Book Finder

Drama abounds in what might have happened if Austin Gollaher had not pulled the young Abraham Lincoln from a swollen Kentucky creek that day in 1816. This engaging tale was inspired and expanded from a real event noted by the author.

Told with verve and humor, Newbery-winner Sid Fleischman recalls his early years in San Diego during the Depression, reveals how he became captivated by magic, theater, and story — all of which influenced the man he grew into.

10-year-old Anastasia is quite content as the only (and quite self-assured) child of professional parents. But she is not so happy and not so nice after she learns that she is to become a sister. Anastasia’s lists organize her thoughts and create humor in this first book of the series.

Gunnar Umlaut says he only has six months to live. So eighth-grader Anthony “Antsy” Bonano does the only thing he can think of to help-he gives Gunnar a month of his own life. This symbolic gesture is soon copied by everyone at school, but will it make a difference, especially if Gunnar isn’t telling the truth?

Polls of readers about home & school, friends & family, sports & more lets young people know if they’re ‘normal’ or ‘weird’ while affirming that they are unique.

Margaret and her family move from the city to a suburb where she longs to fit in. As she struggles with growing up, she talks to God (does it matter if she’s Jewish or Christian?), finds new friends, and longs for a sign of growing up as she starts the 6th grade. Readers will empathize with Margaret in this contemporary classic.

High school junior Audrey has had it with her boyfriend Evan, who spends more time with his band than with her. So she dumps him. Within a day, he’s written a song, “Audrey Wait,” which rockets to the top of the charts and makes Audrey a target of Evan’s fans. What is it like to have your whole life spelled out in a three-minute pop song?

Babymouse may be a cartoon mouse, but she has experiences that will resonate with her tween audience: like friend drama, boring old school, and the social strata of those same friends and school.

Each section of the first in the Pearls Before Swine collections is organized by each of the strip’s characters: Rat, Goat, Zebra, Croc and Pig. Understated humor is evident in the line drawings and minimal language create an accessible, offbeat humor just right for middle schoolers.

Nate’s prominence in his scout troop is threatened by a newcomer with hilarious results.

Three Indian sisters are growing up in London with their widowed father, and now, his sister, their strict Auntie. The story is light, but paints a vivid picture of Indian immigrants and British culture.

In a memoir full of humor and candor, Martin shares his personal itinerary as he negotiates the maze of honing his profession and the pitfalls he avoided.

Los Angeles! City of tanned shoulders! Smog-spewing, pay-per-viewing, sit-com maker for the world!

Del’s put in 17 years there, bouncing among foster homes. Smart, sharp-tongued, a master mimic, she’s fed up with her world and with being Del. So she’s faked her own death and is leaving both herself and L.A. behind until her escape lands her in an all-day traffic jam.

Fast-forward eight years. It’s opening night for the one-woman play she’s written and is starring in a show called Breakout, about a Los Angeles traffic jam. Wildly funny, she seems to be skewering workaholics, road ragers, pickup artists, and car culture in general. But readers will see what her audience can’t, that the show is a portrait of herself, of her hunger for her mother and her terror of rejection, her free-floating identity and yearning for connection.

Flashing between Del’s present and future, Breakout gives us a backstage pass into a young playwright’s psyche, letting us watch her life being transformed into a art, heartache into comedy, solitude into community, and anger gradually giving way to acceptance.

It’s a routine case, or at least as routine as a cases get when you’re a twelve-year-old private detective who’s been sleuthing for just a few months: Steve Brixton must don a neon wetsuit and work undercover to retrieve a stolen surfboard. But when the assignment goes all wrong, Steve finds himself caught inside mysteries involving wild surfers, pirate smugglers, thick-necked goons, and a sixth-grader who can’t find his gym shorts.

Retired private detective and current seventh grader Steve Brixton has a new job: He takes out the trash for five bucks a week. But it’s hard to leave the old game behind, and on a train trip down the California coast, Steve and his best chum, Dana, are pulled into a mystery involving a fleet of stolen automobiles, a vanishing girl, and a phantom train car. Oh, and there might just be some romance…

Seventh-grader Steve Brixton is an avid reader of the Bailey Brothers series, and he’s about to get a chance to put the detective tactics he’s read so much about into practice. He’s out to solve a mystery being investigated by America’s most secret crime solving agency: the United States Department of Library Sciences. It will take all of Steve’s skills to navigate this story of intrigue and crime as he tracks down the missing quilt (yes, quilt) containing all of America’s secrets.

After saving the United States of America in The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity, he has opened his own agency. Steve gets a call to solve the case of the Fairview diamond but it turns into an even bigger mystery. MacArthur Bart, author of Steve’s beloved Bailey Brothers series, has been kidnapped!! And there is only one 12-year-old detective who can find him. But not without the help of his best chum Dana and The Bailey Brothers Detective Handbook.

When Aunt Tiger Lil comes to Chinatown, she and Lily, her niece and namesake, prepare for the New Year’s celebration, solve the mystery of a stolen pearl necklace, and help a sweatshop worker. Humor is used in this lively mystery with likable characters in an authentic setting.

Eric Bittle may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It is nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! First of all? There’s checking (anything that hinders the player with possession of the puck, ranging from a stick check all the way to a physical sweep). And then, there is Jack — his very attractive but moody captain. A collection of the megapopular webcomic series of the same name, Check, Please!: #1 Hockey is the first book of a hilarious and stirring two-volume coming-of-age story about hockey, bros, and trying to find yourself during the best four years of your life. This book includes updated art and a hilarious, curated selection of Bitty’s beloved tweets. Winner of the William C. Morris Debut YA Award.

See more from Ngozi Ukazu in this blog post featuring Gene Luen Yang’s interview with her!

Eric Bittle is heading into his junior year at Samwell University, and not only does he have new teammates—he has a brand new boyfriend! Bitty and Jack must navigate their new, secret, long-distance relationship, and decide how to reveal their relationship to friends and teammates. And on top of that, Bitty’s time at Samwell is quickly coming to an end…It’s two full hockey seasons packed with big wins and high stakes! 

Could it be real? A quadrillion dollar bill? In this funny, fast-paced tall tale, nine-year-old Steven, helper and friend of his blind neighbor, Mr. Chickee, solves the mystery of this strange money.

The Flint Future Detectives are back for another wacky adventure in which the dog owned by Steven’s friend, Russell (first introduced in Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money) inadvertently launches an out-of-this-world series of events. Readers will see the satire in this improbable, funny, and fast-reading novel.

Seventh grader “Crash” Coogan is a jock who, as he begins narrating this humorous, touching novel, is a downright bully. He takes aim most often at a neighbor and classmate named Penn. Penn not only wears hand-me-downs but joins the cheerleading squad. This is an unusual glimpse at “jockdom.”

When his nemesis makes an origami Darth Vader, chaos ensues. Dwight gets kicked out of school and sent to a school for bad broods! Humor abounds in this silly but satisfying saga that combines parody of popular figures with comedy.