Soccer Trophy Mystery
by Fred Bowen

Award-winning author and Washington Post KidsPost sports columnist Fred Bowen returns with a new soccer- and mystery-packed addition to his popular Sports Story Series!

Meet Aiden and Ava, avid soccer-playing twins who are working toward a championship season and trying to solve the mystery of their town’s missing soccer trophy.

During a trip to the county library to snag copies of the book assigned to their English class, the twins stop to admire all the county league soccer trophies representing winning teams over the years. There’s just one problem: the librarian informs Aiden and Ava that the original championship trophy disappeared forty years ago and was never recovered. The twins leave the library with their English books, but they can’t stop thinking about the missing soccer trophy.

So with their friend Daniel in tow, and between games and practices for their own soccer championships, these young athletes decide to solve the case of the missing trophy. Will these amateur detectives be able to unravel the mystery and find someone who had both motive and opportunity to commit the crime in time to lead their teams to victory?

Fred Bowen’s newest installment in his Sports Story Series tackles important topics like equal recognition for women in sports and includes “The Real Story” behind the disappearance of the original World Cup trophy at the end of the book. A thrilling read for fans of Mike Lupica and Tim Green.

Check out an excerpt of this action-packed new story, and explore the rest of the Sports Story Series for more middle grade sports reads!

The Candy Mafia
by Lavie Tidhar
illustrated by Daniel Duncan

Nelle Faulkner is a preteen private detective solving cases in a city where candy is a crime and kid-led gangs are thriving. So when notorious candy gangster Eddie de Menthe asks for her help finding a missing teddy bear, Nelle Faulkner is on the case. But when the teddy turns up, Eddie himself goes missing, and Nelle and her friends quickly find themselves swept up in a shady underworld of sweets smugglers, back alley deals, and storefront firebombs. If Nelle has any hope of tracking down her missing client, she’ll first have to unmask the true faces behind the smuggling ring. Can she and her friends find a way to take the cake? Or will they come to a sticky end?

Mr. Penguin and the Catastrophic Cruise
by Alex T. Smith

Dashing detective Mr. Penguin and his adventuring gang board a luxury cruise ship for some much-needed rest and a little entertainment. With Colin, his kung fu spider sidekick, preparing to perform with the Ladies Choir and fish finger sandwiches available twenty-four hours a day, Mr. Penguin isn’t even bothered by the fact that he can’t swim and is deeply afraid of water. But when a series of odd events infiltrates a façade of glamorous parties filled with a who’s who of film stars and politicians, Mr. Penguin can’t help but feel that something shifty is happening on board. And when he befriends a young stowaway with a mystery of her own, he soon finds that adventures are lying in wait.

Save the Crash-test Dummies
An Action-Packed Journey through the History of Car Safety Engineering
by Jennifer Swanson
illustrated by TeMika Grooms

Cars take us to work. To school. To soccer practice. To the grocery store and home again. Can you imagine a world without them? It’s not so easy! One of the reasons we can use cars so much in our everyday lives is because they are safe to drive. But that hasn’t always been the case. If it weren’t for the experiments conducted over decades that involved all kinds of crash test volunteers―dead, alive, animal, or automated―cars as we know them might not be around. And then how would you get to school?

Pretty Funny for a Girl
by Rebecca Elliott

Haylah Swinton is a stellar best friend, a loving daughter, and an incredibly patient sister to a four-year-old nutcase of a brother. But she has a big secret: one day, she’ll be a stand-up comedian star. So when impossibly cool and thirstalicious Leo reveals he’s also into comedy, Haylah jumps at the chance to ghost-write his sets. But is Leo as interested in returning the favor? Even though her friends warn her of Leo’s intentions, Haylah’s not ready to listen―and she might just be digging herself deeper toward heartbreak. If Haylah’s ever going to step into the spotlight, first she’ll need to find the self-confidence to strut like the boss she really is.

Sing Like No One’s Listening
by Vanessa Jones

Nettie Delaney is a young singer who has just lost her mother and, despite a dreadful audition, has been accepted into a prestigious performing arts school―the very same school her superstar mother attended. With her mother’s shadow hanging over her, Nettie has her work cut out for her―and everyone is watching. To make matters worse, she hasn’t been able to sing a single note since her mother died. Whenever she tries, she just clams up. If Nettie’s going to survive a demanding first year and keep her place in a highly coveted program, she’ll have to work through her grief, find her voice, and deliver a showstopper. Or face expulsion.

