Because I Could Not Stop for Death

by Amanda Flower

Willa Noble knew it was bad luck when it was pouring rain on the day of her ever-important job interview at the Dickinson home in Amherst, Massachusetts. When she arrived late, disheveled with her skirts sodden and filthy, she'd lost all hope of being hired for the position. As the housekeeper politely told her they'd be in touch, Willa started toward the door of the stately home only to be called back by the soft but strong voice of Emily Dickinson. What begins as tenuous employment turns to friendship as the reclusive poet takes Willa under her wing. 

The Devil's Blaze

by Robert J. Harris

Across the city, prominent figures in science and the military are bursting into flame and being incinerated. Convinced that the Germans have deployed a new terror weapon, a desperate government turns to the one man who can track down the source of this dreadful menace—Sherlock Holmes.

The quest for a solution drives Holmes into an uneasy alliance with the country's most brilliant scientific genius, Professor James Moriarty. Only Sherlock Holmes knows the truth that behind his façade of respectability, Moriarty is the mastermind behind a vast criminal empire.

Girl on the Line

by Faith Gardner

Life's tough when you didn't expect to be living it. But now that Journey has a future, she apparently also has to figure out what that future's supposed to look like. Some days the pain feels as fresh as that day: the day she attempted suicide. Her parents don't know how to speak to her. Her best friend cracks all the wrong jokes. Her bipolar II disorder feels like it swallows her completely.

But other days—they feel like revelations. Like meeting the dazzling Etta, a city college student who is a world unto herself. Or walking into the office of the volunteer hotline, and discovering a community as simultaneously strong and broken as she is.

Or uncovering the light within herself that she didn't know existed.

Dark and Shallow Lies

by Ginny Myers Sain

La Cachette, Louisiana, is the worst place to be if you have something to hide. This tiny town, where Grey spends her summers, is the self-proclaimed Psychic Capital of the World—and the place where Elora Pellerin, Grey's best friend, disappeared six months earlier. Grey can't believe that Elora vanished into thin air any more than she can believe that nobody in a town full of psychics knows what happened. But as she digs into the night that Elora went missing, she begins to realize that everybody in town is hiding something.

The Elephant Girl

by James Patterson, Ellen Banda-Aaku, & Sophia Krevoy

Clever, sensitive Jama likes elephants better than people. While her classmates gossip—especially about the new boy, Leku—twelve-year-old Jama takes refuge at the watering hole outside her village. There she befriends a baby elephant she names Mbegu, Swahili for seed. 

When Mbegu’s mother, frightened by poachers, stampedes, Jama and Mbegu are blamed for two deaths—one elephant and one human. Now Leku, whose mysterious and imposing father is head ranger at the conservancy, may be their only lifeline.   

Holler of the Fireflies

by David Barclay Moore

Javari knew that West Virginia would be different from his home in Bushwick, Brooklyn. But his first day at STEM Camp in a little Appalachian town is still a shock. Though run-ins with the police are just the same here. Not good.

Javari will learn a lot about science, tech, engineering, and math at camp. And also about rich people, racism, and hidden agendas. But it’s Cricket, a local boy, budding activist, and occasional thief, who will show him a different side of the holler—and blow his mind wide open.

Pick Me

by Max Amato

Fudge, Mint, Berry, Bean, and Candy each think they are the MOST delicious ice cream cone around. But when Rocky Road arrives to deliver the scoop that "getting picked" means getting eaten, these silly cones earn their just desserts!

Alphabedtime

Written by Susanna Leonard Hill

Illustrated by Betsy Snyder

It’s a busy night for the Alphabet Family—after all, there are 26 kiddos to get ready for bed. A, B, and C declare they are not ready, and Impish I and Jazzy J don’t want to settle down, but by toothbrushing-time the crew seems to be headed in the right direction. Bath time requires six bathtubs and is super-splashy—and getting into jammies is no joke—but finally, after a story has been read and they are all tucked in tight, peace should reign. Except what’s this? When Mom turns off the light, it’s an Alpha pillow fight! 

Children of the Land: A Memoir

by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo 

January 6 - March 10

When Marcelo Hernandez Castillo was five years old and his family was preparing to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, he suffered temporary, stress-induced blindness. Castillo regained his vision, but quickly understood that he had to move into a threshold of invisibility before settling in California with his parents and siblings. Thus began a new life of hiding in plain sight and of paying extraordinarily careful attention at all times for fear of being truly seen. Before Castillo was one of the most celebrated poets of a generation, he was a boy who perfected his English in the hopes that he might never seem extraordinary.