National Network for Equitable Library Service

A fresh and exciting twist on magical boarding schools, the well-loved Chosen One trope, and the nature of true heroism-from the author of The Language of Ghosts and Ember and the Ice Dragons. Perfect for fans of middle grade fantasies including the Serafina series by Robert Beatty and Neil Gaiman's Coraline. Twelve-year-old Autumn Malog is a servant at the enchanting Inglenook School, where young magicians study to become the king's future monster-hunters.

Princess Aster and Princess Ursula are the only children of the Bear Major, high king and head of the royal House of the Hemoth Bear. Rivals, both girls dream of becoming queen someday, although neither really deserve to-brilliant, spoiled, and difficult, they have little to recommend them. But everything changes when fire and murder come to their castle, and the crown is stolen from their family. Overnight, the girls are forced onto the run, along with the half-grown grizzly Alcor, the symbol of their house, and the lowly bearkeeper Dev.

Every summer morning, Ellie and her Nonna go to the beach. They swim and build sandcastles, and while Nonna reads, Ellie watches the other children play. One day Ellie builds up the courage to approach an older girl playing on her own in a beached rowboat. Piper has a gift, an imagination so great that she whisks Ellie off on grand adventures, going high in the air, deep below the ocean and everywhere in between in their little blue boat, their magic boat. When Piper has to leave, Ellie discovers she has her own vivid imagination.

An NPR Best Book of the Year! Eleven meets The False Prince in this thrilling heist story for young readers, in which five kids with unusual talents are brought together to commit an impossible crime. Failure is unacceptable, but success could be deadly. Lured by the promise of more money than they've ever dreamed of, five young criminals are hired to steal a heavily guarded treasure from the most powerful sorcerer in the city.

The School for Good and Evil series is an epic journey into a dazzling new world, where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one. Start here to follow Sophie, Agatha, and everyone at school from the beginning! With her glass slippers and devotion to good deeds, Sophie knows she'll earn top marks at the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks and wicked black cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil.

In the riveting third installment of the New York Times bestselling School for Good and Evil series, everything old is new again, as Sophie and Agatha fight the past as well as the present to find the perfect end to their fairy tale. Former best friends Sophie and Agatha thought their ending was sealed when they went their separate ways, but their storybook is about to be rewritten-and this time theirs isn't the only one. With the girls apart, Evil has taken over and the forces of Good are in deathly peril. Will Agatha and Sophie be able to work together to save them?

A thrilling new series soars above the competition and redefines middle-grade fantasy fiction for a new generation! The seven dragon tribes have been at war for generations, locked in an endless battle over an ancient, lost treasure. A secret movement called the Talons of Peace is determined to bring an end to the fighting, with the help of a prophecy - a foretelling that calls for great sacrifice. Five dragonets are collected to fulfill the prophecy, raised in a hidden cave and enlisted, against their will, to end the terrible war. But not every dragonet wants a destiny.

Start counting your votes . . . and your friends. When Brianna Justice's hero, the famous celebrity chef Miss Delicious, speaks at her school and traces her own success back to being president of her fifth grade class, Brianna determines she must do the same. She just knows that becoming president of her class is the first step toward her own cupcake-baking empire! But when new student Jasmine Moon announces she is also running for president, Brianna learns that she may have more competition than she expected.

From the author of Incredible Space Raiders from Space! comes a coming-of-age story about a boy whose life revolves around hiding his obsessive compulsive disorder-until he gets a mysterious note that changes everything. Daniel is the back-up punter for the Erie Hills Elephants. Which really means he's the water boy. He spends football practice perfectly arranging water cups-and hoping no one notices.

What if who you are on the outside doesn't match who you are on the inside? Grayson Sender has been holding onto a secret for what seems like forever: "he" is a girl on the inside, stuck in the wrong gender's body. The weight of this secret is crushing, but sharing it would mean facing ridicule, scorn, rejection, or worse. Despite the risks, Grayson's true self itches to break free. Will new strength from an unexpected friendship and a caring teacher's wisdom be enough to help Grayson step into the spotlight she was born to inhabit?