Staff Picks

Kids get to pilot a thrilling undersea STEM expedition in this choose-your-own-adventure-style nonfiction for young readers. Innovative, inclusive, and brimming with fascinating facts about squid and the various scientists that study them, this is a terrific pick for elementary school science lovers as well as kids who struggle to connect with traditional reading. 

 

Publisher's description:

An exciting ocean-themed choose-your-path STEM adventure for emerging readers! Take a journey to the ocean's twilight zone in Search for a Giant Squid ! An exciting mixture of action and non action, this choose-your-own-adventure-style story allows readers to take on the mantle of a teuthologist looking for a giant squid in its natural habitat. Once readers pick their submersible, pilot, and dive site, the adventure begins!

 

Four Brooklyn middle schoolers race against time to save a baby robot after it crash-lands from outer space. Funny and action-packed, the story centers on Mimi Perez, a 12-year-old coping with the recent loss of her Papi to deportation. Mimi has always loved tinkering thanks to Papi's electronics repair shop, and she and her friends must use all their tech and street smarts to outwit government agents and reunite the little robot with its parental units. From hidden-robot hijinks to hilarious money-making schemes, the scrappy friend group is impossible not to root for, while a supporting cast of caring adults adds warmth and humor. This book will appeal greatly to both striving and precocious readers around 8-12 years old, and would make a terrific follow-up for fans of The Wild Robot.

 

Publisher's description: 

E.T. meets cult classic The Iron Giant in this middle grade light sci-fi from Emmy Award-winner Oz Rodriguez and New York Times best-selling author Claribel A. Ortega, perfect for fans of Witchlings.