I think publishers load a lot of new releases into September and October so there’s a nice selection for the holidays, because we have another HUGE week of releases to look at. Here you go:
Books for Kids – Board Books
Frozen II: Forever Friends (October 4) – A die-cut board book with flaps starring the characters from Frozen and Frozen II.
Marvel Flying Super Heroes – Interactive die-cut board book with spinning characters.
Books for Kids – Picture Books
Anna, Elsa and the Secret River (October 4) – An original picture book that ties into the story of Frozen II.
Frozen II (Little Golden Book – October 4) – Tells the story of the November 2019 film.
The Most Wonderful Gift in the World (October 3) – A bear and a girl find a Christmas present under the tree, but it’s not for either of them. So they go in search of the recipient.
Star Wars: Creatures Big and Small – Picture book of the creatures in the Star Wars universe.
Star Wars: We Are the Resistance (Little Golden Book – October 4) – A look at the resistance fighters from the most recent Star Wars movies.
The Tooth Fairy vs. Santa – A wanna-be tooth fairy shows up for his final test to pick up a tooth on Christmas Eve, but Santa doesn’t want to share the holiday.
Vegetables in Holiday Underwear – Pea is excited that December is finally time for holiday-activity underwear.
Books for Kids – Leveled Readers and Chapter Books
Elsa’s Epic Journey (October 4) – This leveled reader with stickers ties into the Frozen II movie out this November.
Fly Guy Presents Monster Trucks – A non-fiction leveled reader about monster trucks.
Journey to Star Wars: Age of Skywalker Resistance Heroes (October 4) – A leveled reader introducing kids to the heroes of Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker.
Who Is the Mystery Reader? – The latest from Mo Willems and book 2 in the Unlimited Squirrels series.
Friends Rock – Book 3 in the Unicorn and Yeti series from ACORN. This includes stories about sharing.
Frozen II: The Enchanted Forest (October 4) – An early chapter book based on the new movie.
Gotta Warn the Unicorns – Book 7 in the Princess Pulverizer series. The next step in the Princess’ quest is to unite the unicorns.
Pug Blasts Off – First in a new series from BRANCHES. Bub the Pug accidentally destroys his human’s project for the Inventor’s Challenge.
The Secret of Shadow Lake – Book 1 in a new early chapter book series called Creature Campers about a human boy, a bigfoot, a jackalope, and a fairy at summer camp. This looks darling!
Tabby Takes the Crown – Book 4 in the Kitten Kingdom series where Tabby is trying once again to save her kingdom.
Dog Man Guide to Creating Comics in 3-D – An activity book that includes step-by-step instructions for drawing Dog Man characters and making your own comic characters.
Books for Older Kids/Teens
Alien Superstar – First in a new series from the authors of Hank Zipzer. A real alien strolling around a Universal lot gets cast in a TV show and becomes an overnight sensation.
The Bootlace Magician – Sequel to Circus Mirandus with the magical circus, Micah, and his guardian, the Lightbender.
A Christmas Carol (Geronimo Stilton) – A retelling of the classic holiday story.
The Dark Lord Clementine – The sole heir of the Dark Lord Elithor, Clementine finds herself having to take on her father’s responsibilities when he is cursed and to find a way to break the curse. And through it all, she starts to wonder if she really agrees with her father’s ideas of “good” and “evil.”
Dear Sweet Pea – From the author of Dumplin’. A girl recovering from her parents’ life changing divorce agrees to help her neighbor who is on vacation. While Sweet Pea is supposed to be forwarding the neighbor’s advice column letters, she recognizes the writing on one of them. Sweet Pea’s choices about that letter set off a chain reaction.
Ember and the Ice Dragons – Ember used to be a dragon, but her accident-prone adoptive father magically changed her into a girl. Her dragon-like behaviors – like bursting into flames – gets her sent to Antarctica where she learns about a contest to hunt ice dragons. So Ember decides to join the hunt and disrupt it from within. This sounds terrific!
