New for Children
Fork-Tongued Charmers
by Paul Durham
Rye O’Chanter was shocked to discover that her father was the leader of the notorious band of outlaws known as the Luck Uglies. Now she too has been declared a criminal in her own village, and she must flee to the strange and remote Isle of Pest while her father faces off against the Luck Uglies’ bitterest rivals, the Fork-Tongue Charmers, on the mainland. To defeat the Charmers, Rye must defy a deranged earl, survive a test meant to judge the grit of the fiercest men, and lead the charge in defending the island against a strangely familiar enemy.
The first book in the Luck Uglies series was named an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book and a New York Public Library Title for Reading and Sharing. It also won the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Speculative Fiction. This second installment ratchets up the humor, charm, and adventure
The Magic Trap
by Jacqueline Davies
Jessie and Evan Treski have waged a lemonade war, sought justice in a class trial, unmasked a bell thief, and stood at opposite ends over the right to keep secrets. Now they are creating a professional magic show in their backyard. They practice, they study, and they practice some more. And who shows up? Their father, who has done such a good job of disappearing over the past few years.
In this fifth novel of the Lemonade War series, Evan and Jessie take on the challenges of magic and illusion, all while discovering some hidden truths about their own family. Another fresh, funny, emotionally charged novel by the author whom Books for Kids calls, “one of the best writers for the middle grades around.
A Pig Called Heather
by Harry Oulton
Heather the pig has it all: a lovely farm to live on in the Scottish countryside, apples of all kinds to devour, and a doting best friend in the farmer’s daughter, Isla. Unfortunately, Heather’s idyllic existence is shattered when Isla’s dad has to sell the farm to pushy Farmer Busby and move with Isla to far-off London. Heather is bereft, but determined to reunite with Isla somehow. She gets her chance when she becomes the unlikely star of Busby’s new advertising campaign to promote the farm.
New for Young Adults
Palace of Lies
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Desmia discovers the reality of royalty is far from a fairy tale in this third adventure set in the Cinderella-esque world of Just Ella and Palace of Mirrors. Desmia and her twelve sister-princesses are ruling Suala together at last, a united front. The kingdom seems to have finally gotten its happily ever after, but Desmia, trained by a lifetime of palace intrigue, is not so sure. She desperately wants to believe all is well, but she can’t help seeing danger around every corner.
Ruin and Rising
by Leigh Bardugo
In this final installment of the Grisha trilogy, the capital has fallen, and the Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. Now, the nation’s fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.
Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives. Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova’s amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling’s secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction, and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.
