2025-26 Book Blasters

The Bletchley riddle

Sepetys, Ruta,


School Library Journal starred, August 2024. Booklist starred, September 2024. Pub Weekly, July 2024. Kirkus Review, August 2024. Follows siblings Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie as they find themselves at Bletchley Park, the home of WWII codebreakers working to decrypt the Nazi's Enigma cipher, where the two struggle to unravel a mystery surrounding their mother's disappearance against the backdrop of the Battle of Britain and Hitler's feared invasion.
Date Published:2024

School Library Journal starred, August 2024. Booklist starred, September 2024. Pub Weekly, July 2024. Kirkus Review, August 2024. Follows siblings Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie as they find themselves at Bletchley Park, the home of WWII codebreakers working to decrypt the Nazi's Enigma cipher, where the two struggle to unravel a mystery surrounding their mother's disappearance against the backdrop of the Battle of Britain and Hitler's feared invasion.

Date Published:2024

The crossover

Alexander, Kwame,


Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.
Date Published:2014

The first state of being

Kelly, Erin Entrada,


School Library Journal, February 2024. When Ridge, a time-traveling teenager from the future, gets trapped in 1999, he befriends Michael, a lonely twelve-year-old boy, changing the course of their lives forever.
Date Published:2024

Grenade

Gratz, Alan, 1972-,


School Library Journal, October 2018. Booklist starred, September 2018. Library Media Connection starred, January 2019. Publishers Weekly, August 2018. New York Times, November 2018. Horn Book, November 2018. Teacher Librarian, December 2018. Kirkus Review, August 2018. On April 1, 1945 with the battle of Okinawa beginning, fourteen-year-old native Okinawan Hideki, drafted into the Blood and Iron Student Corps, is handed two grenades and told to go kill American soldiers; small for his age Hideki does not really want to kill anyone, he just wants to find his family, and his struggle across the island will finally bring him face-to-face with Ray, a marine in his very first battle--and the choice he makes then will change his life forever.
Date Published:2018

School Library Journal, October 2018. Booklist starred, September 2018. Library Media Connection starred, January 2019. Publishers Weekly, August 2018. New York Times, November 2018. Horn Book, November 2018. Teacher Librarian, December 2018. Kirkus Review, August 2018. On April 1, 1945 with the battle of Okinawa beginning, fourteen-year-old native Okinawan Hideki, drafted into the Blood and Iron Student Corps, is handed two grenades and told to go kill American soldiers; small for his age Hideki does not really want to kill anyone, he just wants to find his family, and his struggle across the island will finally bring him face-to-face with Ray, a marine in his very first battle--and the choice he makes then will change his life forever.

Date Published:2018

Kareem between

Safadi, Shifa Saltagi,


Booklist, Kirkus Reviews Starred, First, his best friend moves away, then he fails his football tryout, then he is told to volunteer to show the new Syrian refugee kid around school, and finally his mother gets stuck in Syria after returning to help her family--all told, not a great start for Kareem's seventh grade school year. Things look up when the quarterback tells him he might be able to get him another tryout--the catch is that Kareem must do something he knows, in his heart, isn't right.
Date Published:2024

Booklist, Kirkus Reviews Starred, First, his best friend moves away, then he fails his football tryout, then he is told to volunteer to show the new Syrian refugee kid around school, and finally his mother gets stuck in Syria after returning to help her family--all told, not a great start for Kareem's seventh grade school year. Things look up when the quarterback tells him he might be able to get him another tryout--the catch is that Kareem must do something he knows, in his heart, isn't right.

Date Published:2024

The night war

Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker,


Map on endpapers. "During World War II, twelve-year old Miriam secretly spirits other Jewish people out of Nazi-occupied France after being separated from her family and forced into hiding"--Provided by publisher.
Date Published:2024

Not quite a ghost

Ursu, Anne.


