Young Readers Fiction

Books are disappearing from shelves across the country. What does this mean for authors, illustrators, and—most crucially—for young readers? This bold collection of fiction, memoir, poetry, graphic narratives, essays, and other genres explores book bans through various lenses, and empowers teens to fight back. From moving personal accounts to clever comebacks aimed at censorship, fifteen legendary YA authors and illustrators confront the high-stakes question of what is lost when books are kept from teens.

Este libro es mucho más que una colección de historias: es una herramienta para empoderar a los niños y mostrarles que tienen un potencial increíble dentro de ellos. Un libro pensado para transformar corazones y mentes jóvenes. Imagina a tu hijo leyendo sobre héroes que enfrentan sus miedos, resuelven problemas con creatividad y ayudan a los demás con una sonrisa. Cada historia está diseñada para inspirar, enseñar valores y reforzar habilidades esenciales para la vida.

Are you ready to get swept away into a world of fantastic adventure and new discoveries? The Funny Things I Heard at the Bus Stop series of short stories for kids is the perfect book for bedtime reading, a quick after-school adventure, or any time that you want to get taken to a magical, funtabulous, amazing world of imagination that is perfect for kids aged three to one hundred and three!

"The Reluctant Dragon" is an 1898 children's story by Kenneth Grahame, originally published as a chapter in his book Dream Days. It is Grahame's most famous short story, arguably better known than Dream Days itself or the related The Golden Age. It can be seen as a prototype to most modern stories in which the dragon is a sympathetic character rather than a threat.

R.E.P.A.I.R. is Recognition, Entry, Process, Awareness, Insight, and Rhythm. Enter a six-stage program with your child to cross the Bridge of Recovery and make available a whole new world of hope. Uncover and acknowledge feelings by discovering emotion; build self-esteem and optimism with the "Magic Mirror"; discern healthy and unhealthy messages; learn self-soothing skills with "Dear Diary" letters to the inner-child; reveal inner states with picture drawing, break free from the confines of false shame; cultivate self-care skills and practices, and more on the road to healing.

Aarón Medrano has been haunted by the onstage persona of his favorite DJ ever since his mother passed away. He seems to know all of Aarón’s deepest fears, like that his brain doesn’t work the way it should and that’s why his brother and father seem to be pushing him away. He thinks his ticket out is a scholarship to the prestigious Acadia School of Music. That is, if he can avoid blowing his audition.

Thirteen-year-old Growls (aka Shaun) is an aspiring (awful) rapper who hopes to enter this year’s Raptology competition with his best friend, Shanks (aka Zachariah). After all, what better way to land his crush (Tanisha) and get the respect he finally deserves than winning the contest and going viral? But when a livestream practice goes epically wrong, the two friends do go viral—and not in the way they’d hoped.

With perfect comic pacing, Greg Pizzoli introduces us to one funny crocodile who has one big fear: swallowing a watermelon seed. What will he do when his greatest fear is realized? Will vines sprout out his ears? Will his skin turn pink? This crocodile has a wild imagination that kids will love.

After her first adventure in Tokyo, Tessa Miyata is having the best summer of her life with her best friend, Jin. Still, she wonders if she'll ever see Kit, the mythical Unlucky God that Tessa and Jin freed, or the last magical city again. Then, Tessa and Jin get magical, talking invitations informing them that they've been chosen to attend the Academy of Gods—to battle immortals on behalf of the Unlucky God! Win, and they'll be given the gift of immortality. Lose, and they'll forget everything they learned about the magical city and Kit will cease to exist.

Natalie and Imogen are inseparable, and wildly different—Imogen is infuriatingly humble and incredibly intelligent, while Natalie is brave, jumping into danger and new adventures. Still, one thing ties them together: their love of the supernatural. Every summer, they vacation with their parents at the famously haunted Harlow Hotel. Imogen is a true believer, while Natalie sees ghost stories as nothing but pure fun. Then, Imogen suddenly passes away from an undiagnosed heart condition that no one saw coming, and Natalie is left to take on the summer before senior year alone.

