Kevin Delecki

Everyone knows the story of Peter Pan, right? Adventurous lost boys, mischievous fairies, murderous pirates and a bloodthirsty crocodile—but how did all these iconic characters come to Neverland in the first place? To answer this question, Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Sisters of the Neversea explores the island of Neverland and looks closely at the events that shaped Peter Pan himself.

Lily and Wendy have no idea that someone is watching them argue during what might be their last night as stepsisters. With Wendy and her dad moving to New York for the summer and Lily and her mom staying behind in Oklahoma, this might really be the end of their family. But everything changes in an instant when a mysterious boy named Peter, a wayward shadow and a persnickety fairy named Belle come in through their bedroom window.

After being whisked away to Neverland, Wendy and her little brother, Michael, find themselves among the Lost, a group of young boys who seem to be rapidly forgetting who they are and where they came from. Summoning all her bravery, Lily follows in pursuit, planning to rescue Wendy and Michael and somehow return home. Once Lily arrives in Neverland, she joins with a group of Native American kids whom Peter has taken from tribes across America, including Leech Lake Ojibwe, Black Seneca, Cherokee Nation and Navajo.

Leitich Smith, who, like Lily, is Muscogee Creek, fills Sisters of the Neversea with many of the hallmarks that readers expect from a Peter Pan story, including pirates, fairies, crocodiles and merfolk. But she also confronts and rectifies many of the harmful tropes and stereotypes of J.M. Barrie’s original story as well as those perpetuated by Disney’s animated film. Both Belle and Wendy admonish Peter when he uses an offensive word to refer to Native people, and they challenge his demeaning behavior toward girls, women and Native Americans.

Ultimately, the novel offers redemption not just for Peter but for many of Neverland’s other characters as well. With expertly shifting perspectives, an oft-broken fourth wall and subtle but firm remedies to elements of the story best left in the past, Sisters of the Neversea is a welcome new addition to the legend of Peter Pan.

“It’s not about winning; it’s about having fun.” That’s what parents and coaches always say—but it’s not always what they mean. In Rivals, Tommy Greenwald’s second novel set in the fictional town of Walthorne (after 2018’s Game Changer), having fun is immaterial when it comes to a high-pressure middle school basketball season between the Walthorne North Cougars and the Walthorne South Panthers. Everyone wants to win, and they’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Students from both wealthy Walthorne North and working-class Walthrone South have a lot riding on this basketball season. Cougar Austin Chambers wants to live up to his dad’s basketball legacy, but no amount of practice with his private coach is going to make him grow eight inches overnight. Panther Carter Haswell knows he’s talented enough to be an exceptional player, maybe even to win a college athletic scholarship, but skill and ability don’t always equate to passion for the game itself. And Alfie Jenks isn’t a basketball player at all. The self-professed “least-coordinated person ever born” dreams of becoming a sports reporter, but she soon learns that investigating the world of middle school athletics means uncovering truths that could shake her community to its core.

Along with appealing first-person narratives from Austin, Carter and Alfie, Rivals also incorporates epistolary elements including text messages, blog and message board posts and transcripts of radio interviews. As the drama of the season propels the plot forward, Greenwald explores the racial, gender and socioeconomic divides in Walthorne in ways that feel wholly organic to the story. He digs deeply and critically into the no-holds-barred, win-at-all-costs environments experienced by many middle and high school athletes. 

Rivals features plenty of thrilling basketball and all the turmoil of a fierce rivalry, but what lingers is its indictment of a harmful culture created by adults—parents, coaches and school administrators—that shapes youth sports and, ultimately, young people themselves. 

It’s hard having three siblings. It’s even harder when they’re all the exact same age as you and all have amazing strengths and personalities. In Newbery Medalist Cynthia Kadohata’s Saucy, 11-year-old Becca doesn’t feel special, living in the shadows cast by her three quadruplet brothers. Jammer is a hockey star. Bailey creates awesome music from his electric wheelchair. K.C. is a math and science genius. But one night, while she and her family are out for their nightly walk around the neighborhood, Becca discovers something that will make her feel really and truly special.

After all, it’s not every day that an 11-year-old stumbles onto a baby pig by the side of the road, especially one covered in dirt and mange. It’s even more unexpected when Becca’s dad wraps the piglet up in his shirt (even though it ruins his shirt), and takes it to an emergency vet (even though it costs a lot of money). It’s a very sick little pig, but with medicine, care and Becca’s daily company, the little pig, dubbed Saucy, gets better.

Then Saucy begins to eat . . . everything. Fruits, vegetables, kitchen cabinets, Becca’s mom’s garden—Saucy eats, and he grows. It’s only a matter of time until Saucy will need to find a new place to live, but in the meantime, Becca is also determined to discover where her dirty, sick little pig came from in the first place.

Saucy is a tender and sweet middle grade novel with a heavy dash of slapstick comedy sure to give it strong appeal for younger middle grade readers. Just imagine one grandmother, two parents, four kids and one very large and hungry pig all living under the same roof, and you can see how humor might be the outcome. However, Kadohata also shines a light on the practice of factory farming and its very real, very unfunny impacts on the animals.

