book buddy story, illustrated with expressive full-color art, highlights the importance of friendships old and new.

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Big Nate: Aloha!

Lincoln Peirce

Now an animated series with Paramount+ and Nickelodeon!
The latest installment in the thrilling, bestselling Big Nate series by Lincoln Peirce.

Aloha can mean hello or goodbye--which makes it the perfect word for sixth grader Nate Wright. Why? Because Nate doesn't know whether he's coming or going. Will his romance with Daisy sizzle or fizzle? Will his hair survive Teddy's cut-rate barber skills? And when Nate spots a crime in progress at Klassic Komix, can he find his inner superhero?

In this latest Big Nate collection, all your favorite characters are back with brand-new adventures: Sumo-grams, (almost) no-hitters, and even a sidewalk concert featuring Enslave The Mollusk. Say goodbye to boredom and hello to hilarity with Big Nate: Aloha!

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Boy-crazy Stacey

Ann M. Martin

A brand-new graphic novel adapted by USA Today bestselling author Gale Galligan!

Stacey and Mary Anne are baby-sitting for the Pike family for two weeks at the New Jersey shore. Things are great in Sea City: There's a gorgeous house right on the beach, a boardwalk, plenty of sun and sand... and the cutest boy Stacey has ever seen!

Mary Anne thinks that Stacey should leave Scott alone and focus on the Pike kids, but Stacey's in love. Looking for reasons to hang around his lifeguard stand takes up all her time, which means Mary Anne has to do the job of two baby-sitters! How can she tell Stacey that Scott just isn't interested without ruining their friendship and breaking Stacey's heart?

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Everywhere with You

Carlie Sorosiak

The heartwarming friendship between a girl and the dog next door tenderly evokes the power of stories to bring--and keep--us together.

Two houses stand side by side: one is home to a dog, the other to a young girl. Though a fence divides them, girl and dog build a sweet and sturdy friendship rooted in make-believe . . . and are lonely no more. Paired with moving illustrations and based on a true story, this endearing tale from the author of I, Cosmo testifies to the transformative power of creativity and inter-species friendship.

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Our Fort

Marie Dorléans

A charming tale about friends finding joy and wonder in nature when they are caught in a thunderstorm on their way to their fort.

It’s spring! Warm and green, the great outdoors beckons, especially when you’ve built a fort to play in with your friends. Our Fort is the story of three friends who set out one day to visit their secret fort at the edge of the woods. The weather looks fine, but no sooner have they left home and walked into the hills than the sun disappears behind the clouds. Crows fly by, calling, and the wind begins to blow. Suddenly the day turns into night. It’s a storm! Will the friends make it to shelter? Will their fort survive the storm? Marie Dorléans’s illustrations capture the sensory pleasures of nature, as well as its capriciousness, while her story reminds us of the simple joy of being with friends and sharing a great adventure.

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My Best Friend, Sometimes

Naomi Danis

A story that vividly examines the occasionally-turbulent friendships of young girls. My Best Friend, Sometimes is an empathic and honest portrait of the delight in these relationships, but also the confusion, jealousy and vulnerability that can result.

"Stephanie and I like each other. And we don't like each other. Both."

It all begins on the day Stephanie proposes, "If you give me a cookie, I'll be your best friend." From then on, the two girls are inseparable, but not always at peace. They love to giggle, whisper, observe their classmates, and share their most outlandish, secret dreams. But sometimes they are at odds. Some days one doesn't feel like sharing. Taking turns isn't always easy. If they can't agree on a game to play, who decides? One day it seems like Stephanie is mad for no reason at all. The ups and downs of friendship can be steep, and often unpredictable. My Best Friend, Sometimes navigates the path of two girls moving towards, away from, and back to each other again.

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The More You Give

Marcy Campbell

A modern-day response to The Giving Tree, this lyrical picturebook shows how a family passes down love from generation to generation, leaving a legacy of growing both trees and community.

Once there was a wide-open field, and a boy who loved his grandmother,
who loved him back.

The boy's grandmother gives him many gifts, like hugs, and Sunday morning pancakes, and acorns with wild and woolly caps. And all her wisdom about how things grow. As the boy becomes a father, he gives his daughter bedtime stories his grandmother told him, and piggyback rides. He gives her acorns, and the wisdom he learned about how things grow. His daughter continues the chain, then passing down gifts of her own. Here is a picture book about the legacy of love that comes when we nurture living things--be they people or trees.

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Q and U Call It Quits

Stef Wade

For fans of Z Is for Moose and Little i, this hilarious and quirky story about friendship and the alphabet will make young readers excited about letter learning.

What happens when best friends Q and U quarrel? It's a real quandary, since they have always been quality friends--a true squad.

But sometimes, U wants some time to herself--even though Q is lonely because he doesn't always fit in with the other letters without her. When the rest of the alphabet notices the split, they decide they want to do the same. And utter chaos ensues!

Can Q and U come together to quell the mayhem and help the letters repair their friendships?

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Sorry (Really Sorry)

Joanna Cotler

* "Clever, funny, and true--really."-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

* "The animals, rendered expressively by Bliss, learn what kids already know and adults too easily forget: the capacity to say "I'm sorry"--and mean it--is no small thing."--PW (starred review)

A sweet and thoughtful picture book about how one act of kindness can change the world, written by publishing legend Joanna Cotler and illustrated by New York Times bestseller Harry Bliss.

Cow was in a nasty mood. When Duck came along Cow kicked mud in her face.
"Why'd you do that?" asked Duck.
"I felt like it," said Cow. "And I'm not sorry."

Little did Cow know that her bad mood would spread to the whole farm. But it does when Cow passes her anger along to Duck who takes it out on Frog who is mean to Bird who upsets Goat who bothers Pig. Until good-hearted Dog turns things around by showing kindness to Pig, turning not sorry into sorry (really sorry). But will that be enough to mend all of the hurt feelings on the farm?

With a charming text by Joanna Cotler and beautiful artwork by New York Times bestseller Harry Bliss, this is a picture book about the power of reactivity and how to diffuse it with love. Being sorry (really sorry) can make a world of difference and make your world different too.

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I Love You with All of My Hearts

Lindsay Bonilla

"Animals come in many shapes and sizes-some have large ears, others have distinctive noses, and still others have far too many eyes! They express emotions in different ways, too, but one thing remains the same: love"--

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Hamsters Make Terrible Roommates

Cheryl Klein

Two hamster roommates with wildly different personalities crammed in one cage--what could go wrong in this hilarious story about introverts versus extroverts?

It's been two hundred and five days since Henry has had peace. That's because it's been two hundred and five days since Marvin has come to live with him. Marvin, who loves to talk in the tunnels, talk while they're eating, talk while they're running. Marvin, who drives Henry up the cage walls. But when Henry finally loses his cool and gets exactly what he wanted, both hamsters have to figure out a way to live together and work through their communication mishaps.

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Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away

Meg Medina

From Newbery Medalist Meg Medina comes the bittersweet story of two girls who will always be each other's número uno, even though one is moving away.

A big truck with its mouth wide open is parked at the curb, ready to gobble up Evelyn's mirror with the stickers around the edge . . . and the sofa that we bounce on to get to the moon.

Evelyn Del Rey is Daniela's best friend. They do everything together and even live in twin apartments across the street from each other: Daniela with her mami and hamster, and Evelyn with her mami, papi, and cat. But not after today--not after Evelyn moves away. Until then, the girls play amid the moving boxes until it's time to say goodbye, making promises to keep in touch, because they know that their friendship will always be special. The tenderness of Meg Medina's beautifully written story about friendship and change is balanced by Sonia Sánchez's colorful and vibrant depictions of the girls' urban neighborhood.

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Clarinet and Trumpet (Book with Shaker)

Melanie Ellsworth

A charming and funny picture book featuring the harmonious friendship between Clarinet and Trumpet. But what happens when their friendship falls flat? Featuring a music-making shaker built into the book Perfect for fans of Stick & Stone and Spoon.

"Trumpet, you're a blast "
"Clarinet, you're sharp "

Clarinet and Trumpet were friends from their very first note. But their friendship falls flat when a new woodwind sets the tone in the music room: Oboe. Trumpet does everything pitch-perfect to try to get Clarinet's attention again, but Clarinet doesn't skip a beat. The story crescendos, the woodwinds face-off against the brass section and a cacophony of sound builds to fill the room. How will Clarinet and Trumpet get their band back together again and save their melodious friendship?

With a text that sings with delight and emotive illustrations that bring the sweetness of Clarinet and Trumpet to life, you'll be glad that the shaker in this book let's you join the band too

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Home Is Where the Heart Is

Emma Dodd

Just what IS it that makes home such a special place to be?

Home's an extra special space
you hold within your heart
to keep you very close to me
when we must be apart.


A charming celebration of what home means to all of us, featuring a wise cat and an adorable little kitten who discover that there really is no place like home.

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Love by Sophia

Jim Averbeck

The precocious Sophia and her pet giraffe Noodle learn how to look at life, love, and art in this latest installment of the series that Kirkus Reviews calls “fun, clever, and empowering.”

Sophia loves her family and her wonderful pet giraffe Noodle, so when she gets an assignment to draw something she loves, she wants to make it extra special. Taking her teacher’s advice, Sophia uses a little perspective and creates a work she calls Love.

Before she can place her masterpiece on the refrigerator, her whole family has to approve of the painting. But this is the Whitney, the Guggenheim, the Louvre of refrigerators. Can Sophia persuade them to take a chance on a new perspective, so they can see love from her point of view?

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Slug in Love

Rachel Bright

From the bestselling author of Love Monster comes the irresistible story of one slug’s search for love in this endearing rhyming picture book perfect for Valentine’s Day!

Doug the slug needs a hug. But who wants to hug a slug called Doug? After a long search for someone to snuggle, lonesome Doug is ready to give up hope. But you never know when love might come flying by! Young readers will love this funny and fabulous tale that shows there’s a friend for everyone.

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Count to LOVE! (a Bright Brown Baby Board Book)

Andrea Pinkney

Cuddle up with your little one and get ready to count to L-O-V-E, in this precious board book from New York Times bestselling and award-winning duo Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney!

 

Count to love on fingers and toes.

1-2-3-4, touch your nose!