Field Trip Disaster – Book 5 in the DC Secret Hero Society series. This time, Wonder Woman gets to narrate the action as the trio is transported to the 31st century.
Frozen II: Forest of Shadows – An original novel spanning the time between the first Frozen movie and the second.
Geeks and the Holy Grail – Book 2 in the Camelot Code series. This time the kids are called in to help when Merlin’s apprentice turns the Holy Grail into a dragon. I posted my full review of this last week.
The Great Brain Robbery (Older Middle Grade) – Book 2 in the Train to Impossible Places series. Suzy is back on the Impossible Postal Express to delivery packages and investigate a series of tremors in Trollville.
The Math Kids: An Unusual Pattern – Book 3 in the series. This time the kids will use their math skills on a cryptic poem written by a dying bank robber.
Maybe He Just Likes You – A middle school girl struggles to speak up about the behavior of the boys around her, especially when her friends tell her she is over reacting or should be flattered. This was OUTSTANDING. I’ll be reviewing this later this week.
Outlaws – Book 2 in the Royal Academy Rebels series, after Misfits. Devin and her friends are kicked out of school and labeled “outlaws,” but she’s determined to expose the truth about the headmistress and save the other kids at the Academy. I’m looking forward to reading this one!
Roll With It (Older Middle Grade) – A girl with cerebral palsy who longs to be a baker adjusts to a new home and a new school.
Sam Saves the Night – Book 1 in the SleepWakers series. A girl fighting exhaustion thanks to nightly sleepwalking where she actually leaves her house and wanders around town goes to a sketchy sleep specialist and wakes up with new powers. She wakes up outside her sleeping body and discovers there are others who can do this too. Some use their powers to learn new things for school while others use theirs to torment other kids. This sounds fascinating!!
Sunny Rolls the Dice – Book 3 in the graphic novel series about Sunny. Sunny is in middle school now and negotiating the changing interests of her friends. While her best friend wants to talk about boys and fashion, Sunny would rather play Dungeons and Dragons with her new friends.
Spark of the Resistance (Journey to Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker – October 4) – Rey, Poe and Rose answer a distress call and fight a weapon that could change the course of the war.
A Tale of Magic – Kicks off a new series set in the Land of Stories universe. Thanks to a book, a girl discovers she is a fairy capable of magic, but magic and women reading are both outlawed in the Southern Kingdom, so she is arrested. A mysterious woman rescues her and sends her to an academy for magic, but then the woman disappears. This sounds fun.
A Time Traveler’s Theory of Relativity (Older Middle Grade) – A boy who lost his sister and whose mother disappeared fights his feelings of abandonment with the concrete facts in his physics books. But his grandmother tells him the women in his family are time travelers, and his mother has left him a portal so he can rescue her.
The Tornado (Older Middle Grade) – A fantastic bullying story from Jake Burt that asks what responsibility the formerly-bullied have when their bully chooses a new target. I’ll be reviewing this one later this week.
Weird Little Robots – An illustrated middle grade novel about a girl in a new town, looking for new friends, who makes robots who might be coming to life.
White Bird: A Wonder Story (Graphic Novel) – Grandmère, a character in Palacio’s Auggie & Me, gets to tell her story of being a Jewish girl in hiding in Nazi-occupied France.
Wings of Fire: Jade Mountain Prophecy set – The second story arc for Wings of Fire, the Jade Mountain Prophecy books, are now available in one book set. This includes books 6 through 10 in the larger series. Now that Christmas is coming, I am seeing more book sets on sale. They make great gifts.
Words on Fire – The latest from Jennifer A. Nielsen. In Lithuania in 1893 Audra’s parents tell her to flee and take a secret package with her when the Cossack soldiers arrive at their door.
Awesome Minds: Comic Book Creators – This nonfiction book introduces kids to the people who originally created the comic book heroes who are such an every day staple today.
Survivors of the Holocaust: True Stories of Six Extraordinary Children (Older Middle Grade – Graphic Novel) – A graphic novel about 6 young people who survived the Holocaust.