Nina Soni, Halloween Queen
by Kashmira Sheth
illustrated by Jenn Kocsmiersky

Middle grade favorite Nina Soni returns for a brand-new STEAM adventure that’s perfect for Halloween reading! The fourth installment in Kashmira Sheth’s award-winning series, join charming and distractible Nina Soni for more laugh-out-loud misadventures with her family and friends.

Every year Nina Soni is ready for Halloween well before October 31st arrives. But this year is different. Her family’s Diwali celebration pushed thoughts of costumes and trick-or-treating out of Nina’s brain, so now it’s Friday and Halloween is on Sunday and Nina isn’t prepared. That doesn’t stop this spooky holiday from bringing out her competitive spirit, though. Nina’s best friend Jay already has the perfect costume planned, so naturally, Nina has to come up with something even better.

But what could be better than the perfect costume? The scariest haunted house, of course! So with a bunch of old boxes as the perfect building material and the bright idea to charge admission, Nina’s ready to open her haunted house. What could possibly go wrong for this lovable Halloween Queen?

Just in time for Halloween read alouds with chapter book fans and STEAM enthusiasts, don’t miss this new addition to a must-read series featuring stories of family, friendship, and Nina Soni’s slightly scatterbrained efforts to manage her life with lists, definitions, and more.

Explore the Nina Soni series.

Can’t wait to dive in to Nina Soni’s newest adventure? Read an excerpt!

Praise for the third book in the series, Nina Soni, Master of the Garden

“As in previous books in this series, Nina’s sincere and circumspect narratorial voice—and her beautifully illustrated lists and asides—renders this story a delight to read. Sheth expertly weaves in details about Nina’s Indian heritage together with her pride in being a Wisconsinite…. Plants aren’t the only things that grow in this book about perseverance, friendship, and personal growth.” —Kirkus Reviews

Find Nina Soni, Halloween Queen this September at your local library, indie bookstore, or Barnes & Noble, and be sure to check out the rest of our brand-new picture books and middle grade and YA titles coming to Peachtree this season!

The story of Now You Say Yes developed from a passing thought about a young girl driving across the country with her brother. It was not a particularly novel concept; long distance road trips are so common in American literature and film.

The taking of the trip isn’t novel, it’s why they’re doing it, and what they find along the way that makes it special. In the American mythos, a drive across the country is always a search for self, reflected in what the traveler finds.

So, after I had answered a few questions—who was she? why did she have to go? (because she HAD to go—just kind-of wanting to go was not enough), I also figured it would be good for me to take the trip that Mari and Conor took. Who knows what I’d find? Material for the book, perhaps. Or maybe, just the experience.

Sometimes, it’s a fine line between research and indulgence, and here there was no difference at all. Driving across the country has been on my bucket list my whole life and remained undone. Now it was required if I were going to be a serious writer.

The timing of the trip was fortuitous. I realized the week I was going was also the week of the total eclipse in 2017. Great plot point! In fact, it became the heart of the story—the promise of seeing the eclipse gets Conor in the car, and seeing it is where Mari has the epiphany about her place in the world.

I traveled cheap. I put some clothes in a backpack along with a sleeping bag and solo tent and flew to Los Angeles, where I rented a one-way car (surprisingly reasonable!). I spent the night at a friend’s house in Altadena, and after a visit to Huntington Hospital, where Mari’s mom ended up, I set out, tracing what I thought might be Mari and Conor’s route.

Nothing life-threatening happened to me, but surprising things did and they ended up in the book. I watched a woman wearing a yoga pants do a bow to the Grand Canyon perilously close to the edge, wondering what she was thinking. I jammed on the brakes in time to exit and see the meteor crater I read about when I was six. I drove through Okemah and had a long talk with a man who lived across the street from where Woody Guthrie’s house had been. “He never sang mean,” the man said.

And, of course, like our two heroes, I stood agog, looking up at the sky while the sun disappeared, the breezes picked up, and the birds started singing. Like Mari, I looked at all of those around me staring at the heavens, and saw in that moment how we were all part of one living thing. The eclipse was a lens through which I saw the universe and where we fit in it. I gave that perception to Mari. And like Mari and Conor, the eclipse was the catharsis.

After that, I just drove.

Also, like Mari, I listened to music. If there is ever a time in one’s life when music imprints on the soul, it’s at the age of fifteen. Whatever music you fall in love with then, you will listen to for the rest of your life—it becomes timeless. I knew Mari needed music as an accompaniment, so, before I went on the trip, I did some research as to what Mari’s mom, Stef, might have listened to in the Boston area growing up in the early nineties. I tried to place her in her culture—a working-class Irish kid.