Snuggle up with your little one to celebrate sweet baby love! You won't be able to resist this adorable board book full of cutie charms, belly kisses, and magic wishes, just-right for fans of bestselling books like Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. With bouncing, rhythmic text from New York Times bestselling author Andrea Davis Pinkney and warm, winsome illustrations from Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-winning illustrator Brian Pinkney. This joyful celebration of roly-poly, perfectly huggable, oh-so lovable little ones that is just-right for the whole family, for Valentine's Day and all throughout the year! So get ready to count to love... because once you start, you just won't stop!

This board book is part of the Bright Brown Baby publishing program, a celebration of Black and brown joy, babies, and families. And if you're looking for a gift-able picture book? Be sure to also check out the beautiful picture book treasury, Bright Brown Baby, to read Count to Love alongside four more poems. Just-right for new and expectant parents, baby showers, birthdays, graduations, and more!

 

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Hello, Friend / Hola, Amigo

Andrés Salguero

Latin Grammy Award-winning children's musical duo 123 Andrés brings us a bilingual friendship song in board book form!

 

This fun, bouncy bilingual song from 123 Andrés' Grammy Award-winning album is brought to life in a whole new way that's perfect for storytime sharing! Sara Palacios animates this popular song with vibrant, fresh illustrations that will engage little ones and their parents.

 

 

 

¡Esta canción divertida y vivaz de 123 Andrés, incluida en su album ganador de un Grammy, cobra vida de un modo totalmente nuevo, perfecto para la hora del cuento! Por su parte, Sara Palacios anima esta popular canción con ilustraciones frescas y vibrantes que involucrarán a los pequeños y a sus padres.

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I Like This, You Like That

Linda Ashman

From acclaimed author Linda Ashman and illustrator Eve Coy comes this joyful picture book about making new friends and finding common ground

We're opposites! / You're right--we are.
Like big and small. / Like near and far.
But even when we disagree / I like you, and you like me.

A rhyming friendship story told in two voices, this picture book follows two children as they try to discover what they have in common, from favorite toys to shaggy dogs to pizza toppings. With its gentle message and dynamic illustrations, this sweet story is sure to resonate with young readers.

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Out of the Blue

Jason June

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

From Jason June, author of the breakout teen debut novel Jay's Gay Agenda, comes Out of the Blue, a stand-alone dual POV queer rom-com that asks if love is enough to change everything you've grown up believing. Perfect for fans of Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas and Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly.

Crest is not excited to be on their Journey: the month-long sojourn on land all teen merfolk must undergo. The rules are simple: Help a human within one moon cycle and return to Pacifica to become an Elder--or fail and remain stuck on land forever. Crest is eager to get their Journey over and done with. Humans are disgusting. They've polluted the planet so much that there's a floating island of trash that's literally the size of a country.

In Los Angeles with a human body and a new name, Crest meets Sean, a human lifeguard whose boyfriend has recently dumped him. Crest agrees to help Sean make his ex jealous and win him back. But as the two spend more time together, and Crest's perspective on humans begins to change, they'll soon be torn between two worlds. And fake dating just might lead to real feelings . . .

This sophomore novel from Jason June dives into the many definitions of the word home and shows how love can help us find the truest versions of ourselves.

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Anatomy: A Love Story

Dana Schwartz

*INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*
*INSTANT #1 INDIE BESTSELLER*

*INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER*
*A REESE'S YA BOOK CLUB PICK*

"Schwartz's magical novel is at once gripping and tender, and the intricate plot is engrossing as the reader tries to solve the mystery. She doesn't miss a beat in either the characterization or action, scattering clues with a delicate, precise hand. This is, in the end, the story of the anatomy of the human heart." - Booklist (starred review)

Dana Schwartz’s Anatomy: A Love Story is a gothic tale full of mystery and romance.

Hazel Sinnett is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry.

Jack Currer is a resurrection man who’s just trying to survive in a city where it’s too easy to die.

When the two of them have a chance encounter outside the Edinburgh Anatomist’s Society, Hazel thinks nothing of it at first. But after she gets kicked out of renowned surgeon Dr. Beecham’s lectures for being the wrong gender, she realizes that her new acquaintance might be more helpful than she first thought. Because Hazel has made a deal with Dr. Beecham: if she can pass the medical examination on her own, Beecham will allow her to continue her medical career. Without official lessons, though, Hazel will need more than just her books—she’ll need corpses to study.

Lucky that she’s made the acquaintance of someone who digs them up for a living.

But Jack has his own problems: strange men have been seen skulking around cemeteries, his friends are disappearing off the streets, and the dreaded Roman Fever, which wiped out thousands a few years ago, is back with a vengeance. Nobody important cares—until Hazel.

Now, Hazel and Jack must work together to uncover the secrets buried not just in unmarked graves, but in the very heart of Edinburgh society.

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The Voting Booth

Brandy Colbert

From Stonewall Award-winning author Brandy Colbert comes an all-in-one-day love story perfect for fans of The Sun is Also A Star.
Marva Sheridan was born ready for this day. She's always been driven to make a difference in the world, and what better way than to vote in her first election?
Duke Crenshaw is do done with this election. He just wants to get voting over with so he can prepare for his band's first paying gig tonight.
Only problem? Duke can't vote.
When Marva sees Duke turned away from their polling place, she takes it upon herself to make sure his vote is counted. She hasn't spent months doorbelling and registering voters just to see someone denied their right. And that's how their whirlwind day begins, rushing from precinct to precinct, cutting school, waiting in endless lines, turned away time and again, trying to do one simple thing: vote. They may have started out as strangers, but as Duke and Marva team up to beat a rigged system (and find Marva's missing cat), it's clear that there's more to their connection than a shared mission for democracy.
Romantic and triumphant, The Voting Booth is proof that you can't sit around waiting for the world to change?but some things are just meant to be.

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My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding

Sajni Patel

A fresh, witty rom-com romp set against the backdrop of a high-profile music competition and a riotous Indian wedding

Zurika Damani is a naturally gifted violinist with a particular love for hip hop beats. But when you're part of a big Indian family, everyone has expectations, and those certainly don't include hip hop violin. After being rejected by Juilliard, Zuri's last hope is a contest judged by a panel of top tier college scouts. The only problem? This coveted competition happens to take place during Zuri's sister's extravagant wedding week. And Zuri has already been warned, repeatedly, that she is not to miss a single moment.

In the midst of the chaos, Zuri's mom is in matchmaking mode with the groom's South African cousin Naveen--who just happens to be a cocky vocalist set on stealing Zuri's spotlight at the scouting competition. Luckily Zuri has a crew of loud and loyal female cousins cheering her on. Now, all she has to do is to wow the judges for a top spot, evade getting caught by her parents, resist Naveen's charms, and, oh yeah . . . not mess up her sister's big fat Indian wedding. What could possibly go wrong?

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The Charmed List

Julie Abe

"The best friends to enemies-to-lovers story I needed in my life! The Charmed List utterly enchants with its delightful characters and heartfelt themes of family, friendship, and first love. I adored this fun-filled and swoony road trip romance with a magical twist!" Axie Oh, author of XOXO and The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

Sometimes you need a little magic to fall in love.

Ellie Kobata has spent most of high school on the sidelines, keeping her art Instagram private and shying away from the world. She can’t even tell her only friend, Lia, who she really is: Ellie is part of a secret magical community, and no one outside of it can know it exists. The only person Ellie could fully relate to was Jack Yasuda – her childhood friend who mysteriously started to snub her a few years ago.

But before senior year, Ellie is ready to take some risks and have a life-changing summer, starting with her Anti-Wallflower List – thirteen items she’s going to check off one by one. With this list, she hopes to finally come out of her shell; even though she can’t share her full self with the world. But when number four on Ellie’s list goes horribly wrong—revenge on Jack Yasuda—she’s certain her summer is cursed. Instead of spending her summer with Lia, Ellie finds herself stuck in a car with Jack driving to a magical convention. But as Ellie and Jack travel down the coast of California, number thirteen on her list—fall in love—may be happening without her realizing it.

In The Charmed List, Julie Abe sweeps readers away to a secret magical world, complete with cupcakes and tea with added sparks of joy, and an enchanted cottage where you can dance under the stars.

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She Gets the Girl

Rachael Lippincott

She’s All That meets What If It’s Us in this New York Times bestselling hate-to-love YA romantic comedy from the coauthor of Five Feet Apart Rachael Lippincott and debut writer Alyson Derrick.

Alex Blackwood is a little bit headstrong, with a dash of chaos and a whole lot of flirt. She knows how to get the girl. Keeping her on the other hand…not so much. Molly Parker has everything in her life totally in control, except for her complete awkwardness with just about anyone besides her mom. She knows she’s in love with the impossibly cool Cora Myers. She just…hasn’t actually talked to her yet.

Alex and Molly don’t belong on the same planet, let alone the same college campus. But when Alex, fresh off a bad (but hopefully not permanent) breakup, discovers Molly’s hidden crush as their paths cross the night before classes start, they realize they might have a common interest after all. Because maybe if Alex volunteers to help Molly learn how to get her dream girl to fall for her, she can prove to her ex that she’s not a selfish flirt. That she’s ready for an actual commitment. And while Alex is the last person Molly would ever think she could trust, she can’t deny Alex knows what she’s doing with girls, unlike her.

As the two embark on their five-step plans to get their girls to fall for them, though, they both begin to wonder if maybe they’re the ones falling…for each other.

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She Drives Me Crazy

Kelly Quindlen

“A little sweet, a little sharp.” —Booklist, starred review

High school nemeses fall in love in Kelly Quindlen's She Drives Me Crazy, a queer YA rom com perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Casey McQuiston.

After an embarrassing loss to her ex-girlfriend in their first basketball game of the season, seventeen-year-old Scottie Zajac gets into a fender bender with the worst possible person: her nemesis, Irene Abraham, head cheerleader for the Fighting Reindeer.

Irene is as mean as she is beautiful, so Scottie makes a point to keep her distance. When the accident sends Irene’s car to the shop for weeks’ worth of repairs and the girls are forced to carpool, their rocky start only gets bumpier.

But when an opportunity arises for Scottie to get back at her toxic ex—and climb her school’s social ladder—she bribes Irene into an elaborate fake- dating scheme that threatens to reveal some very real feelings.

From author Kelly Quindlen comes a new laugh-out-loud romp through the ups and downs of teen romance, perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli.

