52 Standout Titles from John Lewis, Samira Ahmed, Tiffany D. Jackson, and More | Starred Reviews, September 2021

This month, we feature John Lewis's follow-up to the "March" trilogy, Samira Ahmed's middle grade debut shines, Tiffany D. Jackson delivers another winning suspense novel, and two nonfiction titles discuss Charles Dickens.


Picture Books

Ashman, Linda. Phoebe Dupree Is Coming to Tea! illus. by Alea Marley. Candlewick. 

Baptiste, Tracey. Looking for a Jumbie. illus. by Amber Ren. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray. 

Cummins, Lucy Ruth. Vampenguin. Atheneum.

Morales, Yuyi. Bright Star. Holiday House/Neal Porter. 

Pinkney, Andrea Davis. Bright Brown Baby. illus. by Brian Pinkney. Orchard. 

Esperanza, C.G. Boogie Boogie, Y’all. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen. 

Fan, Terry. It Fell from the Sky. illus. by Eric Fan. S. & S. 

Geron, Eric. Poultrygeist. illus. by Pete Oswald. Candlewick. 

Hopkinson, Deborah. The Story of a Story. illus. by Hadley Hooper. Holiday House/Neal Porter. 

Keller, Joy. Frankenslime. illus. by Ashley Belote. Feiwel & Friends.

Kheiriyeh, Rashin. The Shape of Home. Levine Querido. 

Kim, Hyo-eun. I Am the Subway. Scribble. 

Minor, Wendell. Pumpkin Heads. Charlesbridge. 

Newell, Chris. If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving. illus. by Winona Nelson. Scholastic. 

Rylant, Cynthia. We Give Thanks. illus. by Sergio Ruzzier. S. & S./Beach Lane. 

Sima, Jessie. Hardly Haunted. S. & S. 

Stevens, Cat. Peace Train. illus. by Peter H. Reynolds. HarperCollins. 

Talbott, Hudson. A Walk in the Words. Penguin/Nancy Paulsen. 

Walker, Tricia Elam. Dream Street. Random/Anne Schwartz. 

 

Chapter Books

Soundar, Chitra. Sona Sharma, Very Best Big Sister? illus. by Jen Khatun. Candlewick. 

 

Middle Grade

Ahmed, Samira. Amira & Hamza: The War to Save the Worlds. Little, Brown. 

Dobbs, Alda P. Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna. Sourcebooks. 

Higuera, Donna Barba. The Last Cuentista. Levine Querido..

Hiranandani, Veera. How to Find What You’re Not Looking For. Penguin/Kokila.

Holt, K.A. Ben Y and the Ghost in the Machine: The Kids Under the Stairs. Chronicle.

McNicoll, Elle. A Kind of Spark. Crown. 

Reintgen, Scott. Breaking Badlands. Crown. 

Respicio, Mae. How to Win a Slime War. Random/Wendy Lamb. 

 

YA

Coles, Jay. Things We Couldn’t Say. Scholastic. 

Eves, Rosalyn. Beyond the Mapped Stars. Knopf. 

Gray, Ayana. Beasts of Prey. Putnam. 

Jackson, Tiffany D. White Smoke. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen. 

Lucier, Makiia. Year of the Reaper. Clarion. 

McCauley, Kyrie. We Can Be Heroes. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen. 

Manuel, Jennifer. Open Secrets. Lorimer. 

Owen, Margaret. Little Thieves. Holt. 

Polydoros, Aden. The City Beautiful. Inkyard. 

 

Graphic Novels

Becker, Harmony. Himawari House. First Second. 

Edwards, Samantha. A Tale as Tall as Jacob: Misadventures with My Brother. Andrews McMeel. 

Lewis, John & Andrew Aydin. Run. illus. by L. Fury & Nate Powell. Abrams ComicArts. 

Nguyen, Trang. Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear. illus. by Jeet Zdung. Dial. 

 

Nonfiction

Ak’abal, Humberto. Aquí era el paraíso/Here Was Paradise: Selección de poemas de Humberto Ak’abal/Selected Poems of Humberto Ak’abal. Groundwood. 

Bonsignore, Gregory. That’s Betty! The Story of Betty White. illus. by Jennifer M. Potter. Holt. 

Churnin, Nancy. Dear Mr. Dickens. illus. by Bethany Stancliffe. Albert Whitman. 

Fox, Kate Allen. Pando: A Living Wonder of Trees. illus. by Turine Viet-Tu Tran. Capstone. 

Jahren, Hope. The Story of More (Adapted for Young Adults): How We Got to Climate Change and Where We Go from Here. Delacorte.

Schofield-Morrison, Connie. Stitch by Stitch: Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly Sews Her Way to Freedom. illus. by Elizabeth ­Zunon. Holiday House.

Sheinkin, Steve. Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown. Roaring Brook. 

Singer, Marilyn. A Raven Named Grip: How a Bird Inspired Two Famous Writers, Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan Poe. illus. by Edwin Fotheringham. Dial. 

Valério, Geraldo. My Book of Butterflies. Groundwood. 

Wade, Jess. Nano: The Spectacular Science of the Very (Very) Small. illus. by Melissa Castrillón. Candlewick. 

Ward, Jennifer. Just You and Me: Remarkable Relationships in the Wild. illus. by Alexander Vidal. S. & S./Beach Lane.

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