The recording I kept coming back to, over and over again, was R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People. To me, it captures a lot of the angst and struggle teens go through, and I could imagine Stef listening to it over and over, and it seemed to me that Mari did, too. Trapped with her mom’s music, Mari connected with it and her mom in a very special way.

All along the trip, as in the writing afterwards, I kept asking myself, “What does it feel like for Mari?” While writers pay attention to visual details, and sounds and smells, I’ve come to believe it’s our power to feel what somebody might be feeling that’s at the heart of our power as artists. It’s a risky thing, but imagining what someone else’s life is like is at the center of this empathic endeavor.

The last two hours of the trip, I drove with my heart in my throat. I was experiencing the end of my own trip, but also the end of Mari’s. The truth is, I had known what the last sentence of the book was going to be before I had written or plotted anything. I knew where the story was headed.. I crossed the beautiful bridge over the Charles, and as I drove down the side streets of Lynn, headed toward where I thought her grandmother might live, my heart beat faster. I came to a house that seemed like the right one and pulled over to the curb. I stared at the door of the house, imagining Conor and Mari standing on the steps. I almost knocked on the door myself.

As I write all this now, it seems like a fait accompli. I was bound to write this book. Now that it’s done it seems it was inevitable. But, like Mari’s trip, the outcome was always in doubt. I didn’t know if I could write it. I didn’t know if it would be any good. I didn’t know if anybody would want to publish it. I didn’t know much of anything, and so, like Mari, I drove across the country with an unanswered question, hoping for the best. Yes or no?

The answer, I think, is yes. Now You Say Yes.

Now You Say Yes
by Bill Harley

Fifteen-year-old Mari has just lost her mother, and in a desperate attempt to avoid getting caught up in the foster system—again—she convinces her super-smart and on-the-Autism-spectrum nine-year-old stepbrother, Conor, to take a cross-country road trip to find a new family and a place to call their own. Mari is too young to have a driver’s license, but she and Conor set out to drive all the way from Los Angeles to Massachusetts with the hope of finding their estranged grandmother.

After fighting the snarls of LA traffic, navigating the winding backroads of the Midwest, and learning all about the inner workings of Conor’s mind and the fascinating way he views the world around him, will these two siblings find a new home? Will their grandmother take them in despite everything that’s happened in the past?

An epic road trip novel filled with family, a stunning solar eclipse, and the perfect barbecue chips, don’t miss this touching tale from Grammy Award-winner and author Bill Harley. This beautiful exploration of identity is truly an unforgettable story perfect for middle grade read alouds and end-of-the-summer road trip reading.

Get a peek at this new middle grade must-read in this excerpt and video introduction from author Bill Harley, and dive in to the story in this first chapter read aloud.

Want to follow along with Mari and Conor on their road trip? Download their map and playlist!

“This poetically written and economically plotted hero’s journey by Harley (the Charlie Bumpers series) makes a heartwarming, hopeful case for self-forgiveness and second chances.” —Publishers Weekly

“A grand journey measured in both physical and emotional distance” —Kirkus Reviews

“As hopeful as it is heartbreaking.” —Foreword Reviews

“I rooted for outcast-misfit protagonists Mari and Conor every mile and (every single page!) of their intimate and epic, grief-fueled road trip. Bill Harley’s Now You Say Yes reminds us that acts of kindness—big and small—make all the difference.” —Patrick Flores-Scott, award-winning author of Jumped In and American Road Trip

“Now You Say Yes is an engaging and, at times, wild and hilarious road trip…[Harley’s] portrayal of autism and sibling relationships is spot-on, respectful, and insightful, adding immeasurably to the richness of the journey. Now You Say Yes is a page-turner that will entertain you, keep you laughing, and touch you as well.” —Barry M. Prizant, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Brown University, author of Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism

Find Now You Say Yes this August at your local library, indie bookstore, or Barnes & Noble, and be sure to check out the rest of our brand-new picture books and middle grade and YA titles coming to Peachtree this season!

New Middle Grade Books

Middle grade favorite Nina Soni returns for some Halloween hijinks in this fourth installment in author Kashmira Sheth’s award-winning series. Halloween brings out Nina Soni’s competitive spirit, so, naturally, she has to come up with the best costume idea. Plus, a bunch of old boxes hold the makings of an impressively scary haunted house, so what could possibly go wrong for the Halloween Queen? Illustrator Jenn Kocsmiersky brings this endearing heroine to life in this fun read for STEAM enthusiasts!