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Zyla & Kai

Kristina Forest

A fresh new YA romance novel by Kristina Forest, Zyla & Kai is an epic star-crossed love story about first love and not just the will they, won't they-- but why can't they?

 

 

While on a school trip to the Poconos Mountains (in the middle of a storm) high school seniors, Zyla Matthews and Kai Johnson, run away together leaving their friends and family confused. As far as everyone knows, Zyla and Kai have been broken up for months. And honestly? Their break up hadn't surprised anyone. Zyla and Kai met while working together at an amusement park the previous summer, and they couldn't have been more different.

 

Zyla was a cynic about love. She'd witnessed the dissolution of her parents' marriage early in life, and it left an indelible impression. Her only aim was graduating and going to fashion school abroad. Until she met Kai.

 

Kai was a serial monogamist and a hopeless romantic. He'd put a temporary pause on his dating life before senior year to focus on school and getting into his dream HBCU. Until he met Zyla.

 

Alternating between the past and present, we see the love story unfold from Zyla and Kai's perspectives: how they first became the unlikeliest of friends over the summer, how they fell in love during the school year, and why they ultimately broke up... Or did they?

 

Romantic, heart-stirring and a little mysterious, Zyla & Kai will keep readers guessing until the last chapter.

 

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The Summer of Lost Letters

Hannah Reynolds

Perfect for fans of Morgan Matson and Ruta Sepetys, this sweet, summery romance set in Nantucket follows seventeen-year-old Abby Schoenberg as she uncovers a secret about her grandmother's life during WWII.

Seventeen-year-old Abby Schoenberg isn't exactly looking forward to the summer before her senior year. She's just broken up with her first boyfriend and her friends are all off in different, exciting directions for the next three months. Abby needs a plan--an adventure of her own. Enter: the letters.

They show up one rainy day along with the rest of Abby's recently deceased grandmother's possessions. And these aren't any old letters; they're love letters. Love letters from a mystery man named Edward. Love letters from a mansion on Nantucket. Abby doesn't know much about her grandmother's past. She knows she was born in Germany and moved to the US when she was five, fleeing the Holocaust. But the details are either hazy or nonexistent; and these letters depict a life that is a bit different than the quiet one Abby knows about.

And so, Abby heads to Nantucket for the summer to learn more about her grandmother and the secrets she kept. But when she meets Edward's handsome grandson, who wants to stop her from investigating, things get complicated. As Abby and Noah grow closer, the mysteries in their families deepen, and they discover that they both have to accept the burdens of their pasts if they want the kinds of futures they've always imagined.

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A Show for Two

Tashie Bhuiyan

"Wholly heartwarming and enchanting." --Chloe Gong, #1 New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends



New from the author of Counting Down with You comes a sparkling YA romance about an aspiring screenwriter who falls for the indie film star who goes undercover at her school.



All Mina Rahman wants is to finally win the Golden Ivy student film competition, get into her dream school, and leave New York City behind for good. When indie film star Emmitt Ramos enrolls in her high school under a secret identity to research his next role, he agrees to star in her short film for the competition...if she acts as his NYC tour guide.



As Mina ventures across the five boroughs with Emmitt, the city she grew up in starts to look more like home than it ever has before. Suddenly, Mina's dreams--which once seemed impenetrable--begin to crumble, and she's forced to ask herself: Is winning worth losing everything?



Praise for Counting Down with You

"I. Love. This. Book." --Mark Oshiro, award-winning author of Anger Is a Gift

"Steals your heart from start to finish." --Emma Lord, New York Times bestselling author of You Have a Match

"Hand to fans of Netflix hit Never Have I Ever." --Booklist

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Flirting with Fate

J. C. Cervantes

I dare anyone to read this book without a ginormous grin on their faces. Warmth, humor and enchantments burst off the page, and the colorful characters of the Granados family crackle to life with Cervantes's signature wit, aching empathy and enviable flair for whimsy. --Roshani Chokshi, NYT bestselling author of The Gilded Wolves trilogy.

 

Jane the Virgin meets The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in New York Times bestselling author J.C. Cervantes's charming, romantic YA debut.

Ava Granados will never forgive herself for being late to her beloved nana's deathbed. But due to a flash flood that left Ava in a fender bender with a mysterious boy, she missed her grandmother's mystical blessing--one that has been passed between the women of her family upon death for generations.

Then Nana's ghost appears with a challenge from beyond the grave. As it turns out, Nana did give Ava a blessing, but it missed its target, landing with the boy from the night of the storm instead. Was it fate? Ava refuses to believe so. With the help of her sisters and Nana's rather bumbling spiritual guide, she's determined to reclaim her share of the family magic and set Nana free.

For guarded Ava, befriending some random boy is the last thing she wants to do. She's gotten along just fine protecting her heart--keeping people at a distance is a great way to ensure no one ever hurts you. But as Ava embarks on her mission to retrieve the lost blessing, she starts to wonder if getting close to thunderstorm boy is worth the risk.

In her swoony, heartwarming young adult debut, New York Times bestselling author J.C. Cervantes weaves an unforgettable tale about family, fate, and finding love where you least expect it.

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Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun

Jonny Garza Villa

A poignant, funny, openhearted novel about coming out, first love, and being your one and only best and true self.

Julián Luna has a plan for his life: Graduate. Get into UCLA. And have the chance to move away from Corpus Christi, Texas, and the suffocating expectations of others that have forced Jules into an inauthentic life.

Then in one reckless moment, with one impulsive tweet, his plans for a low-key nine months are thrown--literally--out the closet. The downside: the whole world knows, and Jules has to prepare for rejection. The upside: Jules now has the opportunity to be his real self.

Then Mat, a cute, empathetic Twitter crush from Los Angeles, slides into Jules's DMs. Jules can tell him anything. Mat makes the world seem conquerable. But when Jules's fears about coming out come true, the person he needs most is fifteen hundred miles away. Jules has to face them alone.

Jules accidentally propelled himself into the life he's always dreamed of. And now that he's in control of it, what he does next is up to him.

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Once Upon a K-Prom

Kat Cho

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

What would you do if the world's biggest K-pop star asked you to prom? Perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sandhya Menon, this hilarious and heartfelt novel brings the glamour and drama of the K-pop world straight to high school.

Elena Soo has always felt overshadowed. Whether by her more successful older sisters, her more popular twin brother, or her more outgoing best friend, everyone except Elena seems to know exactly who they are and what they want. But she is certain about one thing - she has no interest in going to prom. While the rest of the school is giddy over corsages and dresses, Elena would rather spend her time working to save the local community center, the one place that's always made her feel like she belonged.

So when international K-pop superstar Robbie Choi shows up at her house to ask her to prom, Elena is more confused than ever. Because the one person who always accepted Elena as she is? Her childhood best friend, Robbie Choi. And the one thing she maybe, possibly, secretly wants more than anything? For the two of them to keep the promise they made each other as kids: to go to prom together. But that was seven years ago, and with this new K-pop persona, pink hair, and stylish clothes, Robbie is nothing like the sweet, goofy boy she remembers. The boy she shared all her secrets with. The boy she used to love.

Besides, prom with a guy who comes with hordes of screaming fans, online haters, and relentless paparazzi is the last thing Elena wants - even if she can't stop thinking about Robbie's smile...right?

 

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Vampires, Hearts & Other Dead Things

Margie Fuston

An ALA Morris Award Finalist​!

In this “equal parts heartbreaking and joyful” (School Library Journal) debut YA novel that’s The Coldest Girl in Coldtown meets They Both Die at the End, a teen girl takes a trip to New Orleans with her estranged best friend to find a vampire to save her dying father.

Victoria and her dad have shared a love of the undead since the first vampire revealed his existence on live TV. Public fear soon drove the vampires back into hiding, yet Victoria and her father still dream about finding a vampire together. But when her dad is diagnosed with terminal cancer, it’s clear that’s not going to happen. Instead, Victoria vows to find a vampire herself—so that she can become one and then save her father.

Armed with research, speculations, and desperation—and helped by her estranged best friend, Henry—Victoria travels to New Orleans in search of a miracle. There she meets Nicholas, a mysterious young man who might give her what she desires. But first, he needs Victoria to prove she loves life enough to live forever.

She agrees to complete a series of challenges, from scarfing sugar-drenched beignets to singing with a jazz band, all to show she has what it takes to be immortal. But truly living while her father is dying feels like a betrayal. Victoria must figure out how to experience joy and grief at once, trusting all the while that Nicholas will hold up his end of the bargain…because the alternative is too impossible to imagine.

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So This Is Ever After

F.T. Lukens

An instant New York Time bestseller!

Carry On meets Arthurian legend in this subversive, “delightfully original and whimsical” (Kirkus Reviews) young adult fantasy about what happens after the chosen one wins the kingdom and has to get married to keep it…and to stay alive.

Arek hadn’t thought much about what would happen after he completed the prophecy that said he was destined to save the Kingdom of Ere from its evil ruler. So now that he’s finally managed to (somewhat clumsily) behead the evil king (turns out magical swords yanked from bogs don’t come pre-sharpened), he and his rag-tag group of quest companions are at a bit of a loss for what to do next.

As a temporary safeguard, Arek’s best friend and mage, Matt, convinces him to assume the throne until the true heir can be rescued from her tower. Except that she’s dead. Now Arek is stuck as king, a role that comes with a magical catch: choose a spouse by your eighteenth birthday, or wither away into nothing.

With his eighteenth birthday only three months away, and only Matt in on the secret, Arek embarks on a desperate bid to find a spouse to save his life—starting with his quest companions. But his attempts at wooing his friends go painfully and hilariously wrong…until he discovers that love might have been in front of him all along.

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I Can Cook Vegan

Isa Chandra Moskowitz

From Isa Chandra Moskowitz--the bestselling author of Veganomicon--comes a book dedicated to her true love: the home cook.
Isa Moskowitz learned to cook from cookbooks, recipe by recipe. And after a few decades of writing her own cookbooks, she knows what the people want: easy-to-follow instructions and accessible ingredients.

I Can Cook Vegan is for cooks of all stripes:

The Just-Born, Brand New Cook
The Tried-and-True Seasoned Cook Who Is Tofu-Curious
The Busy Weeknight Pantry Cook (this is everyone)
The Farmers' Market Junkie Who Looks at All the Pretty Colors
The Reluctant Parent to the Vegan Child
For Anyone Doing Vegan for the Animals
For Anyone Doing Vegan for the Health

Each chapter is a building block to becoming a better, more competent cook. The book teaches readers to cook the way someone might learn a new instrument: master a couple of chords, and then start to put them together to form songs.

