It's April and that means it's poetry month. What better way to celebrate than by reading a couple of verse novels. Time to reread Love That Dog. Or, maybe try a new one. Here are six verse novels for kids or teens published in the past six months.
Six new verse novels:
There's something wonderful about finding a good series. A solid adventure with the promise of more to come or beloved characters who we get to visit repeatedly. Especially for young or reluctant readers, if you can get someone started on a series you've guaranteed months of reading. With that in mind, here are six new books that are part of series.
Six new series books:
Culturally, we have something of an obsession with ghosts. Sometimes it's a malicious haunting. Others, it's a spirit imparting wisdom to the living. These stories run the gamut from scary to funny and appeal to a wide ranging audience. Here are six books featuring ghosts published in the past six months.
Six new books featuring ghosts:
Let's start out the year with excitement and wonder. And what better way to do that than with a book filled with magic? Some of these books feature a whole fantasy world populated by faeries and witches. Others have a small element of magic existing in an otherwise familiar world. No matter how it is represented, magic sparks our imagination and suggests that anything is possible. Here are six books published in the past six months that feature some form of magic.
Six new magical novels
If October is for all things spooky, let's shift gears and lean into the funny for November. Who doesn't love a good laugh while reading. Here's six funny novels published in the past six months.
Six new humor books:
October means it's time for my annual list of horror stories. Who doesn't love a good scare in October? It's almost required to prepare for Halloween by scaring yourself silly. Here are six horror books of varying degrees of scariness published in the last six months.
6 new horror novels:
Summer might be over but stories about the outdoors and the freedom of camping are always entertaining. Whether it's a spooky tale of dangerous creatures or the freedom to explore relationships, we can learn a lot from camping stories. Here are six books that feature camping published in the past six months.
6 new camping stories:
There's nothing like a good mystery for a beach read. Whether you're six or sixty, we all enjoy going over clues and trying to guess the solution before the book's characters do. Here are six new mystery stories published in the last six months.
Six new mysteries for kids and teens:
One of the best things about fiction
is the way that it opens up your world to perspectives you wouldn't
otherwise understand. It's even better when a single book gives you
multiple perspectives at once. Here are six book published in the past
six months that are presented from more than one perspective.
6 new multiple perspective narratives
Some topics can be hard to talk about, hard to get kids to understand and empathize with. But they're part of everyday experience and must be explored. Racism is one of those topics and a book can be a great tool for facilitating conversation. Here are six books published in the past six months that feature racism as a central element.
6 new books that address racism
We are seeing an increasing number of books for young readers that include mental illness to some degree. Sometimes it directly affects the protagonist; others we see the impact that a family member's illness has on a character. Sometimes the diagnosis is central to the plot; others it merely informs how characters respond. All of these books affect how we think about mental illness in our own lives and facilitate conversation. Here are six books published in the past six months that include mental illness as a plot element.
6 books that feature mental illness:
While I’m not a fan of most things athletic myself, I must admit sports and the personalities that come along with athletics have great natural drama for stories. Competition reads well on the page and can provide other natural lessons on teamwork and fair play. Here are six books with strong athletic elements published in the last six months.
6 new sports stories:
October means it's time for my annual list of horror stories. Who doesn't love a good scare in October? It's almost required to prepare for Halloween by scaring yourself silly. Here are six horror books published in the last six months.
Six new horror stories:
Moving
to a new town or a new school is a classic set-up for a youth novel, and
with good reason. Finding yourself in a new situation, adjusting to new
schedules and a new peer group; these are a solid framework for
addressing personal and family issues. Here are six books published in
the last six months that feature kids who recently moved to new town, neighborhoods, or schools as
a primary character.
6 New books with characters new to town:
Goblins, elves, unicorns. Is there
anything more fun to speculate about than mythological creatures? I
mean, Harry Potter got a whole school subject about them. Authors often
incorporate them into their stories, even when they don't really explore
magic. Here are six books featuring mythological beings published in
the past six months.
Six new books with mythological beings
Sometimes history can be a struggle to understand. It tends to be presented as a series of facts, disconnected from everything else. We may not recognize why it matters. And that's why I like historical fiction. A good book set in the past helps to personalize the past, to make it real and remind us that these dry events we learn in class happened to regular people. Here are six historical fiction novels published in the past six months.
Six new historical novels
I'm often intrigued by the approach an author takes to a plot. This is especially true when they make the main characters animals. You can do things with animal characters that would seem implausible with humans. Simply by virtue of being animals, they encourage us to expand our suspension of disbelief. Not to mention they're usually cute and fun. Here are six new books published in the past six months that feature animal characters.
6 new books with animal protagonists:
Many readers love a good magical element. Sometimes that's a whole fantasy world populated by faeries and witches. Sometimes it's a small element of magic existing in an otherwise familiar world. No matter how it is represented, magic sparks our imagination and suggests that anything is possible. Here are six books published in the past six months that feature some form of magic.
Six new magical novels
Normally I use my pick 6 posts to feature a list of recently published books. But it's March and that means reading month so I thought I'd do something a little different. I want to share with you some books where books are vital to the plot. Some are focused on book banning and the power of reading to change a person's life. Others have books that are magic or clues to a mystery. Most of these books were published more than six months ago but maybe don't get as much attention as they deserve
Six books about books
Bonus - my favorite picture book - We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems
There's
something wonderful about finding a good series. A solid adventure with
the promise of more to come or beloved characters who we get to visit repeatedly. Especially for young or reluctant readers,
if you can get someone started on a series you've guaranteed months of
reading. With that in mind, here are six new books that are part of
series.
Six new series books or sequels
