Check out these hot new August releases for our From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle-Grade Authors followers! Order your copies today…perfect back-to-school gifts!
The Rule of Three, written by Heather Murphy Capps (former MUF contributor!!) Publisher: Carolrhoda Books Release Date: August 6
When the rules no longer apply, how do you keep your head in the game?
Wyatt has a three-part Plan for Life, and it starts now, at the beginning of seventh grade, with tryouts for his local travel baseball team. A biracial kid in a mostly white town, he’s always felt like a bit of an outsider. The baseball field is the only place where he feels like he truly belongs. If he can just make the team, everything else will fall into place: school, friends, even his relationship with his often-distant dad.
But after upsetting incidents at tryouts, something inexplicable happens: wisps of smoke form around Wyatt.
As Wyatt tries to figure out what’s causing this mysterious smoke and how to control it, he discovers it’s connected to a painful family history. The more he learns, the more Wyatt begins to question the rules he’s always followed to fit in. With tensions rising at school and on the field, can he face the injustices of the past while keeping his cool in the present?
A Bite Above the Rest, written by Christine Virnig Publisher: Aladdin Release Date: August 6
A boy moves to a Halloween-themed town only to realize there may be more to the tourist trap than meets the eye in this fast-paced romp of a middle-grade novel perfect for fans of The Last Kids on Earth and Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library!
When Caleb’s mom decides they are moving to her childhood home in Wisconsin, Caleb is not thrilled. Moving schools, states, and time zones would be bad enough, but Mom’s hometown is Samhain, a small and ridiculously kitschy place where every day is Halloween.
Caleb is not a fan of Halloween when it only happens once a year, so Halloween-obsessed Samhain is really not the place for him. How is he supposed to cope with kids wearing costumes to school every single day? And how about the fact that the mayor is so committed to the bit that City Hall is only open from sundown to sunup to accommodate his so-called vampirism? Sure enough, Caleb becomes an outcast at school for refusing to play along with the spooky tradition like the other sixth graders. Luckily, he manages to find a friend in fellow misfit Tai, and just in time, because things are getting weird in Samhain…or make that weirder.
But there’s no way the mayor is an actual vampire, and their teacher absolutely cannot really be a werewolf–right? Caleb discovers Samhain is so much stranger than he ever could have imagined. As one of the only people who realizes what’s happening, can he save a town that doesn’t want saving?
All About Us: A Look at the Lives of 50 Real Kids from Across the United States, written by Matt Lamothe and Jenny Volvoski Chronicle Books, Release: August 6
From the rocky coastline of Maine to the lush rainforests of Hawai‘i, read about the many different places American kids call home—and about 50 real kids who live there.
In Iowa, Amelia and her dad soar through the skies in their red-and-white-striped plane.
In Rhode Island, Ramon and his sisters ride scooters in the apartment building courtyard.
In Louisiana, Adrain Jr. races his dirt bike down a gravel road, speeding past cornfields.
Matt Lamothe and Jenny Volvovski document the daily lives of 50 children from America’s 50 states in this compelling companion to the award-winning picture book This Is How We Do It. Fifty unique, authentic portraits of growing up in America include:
- Families who live in a variety of dwellings, from houseboats and yurts to farms, Native reservations, and Air Force bases
- Children with adoptive families, stepfamilies, single-parent families, two moms or dads, and those who live with their grandparents
- Children living with health conditions such as leukemia and muscular dystrophy
- Families from a range of social, religious, and economic backgrounds
This illustration-packed nonfiction children’s book depicts a diverse collection of families, homes, and dreams, highlighting what makes each child’s world so unique yet also familiar. All About U.S. brings us together by celebrating the similarities and differences between kids’ day-to-day experiences across the United States.
Read at Your Own Risk, written by Remy Lai Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Release Date: August 13
Read at Your Own Risk is the spine-chilling illustrated sketch diary of a kid who is being haunted after a game goes terribly wrong and an evil spirit starts conversing with her on the page.