Trailblazers: Neil Armstrong, First Man on the Moon – Biography of Neil Armstrong
Who Was Mister Rogers?
Books for Teens/Young Adults
10 Blind Dates – A fantastic romantic comedy about a teen who breaks up with her boyfriend and her extended family set her up on 10 blind dates over Christmas break. I’ll be posting a full review next week.
Batman Nightwalker GN – The graphic novel based on the DC Icons book Batman Nightwalker. You can read my review of the original book here.
Conceal, Don’t Feel – The latest in the Twisted Tales collection asks what would happen if Princess Elsa (Frozen) didn’t have Anna as a little sister. I have this on the top of my wishlist for this week.
Cursed – A new series coming to Netflix. A twist on the legend of King Arthur where Nimue the druid – the Lady of the Lake – is the hero.
The End and Other Beginnings – A collection of science fiction novellas from the author of Divergent.
The Good Luck Girls – Five girls sold to a “welcome house” in a dystopian world have a chance to escape the life that’s been chosen for them when one of them accidentally kills a man giving them a chance for freedom. A fantasy Western adventure. I have already requested this one from the library.
The Memory Thief – A teen desperate to save her mother from a corrupt ruler who wants to sell off her mother’s memories before she is killed joins a band of rebels she once swore off and agrees to steal a map for a prison called The Maze.
Now Entering Addamsville – A teen wrongfully accused of arson and murder tries to weed through the rumors and the ghost stories that surround her town in order to find the true culprit.
Rebel – Book 4 in the Legend series. The grand finale of the Legend series.
Scars Like Wings – A girl who lost everything in a fire and bears the physical scars returns to school a year after the tragedy, afraid she will always be alone because no one wants to be friends with “the Burned Girl.”
The Depression Workbook for Teens: Tools to Improve Your Mood, Build Self-Esteem and Stay Motivated – Contains information about depression, worksheets, and exercises for teens. This is currently free through the Kindle Unlimited program.
Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia – An historical account of Cold War spies.
Books for Adults – Fiction
Aurora Blazing (Trade Paperback) – Book 2 in the Consortium Rebellion series, sequel to the fantastic Polaris Rising. This book focuses on Ada’s sister, Bianca, as she leaves the safety of home to find her missing brother, chased by her father’s head of security, a man who once broke her heart. I pre-ordered this months ago. I will drop everything and read this one when it arrives this week.
Beyond a Reasonable Stout (Hardcover) – Book 3 in the Sloan Krause mystery series. As a brewer of signature craft beers, Sloan’s business – and that of many of her friends – is in danger when a local politician starts pushing for the town to go “dry.”
Belinda Blake and the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (Trade Paperback) – Book 2 in the Exotic Pet-Sitter mystery series. Belinda knows “pet-sitting” some wolves will be an unusual job, but she’s not ready for the dead body she discovers in the wolf enclosure.
The Christmas Boutique (Hardcover) – Book 21 in the Elm Creek Quilts series. When the church hall hosting the Christmas Boutique charity fundraiser is damaged by weather, Sylvia agrees to host it at Elm Creek Manor. Each of the Elm Creek Quilters helping with the event are facing personal struggles and looking for a Christmas miracle while they work to serve their community
The Christmas Wish List (e-book – October 3) – A woman who lost her job right before Christmas and has a huge decision to make about her future goes with a friend to celebrate Christmas. She makes a Christmas wish list of things she wants to do to try to find her Christmas spirit.
Cilka’s Journey (Hardcover) – From the author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz. A teen who is brought to Auschwitz in 1942 catches the eye of the commandant, and she does what she has to do in order to survive. When the camp is later liberated, she is not set free, but is held as a collaborator. When she is sent to a camp in Siberia, she will have to wrestle with her choices at Auschwitz as well as with what her future might hold.
