MS Read: Kids Read 2024

When a new boy joins the class, everyone thinks he’s a bit strange, but he’s brilliant at football and loves crisps, and that’s all that matters to Dan and Maxie. However, the truth about George is stranger than anyone could have imagined ... and more sinister, too. Can his new pals help him to become truly free?

When a deadly plague reaches the small fish camp where he lives, an orphan named Leif is forced to take to the water in a cedar canoe. He flees northward, following a wild, fjord-riven shore, thrown from one danger to the next, unsure of his destination. Yet the deeper into his journey he paddles, the closer Leif comes to his truest self as he connects to the heartbeat of the ocean, the pulse of the sea.

A thrilling dystopic story from Roland Smith about how far people will go to survive -- perfect for fans ofDry and Distress Signal. On the morning of Henry Ludd's thirteenth birthday, the power goes out. No phones, no news, and planes are literally falling out of the sky. Henry's father was away from the family farm and he has not returned. It's worrisome as people descend into lawlessness. Four months later, the electricity still hasn't come back. While Henry's family is protected in their walled compound with wind turbines fueling their electricity, the rest of their area has suffered. Henry's father still hasn't been found. Determined to find him, Henry ventures out with a trading crew to the zoo where his dad was last seen. After the truck is hijacked and Henry is left behind, he's forced to travel alone through the unruly world of the Switch. But his journey home will lead him to cross paths with the people who took his dad and have been trying to take over his family's land and resources ever since.

Natalia is not the kind of girl who takes risks. Six years ago, she barely survived the house fire that killed her baby brother. Now she is cautious and always plays it safe. For months, her co-worker Wyatt has begged her to come hiking with him, and Natalia finally agrees. But when a wildfire breaks out, blocking the trail back, a perfect sunny day quickly morphs into a nightmare. With no cell service, few supplies, and no clear way out of the burning forest, a group of strangers will have to become allies if they're going to survive. Hiking in the dark, they must deal with injuries, wild animals, and even a criminal on the lam--before the fire catches them.

Alejandra Kim feels like she doesn't belong anywhere. Not at home, where Ale faces tense silence from Ma since Papi's passing. Not in Jackson Heights, where she isn't considered Latinx enough and is seen as PC for her own good. Certainly not at her Manhattan prep school, where her predominantly white classmates pride themselves on being "woke". She only has to survive her senior year before she can escape to the prestigious Whyder College if she can get in. Maybe there, Ale will finally find a place to call her own. The only problem with laying low-- a microaggression thrusts Ale into the spotlight and into the middle of a discussion she didn't ask for. But her usual keeping her head down tactic isn't going to make this go away. With her signature wit and snark, Ale faces what she's been hiding from. In the process, she might discover what it truly means to carve out a space for yourself to belong.

Between 1936 and 1939, a civil war raged across Spain. For almost three years, ordinary citizens lived in fear of bombs dropping from the sky. When fascist dictator Francisco Franco declared victory, he began to persecute everyone who had once opposed him. Spain became a country of secrets, where anyone who was different was in danger.
Different explores this turbulent period through the voices of seven-year-old Socorro and nine-year-old Paco. Because Papa has fled Spain due to his political beliefs, the siblings and their mother must hide the truth in order to survive. Paco is always hungry, and Socorro is never good enough for her teachers at school. But they can’t ask for more food or better treatment: someone might find out who they are, or—worse—why their father isn’t home anymore. At last, a letter from Father arrives, with a chance for their family to reunite in Venezuela …

Thirteen-year-old Molly doesn't know how she got the short end of the stick—being raised by her neglectful father—while Dustin, the older brother she's never met, got their mother and the keys to the family estate. But now the siblings are both orphaned, she's come home for her inheritance, and if Dustin won't welcome her into the family business, then she'll happily take her half in cash.
There's just one problem: the family business is a mortuary for monsters, and Molly's not sure she's ready to deal with mysterious doors, talking wolves, a rogue devourer of magic, and a secret cemetery. It's going to take all of Dustin's stuffy supernatural knowledge and Molly's most heroic cosplay (plus a little help from non-human friends) for the siblings to figure it out and save the day...if only they can get along for five minutes.