Each chapter starts with a fresh mission, and readers will cook their way through pastas, salads, sandwiches, bowls, sautés, sheet-pan suppers, and sweets--more than 125 recipes!--until they are ultimately the Best Cook Imaginable.

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The Food of Oaxaca

Alejandro Ruiz

A groundbreaking cookbook celebrating the distinctive cuisine and culture of Oaxaca, from one of Mexico's most revered chefs. With a foreword by Enrique Olvera.

In The Food of Oaxaca, acclaimed chef Alejandro Ruiz shares the cuisine of Mexico's culinary capital through fifty recipes both traditional and original. Divided into three parts, the book covers the classic dishes of the region, the cuisine of the coast, and the food Ruiz serves today at his beloved restaurant, Casa Oaxaca. Here are recipes for making your own tortillas, and for preparing tamales, salsas, and moles, as well as Ruiz's own creations, such as Duck Tacos with Coloradito; Shrimp, Nopal, Fava Bean, and Pea Soup; and Oaxacan Chocolate Mousse. Also included are thoughtful essays on dishes, ingredients, kitchen tools, and traditions; recommendations on where to eat; and a comprehensive glossary to help fully immerse readers in the food of Oaxaca, making this an indispensable volume for home cooks and travelers alike.

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Nadiya Bakes: Over 100 Must-Try Recipes for Breads, Cakes, Biscuits, Pies, and More: A Baking Book

Nadiya Hussain

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The host of the beloved Netflix series Time to Eat and Nadiya Bakes and winner of The Great British Baking Show returns to her true love, baking, with more than 100 delicious, Americanized recipes for sweet treats.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY TIME OUT AND THE KITCHN

When Nadiya Hussain, the UK's national treasure, began cooking, she headed straight to the oven--which, in her home, wasn't used for baking, but rather for storing frying pans! One day, her new husband asked her to bake him a cake and then . . . she was hooked! Baking soon became a part of her daily life.

In her newest cookbook, based on her Netflix show and BBC series Nadiya Bakes, Nadiya shares more than 100 simple and achievable recipes for cakes, cookies, breads, tarts, and puddings that will become staples in your home. From Raspberry Amaretti Biscuits and Key Lime Cupcakes to Cheat's Sourdough and Spiced Squash Strudel, Nadiya has created an ultimate baking resource for just about every baked good that will entice beginner bakers and experienced pastry makers alike.

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Rodney Scott's World of BBQ

Rodney Scott

In the first cookbook by a Black pitmaster, James Beard Award-winning chef Rodney Scott celebrates an incredible culinary legacy through his life story, family traditions, and unmatched dedication to his craft.

"BBQ is such an important part of African American history, and no one is better at BBQ than Rodney."--Marcus Samuelsson, chef and restaurateur

Rodney Scott was born with barbecue in his blood. He cooked his first whole hog, a specialty of South Carolina barbecue, when he was just eleven years old. At the time, he was cooking at Scott's Bar-B-Q, his family's barbecue spot in Hemingway, South Carolina. Now, four decades later, he owns one of the country's most awarded and talked-about barbecue joints, Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ in Charleston.

In this cookbook, co-written by award-winning writer Lolis Eric Elie, Rodney spills what makes his pit-smoked turkey, barbecued spare ribs, smoked chicken wings, hush puppies, Ella's Banana Puddin', and award-winning whole hog so special. Moreover, his recipes make it possible to achieve these special flavors yourself, whether you're a barbecue pro or a novice. From the ins and outs of building your own pit to poignant essays on South Carolinian foodways and traditions, this stunningly photographed cookbook is the ultimate barbecue reference. It is also a powerful work of storytelling. In this modern American success story, Rodney details how he made his way from the small town where he worked for his father in the tobacco fields and in the smokehouse, to the sacrifices he made to grow his family's business, and the tough decisions he made to venture out on his own in Charleston.

Rodney Scott's World of BBQ is an uplifting story that speaks to how hope, hard work, and a whole lot of optimism built a rich celebration of his heritage--and of unforgettable barbecue.

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World Travel

Anthony Bourdain

A guide to some of the world's most fascinating places, as seen and experienced by writer, television host, and relentlessly curious traveler Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain saw more of the world than nearly anyone. His travels took him from the hidden pockets of his hometown of New York to a tribal longhouse in Borneo, from cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai to Tanzania's utter beauty and the stunning desert solitude of Oman's Empty Quarter--and many places beyond.
 

In World Travel, a life of experience is collected into an entertaining, practical, fun and frank travel guide that gives readers an introduction to some of his favorite places--in his own words. Featuring essential advice on how to get there, what to eat, where to stay and, in some cases, what to avoid, World Travel provides essential context that will help readers further appreciate the reasons why Bourdain found a place enchanting and memorable.

Supplementing Bourdain's words are a handful of essays by friends, colleagues, and family that tell even deeper stories about a place, including sardonic accounts of traveling with Bourdain by his brother, Chris; a guide to Chicago's best cheap eats by legendary music producer Steve Albini, and more. Additionally, each chapter includes sly, witty illustrations by cartoonist Tony Millionaire.

For veteran travelers, armchair enthusiasts, and those in between, World Travel offers a chance to experience the world like Anthony Bourdain.

 

 

 

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Fresh from Poland

Michal Korkosz

Authentically Polish. All vegetarian.

There’s so much more to Polish food than kielbasa and schnitzel: Poland is home to beautiful fruits, vegetables, and grains—and a rich cooking tradition that makes the most of them. In Fresh from Poland, Saveur award winner Michał Korkosz celebrates recipes from his mother and grandmother—with modern, personal touches and gorgeous photos that capture his passion for cooking. Vegetables are his stars, but Michał doesn’t shy away from butter, flour, and sugar; the ingredients that make food—and life—more rozkoszny (delightful)! The result? Over eighty comforting dishes for every occasion.

  • Indulgent breakfasts: Brown Butter Scrambled Eggs; Apple Fritters; Buckwheat Blini with Sour Cream and Pickled Red Onion
  • Hearty vegetarian mains: Barley Risotto with Asparagus, Cider, and Goat Cheese; Potato Fritters with Rosemary and Horseradish Sauce; Stuffed Tomatoes with Millet, Cinnamon, and Almonds
  • Breathtaking baked goods: Sourdough Rye Bread; Sweet Blueberry Buns with Streusel; Honey Cake with Prunes and Sour Cream
  • Pierogi of all kinds: From savory Spinach, Goat Cheese, and Salted Almonds to sweet Plums and Cinnamon-Honey Butter

These satisfying recipes will make you feel right at home—wherever you’re from!

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The Way You Make Me Feel

Maurene Goo

An NPR Best Book of 2018
A Boston Globe Best Children's Book of 2018
A We Need Diverse Books 2018 Must-Read
A TAYSHAS 2019 Reading List Book
A California Book Award Finalist

From the author of I Believe in a Thing Called Love, a laugh-out-loud story of love, new friendships, and one unique food truck.

Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn't so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind? With Maurene Goo's signature warmth and humor, The Way You Make Me Feel is a relatable story of falling in love and finding yourself in the places you’d never thought to look.

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Meal

Blue Delliquanti

A Junior Library Guild Selection

2018 VLA Graphic Novel Diversity Award Winner

2019 Prism Award Winner

"This fresh and tasty comic provides an enticing introduction to a less-traveled area of cuisine." -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Simply delightful. -- BOOK RIOT

You moved cross-country to work at a bug restaurant. There's no way I'm gonna miss what happens next.

Yarrow is a young chef determined to make her mark on the cutting edge of cookery with her insect-based creations. Though her enthusiasm is infectious, it rubs some of her fellow cooks the wrong way, especially Chanda Flores, Yarrow's personal hero and executive chef of an exciting new restaurant. Her people have been eating bugs for centuries, and she's deeply suspicious of this newbie's attempt to turn her traditions into the next foodie trend. While Chanda and her scrappy team of talented devotees struggle to open on time, Yarrow must win over Chanda -- and Milani, the neighbor she's been crushing on for weeks -- or lose this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to achieve her dreams.

Co-written with chef and food writer Soleil Ho (Edible Manhattan, Bitch), Blue Delliquanti's sweet coming-of-age story takes us deep into a world of art, mystery, and memory on the culinary frontier.

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Tweet Cute

Emma Lord

"A witty rom-com reinvention ... with deeply relatable insights on family pressure and growing up.” - Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, authors of Always Never Yours and If I’m Being Honest

“An adorable debut that updates a classic romantic trope with a buzzy twist." - Jenn Bennett, author of Alex, Approximately and Serious Moonlight

A fresh, irresistible rom-com from debut author Emma Lord about the chances we take, the paths life can lead us on, and how love can be found in the opposite place you expected.

One of Forbes Best YA of 2020

Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming — mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.

Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.

All’s fair in love and cheese — that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life — on an anonymous chat app Jack built.

As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate — people on the internet are shipping them?? — their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.

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Check, Please! Book 1: # Hockey

Ngozi Ukazu

Eric Bittle may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It is nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! First of all? There’s checking (anything that hinders the player with possession of the puck, ranging from a stick check all the way to a physical sweep). And then, there is Jackhis very attractive but moody captain.

A collection of the first half, freshmen and sophomore year, of the megapopular webcomic series of the same name, Check, Please!: #Hockey is the first book of a hilarious and stirring two-volume coming-of-age story about hockey, bros, and trying to find yourself during the best four years of your life.

This book includes updated art and a hilarious, curated selection of Bitty's beloved tweets.

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The Words in My Hands

Asphyxia

Part coming of age, part call to action, this fast-paced #ownvoices novel about a Deaf teenager is a unique and inspiring exploration of what it means to belong.

Smart, artistic, and independent, sixteen year old Piper is tired of trying to conform. Her mom wants her to be “normal,” to pass as hearing, to get a good job. But in a time of food scarcity, environmental collapse, and political corruption, Piper has other things on her mind—like survival.

Piper has always been told that she needs to compensate for her Deafness in a world made for those who can hear. But when she meets Marley, a new world opens up—one where Deafness is something to celebrate, and where resilience means taking action, building a com-munity, and believing in something better.