Dachshund Through the Snow (Hardcover) – Book 20 in the fantastic Andy Carpenter mystery series. When Laurie starts her holiday charitable giving, she discovers a wishlist from a boy who wants his missing father to come home. When the father is arrested for a murder he says he didn’t commit, Andy is reluctantly on the case. The Christmas books in this series are my favorites, and this one is just as delightful as the rest. I’ll be reviewing this next week.
The Library of the Unwritten (Trade Paperback) – First in the Novel from Hell’s Library series. Books that go unfinished end up in the Library of the Unwritten in Hell. The Librarian is charged with finding any characters that try to break away from their unfinished stories. On one such hunt, though, the Librarian is accused of holding a powerful weapon in the battle between Heaven and Hell. I am intrigued by this one and will be checking it out.
A Merry Murder (Trade Paperback) – Book 10 in the Special Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery series. There’s been another murder at the Pennyfoot. Apparently their Christmas curse is in full swing. And this particular culprit may be craftier than most.
Mistaken Reality (Trade Paperback) – First her boyfriend invites her to a fancy hotel dinner, and then breaks up with her. Then an FBI agent busts into her pity party in the bathroom to tell her she has to evacuate the hotel. Then the hotel blows up. That should be plenty to fill her quota of disaster, but really, it’s only the beginning. I can not wait to read this one!!
Royal Holiday (Hardcover) – A woman tagging along on her daughter’s work trip to Britain doesn’t expect to enjoy a British fling with the Queen’s private secretary.
The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl (Hardcover) – Book 3 in the Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series based on horror classics. In this book, Mary Jekyll and the Athena Club try to find one of their own who has been kidnapped – as has Sherlock Holmes. I have this series on my wish list.
Books for Adults – Nonfiction
7 Days of Christmas: A Season of Generosity (Hardcover) – From the author of 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, Jen Hatmaker. This book uses the original for inspiration as readers are challenged to generosity and restraint during the holiday season.
Becoming Us: Using the Enneagram to Create a Thriving, Gospel-Centered Marriage (Trade Paperback) – I have been so impressed by Beth McCord’s work with the Enneagram. I can’t wait to dig into this new resource. (She is also releasing books for each of the types this December. I have already pre-ordered two of them!)
Bible and Breakfast: 31 Mornings with Jesus – Feeding Our Bodies and Souls Together (Hardcover) – Thirty-one devotions and 31 breakfast recipes. Includes both “snack” devotions and “feast” devotions depending on the time you have each day. Recipes are marked for which are freezer-friendly and which are gluten free, etc. I love the sample pages I have seen of this – it’s a clever layout and Bible study idea!
The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience (Hardcover) – Gutsy women who inspire.
Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament (Paperback Workbook) – Book 3 in this Creative Devotional series. A twelve week Bible study with material for 5 days each week. Includes side-bars, small illustrations you can color, Bible study questions to answer, etc.
Eat Happy Too: 160+ New Gluten Free, Grain Free, Low Carb Recipes Made From Real Foods for a Joyful Life (Hardcover) – Sequel to Eat Happy. I’ve read a few pages of the introductions to both books, and I like what I see. The recipes look a little fussy for the way we cook, but I’d still like to page through them in person.
Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity (Trade Paperback) – Tips, tricks and exercises for unleashing creativity.
The Joy of Missing Out: Live More by Doing Less (Hardcover) – Reject the pressure to do more and be more and instead focus on what is important to YOU.
The Marvel Book (Hardcover) – An overview of the full Marvel universe.
Rhythms of Renewal: Trading Stress and Anxiety for a Life of Peace and Purpose (Hardcover) – Helping readers trade stress for peace.
She Prays: A 31-Day Journey to Confident Conversations with God (Trade Paperback) – Grow in your prayer life with God through this resource.
When Life Gives You Pears: The Healing Power of Family, Faith and Funny People (Hardcover) – Jeannie Gaffigan shares the story of her journey with a pear-shaped brain tumor. This is at the top of my list for this week, too.
Your Turn: Ways to Celebrate Life Through Storytelling (Trade Paperback) – Creative expression through writing. Includes a writing prompt with each chapter.