Book Lists!

September and October are big months for new releases and there are quite a few diverse debuts to celebrate. Here are seven new books with diverse characters all out in the month of September. Yusef Azeem is not a Hero by Saadia Faruqi, is the story of sixth grader Yusef whose big ambition is to compete in the regional robotics competition. He encounters prejudice in his small Texas town but his Muslim community is a source of insight and courage as he learns to stand up for himself and all he believes. A particularly timely story and perfect for a generation of young readers born a decade after the events of 9/11/ In this MG debut The Insiders by Mark Oshiro, a gay Mexican-American boy moves from his wealthy and tolerant San Francisco school to a school short on both resources and compassion. Héctor takes refuge in a magical janitors closet and finds many kindred spirits–outsiders of one kind or...

I was in eighth grade when Tutmania hit New York. It hit hard, thanks to the exhibit “Treasures of Tutankhamun,” which opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on December 15, 1978. I don’t remember the day tickets went on sale, or the line that snaked down Fifth Avenue for...

By Robyn Gioia, M.Ed Constitution Day, September 17, 1787: The day the U.S. Constitution was signed by founding fathers such as George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Jay at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. What began as newspaper comic strips in the...

Graphic novels are having quite a moment. They have grown by an astonishing 10-15% each year for the past 2 or 3 years and then in 2020, they grew by 29%. They now count for more than a billion in sales. The two factors driving this change are the willingness...

Today is International Wolf Day – a day set aside to celebrate the important role wolves play in a creating and maintaining a healthy ecosystem and to debunk the many fears and misconceptions people still hold about wolves. To celebrate the day, From the Mixed-Up Files has put together an...

Like Fourth of July fireworks, this month is exploding with a colorful array of offerings for middle-grade readers. From social justice to sports, goats to ghouls, and fantasy to food, there’s something for everyone. We want to congratulate two of our Mixed-Up Files members, who have new releases in July....

June is finally here. School is out (or almost out), and everyone is ready for a long, relaxing summer. This past year has got me thinking about summers when I was kid. Back then, summer vacation consisted of baseball games in the pasture, slip and slides, camping out in the...