My name is Danny Day, and I live every day twice. The first time, it's a "discard day." It's kind of like a practice run. At the end of the day, I go to bed, wake up, and poof everything gets reset, everything except my memory, that is.
The second time, everything is normal, just like it is for everyone else. That's when everything counts and my actions stick. As you could probably guess, "Sticky Day" Danny is very different from "Discard Day" Danny. When Danny's family moves across the country, he suddenly has to use his ability for more than just slacking off and playing video games. Now he's making new friends, fending off jerks, exposing a ring of cheaters in the lunchtime video game tournament, and taking down bullies one day at a time ... or is it two days at a time?

Thirteen-year-old Maddie just wants her classmate Lucas to leave her alone. He keeps asking her out--as if she hasn't already said no a thousand times! Focusing on her competitive swim team, the Electric Eels, Maddie tries to ignore him, hoping he'll stop harassing her. But then, when someone starts sabotaging Maddie's family-owned pool--glass on the deck, ketchup in the pool, followed by a "code brown"--Maddie worries it's her "admirer" trying to get even. After Maddie's parents rule the problems at the pool just harmless pranks, Maddie and her best friend, Ez, decide to investigate on their own. Could it be Lucas? And how can Maddie get him to leave her alone once and for all? The future of the Electric Eels and Maddie's family legacy are on the line.

Four years ago, Brynn left Saint Ambrose School following the shocking murder of her favorite teacher—a story that made headlines after the teacher’s body was found by three Saint Ambrose students in the woods behind their school. The case was never solved. Now that Brynn is moving home and starting her dream internship at a true-crime show, she’s determined to find out what really happened.
The kids who found Mr. Larkin are her way in, and her ex-best friend, Tripp Talbot, was one of them. Without his account of events, the other two kids might have gone down for Mr. Larkin’s murder—but instead, thanks to Tripp, they're now at the top of the Saint Ambrose social pyramid. Tripp's friends have never forgotten what Tripp did for them that day, and neither has he. Just like he hasn’t forgotten that everything he told the police was a lie.
Digging into the past is bound to shake up the present, and when Brynn begins to investigate what happened in the woods that day, she uncovers secrets that might change everything—about Saint Ambrose, about Mr. Larkin, and about her ex-best friend, Tripp Talbot.
Four years ago someone got away with murder. More terrifying is that they might be closer than anyone thinks.

It's the year 2000 in New York City. For 12-year old Alyssa, this means splitting time between her Puerto Rican dad's apartment in Manhattan and her white mom's new place in Queens, navigating the trials and tribulations of middle school, and an epic crush on a new classmate. The only way to make sense of it all is to capture the highs and lows in doodles and hilarious comics in a diary. Then life abruptly changes on September 11, 2001. After the Twin Towers fall and so many lives are lost, worries about gossip and boys feel distant and insignificant. Alyssa must find a new sense of self and purpose amidst all of the chaos, and find the strength to move forward with hope.

Even though we’ll never outrun a hungry lion or outswim an angry shark, humans are pretty impressive—and we’re the most dominant species on the planet. So how exactly did we become “unstoppable”?
The answer to that is one of the strangest tales you’ll ever hear. And it’s a true story.
From learning to make fire and using the stars as guides to cooking meals in microwaves and landing on the moon, prepare to uncover the secrets and superpowers of how we evolved from our first appearances millions of years ago.

You can count on me, your Palestinian Muslim sister, to keep her voice loud, keep her feet on the streets, and keep my head held high because I am not afraid.
On January 21, 2017, Linda Sarsour stood in the National Mall to deliver a speech that would go down in history. A crowd of over 470,000 people gathered in Washington, DC, to advocate for legislation, policy, and the protection of women’s rights—with Linda, a Muslim American activist from Brooklyn, leading the charge, unapologetic and unafraid.

