Age Group: KS3 (Ages 11-14)

Mission: Arctic

Christian Schneider & Katharina Weiss-Tuider

Non-fiction

For kids 8 to 13, join the largest Arctic expedition ever undertaken—and discover the secrets hidden deep in the ice that reveal how one of the world’s crucial ecosystems is changing.

The Arctic is changing—fast. The once-frozen landscape is melting before our eyes, and the effects can be felt around the world. But the Arctic is also the region we know the least about. Thick ice, extreme cold, and total darkness have always prevented scientists from uncovering its secrets. Until now.

This science-based guide for middle readers follows the 2019 MOSAiC expedition on the largest expedition to the Arctic ever undertaken. On board the Polarstern, a powerful ice-breaker research vessel, more than five hundred scientists from all over the world turned their attention to this mysterious region. Their mission? To let their vessel freeze in the sea ice and drift towards the North Pole in order to study how the Arctic is changing, and how these changes will affect our world.

Mission: Arctic features:

Filled with photographs from the expedition
Thrilling facts, illustrations, diagrams, and fact bars about the polar region
The dangerous conditions the scientists endured, from freezing temperatures to terrifying storms and polar bears
The important discoveries made on the mission
Through this thrilling book, readers will discover the Arctic ice is not as permanent as we thought, and what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic. The knowledge gathered on the Polarstern has the power to determine our planet’s future—if only we pay attention.

How to Survive a Horror Movie

Scarlett Dunmore

Chapter book

Horror movie enthusiast Charley is determined to keep a low profile when she’s enrolled at a girls’ boarding school on a remote island. That is, until someone starts killing off her senior class! From elaborate scare tactics to severed heads in fridges, Charley has found herself at the centre of a teen horror movie. And that’s not the only alarming thing that’s happening – she’s now seeing the ghosts of her former classmates!?

Haunted by her peers, and with everyone beginning to suspect her, Charley decides to do something about it. She and her only best friend Olive are going to solve the murders and find out who’s killing off the class before graduation. Charley just needs those pesky ghosts to shut up and give her a hand.

A fast-paced tongue-in-cheek YA novel about two friends trying to survive senior year – literally! Perfect for fans of Fear Street, The Midnight Club and the SCREAM franchise.

The Twelve

Liz Hyder & Tom de Freston

Chapter book

It’s supposed to be a treat for Kit, a winter holiday by the coast with her sister Libby and their mum. But when Libby vanishes into thin air, and no one else remembers her, Kit is faced with a new reality – one in which her sister never existed.

Then she meets Story, a local boy who remembers Libby perfectly. Together they embark on a journey beyond their wildest imagination into a world steeped in ancient folklore. Can Kit and Story uncover the secret of the Twelve and rescue Libby before Time runs out?

Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody

Patrick Ness & Tim Miller

Chapter book

Master storyteller Patrick Ness turns to middle grade in a hilarious adventure about a mismatched group of animals attending school together, brought to life by brilliantly funny illustrations.
Zeke and Daniel have just been made hall monitors by Principal Wombat. This has nothing to do with the fact that they are monitor lizards. And never mind the fact Alicia, the only other monitor lizard in the school, is also a hall monitor.
Somehow, the three hall monitors must impose order on arrogant lions, excitable seals and super-relaxed pandas. And worst of all, there is Pelicarnassus! A pompous giant pelican and the son of a major supervillain, who inexplicably has it out for the lizards. Can the hall monitor lizards and their new friend, a blind, fearsome red-tailed hawk, protect their school from all manner of outlandish threats?

Minecraft: Heart of Cobblestone

Andrew Clemson & Jeremy Lawson

Graphic novel

Build skyward in this brand new graphic novel set in the world of Minecraft!

Farmer Cobb likes to keep his crops as neat as possible, which is frustrating when he has neighbors who like to chow down on his fresh produce without asking and villagers who can’t stop themselves from planting potatoes in his field without rhyme or reason. After a rough encounter with an Enderman he finally decides to get as far away from everyone and everything as he can . . . building a tower up into the sky!

When a stranger shows up on his new sky island and reveals a whole town full of people who desired peace and quiet just like Cobb, he accepts an invitation to join the town of like-minded hermits and moves onto a plot they so generously give him. But he learns that his neighbors in the sky might be even more disruptive than those on the ground. As tensions rise sky high, he is reminded that he didn’t just have neighbors down below, but caring friends. Friends he may need to protect.