Published to rave reviews as Future Girl in Australia (Allen & Unwin, Sept. 2020), this empowering, unforgettable story is told through a visual extravaganza of text, paint, collage, and drawings. Set in an ominously prescient near future, The Words in My Hands is very much a novel for our turbulent times.

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Teens Cook

Megan Carle

A teenager's guide to the culinary arts introduces seventy-five recipes for breakfasts, snacks, family meals, main and side dishes, and desserts, including a wide range of foods, from vegetarian and ethnic specialties to the best in American comfort food. Original.

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The Complete Cookbook for Teen Chefs

America's Test Kitchen Kids

For the first time ever, America’s Test Kitchen Kids is bringing their rigorous testing, kitchen knowhow, and hands-on learning to teenagers in the kitchen. Fiercely independent and searching for culinary adventure, teen chefs are ready for exciting, global recipes made to share with friends and family—with the support of fundamental kitchen techniques and approachable instruction. Set for release on March 1, 2022, The Complete Cookbook for Teen Chefs offers just that, filled with over 70 recipes that have been tested and approved by thousands of teens from across the country.

Whether a teen is looking to make Tik Tok-worthy sticky buns or a simple egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches before school, The Complete Cookbook for Teenage Chefs has something for everyone. With recipes ranging from Biang Biang Mian (Hand-Pulled Noodles) to Steak Tacos with Charred Corn Salsa, Arepas to Congee, French Fries and Cheeseburger Sliders to Apple-Cider Donuts, this book features helpful sidebars to ensure that teens can learn more about why a recipe works, and how to take their recipes to the next level.

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Batter Royale

Leisl Adams

In this fun graphic novel, a talented young chef is selected to participate in a baking reality show and finds herself mixed up in spicy competition, bitter rivalry, and sweet romance

In Leisl Adams's debut graphic novel, Batter Royale, an aspiring amateur baker enters the toughest, ugliest, most fearsome fight she'll ever experience: a baking reality show.



When seventeen-year-old small-town waitress Rose impresses a famous food critic, she and her best friend, Fred, find themselves thrust into the tough world of competitive baking. The contest is an intense ten days of bizarre challenges, and the competition is cutthroat. Some competitors are willing to lie, cheat, and sabotage their way to the top. Rose may be in over her head, but she is determined to show that she can become a top chef. Batter Royale is a fish-out-of-water style romantic comedy about climbing out of the circumstances you're in and making your dreams come true.

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A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

Laura Taylor Namey

A New York Times bestseller
A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club YA Pick

Love & Gelato meets Don’t Date Rosa Santos in this charming, heartfelt story following a Miami girl who unexpectedly finds love—and herself—in a small English town.

For Lila Reyes, a summer in England was never part of the plan. The plan was 1) take over her abuela’s role as head baker at their panadería, 2) move in with her best friend after graduation, and 3) live happily ever after with her boyfriend. But then the Trifecta happened, and everything—including Lila herself—fell apart.

Worried about Lila’s mental health, her parents make a new plan for her: spend three months with family friends in Winchester, England, to relax and reset. But with the lack of sun, a grumpy inn cook, and a small town lacking Miami flavor (both in food and otherwise), what would be a dream trip for some feels more like a nightmare to Lila…until she meets Orion Maxwell.

A teashop clerk with troubles of his own, Orion is determined to help Lila out of her funk, and appoints himself as her personal tour guide. From Winchester’s drama-filled music scene to the sweeping English countryside, it isn’t long before Lila is not only charmed by Orion, but England itself. Soon a new future is beginning to form in Lila’s mind—one that would mean leaving everything she ever planned behind.

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Heartless

Marissa Meyer

From Marissa Meyer, the #1 New York Times–bestselling story of Wonderland's most notorious villain: the Queen of Hearts.

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

In Heartless, her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

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Bloom

Kevin Panetta

Now that high school is over, Ari is dying to move to the big city with his ultra-hip band—if he can just persuade his dad to let him quit his job at their struggling family bakery. Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away over rising dough and hot ovens. But while interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easygoing guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it. As they become closer over batches of bread, love is ready to bloom . . . that is, if Ari doesn’t ruin everything.

Writer Kevin Panetta and artist Savanna Ganucheau concoct a delicious recipe of intricately illustrated baking scenes and blushing young love, in which the choices we make can have terrible consequences, but the people who love us can help us grow.

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Food-Related Stories

Gaby Melian

"Gaby Melian tells so many stories through her relationship with food--about love, about loss, about hard work, and about finding her passion. The pages are dripping with delicious smells and tastes, and will give you a new way to look at both cooking and what it means to have a plan." --Molly Birnbaum, editor in chief, America's Test Kitchen Kids

In this moving, personal account, chef and activist Gaby Melian shares her journey with food and how creating a relationship with food -- however simple or complicated -- is a form of activism in its own right.

Pocket Change Collective was born out of a need for space. Space to think. Space to connect. Space to be yourself. And this is your invitation to join us. This is a series of small books with big ideas from today's leading activists and artists.

Food rescued me so many other times -- not only because I sold food to survive. I cook to entertain; I cook to be liked; I cook to be loved. In this installment, chef and activist Gaby Melian shares her personal journey with food -- from growing up in Argentina to her time as a Jersey City street vendor and later, as Bon Appetit's test kitchen manager. Powerful and full of heart, here, Melian explores how we can develop a relationship with food that's healthy, sustainable, and thoughtful.

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Hungry Hearts

Elsie Chapman

“A briliant multicultual collection that reminds readers that stories about food are rarely just about the food alone.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A stunning collection of short stories about the intersection of family, culture, and food in the lives in teens, from bestselling and critically acclaimed authors, including Sandhya Menon, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Rin Chupeco.

A shy teenager attempts to express how she really feels through the pastries she makes at her family’s pasteleria. A tourist from Montenegro desperately seeks a magic soup dumpling that can cure his fear of death. An aspiring chef realizes that butter and soul are the key ingredients to win a cooking competition that could win him the money to save his mother’s life.

Welcome to Hungry Hearts Row, where the answers to most of life’s hard questions are kneaded, rolled, baked. Where a typical greeting is, “Have you had anything to eat?” Where magic and food and love are sometimes one in the same.

Told in interconnected short stories, Hungry Hearts explores the many meanings food can take on beyond mere nourishment. It can symbolize love and despair, family and culture, belonging and home.

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With the Fire on High

Elizabeth Acevedo

From the New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award-winning title The Poet X comes a dazzling novel in prose about a girl with talent, pride, and a drive to feed the soul that keeps her fire burning bright.

Ever since she got pregnant freshman year, Emoni Santiago’s life has been about making the tough decisions—doing what has to be done for her daughter and her abuela.

The one place she can let all that go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness.

Even though she dreams of working as a chef after she graduates, Emoni knows that it’s not worth her time to pursue the impossible. Yet despite the rules she thinks she has to play by, once Emoni starts cooking, her only choice is to let her talent break free.

Plus don't miss Elizabeth Acevedo's Clap When You Land!

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A Pho Love Story

Loan Le

“Will leave readers swooning.” —PopSugar

When Dimple Met Rishi meets Ugly Delicious in this funny, smart romantic comedy, in which two Vietnamese American teens fall in love and must navigate their newfound relationship amid their families’ age-old feud about their competing, neighboring restaurants.

If Bao Nguyen had to describe himself, he’d say he was a rock. Steady and strong, but not particularly interesting. His grades are average, his social status unremarkable. He works at his parents’ pho restaurant, and even there, he is his parents’ fifth favorite employee. Not ideal.

If Linh Mai had to describe herself, she’d say she was a firecracker. Stable when unlit, but full of potential for joy and fire. She loves art and dreams pursuing a career in it. The only problem? Her parents rely on her in ways they’re not willing to admit, including working practically full-time at her family’s pho restaurant.

For years, the Mais and the Nguyens have been at odds, having owned competing, neighboring pho restaurants. Bao and Linh, who’ve avoided each other for most of their lives, both suspect that the feud stems from feelings much deeper than friendly competition.

But then a chance encounter brings Linh and Bao in the same vicinity despite their best efforts and sparks fly, leading them both to wonder what took so long for them to connect. But then, of course, they immediately remember.

Can Linh and Bao find love in the midst of feuding families and complicated histories?

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The Self-driven Child

William R. Stixrud

"Instead of trusting kids with choices . . . many parents insist on micromanaging everything from homework to friendships. For these parents, Stixrud and Johnson have a simple message: Stop." --NPR

"This humane, thoughtful book turns the latest brain science into valuable practical advice for parents." --Paul Tough, New York Times bestselling author of How Children Succeed

A few years ago, Bill Stixrud and Ned Johnson started noticing the same problem from different angles: Even high-performing kids were coming to them acutely stressed and lacking motivation. Many complained they had no control over their lives. Some stumbled in high school or hit college and unraveled. Bill is a clinical neuropsychologist who helps kids gripped by anxiety or struggling to learn. Ned is a motivational coach who runs an elite tutoring service. Together they discovered that the best antidote to stress is to give kids more of a sense of control over their lives. But this doesn't mean giving up your authority as a parent. In this groundbreaking book they reveal how you can actively help your child to sculpt a brain that is resilient, and ready to take on new challenges.

The Self-Driven Child offers a combination of cutting-edge brain science, the latest discoveries in behavioral therapy, and case studies drawn from the thousands of kids and teens Bill and Ned have helped over the years to teach you how to set your child on the real road to success. As parents, we can only drive our kids so far. At some point, they will have to take the wheel and map out their own path. But there is a lot you can do before then to help them tackle the road ahead with resilience and imagination.

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The Secrets of Happy Families

Bruce Feiler

In The Secrets of Happy Families, New York Times bestselling author Bruce Feiler has drawn up a blueprint for modern families — a new approach to family dynamics, inspired by cutting-edge techniques gathered from experts in the disciplines of science, business, sports, and the military.

The result is a funny and thought-provoking playbook for contemporary families, with more than 200 useful strategies, including: the right way to have family dinner, what your mother never told you about sex (but should have), and why you should always have two women present in difficult conversations…

Timely, compassionate, and filled with practical tips and wise advice, Bruce Feiler’s The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More should be required reading for all parents.