When Flynn McGarry was ten years old, he started to cook in a serious way. At first, he simply wanted to make better food for his family, so with the help and support of his parents, he turned his bedroom into a personal kitchen. Yes, his curiosity was intense. He committed himself to develop his knowledge of food and culinary technique by reading cookbooks and watching chefs on YouTube and the Food Network. He then pieced together information that excited his sensibilities, paying attention to every detail—from the design of a kitchen to the type of container being used, from the color and texture of food to its arrangement on a plate. He thought not only about menus and the taste of food but also about where it was grown and how it was harvested.
Now in his mid-twenties, Flynn is a well-known chef with his own restaurant and much more happening in his life. Still, with all his success, this modest young man is inspired to share his creative process and his innovative thinking about aesthetics and food, especially with young people.
Of course, some of Flynn’s favorite recipes are included, for those who also want to cook and eat well!

Centuries ago, Earth’s plants turned deadly, and humanity took to space to cultivate new homes. Myra Hodger is in her first year at an elite school on the Moon, and she’s crumbling under pressure. She doesn’t fit in and, worse, the tattoos that signal her Number Whisperer magic aren’t developing. In her heart, she knows she doesn’t have a Creer, and soon everyone else will, too.
Wandering the halls while cutting class, she discovers a secret lab hidden behind one of the unused classrooms and, beyond that, a secret garden overflowing with plants. Dangerous toxic plants.
As she learns more about the garden, Myra begins to wonder if she does have a Creer after all—one that died out when the Earth did. One that could help solve the food shortages the government doesn’t want anyone to know about.

If you told Sloane Osburn and Amelia Miller-Poe that they’d be hiding in their town cemetery from an evil mastermind, they would have been hard-pressed to believe you. If you also told them that person was intent on beating them to a cache of long-lost jewels using nothing more than a slingshot and wicked aim, they’d have been sure you got your facts wrong. Finally, if you told them they’d be doing all of this as friends…well, they would have been sure you needed medical attention.
Whether through serendipity (really, really good luck) or zemblanity (really, really bad luck), someone tricked their teacher into using their seventh-grade class to investigate the mystery of their town’s long-missing treasure. From there, things escalated. Quickly. Now, the girls are stuck hiding behind a gravestone, dodging acorns (who knew acorns could be so threatening?), and just a few clues short of those jewels.
It’s up to these enemies-turned-partners to uncover centuries-old clues to find the treasure at the end of this book before the mysterious person on their trail can get to it first…

"The perfect book right now for young readers searching for hope, strength, inspiration -- and just a little horticultural havoc."--New York Times   The first book in a can't-put-it-down, can't-read-it-fast-enough action-thriller trilogy that's part Hatchet, part Alien! The invasion begins--but not as you'd expect. It begins with rain. Rain that carries seeds. Seeds that sprout--overnight, everywhere. These new plants take over crop fields, twine up houses, and burrow below streets. They bloom--and release toxic pollens. They bloom--and form Venus flytrap-like pods that swallow animals and people. They bloom--everywhere, unstoppable. Or are they? Three kids on a remote island seem immune to the toxic plants. Anaya, Petra, Seth. They each have strange allergies--and yet not to these plants. What's their secret? Can they somehow be the key to beating back this invasion? They'd better figure it out fast, because it's starting to rain again....

