Fantasy & Magic
The Marvellers
by Dhonielle Clayton
Eleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, a magic school in the clouds where Marvellers from around the world practice their cultural arts.
Suite Hearts: Heartbreak and Harmony
by Claire Kann
Living in the penthouse suite of San Francisco’s Hotel Coeur, matchmakers-in-training Rose and Cora learn how to use magic to bring about love connections and must perfect their charms and enchantments to pass a test that will determine their future.
Wildseed Witch
by Marti Dumas
While the other girls have always known they were destined to be witches, Hasani is a Wildseed—a stray witch from a family of non-witches, with no background knowledge, no way to control her magic, and a lot to catch up on. ‘Wildseed’ may be an insult that the other girls throw at her, but Wildseeds are more powerful than they know. And Hasani will learn that there are ways to use magic and thrive that can never be taught in a classroom.
The Witch’s Apprentice
by Zetta Elliot
Now that he is Ma’s apprentice Jax is finding himself mixed up with all sorts of magical doings, like taking care of a phoenix egg which is going to hatch soon, trying to bring back the creatures Sis stole, finding his grandfather, and convincing Sis, the guardian, to reunite the two realms–and hopefully living to see Brooklyn again.
Eden’s Everdark
by Karen Strong Twelve-year-old Eden, on a visit to her late mother’s birthplace of Safina Island, Georgia, discovers a creepy sketchbook that leads her to Everdark–a spirit world ruled by an evil witch who Eden must defeat in order to make it back home.
Anchored in the Real World
Sincerely Sicily
by Tamika Burgess
Sixth-grader Sicily Jordan learns to use her voice and to find joy in who she is–a Black Panamanian fashionista who rocks her braids with pride–while confronting prejudice both in the classroom and at home.
Rica Baptista: Llamas, Iguanas, and My Very Best Friend
by Janet Costa Bates
With her best friend moving away, Rica Baptista needs a pet so she won’t get lonely, but her parents are against it until an act of kindness and courage proves she is ready for the pet of her dreams.
Caprice
by Coe Booth
After a wonderful seven weeks at Ainsley International School, twelve-year-old Caprice has been offered a full scholarship and she should be delighted, but instead she is full of doubts because what happened at the last night dance has brought back the memory of being sexually abused by her uncle as a four-year-old; worse, her maternal grandmother is ill, and that means going back to the house in Baltimore where it all happened–Caprice has never told anybody but now, as she realizes that her grandmother knew, she tries to find the words to tell someone, and the strength to finally confront her abuser.
High Score
by Destiny Howell
My name’s Darius James–but everyone calls me DJ. At my old school, I was the go-to guy for all kinds of tricky problems that needed creative solutions. But at my new school, Ella Fitzgerald Middle, I’m just trying to blend in. Well, I was, anyway, until my best friend, Conor, got himself transferred to the Fitz too. Now Conor owes 100,000 arcade tickets to the biggest bully around–and he only has two weeks to make it happen. Impossible? Not with my head in the game.
Holler of the Fireflies
by David Barclay Moore
Javari knew that West Virginia would be different from his home in Bushwick, Brooklyn. But his first day at STEM Camp in a little Appalachian town is still a shock. Though run-ins with the police are just the same here. Not good. Javari will learn a lot about science … And also about rich people, racism, and hidden agendas. But it’s Cricket, a local boy, budding activist, and occasional thief, who will show him a different side of the holler–and blow his mind wide open.