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Cultivating Genius

Gholdy Muhammad

In Cultivating Genius, Dr. Gholdy E. Muhammad presents a four-layered equity framework--one that is grounded in history and restores excellence in literacy education. This framework, which she names, Historically Responsive Literacy, was derived from the study of literacy development within 19th-century Black literacy societies. The framework is essential and universal for all students, especially youth of color, who traditionally have been marginalized in learning standards, school policies, and classroom practices. The equity framework will help educators teach and lead toward the following learning goals or pursuits:

  • Identity Development--Helping youth to make sense of themselves and others
  • Skill Development-- Developing proficiencies across the academic disciplines
  • Intellectual Development--Gaining knowledge and becoming smarter
  • Criticality--Learning and developing the ability to read texts (including print and social contexts) to understand power, equity, and anti-oppression

When these four learning pursuits are taught together--through the Historically Responsive Literacy Framework, all students receive profound opportunities for personal, intellectual, and academic success. Muhammad provides probing, self-reflective questions for teachers, leaders, and teacher educators as well as sample culturally and historically responsive sample plans and text sets across grades and content areas. In this book, Muhammad presents practical approaches to cultivate the genius in students and within teachers.

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The Behavior Code

Jessica Minahan

Based on a collaboration dating back nearly a decade, the authors of The Behavior Code--a behavioral analyst and a child psychiatrist--reveal their systematic approach for deciphering causes and patterns of difficult student behaviors and matching them with proven strategies that get students back on track academically. This book includes user-friendly worksheets and other helpful resources for applying the authors' approach.

"Teaching is an art, but it's one that can be improved with science. Based on what we have learned in the field of psychology, The Behavior Code gives teachers the tools to transform the behavior patterns of some of their most challenging students. By using this essential book, teachers--instead of punishing or writing "off troubled students--can get them onto a path for success." -- Geoffrey Canada, president and ceo, Harlem Children's Zone

"The Behavior Code is truly a godsend. Concisely written and easy to read, this book offers a framework for creating successful behavioral plans. I predict that once teachers and principals begin to apply the authors' approach for understanding and changing problematic behavior, they'll never look elsewhere for help again. Buy it, read it, use it, read it again and again--and pass it on!" -- William S. Pollack, associate clinical professor, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

"This book is an essential guide for teachers and school personnel who find themselves in daily contact with students presenting with difficult behaviors. The authors outline an intervention procedure that is easily implemented in a busy classroom with multiple demands. Too often, behavioral intervention plans require so much attention to detail that teachers soon decide to disengage. Not so with the FAIR plan. By providing clear instructions and helpful examples, the authors promote a plan that prevents inappropriate behaviors while reinforcing socially acceptable alternatives." -- LeAdelle Phelps, professor of counseling/school psychology, University at Buffalo, SUNY

Jessica Minahan is a board-certified behavior analyst and special educator who is currently employed in the Newton (Mass.) public school system as a district-wide behavior analyst. Nancy Rappaport is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of Her Mother's Suicide (Basic Books, 2009).

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Middle School Matters

Phyllis L. Fagell

A counselor and popular Washington Post contributor offers a new take on grades 6-8 as a distinct developmental phase--and the perfect time to set up kids to thrive.

Middle school is its own important, distinct territory, and yet it's either written off as an uncomfortable rite of passage or lumped in with other developmental phases. Based on her many years working in schools, professional counselor Phyllis Fagell sees these years instead as a critical stage that parents can't afford to ignore (and though "middle school" includes different grades in various regions, Fagell maintains that the ages make more of a difference than the setting). Though the transition from childhood to adolescence can be tough for kids, this time of rapid physical, intellectual, moral, social, and emotional change is a unique opportunity to proactively build character and confidence.
Fagell helps parents use the middle school years as a low-stakes training ground to teach kids the key skills they'll need to thrive now and in the future, including making good friend choices, negotiating conflict, regulating their own emotions, be their own advocates, and more. To answer parents' most common questions and struggles with middle school-aged children, Fagell combines her professional and personal expertise with stories and advice from prominent psychologists, doctors, parents, educators, school professionals, and middle schoolers themselves.

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Masterminds & Wingmen

Rosalind Wiseman

Here is a landmark book that reveals the way boys think and that shows parents, educators and coaches how to reach out and help boys overcome their most common yet difficult challenges -- by the bestselling author who changed our conception of adolescent girls.

Do you constantly struggle to pull information from your son, student, or athlete, only to encounter mumbling or evasive assurances such as “It's nothing” or “I'm good?” Do you sense that the boy you care about is being bullied, but that he'll do anything to avoid your “help?” Have you repeatedly reminded him that schoolwork and chores come before video games only to spy him reaching for the controller as soon as you leave the room? Have you watched with frustration as your boy flounders with girls?

Welcome to Boy World. It's a place where asking for help or showing emotional pain often feels impossible. Where sports and video games can mean everything, but working hard in school frequently earns ridicule from “the guys” even as they ask to copy assignments. Where “masterminds” dominate and friends ruthlessly insult each other but can never object when someone steps over the line. Where hiding problems from adults is the ironclad rule because their involvement only makes situations worse.

Boy world is governed by social hierarchies and a powerful set of unwritten rules that have huge implications for your boy's relationships, his interactions with you, and the man he'll become. If you want what's best for him, you need to know what these rules are and how to work with them effectively.

What you'll find in Masterminds and Wingmen is critically important for every parent – or anyone who cares about boys – to know. Collaborating with a large team of middle- and high-school-age editors, Rosalind Wiseman has created an unprecedented guide to the life your boy is actually experiencing – his on-the-ground reality. Not only does Wiseman challenge you to examine your assumptions, she offers innovative coping strategies aimed at helping your boy develop a positive, authentic, and strong sense of self.

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Queen Bees & Wannabes

Rosalind Wiseman

When Rosalind Wiseman first published Queen Bees & Wannabes, she fundamentally changed the way adults look at girls’ friendships and conflicts–from how they choose their best friends, how they express their anger, their boundaries with boys, and their relationships with parents. Wiseman showed how girls of every background are profoundly influenced by their interactions with one another.

Now, Wiseman has revised and updated her groundbreaking book for a new generation of girls and explores:

•How girls’ experiences before adolescence impact their teen years, future relationships, and overall success
•The different roles girls play in and outside of cliques as Queen Bees, Targets, and Bystanders, and how this defines how they and others are treated
•Girls’ power plays–from fake apologies to fights over IM and text messages
•Where boys fit into the equation of girl conflicts and how you can help your daughter better hold her own with the opposite sex
•Checking your baggage–recognizing how your experiences impact the way you parent, and how to be sanely involved in your daughter’s difficult, yet common social conflicts

Packed with insights about technology’s impact on Girl World and enlivened with the experiences of girls, boys, and parents, the book that inspired the hit movie Mean Girls offers concrete strategies to help you empower your daughter to be socially competent and treat herself with dignity.

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Screenwise

Devorah Heitner

Screenwise offers a realistic and optimistic perspective on how to thoughtfully guide kids in the digital age. Many parents feel that their kids are addicted, detached, or distracted because of their digital devices. Media expert Devorah Heitner, however, believes that technology offers huge potential to our children-if parents help them. Using the foundation of their own values and experiences, parents and educators can learn about the digital world to help set kids up for a lifetime of success in a world fueled by technology. Screenwise is a guide to understanding more about what it is like for children to grow up with technology, and to recognizing the special challenges-and advantages-that contemporary kids and teens experience thanks to this level of connection. In it, Heitner presents practical parenting hacks: quick ideas that you can implement today that will help you understand and relate to your digital native. The book will empower parents to recognize that the wisdom that they have gained throughout their lives is a relevant and urgently needed supplement to their kid's digital savvy, and help them develop skills for managing the new challenges of parenting. Based on real-life stories from other parents and Heitner's wealth of knowledge on the subject, Screenwise teaches parents what they need to know in order to raise responsible digital citizens.

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The Urge

Carl Erik Fisher

An authoritative, illuminating, and deeply humane history of addiction—a phenomenon that remains baffling and deeply misunderstood despite having touched countless lives—by an addiction psychiatrist striving to understand his own family and himself

“Carl Erik Fisher’s The Urge is the best-written and most incisive book I’ve read on the history of addiction. In the midst of an overdose crisis that grows worse by the hour and has vexed America for centuries, Fisher has given us the best prescription of all: understanding. He seamlessly blends a gripping historical narrative with memoir that doesn’t self-aggrandize; the result is a full-throated argument against blaming people with substance use disorder. The Urge is a propulsive tour de force that is as healing as it is enjoyable to read.”—Beth Macy, author of Dopesick

Even after a decades-long opioid overdose crisis, intense controversy still rages over the fundamental nature of addiction and the best way to treat it. With uncommon empathy and erudition, Carl Erik Fisher draws on his own experience as a clinician, researcher, and alcoholic in recovery as he traces the history of a phenomenon that, centuries on, we hardly appear closer to understanding—let alone addressing effectively.

As a psychiatrist-in-training fresh from medical school, Fisher was soon face-to-face with his own addiction crisis, one that nearly cost him everything. Desperate to make sense of the condition that had plagued his family for generations, he turned to the history of addiction, learning that the current quagmire is only the latest iteration of a centuries-old story: humans have struggled to define, treat, and control addictive behavior for most of recorded history, including well before the advent of modern science and medicine.

A rich, sweeping account that probes not only medicine and science but also literature, religion, philosophy, and public policy, The Urge illuminates the extent to which the story of addiction has persistently reflected broader questions of what it means to be human and care for one another. Fisher introduces us to the people who have endeavored to address this complex condition through the ages: physicians and politicians, activists and artists, researchers and writers, and of course the legions of people who have struggled with their own addictions. He also examines the treatments and strategies that have produced hope and relief for many people with addiction, himself included. Only by reckoning with our history of addiction, he argues—our successes and our failures—can we light the way forward for those whose lives remain threatened by its hold.

The Urge is at once an eye-opening history of ideas, a riveting personal story of addiction and recovery, and a clinician’s urgent call for a more expansive, nuanced, and compassionate view of one of society’s most intractable challenges.

