We hope you enjoy this month's selection of children and young adult books that our librarians have been reading lately.
Children's Fiction
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Every year a baby is left as offering to the witch who lives in the forest. But the witch, Xan, rescues the children, feeds them starlight, and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest. After feeding a baby moonlight by mistake, Xan raises the girl, Luna, as her own. As Luna's thirteenth birthday approaches, her magic emerges - with dangerous and thrilling consequences.
The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
In this first book of the Land of Stories series, twins Alex and Connor find themselves in a land full of wonder and magic. There they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about. After a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.
Children's Non-fiction
At the beach: explore and discover the New Zealand seashore
Explore the sandy beach, rock pools, and mudflats around New Zealand’s coast and discover the animals and plants that make these habitats such exciting places to visit.
A unique, entertaining miscellany of all-new material for 9-13 year olds in one package. The editors have stayed faithful to their original intent: to reach an audience that's curious, discerning, up for anything with commissioned content that reflects the diversity of experience across Aotearoa New Zealand to reach as many readers as possible.
Children's Picture Books
101 Collective Nouns by Jennifer Cossins
A beautifully illustrated picture book featuring 101 full-colour animal illustrations, each with its very own collective noun. A tribe of kiwis? A smack of jellyfish? A wisdom of wombats? This book will delight children and adults alike.
Lunar New Year Around the World by Hannah Eliot
The most colourful time of the year is celebrated in communities around the world and you can now discover how it's celebrated through the eyes of the children who live there. Meet families in China, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, as well as in bustling cities like San Francisco, London, Sydney and Toronto and join them in their celebrations at home and on the streets in parades, lantern festivals and in temples.
Young Adult Graphic Novels
All Summer Long by Hope Larson
Thirteen-year-old Bina has a long summer ahead of her. She and her best friend, Austin, usually do everything together but he's off to soccer camp for a month, and he's been acting kind of weird lately anyway. So it's up to Bina to see how much fun she can have on her own.
Young Adult Fiction
The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune
Nick would rather write fan fiction about the feats of heroism and romantic entanglements he imagines for the very real superheroes who inhabit his city. When he meets Nova City's biggest hero (and his biggest crush), however, he resolves to become a superhero himself.
When twelve-year-old evil genius Artemis Fowl tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll.
The Cousins by Karen M. McManus
The Storys are the envy of their neighbours: rich and beautiful. But one day the children are dropped by their mother with a single sentence: You know what you did. They never hear from her again. Years later, when the cousins receive a mysterious invitation to spend the summer at their grandmother's resort, the teenagers are determined to discover the truth at the heart of their family. But some secrets are better left alone.