The Best Children’s and YA Books of September 2018
by Keith Rice
The first days of fall are just around the corner! Fortunately, there are plenty of great reads to fill out the cooler days and longer evenings. We’ve pulled together the month’s most exciting releases — a collection of STEM-minded reads, funny adventures, timely fiction, teen sci-fi, and much more. Here are some best children’s, middle grade, and YA titles that September has to offer.
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Picture Books
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Baby 101 Series
Available from:It’s never too early to spark your child’s interest in STEM subjects and the Baby 101 series is a perfect introduction. Tailored to engage your little one with simple words and bright illustrations, The Baby 101 series feature a number of big topics to pique the imagination of your budding engineer or scientist. Baby 101: Zoology teaches children all about their favorite animals, including what they eat and where and how they live.
(On sale: 9/4/18)Also available from: -
Corduroy Takes a Bow
Available from:Corduroy has been enchanting and entertaining for readers for 50 years and in this latest adventure, the lovable teddy bear heads to the theater for the very first time. Written by Tony and Academy Award winner Viola Davis, Corduroy Takes a Bow brings the magic of the stage to children of any age.
(On sale: 9/4/18)Also available from: -
Dr. Seuss’s You Are Kind: Featuring Horton the Elephant
Available from:Illustrated with art from Horton Hears a Who!, Horton Hatches the Egg, and the story “Horton and the Kwuggerbug,” Dr. Seuss’s You Are Kind follows Horton through a series of adventures demonstrating the power of kindness and empathy. It’s an ideal way to help your little one understand the importance of being kind.
(On sale: 9/4/18)Also available from: -
Turning Pages: My Life Story
Available from:Sonia Sotomayor made history as the first Latina Supreme Court Justice, and Turning Pages introduces young readers to her inspiring personal story. Through her own love of books and reading, Justice Sotomayor inspires children to read, dream, and discover a world of endless possibility.
(On sale: 9/4/18)Also available from: -
Peek and Seek
Available from:Filled with colorful scenes of gathering animals, gatefold flaps, and tons of hidden objects to locate, Peek and Seek is a bright and interactive board book that encourages your young reader’s hand-eye coordination and observational skills. The sturdy, thick pages make it perfect for hands-on learning fun.
(On sale: 9/11/18)Also available from:
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Middle Grade
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Tight
Available from:Tight is an emotionally resonant and honest look at friendship, choices, and navigating societal pressures. Many middle grade readers will identify with the story of Brian, an introspective and sensitive kid caught in a potentially toxic friendship and attempting to navigate life as a young person of color moving toward adolescence.
(On sale: 9/4/18)Also available from: -
We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices
Available from:Helping children develop empathy and compassion feels particularly important in our current political climate and We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices serves as a conversation-starter around a number of complex topics. Featuring essays, poems, artwork and more from a collection of diverse children’s authors and illustrators, this anthology is curated to empower young minds to be brave, understanding, and, perhaps most importantly, kind.
(On sale: 9/4/18)Also available from: -
The Last Kids on Earth and the Cosmic Beyond
Available from:The latest installment in the bestselling Last Kids on Earth series features all the laughs, action, and age-appropriate scares fans have come to love. When Jack’s prized monster-slaying tool is stolen by his latest adversary, he sets out to get it back and stumbles into a dark plot that threatens the entire world and the cosmos beyond.
(On sale: 9/18/18)Also available from: -
Squirm
Available from:This latest from the Floridian world of Newbery Honor-winning Carl Hiaasen is a wickedly funny, environmentally friendly adventure. Billy Dickens is in for a wild summer — one filled with perilous hikes, grizzlies, panthers, and a rattlesnake or two — when he finally discovers the address of the father who abandoned him years earlier.
(On sale: 9/25/18)Also available from:
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Young Adult
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Dream Country
This novel, which spans five generations, is a powerful examination of freedom feels particularly timely. At once kaleidoscopic and intimate, Dream Country traverses centuries and continents to tell the story of an African-and-American family struggling against familial strife, history, and racism, all with the hope of finding a better life.
(On sale: 9/11/18)Preorder from: -
Here to Stay
When an anonymous, racist image circulates through Bijan Majidi’s predominantly white high school, portraying him as a terrorist, his life is turned upside down. As lines are drawn, some students remain loyal friends while others gather against him. All the while, Bijan is caught at the center of something he wished had never happened — he’s not ashamed of his heritage, but he wants it all to blow over — and he has to decide how to respond to the cyberbullying.
(On sale: 9/18/18)Preorder from: -
Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults)
Available from:In Just Mercy, attorney and advocate Bryan Stevenson drew on his personal experiences to take a painful and necessary look at America’s broken justice system. This edition, adapted with young adult readers in mind, offers thought-provoking insights into how our justice system often falls most harshly on marginalized individuals.
(On sale: 9/18/18)Also available from: -
Wildcard
Available from:In this sequel to her 2017 bestseller Warcross, Marie Lu continues the story of brilliant young hacker, Emika Chan, who stumbled into dangerous conspiracy amid the high stakes world of competitive gaming. Betrayed and on the run, Emika is forced to strike some new — and potentially dangerous — alliances if she hopes to survive.
(On sale: 9/18/18)Also available from: -
Give the Dark My Love
This epic YA fantasy follows 17-year-old Nedra Brysstian as she leaves her home to attend a prestigious academy to study medicinal alchemy. When a deadly plague sweeps through her homeland, Nedra will turn to the darkest areas of her trade in the hopes of finding a cure. The questions is: at what price?
(On sale: 9/25/18)Preorder from:
What kids’ books are you excited to pick up this month? Let us know in the comments below!