Recommended Reads J FICtion: STEAM
J ALEX, H
Heather Alexander PROJECT STARTUP
Hallie and Jaye are both sixth graders but they couldn't be more different. Jaye is one of the popular kids who'll do almost anything to maintain her status. Hallie's only friend has moved away, and she couldn't care less what anyone thinks of her. So when the two girls are paired up as partners for a pitch competition, it's not exactly a perfect match.
J BRAD, K
K. Tempest Bradford RUBY FINLEY VS. THE INTERSTELLAR INVASION
Ruby, a Black girl who loves studying insects, accidentally captures an alien bug, but when the creature escapes and starts wreaking havoc around the neighborhood, it is up to Ruby and her rag-tag group of friends to find this new invasive species before the feds do.
SHINE ON, LUZ VÉLIZ! J BALC, R
Rebecca Balcarcel
Eleven-year-old injured soccer player Luz has a hard enough time reframing her identity as a computer programmer, but when her Guatemalan half-sister moves in, she learns what it truly means to start over.
FIGURE IT OUT, HENRI WELDON J DAVI, T
Tanita Davis
Henri's dyscalculia, a learning disability that makes math challenging to process and understand, is what she expects to give her problems. What she doesn't expect is a family feud with her sister over her new friends, joining the girls' soccer team, and discovering poetry.
J DILL, M
WHERE THE SKY LIVES
Margaret Dilloway
When life doesn't make sense, twelveyear-old amateur astronomer Tuesday Beals has always looked to the stars above Zion National Park, where she lives. Then a new housing development next door threatens to ruin the night skies and her favorite astronomy spots until she makes a discovers that could keep the park and her world from falling apart
Amy McCulloch JINXED J MCCU, A
J FLOR, J
Jasmine Florentine HEX ALLEN AND THE CLANKSMITHS
Hex Allen can't do magic - a huge problem when everything from lights to locks is powered by simple spells that everyone can do. After years of feeling useless, Hex seizes the chance to change her future by journeying to the Wishing Wyrm, a legendary dragon that will grant a single wish once a century.
Jody Little WORSE THAN WEIRD J LITT, J
Hoping to ditch two months of chicken coops, kale, and her parents' antiscreen rules, Mac MacLeod sets out to win a citywide food cart scavenger hunt and the money she needs for the summer coding camp of her dreams.
When a coding star enters an elite technology academy, she discovers a world of competition, intrigue, and family secrets-plus a robotic companion that isn't what it seems.
BALLOON GIRLS J PITT, D
Darrel Pitt
Times are tough in the small town of Yallaroo where Ally has lived her whole life. The area is in drought and people are going broke or moving away. So when Ally hears about a competition to win the trip of a lifetime to visit the Smithsonian Museum, she knows she's got to do everything she can to try and win.
James Ponti CITY SPIES
Sara Martinez is facing years in the juvenile detention system for hacking into the foster care computer system to prove that her foster parents are crooks. But then she gets a second chance when a mysterious man offers her a chance to join a group of MI6 affiliated spies.
J. E. Thomas CONTROL FREAKS J THOM, J
The kids at Benjamin Banneker College Prep are a little... competitive. Okay. They're a LOT competitive. The minute Principal Yee announces an epic competition for the golden B-B trophy, seventh-grader Frederick Douglass Zezzmer knows he has to win. But it won't be easy.
J GN LANG, D
THE COOL CODE
Deidre Langeland
When coding whiz Zoey goes from homeschooled to new school, she develops an app to help her make friends. Will the Cool Code help Zoey fit in? Or will it completely crash her social life?
THE MUTANT MUSHROOM TAKEOVER J SHOR, S
Summer Rachel Short
Hoping to restore her father's good name and job, Maggie teams up with friend Nate to win a junior naturalist contest, but the rare bioluminescent fungus they find is big trouble.
J TURL, B
Beth Turley THE LAST TREE TOWN
Struggling with her Puerto Rican identity, her grandfather's memory loss and transfer to a nursing home, and her sister's depression, seventh-grader Cassie joins the Mathletes at school, finding comfort in numbers and in her new friendship with Aaron.
LO AND BEHOLD J GN MASS, W
Wendy Mass
With her life recently turned upside down, 12year-old Addie is uncomfortable in her own skin until the world of virtual reality sparks her imagination and leads to an exciting new project, a new friend, and to reconnecting with who she's always been.