It’s the longest day of the year, and eighteen-year-old Brandy Bailey has just received the worst news of her life: She’s been accepted to a top nursing school, making her mother overwhelmingly proud. The thing is, Brandy wants to be an artist. She knows all the risks of chasing her dream. She’s heard them from her mother over and over. On top of that, Brandy’s annoying classmate from high school, the startlingly handsome Ben Nolan, is catching his far-fetched dream of being an actor.

Best friends Ellie Bettlebump and Caedmon Tuggle are different as the day is long. Caedmon’s a human, from a non-magical realm known as Wisconsin. Ellie, on the other hand, is full of magic—illegal magic. What they have in common is far more important, however. After the adventure of a lifetime, they are both officially Knights of the Round Table…in training. To graduate to the next level at the Knights Academy, they must complete three quests proving their heroism. If they fail, they’ll have to achieve the dreaded Impossible Quest, and repeat the same year forever.

When Tessa and her sisters are told they will be staying at their grandparents in Japan, Tessa is thrilled. But her hopes are dashed when she realizes that life in Japan is just like being in California: her sisters are old enough to go into Tokyo, while her grandparents want her to stay home with the neighbor kid, Jin. When Tessa is finally allowed to go to Tokyo, it’s only to join her grandpa’s retiree aerobic class with none other than Jin. Their forced hang out comes crashing to a halt when Tessa and Jin break the Miyata family’s heirloom—releasing the malicious samurai god Taira Masakado.

Heavy is the crown James has been born to wear, especially as the first Black heir to the British throne. But with his father’s recent passing, and with a new boyfriend to hide, James is woefully unprepared for the sudden shine of public scrutiny. When his secrets come spilling forth across tabloid pages and the man he thought he loved has suddenly disappeared, James finds himself on the precipice of ruin. As every detail of his life becomes public knowledge, his sense of safety is shattered and the people he trusts the most become the likeliest suspects.

High school senior Autumn Reeves has been waitlisted at her dream school. Determined to move to the top of the list, she must find a way to stand out. When a promposal she planned for a friend has half the senior class asking for her help, a brilliant business idea that will look great on her application is born: Promposal Queen. Autumn has no clue how to start a business, so she joins the Young Black Entrepreneurs group and finds herself face-to-face with Mekhi Winston, the boy whose unexpected freshman-year kiss.

Stella Cross's heart is poisoned. After years on the transplant waiting list, she's running out of hope that she'll ever see her 18th birthday. Then, miraculously, Stella receives the transplant she needs to survive. Determined to embrace everything she came so close to losing, Stella throws herself into her new life. But her recovery is marred with strange side effects: Nightmares. Hallucinations.

Clothilde has lived her whole life in the shadows with her (sometimes) thieving and (always) ailing father. But when he fails to meet her one morning, sending her instead a mysterious ticket of half-paffage, Clo finds herself journeying across the sea to reunite with him. The ticket, however, leaves her on a sunless island inhabited only by creaking fishermen, a rumpled old woman, a piggish cat, and a moon-cheeked boy named Cary.

Mini's big sister, Vinnie, is getting married. Their mom passed away seven years ago and between Dad's new start-up and Vinnie's medical residency, there's no one but Mini to plan the wedding. Dad raised her to know more about computers, calculus, and cars than desi weddings but from the moment Mini held the jewelry Mom left them, she wanted her sister to have the wedding Mom would've planned.

High school junior Michie is struggling to define who she is for her scholarship essays, her big shot at making it into Brown as a first-generation college student. The prompts would be hard for anyone, but Michie's been estranged from her mother since she was seven and her concept of family has long felt murky. Enter new kid and basketball superstar Derek de la Rosa. He is very cute, very talented, and very much has his eye on Michie, no matter how invisible she believes herself to be.

Twelve-year-old Ellie can’t help that she’s a witch, the most hated member of society. Determined to prove her worth and eschew her heritage, Ellie applies to the Fairy Godmother Academy—her golden ticket to societal acceptance. But Ellie’s dreams are squashed when she receives the dreaded draft letter to serve as a knight of King Arthur’s legendary Round Table. She can get out of the draft—but only if she saves a lost cause.