Sorry this a little late, life had been interesting which I should hopefully get back to telling you about in my Saturday reports. So I’m mostly back to my roots of adorable middle grade with these new releases. So looking forward to some of these.
A Place at the Table
There is a cute sub-genre of middle grade fiction that I like to call cute food fiction. Think of Summer of 1000 Pies, Midsummer Mayhem, books where food is the focus and the plot happens around it. I always find them to be especially cute, and I think this one will fall onto the list.
Sixth graders Sara and Elizabeth couldn’t be more different. Sara is Pakistani American and used to her small Islamic school, only this year she’s attending a newer bigger school. Elizabeth has her own problems, who is white and Jewish, has her own problems, like her mom struggling with depression.
The girls meet in an after school South Asian cooking class Elizabeth picked up the class because her mother stopped cooking. Sara is only there because she has to be, after all her mom is the teacher, but Sara hates to cook.
The two girls slowly become friends and come up with a plan to make an amazing cross cultural dish together, that will win them a spot on a local food show. The question is, they make good cooking partners, but can they be true friends?
This will be out August 11th.
Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch
I’ve been waiting for this book to come out since the beginning of the year. For one thing it looks cute as heck, and for two the young witch reminds me of myself.
Eva Evergreen is determined to earn the rank of novice witch before her thirteenth birthday. If she doesn’t she’ll loose her magic forever. For most witches and wizards it’s a simple enough test. It has three steps.
One: Help your town, do good all around.
Two: Live there for one moon, don’t leave too soon.
Three: Fly home by broomstick, the easiest of tricks.
Eva has a problem though, she’s not exactly as magical as she would like and when her magic does work, it’s not always in the way she plans. She summons heads of cabbage instead of flowers, and gets sunburn instead of calling down rain. The worst of it, when she uses too much magic she falls asleep.
When she lands in the tranquil coastal town of Auteri, she’s not what the residents are expecting. But she’s determined to prove herself. So she sets up a magical repair shop to aid the citizens of the town, she may only be semi-magical but her fixes help the townspeople in ways they could have never imagined
The only problem is Eva’s bit of magic might not be enough when the biggest magical storm in history threatens the town she’s grown to love. She must use all her magic, bravery and cleverness, if she wants to have any chance at saving Auteri or becoming a witch.
This will be out August 4th.
Amazon: Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch
Kind of a Big Deal
I really like Shannon Hale as an author so I thought I’d give this a try plus the concept seemed interesting.
There is nothing peaking in high school, and Josie Pie learned that lesson the hard way.
She dropped out of high school to be a star only have her Broadway dreams dashed. The bigger you are the harder you fall after all.
The rest of her life isn’t much better her best friend is distant. Boyfriend-busy, and her mom, she clearly has other things on her mind.
Josie escapes into books to get away from her slowly imploding life
Only thing is she really escapes, she reads a book and suddenly she’s inside it. She a different character: a post-apocalyptic heroine, the lead in a YA rom-com, and so on for every book she reads
At first she’s worried but then she’s amazed. It’s the perfect way to for the failed Broadway star to finally find new ways to shine. The thing is the longer she stays in a story the harder it is to escape.
Will Josie find a story so good that she just stays forever.
This will be out August 25th.
What new releases are you looking forward to this month?
Photo by Alyson McPhee on Unsplash