Published by Dial Books

Summary:  Mickey’s pretty miserable with his life since his parents divorced and each found a new partner, and his sister’s dating a bully who makes Mickey’s life miserable.  So when he sees an ad inside a pack of his favorite bubble gum for an “anti-book” he decides he has nothing to lose by ordering it.  The book comes with some pretty simple instructions: “To erase it, write it.”  Mickey starts writing the things he wants to erase: his parents, his sister, her boyfriend, just about everything about school…he wears down a pencil filling the Anti-Book.  When he wakes up the next morning, though, he discovers he has, in fact, erased his world.  Can he bring it all back?  Trying to erase what he wrote creates further havoc, and Mickey has to travel through his new alternate world with some unusual companions to figure out how he can save everyone…including himself.  320 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  This book reminded me a little of The Phantom Tollbooth, with a character traveling into a new world to learn some important lessons about himself.  The world building is fun and clever, and Mickey makes some discoveries that will resonate with a lot of kids his age.  A conversation with his sister in the final few pages about his uncertainty about his sexuality will undoubtedly resonate with some readers as well.

Cons:  I’m not a big fan of The Phantom Tollbooth, so while I can appreciate this book it’s not going to become a personal favorite .

Published by Balzer + Bray

Summary:  Amari’s had a tough year after her beloved older brother has gone missing and she’s had to put up with constant bullying from being the only poor Black girl at her elite private school.  So when she receives a mysterious invitation to a summer camp at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she thinks she may have found a way to solve her school problems and, more importantly, find her brother.  Things take an unexpected turn when Amari learns she possesses a powerful magic that’s looked upon with suspicion by almost everyone at the Bureau.  Fortunately, she finds a few friends and allies who help her to channel her powers and help her uncover what’s happened to her brother.  Some unexpected twists toward the end leave things hanging enough for readers to be breathlessly anticipating book 2.  408 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  Harry Potter and Rick Riordan fans will love this new series opener about another unlikely outsider who discovers her stronger-than-average magical powers at a school specializing in the supernatural.  

Cons:  Fantasy’s always kind of a slog for me, so I’m probably not be the best person to promote this book. Judging from the starred reviews in professional journals and on Amazon, though, I would say this series is a hit with fans of the genre.

Published by Henry Holt & Co.

Summary:  Samantha and her older sister Caitlin have recently been moved from their parents’ home to live with their Aunt Vicky and her wife Hannah.  Although the reason is unclear at first, it has to do with Caitlin’s broken arm.  Caitlin seems happy to be there, but Sam misses her parents and her best friend and wants to go home.  When Aunt Vicky gives Sam her favorite card game, A Game of Fox & Squirrels, the characters begin to come to life for her.  Ashander the fox is charming and handsome, and promises her he’ll get her home if she can successfully complete a series of challenges before the next full moon.  Maple, Birch, and Cedar are three squirrels who help and encourage her.  Sam is eager to do what Ashander asks, but as the challenges continue, his rules start to change, and he begins to show a more frightening side.  Before long, Sam is in over her head, and isn’t sure where she belongs.  Aunt Vicky and Hannah are kind, and between bouts of homesickness, she starts to recall more troubling aspects of her life at home.  Ashander still holds out the promise of home, but is Sam willing to pay the price he is demanding?  224 pages; grades 5-8.

Pros:  This seems to be the year for books that examine child abuse, and this one does it in a way that blends fantasy with reality.  Sam starts to see her father’s traits in Ashander, with just the right amount of tension bordering on horror.  I hope this will be considered for some awards.

Cons:  There’s a lot of inferencing required to understand what has happened to Sam and Caitlin; that along with the blurry line between reality and fantasy may be confusing for some readers.

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Published by HMH Books for Young Readers

Summary:  Amelia Jones has always dreamed of attending The Mystwick School of Musicraft where her late mother became a maestro.  Amelia is a flutist who has studied musicraft with some local teachers, but is ill-prepared for the big time and bungles her audition to the school.  She’s shocked a few weeks later when she gets an acceptance letter.  But when she arrives at Mystwick, she discovers the letter was an error–it was intended for a different Amelia Jones, a piano prodigy who died the previous summer under somewhat mysterious circumstances.  Our Amelia is about to be sent packing, when the teachers discover a nifty bit of magic she inadvertently performed on the school grounds.  They decide to give her two months to get her magic up to speed, at which time she’ll have to audition again to stay for good.  Amelia is determined to work hard, but when the ghost of the other Amelia Jones seems equally determined to see her fail, it becomes more and more difficult for her to believe that she really belongs at Mystwick.  368 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  Harry Potter fans will enjoy this fun tale of a school where kids learn to use their musical talents to do magic.  There are plenty of plot twists and supernatural events to keep kids turning the pages, and the end seems to make a sequel inevitable.  I enjoyed listening to the Audible version of this which is free, along with quite a few other books: check out their site for details.

Cons:  Granted, Amelia had plenty of reasons to doubt her talents, but I got tired of her constant “maybe I just don’t belong here” refrain.

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Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Summary:  When Cal and his friend Drew see a bunch of coins walking toward a girl in their class named Modesty, they want to know more.  It seems as though Modesty is practicing magic, but when they get their hands on her book of spells, it’s not much.  They can make a few of the more mundane spells work for one minute at a time during five minutes of the day…or night, in a few cases.  What Cal wants most is to find a spell that will repair the expensive harvester he accidentally set on fire and to help save the family farm from the inventor who has found a way to create vegetables with a 3-D printer.  When a portal opens up into another world, the three kids find themselves in the midst of an effort to save that world from global cooling–with the help of a green-skinned kid librarian named Preface (Pre for short).  When Drew accidentally gets trapped in the other world, and Pre ends up back with Cal and Modesty, it’s up to the kids to save Drew, save the farm, and quite possibly save the world.  352 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  Fun doesn’t begin to describe this madcap magic adventure with an intriguing parallel universe, clever wordplay, and a few zings about fake news, corrupt leaders, and climate change deniers.  The adventures and laughs never stop; this will be an easy book to promote for summer reading.

Cons:  I’d love to see more of Cal, Drew, Modesty, and Pre, but everything wrapped up so neatly, I fear there will be no sequel.

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