Check out these exciting easy and fiction titles that were published in September.
As promised, today’s recommendations are for speculative fiction, which includes horror, fantasy, science fiction, and dystopian and post-apocalyptic. Enjoy!
ELEMENTARY PICTURE BOOKS
Baabwaa & Wooliam : A Tale of Literacy, Dental Hygiene, and Friendship by David Elliott (ill. by Melissa Sweet). 9780763660741. 2017. Gr PK-3.
Baabwaa is a sheep who loves knitting. Wooliam is a sheep who loves reading. it’s a bit boring one day so they decide to go on an adventure and meet a third sheep—a strange-looking sheep, with a raggedy wool coat and long, disgusting teeth. Fortunately, Wooliam recognizes the wolf in sheep’s clothing straight away!
Chicken in the Kitchen by Nnedi Okorafor & Mehrdokht Amini. 9781911373155. 2017. Gr PK-2.
When a crazy chicken wreaks havoc in the kitchen there is just one thing to do—prepare a nest so that she will settle down.
Frank the Seven-Legged Spider by Michaele Razi. 9781632171283. 2017. Gr PK-3.
Frank loves making beautiful webs, scaring humans, running, and scurrying, but after waking up one morning missing a leg, he wonders if he still is a spider.
Give Me Back My Book! by Travis Foster & Ethan Long. 9781452160405. 2017. Gr K-3.
Monster friends Redd and Bloo argue over who exactly owns a very beautiful green book, until the Bookworm comes and yanks it out of their hands and hides it. The friends decide to create a decoy book to get theirs back.
Hamsters Don’t Fight Fires! by Andrew Root (ill. by Jessica Olien). 9780062452948. 2017. Gr PK-3.
Hugo longs to become a firefighter, but he is just a tiny hamster. Can he prove his worth during an actual emergency call?
Henny, Penny, Lenny, Denny, and Mike by Cynthia Ryland (ill. by Mike Austin). 9781481445238. 2017. Gr K-3.
Five guppies love their life in a little girl’s fish tank until some new additions shake things up.
Little i by Michael Hall. 9780062383006. 2017. Gr K-2.
When Little i loses his dot into the sea, he sets off on an adventure to find it. Along the way, Little i encounters waterfalls of exclamation marks, gardens of commas, and other wonders until he finally finds the dot. However, the journey has matured Little i and he decides to return home without the dot, now as Big I.
The Littlest Train by Chris Gall. 9780316392860. 2017. Gr PK-2.
After being accidentally knocked off a table, a toy train travels to the outside world and meets a variety of life-size trains. It is a fantastic adventure, but how will the littlest train get home again?
On the Night of the Shooting Star by Amy Hest (ill. by Jenni Desmond). 9780763691547. 2017. Gr PK-1.
Though Bunny and Dog are neighbors, their solitary natures have kept them from meeting. But one night, the two both see a shooting star, an event which leads to a smile and a friendship.
La Princesa and the Pea by Susan Middleton Elya (ill. by Juana Martinez-Neal). 9780399251566. 2017. Gr PK-2.
A prince is enchanted by a mysterious woman, but he cannot marry her unless she can pass the queen’s test and prove that she is a real princess by feeling a pea placed under twenty mattresses while she sleeps. However, the prince has a secret, sneaky plan of his own to make sure the princess will be his bride.
Tyrannosaurus Rex vs. Edna, the Very First Chicken by Douglas Rees (ill. by Jed Henry). 9781627795104. 2017. Gr PK-3.
All the other dinosaurs are scared of the loud, fierce, stomping T-rex. But not Edna, the very first chicken. Her beak may be mighty and her flapping wings strong, but will they be a match for T-rex’s claws and jaws? Well, which contestant is still around?
ELEMENTARY CHAPTER BOOKS
Ben Franklin’s in My Bathroom! (History Pals, Book 1) by Candace Fleming. 9781101934067. 2017. Gr 2-5.
When Benjamin Franklin mysteriously time travels to the twenty-first century, it is up to ten-year-old Nolan and his little sister Olive to introduce Ben to the modern time, prevent his cover from being blown, and try to help Ben find a way back home.
Crash Course (Project Terra, Book 1) by Landry Q. Walker. 9780515157918. 2017. Gr 4-6.
Life at the Seven Systems School of Terraforming Sciences and Arts is more of a challenge than Elara ever imagined. But her determination to become a top planetary designer will keep her powering through the school year despite feeling out of place, having to learn to share a room with an intergalactic sponge named Clare, and living down the fact that her last experiment accidentally blew up the moon.
The Marvelwood Magicians by Diane Zahler. 9781629797243. 2017. Gr 4-6.