Join writer Andrew Clemson and cartoonist Jeremy Lawson on an exciting new Minecraft adventure in the clouds.

Harry Dickson: Mysterion

Doug Headline & Luana Vergari

Graphic novel

Famous investigator Harry Dickson is just back in London after some well-deserved holidays, and already Scotland Yard are seeking his help again, for there are very strange events afoot. A famous heiress and writer, Delphina Cruikshank, has vanished from a locked house. The corpse of an executed murderer has disappeared.. while the doctor who was autopsying him was murdered. And Mysterion, Miss Cruikshank’s new character, may not be entirely fictional!

Hirayasumi, Vol. 1

Keigo Shinzo

Graphic novel

With a carefree outlook on life, Hiroto knows better than anyone that slowing down is sometimes the best way to move forward.

At 29 years old, carefree Hiroto Ikuta doesn’t have a girlfriend, a full-time job, or a plan for the future—and he couldn’t be happier. Hiroto’s breezy attitude isn’t easy for everyone to understand, though. In a world filled with anxiety, confusion, and grief, Hiroto and the people who surround him are all just doing their best to figure out this thing called life.

After developing an unlikely friendship with the grouchy old woman who lives in his neighborhood, Hiroto suddenly finds himself inheriting not just her house but some rather difficult emotions as well. His 18-year-old cousin, Natsumi, moves in with him, but as a struggling art student, she has her own troubles to deal with and may just put Hiroto’s easygoing lifestyle to the test.

Four Eids and a Funeral

Adiba Jaigirdar & Faridah Abike-Iyimide

Chapter book

Let’s get one thing straight: this is a love story.

Said Hossain hates Tiwa Olatunji. And Tiwa would happily never see Said again in her life. Growing up, the two were inseparable, but they have barely spoken since the incident many Eids ago and both of them would like to keep it that way. But when Said comes home for a funeral and the town’s Islamic Centre burns down on the same day, they have to face each other again and sparks fly.

Both of them want to see the Islamic Centre rebuilt. For Tiwa, it represents the community that she loves and a way to keep her fractured family together. For Said, it’s an opportunity to build his portfolio for his secret application to art school, where he hopes that he’ll be able to pursue his dreams of becoming an artist, rather than a doctor.

Working with your sworn enemy is never easy, and this could be the hardest thing that Said and Tiwa have ever done. But in trying to save the Islamic Centre and Eid, could these enemies become something else…?

The End Crowns All

Bea Fitzgerald

Chapter book

The fierce, feminist and gloriously romantic new Greek myth re-imagining from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Girl, Goddess, Queen.

Love caused this war. At least, that’s what the stories will say.

When Cassandra’s patron god, Apollo, offers her the gift of prophecy – and all the power that comes with it – she seizes the opportunity. But when she fails to uphold her end of the bargain, she discovers just how very far she has to fall. No one believes her visions, which all seem to be of one girl – a girl who is going to start a war.

Helen fled Sparta in pursuit of love – but is finding it elusive. Now she must navigate the fierce politics and danger of the Trojan court – including from its princess, who seems intent on driving her from the city. . .

But when war finally strikes, Cassandra and Helen must deal with more than just the army at their walls. Cassandra and Helen’s fates are more closely tied – and seemingly tragic – than they could have ever imagined. How can you change your future when the gods themselves are dictating your demise?

Cobalt

Sue Klauber

Chapter book

This is the follow-up story to Zinc about three Jewish siblings John, George and Eva who continue to play different roles to help the war effort in WW2.

George trains in Scotland for his SOE mission to Poland to help the fighters in the Secret Army.

After his work at Bletchley Park, John is now stationed in Cairo in Egypt working on plans to deceive Field Marshall Rommel about the location of the impending battle, while sister Eva in Hungary is finding life for anyone Jewish getting harder and harder as the Nazis harden their grip over the country. Will the siblings ever manage to get together? They share so many memories, but war keeps them apart.

Based on the extraordinary real-life experiences of Sue Klauber’s father (Coding at Bletchley Park), uncle (SOE in Europe) and aunt (Resistance), she wrote Zinc and now Cobalt to illustrate the courage of her Jewish family.