Pre-order Nina Soni, Halloween Queen today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

Avid soccer players Aiden, Ava, and Daniel have just learned their county league soccer trophy mysteriously disappeared forty years ago from the town library and was never recovered. So between games and practices for the town’s soccer championships, the three friends try to solve the case. Award-winning author and Washington Post KidsPost sports columnist Fred Bowen returns with another installment in his Sports Story Series, this time tackling important topics like equal recognition for women in sports. At the end of the book, Bowen includes “The Real Story” behind the disappearance of the original World Cup trophy.

Pre-order Soccer Trophy Mystery today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

When her mother dies, fifteen-year-old Mari and is desperate to avoid being caught up in the foster system. Again. And to complicate matters, she is now the only one who can take care of her super-smart and on-the-spectrum nine-year-old stepbrother, Conor. So in a desperate move, Mari takes Conor and sets out to find the one person who might take them in. A beautiful exploration of identity and family, this heartwarming and engaging middle grade novel comes from renowned storyteller and two-time Grammy Award winner Bill Harley.

Pre-order Now You Say Yes today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

New YA

Big, bold, and funnier than a cat in a onesie playing bagpipes, Haylah Swinton’s been busy proving she’s an all-star comedian through her new YouTube channel. But proving she’s funny is tougher than she thought it’d be! Plus, her new boyfriend Dylan hasn’t even tried kissing her yet, and when her deadbeat dad decides to turn up, life as she’s known it is tossed into one big, colossal mess. Rebecca Elliott’s follow up to the hilarious Pretty Funny for a Girl fires on all cylinders for YA readers. Family drama, boy drama, and a budding comedian at the center of it all makes for a laugh-out-loud, binge-worthy read.

Pre-order Pretty Rude for a Girl today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

Lillian lives in a big house with her mother and father, her aunt and uncle, and her seven brothers. It’s tradition in her big family for each child to receive a pet on their sixth birthday, so when Lillian turns six, she gets a fish! This is no ordinary fish. This particular fish ripples and shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow. Lillian loves her birthday gift until one day, the little fish disappears!

Lillian is devastated, so she and her brothers begin to work together to solve the mystery. Meanwhile, the other family pets―the horse, the goat, the dog, the cat, the turtle, the spider, and the bird―secretly band together to crack the case of the missing birthday fish. They soon discover a trail of clues leading them along the river, deep into the woods, and on a fantastic adventure filled with new places and strange creatures!

Now available in paperback, author James Menk’s delightful, lively tale of discovery and friendship will enchant readers of all ages. Louisa Bauer’s captivating drawings bring this charming story of children and their pets to life for an immersive summer middle grade read aloud.

Dive into this thrilling middle grade tale in this excerpt, and lead a summer book club with this free discussion guide!

Order your copy of Lillian’s Fish today from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or IndieBound!

Your animal-filled summer reading adventure continues with an action-packed tale loaded with plenty of mystery, adventure, and… pigeons? Homer the crime-solving homing pigeon is on the case!

Homing pigeon Homer spends his days in the sky, getting a bird’s-eye view of his neighborhood, and testing his homing abilities with his human Otto. Living in a cozy cage on top of Otto’s building, all Homer knows of crime and mystery comes from the detectives stories on the newspaper clippings lining his cage. That is, until he spies some four-legged criminals stealing from both animals and humans in the neighborhood’s usually peaceful park. Homer can’t wait for the chance to solve the mystery and enlists the help of his parrot friend Lulu to stop these fowl thieves. Can Homer and Lulu lead their human keepers to the culprits’ hideout and stop the thieves for good?

From award-winning author-illustrator Henry Cole comes a page-turning middle grade mystery that will keep readers guessing if the crime-solving pigeon will get his guy and wishing they could join in this suspenseful hunt. Perfect for summer book clubs and middle grade read alouds!

Lead a mystery-filled summer book club with the downloadable discussion guide!

Learn to draw Homer with author-illustrator Henry Cole in this video, and learn more about Henry’s inspiration for the book in this Q&A!

“Cole’s gentle animal fantasies can always be depended upon, and this light mystery is just right for young readers…. Cole mixes humor with intrigue to keep the narrative bouncing along, and readers will get a kick out of the unusual detective team… Hand this to fans of Chris Riddell’s Ottoline and the Yellow Cat (2008) and A. B. Greenfield’s Ra the Mighty: Cat Detective (2018).” —Booklist

“Engaging… The birds’ exploits are surprisingly believable and enjoyable to follow in Homer’s first-person narration…. Who doesn’t love smart, friendly birds on a secret mission?” —Kirkus Reviews

“Chirpy… Cole (Brambleheart) richly imbues the narrative with sensory details… The expressive b&w pencil illustrations, rendered in panels evoking newspaper comics, heighten drama, tension, and humor.” —Publishers Weekly

Your summer reading adventure won’t be complete without The Girl Who Stole an Elephant! A daring, page-turning tale of friendship, risk, and reward.