Chad Lucas's Let the Monster Out is an equal parts heart-pounding and heartfelt middle-grade mystery about facing--and accepting--your fears, perfect for fans of Stranger Things and The Parker Inheritance. Bones Malone feels like he can't do anything right in his new small town: He almost punched the son of the woman who babysits him and his brothers, he's one of the only Black kids in Langille, and now his baseball team (the one place where he really feels like he shines) just lost their first game. To make matters worse, things in town are getting weird. His mom isn't acting like herself at all--she's totally spaced out, almost like a zombie. And then he and his brothers have the same dream--one where they're running from some of their deepest fears, like a bear and an eerie cracked mirror that Bones would rather soon forget. Kyle Specks feels like he can never say the right thing at the right time. He thinks he might be neurodivergent, but he hasn't gotten an official diagnosis yet. His parents worry that the world might be too hard for him and try to protect him, but Kyle knows they can't do that forever. Even though he's scared, he can't just stand by and do nothing while things in this town get stranger and stranger, especially not after he and Bones find a mysterious scientist's journal that might hold answers about what's going on. But when faced with seemingly impossible situations, a shady corporation, and their own worst nightmares, will Kyle and Bones be brave enough to admit they're scared? Or will the fear totally consume and control them?

Grace and her friends must protect a newly hatched dragon from mysterious evildoers. When Grace moves to Hong Kong with her mom and new stepdad, her biggest concern is making friends at her fancy new boarding school. But when a mysterious old woman gifts her a dragon egg during a field trip, Grace discovers that the wonderful stories of dragons she heard when she was a young girl might actually be real--especially when the egg hatches overnight. The dragon has immense powers that Grace has yet to understand. And that puts them both in danger from mysterious forces intent on abusing the dragon's power. And now it's up to Grace and her school friends to uncover the sinister plot threatening the entire city!

A Newbery Honor Book A Walter Dean Myers Honor Book  From Christina Soontornvat, the visionary and versatile author of three Newbery Honor Books, comes a high-seas adventure set in a Thai-inspired fantasy world. In a fantasy adventure every bit as compelling and confident in its world building as her Newbery Honor Book A Wish in the Dark, Christina Soontornvat explores a young woman's struggle to unburden herself of the past and chart her own destiny in a world of secrets. As assistant to Mangkon's most celebrated mapmaker, twelve-year-old Sai plays the part of a well-bred young lady with a glittering future. In reality, her father is a conman--and in a kingdom where the status of one's ancestors dictates their social position, the truth could ruin her. Sai seizes the chance to join an expedition to chart the southern seas, but she isn't the only one aboard with secrets. When Sai learns that the ship might be heading for the fabled Sunderlands--a land of dragons, dangers, and riches beyond imagining--she must weigh the cost of her dreams. Vivid, suspenseful, and thought-provoking, this tale of identity and integrity is as beautiful and intricate as the maps of old.

The epic story of our evolution in seven big steps! How did we become who we are? With trademark wit, acclaimed science writer Pamela S. Turner breaks down human evolution into the seven most important steps leading to Homo sapiens. How, when, and why did we- 1.stand up, 2.smash rocks, 3.get swelled heads, 4.take a hike, 5.invent barbecue, 6.start talking (and never shut up), and 7.become storytellers? This fascinating, wickedly funny account of our evolutionary journey turns science into an irresistible story. Vetted by experts at the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program, the book also features incredibly detailed portraits by celebrated paleo-artist John Gurche that bring our early ancestors to life.

Ana Dakkar is a freshman at Harding-Pencroft Academy, a five-year high school that graduates the best marine scientists, naval warriors, navigators, and underwater explorers in the world. Ana's parents died while on a scientific expedition two years ago, and the only family's she's got left is her older brother, Dev, also a student at HP. Ana's freshman year culminates with the class's weekend trial at sea, the details of which have been kept secret. She only hopes she has what it'll take to succeed. All her worries are blown out of the water when, on the bus ride to the ship, Ana and her schoolmates witness a terrible tragedy that will change the trajectory of their lives. But wait, there's more. The professor accompanying them informs Ana that their rival school, Land Institute, and Harding-Pencroft have been fighting a cold war for a hundred and fifty years. Now that cold war has been turned up to a full broil, and the freshman are in danger of becoming fish food. In a race against deadly enemies, Ana will make amazing friends and astounding discoveries about her heritage as she puts her leadership skills to the test for the first time.