Books for Kids and Tweens February 2026 |
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Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Eggertsen SorensenMarly's father came back from the war a different man. Something inside him seems as cold and dead as the winter world outside. But when the family moves to Grandma's old house on Maple Hill, miracles begin to happen. The sap in the trees begins to rise, the leaves begin to turn, and Marly's father starts to bloom again, like the world around them.
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| The Lions' Run by Sara PennypackerIn Nazi-occupied France, soft-hearted orphan Lucas discovers that small acts of courage, like helping his new friend Alice protect her beloved horse, can lead to bigger ones, like helping the Resistance.
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The Flooded Earth by Mardi McConnochie Twins Will and Annalie thought the hardest part about this year was going to be their separation when bookish Annalie began life at a prestigious Admiralty-run boarding school and avid sailor Will stayed behind in the flood-damaged slums. But that was before the Admiralty raided their father’s engineering workshop. Before they sent a questioner to threaten Annalie at school. Before their father disappeared, leaving a single coded clue to his destination. Desperate to find their father, the twins set out in the family’s small sailboat. But though they are both experienced sailors, they have no idea what dangers the sea has in store for them.
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War at the Snow White Motel and Other Stories by Tim Wynne-Jones Ant wants to join the #FridaysForFuture movement — and impressing the new girl at school is only one good reason why. Joseph and Danny are determined to right an old wrong, no matter the consequences. Michel takes a road trip to spot a rare bird, and along the way learns what his father is really afraid of. Robin has to battle her anxiety when her great-grandfather sends her in search of an old stuffed toy with a storied past. Walker is home for the summer, in time to help his little sister expose a local company’s dubious environmental practices. A boy can’t figure out why the class bully won’t leave him alone — it’s not anything he could have foreseen.
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The hungry Forest is moving forward like an army, a green and constant threat to the humans living in and on an increasingly crumbling Wall. Feather, accompanied only by her scaled ferret, Sleek, must avoid the Forest's tentacles, and the many dangerous creatures it shelters, to return the community's precious spyglass to its rightful place. Along the way, she develops her resilience, and meets other people living on the Wall, whose stories and experiences open her mind, and those of her community, to new horizons.
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A Nest for Celeste is a short novel that tells the story a mouse living in the 1800s and his friendship with John James Audubon's young apprentice. |
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Red, White, and Wholeby Rajani LaroccaReha feels torn between two worlds: school, where she's the only Indian American student, and home, with her family's traditions and holidays. But Reha's parents don't understand why she's conflicted--they only notice when Reha doesn't meet their strict expectations. Reha feels disconnected from her mother, or Amma. Although their names are linked--Reha means star and Punam means moon--they are a universe apart. Then Reha finds out that her Amma is sick. Really sick. Reha, who dreams of becoming a doctor even though she can't stomach the sight of blood, is determined to make her Amma well again. She'll be the perfect daughter, if it means saving her Amma's life.
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Jeremiah is the world's biggest baseball fan. He really loves baseball and he knows just about everything there is to know about his favorite sport. So when he's told he can't play baseball following an operation on his heart, Jeremiah decides he'll do the next best thing and become a coach
Hillcrest, where Jeremiah and his father Walt have just moved, is a town known for its championship baseball team. But Jeremiah finds the town caught up in a scandal and about ready to give up on baseball. It's up to Jeremiah and his can-do spirit to get the town - and the team - back in the game. |
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Leeva at Last by Sara Pennypacker; illustrated by Matthew CordellThe question: "What are people for?" wonders 8-year-old Leeva Thornblossom.
The answer: surely isn't "money" or "fame" like Leeva's greedy parents claim. Maybe she can figure it out with help from a kid in a hazmat suit, a skateboarding librarian, and a grumpy badger.
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| The Night Librarian by Christopher LincolnCuriosity and boredom prompt twins Page and Turner to visit the New York Public Library, where an encounter with the night librarian reveals that magical energy is escaping from the books -- along with some dangerous fictional characters. |
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Kenyan orphans, Kitoo and Nigosi, spend their days studying, playing soccer, helping their elders with chores around the orphanage and reading from the limited selection of books in their library. When the librarian gives Kitoo a copy of Sports Around the World he becomes fascinated by an image of the Canadian national men's ice hockey team. Then one day the fates align and Kitoo finds a pair of beat-up old roller blades. He teaches himself to skate and dreams of one day playing hockey like the men in his book. But you can’t play ice hockey in Kenya, can you? |
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