Mattie Marvelwood comes from a family with special abilities, and they use those to perform at Master Morogh’s circus. But the circus ringmaster is hiding a secret that could mean disaster for the Marvelwood family, and Mattie may be forced to use her powers to defeat Master Morogh.
MIDDLE SCHOOL FICTION
Elizabeth and Zenobia by Jessica Miller. 9781419727245. 2017. Gr 4-7.
When timid Elizabeth’s father takes her and her fearless friend, Zenobia, to his family home, Zenobia becomes obsessed with finding a ghost there, and then Elizabeth learns she had an aunt who disappeared from the house years ago.
The Glass Town Game by Catherynne M. Valente. 9781481476966. 2017. Gr 5-8.
Charlotte and Emily Brontë are traveling to a boarding school when the train magically whisks them to an imaginary land called Glass Town, a land that existed only in the games they played as children. And as their imaginations come to life, they learn that their other two sisters have been abducted. Charlotte and Emily must race to rescue them and keep the evil Napoleon from escaping Glass Town and taking over England.
Wishtree by Katherine Applegate. 9781250043221. 2017. Gr 4-8.
An old red oak tree tells how he and his crow friend, Bongo, help their human neighbors get along after a threat against an immigrant family is carved into the tree’s trunk.
The Wonderling by Mira Bartok. 9780763691219. 2017. Gr 5-8.
At Miss Carbunkle’s home for Wayward and Misbegotten Creatures, a fox-like eleven-year-old with no name lives as an orphan in the miserable conditions of “the Home.” But when he meets a young bird named Trinket, who finally gives him the name Arthur, he escapes “the Home” with the help of an invention of Trinket. Together they set out on an adventure to see the world for the first time.
HIGH SCHOOL FICTION
An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson. 9781481497589. 2017. Gr 9-12.
Isobel paints portraits for the fair folk, who crave human Crafts because they can’t do it themselves. But when she paints her first royal portrait—of Rook, the autumn Prince—she paints a weakness in him that puts him in mortal danger. Rook kidnaps Isobel to put her on trial, but they are waylaid and must learn to trust each other in order to survive.
Freefall by Joshua David Bellin. 9781481491655. 2017. Gr 9-12.
Cam is eager to leave Earth with the rest of the elite 1% until he connects with one of the 99%, Sofie, and joins her in the fight for Lowerworld rights.
Invictus by Ryan Graudin. 9780316503075. 2017. Gr 9-12.
Farway was born outside of time—his father was a Roman gladiator, his mother a time traveler from the year 2354 AD. Failing to get into a government program, he must settle for a black-market position as captain of a crew that steals important valuables from history. On a routine heist, Far meets a mysterious girl named Eliot, who seems to be a step ahead of him at all times. Armed with the knowledge that history is not quite what it seems, Far and his team are led by Eliot on a race through time to save history.
Landscape with Invisible Hand by M.T. Anderson. 9780763687892. 2017. Gr 9-12.
When the alien vuvv invaded Earth, the squat, coffee table-shaped beings brought free advanced technology and cured every illness imaginable. Nevertheless, their technology eliminated most human jobs, putting Adam’s parents out of work. Adam and his girlfriend, Chloe, decide to feed the vuvv’s love for what they think of as “classic” Earth culture from the 1950s. However, when Adam and Chloe’s relationship disintegrates, Adam has to decide how much he is willing to give the vuvv what they want.
Murder, Magic, and What We Wore by Kelly Jones. 9780553535204. 2017. Gr 9-12.
In 1818 London, after learning that her father has been killed and all his money gone missing, sixteen-year-old Annis decides to become a spy and find out who killed him and where the money went. She uses her rare magical ability to sew “glamours,” garments that completely disguise their wearers.
Odd & True by Cat Winters. 9781419723100. 2017. Gr 9-12.
Odette always told her sister Trudchen that their mother slayed monsters and that one day they would, too. When Od vanishes, reappearing in Tru’s life two years later in 1909 and carrying a suitcase of weapons, she promises to protect Tru from an approaching darkness full of monsters. The sisters set out to find their long-vanished mother and encounter the stuff of nightmares.
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera. 9780062457790. 2017. Gr 9-12.
In a near-future New York City where a service alerts people on the day they will die, teenagers Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio meet using the Last Friend app and are faced with the challenge of living a lifetime on their End Day.
Warcross (Book 1) by Marie Lu. 9780399547966. 2017. Gr 7-12.
Warcross is an online video game phenomenon. Impoverished teenage hacker Emika is a bounty hunter who tracks down players who place illegal bets on the game. However, when she tries to hack the opening international game to make some quick cash, she accidentally glitches herself into the game. An overnight sensation, Emika is sure she will be arrested, but then she gets a call from the game’s creator who offers her a job as an undercover security agent. Whisked off to Tokyo, Emika quickly uncovers a sinister plot that could bring down the whole Warcross empire.