“The journal format of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets the thrills and chills of R.L. Stine in this middle-grade horror.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Hannah and her friends were just having a bit of fun when they decided to play a game to communicate with spirits of the dead. Little did they know something would answer their call and crawl its way into the pages of Hannah’s journal. What started out as a game has turned into something much more evil. With dire, horrifying consequences.
Is there any way to escape the curse?
The Ghost Rules, written by Adam Rosenbaum Published by: Holiday House Release Date: August 13
Twelve-year-old Elwood McGee never asked to have “ghost-sight,” and it involves a lot more drool-dodging than he expected. Ghosts are the WORST–and they’re all over the place in this sharp-witted middle grade debut novel.Did you know that ghosts love coffee? They’re not trying to be scary. They’re just deprived of an appropriate amount of caffeine! They also bump into things by accident, are occasionally nosy, and get a little nervous when they’re seen by the living.
Elwood McGee knows these ghost facts because he’s one of those rare people with the gift of ghost-sight. And it turns out ghosts are everywhere! Especially in the small Tennessee town where Elwood and his family had to move following the death of his big brother Noah, which Elwood thinks was his fault.
Once Elwood figures out he can see ghosts, he becomes single-mindedly determined to use his powers to see Noah and talk to him once last time. With the help of two girls who live on his street, Elwood embarks on a journey through the surprisingly funny world of ghosts and faces the realities of letting go.
At once hilarious and heart wrenching, Adam Rosenbaum makes his middle grade debut with a supernaturalish novel about grief that’s perfect for fans of Gordon Korman and Dan Gutman.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Shenanigan Swift is headed to Paris, where new mysteries await in the hilarious, quick-witted sequel to Beth Lincoln’s #1 New York Times bestseller, The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels.“Abundant wordplay and humor will keep the pages turning.″ —Kirkus, starred review
Now that the family reunion is over and the murderer has been caught, Shenanigan Swift can return to important projects, like searching for the long-lost family treasure. But trouble always finds Shenanigan, and when a valuable painting is stolen from Swift House by a group of eccentric art thieves known as Ouvolpo, she is determined to get it back–even if it means chasing them all the way to Paris. A new adventure is about to begin, and Shenanigan’s sleuthing skills will soon be tested like never before.
A Gallery of Rogues is the highly anticipated sequel to Beth Lincoln’s celebrated debut, A Dictionary of Scoundrels. Beloved characters are back, joined by a fresh flock of relatives from the French branch of the Swift family tree–the Martinets, including Cousins Soufflé, Mercredi, Contraire, and Pomme. Get ready to say bonjour to more secrets, more bodies, and even more fun, in this delicious mystery that once again celebrates words, family, and plenty of shenanigans.
The Grimsbane Family Witch Hunters, written by Joan Reardon, Publisher: Aladdin Release Date: August 20
Netflix’s Wednesday meets Jodi Lynn Anderson’s The Memory Thief in this creepy and high-stakes middle grade adventure about a girl’s quest to save her cursed brother that takes her through perilous, monster-filled woods.The Grimsbane women have been hunting witches and monsters for generations–ever since the Watcher, the most powerful witch in the Midwest, cursed the Grimsbane men to die untimely and unusual deaths. Part-time skater, full-time troublemaker Anna Grimsbane may be only twelve, but she’s been learning about hunting her whole life and is tired of waiting to do the real thing. She and her twin brother Billy are about to turn thirteen, the age the curse takes hold, and Anna wants to be on the front lines fighting to break it.
Only hours before he’ll become an accident-prone walking disaster, Billy runs away to find the Watcher himself. The Grimsbane women are all out on patrol, leaving it up to Anna and her friends Suvi and Rosario to find Billy before his recklessness hastens his demise. But the woods are crawling with cryptids, most of whom hate humans, and all of whom hate the Grimsbanes, and the deeper Anna gets into the forest, the clearer it is that reading about witch hunting is no replacement for practical experience.
Anna feels in over her head, especially as she starts to suspect she knows much less about her family history than she’d thought. As she races against the clock to find Billy before midnight, it becomes all too evident that he isn’t the only Grimsbane at risk for a grisly death tonight.
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Linda Rose Zajac loves Cow Cow or the dresses and also the robot leggings! 
