The Best Children’s and YA Books of June 2020
by the Brightly Editors
June’s best new books for kids and teens include a little bit of everything: intergalactic adventures, hilarious hijinks, important history, revisited classics, and heartening messages about looking out for each other and staying true to ourselves. Encourage growth, self-reflection, and good-hearted fun with these fantastic new reads.
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Picture Books
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Antiracist Baby
Available from:Did you know that children as young as six months old start to notice racial differences? In order to build a more equitable world, parents must start laying the foundation at the earliest age. With bold art and thoughtful yet playful text, the nine easy steps in this board book offer the perfect starting point for raising an antiracist.
(On Sale: 6/16/2020)Also available from: -
Shake My Sillies Out
Available from:For the young Raffi fans in your life (and the young soon-to-be Raffi fans), give them the gift of shaking their sillies out, clapping their crazies out, jumping their jiggles out, and yawning their sleepies out with this fun and rhythmic sing-along board book.
(On Sale: 6/2/2020)Also available from: -
The World Needs More Purple People
Available from:With The World Needs More Purple People, Kristen Bell — the voice behind Frozen’s Anna — makes her picture book debut with co-author and fellow parent Benjamin Hart. As a response to political divisiveness, the book encourages silliness, curiosity, and embracing what brings us together. (It’s no coincidence, after all, that red and blue make purple.)
(On Sale: 6/2/2020)Also available from: -
Giraffe Problems
Available from:Nora Ephron readers might recognize the first sentence of Jory John’s latest (“I feel bad about my neck”). From there on out, it’s a kid-approved romp of giraffe-centric complaints now in board book format, in perfect harmony with John’s equally hilarious read-aloud Penguin Problems.
(On Sale: 6/9/20/20)Also available from: -
It's Not My Fault!
Available from:A clever boy finds the secret to offloading responsibility: blame everything on inanimate objects. (Why is his homework so messy? His pen, of course!) All’s well and good, until the inanimate objects stage a rebellion — think The Day the Crayons Quit but with a fed-up backpack. An amusing and clever take on emotional literacy.
(On Sale: 6/9/2020)Also available from: -
Play Day School Day
Available from:Play Day School Day is ideal both for younger siblings jealous that they don’t get to go to school yet, and for older siblings celebrating the fun of a classroom. As a curious younger brother asks his big sister what she does at school all day, he finds he can recreate her activities in the great outdoors.
(On Sale: 6/9/2020)Also available from: -
I Don’t Want to Wash My Hands
Available from:The Little Princess is absolutely, positively tired of washing her hands. She washes them before she eats! After she plays! Whenever she sneezes! A friendly (and commiserating) parental response reminds the Little Princess that she’s protecting herself from germs, so she happily suds up once again.
(On Sale: 6/16/2020)Also available from: -
Thank You, Helpers
Available from:This upbeat, rhyming read-aloud is a wonderful way to honor the essential workers who keep our world turning every day. Featuring teachers and healthcare workers, delivery drivers, and grocery store employees, Thank You, Helpers is an ode to everyday heroes.
(On Sale: 6/30/2020)Also available from: -
There's an Alien in Your Book
Available from:An interactive book perfect for restless readers, the newest addition to the Who’s In Your Book? series will have kids trying to launch a crash-landed alien back into space. While the book’s a hoot, it also strikes important chords about acceptance and inclusion.
(On Sale: 6/30/2020)Also available from:
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Chapter Books & Middle Grade
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Once Upon a Space-Time!
Available from:Get ready for a new out-of-this-world graphic novel series from the creator of the Lucy & Andy Neanderthal series. Along with their families, Jide and Petra are recruited on an intergalactic mission to Mars. Meant to bond with their new alien classmates, the students accidentally launch themselves on a solo mission with no parents aboard.
(On Sale: 6/2/2020)Also available from: -
Who Was Ida B. Wells?
Available from:How did a girl born into slavery grow up to be one of the most prominent Black journalists of her time? The newest title in the Who Was? series answers that question and more as it delves into the extraordinary life of Ida B. Wells, who was also an activist and co-founder of the NAACP.
