Tweens & Young Adult

Who wouldn’t want a fairy godmother? But when June’s puts her under a spell where she cannot tell a lie, the truth is middle school just got a lot harder.

The truth hurts. Sixth-grader June Jackson learned that lesson early. (She told her BFF one time she didn’t like her shoes. They fought for a week!) Which is why now June tells people what they what to hear. Who cares about a small fib if it makes her friends and family happy?

But when June’s fairy godmother appears in a cloud of glitter, she’s grants June with the ability to only tell the truth. Now, June has no choice but to be honest about how she feels. And the truth is June feels stressed out. Middle school is no joke—between field hockey, friend drama, and her parents’ high expectations, June is so overwhelmed that sometimes it’s hard to breathe.

When everything spirals out of control, will June find freedom in telling the whole truth and nothing but—or is she destined to battle the curse for the rest of her life?

Seventh grader Rahim Reynolds loves testing out the gadgets invented by his brilliant friend Kasia Collins. First there were the X-ray glasses and all the trouble they caused. Now there’s the new cell phone she built for his birthday, even though his parents won’t let him have one. But Rahim is excited to use the phone to search for videos of his favorite old-school rap group. What he doesn’t know is the phone has a special battery that interfaces with a secret government satellite, which spells trouble when the phone transports him back to 1997. Almost immediately, he learns what every time traveler before him has: Actions in the past jeopardize the future. With Kasia as his only lifeline to the present, Rahim works with her to get home unscathed, all the while dodging bullies (on his end) and suspicious government agents (on hers).

Philadelphia in the late nineties is a new world for Rahim and Kasia, but it is a familiar place for Questlove, who, alongside S. A. Cosby, delivers a high-velocity tale where two best friends discover that sometimes the best beat is the one that brings you back home.

In the first book of the Cupcake Diaries, Katie and the Cupcake Cure, Katie Brown is miserable when her best friend is invited to join the Popular Girls Club and Katie is left out. Is there an Unpopular Girls Club she can join? Fortunately, Katie finds her way with a great new group of friends—Mia, Emma, and Alexis—and together they form the Cupcake Club. Sometimes starting from scratch turns out to be the icing on the cupcake!

In Sunday Sundaes from Sprinkle Sundays, Allie, Sierra, and Tamiko have been best friends since kindergarten. Now, Allie’s parents are divorced, and Allie has moved one town away. She can still see her friends, but she no longer goes to the same middle school. But when Allie’s mom decides to fulfill her lifelong dream and open up an ice cream shop, Allie has an idea. Maybe she and her friends can work in the shop every Sunday! The girls soon discover that working in an ice cream shop is more than just scooping cones and adding toppings.

Lindsay Cooper is about to start middle school in Hole in the Middle from Donut Dreams. In her free time, she works at her family’s restaurant, The Park View, handing out the world’s most delicious donuts at the Donut Dreams counter. Her grandmother started the counter as a way to send Lindsay’s dad to college, and Lindsay wants to use her job the same way—to make her dream of going to school far away from her small town a reality. Home feels different ever since Lindsay’s mom passed away two years ago. But with her cousins Kelsey and Molly by her side, not to mention her BFF Casey, Lindsay soon discovers family and friends go a long way towards filling any hole in your heart. And life can still be as fun as a pink donut with rainbow sprinkles!