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How to Raise an Adult

Julie Lythcott-Haims

New York Times Bestseller

"Julie Lythcott-Haims is a national treasure. . . . A must-read for every parent who senses that there is a healthier and saner way to raise our children." -Madeline Levine, author of the New York Times bestsellers The Price of Privilege and Teach Your Children Well

"For parents who want to foster hearty self-reliance instead of hollow self-esteem, How to Raise an Adult is the right book at the right time." -Daniel H. Pink, author of the New York Times bestsellers Drive and A Whole New Mind

A provocative manifesto that exposes the harms of helicopter parenting and sets forth an alternate philosophy for raising preteens and teens to self-sufficient young adulthood

In How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims draws on research, on conversations with admissions officers, educators, and employers, and on her own insights as a mother and as a student dean to highlight the ways in which overparenting harms children, their stressed-out parents, and society at large. While empathizing with the parental hopes and, especially, fears that lead to overhelping, Lythcott-Haims offers practical alternative strategies that underline the importance of allowing children to make their own mistakes and develop the resilience, resourcefulness, and inner determination necessary for success.

Relevant to parents of toddlers as well as of twentysomethings-and of special value to parents of teens-this book is a rallying cry for those who wish to ensure that the next generation can take charge of their own lives with competence and confidence.

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Your Turn

Julie Lythcott-Haims

New York Times bestselling author Julie Lythcott-Haims is back with a groundbreakingly frank guide to being a grown-up

What does it mean to be an adult? In the twentieth century, psychologists came up with five markers of adulthood: finish your education, get a job, leave home, marry, and have children. Since then, every generation has been held to those same markers. Yet so much has changed about the world and living in it since that sequence was formulated. All of those markers are choices, and they’re all valid, but any one person’s choices along those lines do not make them more or less an adult.

A former Stanford dean of freshmen and undergraduate advising and author of the perennial bestseller How to Raise an Adult and of the lauded memoir Real American, Julie Lythcott-Haims has encountered hundreds of twentysomethings (and thirtysomethings, too), who, faced with those markers, feel they’re just playing the part of “adult,” while struggling with anxiety, stress, and general unease. In Your Turn, Julie offers compassion, personal experience, and practical strategies for living a more authentic adulthood, as well as inspiration through interviews with dozens of voices from the rich diversity of the human population who have successfully launched their adult lives.

Being an adult, it turns out, is not about any particular checklist; it is, instead, a process, one you can get progressively better at over time—becoming more comfortable with uncertainty and gaining the knowhow to keep going. Once you begin to practice it, being an adult becomes the most complicated yet also the most abundantly rewarding and natural thing. And Julie Lythcott-Haims is here to help readers take their turn.

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The New David Espinoza

Fred Aceves

This story from the acclaimed author of The Closest I've Come unflinchingly examines steroid abuse and male body dysmorphia. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds and Matt de la Peña.

David Espinoza is tired of being messed with. When a video of him getting knocked down by a bully's slap goes viral at the end of junior year, David vows to use the summer to bulk up-- do what it takes to become a man--and wow everyone when school starts again the fall.

Soon David is spending all his time and money at Iron Life, a nearby gym that's full of bodybuilders. Frustrated with his slow progress, his life eventually becomes all about his muscle gains. As it says on the Iron Life wall, What does not kill me makes me stronger.

As David falls into the dark side of the bodybuilding world, pursuing his ideal body at all costs, he'll have to grapple with the fact that it could actually cost him everything.

A Chicago Public Library Best Teen Fiction Selection

A Banks Street Best Children's Book of the Year

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The Gift of Failure

Jessica Lahey

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In the tradition of Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed and Wendy Mogel’s The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, this groundbreaking manifesto focuses on the critical school years when parents must learn to allow their children to experience the disappointment and frustration that occur from life’s inevitable problems so that they can grow up to be successful, resilient, and self-reliant adults.

Modern parenting is defined by an unprecedented level of overprotectiveness: parents who rush to school at the whim of a phone call to deliver forgotten assignments, who challenge teachers on report card disappointments, mastermind children’s friendships, and interfere on the playing field. As teacher and writer Jessica Lahey explains, even though these parents see themselves as being highly responsive to their children’s well being, they aren’t giving them the chance to experience failure—or the opportunity to learn to solve their own problems.

Overparenting has the potential to ruin a child’s confidence and undermine their education, Lahey reminds us. Teachers don’t just teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. They teach responsibility, organization, manners, restraint, and foresight—important life skills children carry with them long after they leave the classroom.

Providing a path toward solutions, Lahey lays out a blueprint with targeted advice for handling homework, report cards, social dynamics, and sports. Most importantly, she sets forth a plan to help parents learn to step back and embrace their children’s failures. Hard-hitting yet warm and wise, The Gift of Failure is essential reading for parents, educators, and psychologists nationwide who want to help children succeed.

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The Addiction Inoculation

Jessica Lahey

"The Addiction Inoculation is a vital look into best practices parenting. Writing as a teacher, a mother, and, as it happens, a recovering alcoholic, Lahey's stance is so compassionate, her advice so smart, any and all parents will benefit from her hard-won wisdom." --Peggy Orenstein, author of Girls & Sex and Boys & Sex

In this supportive, life-saving resource, the New York Times bestselling author of The Gift of Failure helps parents and educators understand the roots of substance abuse and identify who is most at risk for addiction, and offers practical steps for prevention.

Jessica Lahey was born into a family with a long history of alcoholism and drug abuse. Despite her desire to thwart her genetic legacy, she became an alcoholic and didn't find her way out until her early forties. Jessica has worked as a teacher in substance abuse programs for teens, and was determined to inoculate her two adolescent sons against their most dangerous inheritance. All children, regardless of their genetics, are at some risk for substance abuse. According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, teen drug addiction is the nation's largest preventable and costly health problem. Despite the existence of proven preventive strategies, nine out of ten adults with substance use disorder report they began drinking and taking drugs before age eighteen.

The Addiction Inoculation is a comprehensive resource parents and educators can use to prevent substance abuse in children. Based on research in child welfare, psychology, substance abuse, and developmental neuroscience, this essential guide provides evidence-based strategies and practical tools adults need to understand, support, and educate resilient, addiction-resistant children. The guidelines are age-appropriate and actionable--from navigating a child's risk for addiction, to interpreting signs of early abuse, to advice for broaching difficult conversations with children.

The Addiction Inoculation is an empathetic, accessible resource for anyone who plays a vital role in children's lives--parents, teachers, coaches, or pediatricians--to help them raise kids who will grow up healthy, happy, and addiction-free.

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Dopamine Nation

Dr. Anna Lembke

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES and LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER
“Brilliant… riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued.”—Beth Macy, author of Dopesick
As heard on Fresh Air


This book is about pleasure. It’s also about pain. Most important, it’s about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We’re living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting… The increased numbers, variety, and potency is staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. As such we’ve all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption.
 
In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author, explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain…and what to do about it. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. In essence, Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance is combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.

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The Joy of Movement

Kelly McGonigal

The bestselling author of The Willpower Instinct introduces a surprising science-based book that doesn't tell us why we should exercise but instead shows us how to fall in love with movement.

Exercise is health-enhancing and life-extending, yet many of us feel it's a chore. But, as Kelly McGonigal reveals, it doesn't have to be. Movement can and should be a source of joy.

Through her trademark blend of science and storytelling, McGonigal draws on insights from neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, and evolutionary biology, as well as memoirs, ethnographies, and philosophers. She shows how movement is intertwined with some of the most basic human joys, including self-expression, social connection, and mastery--and why it is a powerful antidote to the modern epidemics of depression, anxiety, and loneliness.

McGonigal tells the stories of people who have found fulfillment and belonging through running, walking, dancing, swimming, weightlifting, and more, with examples that span the globe, from Tanzania, where one of the last hunter-gatherer tribes on the planet live, to a dance class at Juilliard for people with Parkinson's disease, to the streets of London, where volunteers combine fitness and community service, to races in the remote wilderness, where athletes push the limits of what a human can endure. Along the way, McGonigal paints a portrait of human nature that highlights our capacity for hope, cooperation, and self-transcendence.

The result is a revolutionary narrative that goes beyond familiar arguments in favor of exercise, to illustrate why movement is integral to both our happiness and our humanity. Readers will learn what they can do in their own lives and communities to harness the power of movement to create happiness, meaning, and connection.

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Good Morning, I Love You

Shauna Shapiro, PhD

Discover the Transformative Effects of Being Kind to Yourself

“This brilliant book offers us both the science and practice of how self-kindness is the secret sauce of fulfillment, transformation, and joy.” —Lorin Roche, meditation teacher and author of The Radiance Sutras

Many of us yearn to feel a greater sense of inner calm, ease, joy, and purpose. We have tried meditation and found it too difficult. We judge ourselves for being no good at emptying our minds (as if one ever could) or compare ourselves with yogis who seem to have it all together. We live in a steady state of “not good enough.” It does not have to be this way.

In Good Morning, I Love You, Dr. Shauna Shapiro brings alive the brain science behind why we feel the way we do—about ourselves, each other, and the world—and explains why we get stuck in thinking that doesn’t serve us. It turns out that we are hardwired to be self-critical and negative! And this negativity is constantly undermining our experience of life.

“It is never too late to rewire your brain for positivity—for calm, clarity, and joy,” writes Dr. Shapiro. “I know this is possible because I experienced it. Best of all, you can begin wherever you are.” In short, lively chapters laced with science, wisdom, and story, Shapiro, one of the leading scientists studying the effects of mindfulness on the brain, shows us that acting with kindness and compassion toward ourselves is the key.

With her roadmap to guide you, including her signature “Good Morning, I Love You” practice, in which you deliberately greet yourself each day with these simple words, you can change your brain’s circuitry and steady yourself in feelings of deep calm, clarity, and joy. For good.

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Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety

John Duffy

Your Guidebook for Parenting Teens in the New Teenage Years

 

"If you are a parent―or have children in your life in any significant way and that you love―this book is required reading." ―Michael Hainey, author of New York Times bestseller After Visiting Friends

 

 

#1 Best Seller in School Age Children, Parenting Teenagers, Child Psychology, Adolescent Psychology, Anxieties & Phobias, and Hyperactivity

 

A parenting wake-up call that could change how you raise your child.

Learn about the "New Teen" and how to adjust your parenting skills. Strategies for parenting teens are now beginning years too late. Kids are growing up with nearly unlimited access to social media and the internet, and unprecedented academic, social, and familial stressors. Starting as early as eight years old, children are exposed to information, thought, and emotion they are unprepared to process.

Unprecedented teenage depression and anxiety. Because of the exposure they face, kids are emotionally overwhelmed at a young age and often are continuing to search for a sense of self well into their twenties.