(On Sale: 6/2/2020)Also available from: -
The Woman’s Hour: Our Fight for the Right to Vote
With this young reader adaptation, growing readers and tweens can experience the historical and chaotic summer of 1920, when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which would grant women the right to vote, was on the precipice of ratification. The stage was Nashville, Tennessee, and suffragists were fighting not only for the right to vote but to change society’s attitudes about women. A 72-year journey reaches its peak in Weiss’s captivating account.
(On Sale: 6/2/2020)Preorder from: -
Doodleville
Available from:There’s something special about Drew’s doodles: they’re so lifelike that they sometimes leave her sketchbook to explore the real world. One of Drew’s doodle creations is the Leviathan — Levi for short — who starts to take out his negative feelings on Drew’s other doodles and the artwork of her classmates, too. Are Levi’s feelings somehow tied to how Drew’s been feeling lately? And can her art club friends help Drew and Levi feel better? This fantastical graphic novel packs real heart about friendship, tough emotions, and therapeutic art.
(On Sale: 6/9/2020)Also available from: -
The Times Machine!
Available from:Memorizing multiplication tables can actually be fun with the help of math whiz (and Wonder Years star) Danica McKellar. Taking a creative approach with stories, rhymes, and more, her one-of-a-kind guide simplifies the oft-confusing worlds of multiplication and division.
(On Sale: 6/30/2020)Also available from:
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YA
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Again Again
Available from:The bestselling author of We Were Liars takes her signature plot twists to a philosophical level with Again Again, in which Adelaide Buchwald’s summer of near-death and new love plays out across multiple universes. How many chances do two people have to find each other? And how many possibilities do they have of losing each other?
(On Sale: 6/2/2020)Also available from: -
Beyond the Break
Lovette starts her junior year of high school with two rules for herself: no surfing — not after what happened to her brother — and no dating. She wants to be a good Christian, and she’s not sure dating and Christianity go hand in hand. But when an old friend from her childhood returns, grown-up and handsome, and encourages Lovette to get back on the waves, she’ll have to reconcile her self-imposed rules with her true feelings.
(On Sale: 6/2/2020)Preorder from: -
The Court of Miracles
In this Les Misérables retelling, the French Revolution has failed, and in its place has formed nine underworld criminal guilds. Nina Thénardier is a member of the Thieves Guild who has her hands full protecting her adopted sister, Ettie. When Ettie inadvertently catches the eye of a nefarious guild lord, Nina will have to choose between her sister’s safety and an all-out war between the guilds.
(On Sale: 6/2/2020)Preorder from: -
Jo & Laurie
Available from:The original story of Little Women was originally two books: the first, published in 1868, told of Jo March’s life with her family at Orchard House. The second, published in 1869, went on to tell the rest of the story we now know so well. The gap between those volumes is where this story jumps in, following Jo’s creative struggles as she attempts to pen a sequel, and her romantic struggles incited by her dear friend Laurie.
(On Sale: 6/2/2020)Also available from: -
Influence
Available from:Co-written by the author of Pretty Little Liars and a teen influencer herself (albeit one who hates the label), Influence is a thrilling mystery set in the exotic and ruthless culture of internet fame. Though they’re presumably transparent online, each character has something to hide: Delilah, who’s just gone viral; former child star Jasmine Walters-Diaz; the always laughing Fiona Jacobs; and Scarlet with the famous boyfriend. Everything moves faster on the internet, and they’re about to learn that’s not always a good thing.
(On Sale: 6/30/2020)Also available from: -
Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed
Available from:In this reimagining of Wonder Woman, Princess Diana is anticipating her 16th birthday, when she’ll be accepted into the warrior tribe of Amazons who live together on the island of Themyscira, cut off from the rest of the world. But then the unthinkable happens: when Diana goes against her tribe’s wishes to rescue a raft carrying refugees, she’s swept away to an unknown world, where she becomes a refugee herself. A poignant story starring an iconic heroine.
(On Sale: 6/2/2020)Also available from:
