New Books on Our Homeschool Reading List in February 2023
So many books, so little time! But these are the titles on our library holds list.
The Pearl Hunter by Miya T. Beck
Honestly, this one had me at middle grades novel about pre-shogunate Japan. Pearl diver Kai makes a deal with the gods to bring back her twin sister’s soul: She’ll steal a legendary pearl from the Fox Queen, and the gods will give her sister back to her. The buzz on this one is a little iffy, but I’m always going to check out historical middle grades fiction from the Asian world, so this one’s still on my list.
It’s Boba Time for Pearl Li by Nicole Chen
How charming is this? To save her beloved neighborhood boba shop, Pearl Li decides to start selling her handmade amigurumi dolls — but of course it’s a much more complicated project than Pearl Li anticipated! I love boba, yarn crafting, and family stories so this one is right up my alley. I really love books about people who make things with their hands, and I happen to have a school full of crafty homeschoolers looking for book recommendations, so I have high hopes for this one.
The House Swap by Yvette Clark
If a middle grades book is being billed as a mash-up of The Parent Trap and The Holiday, I think we can all feel confident it will find a spot on my reading list. I did have a chance to read an advance copy of this one, and I am happy to report it is as warm and cozy and delightful as that description implies — with an emotional depth that feels all its own. Los Angeles native Sage and English village-dwelling Ally swap stories while their families swap houses for summer vacation.
The Universe in You by Jason Chin
Chin’s dazzling picture book illuminates the microscopic building blocks of life. Definitely read this as a picture book, with your middle grade science classes, and even with your high school biology curriculum. Just read it!
The Bright Side by Chad Otis
Something I am always trying to do with my kids is to normalize life experiences that don’t look like ours. I wish this picture book had been around when they were younger because Otis does a brilliant job showing what life is like for a kid who lives in an old school bus instead of a house. We don’t know why his family lives on the bus — it might be a lifestyle choice or an unhoused situation — but that’s a great reminder that we don’t, in fact, know other people’s backstories and shouldn’t make assumptions about them.
Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies by Stacey Lee
I read an advance copy of this, and I definitely recommend it for middle grades readers. Like all the books in Rick Riordan’s imprint, Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies plays with traditional mythology showing up in the modern world. This time, it’s Chinese folklore — and a magical shop where mysterious things happen. When this imprint is at its best, the modern world stories are as important and complex as the mythologies they spotlight, and that is definitely the case here: Winston’s family is still recovering from his military father’s death in action, and he is a little envious of his wealthy friend who has all the cool stuff and never has to worry about money. There is a lot happening in this book, including a big cast of characters, so it feels a little chaotic at times, but the payoff was definitely worth it for me.
The Davenports by Krystal Marquis
In 1910 Chicago, the four Davenport daughters are among the wealthiest Black families in the United States. If you know me at all, you know that my passion for history comes from Sunfire’s YA historical romance novels, so I was pretty much first in line for this one! It’s definitely lighter on the history than the romance (even though it’s based on the real-life Patterson family, who are totally rabbit trail-worthy, if you are so inclined), but it’s still really cool what it was like to be part of the Black one-percent during the early 20th century. And yay for historical fiction about Black joy and Black success, which I always personally love to see.
No Accident by Laura Bates
Don’t tell my students, but I’m apparently very into stories about teenagers in peril these days. Here’s a dark and twisty YA take on the genre: A chartered plane goes down with a high school basketball team and its cheerleaders on board. Seven teens survive and make it to an island, where they have to figure out how to find water, rig a shelter, and generally survive in the wild. But that’s not all: Something happened at a party the night before the plane went down, and someone wants revenge. I think this is a book that raises a lot of compelling questions. It doesn’t answer them all, but maybe that’s part of the point?
The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln
In this rambunctiously funny middle grades mystery, Shenanigan Swift puts her detective skills to work solving the murder of her Aunt Schadenfreude at a family reunion. I’m always on the search for a mystery that captures the spirit of my beloved The Westing Game, and while this one didn’t quite get there for me, it was still a madcap mystery adventure that I thoroughly enjoyed. Sometimes reviews comparing new books to much-loved books do the new books no favors, so I will resist the urge to compare this to other middle grades books I have known and love and recommend you go into it with no preconceptions.
The Human Kaboom by Adam Rubin
This middle grades book is just straight-up fun: Six stories with the same title (and all illustrated by different artists) take readers on a riotous romp. There’s a school field trip prank (in space!), a swanky hotel mystery, an ancient curse in a sleepy fishing village, and more. I love this idea of spitballing an entire collection of stories from a single title and definitely recommend stealing it for your next homeschool creative writing session.
The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone by Audrey Burges
I’ve always loved dollhouse stories, so I’m excited for this one: Myra Malone’s dollhouse blog has thousands of followers, but it also has mysteries that its 30-something owner can’t begin to understand: Rooms appear and disappear, and sometimes, she can swear she hears haunting music. Then one day a stranger contacts Myra to tell her that her mansion is his childhood home, where his grandmother disappeared when he was just a little boy. From here, their stories intersect with the mystery of the dollhouse, and it sounds like the kind of quietly lovely book I would have loved as a teen.
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
My friend Stephanie turned me on to Grady Hendrix — he is great if you love the idea of horror but need it served up with enough humor and hope to keep you from plunging into the abyss. I hope this one delivers more of the same: After their parents’ unexpected deaths, two siblings from a dysfunctional family have to get their Charleston childhood home ready to sell, but there’s something off about the house. Spooky puppets kind of off. If you’ve got a teen horror fan, Hendrix is a solid pick.
What are you excited to read in your February homeschool?
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