Saucy’s outsized personality and Kadohata’s well-developed cast of characters make for a lighthearted and appealing tale that contains an earnest call to action. Though Becca herself may not always feel special, the love she shows her family, her dedication to Saucy and her willingness to be brave, even when she’s scared, make her pretty special indeed.

Trevor can’t get enough of his great-grandfather Jacob’s stories of World War II. Jacob stormed the beaches at Normandy, courageously fought Nazis and spent grueling days and seemingly endless nights in trenches. His battalion even liberated a small French village. Jacob’s heroism is an unquestionable fact, and Trevor’s life revolves around his great-grandfather’s war, from the video games he plays for hours on end to the memorabilia he collects and the posters that adorn his bedroom walls.

It seems like the opportunity of a lifetime for Trevor when the French village of Sainte-Régine wants to honor Jacob as the last surviving participant in the battle for the town’s liberation. It’s a chance to travel with Jacob to a place where the war was actually fought. But was Trevor’s great-grandfather really as heroic as he seems in all his stories?

Trevor, his father and Jacob embark on a pilgrimage of sorts, retracing Jacob’s footsteps during the war from basic training at a base in Georgia to England and then to France. Trevor takes in the sights and the history with enthusiasm, but Jacob becomes less excited and more tired as they come closer to Sainte-Régine, and the trip is plagued by a series of unpleasant coincidences. There’s no telling what truths will be revealed when the pilgrims arrive in Sainte-Régine.

Alternating between the present and flashbacks to Jacob’s wartime experiences, bestselling author Gordon Korman’s War Stories juxtaposes a boy’s admiration and belief in his great-grandfather’s heroism and valor with the gritty and morally complex reality of war. Korman strikes a perfect balance between compassion and honesty as he unflinchingly explores the sometimes fine line between heroes and traitors, victors and villains. It’s a masterful demonstration of how the effects of war don’t end when battles are won or lost but continue to ripple down through generations.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Author Gordon Korman goes behind the scenes of War Stories and shares how he keeps young readers turning the pages in book after book.

The kids are a lot bigger in middle school. That’s the first thing Cyrus Olson notices when he steps onto the field for football tryouts. Everyone expects him to become the next star receiver for Joseph Lee Heywood Middle School, just like his dad was. In fact, they expect him to be a lot of things like his big, strong firefighter dad, but that’s just not Cyrus. 

In Brave Like That, author Lindsey Stoddard (Just Like Jackie, Right as Rain) creates a grounded and authentic story that illustrates how being brave doesn’t always mean running into burning buildings or being the leader of the A-team.

Cyrus feels like the frightening things in his life just keep growing. He knows tackle football is going to hurt; the hallways and classrooms of middle school are full of unfamiliar classmates and teachers and harder schoolwork than ever before; and his beloved grandma is still recovering from a recent stroke. It’s all too much, and Cyrus is afraid that he’s just not brave enough to handle any of it. 

Then Cyrus’ dad finds a stray dog, alone at the front door of the firehouse, just like he found Cyrus exactly 11 years before. Unlike Cyrus, however, his dad has no plans to keep the dog, whom Cyrus names Parker. But if Cyrus is going to get through this year, he knows he’s going to need help from the most unlikely places, whether from a few unexpected friends, his grandma’s old vinyl records or the weight of a lonely dog resting a tired head on his shoulder.

Brave Like That is a nuanced and realistic story of a boy realizing that what he wants for himself is different than what other people may want for him. Cyrus’ sensitive first-person narration is effortlessly constructed and will draw readers in to his thoughts and feelings from the very first page.

Stoddard treads familiar middle grade territory, addressing evergreen themes of friendship and loyalty, but Cyrus’ warm and supportive relationships at the firehouse and his family’s unwavering love make the story shine. Put Brave Like That into the hands of any reader struggling to figure out who they really want to be, and it’ll show them that being yourself is the bravest, if sometimes the hardest, thing you can do.

Black Brother. Black Brother. That’s all Dante hears. It’s the only way anyone sees him. Not as a student, or as a friend, or even as a person. Just as Black Brother. Something has to change. 

In Black Brother, Black Brother by Coretta Scott King Honor author Jewell Parker Rhodes (Sugar), Dante is confronted with the stark realization that merely hoping for change isn’t going to work. He’ll have to make change happen.

Dante and his brother, Trey, both attend Middlefield Prep. But Dante is singled out, mistrusted and unfairly targeted by both students and teachers because his skin is significantly darker than Trey’s. When he is suspended and arrested for something that he didn’t do, Dante knows he must take a risk and fight for justice for himself. Fencing might not seem like the obvious route, but Alan, the lead aggressor in Dante’s bullying, holds the role of team captain, and Dante wants to beat Alan at his own game. He finds an unlikely mentor in Arden, a local youth center employee and former Olympic fencer. 

Rooted in Dante’s heartbreaking search for a place to belong, Black Brother, Black Brother is a moving look at systemic racism and the school-to-prison pipeline. Strong, believable characters drive the action, making readers feel invested in its outcome. This exhilarating and emotional story shows young readers the power in fighting for what you believe and surrounding yourself with people who will fight with you.