Meet Chaya: she may be the daughter of a nobleman, but she’s also rebellious and outspoken, and she just can’t resist the shiny temptations the king’s palace has to offer. Filled with riches her impoverished community can only imagine, the palace seems like the perfect spot for a headstrong young girl to play Robin Hood for her friends and family. But being a thief—even one with the best intentions—doesn’t come without risks, and when Chaya finds a bronze spear pointed at her neck after stealing jewels from the queen’s bedside table, her messy getaway jeopardizes the life of a close friend. Add an equally haphazard prison break, and Chaya’s at a loss for how to fix the problems she’s caused. Now she’s on the run with her best friend, an unlikely ally, and the king’s prized elephant, searching for safety in a jungle lurking with leeches and revolution. After leaving her village as a thief, can Chaya and her companions return as heroes? Or will her sticky fingers be the beginning—or the end—of everything for the intrepid gang?

Own Voices debut author Nizrana Farook spins a page-turning middle grade tale in a lush, fictional Sri Lankan setting. Just right for adventure fans looking for an unputdownable escapist summer read.

Lead a middle grade summer book club with the downloadable discussion guide! And get to know debut author Nizrana Farook in this Q&A.

“So lush you can practically picture the greenery and taste the tropical breadfruit….lovers of animals and adventure are in for an entertaining ride.” —Booklist

“A lush wilderness adventure story.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Filled with lush descriptions of the South Asia–inspired landscape and delicious food, debut author Farook weaves a fast-paced…adventure against a backdrop of political upheaval.” —Publishers Weekly

“A rich and joyful adventure story for those who enjoy daring escapades in a fairy-tale setting.” —School Library Journal

Order your copy of The Girl Who Stole an Elephant today from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or IndieBound!

King & Kayla and the Case of the Unhappy Neighbor
by Dori Hillestad Butler
illustrated by Nancy Meyers

When Jillian’s dog, Thor, is accused of digging up Mr. Gary’s garden, King and Kayla put their detective skills to work to clear his name. A witness to the crime tells King that the culprit is a “new guy” who likes to fight. But who could that be? And can they track down this new guy and clear Thor’s name? The King & Kayla series from Geisel Honor Award-winning team Dori Hillestad Butler and Nancy Meyers is perfect for readers transitioning from easy readers to beginning chapter books and great for introducing important concepts of fact gathering, list making, clues, and analytical thinking.

Explore more King & Kayla with the series teacher’s guide and activity kit, and download a free poster!

Lillian’s Fish
by James Menk
illustrated by Louisa Bauer

When Lillian turns six, her favorite gift is an extraordinary, shimmery, and colorful fish. But when the brand-new birthday fish disappears, the other family pets secretly band together to help unravel the mystery. A trail of clues soon leads the animals on a fantastic adventure along the river and deep into the woods, where they encounter new places and strange creatures. James Menk’s delightful, lively tale of discovery and friendship will enchant readers of all ages. Louisa Bauer’s captivating drawings bring this charming story of children and their pets to life.

Dive deeper into Lillian’s Fish with a free discussion guide.

Homer on the Case
by Henry Cole

Homing pigeon Homer and his parrot friend Lulu learn something is afoul when they witness a four-legged crime-spree in their neighborhood. Can Lulu and Homer track down the bandits and lead their human keepers to the culprits’ hideout to stop the thieves? Award-winning author-illustrator Henry Cole delivers a fun, action-packed middle grade mystery that will keep readers guessing if the crime-solving pigeon will get his guy. A supporting cast of animals and humans forms a community that will have every reader wishing they could join in the hunt.

Download this discussion guide for middle grade summer book clubs!

The Girl Who Stole an Elephant
by Nizrana Farook

Chaya, a nobleman’s rebellious, outspoken, no-nonsense daughter, just can’t resist the shiny temptations the king’s palace has to offer. But playing Robin Hood for her impoverished community doesn’t come without risks, and after leaving her village as a thief, can she return as a hero? Or will Chaya’s sticky fingers be the beginning—or the end—of everything for her and her intrepid gang? Own Voices debut author Nizrana Farook spins a page-turning middle grade tale in a lush, fictional Sri Lankan setting. Just right for adventure fans, the book explores themes of friendship and loyalty, risk and reward, and heroism.

Continue your jungle adventure with a free discussion guide!