Still looking to make some productive family New Year’s resolutions for 2021?
Spending more time reading is always a great one, especially when there are so many great kids’ books to choose from. Here are some exciting stories coming out this month to get the ball rolling, featuring tales of magic, history, overcoming challenges, and the importance of family. Read on to find out more about them!
Root Magic by Eden Royce is a historical ghost story set in South Carolina in the 1960s full of courage, friendship, and Black Girl Magic. Jezebel Turner’s beloved grandmother has just passed away and the local police deputy won’t stop harassing her family. Jez and her twin brother Jay start exploring their family’s legacy of African American folk magic to find that their family’s true power goes beyond small charms and elixirs. And they’ll need all the help they can get when evil comes knocking.
In Many Points of Me by Caroline Gertler, George discovers a secret sketch left behind by her late father, a famous artist. George attempts to prove that the sketch is the fourth work of art in a well-known series of paintings, and her theory takes her on a journey around her Upper West Side neighborhood and to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The tale of friendship, family, grief, and creativity leads her right back to where she’s always belonged.
City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda is a contemporary Manhattan adventure based on ancient Mesopotamian mythology. 13-year-old Sik wants a simple life going to school and helping out at his parents’ deli, but life hands him a different plan when Nergal comes looking for him, thinking that Sik holds the secret to eternal life. It turns out: Sik is immortal and doesn’t know it, but Sik’s not in this alone. Belet — the adopted daughter of Ishtar, the goddess of love and war — is on his side, as well as a former hero named Gilgamesh, who has taken up gardening in Central Park. The trio must retrieve the Flower of Immortality and conquer demons, gods, and their own nightmares to save Manhattan from being wiped out by disease.
The Sea in Winter by Christine Day follows Maisie Cannon, who is having a difficult year after an injured leg hurts her ballet training. With everything she’s dealing with, Maisie is not excited for her family road trip along the coast this winter, near the Makah community where her mother grew up. How can Maisie keep up her strong facade when her anxieties and dark moods start to hurt as much as the pain in her knee?
The World Between Blinks by Amie Kaufman and Ryan Graudin is the first book in a new fantasy adventure series featuring interesting historical facts. Jake and Marisol’s whole family are reuniting for one last summer vacation at their late Nana’s home. The cousins accidentally slip into another world while following a map Nana left behind to a magical lighthouse. Everywhere they turn, they find real mysteries from history, but the man who holds the key to their journey home doesn’t want to be found and the cousins could end up lost in the mystery world forever.
These books will all launch this month on Amazon and Kindle, or you can look for them at local bookstores.