School Library Journal starred, January 2024. Horn Book Starred, January 2024. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starre, December 2023. Publishers Weekly, October 2023. Booklist, December 2023. Kirkus Review, November 2023. "The house seemed to sit apart from the others on Katydid Street, silent and alone, like it didn't fit among them. For Violet Hart--whose family is about to move into the house on Katydid Street--very little felt like it fit anymore. Like their old home, suddenly too small since her mother remarried and the new baby arrived. Or Violet's group of friends, which, since they started middle school, isn't enough for Violet's best friend, Paige. Everything seemed to be changing at once. But sometimes, Violet tells herself, change is okay. That is, until Violet sees her new room. The attic bedroom in their new house is shadowy, creaky, and wrapped in old yellow wallpaper covered with a faded tangle of twisting vines and sickly flowers. And then, after moving in, Violet falls ill--and does not get better. As days turn into weeks without any improvement, her family growing more confused and her friends wondering if she's really sick at all, she finds herself spending more time alone in the room with the yellow wallpaper, the shadows moving in the corners, wrapping themselves around her at night. And soon, Violet starts to suspect that she might not be alone in the room at all"--Provided by publisher.
Date Published:2024

School Library Journal starred, January 2024. Horn Book Starred, January 2024. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starre, December 2023. Publishers Weekly, October 2023. Booklist, December 2023. Kirkus Review, November 2023. "The house seemed to sit apart from the others on Katydid Street, silent and alone, like it didn't fit among them. For Violet Hart--whose family is about to move into the house on Katydid Street--very little felt like it fit anymore. Like their old home, suddenly too small since her mother remarried and the new baby arrived. Or Violet's group of friends, which, since they started middle school, isn't enough for Violet's best friend, Paige. Everything seemed to be changing at once. But sometimes, Violet tells herself, change is okay. That is, until Violet sees her new room. The attic bedroom in their new house is shadowy, creaky, and wrapped in old yellow wallpaper covered with a faded tangle of twisting vines and sickly flowers. And then, after moving in, Violet falls ill--and does not get better. As days turn into weeks without any improvement, her family growing more confused and her friends wondering if she's really sick at all, she finds herself spending more time alone in the room with the yellow wallpaper, the shadows moving in the corners, wrapping themselves around her at night. And soon, Violet starts to suspect that she might not be alone in the room at all"--Provided by publisher.

Date Published:2024

Operation do-over

Korman, Gordon,


School Library Journal, January 2022. Publishers Weekly, November 2021. Booklist, January 2022. Bulletin (Center for Children's Books), December 2021. Kirkus Review, November 2021. When he is magically transported back to the seventh grade before he and his best friend had a falling out, science nerd Mason gets a chance to stop the chain of events that made his previous life implode.
Date Published:2022

Simon sort of says

Bow, Erin,


Two years after a tragedy saddles him with viral fame, twelve-year-old Simon O'Keeffe and his family move to Grin And Bear It, Nebraska, where the internet and cell phones are banned so astrophysicists can scan the sky for signs of alien life, and where, with the help of two new friends, a puppy, and a giant radio telescope, Simon plans to restart the narrative of his life.
Date Published:2023

The wrong way home

O'Shaughnessy, Kate,


Booklist Starred Reviews, Horn Book Guide, Kirkus Reviews Starred, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, In this coming-of-age story, twelve-year-old Fern is angry and sad when her mother takes them away from the ranch, an off-the-grid sustainable community in New York, where they have lived for six years. Fern makes a plan to return to the ranch ruled by Dr. Ben, but wonders if her mom is right and Dr. Ben is dangerous. She and her mom end up in Driftaway Beach, California, where Fern suddenly experiences a library, a new friend at school, the ocean, science, dancing, sugar, and television. Now Fern will have to sort through her conflicting emotions and think for herself.
Date Published:2024

Booklist Starred Reviews, Horn Book Guide, Kirkus Reviews Starred, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, In this coming-of-age story, twelve-year-old Fern is angry and sad when her mother takes them away from the ranch, an off-the-grid sustainable community in New York, where they have lived for six years. Fern makes a plan to return to the ranch ruled by Dr. Ben, but wonders if her mom is right and Dr. Ben is dangerous. She and her mom end up in Driftaway Beach, California, where Fern suddenly experiences a library, a new friend at school, the ocean, science, dancing, sugar, and television. Now Fern will have to sort through her conflicting emotions and think for herself.

Date Published:2024