Urgent advice for parents of teens. Dr. John Duffy's parenting book is a necessary guide that addresses the hidden phenomenon of the changing teenage brain. Dr. Duffy, a nationally recognized expert in parenting for nearly twenty-five years, provides a guidebook for parents raising children who are growing up quickly and dealing with unresolved adolescent issues that can lead to anxiety and depression.

Inside:

  • Realize the overwhelming circumstances of today's teens and understand the changing landscape of adolescence
  • Find a revised, conscious parenting plan that addresses the needs of the New Teen
  • Discover the joy in parenting again by reclaiming the role of your teen's ally, guide, and consultant

 

If you enjoyed parenting books such as The Yes Brain, How to Raise an Adult, The Teenage Brain, Untangled, or The Conscious Parent, Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety should be your next read.

 

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Quiet Power

Susan Cain

The monumental bestseller Quiet has been recast in a new edition that empowers introverted kids and teens

Susan Cain sparked a worldwide conversation when she published Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. With her inspiring book, she permanently changed the way we see introverts and the way introverts see themselves.

The original book focused on the workplace, and Susan realized that a version for and about kids was also badly needed. This book is all about kids' world--school, extracurriculars, family life, and friendship. You'll read about actual kids who have tackled the challenges of not being extroverted and who have made a mark in their own quiet way. You'll hear Susan Cain's own story, and you'll be able to make use of the tips at the end of each chapter. There's even a guide at the end of the book for parents and teachers.

This insightful, accessible, and empowering book, illustrated with amusing comic-style art, will be eye-opening to extroverts and introverts alike.

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Hunt, Gather, Parent

Michaeleen Doucleff

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The oldest cultures in the world have mastered the art of raising happy, well-adjusted children. What can we learn from them?

Hunt, Gather, Parent is full of smart ideas that I immediately wanted to force on my own kids.” —Pamela Druckerman, The New York Times Book Review

When Dr. Michaeleen Doucleff becomes a mother, she examines the studies behind modern parenting guidance and finds the evidence frustratingly limited and the conclusions often ineffective. Curious to learn about more effective parenting approaches, she visits a Maya village in the Yucatán Peninsula. There she encounters moms and dads who parent in a totally different way than we do—and raise extraordinarily kind, generous, and helpful children without yelling, nagging, or issuing timeouts. What else, Doucleff wonders, are Western parents missing out on?

In Hunt, Gather, Parent, Doucleff sets out with her three-year-old daughter in tow to learn and practice parenting strategies from families in three of the world’s most venerable communities: Maya families in Mexico, Inuit families above the Arctic Circle, and Hadzabe families in Tanzania. She sees that these cultures don’t have the same problems with children that Western parents do. Most strikingly, parents build a relationship with young children that is vastly different from the one many Western parents develop—it’s built on cooperation instead of control, trust instead of fear, and personalized needs instead of standardized development milestones.

Maya parents are masters at raising cooperative children. Without resorting to bribes, threats, or chore charts, Maya parents rear loyal helpers by including kids in household tasks from the time they can walk. Inuit parents have developed a remarkably effective approach for teaching children emotional intelligence. When kids cry, hit, or act out, Inuit parents respond with a calm, gentle demeanor that teaches children how to settle themselves down and think before acting. Hadzabe parents are world experts on raising confident, self-driven kids with a simple tool that protects children from stress and anxiety, so common now among American kids.

Not only does Doucleff live with families and observe their techniques firsthand, she also applies them with her own daughter, with striking results. She learns to discipline without yelling. She talks to psychologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, and sociologists and explains how these strategies can impact children’s mental health and development. Filled with practical takeaways that parents can implement immediately, Hunt, Gather, Parent helps us rethink the ways we relate to our children, and reveals a universal parenting paradigm adapted for American families.

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Ready Or Not

Madeline Levine

REVISED WITH NEW MATERIAL TO HELP PARENTS THROUGH THE PANDEMIC ERA

The New York Times bestselling author of The Price of Privilege and Teach Your Children Well explores how today's parenting techniques and our myopic educational system are failing to prepare children for their certain-to-be-uncertain future--and how we can reverse course to ensure their lasting adaptability, resilience, health and happiness.

 

In The Price of Privilege, respected clinician, Madeline Levine was the first to correctly identify the deficits created by parents giving kids of privilege too much of the wrong things and not enough of the right things. Continuing to address the mistaken notions about what children need to thrive in Teach Your Children Well, Levine tore down the myth that good grades, high test scores, and college acceptances should define the parenting endgame. In Ready or Not, she continues the discussion, showing how these same parenting practices, combined with a desperate need to shelter children from discomfort and anxiety, are setting future generations up to fail spectacularly.

 

Increasingly, the world we know has become disturbing, unfamiliar, and even threatening. In the wake of uncertainty and rapid change, adults are doubling-down on the pressure-filled parenting style that pushes children to excel. Yet these daunting expectations, combined with the stress parents feel and unwittingly project onto their children, are leading to a generation of young people who are overwhelmed, exhausted, distressed--and unprepared for the future that awaits them. While these damaging effects are known, the world into which these children are coming of age is not. And continuing to focus primarily on grades and performance are leaving kids more ill-prepared than ever to navigate the challenges to come.

But there is hope. Using the latest developments in neuroscience and epigenetics (the intersection of genetics and environment), as well as extensive research gleaned from captains of industry, entrepreneurs, military leaders, scientists, academics, and futurists, Levine identifies the skills that children need to succeed in a tumultuous future: adaptability, mental agility, curiosity, collaboration, tolerance for failure, resilience, and optimism. Most important, Levine offers day-to-day solutions parents can use to raise kids who are prepared, enthusiastic, and ready to face an unknown future with confidence and optimism.

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Valedictorians at the Gate

Becky Munsterer Sabky

Named one of Grown & Flown's “Best Book on College Admissions and Paying for College”

“The most honest, most helpful book I’ve ever read on applying to college”
New York Times bestselling author Adam Grant

A former Ivy League Admissions Officer offers an inspiring battle cry for sanity in the college application process that looks beyond the rankings to successfully determine what’s truly the best school for you or your child.

After spending years as a college admissions director at Dartmouth, Becky Munsterer Sabky had seen it all. The perfect grades, the perfect scores, and the perfect extracurriculars. Valedictorians were knocking at the gate, but Becky realized that in their quest for admission many of these students were missing something. Their transcripts were golden, their interviews polished, but they weren’t applying for college, they were competing for it—and in the end they didn’t know what prize they were really striving for.

In Valedictorians at the Gate, Sabky looks beyond the smoke and mirrors of the intimidating admissions gauntlet and places the power firmly where it should be: in the hands of the students themselves. Offering prescriptive, actionable advice for students and their (hopefully not helicoptering) parents, Sabky illuminates the pathway to finding the school that is the ideal match.

Witty and warm, informative and inspiring, Valedictorians at the Gate is the needed tonic for overstressed, overworked, and overwhelmed students on their way to the perfect college for them.

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How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t with Your Kids

Carla Naumburg

Stop the yelling, lose the guilt, and become a calmer, happier parent.
 

Drawing on evidence-based practices, here is an insight-packed and tip-filled plan for how to stop the parental meltdowns. Its compassionate, pragmatic approach will help readers feel less ashamed and more empowered to get their, ahem, act together instead of losing it.
 
“Using a powerful combination of humor and reality checks, Naumburg helps parents unpack their unique stressors (we all have them) and find ways to stay calm even the most frustrating of family moments.” —Katie Hurley, LCSW, author of No More Mean Girls and The Happy Kid Handbook
 

“By the end not only are you laughing out loud, but you’ve gained a sense of self-compassion and a concrete action plan.”—Rebecca Schrag Hershberg, PhD, author of The Tantrum Survival Guide
 
 
 

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The Stolen Year

Anya Kamenetz

An NPR education reporter shows how the last true social safety net-- the public school system--was decimated by the pandemic, and how years of short-sighted political decisions have failed to put our children first.

School has long meant much more than an education in America. 30 million children depend on free school meals. Schools are, statistically, the safest physical places for children to be. They are the best chance many children have at finding basics like eye exams, safe housing, mental health counseling, or simply a caring adult. Flawed, inequitable, underfunded, and segregated, they remain the most important engine of social mobility and the crucible of our democracy.

The cost of closing our schools for so long during COVID, made with good intentions, has not yet been fully reckoned with.

In The Stolen Year, NPR education reporter Anya Kamenetz shows that the roots of our crisis run far deeper than COVID. She follows families across the country as they lived through the pandemic. But she also dives deep into the political history that brought us to this point: Why we have no childcare system to speak of, why subsidies for families were cut to the bone, how children became the group most likely to live in poverty, how we overpolice and separate families of color, and how we are content to let the unpaid and underpaid labor of women, especially women of color and immigrants, stand in for a void of public and collective concern for children.

Kamenetz makes the case that 2020 wasn't a lost year--it was taken from our children, by years of neglect and bad faith. We have failed to put them first.

The American Rescue Plan offers new tax benefits for families and new funding for schools. But if progress stops there, and we revert to cutting funding and laying off school staff, another crisis will surely come. The Stolen Year is a passionately argued and emotional story, but also a demand for recompense.

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Thirty Million Words

Dana Suskind

 

 

The founder and director of the Thirty Million Words Initiative, Professor Dana Suskind, explains why the most important—and astoundingly simple—thing you can do for your child’s future success in life is to to talk to them.What nurtures the brain to optimum intelligence and stability?

It is a secret hiding in plain sight: the most important thing we can do for our children is to have conversations with them. The way you talk with your growing child literally builds his or her brain. Parent talk can drastically improve school readiness and lifelong learning in everything from math to art. Indeed, parent–child talk is a fundamental, critical factor in building grit, self-control, leadership skills, and generosity. It is crucial to making the most in life of the luck you have with your genes.

This landmark account of a new scientific perspective describes what works and what doesn't (baby talk is fine; relentless correction isn't). Discover how to create the best "language environments" for children by following the simple structure of the Three Ts: Tune In; Talk More; Take Turns. Dr. Suskind and her colleagues around the country have worked with thousands of families; now their insights and successful, measured approaches are available to all.

This is the first book to reveal how and why the first step in nurturing successful lives is talking to children in ways that build their brains. Your family—and our nation—need to know.

*Nominated for the Books for a Better Life Award*

 

 

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