Best of 2023 & Award Winners (J)

"This is the story as it was told to me by Leandro the Mighty. For 400 years, Earth has been a barren wasteland. The few humans that survive scrape together an existence in the cruel city of Pocatel – or go it alone in the wilderness beyond, filled with wandering spirits and wyrms. They don’t last long. 13 year-old pickpocket Leandro and his sister Gabi do what they can to forge a life in Pocatel. The city does not take kindly to Cascabel like...

A novel-in-verse about a 12-year-old Dominican American girl who must keep her love of swimming a secret from her mother, is diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis, and is forced to reimagine the person she is to become.

Publisher Annotation: Batcat loves being all alone in their home on Spooky Island. Up in their tree house, they pass the time playing video games and watching TV. But when Batcat suddenly finds themself haunted by an annoying, ice cream-stealing ghost, they visit the local Island Witch for a spell to remove their ghastly guest permanently! With their Ghost-B-Gone spell in hand, Batcat travels across Spooky Island to gather ingredients-to the Cavernous...

After her dad dies of COVID, twelve-year-old Boomi is given his old boombox and magically transported to Thumpton-on-Soar, England, 1986, where she meets her dad at age twelve and must figure out what she's supposed to do--save him or change her life.

"The origin stories of each Chinese dish told using the framework of Chinese cuisine-oftentimes based in folklore, both ancient and contemporary"--

A moving middle-grade novel in verse, about a young trans boy dealing with the loss of his friend by writing to his favorite cryptid, Mothman Halfway through sixth grade, Noah’s best friend and the only other trans boy in his school, Lewis, passed away in a car accident. Lewis was adventurous and curious, always bringing a new paranormal story to share with Noah. Together they daydreamed about cryptids and shared discovering their genders and names....

Sixth grader Lucy is brand-new to middle school, and when her older sister GiGi--the undisputed queen bee of eighth grade--humiliates her in the cafeteria, Lucy snaps and challenges her to a fencing duel.

Ellie Engle doesn't stand out. Not at home, where she's alone with her pet fish since her dad moved away and her mom has to work around the clock . Not at the bakery, where she helps out old Mr. Walker on the weekends. And definitely not at school, where her best friend Abby--the coolest, boldest, most talented girl in the world--drags Ellie along on her never-ending quest to "make her mark." To someone else, a life in the shadows might seem boring,...

When ten-year-old Lina Gao leaves China to live with her parents and sister, after five years apart, she must reckon with her hurt, anger, and curiosity and find a way to get her bearings in this new country--and the almost-new family that comes along with it.