Check these youth fiction books out for ages of 8 to 12! If you are looking for something unique for gifts, for your kids, or because you are a teacher or librarian, these would be great! I have seen these books across my work desk and let me tell you the covers in person are stunning. I just had to spread the word about these books.
- Age Range: 8 – 12 years
- Grade Level: 3 – 7
- Lexile Measure: 810L
- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Scholastic Press
- Date: April 7, 2020
- Author: Claribel A. Ortega
For Lucely Luna, ghosts are more than just the family business.
Shortly before Halloween, Lucely and her best friend, Syd, cast a spell that accidentally awakens malicious spirits, wreaking havoc throughout St. Augustine. Together, they must join forces with Syd’s witch grandmother, Babette, and her tubby tabby, Chunk, to fight the haunting head-on and reverse the curse to save the town and Lucely’s firefly spirits before it’s too late.
- Age Range: 7 – 10 years
- Grade Level: 2 – 5
- Series: Bug Boys (Book 1)
- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Random House Graphic; Illustrated edition
- Date: February 11, 2020
- Author: Laura Knetzger
Rhino-B is a brash, but sweet guy. Stag-B is a calm and scholarly adventurer. Together these two young beetles make up the Bug Boys, best friends who spend their time exploring the world of Bug Village and beyond, as well as their own – sometimes confusing and complicated – thoughts and feelings.
In their first adventure, the Bug Boys travel through spooky caves, work with a spider to found a library, save their town’s popular honey supply from extinction, and even make friends with ferocious termites!
What challenges will these two earnest beetles face? Whatever it is, you can be sure that Rhino-B and Stag-B will face it together — with the power of friendship behind them.
- Age Range: 9 – 12 years
- Grade Level: 4 – 7
- Paperback: 264 pages
- Publisher: Dial Books
- Date: April 14, 2020
- Author: Victoria Jamieson
Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, have spent most of their lives in Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya. Life is hard there: never enough food, achingly dull, and without access to the medical care Omar knows his nonverbal brother needs. So when Omar has the opportunity to go to school, he knows it might be a chance to change their future . . . but it would also mean leaving his brother, the only family member he has left, every day.
Heartbreak, hope, and gentle humor exist together in this graphic novel about a childhood spent waiting, and a young man who is able to create a sense of family and home in the most difficult of settings. It’s an intimate, important, unforgettable look at the day-to-day life of a refugee, as told to New York Times Bestselling author/artist Victoria Jamieson by Omar Mohamed, the Somali man who lived the story.
- Age Range: 8 – 12 years
- Grade Level: 3 – 7
- Series: Enchanter’s Child (Book 1)
- Hardcover: 368 pages
- Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books; Illustrated edition
- Date: March 31, 2020
- Author: Angie Sage
Alex has a set of Enchanted cards. When she flutters her fingers above them, something magical happens: the cards come alive and create moving pictures of what is now and what is yet to come. But Enchantment is illegal in the city of Luma, and those who practice it are imprisoned forever in the Vaults—dark dungeons deep below the city.
When Alex is betrayed by her foster sister Zerra, she knows she is in great danger. With the help of her little foster brother, Louie, she makes a daring escape.
But Alex discovers she is not safe outside Luma either. Here lurk deadly Hauntings that seek out those who practice magic: Enchanters and their children. The Hauntings take many forms and Alex is hunted by a giant bird of prey, the Hawke, a murderous Night Wraith called the Grey Walker, and the eerie Xin.
But why do the Hauntings haunt Alex?
Alex doesn’t believe she’s an Enchanter’s Child, but she has no idea who her parents are. Her precious Enchanted cards are her only clue to her true identity, and she becomes determined to find out who she is. And, while she is at it, to get rid of the deadly Twilight Hauntings forever.
If I was a kid again, I would probably read Ghost Squad and Twilight Hauntings.
Which one would you read if you were a kid again?
Blue Reader Gal Corner 